TRAVELS OF PARISH PRIESTS AND MISSIONARIES OF THE TOBOLSK NORTH AS A FORM OF INTERACTION OF AUTHORITIES AND SOCIETY IN THE SYNODICAL PERIOD IN THE HISTORY OF RUSSIAN ORTHODOXY

Abstract

The study investigates the relationship between the spiritual and secular authorities regarding travelling arrangements for clergy in the territory of the Tobolsk North during the Synodical Period in the history of Russian Orthodoxy. The difficulties that abbots had to face when travelling to parishes were studied. For a long time travelling arrangements for clergy were unregulated and accompanied by abuse of indigenous population of the region. The search for mechanisms to ensure proper conditions for religious service, including the possibility of visiting parishes, required joint efforts of the state and the church. The secular authorities generally took a negative attitude to the requirements of priests and clergymen to freely use state-owned horses and questioned their travelling needs. Serving the fiscal interests of the State Treasury, the secular authorities were critical of the ‘excessive zeal’ of the clergy and tried to restrain the abuse of wandering and nomadic minorities. By the end of the studied period, the adoption of necessary legislative acts solved the problems of organizing trips for priests and clergymen to entrusted parishes.