The Orthodox Church and Serfdom in Prereform Russia

Slavic Review ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory L. Freeze
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
The State ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Social Conscience ◽  
Peter The Great ◽  
Early Eighteenth Century ◽  
Ancien Régime ◽  
The Church ◽  
Secular State

It has long been an unchallenged assumption in Russian historiography—prerevolutionary, Soviet, western—that the Orthodox church was an instrument of the state. It is generally held that this subservience, if muted in medieval Muscovy, became overt in the early eighteenth century, when the church reforms of Peter the Great transformed the church into a state bureau and its clergy into ideological policemen. Contemporary accounts by foreigners, in particular, stressed the apparent servility of the church and its exploitation by the secular state. Secular elites in Russia held essentially the same view; even laymen whose sentiments put them close to the church felt defenseless before such foreign criticism. The intelligentsia, whether of liberal or radical persuasion, generally tended to dismiss the church and clergy as little more than ordained gendarmes, particularly in the prereform era. The church endeavored, to be sure, to rebut such criticism, especially after 1855, when a less stringent censorship, the proliferation of ecclesiastical journals, and heightened concern for social issues triggered a flurry of articles about the church and its social conscience. Once the storm over emancipation had subsided, the issue lost its immediate relevance and elicited only marginal, superficial studies for the duration of the ancien regime.

Handmaiden of the State? The Church in Imperial Russia Reconsidered

1985 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. L. Freeze
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Restricted Access ◽  
Imperial Russia ◽  
Peter The Great ◽  
Imperial Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

The history of the Russian Orthodox Church, especially in the modern imperial period (1700–1917), has been a woefully neglected field of scholarly research. That neglect antedates the collapse of the ancien regime in 1917, for pre-revolutionary historiography on the Church was neither abundant nor sophisticated; rarely did it produce more than myopic diocesan histories, fatuous accounts of the local seminary, or hagiographic paeans devoted to some prominent clergyman. The reasons for this neglect of so fundamental an institution in ‘Holy Rus’ are many – restricted access to ecclesiastical archives, difficulties in publication because of vigilant censors, but above all the intelligentsia's indifference to an apparently moribund and state-controlled institution. Paradoxically enough, Catholic polemicists, Orthodox Slavophiles, anticlerical intellectuals and reform-minded clergy all concurred – from different motives, for different reasons – in believing that the Church had become a mere instrument of the secular state, and that this change derived from ‘revolutionary’ and ‘Westernizing’ reforms in the Church imposed by Peter the Great in the early eighteenth century.

Breaking the Seal

2021 ◽  
pp. 59-89
Author(s):  
Nadieszda Kizenko
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
The State ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Roman Catholicism ◽  
Legal Requirement ◽  
Old Believers ◽  
Imperial Russia ◽  
Early Eighteenth Century

Chapter 2 examines confession from the point at which it became a legal requirement. Shirkers of confession, most notably but not exclusively Old Believers, had to pay extra taxes. The 1722 Supplement to the Spiritual Regulation required priests to report to secular authorities anything treasonous they heard at confession. To many historians and theologians, this attempted breaking of the confessional seal, more than any other Petrine reform, embodied the reigning narrative of secularization, the submission of the Orthodox Church to the Emperor, and the beginning of the Church’s serving as the ‘handmaiden of the state’. But a closer study of confession in this period unsettles this picture. The impulse to harness confession in the service of the state came not only from Peter, but also from laypeople and his new ally among Ukrainian bishops. In the early eighteenth century as well as in the seventeenth, imperial Russia was well within broad European Enlightenment patterns, incorporating trends in Protestantism as well as Roman Catholicism.

