Irina Smirnova1; 1 The Institute of Russian History of the Russian Ac, Russian Federation
Discussion
The report will be concerned with the activity of George Williams, fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, (1814-1878), who in the 1860s became one of the proponents of the Anglican-Orthodox rapprochement. Based on the materials from the George Williams Foundation available at King’s College (Cambridge), the report will address the goals and objectives of the British missionary policy underlying the establishment of the Jerusalem Bishopric in 1841, which prioritized the creation of links between the Church of England and the Orthodox Patriarchates of the East. The formation of the idea of bringing the Church of England closer to the Russian Orthodox Church actually implemented in the establishment of the Eastern Greek Committee of the American Episcopal Church (1862) and the Eastern Church Association in England (1864) will be demonstrated in this report by the example of Williams' contacts with leading Russian diplomats and hierarchs. However, the work of British missionaries among the Orthodox population of Eastern Europe was predominantly proselytic, which suggests the political aspect of the Anglican-Orthodox dialogue, objectives of which went beyond the rapprochement of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Anglican Church, and used British diplomacy as an instrument for extending the political influence of Great Britain in countries with Christian population subject to the jurisdiction of the Eastern Patriarchates.
