Reformation and transformation of charity work at the beginning of the New time

Studying the phenomenon of charity is of particular interest for philosophers, historians, and leaders of society. However, in the Soviet period, this issue was not examined at all, for political reasons. Nonetheless, charity has always reflected the level of socio-economic development of society and the state of moral culture and civilizational maturity of society. Therefore analysis must take into account three elements of charity in Russia: the historical background (context), the concept, and the practice of charity. This article is aimed at studying the transformation of Christian charity at the beginning of the New Time and the analysis of changes ongoing in this sphere. The authors of this research start with the analysis of the situation that had been formed in the economy, culture and activity of the Roman Catholic Church in the late Middle Ages. Such a preliminary excursion into the historical domain is not coincidental. It assists understanding the reasons for the Reformation and later events. However, "in the beginning was the Word", therefore, the text analyzes the ideas of such founding fathers of Protestantism as Martin Luther, John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli. The new ideology along with the sociocultural and socioeconomic factors promoted the formation of a radically different and more creative social system, also including the charity sphere that became more rational, practical and rough. The purpose of the article is the analysis of changes in this area. In the XV century there was a latent preparation of the reformation period of European history. Cities played the large role in this process. The French historian F. Braudel called the cities the electrical transformers that increase the voltage, increase exchange, change people's lives. In the cities there was a very different kind of communication between individuals based on social differentiation of the inhabitants. The reflection of changes in the late Middle ages begins just in cities and there were born innovative activities, new organizational forms, technologies, management practices. In the cities there were such progressive types of private charitable institutions such as almshouses, hospices, houses of mercy, and later hospitals, etc. The City is always creative, even in the ritual, stagnant era. The attitude towards charity was also changed. The main trend of the charity development in the period under review became the rational support, but hard and not yet targeted.

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