A Russian Mystic Faces the Age of Rationalism and Revolution: Thought and Activity of Ivan Vladimirovich Lopukhin

1967 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-188
Author(s):  
Alexander Lipski
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
The State ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
Peter The Great ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Western Influence ◽  
The World ◽  
Extreme Degree ◽  
State Of Mind

It is generally accepted that even though rationalism was predominant during the eighteenth century, a significant mystical trend was simultaneously present. Thus it was not only the Age of Voltaire, Diderot, and Holbach, but also the Age of St. Martin, Eckartshausen and Madame Guyon. With increased Western influence on Russia, it was natural that Russia too would be affected by these contrary currents. The reforms of Peter the Great, animated by a utilitarian spirit, had brought about a secularization of Russian culture. Father Florovsky aptly summed up the state of mind of the Russian nobility as a result of the Petrine Revolution: “The consciousness of these new people had been extroverted to an extreme degree.” Some of the “new people,” indifferent to their previous Weltanschauung, Orthodoxy, adopted the philosophy of the Enlightenment, “Volter'ianstvo” (Voltairism). But “Volter'ianstvo” with its cult of reason and belief in a remote creator of the “world machine,“ did not permanently satisfy those with deeper religious longings. While conventional Orthodoxy, with its emphasis on external rites, could not fill the spiritual vacuum, Western mysticism, entering Russia chiefly through freemasonry, provided a satisfactory alternative to “Volter'ianstvo.”

scholarly journals SOCIO-CULTURAL INTERACTION FORMS OF CHURCH AND STATE ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 60-64
Author(s):  
Evguenia Alexandrovna Belyaeva ◽  
Elena Aleksandrovna Venidiktova ◽  
Dilbar Valievna Shamsutdinova
Keyword(s):  
Church And State ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The State ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Cultural Interaction ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
The Church

Purpose: the aim of the undertaken study is to consider the dynamics of the church-state relationship in the context of Russian new cultural tendencies at the turn of the century. Methodology: Thus, The methodological basis of the research was formed by philosophical analysis of the church-state relationship, historicism and comparison principles. The following tasks were being solved: defining the interaction ways between the religious organizations and the state on the modern stage of the Russian society development; pointing out the prospects of consolidation of both the сhurch and the state around the democratic civil society fostering program in XXI century; revealing the need to promote respectful attitude towards human values as an integral part of spiritual culture. Result: The authors achieved the following results within the study: A wider notions of church and state were introduced demonstrating the similarity of some of their functions: offering moral guidance for social well-being; historic doctrinal models “caesaropapism”, “papocaesarism” and “symphony(concordance) of powers” were identified and characterized alongside with their secular counterparts - separation and cooperation models of church-state relationship. In conclusion of the article the urgent need for the transition of church-state relationship from political to social and cultural spheres was justified. Applications: This research can be used for the universities, teachers, and students. Novelty/Originality: In this research, the model of Socio-Cultural Interaction Forms of Church and State on the Example of the Russian Orthodox Church is presented in a comprehensive and complete manner.

scholarly journals The Relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Soviet State in Central Asia in the 1940s - Mid 1960s (Illustrated by the Example of the Tashkent Deanery)

2020 ◽  
pp. 52-56
Author(s):  
Yu.N. Tsyryapkina
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
The State ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Soviet State ◽  
Property Relations ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
The Church

In this article the author examines state-church relations in Central Asia in the 1940s - mid 1960s illustrated by the example of the Tashkent Deanery during the period of the development of the Russian Orthodox Church under the patronage of the institute of state commissioners for the Russian Orthodox Church. On the basis of an analysis of unpublished archival sources, the author describes the process of reconstruction of parishes on the territory of the Tashkent and Central Asian dioceses, analyzes the economic and property relations between the state and the church, and the financial activities of the Orthodox parishes of the Tashkent deanery. The author focuses on issues related to the staff of Orthodox priests assigned to parishes, their level of education. The author briefly touches on the problem of Catholics and representatives of the Armenian Gregorian Church, who were not allowed to establish houses of prayer. The article provides statistics of the rituals requested in Tashkent in the context of the Assumption Cathedral and the Alexander Nevsky Church. The author comes to the conclusion that the demand for Orthodox rituals in the churches of Tashkent was associated with the high proportion of the Russian population living in the capital.

scholarly journals Polityka władz państwowych wobec wyboru i działalności metropolity Makarego, zwierzchnika Polskiego Autokefalicznego Kościoła Prawosławnego

2015 ◽  
pp. 72-84
Author(s):  
Stefan Dudra
Keyword(s):  
Government Policy ◽  
The State ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Close Cooperation ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Church ◽  
Selection Of

