The Siberian Church Council: Experience of Modern Archeography

The article is a review of a documents collection “The Siberian Council Meeting of 1918: Materials” repared by the well known Omsk church historian Dmitry Vladimirovich Olikhov. It was published in Moscow in 2020. It contains an informative introductory article on the Siberian Council and publishes its documents known at present date, as well as materials from the periodicals and memoirs. The article emphasizes the relevance of the book and its scientific significance. Institutional and historical-anthropological approaches provide scientific basis to the documents collection and, accordingly, to this article devoted to its analysis. The principles of consistency and determinism have made it possible to characterize the publication, considered as a phenomenon of science with its particular structure and at the same time as a part of the historical scholarship. Due to specifics of the topic, the main scientific method used in this publication is problematic. The article contains critical remarks and considerations on the introductory article prefacing the analyzed documents collection. It offers its opinions on main initiators of the Tomsk Council and its results. The article disputes the author-compiler’s point of view that the Siberian Council managed to avoid political extremes. Drawing on the analysis of documentary materials from the said collection, the author of the article claims that the Tomsk Council Meeting created conditions for consolidation of right-wing politicians and religious leaders on anti-Bolshevik platform. Despite his expressed criticism, the author of this article is of the opinion that publication of generally available materials on the Siberian Council Meeting and similar publications on the All-Ukrainian Church Council and the South-Eastern Church Council create opportunities for comparative historical analyses of these church forums. In conclusion the article expresses hope that the established source base should allow us to expect an appearance of new articles and monographs on the development of the conciliar principle in the Russian Orthodox Church during the Civil War in Russia.