Dimitry Vladimirovich Pospielovsky

Dimitry Vladimirovich Pospielovsky (1935-2014)

and

Mirjana (born Dobrovich) Pospielovsky (19__-20__)

Dimitry may be spelt Dmitry, Demetrios.

Early life of Dimitry Vladimirovich Pospielovsky

In 1935, Dimitry Vladimirovich Pospielovsky was born in Ryasniki, a village at that time in Poland, but now in the Rivne Oblast, in the Volyn region of Ukraine. Rivne (Rovno) is a city and region in that part of Eastern Europe which has changed its nationality 4 times during the 20th century. This is so because of the frequent political disturbances and movements of the borders (usually associated with wars).

Dimitry Pospielovsky was a great-grandson of the prominent paedagogue Konstantin Dmitrievich Ushinsky, an acclaimed reformer of the Russian educational system in the 19th century.

Exile, 1944

In 1944, he was yet 9 years old when he, his mother, and his 2 sisters evacuated towards the West to escape soviet communism near the end of World War II. The escape was made possible by his father (a physician), who remained in Poland with his second wife. Before this, his father supported the family, working as a doctor.

In Germany in 1945, for a short few months (before the Americans arrived), his mother and his older sister had hired themselves as cleaning staff to the German military.

Then, with the end of the war, the family stayed in West Germany in a refugee camp (in fact, a Displaced Persons Camp), as did very many other people.

In this camp, Dimitry's mother worked as an interpreter, and Dimitry attended the camp's Russian school. They applied for emigration to Canada, and they waited for 3 years for the immigration approval, and for the papers.

It was not until 1949 that they were able to travel (by ship) to Canada.

Life in Canada, 1949

When they landed in Canada in 1959, they settled first in Kirkland Lake, in Northeastern Ontario.

Somewhat later, they moved to Montréal, Québec, where Dimitry Vladimirovich completed his high school education, and then his undergraduate education.

Despite the broad geography of his future life, Dimitry Pospielovsky considered Russia to be his motherland. This explains many of the facts and facets of his biography and interests. For example, in 1953, Dimitry (already an activist) became a member of the “Labour Alliance of Russian Solidarists” in Germany, the most active and consistent anti-soviet organisation of the second half of the last century. While a student in Montréal, Dimitry joined a Russian anti-communist branch of the same alliance. He spent some time in West Germany, where that organisation's headquarters was located.

Higher education, Montréal

Upon graduating from Sir George Williams College in Montréal, Dimitry studied political science and economics at Concordia University in Montréal, from which he graduated and from which he received the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in 1957.

Further activities

From 1959 to 1967, Dimitry worked on the staff of the “British Broadcasting Corporation” (BBC), as a programmer/broadcaster and later as a head of a research writing section. He worked also for “Radio Svoboda” (Freedom).

During this time, he became a regular contributor to the religious programming and broadcasting in Russian to the Soviet audiences. Religious broadcasting had been a very significant aspect of Dimitry's work (and he continued to contribute to the religious broadcasting all his life). Radio broadcasting was an opportunity to reach, inform, and connect with the Russian believers in the atheistic Soviet state. Moreover, he took part in round table discussions, and he delivered talks for the Russian sections at the BBC, Radio Liberty, and even the CBC. Of course, the topics dealt mostly with the persecution and harassment of believers under the Soviet regime.

He was involved in these and other activities during the same time when he was pursuing further education.

During 1967-1969, Dimitry worked as a research associate writer at the Hoover Institution in Stanford University, California, USA.

From 1969-1972, Dimitry worked for the Radio Liberty at Munich, West Germany.

Further education

At the same time that he was active in broadcasting and in research, Dimitry enrolled in the University of London, England, from which he graduated with a Master of Arts (M.A.) Degree in 1961.

Upon graduating, he entered the London School of Economics, from which he graduated with a Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) Degree in 1967.

In 1967, he defended his doctoral thesis in the United Kingdom.

Dimitry worked as representative of the Labour Alliance at the radio station “Free Russia”, a short-wave radio station which broadcasted into the territory of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and which distributed anti-communist literature.

London, Ontario ; University of Western Ontario, 1972

Then, in 1972, Dimitry Pospielovsky accepted a teaching position at the University of Western Ontario, and he moved back to Canada, to London, Ontario.

From 1972 through1997, Professor Dimitry Pospielovsky taught Russian history and Modern European History at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. During this time, he was actively researching the history of the Orthodox Church in Russia in the 20th century.

From the time of his arrival in London, Dimitry became a member of Christ the Saviour Russian Orthodox Church there.

