Униатский вопрос и политика русских властей в Галиции в период Первой мировой войны

Abstract

The article examines the aspects of the confessional policy in the territory of Galicia in the period of its occupation by the Russian army in the end of 1914 and the beginning of 1915. The author pays attention to the factors of confessional policy development related to the activities of the Russophile (“Moscow-phile”) party in Galicia and the initiatives of Russian social and church circles sympathizing with pro-Russian Galicians. The author believes that Galicia’s place in the public conscience was largely determined by the symbolic significance of that region, - the last part of the East-Slavic area that was not a part of Russia by the beginning of the 20th century. Relying on the attitude of the Galician “Russophiles”, the nationally-oriented Russian church and public circles counted on the quick spreading of the Orthodoxy and Russian culture in the annexed areas. Most of those expectations did not come true, both due to the terroristic campaign against “Russophiles” conducted by the Austrian administration just after the break o the war, and due to the interdepartmental contradictions complicated by the activity of the Russian authorities.