The Influence of the Financial Position of the Students of Siberian Theological Education Institutions on the Formation of Their Social Attitudes in the Early 20th Century

The article is devoted to the study of the influence of the financial situation of students of theological education institutions of Siberia on the formation of their social attitudes in the early twentieth century. The main materials for the study were publications in Siberian periodicals of 1908-14, memories of former students and documents of theological education institutions stored in the archives of Tomsk and Tobolsk. Application of the principle of historicism allowed the author to establish cause-and-effect relations between the difficult social and everyday situation of the Siberian students and the prevailing state of their social moods, which determined the behavior and activity of this group of young people. The use of the social approach allowed allocating the category of students of theological education institutions as a special social layer, taking into account its specific origin, education and social status. The application of the comparative-historical method helped make a comparative analysis of the financial situation of students of various religious schools of their region. Available sources indicate that the majority of students of religious education institutions of Siberia belonged to the category of the poor as they were natives of poor families of rural clergy. Due to the predominantly class character of theological education, the future clergy entered theological schools against their will and were forced to study for at least four years. Attempts to improve their financial situation with the help of mutual aid funds were not very successful. Poor nutrition and difficult financial and living conditions, complemented by a rather low prestige of their future service, generated students' desire to change the situation through decisive and radical actions. The lack of attention of the institutions' authorities to one of the main problems, the quality of food, formed an overall discontent with the school regime, which grew into discontent with the policy of the state and the church. Students of theological education institutions staged riots with pogroms of their own schools, went on strikes, created illegal circles, joined the revolutionary parties. As a result of the conducted research, the author concludes that the radical moods of students of theological schools were formed largely under the influence of their difficult financial situation. This entailed the desire to leave the school early, to receive a secular education, or to fight for their rights against the government, which was, as students believed, the main culprit of the situation. The apparent decline of religiosity even among the future clergy and their unwillingness to carry out their mission at parishes led to the destabilization of the work of the church and a decrease in religiosity among the masses, which objectively contributed to the preparation of the grounds for the future revolution.

Keywords

Authors

References