Christ the Saviour Russian Orthodox Church, London, Ontario

Founding Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church, 1977

In 1977, Professor Dimitry Pospielovsky was one of the founders and active members of the parish of the Holy Transfiguration Orthodox parish in London, Ontario. The other main founder of this parish was Dr. William Bush, who also was a professor at Western University.

The main reason for the founding of this community (already a Greek and a Russian parish existed in the city) was because of the perceived need of the English language. There was a strong concern amongst various persons in the city (of various national backgrounds) that without the availability of the English language in the services, the children of the Orthodox Christian Faithful were greatly at risk of falling away from the Orthodox Christian Faith. Thus, this community had its beginning from an Orthodox Christian Fellowship group that met at the university. It was the young people themselves who perceived this need, and they found support.

Holy Transfiguration Church in the 2000s

There were several other founders of this community, including Vasily and Sarah Fluter, Adnan Chehade and Despina Jennings.

At the very beginning, Dimitry Pospielovsky and William Bush made several attempts to contact Archbishop Sylvester (Haruns), the Archbishop of Montréal and the Archdiocese of Canada of The Orthodox Church in America, in order to have the establishment of the community blessed. However, at this time, Archbishop Sylvester had been so preoccupied with demands on his time from the central administration of The Orthodox Church in America in New York, and also with preparations for an All-American Council to be held in Montréal that he was unable to keep up with correspondence properly. As a consequence of the silence that followed several attempts, the 2 men decided to approach Metropolitan Philip (Saliba), the head of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. From him, they received the blessing.

After this, they found it necessary to search about to find priests who could, from time to time, celebrate the Divine Liturgy for the community. Meanwhile, they pursued the required steps towards incorporation and legal establishment of the community. This took time, but the 2 men worked together in harmony and regular communication, and every necessary step was achieved. In addition, it was necessary to acquire the necessary fundamental requirements for liturgical services, such as icons, holy vessels, coverings for the vessels and for the Holy Table and Table of Oblation, a censer, and other items.

It was not until 1982 that it became possible to secure the first long-term priest for the parish. This was accomplished through Metropolitan Philip's ingenuity.

The earliest places of worship were improvised and challenging, including the use of an office space on the lower floor of an office building. Nevertheless, the weekly experience of setting up and disassembling the “chapel” in that space helped to bind the community together.

First visit to Russia, 1988

For the first time since the end of World War II, Dimitry Pospielovsky could go to Russia in 1988 as a member of the American delegation at the Church Council on the 1000th anniversary of the Christianisation of Rus'. After those changes in the then Soviet Russia, he finally got the opportunity to participate personally in the developments in the revival of Church life, education and theological schools.

From the beginning of the 1990s, he gave lectures on Church history in various Russian and Belarusian educational institutions, including the Institute of Saint Andrew the Apostle, at the Orthodox University in Moscow ; the Holy Apostle John the Theologian Institute in Moscow, and in the Smolensk and Minsk Theological Seminaries. He became a member of the Board of Trustees of the Saint Philaret Orthodox Christian Institute

Retirement, 1997

Dimitry Pospielovsky retired from the University of Western Ontario, 1997, after having taught there for 25 years as Professor of Russian and Modern European History.

A recognised world authority, specialising in the history of soviet atheism, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) of the 20th century, and the Russian Church under the Soviets, Dimitry Pospielovsky then spent much of his time in Russia, where he was researching and investigating the new emerging states of Eurasia.

In December, 2001, Dimitry Pospielovsky went to Zaostrovye (Arkhangelsk) at the invitation of Father John Privalov, the rector of the local Presentation of the Lord Church, and he worked in the parish archives. The result of his efforts was a book-chronicle about the sorrowful history of this church, its clergy and laity.

Professor Dimitry Pospielovsky wrote dozens of monographs, textbooks and articles, mostly on the history of the Orthodox Church in Russia, the USSR and the Russian expatriate community. His most famous work is the monograph, “The Russian Orthodox Church in the Twentieth Century”, which was published in 1995. This work gives the first objective academic description of the history of the Orthodox Church in the Soviet Union. This monograph has been justly recognised as one of the best textbooks on the history of the ROC. In the preface to this work, which might be considered to be the pinnacle of his writings, Professor Pospielovsky wrote the words that could be the motto of everyone who serves in Church studies, and of every Christian :

 Presenting my humble work to the reader, I hope that it will do good for my motherland – Russia : if it helps, 
 even to a small degree, in pursuit of truth and facts, no matter how bitter these might be sometimes ; if it 
 helps to dispel myths, both those that were spread under the old regime as well as those that come to replace 
 them now under the label of 'orthodoxy'.  Neither can myths and lies, from wherever they may emerge, provide 
 grounds for the repentance of all people, which was the desire of the most holy Patriarch Tikhon, as a 
 condition for the spiritual revival of Russia, nor for the moral healing of the nation.

