An Archive of Material, Related to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, from the Collection of Archpriest Mikhail Polskii of San Francisco by Various - 1940

Various, 1940. Softcover. Various places, various dates, 1930s to 1960s. Forty two original photographs, various sizes and mediums, many of them with manuscript notes, captions, and inscriptions; eight photo-cards, brochures, etc.; three letters and documents; condition varies from very good - several photos with glue and paper remnants from being pasted to albums (?), a few creases and chips - to near fine or better, with very minor wear.- An interesting archive of photos and papers, documenting events and people of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the life of Mikhail Polskii (1891 - 1960), presumably from his personal collection of material. Archpriest, theologian, and author Polskii entered the Moscow Theological Academy in 1921, which was closed down by the authorities a short time later. He was arrested in 1923, during the 1921 - 1928 Anti-religious Campaign, and sentenced to hard labor at the Solovki Prison Camp, and later, in 1929, he was sent into a 3-year exile in Syktykvar. He escaped in 1930, first to Palestine and in 1934 to Beirut, where he was a Rector of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA) in Beirut. He lived in London from 1938 to 1948, when he came to California. He was the Archpriest of the Cathedral of Joy of All who Sorrow in San Francisco from 1952 until 1959. Many of the photographs are of Polskii himself, alone and with people from his flock, and images of other dignitaries and religious leaders of ROCA. The more memorable ones include portraits of Archbishop Leontii and Arkhimandrit Antonii iof Jerusalem (inscribed). Others depict religious ceremonies and a group photo in front of the Cathedral of Joy of All who Sorrow. The last two images are different - the first that of Nikolai Feodorovich Printsev of the Special Corps of Gendarmes (1911) and the second of the Representatives of the Russian Imperial Family in Bulgaria.- The photo-cards and leaflets contain photos of representatives of ROCA, including Archpriest Vasilii Musin-Pushkin, Bishop Iosif Taganrogskii, and others. - Typed letter signed, by the Russian Technical Association - an emigre organization in Beirut - thanking Mikhail Polskii for the series of religious lectures he has delivered to members of the organization and to Russian community in Lebanon.- Manuscript letter, with the signatures of emigres in London, expressing gratitude for his lectures and explaining that the money enclosed (not present) are to be used to ensure the future of the journal "Na strazh pravoslaviia."-Large certificate of merit, printed, illustrated, and hand-filled, by Feofil Pashkovskii, Archbishop of San Francisco and Bishop of All America and Canada.