Право на здійснення релігійних обрядів під час проходження військової служби представниками національних меншин Російської імперії (ХІХ – поч. ХХ ст.)

Abstract

Voitsekhivska D. Yu. The right to perform religious rites during military service by representativesof national minorities of the Russian Empire (XIX – early XX centuries). – Article.The problem of formation and realization of the right to perform religious rites by representatives of nationalminorities of the Russian Empire during their military service is considered in the article.The article examines the evolution of the tsarist government’s policy of extending military service to thelargest non-Orthodox national minorities living in the southern Ukrainian lands of the Russian Empire. It issubstantiated that during the XIX century. there is a gradual reduction of previously granted privileges relatedto release from military service and an increase in the number of servicemen who did not belong to the Orthodoxfaith. This, in turn, forces the government to regulate religious relations in the armed forces.Based on the analysis of the legal framework, the main groups of legally enshrined religious rights of servicemenare characterized, which are: to take an oath in the presence of a clergyman of their religion, to performrites determined by their faith, to visit religious institutions, the right of admittance to military units of ecclesiasticsandorganization of places of worship by them, etc. Adhering to the proclaimed principle of religious tolerance,the tsarist government extended these norms to representatives of all officially recognized denominations.The analysis of the practice of religious rights realization of servicemen in the XIX – early XX century wascarried out. There are facts that testify the successful exercise of religious rights and freedoms of servicemen,as well as the existence of restrictions and prohibitions on the right to perform religious rites by membersof national minorities during their military service. The state policy on the issue of granting legal statusto military priests of non-Orthodox denominations is analyzed, its inconsistent and contradictory characteris determined.