The last great work by Dimitry Pospielovsky was his monograph, “Totalitarianism and Faith” (« Тоталитаризм и Bероисповедание » in Russian). In this work, he considered a very acute and topical problem concerning the fact that the church on earth borrowed collectivist and totalitarian models from totalitarian state systems. This can be also seen in contemporary Russia.

Dimitry Pospielovsky’s activities were in a special way associated with the Saint Philaret Institute in Moscow. For many years, he was a member of the board of trustees of Saint Philaret’s Institute ; he presented papers at conferences held by the brotherhood ; he held lectures on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church, and he supported wholeheartedly the institute and the Transfiguration Brotherhood during difficult situations. All the professors and students of the institute who had the chance to communicate personally with this outstanding man will remember him with gratitude.

One can clearly see that Professor Dimitry Pospielovsky devoted all his life and works to his service to the Church, to Russia, and to the education of the Russian people. A historian, and a professor emeritus of history at the University of Western Ontario, he was a prominent researcher in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Professor Pospielovsky taught variously at Harvard University's Russian Research Centre ; at the London School of Economics ; at the School of Slavic Studies in the University of London ; in the Oklahoma, Carleton, and Wilfred Laurier universities, and in the Moscow and Saint Petersburg Theological Seminaries.

He also published many articles, in English and Russian, on other issues of Russian history in particular, on the workers' movement at the times of Russian Revolutions and on Russian nationalism.

He was the author of publications in the magazines "Grani", "Posev" ("Sowing"), the newspaper "Russkaya Mysl" ("Russian Thought"), and other publications.

In 2003, he published the work “Totalitarianism and Religion,” in which he analyzed the nature of totalitarian regimes (using the examples of the history of the USSR, China, North Korea, and other countries) and their anti-Church activities.

Repose, 2014

Dimitry V Pospielovsky fell asleep in the Lord in London, Ontario, on 12 September, 2014.

He was survived by his wife Mirjana (Dobrovich) Pospielovsky ; his daughter Darya Duma and her husband Mark of Mississauga ; by his son Andrei Pospielovsky and his wife Caroline Bright of Cairo, Egypt ; by his son Bogdan Pospielovsky and Jennifer Venner both of Toronto ; by his sister Marianna Jurkeevich. His sister Olga Mitianin had reposed before him.

There was a memorial service in the evening of 16 September, 2014, led by Father Martin Meitz. The Funeral Service for the Burial of a Lay-person was offered in the Russian Orthodox Church of Christ the Saviour in London, on Wednesday, 17 September, 2014, led by the Archpriest Vladimir Morin. His body was interred at the Woodland Cemetery in London.

Mirjana Pospielovsky, 2023

Reflections

Dimitry Vladimirovich was a decisive critic of various forms of totalitarianism, which he considered it not only anti-human, but also an atheistic temptation :

 Even in the Church, we often see the borrowing of collectivist-totalitarian models, especially in countries that have recently 
 freed themselves from totalitarian state systems, in particular in modern Russia and its Orthodox Church.  Often, clergy, hierarchs, 
 and especially monastic elders (or rather, pseudo-elders) demand from their flocks the complete and unquestioning obedience and 
 execution of any order, as they consider themselves the owners of the ultimate truth, forgetting that the fulness of truth is open 
 only to the Lord God.  But only relative knowledge of the truth is accessible to man.  Then it should be remembered that the authority 
 of Christ was the authority of love, not decree, order.  So the discipline of the Church should be a discipline of love and tolerance.

Dmity Vladimirovich adhered to liberal views on the problems of modern Church life. He believed that in the Russian Orthodox Church it is necessary to change the liturgical charter (Typikon), to reduce the duration of worship when using the Greek experience :

 There is still no parish liturgical typikon in the Russian Church.  We serve according to the monastery typikon.  And the monastery is 
 designed for 8 hours of worship per day.  And naturally, in the parishes, each priest 'cuts' the service in his own way.  The more 
 educated retains the most important places, the less educated - those places where you can sing more, or proclaim something like that, 
 or that brings more income.  The Greeks have a parish typikon, which is completely different than the monastery, and their services 
 last : the liturgy - an hour or an hour fifteen, Vespers - forty-five minutes.  Well, occasionally - usually at Lent - they serve 
 an all-night service, but then it really lasts almost all night.  Usually, only a short Vespers is served on Saturday, and Matins, 
 not more than one hour, is served before the liturgy.

