The Decree of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin No.1710 of December 29, 2012 established the Russian Military Historical Society (RMHS). It inherited the most important functions and activities of the Imperial Russian Military Historical Society that existed before the Russian Revolution. According to the RMHS Charter, its objectives are “to consolidate the forces of State and society in studying Russia’s military and historical past, to promote the study of Russian military history, to counter attempts to distort it, to ensure the popularization of achievements in military and historical science, to foster patriotism, to improve the status of military service and to preserve the objects of military and historical cultural heritage.” The Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky was elected Chairman of the RMHS at the Founding Congress held on March 14, 2013 in the Museum of the Great Patriotic War on Poklonnaya Hill. Among the members of the Council of the RMHS are the Minister of Defense Sergey Shoigu, the Minister of the Interior Vladimir Kolokoltsev, heads of several other ministries and departments, as well as representatives of large businesses known for their charity in the held of culture and art: Renova Group CEO Viktor Vekselberg, JSFC Sistema major shareholder Vladimir Yevtushenkov, Chairman of the Management Board of JSC Transneft Nikolay Tokarev, St Andrew the First-Called Foundation Chairman Vladimir Yakunin et al.
In his address to the participants of the RMHS Founding Congress, President Vladimir Putin said, inter alia:
It is very nice that today, the work of similar organizations is being revived. As you know, we already have active Orthodox Palestinian Society, Russian Geographical Society, Russian Historical Society, and now we have Russian Military Historical Society as well. Many of you worked actively in these areas even before this Society was revived, and up to this day. Now, I will have the pleasure of fulfilling my honourable duty as head of state in presenting many of you with state decorations, certificates of merit for your practical labours in all these areas, which are highly important for our state. I am referring to your care for our military in search parties and archives, holding large-scale patriotic events – the awards recognize your efforts, your active civic patriotic positions.[23]
At the beginning of the 20
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The organizational structure of the Russian Military-Historical Society comprises the Russian Cossack Mission in the USA, which coordinates the interaction between the RMHS with the World Cossack Association (WCA) and various corporate, museum and memorial organizations of the Cossack emigration, such as the Kuban Cossacks Corporation (New Jersey), the Cossack People’s Union (California). This includes joint commemorative events related to the history of Russian Cossacks and the return of Cossack relics and archives to their homeland. The Cossack People’s Union is officially a partner of the RMHS. In October 2015, Alexander Pevnev, the Ataman of the Kuban Cossacks in the USA, and Valery Annenkov, the RMHS Commissioner for Cossack Affairs in the USA, arrived in Novocherkassk to participate in the Fifth World Cossack Congress and brought with them the Icon of the New Martyrs of Russia, which was to be given to one of the churches in a village of Kaletvin province of the Rostov region as a gift from the emigrant Cossacks. The RMHS Commissioner for Cossack Affairs in the United States also managed to reach an agreement with the World Cossack Association regarding the transfer to Russia of a set of Cossack periodicals that were published in 1920s-1950s in Prague, Paris, and New York and have been maintained in WCA’s archives. As reported on the RMHS website, the head of the World Cossack Association Vasily Lyashko expressed his hope that ‘the transfer of Cossack magazines from the U. S. to Russia is one of the steps within the framework of the collaboration between the RMHS and the WCA on the basis of the previously adopted Treaty on joint activities of the RMHS and the WCA.’[24]
The Russian Cossack Mission in the USA is not only a participant, but also an organizer of the most important events of the Cossack community abroad. On January 7, 2016, for instance, a conference dedicated to one of the most significant events in Russian military history (the manifesto of Alexander I on the expulsion of Napoleon’s troops from Russia in 1812) was held in the premises of the Cossack museum and club “New Kuban” (New Jersey, USA) by the RMHS office in the USA. The conference timed to coincide with the Orthodox Christmas was attended by military historians and representatives of Cossack and other Russian American organizations. The ties with the Russian community living abroad are strengthened through the partnership between the RMHS, the Scouts Federation Galitskaya Rus and the Center for Development of Relations between the Autonomous Province of Bolzano and Russia n. a. Nadezhda Borodina.
