Academic Periodical

The article focuses on two significant Moscow church circles that brought together believers (mostly intellectuals) of the 1920 –1930s. At the time when the church was being persecuted by the state, those circles produced a whole host of confessors, who were part of the Maroseika community and the circle of believing intellectuals gathered around the Holy Trinity St Sergius Lavra. The latest research has revealed that the two spiritual groups were closely associated with each other and formed one tighly-knit circle of people sharing a spiritual connection. It appears that the historical magnitude of Frs Alexei and Sergius Mechev for the XX century Russian Orthodox Church is yet to be fully appreciated and requires further in-depth study.