The KGB, The Moscow Patriarchate & The World Council of Churches

The "Moscow Patriarchate" was established on order from Stalin in 1943 as a front organization for the NKVD, and later, for the KGB. All key positions in the Church, including bishops, were approved by the Ideological Department of CPSU and by the KGB. The priests were used as agents of influence in the World Council of Churches and in front organizations such as World Peace Council, Christian Peace Conference, and the Rodina ("Motherland") Society founded by the KGB in 1975. The future Russian Patriarch Alexius II said that Rodina has been created to "maintain spiritual ties with our compatriots" and to help organize them. According to the Archive, Alexius worked for the KGB as agent DROZDOV, and received an honorary citation from the agency for a variety of services.