The Quarterly Journal of St. Philaret’s Institute

“The Letter to the Deans” from the Council of United Parishes of Moscow is introduced for the first time into scientific use. The document provides new information on the activities of the Council, in particular, on its s trive to expand its activities over the deaneries of the Moscow province. The Council of United Parishes of Moscow, established on 30 January 1918, became a new form of administrating parish life on the basis of sobornost principle. The Council brought together representatives of the Moscow diocese clergy and laity, elected at parish and deanery meetings. Its major aims were to protect the Church from the Bolsheviks’ offense and to organise the church life under heavy circumstances. The document is kept in one of the 1919–1929 investigation dossiers at the Moscow provincial court and contains the investigator’s notes.