The leaders of the Orthodox Church showed more courage in dealing with the vigorous assault on religion than did the leaders of AUCECB [Evangelical churches in Russia]. What showed particular courage was Aleksy’s public pronouncement in February 1960 at a Conference of the Soviet Public for Disarmament. After listing all the wonderful things the Church had given to Russia, the patriarch stated:
“Yet, despite all this, Christ’s Church, whose very aim is human well-being, is suffering insults and attacks from humans…. Jesus Christ himself predicted indestructibility of the Church when he said: The gates of hell will not overcome the Church.”
The great irony is that it was Metropolitan Nikolai, the sycophant to the Kremlin on foreign policy, who had written the patriarch’s speech. Also a factor in his falling out with the Soviet overlords was a collection of his unpublished sermons which responded strongly to atheist attacks on religion. Such is the mystery of life that within the same breast can beat both the heart of a coward and a man of courage.