Serbian Orthodox Church gets archive materials about ecclesiastical life in Serbia in the period between two world wars

At the solemn assembly held in Niš, Serbia, in honour of the 1700th anniversary of the Edict of Milan, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia presented His Holiness Patriarch Irinej of Serbia with the digitized copies of the archive materials of the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church for the period between the two world wars.

In 2012, Patriarch Irinej asked the Russian authorities to return the documents which were taken to the USSR in 1945 in unclear circumstances and deposited in the State Archive of the Russian Federation.

The Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate made a request to the Federal Archive Agency, and its head, Mr. Andrei Artizov, resolved to deliver electronic copies over to the Serbian Church.

His Holiness Patriarch Irinej expressed his cordial gratitude for delivering these valuable archive materials on the history of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the said period.

Source: Moscow Patriarchate