“Strange saint” in the historical memory of the community: the case of Boris Talantov

The article is dedicated to the person B.V. Talantov, topic of “strange saints” and sources of Russian religious circles of the 20th century in their connection with the phenomenon of historical memory. Unclaimed texts deposited during the canonization of saints can be considered as sources on the problem of constructing historical memory. This topic is especially relevant in the context of the study of modern “memory wars”.

Materials of the canonization of saints, largely remaining on the periphery of the research interest of religious scholars, can be recognized as a valuable historical source. The canonization of saints in the competing churches of the Russian tradition in the last third of the 20th century projected various, and even conflicting images of historical memory. The paradoxical situation that emerged after 2007, when the Moscow Patriarchate and Russian Orthodox Church Abroad merged into a single structure: lists of saints from different churches should now be agreed upon. A serious obstacle to this was the canonization of the New Martyrs Boris Talantov, a church human rights activist close to dissident circles, who died in prison in 1971. He was canonized in the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in 1981.

Throughout the 60s and 70s B.V. Talantov fought against the closure of the churches of the Vyatka diocese, for freedom of religion and the dignity of believers in the USSR. Talantov was condemned, his life ended in prison, today the conflict of historical memory does not allow reception of Talantov worship in the cultural space of the Moscow Patriarchate. The leadership of the Moscow Patriarchate is not ready to recognize him as a saint and a model for believers. The recognition or non-recognition of Talantov as a saint is associated with a deep conflict of historical memory in society. 

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