Church Elite Research Articles

How churches make education policy: the churchification of Hungarian education and the social question under religious populism

ABSTRACT Since 2010, Hungary’s authoritarian populist government has radically redefined church-state relations, promoting the governance narrative of building an ‘old-style Christian democracy’. Public education has been reconceptualised within a religious framework and outsourced to religious actors. This article explores how key religious organisations engage with the government’s religious populism and govern their expanding school networks. Given the immanent tension between nativist Christian-conservative identity politics and Christian teachings about the church’s social mission, I focus on how Christian church elites have engaged with the education of underprivileged communities. Four characteristic types of strategic involvement are identified based on church education policies and their legitimacy discourses concerning their (lack of) engagement with the social question. Despite using different approaches to navigate political pressures, both the nativist illiberal and inclusive liberal visions of religion and their corresponding policies have reinforced the structures of segregated education and legitimised the government’s education policy.

Western churches and politics: frontiers of ideologic divergence

The article deals with conflict lines in the interaction of religious institutions and political actors in Europe. Church policy in the West is seen as a practical implementation of the neo-secular approach, which implies a reduction in the role of religious institutions and church elites while remaining religiosity and quasi-religiousness. It is shown that the contradictions of state-confessional relations in Western countries pose both a threat to the value autonomy of religious organizations and an increasing trend towards the instrumentalization of religion in foreign policy. It is shown that attempts of value pressure on traditional church institutions contribute to the formation of a hostile environment that contributes to the strengthening of intra-church contradictions. As a result, religious organizations find themselves in a situation of multiplying ideological divisions and artificially pushed internal competition. The risks of reducing the institutional stability of traditional churches based on the unity of the doctrine and striving for internal unity are increasing. In this regard, the article offers an analysis of possible internal and external reactions of church institutions to the increasing pressure. As possible scenarios, the strengthening of the processes of ideological and regional autonomy and the increase in increasingly open conflicts with secular authorities in a number of countries on topical issues of the political agenda are considered. Under any of the scenarios, it is predicted that the fault line between European countries will strengthen on issues with a strong religious connotation, which may lead to an increase in social tension and deepening of divisions among the electorate in the Western states.

Lyrical poetry in funeral literature of the seventeenth century Grand Duchy of Lithuania: a story of one work

ABSTRACT In the late sixteenth – early seventeenth century, works of lyrical poetry appeared in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. One of the areas of literature that contained lyrical poetry was funeral literature, works mainly dedicated to the funerals of nobles or church elites. One of the more interesting works is Funebria (1603), written in Latin by Ioannes Kimbar. This work is dedicated to Isabella Bonarelli (1567–1602), the wife of Theodorus Lacki (1554–1610), an officer (rotmistrz) of the Grand Duchy. This article will focus on the lyrical poems that form the concluding part of Funebria, and will also explain how these lyrical poems stand out in the context of the Grand Duchy’s funeral literature of the time.

Peasants, icons, and obscenities

The article examines religious, ritual, and moral contexts in the history of semantics and social trajectories of the Russian obscene vocabulary and phraseology known as “mat”. Transhistorical representations of the “Russian mat” as a steady set of lexemes and formulae do not seem to be correct. Moreover, it is possible to discuss not only historical transformations of the concept, but its genealogy and, so to speak, invention. One of the few concepts explaining religious and mythological meanings of “mat” was formulated in the 1980s by Boris A. Uspenskii who argued that pre-Christian Slavic obscenities were related to agrarian magic of fertility. This article presents an alternative hypothesis and argues that the “invention” and religious interpretation of the “Russian mat” as a specific and blasphemous type of obscenities took place in Muscovy in the 16th and 17th century as a part of attempted “disciplinary revolution” aimed at popular religious and ritual culture. Local “visionary epidemics” in the 17th century that involved condemnation of “mat”, tobacco, and drunkenness can be viewed as moral panics stimulated by the state and church elites. At the same time, the panics led to the establishment of new cults of miracle working icons and sacred sites. Popular beliefs and prohibitions related to “mat” in the 19th and 20th centuries were informed by a number of different factors and did not go back to any single pre-Christian source.

