PIMEN, PATRIARCH

(1910–1990), patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church from June 2, 1971, to May 3, 1990.

Sergei Mikhailovich Izvekov took monastic vows in 1927 and worked with church choirs in Moscow. Later, as Patriarch Pimen, his excellent musical sense led him to forbid singers to embellish the liturgy with operatic flourishes.

During World War II Pimen allegedly concealed his monastic vows and served as an army officer in communications or intelligence. When discovered, he was incarcerated, and his political vulnerability was said to have figured in the Soviet authorities' decision that he could be controlled as patriarch. More friendly sources recount his heroism in protecting his men with his own body under bombardment. His official biography omits his military service.

Judgments of Pimen as patriarch are mixed. He was accused of being withdrawn, passive, and increasingly infirm. On the other hand, he was a gifted poet, radiated spirituality, and was said to have defended the integrity of the Church against corrupting modernism and reckless innovation. Pimen's moment came when Communist General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev decided to greet the millennium of Russia's conversion to Christianity by improving relations with the Church. Gorbachev received Pimen on April 29, 1988, and more than eight hundred new parishes were permitted to open that year. Sunday schools, charitable works, new seminaries and convents, and other concessions to church needs followed. Whether these tangible benefits justified Pimen's political collaboration with the Soviet regime is a controversial question.

See also: russian orthodox church; russification

bibliography

Pospielovsky, Dimitry. (1984). The Russian Church Under the Soviet Regime 1917–1982. 2 vols. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press.

Nathaniel Davis