Questions of studying the history of the Tomsk diocese in modern historical research

The article is devoted to the study of the issues of modern historiography of the Tomsk diocese. In the course of the research, the author identifies four main centers for the study of local church history in Western Siberia, which differ in local historiosophical traditions, approaches, issues and problems raised. The Altai school is characterized by a great research interest in the history of the Altai spiritual Mission and, accordingly, the issues of missionary work, as well as the extensive use of methods of historical geoinformatics. The experience of cartographic reconstruction, produced on the basis of church documentation, seems to be potential for the analysis of demographic, socio-economic, and cultural processes. The Kemerovo School of Church researchers is the most numerous. It is distinguished by a fundamental approach to research and a wide range of issues under consideration, such as monastic and church construction, the parish system, the relationship between the Orthodox clergy and Old Believers, parish education, etc. In Novosibirsk the appeal to the history of the church and church documentation made it possible to significantly expand the source base on the issues of worldview, education, management, and economy of the region, but in recent years the roles and functions of the clergy have been actively studied through certain aspects of their activities such as the fight against drunkenness, health education, charity, etc. The Tomsk school mainly considers the church through biographies and the worldview of the clergy, as well as in the context of the development of Siberia and its socio-political life. Common to all regions are the following: broad study of issues related to the repressions against the clergy that occurred after 1917; local history and search activities to fill in the lost information about churches, clergy. Thus, the author comes to the conclusion about decentralization of study of this issue, which has both positive and negative features. Each of these centers of study has its own scientific school, its own traditions, interests and a set of methodological technologies. The article notes that the list of issues, subjects, problems, in which the clergy of the Tomsk diocese are studied, has been rapidly expanding in recent years, and previously unprocessed documents are being introduced into scientific circulation. The author also expressed the need to more actively use GIS technologies and methods of spatial analysis, which will make it possible to study the territorial and administrative division more systematically, as well as the dynamics of social processes and the influence of topogeographic factors on them in the context of migration processes to Siberia. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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