Dimitry Pospielovsky thus expressed the nature of many opinions circulating at the time amongst Orthodox thinkers in the West. These thoughts were quite popular for a time. Although he shared such opinions in Russia, it was (as other events revealed), not yet the time to consider such things as possibilities in Russia. The Church of Russia was still in its early years of fundamental recovery from the decades-long persecution. Even 20 years later, it is not possible to consider such adjustments. At the same time, neither has there been any official (let alone unified) agreement about any such changes in the West.

Dr. Dimitry Pospielovsky was a recognised world authority specialising in the history of soviet atheism, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) of the 20th century, and the Russian Church under the Soviets. Dimitry Pospielovsky then spent much of his time in Russia, where he was researching and investigating the new emerging states of Eurasia, and he gave many lectures, conferences and talks.

Writings

• “Russian police trade unionism: Experiment or provocation?” (research monograph), (Worthing, UK : Littlehampton Book Services Ltd., 1971). ISBN-10 : 0297003550. (Expanded and translated into Russian) “На путях к рабочему праву. Профсоюзы в России” ("On the Roads to the Workers' Right. Trade Unions in Russia") (Posev, 1987), with Janis Sapiets and Keith Bosley : “Russia's Underground Poets” (Praeger, 1968). ASIN : B000AY6VNQ.

• “The samizdat journal 'Veche' : Russian patriotic thought today” (Radio Liberty research paper) (Radio Liberty Committee, 1971). ASIN : B0006WFR9G.

• “The Russian Church Under the Soviet Regime 1917-1982”, 2 volumes (Crestwood, NY : Saint Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1984), vol. 1. ISBN : 0-88141-015-2.

• “Soviet Antireligious Campaigns and Persecutions (History of Soviet Atheism in Theory and Practice and the Believers, Vol. 2)” (New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 1987). ISBN : 0-312-00905-4.

• “A History of Soviet Atheism in Theory and Practice and the Believer: A History of the Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Antireligious Policies Vol. 1” (New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 1987). ISBN : 0-312-38132-8.

• “Soviet Studies on the Church and the Believer's Response to Atheism: A History of Soviet Atheism in Theory and Practice and the Believers, Vol. 3” (New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 1988). Hardcover, ISBN : 0-312-01291-8, paperback, ISBN : 0-312-01292-6.

• “Russian Orthodox Church in the XX Century” (Moscow : Respublika Publishing House, 1995). ISBN : 5-250-02501-3. [available on-line in Russian and in English]

• “Histoire de l'Église russe” together with Nikita Struve, Fr. Vladimir Zelinsky and J C Roberti (Bruyères-le-Châtel, France : Nouvelle Cité, 1995)

• “L'autunno della Santa Russia” (1999) ed. Catholic Monastery in Bose, Italy [“The Fall of Holy Russia” (Bose, Italy : Bose Monastic Community, 1999)].

• “The Orthodox Church in the History of Russia” (Crestwood, NY : Saint Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1998). ISBN : 0-88141-179-5. [ “Pravoslavnaia tserkov’ v istorii Rusi, Rossii i USSR” (Moscow, 1996) ISBN : 5-87507-019-6]

• “Totalitarianism and Faith” (« Тоталитаризм и Bероисповедание ») (Moscow : Biblical-Theological Institute of the Holy Apostle Andrew, 2003). ISBN : 5-89647-074-6.

• “At what Cost ?” [Parish annals of a Temple which was never closed] (Moscow, 2003).

Articles

• 'Metropolitan Nikodim and his Time' in "Sowing" (1979), no. 2, pp. 21-26.

• 'Metropolitan Sergius and the Schisms on the Right' in "Bulletin of the Russian Christian Movement" (Paris, New York, Moscow, 1990), no. 158, pp. 53-81.

• 'The Russian Orthodox Church today and the new Patriarch' in "Bulletin of the Russian Christian movement" (Paris, New York, Moscow, 1990), no. 159, pp. 211-228.

• 'From the History of Russian Church Abroad' (Lectures, read in 1991 in the LDA, MDA, Kostroma DS) in "Church and Time" (1991), no. 1, pp. 19-64 ; no. 2, pp. 53-71.

• 'Word after the Liturgy in Vladimir Cathedral in the Sretensky Monastery 30 June, 1991' in "Orthodox Community", no. 20.

