on june 22 , 1941, nazi germany, despite existing non-attack treaties, attacked the soviet union. the military-political leadership of the third reich counted on a lightning victory. the strategic program reflected in directive no. 21 , codenamed plan barbaros , the campaign was supposed to end back in forty -one. tried to position the attack on the soviet union as a crusade against the godless bolsheviks. propaganda spoke about this, the nazis tried to tell the world community about this. the attitude is well known hitler to christianity. they were told the words that the appearance. christianity is the main evil for

humanity, bolshevism is the illegitimate child of christianity, all this must be destroyed. in germany, the process of destruction of christian canons began in the thirties after hitler came to power. the population, in terms of confession , was mostly lutherans or catholics, but ideology.

church strategy began a duel between the nazi intelligence services, the main directorate of reich security and the abwehr. rsha supported bormann's position and advocated that religious life should not develop in the occupied territories; a different position was held by rosenberg, who advocated the use of religion as a tool. it is very important to understand that for the nazis who came here. religion,

the church acted precisely as an instrument of propaganda, an instrument of anti-bolshevism, the fight against the bolsheviks. rosenberg was supported by the abwehr, german military intelligence and counterintelligence. in the occupied territories , the nazis' first priority was organize further unhindered advance of troops, as well as resolve issues of economic and social life, create german authorities. this was not easy to do. the wehrmacht and the civil administration

were faced with they flirted with the orthodox clergy , but they had their own political calculation, no respect for the church, no respect for the name of christ , the teachings of christ, no, they had a political calculation, to divide, fragment, incite, together with the nazis hieromonk vladimir fenkovsky comes to minsk from pruzhany, he

the one who arbitrarily occupied the cathedral in pruzhany and proclaimed himself rector. the occupation authorities appoint him administrator of the belarusian orthodox church. in july '41 he committed. there is evidence from the sd authorities that felkovsky is the best propagandist that we can use for our own purposes, he praises german power, the power of the fuhrer, and so on, he hung a portrait of the fuhrer in his room, worked for the german government, so to speak, forgetting about christ , and vidira is a monk, this is a person who has renounced the world, the secular should already be...

the special services, launched very active activities, without being a bishop, exceeding filkovsky, feeling the support of nazi canonical powers, began to appoint priests to the positions of rectors of parishes. by his actions, he declared himself as the head of the orthodox church of belarus. pruzhany cathedral parishioner evgenia smirnova had known finkovsky since childhood. the girl's father was an assistant to the headman at the church, so the abbot often came to the smernovs' house.

you see, this is how people clearly and accurately give characteristics. meanwhile, an ideological campaign in the field of religious politics unfolded in nazi-occupied minsk. already in the summer, churches were actively opening; dozens of parishes were opened in minsk alone. hitler believed that yes, now it is impossible to abandon the orthodox church, but local orthodox churches, in national states, should not submit to the russian orthodox church. independence as a state in belarus, so here is the announcement of the church, which was not supposed

to cooperate in any way with the moscow patriarchy, with other churches, that is, to gain independence. the main task.

the exarch of the russian orthodox church, pantileimon razhnovsky, lived in the zherovichi monastery. during the working day, as members of the occupation administration of the visit believed, the ruler was given an ultimatum. archbishop pantileimon can lead church life in occupied belarus, but only on condition: