Publishing Department of the Moscow Patriachate in the 1960-s and 1980-s in Ecclesiastial Diplomacy of the Epoch: Practitioners and Ac-tors
Keywords:
церковная дипломатия, межцерковная коммуникация, митрополит Питирим (Нечаев), Издательский отдел Московской патриархии, культурная дипломатия, иностранные делегации, конфессиональная литература.Abstract
The article is devoted to the reconstruction of the circumstances of the Publishing Department of the Moscow Patriarchate. An analysis of the extensive body of documents shows that since its establishment in 1946, the department has become the second most important actor in church diplomacy. Under the leadership of Bishop Pitirim (Nechaev), a unique creative team has been formed, constantly discovering new areas of activity: the church book publishing industry (including in foreign languages) has been created, exhibition, exposition, concert, expert and scientific activities have become systematic. The department turned out to be the only church structure capable of building a building in Moscow in Soviet times. The author concludes that the Publishing Department of the Moscow Patriarchate became one of the key centers of Soviet «facade diplomacy».
