The “Case” of Patriarch Tikhon and Czechoslovak-Soviet Relations in April-June 1923 (According to the Documents of the Soviet Plenipotentiary Representation in Prague)

Abstract

Based on published and archival documents, the author examines Czechoslovakia’s policy towards the USSR during the preparation of the trial of Patriarch Tikhon in the spring of 1923. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the dispatches of the Soviet plenipotentiary representative in Prague Konstantin K. Yurenev to the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. In his reports he mentioned the publications in the Czechoslovak and Russian emigrant press and the mass meetings in Prague in defense of Patriarch Tikhon. The Czechoslovak People’s Party and the National Democratic Party showed the greatest activity in organizing them, demanding that the Czechoslovak government completely break off relations with the USSR. Yurenev emphasized that due to religious persecution in the USSR, the circle of opponents of cooperation with the Soviet government in Czechoslovakia had significantly expanded. Czechoslovak diplomacy did not bring matters to a complete break in relations with Moscow, but Foreign Minister E. Beneš, citing the threat of a government crisis, reneged on his promise to bring to the meeting of the National Assembly of the Czechoslovak Republic the question of ratification of the Soviet-Czechoslovak Provisional Treaty of June 5, 1922.

Received: 21.04.2025.
Revised: 05.08.2025.
Accepted: 16.09.2025.

Citation
Stankov N. N. The “Case” of Patriarch Tikhon and Czechoslovak-Soviet Relations in April-June 1923 (According to the Documents of the Soviet Plenipotentiary Representation in Prague) // Slavic Almanac. 2025. No 3–4. P. 53–76 (in Russian). DOI: 10.31168/2073-5731.2025.3-4.03