Special features of the beginnings of parochial work in the Yakut region (18th - first half of the 19th centuries)

The article considers the organization of parochial work in one of the most remote outskirts of the empire - Yakut region and its peculiarities conditioned both by territorial and climatic circumstances. It seems relevant that the history of Orthodox parishes should be singled out as an independent subject since a parish, being a lower administrative unit of the Russian church, carried out, among other activities, the task of incorporation into the imperial space. The paper introduces into scientific circulation new historical sources from the collections of regional archives, including information on the activities of the Yakut ecclesiastical government, the dynamics of the construction of temples and the number of the Orthodox population, peculiarities of parish practice, etc. A number of factors have been generalized, the analysis of which allowed us to identify the specifics of the spread of Orthodoxy in the province, conditioned by the objective (territorial and climatic) and subjective (locality of the Arctic civilization) features as well as by the complexity of the parish ministry. It was determined that the formation of parish communities in Yakutia took place in the conditions of the state establishment of the Church and the regulation of its activities, and therefore the traditional elements of parish activity such as the election of the clergy were not used. As a result, the Yakut flock did not form an opinion about the eligibility of monitoring activities of the parish community. Due to illiteracy of the population and scattered places of residence of the majority of the members of ethnic minority parishes, the functions of the church wardens (in comparison with the duties of the wardens in Siberia) were curtailed. The predominant type of parishes were ethnic minority parishes, characterized by the significant size of the territory and the number of parishioners. Ethnic minorities accounted for the majority in both urban and rural parishes. One of the points substantiated is that the clergy appointed and salaried by the state was not dependent on the parishioners, and the lack of ecclesiastical cadres led to abuses by the parish clergy, which caused concern at the level of the supreme ecclesiastical body of the empire - the Synod. Obviously, the geographic and climatic characteristics of the Far North stipulated other conditions of parochial work. A small number of temples on a vast territory, the uncertainty of parish borders, the nomadic and semi-nomadic way of life of the population forced the parish clergy to spend most of their ministry in visitations of their flock. The attitude of parishioners to their Christian duties was primarily determined by the territorial proximity of the church, and church statistics from the beginning of the 19th century show that only one third of the Orthodox population of the region performed basic Christian rites (confession, communion). At the same time, the parish clergy ensured the dialogue of the population with the Christian (Orthodox) civilization. Later on, the assimilation measures of the state, which realized the importance of involving the outlying population in the state religion, will ensure the development of parish life, taking into account the characteristics of living in the northern conditions.

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