Священики села Кулажинці другої половини XVIII ст.

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to analyze the demographic aspects of the life of the parish priests of the village of Kulazhyntsi in the 18th century. The research methodology is based on an anthropological approach with using historical-genetic, historical-comparative and quantitative methods. The scientifi c novelty is that for the fi rst time the parish priests of the village of Kulazhyntsi in the 18th century became the object of an analysis aimed to fi nd out the main demographic characteristics of their life activities. Conclusions. During the 18th century Kyrylo Anisimov and Mykhayilo Verbovskyi were priests of St. Michael’s Church in the village of Kulazhyntsi. Th ere were from 354 to 828 believers in the priesthood. So, on average, there were 635 people per pastor. From the end of the 1760s, the regular staff list of the parish met the of- fi cial requirements for the clergy of the parish church and included a priest, a deacon, a psalmist and a sexton. Priests were ordained to the parish aft er the age of 26, apparently closer to the age of thirty, which corresponds to the established canonical norms. Th e priests lived for more than 66 years, therefore, they reached the milestone of old age, which is marked in early modern socie- ty as sixty years of age. Mykhaylo Verbovsky happened to be the son-in-law of Kyrylo Anisimov, which was a typical phenomenon in the Pyriatyn protopopy of that time. Reverend Kyrylo’s fam- ily structure was nuclear, and rev. Mykhaylo’s one was extended, because unmarried children of the deceased Kyrylo lived in it. Th e average size of a priest’s family in Kulazhyntsi was 8.8 peop- le. This indicator is higher than the average population of priestly families of the protopopy. The families were dominated by women. Th ere were twice as many children as adults. Father Mykhaylo fi rst became a father at the age of 26, and the last child was born when he was 41. In total, there were 8 children in his family, who were born once every two years.