Today, the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society is also a center for creative interaction between a wide range of scientific, cultural and educational personalities of Russia and the Russian world. In 1990, the International Conference on “Russia and Palestine: cultural and religious ties, past present and future” was held in Moscow, while a group of employees of the Russian Palestine Society of the USSR Academy of Sciences visited the Holy Land for the first time in quite a long time. These events marked the beginning of the revival of Orthodox pilgrimage that became one of key topics in the process of general ideological and socio-cultural transformation of the Russian society, and also in the context of a dialogue with Russian emigrants, who showed keen interest in events of church life in Russia and resumed visits to the Holy Land. The Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (the IOPS) restored its historical name in 1992, having gained a wide popularity and public credibility, which subsequently contributed to the expansion of its multiple organizational, scientific and cultural ties with the Russian world, as well as with Russia-based organizations and agencies promoting cooperation with Russians living abroad. This process was promoted through Israeli authorities’ support to the activities of the IOPS as a whole and of its branches established in Jerusalem and Bethlehem in 2005. In 2008, the government of Israel made an official decision to transfer ownership of Sergey’s Courtyard, which housed the Jerusalem branch of the IOPS, to the Russian Federation. These events coincided with the final stage of canonical reunification between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, which gave additional impetus for the Russian emigration to get closer to Russian religious and cultural institutions abroad, including the IOPS structures.
The Jerusalem branch of the IOPS is essential for establishing and developing scientific interaction between Russian scientists (historians, orientalists, biblical scholars) and their Israeli counterparts, including those representing the Russian-speaking community in Israel. Representatives of the IOPS branch in Jerusalem collaborate with specialists from the University of Jerusalem and the Ben Zvi Institute conducting research on the history and culture of the Holy Land and Jerusalem, but also with those from the School of Tourism in Haifa and several other educational institutions where IOPS staff give lectures to professors and academic personnel.
Since 2014, the IOPS branch in Jerusalem has been continuously cooperating with the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, including through courses on “The Russian Trail in Jerusalem” for Israeli tour guides. The Sergius Readings named to honour the memory of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and dedicated to the history of the Holy Land, as well as the history of the IOPS itself are one of the forms of cultural and educational work of the IOPS Jerusalem branch. These lectures are a modern version of the Palestinian readings for pilgrims that the IOPS has been conducting before the Russian Revolution. Pilgrims, representatives of the Orthodox Church, scientists and artists from Israel, Russia, and the CIS countries take part in them, and as a result we can consider the Sergius Readings in Jerusalem as another platform for intellectual dialogue within the global system of the Russian world. For example, the Sergius Readings in February 2014 were attended by the participants of the 7th session of the Chief Editors Club of the CIS, Baltic States, and Georgia.[25]
The activities of the IOPS are carried out in line with Russia’s general foreign policy aimed at strengthening peace in the Middle East and expanding economic and cultural cooperation with the states of the region. Strengthening ties with Russian-speaking communities and programs promoting Russian language and culture abroad make a significant contribution to this end. The IOPS is directly involved in the preparation and implementation of such programs. Thus, the Russian Centre for Science and Culture (RCSC) was inaugurated in June 2012 in Bethlehem in the presence of the Russian President Vladimir Putin. One of its premises was allocated to the office of the IOPS Bethlehem branch. The Center foundation and development project was implemented thanks to the collaboration between Rossotrudnichestvo, institutions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Palestinian Society through the sponsorship of Rosneft.