Government policy towards the election and activity of Metropolitan Macarius (Oksijuk) In post-war Poland, the state authorities aimed at taking control of the religious life of the individual Churches and religious organizations. Surveillance efforts were made to maintain, among others, by appropriate selection of the superior of the Church and diocesan bishops. The election of Macarius (Oksijuk), Archbishop of the Russian Orthodox Church for the position of Metropolitan in July 1951 years should be understood in this context. The hierarch was also to give a guarantee of loyalty, implement his policy in line with the vision of communist authorities and ensure close cooperation with the Patriarchate of Moscow. Unrealized demands of the state authorities (emerging Russification trends, the lack of wider support in missionary activity among the Greek Catholics) contributed to undertake a process of dismissing Macarius from managing the Orthodox Church. Polityka władz państwowych wobec wyboru i działalności metropolity Makarego, zwierzchnika Polskiego Autokefalicznego Kościoła PrawosławnegoPowojenna polityka państwa wobec Polskiego Autokefalicznego Kościoła Prawosławnego zmierzała do ograniczenia jego roli tylko do zadań religijnych, jednocześnie przy objęciu pozostałej działalności całkowitą kontrolą. Nadzór starano się utrzymywać m.in. poprzez odpowiedni dobór zwierzchnika Kościoła. Jednym z elementów polityki był wybór na stanowisko metropolity w 1951 roku Makarego (Oksijuka), arcybiskupa Rosyjskiego Kościoła Prawosławnego. Po odsunięciu w 1948 roku od zarządzania Kościołem metropolity Dionizego władze wyznaniowe dążyły do obsadzenia tronu metropolitalnego przez hierarchę, który miałby realizować politykę kościelną zgodną z linią polityczną władz. Pomimo zrealizowania założonych celów metropolita Makary okazał się hierarchą, który nie spełnił oczekiwań władz (m.in. w zakresie polityki wobec grekokatolików), co wpłynęło na podjęcie decyzji o usunięciu go z zajmowanego stanowiska.

The Influence of the Process of Changing National Identity on the Aggravation of Relations Between the Church and the State in Montenegro

2020 ◽  
pp. 264-268
Author(s):  
Николай Сапсай
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
The State ◽  
Complete Picture ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

В данном обзоре будет представлен труд, в котором анализируется развитие тенденции черногорских властей к сепаратизму совместно с формированием своей идентичности и церкви. В книге особенно прослеживается радикализация позиции черногорских властей по отношению к сербской идентичности и культуре, в том числе и канонической Сербской Православной Церкви. Также читатeли получат более полную картину о событиях, которые способствовали усложнению взаимоотношений между Церковью и государством в Черногории. Книга будет полезна всем тем, кто интересуется новейшей историей и положением дел в Черногории. This review will present a book that analyzes the development of the Montenegrin authorities’ tendency towards separatism together with the formation of their own identity and church. The book especially traces the radicalization of the position of the Montenegrin authorities in relation to Serbian identity and culture, including the canonical Serbian Orthodox Church. Also, the readers will receive a more complete picture of the events that contributed to the complication of the relationship between the Church and the state in Montenegro. The book will be useful to all those who are interested in the latest history and the state of affairs in Montenegro.

‘Not Keeping One’s Place in the Church’

Church Life ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 193-211
Author(s):  
Anne Dunan-Page
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Baptist Churches ◽  
Lay Participation ◽  
Particular Baptist ◽  
Church Life ◽  
Early Eighteenth Century ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Church ◽  
First Admission

This chapter examines the issue of absenteeism in seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century gathered churches through their manuscript church records. Absenteeism was the offence most frequently cited in disciplinary meetings, yet some members who were censured for absence were active supporters of their churches in other ways. This chapter focuses on those members who were never under a sentence of excommunication but who had ceased to be involved in church life and to take communion. It examines the question of Dissenting identity through lay participation, the reasons why men and women ceased to come to church, and what prompted them to seek reconciliation, sometimes decades after their first admission. Evidence is taken from manuscript church records belonging to Congregational, Particular Baptist, and General Baptist churches, spanning the period c.1640 to c.1714.

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