Orthodox periodicals on Old Belief in the middle 19th − beginning 20th centuries

The middle of the 19th − beginning of the 20th centuries was the time of comprehension by historicalscience and public thought that the Old Belief requires most attentive studying. Therefore the given period became the time of the mostmultilateral and detailed scientific research of the Old Belief. The leading part in distribution of scientific knowledge about the Old Beliefamong readers belongs to ecclesiastic periodicals. The edition of church periodicals dates back to the first quarter of the 19th century. In1821 the Metropolitan of St.-Petersburg and Novgorod Grigory (Postnikov) founded one of the spiritual journals, first in the country, − TheChristian Reading, at St.-Petersburg Ecclesiastic Academy, thus starting official ecclesiastic journalism. Ecclesiastic journals, comprisingboth journalistic and art works, serious scientific researches, became an appreciable phenomenon in religious education in Russia. Wellknownchurch figures occupied the posts of editors of orthodox journals at that time. The church periodical press was popular with the readingpublic. Therefore, it is very important to define the role, the place, the value and the specificity of church periodicals in the Old Beliefresearch. In the list of the orthodox periodicals containing scientific researches of the church split, were journals of general orientation: TheTheological Bulletin (Sergiev Posad), The Christian Reading (St.-Petersburg), The Church Bulletin (St.-Petersburg), The Wanderer (St.-Petersburg), The Ecclesiastic Reading (Moscow), The Instruction for Rural Pastors (Kiev); and those specialising directly on the split studying:The Brotherly Word (Moscow), The Orthodox Interlocutor (Kazan), The Orthodox Review (Moscow). Publishing materials on the splithistory, ecclesiastic journals kept the readers informed about modern events in the life of Old Believers; publication and distribution of proceedingsof historians and theologians; some literary monuments of the Old Russian; spiritual poetry and prose. Missionary conversationswith Old Believers, proceedings of Synod historians were published. Publishing houses of journals were engaged in the publication anddistribution of books about the Old Belief. They were sent to ecclesiastic brotherhoods, consistories, private persons. The monuments of theOld Believers' book learning were also published. Thus, church journals, publishing proceedings of Synod researchers, making and printinglists of the new literature, being engaged in distribution of books, left an appreciable trace in distribution of scientific knowledge about theOld Belief, having transferred it from ecclesiastic academies directly to the reader. Orthodox periodicals left an outstanding trace in distributionof scientific knowledge, increase of cultural level of the reading audience.

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