On July 3, 2012, the Voice of Russia broadcasted a conversation of Konstantin Kosachev, Head of Rossotrudnichestvo and Russian President’s Special Envoy for relations with CIS member-states, and Sergey Stepashin, Chairman of the IOPS and the Russian Book Union. This meeting was held on the occasion of the opening of the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Palestine and was devoted to the role of Russian books in shaping the international image of Russia, as well as to cultural opportunities as a tool for exercising geopolitical influence. ‘Our center in Bethlehem,” said Konstantin Kosachev, ‘is a freestanding building in the historic center of Bethlehem with an area of more than 3 thousand meters. It is a two-storey building with large exhibition spaces, a concert hall, a choreography class and a music class. Of course, there are three classes for Russian lessons. There is everything that must be in a Russian cultural and scientific center.’ The head of Rossotrudnichestvo also emphasized that the RCSC in Palestine is a very timely and relevant institution, since about 3 thousand Russian citizens and several tens of thousands of Russian compatriots, including about 15 thousand graduates of Soviet and Russian universities live in this region. ‘This center will definitely attract not dozens, but hundreds, maybe even thousands of people every day,’ said Konstantin Kosachev. ‘In my opinion, no less important is the fact that this center emerged (I believe this is the first experience of the kind) as a unique model of public-private partnership,’[26] he added. Russian compatriots are particularly attracted by one of the units of the RCSC, namely by the library of Russian classical and modern books designed to store 3.5 thousand volumes, most of which had been brought to Bethlehem for the opening of the Center. The Russian Book Union, Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library, Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russia Abroad and Rossotrudnichestvo acted as philanthropists who gave books to the newly established RCSC.
In March 2013, a memorable capsule was laid in the foundation of the first secondary school in Palestine with the study of Russian as the main foreign language. The ceremony was attended by the President of the IOPS, Sergey Stepashin. The IOPS carries out similar work in cooperation with agencies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, cultural organizations of Russian compatriots abroad, Orthodox episcopates and parishes in Egypt, Lebanon and other Christian countries of Early Christianity that traditionally attract the interest of pilgrims and tourists from Russia and the Russian world. The IOPS is also actively involved in the international social movement for protecting Christian population and international cultural heritage in Syria and other countries of the Middle East against attacks by Islamist terrorist groups, The participants emphasize that the opening of a Russian school in Palestine is important not only as a sign of respect for the traditions (before the Russian Revolution the IOPS managed 100 schools for Palestinian children there), but also as a factor for increasing Russia’s international standing.
On December 2, 2013, the Centre of Russian Culture in Tallinn hosted the opening ceremony of the Imperial Palestinian Orthodox Society’s branch in Estonia. A delegation from the Moscow branch of the association took part in the event. The opening of the IOPS office in the Estonian capital on December, 5 was also timed to coincide with the commemoration day of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II (Ridiger), who for many years was the Chairman of the IOPS Honorary Members Committee. This event was enthusiastically welcomed by Russian-speaking Estonian intellectuals, who perceived a newly established Estonian branch of the IOPS as another important dimension of cultural cooperation with Russia and the Russian world, and also as a contribution to the revival of spiritual traditions within the local Russian community. (In 1920s-1930s Estonia was an important centre of life for Russian Orthodox compatriots living abroad, while later on, Pühtitsa Convent remained one of the few active monasteries in the USSR). The IOPS contributed to the restoration of several Orthodox churches, the expansion of cultural, educational, and publishing activities targeting the Russian-speaking population, the increase in the number of tourists and pilgrims, which is also of great economic importance for Russian-speaking Estonians. In connection with the opening of the Estonian branch of the IOPS headed by the entrepreneur Alexander Volokhonsky, a photo exhibition on the history of Russian Palestine, prepared by George the Victorious Charitable Foundation in Estonia, was held. In April 2014, this exhibition moved to Narva Museum, where it also aroused great interest among Russian compatriots.
In Russia, the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society supports research, publishing, museum, and exhibition projects, including those related to the history and culture of the Russia abroad. The cooperation between the IOPS and Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russia Abroad, which supports its organizational activities, exhibitions, presentations of the IOPS publications, etc. is quite characteristic. On 3 June 2014, Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russia Abroad hosted a meeting of the Third Conference of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society. (Since 2008, the Conference is the supreme governing body of the IOPS). In the lobby of the House of Russia Abroad a photo exhibition was held by the full member of the IOPS Vladimir Shelgunov with art photos of landscapes and memorable places of the Holy Land. The exhibition also had a IOPS souvenir shop. An address of the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, honorary member of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society, was read out at the opening of the Conference, stating, inter alia, the following: