Vladika Panteleimon then wrote to Metropolitan Sergius in Moscow, asking that his taking control of the Grodno parishes be confirmed by assigning him as Bishop of Pinsk and Novogrudok. He received a reply that he was officially assigned to the Pinsk Diocese, accorded the right to wear the diamond cross on his klobuk, and appointed as Patriarchal Exarch of Byelorussia and Ukraine. He was also directed to take charge of reuniting the parishes now in Soviet territory with the Moscow Patriarchate from the Polish Church, and invited to Moscow. Archbishop Panteleimon arrived in Moscow in early June of 1940, and served with Metropolitan Sergius on 10 June. In a decree of 29 June 1940, Vladika Panteleimon was named Bishop of Grodno and Vileyka, combining his diocese with the part of the Vilna Diocese that remained in Soviet Byelorussia. [1]op. cit. 47
Returning from Moscow, Archbishop Panteleimon “spoke with joy of the light of Christ emitted from the hearts of the faithful. He asked that people pray for Metropolitan Sergius, and said he was a prisoner. He said also to pray for the Martyred Church, the Church of prisoners.” He concluded stating that, “Even in Her prostrate condition, the enemies of Christ are afraid of Her.” [2]op. cit. 55
In July 1940, Metropolitan Nikolai (Yarushevich 1891-1961) arrived in Lutsk, having been appointed as Patriarchal Exarch of Ukraine and Byelorussia. Archbishop Panteleimon was relieved of that position. Archbishop Panteleimon”s Diocese of Grodno and Vileyka was large in area, including 307 parishes. At the age of 73, Vladika Panteleimon needed assistance with the duties involved with operating the Diocese. He requested that his friend, Archimandrite Venedikt (Bobkovsky), Abbot of the Zhirovitsky Monastery, be consecrated as Bishop of Brest, Vicar of the Grodno-Vileyka Diocese. Vladika Panteleimon’s request, as well as the report of Metropolitan Nikolai (Yarushevich), Patriarchal Exarch of Byelorussia and Ukraine, led to the consecration of Archimandrite Venedikt on 30 Mar 1941 in Moscow. Ten Bishops were present, eight of them from the areas then under the occupation of the Red Army-Volhynia, Western Byelorussia, and the Baltic countries. Metropolitan Sergius presided over the consecration. Afterwards, Bishop Venedikt continued to reside in the Zhirovitsky Monastery with Archbishop Panteleimon. [3]op. cit. 55
“June 22, 1941 Germany began military operations against the Soviet Union. The sudden and devastating attack of German airplanes and tanks across the front lines paralyzed the resistance of Soviet troops and forced them to retreat inland. The Soviet army was losing tens of thousands dead, wounded and captured. Within a month of war, German troops occupied all of Belarus, most of the Ukraine including Kiev, and the Baltics. Byelorussian cities were hard hit by German air raids. Rail service has been destroyed, and was unable to operate, so that the urban population starved. Belarus presented a sad picture of destruction.
German troops found the church and religious life in Eastern Belarus and Ukraine in ruins. There were no Bishops and priests, the churches were closed and converted into warehouses, theaters, and many were destroyed. There were no monasteries, the monks were scattered in all directions, many had died in exile and in prisons. But there were many believers.
In Minsk, the capital of Belarus, of nine churches, only one in the military cemetery outside the city. Others had been converted and adapted for different household needs. The three center city churches, the Cathedral, the Bishop”s church, and the church near the railway station had been demolished. Catholic churches had survived, but in the cathedral archives were stored, and the other used as a cinema. Public worship had not taken place in the city for many years.
With the arrival of German troops, the faithful began to restore the Church life that had been destroyed. The German military authorities assisted with this in a calculation for the purchase of national sympathy. There were priests who for years had hidden their dignity, fearing persecution. The Germans gave them certificates entitling them to freely conduct services and perform pastoral duties in conditions of military occupation. The believers took to the priests with love, rebuilt ruined churches, decorated them with their own icons, brought church liturgical objects and books that had been treasured in their homes, safe from the sight of infidels and persecutors of faith. Worship services began to take place in crowded churches. The priests were very few, and the need for them was very great. The priests had to perform the sacrament of baptism of children and adults, dozens at a time. It was the second baptism of Russia, as if a revival of the Orthodox Faith in every open space of Eastern Belarus.” [4]op. cit. 55
In Warsaw, too, things were changing for the situation of the Church. After the German occupation of Poland, the Germans soon informed Metropolitan Dionisy of their plans for the Polish Orthodox Church. Metropolitan Dionisy, of course, neither wanted to lose his position, nor abandon the Autocephaly of the Polish Church. He wrote Archbishop Seraphim (Lade, later Metropolitan), head of ROCOR’s German Diocese, that he should simply attach his Diocese to the Polish Orthodox Church. When the Germans acquainted him with the reality of the situation, Metropolitan Dionisy peacefully “surrendered.” He again wrote Archbishop Seraphim that since “Polish territory now belongs to German interests,” the situation required “unification of the former Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Poland with the church organization that you represent.” [5]op. cit. 37 In March 1940, the German occupation government in Poland announced a temporary statute of church administration, which stated that Archbishop Seraphim was to be considered as the “Locum Tenens of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church” in German occupied Poland. Archbishop Seraphim immediately went to work to correct the worst of the innovations which the Polish Church had adopted at the order of both the Polish Government and the Patriarchate of Constantinople, that is, the innovations that were the most painful to the faithful. Archbishop Seraphim returned the Polish Church to the Orthodox Church (Julian) Calendar, and forbade the clergy to shave and cut their hair. Also, Archbishop Seraphim was able to accomplish the return of 75 churches, and the Turkovitskaya Convent to the Orthodox; they had been confiscated by the Polish government. [6]op. cit. 37
