The published document has been found in the archival fond of the Council of Ministers of the Russian government of A. V. Kolchak. It permits to verify the existing notion of the historiography that theconsideration of the issue of state financing of the Irkutsk episcopal house repair confirms that there were “unscheduled expenses” of the Chief Directorate for Religious Affairs “for the maintenance of religious organizations.” Recordkeeping documentation of the anti–Bolshevik governments agencies in the East of the former Russian Empire of the Civil War period (files no. 1436 of the Office of the Council of Ministers and no. 1128 of the Legal Department of the Russian government “On release of 1,000,000 rubles in assistance of repair of the burned-down episcopal house in Irkutsk”) follows the consideration of this issue. On August 20, 1919, the Chief Directorate for Religious Affairs sent a petition for the release of 1,000,000 rubles for the repair of the burned-down episcopal house in Irkutsk to the Council of Ministers, where it was received on August 22. On October 8, 1919 it was considered at a meeting of the Interdepartmental Commission under the Chief Directorate for Religious Affairs. On October 21, 1919 the Legal Department developed a draft of the resolution for the Council of Ministers “On the allocation of 1,000,000 rubles from the Treasury in allowance for the repair of the episcopal house in Irkutsk.” Documents on adoption of the resolution or on the release of the funds haven’t been found, and yet the minutes of the Interdepartmental Commission on this issue show that the main argument in favor of the release of public funds for the repair of the building was that its restoration was to provide for the needs of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian government, thus allowing to question the existing notion that the financing of the repair of the Irkutsk episcopal house in was an example of “unscheduled expenses” of the Chief Directorate for Religious Affairs “for the maintenance of religious organizations.”
Supreme Ruler Admiral A.V. Kolchak and the Council of Ministers of the Russian government: problems of relations (November 18, 1918 - January 3, 1920)