I recently found a very peculiar clip on YouTube, an amateur documentary about a conflict within the Russian Orthodox Church circa 1913. It´s on a Hare Krishna channel called Theology Unleashed, hosted by "Arjuna", an ISKCON supporter in New Zealand. Below, I also link to an (unrelated) article introducing the controversy described in the documentary.
The short story is that a book by a certain Ilarion or Hilarion, "Na Gorakh Kavkaza", theologically radicalized a group of Russian Orthodox monks at Mount Athos, the "monk republic" in Greece, which at this point seems to have been under de facto Russian sway. (Ilarion himself was a former Athonite monk, but lived in the Caucasus and doesn´t seem to have been directly involved in the controversy.) The controversy soon turned ugly, when self-proclaimed supporters of Ilarion´s ideas unseated their abbot (who refused to accept the "heresy") and violently expelled him and his associates from one of the Russian monasteries at Athos. Eventually, the Russian Orthodox Church intervened with the help of Russian soldiers and naval warships (!), rounding up the rebellious monks and deporting them back to Russia, where they were promptly defrocked. Ironically, this extreme use of foreign force was supported by the Greek authorities, who hoped to capitalize on the internal conflicts between Russian factions at Athos, hoping that the "monk republic" would thereby become more subservient to Greece.
The leader of the "heretics" at Athos, Anthony Bulatovitch, came from an aristocratic social background and had theological education, while most of the rebellious monks were uneducated and of peasant stock. (The documentary speculates that there might have been a hidden class dimension to the conflicts at Athos.) The later fate of the "heretics" isn´t entirely clear. Both the docu and the article linked below claims that Czar Nicholas II was sympathetic to the "heretics" (!) and that this somehow forced the Russian Orthodox Synod to attempt a reconciliation with the unrepentant monks, but no firm resolution to the conflict was to take place before the October revolution (which of course mooted the whole issue). The documentary claims that a large group of "heretics" living in the Caucasus were tracked down by the Communist regime circa 1930 and killed. Anthony had been murdered already during the Civil War under unclear circumstances.
What was the "heresy" that triggered the violent clashes involving monks, Church authorities and even naval war vessels? And why would the Hare Krishna (of all people) be interested? The "heresy" in question is known as Imiaslavie (Name-Glorifying) by its supporters, and Imiabozhie (Name-Worshipping) by opponents (well, I think!). The basic idea is that the Name of God is somehow identical to God himself, but obviously, this notion can be interpreted in various ways. The opponents chose to see it as a pantheistic deviation, and Ilarion´s original book was roundly condemned by both the Russian Orthodox Synod and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (in ecclesiastical matters, Mount Athos was at least formally under the latter´s jurisdiction). To supporters, the Name of God is an uncreated divine energy and hence in that sense "identical" to God. The whole thing reminds me of the medieval hesychast controversy, in which the hesychasts claimed that they could see the uncreated light of God during the Jesus Prayer (note the Name). And yes, that too was on Athos. Hesychasm was eventually declared orthodox. Logically, Imiaslavie seems to be based on similar notions, but it seems the conflict between unruly mystics and the Church hierarchy is perennial even within Orthodoxy!
The connection to the Hare Krishna or ISKCON should now be obvious. Or perhaps to the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition within Hinduism. They believe that the Hare Krishna mantra chanted by devotees is somehow identical to Krishna (a personal god). The mantra is a divine incarnation. The narrator also points out that many other religious traditions consider God´s name to have a special nature, not just being a string of syllables invented by humans. It´s a divine revelation.
"Arjuna" says at the end of the production that he didn´t really know what he got himself into when making it. Probably not, and the narrator/narrators do mispronounce many English words. The choice of movie clips to illustrate various points in the narrative is also curious at times. Still, it does give a good overview of the controversy as described at various (pro-Imiaslavie) websites. Could be worth watching, all things considered.
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