The Narrative of Parthenius (Ageev) on the Accession of the Kyrgyz Steppe to Russia: from the History of Christianization of Central Asian Peoples

Abstract

In the context of studying the history of the Orthodox presence of Russia in Central Asia and Western China, we have analyzed the well-known narrative source – the note of schema-abbot Parthenius (Aggeyev 1806–1878) “First news of the Russians in Ghulja” from the point of view of its objectivity and correspondence to the historical events of the 3rd quarter of the XIXth century, associated with the annexation of Central Asian territories to the Russian Empire, such as the establishment of Russian consulates in Kuldzha and Chuguchak (1851), the fate of Russian trading posts during the Dungan uprising (1850s – 1860s), the Kuldzha campaign of General G. A. Kolpakovsky and the annexation of the Kuldzha region to the Turkestan General Government (1871), the first stages of negotiations on its return to China (1870s). We pay particular attention to the main plot of Parthenius’s narrative – the Orthodox Christianization of the Central Asian peoples who accepted Russian citizenship. The methodological basis was the methods of historical science (chronological, comparative, content analysis, etc.) with the involvement of the results of research by authoritative historians and archival documents from Russian archives that were not introduced into scientific circulation in order to comply with the principles of historicism and objectivity. In the process of research based on linking plots from the text of schema-abbot Parthenius (Ageev) to specific events from the history of the acquisition of Central Asian possessions by the Russian Empire, it was possible to reconstruct the picture described by Parthenius and correct the shortcomings made by the author. As the results of the analysis have shown, the picture presented by Parthenius, despite the deviations from the chronological and geographical framework, corresponds in the main to the real events and can serve as evidence of the voluntary acculturation of the population of the accession territories. In this respect, the Fr. Parthenius’ narrative is a valuable historical source that should be taken into account when reconstructing the processes of migration, assimilation and Christianization of the peoples of the Kyrgyz steppe and Western China.