STATEMENTS OF MAUGRAS CONCERNING RUSSIAN CHURCH IN PARIS; POSSIBLE RESTORATION OF SOVIET CHAPEL IN ISTANBUL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R000300780008-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 25, 1999
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: February 28, 1947
• Content Type: IR

Document N
NO. CHANGE in Class.
999/09/08 : CIA-RDP82-00457R00030
^ DECLASSIFIED
Class. CHAN-'ED TO: TS S
DDA Mee no , 4. Apr 77
Auth: DDA Rl"G. 77/1763
OWEwGENcE REPORT
COUNTRY'
SU E(ff Statements of Naugras Concerning Frisian
Church in P .r Possible Restoration of
25X1 A6a Soviet Chapel in Istanbul
ORIGIN
25X1X6
25X1A
DATE: 25X1 X6
#G1ST. 28 February 19147
PAGES 25X1 A2g
SUPPLEMENT
~.$ on his arri,sal in Istanbul on 2 darlu r, Gaston Maugras, French Ambassador
in Ankara, lwted?? .tely sent for one of the lair hers of the Pha ar and
indignantly s: ;piained that Louis Fagarde, French Consul. General, by interfering
with the ecclisiasticsl affairs of the Phan ar, had acted entirely on his awn
initiative , w thout any official or private instructions from Paris or Ankara.
He also stated that he; had been completely unaware of the matter until, Pericles
,Skeferis, Gre.. Ambassador to Turker? had approached his on behalf of the
Patriarchate,
2. ultras pointed out that such uaiiportant religious questions as the residence
or Jurisdiction of spiritual leaders abroad was a matter of complete indifference
tA) his gover tint, since the residence o the -piritisal leader of all, French
Catholics is in Rome.
25X1X6
25X1A6a
Maugras f part:y.ng words to the Pha .nar representative sere to the effect that,
as far the quai d'Orsay is conce ed, his government is just as Interested
in haling the Russian Orth cxdo y Church in Paris under the jurisdiction of
London as hav--..ng the Ouddhists in Paris depending on Del-Lama of Tibet.
Comment: The above confirms suspicions that Lagarde
weal probab- y acting upon instructions Sim i ?r,Soviet
Consul General in Istanbul. 25X1 A2g
Comment s distributed on
2 IT 2 January andd 'ebruary 19 a7 respectively, which are
concerned .i th Lagarde's activities in connection with the
o ntroverrsy over the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox
Church in Paris.
It is believed that in the near future orders may be received from Moscow to
restore the chapel of the Soviet Consulate General in. Istanbul and to reopen
it to the public, as t been done in the case of the chapel of the Soviet
Embassy in Vienna. The latter was completely restored, a Metropolitan coming
especially from Moscow for the inauguration, which was attended by high
rang Soviet Army officers o
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