The Formation and Social Activities of the Protestant Community in St. Petersburg in the First Half of the 18th Century

Abstract

In the early 18th century, Peter the Great, who wanted to promote the westernization of Russia s national society or modernization with the West as a model , accelerated the trend of westernization in Russian society as a whole. Accordingly, the Russian government reestablished diplomatic and legal relations with Western European countries such as Germany, while granting legal and economic benefits to migrants from Western Europe in order to attract professional engineers, intellectuals, and capital necessary for the construction of a new national society. These migrants were mostly Protestants, and the communities formed in St. Petersburg by them were not only religious and religious communities, but ‘sociocultural communities’ acting in various fields of Russian society. They also had a great influence on the formation of a new cultural consciousness in russian society. In addition, these communities made a great contribution to the construction of a new national social system in Russia beyond the realm of ‘community’. They served in senior positions in the administrative, economic, trade and military fields, and in the commercial field. So they also contributed to the establishment of modern production and distribution systems as western European society. They were also actively involved in the construction of the new city, St. Petersburg. Furthermore, these Protestants introduced Western European lifestyles and ideas, and had a great influence on the daily life and popular culture of the newly formed St. Petersburg city. The schools they established and operated were modeled after Western Europe, and they also played a role in producing elites in Russian society. Therefore, the influx of new ‘Western European’ religious values and diversity played an important role in changing the popular consciousness of Russian society. Overall, in the transition period from the Middle Ages to the modern era, these Protestant communities brought about great changes to Russian society which had long maintained religious and cultural isolationism.