Diocesan legal Proceedings concerning the Punishment of Clergy for Non-Canonical Behavior in the XVIII - early XX centuries (based on the materials of the Tobolsk Spiritual Consistory)

The purpose of the study is to analyze the practice of diocesan proceedings concerning the punishment of clerics in the Tobolsk diocese, to study the competence of the diocesan court, the legal basis and features of its status and functioning. The article is written on the basis of the Affairs of the Tobolsk Spiritual Consistory (TSC), which are stored in the state budgetary institution of the Tyumen region "state archive in Tobolsk". The sources of the study were the documents of investigative processes on the punishment of clerics of misconduct and crime. A historiographical review on the research topic is presented. The author studied deviation in the behavior of the clergy and the subsequent official sanctions as a measure of influence on the perpetrators. The types of punishments provided in relation to offenders by the Church legislation are listed. The system of diocesan legal proceedings in terms of punishing clergy for non-canonical behavior in the 18th-early 20th centuries is described, in particular, the types of sanctions applied by the Tobolsk spiritual consistory, from the most severe to the mildest. The article presents the most interesting cases that reveal the process of implementation of the judicial functions of the Church. Despite the fact that the decision on the form of punishment was taken by the Bishop, basically each group of offenses corresponded to certain sanctions. The archive contains the units of the investigative Affairs on the appointment of the harshest punishments - deprivation of dignity and exclusion from the spiritual Department. This fact can not undoubtedly indicate that the sanctions are less severe - the reference to the monastery and the transfer to the clergy - were quite effective. From time to time, positive resolutions on applications for return to one’s post indicate only isolated cases of «correction». In general, the picture was disappointing - in the state archive a huge number of cases of excesses of the clergy, novices and abbots of monasteries, Ministers of Church institutions is stored. However, the diocesan authorities actively fought against the non-canonical behavior of their wards, using all the methods permitted by law. In general, the court system of the TSC was soft enough to re-educate clerics who had embarked on the wrong path, but still helped individuals who were still able to correct. This conclusion confirms the hypothesis of the study. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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