Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate

It began to be published in 1931, thirteen years after the closure in 1918 of the “Church Gazette” , the official organ of the Holy Synod. The name of the magazine itself indicated that it “is an exponent of true church self-consciousness” (ZhMP. 1931. No. 1. P. 1) ^[1] .

The magazine was announced as monthly, but only 6 issues were published in the first year of publication; further (1932-1935) the magazine came out even less frequently (once every 4 months) and had continuous numbering (8 issues were doubled). The magazine did not have a cover, its circulation was 3,000 copies, and its volume was from 8 to 14 pages along with calendar information for the next few months ahead (it was not possible to publish the church calendar as a separate publication then) ^[1] .

After the closure of update magazines, it remained the only church publication in the USSR ^[2] .

24 issues appeared, then the release in 1935 ^[3] was banned by the authorities.

After the break, it resumed in 1943 : No. 1 is dated September 12 ^[4] , on the day of the intronization of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Sergius . The circulation of 3,000 copies was printed at one of the best printing enterprises in Moscow - at the printing house No. 18 of the Polygraphbook trust of the OGIZ . From the second issue in 1943, the circulation of the oil products was increased to 5,000 copies, and starting from No. 9 in 1944, it amounted to 6,000 copies ^[5] .

The magazine was designed for the clergy, its function was to transmit information: covering events of church life (including in dioceses and abroad), publishing resolutions of the Holy Synod , decrees and messages of the Patriarch, etc. Also on the pages of the IMF were published sermons, studies on theological and church-historical topics, etc. ^[2] .

For a long time in the Soviet period, the magazine was the only church print organ that was relatively accessible to believers in the USSR. As noted in 2000, the chief editor of the publishing house of the Moscow Patriarchate, Archbishop Bronnitsky Tikhon (Emelyanov) ^[6] :

Despite the well-known limitations of the era of totalitarianism, the magazine nevertheless played a very large role in the life of the Church. Of course, in its level it was not comparable with pre-revolutionary publications - not in terms of volume (it’s enough to recall that in the 30s it had 8-10 pages, in the 40s - 40-60 and only since 1954 - the current 80 ), neither in relation to circulation (it was almost impossible for an ordinary believer to get it), nor in relation to content. Nevertheless, it was that small light that the hostile winds of the era could not extinguish. They were drawn to him, all the few at that time theological, literary church forces gathered around him. At different times, they worked in the Journal, and prominent Russian theologians, liturgists, church historians, and Slavic scholars collaborated with him. This tradition continues today.

The circulation of the issue was 25 thousand copies, in 1984 it was increased to 30 thousand copies.

In 1971-1994, the publication was also published in English - The Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate ^[2] .

In connection with the reorganization of the Publishing Department of the Moscow Patriarchate at the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1994 and the removal of Metropolitan Pitirim (Nechaev) from its leadership, the release of the FMC was temporarily suspended - for the first time since 1943. For the first 9 months of 1995, only 2 issues were released: No. 5 (for Easter) and a special issue. Through the efforts of the new editor-in-chief, Bishop Tikhon (Emelyanov), the missing numbers were prepared for several months and the debt to the subscribers of the ZhMP was eliminated. The magazine’s decoration has changed significantly: illustrations have become color, their number has increased significantly ^[7] .

During its existence, design and format have changed more than once. At the beginning of the 2000s, the format was 70x100 1/16, 80 bands.

In the spring of 2009, Patriarch Kirill raised the question of bringing the contents and appearance of the magazine in line with the tasks facing the Russian Orthodox Church ^[8] . In April 2009, Sergey Chapnin , who reorganized the publication, was appointed executive editor of the magazine. Since January 2010, the magazine has been published in a new format on 96 pages ^[9] . As Sergey Chapnin noted:

I admit that what I did with <...> the "Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate" in 2009 was nothing new. I simply returned to the forgotten traditions of Russian church journalism of the late XIX - early XX centuries. Namely, he revived the unofficial part in official publications. This is the only way to show that behind a strict church facade there was, is and will be real life ^[10] .

Since July 2012, a specialized appendix to the ZhMP Khramozdatel has been released. On May 4, 2013, the iPad version of the magazine ^[11] was launched.

In September 2011, with the blessing of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, the editorial board of the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate was created ^[12] :

• Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk (chairman),
• Chairman of the Synodal Department of Religious Education and Catechesis, Metropolitan Mercury of Rostov and Novocherkassk (Ivanov) ,
• Chairman of the Synodal Department for Charity and Social Ministry Bishop Panteleimon of Smolensk and Vyazemsky (Shatov) ,
• Executive Secretary of the Patriarchal Council for Culture, Metropolitan Tikhon of Pskov and Porkhov (Shevkunov) ,
• Chairman of the Patriarchal Commission for Family Affairs, Protection of Motherhood and Childhood Dimitry Smirnov ,

• Chairman of the Synodal Information Department Vladimir Legoyda
• Executive Editor of the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate Evgeny Strelchik.

• Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) (1931-1935)
• Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Sergius (1943-1944)
• Metropolitan of Leningrad (since 1945 - Patriarch) Alexy (Simansky) (1944-1946)
• Metropolitan Nikolai (Yarushevich) (1946-1960)
• Bishop, Archbishop Nicodemus (Rotov) (1960-1961)
• Archimandrite, Bishop, Archbishop, Metropolitan Pitirim (Nechaev) (1962-1994)
• Bishop, Archbishop Tikhon (Emelyanov) (1995-2000)
• Archpriest Vladimir Siloviev (2000—2017)
• Bishop Nikolai (Pogrebnyak) (since 2017)

• Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate
• Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church

• Archpriest Michael Dronov . Chief Editor. Memoirs of an eyewitness // ZhMP. - No. 8. - August 2011.
• Archpriest Michael Dronov . Chief Editor. Memoirs of an Eyewitness (Part II) // ZhMP. - No. 9. - September 2011.
• Yereskin M. G. “Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate” as a source on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church // Scientific notes of the Oryol State. un-that. Series: humanities and social sciences. - No. 4. - 2014.
• Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate // Euclid - Ibsen. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1972. - ( Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vol.] / Ch. Ed. A. M. Prokhorov ; 1969-1978, vol. 9).
• Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate // Atheistic Dictionary / Abdusamedov A.I., Aleinik R.M., Alieva B.A. et al .; under the general. ed. M.P. Novikova . - 2nd ed., Rev. and add. - M .: Politizdat , 1985 .-- S. 154. - 512 p. - 200,000 copies.
• Nikitin V. A. Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate // Religions of the Peoples of Modern Russia: Dictionary / ed. Mchedlov M.P. (ed.), Averyanov Yu.I. , Basilov V.N. et al. - 2nd ed., And additional. - M .: Republic , 2002. - S. 99. - 624 p. - 4000 copies. - ISBN 5-250-01818-1 .
• Rodchenko V. A. Typological features of the “Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate” as an official pan-church publication // Philological Sciences. Questions of theory and practice. - Tambov: Diploma, 2011. - No. 2. - P. 142-148. - ISSN 1997-2911.

• The official website of the magazine
• The official website of the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate and the newspaper Church Bulletin
• Archive of the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate from 1943 to 1954
• Archive of the magazine since 2000
• Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate on the site "patriarchia.ru"
• Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate on the portal Bogoslov.Ru