On the Origins of D.S. Merezhkovsky’s “Universal League for Religious and Social Revival” (1927)

This article is a publication of a draft copy of a text entitled “Universal League for Religious and Social Revival” (1927), stored in the writer’s archive at Illinois University. The origin of this text is reconstructed through the context of Merezhkovsky’s social and journalistic activity of the time. It is conjectured that this document grew out of Merezhkovsky’s lecture “Our way to Russia. Irreconcilability or appeasement?” (1927) and the response it had elicited from Russian émigrés. The well-known address of Metropolitan Sergius and the response by Metropolitan Eulogius, which caused a split between Orthodox believers in Russia and in emigration, were reflected in Merezhkovsky’s lecture and inspired the creation of this text. Yet the response of P.N. Milyukov to Merezhkovsky’s lecture steered the debate away from uniting Christians of various denominations and towards the issues of returning to Russia and antisemitism. The text was translated into French, presumably to enable a broad discussion of Merezhkovsky’s proposal. We have been yet unable to determine whether the translation was published

Context (archaeology) · League · Metropolitan area · Social change · Jewish Identity and Society · Religion, Theology, History, Judaism, Christianity · Soviet and Russian History