Joseph Stalin met with Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Russia

On April 10, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR Joseph Stalin received the newly elected Patriarch Alexy. They had a conversation about the affairs of the Orthodox Church, according to Izvestia.

According to the publication, Molotov, Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, took part in the conversation, as well as Metropolitan Nikolai Krutitsky and Protopresbyter Nikolai Kolchitsky.

There were exactly 29 days left until the Great Victory.

The recording of that meeting remains unpublished to this day. According to historians, it discussed the international activities of the church.

The material was published as part of the Izvestia special project "80 days to Victory."

All articles of Izvestia during the Great Patriotic War can be found in the electronic archive.