CLERGY OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES OF THE USSR IN THE DAYS OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR OF 1941-1945

The article is based on previously published studies and newly revealed archive sources. It addresses the religious policy of the German Wehrmacht on the occupied territories of the USSR during World War II (1941-1945), as well as strategic and tactic plans of the occupation authorities concerning the Russian Orthodox Church, it's clergy and lay in the different stages of the war. The issue of clergy staying and performing the religious services on the occupied territories came to light in the process of canonization of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Orthodox Church of the 20th century. Previous studies by the church researchers add to the knowledge of the issue, which grows yet more significant in the light of historical events taking place on the territories that were occupied in the war. It is shown that some collaboration of Soviet people with the occupation authorities was inevitable. But also there was deliberate and purposeful collaboration with the occupants to the disadvantage of the motherland. Documented facts shed light on the lives of the clergy, on purposes of creation by the German command of the "Orthodox mission on the liberated territories" and on involvement of the clergy in its activities. It is also noted that the corpus of declassified and accessible historical sources in Russian and foreign archives turned out inadequate for clarification of all aspects of the life of clergy under the occupation.