State and church relations in Russia in second half of XIX century

The problems of interaction between the Russian Orthodox Church and the state, the church and the community in the reform period of the 1860s and the 1870s are analyzed. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the positions of white and black clergy, canals of interaction between the church and the flock. The reasons for conducting a church reform in Russia are investigated. The author pays attention to the system of relations between the centre and the outskirts of the Empire and to the system of administrative and law-enforcement structures. The genesis of the ethnic-confessional factor in the public life of West provinces of the Russian Empire in the second half of the XIX century is analyzed. The investigation of the problem was made on the basis of archival sources, materials of periodic press, official and statistic materials. Relying on the opinions of famous Russian lawyers of the XIX century, the author proves the necessity of the acceptance of new rules which would thoroughly change the legal status of the Church. In the centre of the author’s attention is the investigation of the structure of reforming Russia. The author proves the ineficiency of the Russian Orthodox Church before reforms because of many uncompleted cases and other problems. The research into the position of the provincial white clergy is undertaken. The main question for the officials was the problem of the position of metropolitan and provincial white clergy. After the analysis of the level of education of church officials and of their financial situation the author makes a conclusion that the presence of different institutions, the absence of the system of the church legislation, the connection between judicial and administrative functions, complicated by the inadequacy of the corps of clergy brought the orthodox church to the crisis in the pre-reform period. There was a necessity to make some systems reforms. The gap between the clergy and the flock did not have any general character. The Russian orthodox church had internal contradictions, not being a monolithic system. The clergy which was at the centre of social life in the reform period became more active in the search of dialogue with laity. It was relevant both to the metropolitan and provincial white clergy. There was dissatisfaction within the church hierarchy because of the behavior of some priests which was reflected in the official correspondence and memoirs of contemporaries.

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