On the Question of the Profitability of Land Plots of Orthodox Clergy in the early XX century (based on the materials of the Mordovian region)

Abstract

Introduction. The article presents the results of a study of the land use of Orthodox parishes based on the materials of the Mordovian region of the beginning of the XX century. Materials and Methods. In the course of the study, general scientific and special historical methods were used. With the help of comparative-historical and problem-chronological methods, the evolution of the system of land ownership and land use is traced. The identification of common and special features in the financing of rural clergy is possible only if the method of system analysis and the structural method are applied. Results. The publication contains a brief digression into the history of land relations, it traces the trends in the development of church land ownership in the early 1900s. It is established that due to the shortage of land and agricultural overpopulation, land grants on the territory of the Mordovian territory have not received significant distribution. On the basis of archival materials and published sources, the main forms of land use of the parish clergy are analyzed, which include: self-cultivation of land; leasing of land; hiring of peasants for land cultivation; combination of forms of land use. The authors found that by the end of the period under review, the use of land prevailed among the forms of land use. As a result of the processing of clerical records, the amount of profitability of church plots was determined. By leasing church land, most parishes received a relatively small but stable income. In 1915, in the Ardatovsky district of the Simbirsk diocese, it was equal to about half of the state salary. Conclusions. At the end of the study, it is concluded that on the eve of the revolution, only a small part of the rural clergy was engaged in agriculture, that is, the process of turning the clergy into a professional group of Orthodox pastors was almost complete.