Arseniev-Komelsky Parish (1920-1930)

Abstract

The subject of the study is the study of the history of Arseniev-Komelsky parish in 1920-1930. The object of the study is the situation of the rural parish of the Russian Orthodox Church in the first decades of the existence of the Soviet state. Special attention is paid to the specifics of the creation of the parish, the manifestation of the main directions of the state's policy towards religion and the church on the example of the history of the parish, the reasons and the process of its closure. The choice of the subject of the study is largely connected with an attempt to reveal the subsequent fate of the Arseniev Komel Monastery of the Gryazovets district of the Vologda province, which was closed in 1920. The source base of the research consists of legal acts of the Soviet state, archival documents (the State Archive of the Vologda Region, the Vologda Regional Archive of Modern Political History, the Archive of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Vologda Region, the Vologda Diocesan Ancient Repository) materials of the periodical press. The novelty of the research lies in the study of a parish not mentioned in the literature; in the introduction of new historical sources (archival materials) and historical facts into scientific circulation. The main results of the authors' research are: the conclusion about the connection between the opening of the Arseniev-Komelsky parish and the closure of the Arseniev Komelsky monastery; the identification of the peculiarities of the anti-church and anti-religious policy of the state in 1920-1930 in relation to the rural parish (its tightening in the conditions of collectivization and dispossession), the combination of state policy and the interests of local authorities among the reasons for the closure of the parish. The article outlines for the first time the fate of the priest and some of the inhabitants of the closed monastery. It is shown that, despite the anti-church policy of the state, the religious consciousness of the peasantry (at least part of it) preserved.