• 'The Press Conference of the Deputies of the Supreme Council of Russia Priest Gleb Yakunin about the Layman Ponomarev' (20 March, 1992, and the round table 22 March, 1992) in "Bulletin of the Russian Christian Movement" (1992) no. 1.

• 'From Patriarch Tikhon to Metropolitan (Patriarch) Sergius : Succession or Betrayal ? (Report at the Conference “Church and Soviet Power in the 20-30s”) (Saint Petersburg, May, 1992) in "Church and Time" (1992) no. 3, pp. 43-60.

• 'Renovationism : Rethinking the Current in the Light of archival Documents' in "Bulletin of the Russian Christian Movement" (Paris, New York, Moscow) (19930 no. 168, pp. 197-227.

• 'Orthodox People about the Church Abroad' in "Bulletin of the Russian Christian Movement", no. 168 (Paris, New York, Moscow, 1993), pp. 228-242.

• 'Vom Patriarchen Tichon zum Metropoliten (Patriarchen) Sergij : Sukzession oder Verrat' in “Kirche im Osten” (1993) no. 36, pp. 84-103. ‘From Patriarch Tikhon to Patriarch Sergiy : Succession or Betrayal’ in “Eastern Church”, no. 36 (1993), pp. 84-103.]

• 'The Role of the Russian foreign Countries in the Spread of Orthodoxy' in "Alpha and Omega", no. 1 (1994), pp. 73-81.

• 'Dangerous Symptoms in modern Russian Orthodoxy' in "Today", (no. 28 (12 February, 1994), p. 11.

• 'Some Problems of the modern Russian Orthodox Church' in "Bulletin of the Russian Christian Movement", no. 172 (Paris, New York, Moscow, 1995), pp. 198-231.

• 'The Role of the Russian foreign Countries in the Spread of Orthodoxy' in "Search for Unity : The Problem of religious Dialogue in the Past and Present" (Moscow : Bible and Theological Institute, 1997), pp. 70-76.

• 'Church Renewal, Renovationism and Patriarch Tikhon' in "Church and Time", no. 2 (1999), pp. 59-298.

• 'Barcode as an Image of the Enemy' in "NG Religions" (22 March, 2000).

• 'Autumn of Holy Russia – Stalin and the Church : the Concordat of 1943 and the Life of the Church' in "Church History Bulletin", no. 6/7 (Moscow, 2000), pp. 209-228.

• 'Stalin and the Church : Concordat of 1943 and the Life of the Church (in the light of archival documents)' in “Continent”, no. 103 (Moscow, 2000).

• 'Reflections on the Book (Review of the Book of Archpriest V Tsypin “History of the Russian Church (1917-1997)”)' in "Church History Journal", no. 6/7 (Moscow, 2000), pp. 231-237.

• ‘The Resurgence of Russian Nationalism in Samizdat’ in “London Journal ‘Survey’”, vol. XIX, no. 1 (Winter, 1973)

• 'About the Mission of Russian Emigration : Spiritual Movements among the People of God' in "History and modernity" [Materials of the international theological conference, Moscow, 2-4 October, 2002] (Moscow : Saint Philaret Orthodox Christian Institute, 2003), pp. 360-371.

• 'On the Way to Collegiality' in "Continent" no. 121 (2004).

• ‘How Stalin Was Resurrecting the Church’ [‘Как Сталин церковь возрождал’] in “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” (12 July, 2000). Available in Russian.

References

Orthodoxwiki biography

Saint Philaret’s Orthodox Christian Institute Biography

Wikipedia biography

Russian Wikpedia biography

“Religious Figures outside Russia : ‘Pospelovsky, Dimitry Vladimirovich’” (in Russian)

Antimodernizm.ru biography “Pospelovsky, Dimitry Vladimirovich” (in Russian)

Additional information :

Daniel, Wallace L, “The Orthodox Church and Civil Society in Russia” (College Station, TX : Texas A&M University Press, 2006), pp. 208–. ISBN-13 : 978-1585445233. Retrieved 14 April 2016.

Funeral home obituary

Saint Philaret Institute obituary

‘Professor Dimitry Vladimirovich Pospelovsky died’ in “Church-Science Centre Orthodox Encyclopedia”

Critical biography in "Dva Grada"

Biography in "Russian religious persons abroad"

Christ the Saviour Russian Orthodox Church, London, Ontario

Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church, London, Ontario

Archbishop Sylvester (Haruns)

Metropolitan Philip (Saliba)

William S Bush

Orthodoxwiki article about the Russian Orthodox Church

Orthodoxwiki article about the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America