INCOME AND EXPENDITURE BOOKS AS A HISTORICAL SOURCE ON THE SOCIOCULTURAL ACTIVITIES OF THE NUNNERY

Abstract

The question of the organization of the daily life of nuns often remained on the periphery of humanitarian studies. In this article, we made an attempt to study the income and expenditure books of the Syzran Sretensky Nunnery of the Simbirsk eparchy, and to trace which areas of the monastery’s socio-cultural initiatives are reflected in them. The growth in the number of women’s monasteries and their nuns in the Russian Empire took place in the second half of the 19th century. The abolition of serfdom, lack of land, as well as the desire for ascetic activity contributed to an increase in the number of sisters in the monasteries, who came mainly from the peasant class. But this was a specific, not a mass way of adapting to the new realities of life, chosen by women. With the growing number of monasteries in the empire, there is also an increase in the directions of socio-cultural activities carried out by women’s cloisters. In 1856, the Sretensky community was established in the county center of the Simbirsk province, which was transformed into a convent 2 years later. Enterprising and wise nuns of the Sretensky nunnery, headed by the abbess, used numerous ways and methods of educational, philanthropy, and charitable initiatives, interacting with the urban space. Income and expenditure books were the annual form of the financial report of the monastery, which recorded the monthly deductions of the monastery and the sources of replenishment of its treasury. The treasurer was in charge of the nunnery’s budget. At the end of the report, the cash balance was recorded, which was carried over to the next year and added up with the income amounts. Money was recorded in the report in the form of cash and securities. Total sum taxes and nontaxable sums made up the income items. In the expense items of the Sretensky monastery, one can single out money transfers, which reflected the direction of the social activity of the monastery and the communicative activity of the cloisters with social and cultural facilities, the population, and educational institutions. Thus, an analysis of the structure of income and expenditure books will allow not only to consider the features of the accounting of the Sretensky nunnery, but also to identify various areas of its socio-cultural activities.