Imperial Russia as a Failed State: The Role of Orthodox Church

The purpose of this article is to assess the role of the Orthodox Church during the prelude to the February Revolution. Recent historiography on the Great War in Western scholarship has foregrounded the role of the Churches, Protestant and Catholic, in sustaining popular support for a war that entailed unprecedented death, suffering, and hardship. That new research, seeking to explain the “endurance problem” (Durchhaltsproblem), point to the Churches in the West as the pillar of the existing regimes right to the very end of the war and as an effective instrument in mobilizing support and patriotism to defend each country’s “civilization”. Hence, no less important than brilliant military plans and effective governance, the Churches provided critical support and raised morale of both troops and civilians. Such was not the case in Russia. With few resources at its disposal, the Orthodox Church provided initial but ephemeral support. As is shown here, the Church was not only unable but unwilling to embrace the ancient regime: against a background of general war weariness, the Church elites, parish clergy, and ordinary parishioners were increasingly determined to pursue their own interests, not those of the state. By February 1917 the Church did not condemn but welcomed the overthrow of the monarchy that ultimately led to the Bolshevik seizure of power and years of brutal civil war. The monograph by I. V. Potkina “On the eve of the catastrophe. The state and the economy in Russia in 1914–1917” has many positive elements, but it is important — given recent historiography, which foregrounds the role of Churches and religion in sustaining society’s willingness to endure the Great War — to pay attention to the role of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Chronology of Russian Church Council’s Work in the 16th Century

The paper reveals the history of the main body of the Russian Church governance in the 16th century — the Church Council. The author makes an attempt to reconstruct the chronology of its meetings. It is essential to answer the question if the Council was the real body of the church governance or not. In the historiography sometimes it is regarded as not important body because of the few Council’ decrees have remained (the decrees of 1503, 1566, 1572, 1580 etc.). The author of the paper has broadened the historical sources’ base for the study of this church-administrative phenomenon. The research is based on the decrees, the chronicles, the acts, the records of income and expenses, the books of donations, the diplomatic documents, appointment lists, the colophons and the records on the church art’s artefacts, the data of epigraphy, documents on the appointment and resignation of Russian bishops and others. The main concern of the Council was the appointment of new bishops. That’s why the main attention of the article is paid to time when the bishops were appointed, when they left their dioceses or died. The result of the research is represented in the list of 84 cases of the Council’s work which took place or probably took place in the 16th century. It was established that it usually took place in late autumn — at the beginning of winter and finished its work at the end of winter — in the first half of spring. The continuance of meetings lasted from several weeks to several months. It was connected, on the one hand, with establishing of sleigh-road, on the other hand, with the desire of bishops to take part in Easter service in their dioceses (from the 22th of March till the 25th of April). It was found out that the chronology of the Council’s work influenced the political events (forgiveness of boyars, the coronation of Ivan IV, negotiations with the foreign ambassadors, the departure of the sovereign for Aleksandrovskaya sloboda in 1564 etc.). Because all the Councils without exception took place in Moscow the author presupposes that the division of the country into oprichnina and zemshchina didn’t influence the functioning of Council and the tzar was sure of the church elite’s loyalty even in the period of intensive repressions.

Социокультурный портрет профессоров и преподавателей российских университетов и духовных академий — участников Всероссийского церковного собора 1917–1918 гг.

This article is devoted to the compilation of a socio-cultural portrait of professors and lecturers of Russian Universities and Theological Academies – participants of the 1917-1918 Local Council of the Orthodox Church of Russia. The author analyzes the composition of the Pre-Council Commission of 1906, the Pre-Council Commission of 1917 and draws attention to the increasing role of professors in the preparation of Church reform. The professors invited to work on the project of the future Council found a new meaning for their activities, another opportunity to serve the Church. Leading experts in various fields of theological, historical sciences, and law were those who contributed to the discussions of public associations, church-state forums a high scientific level of argumentation and the construction of concepts of Church development. 46 professors and lecturers of Russian Universities and Theological Academies took part in the work of the Council in 1917. In the article, the author analyzes the social composition of the group, education, academic statuses. The author concludes that despite the differences, scholars nevertheless had a lot in common. Origin (36 out of 46 people were born in families belonging to the clergy) and education (35 out of 46 people studied in theological academies) made this group a single scientific community with similar values and ideas. This explains the absence of major conflicts between professors and lecturers of Universities and Theological Academies. The work on the preparation of the Church reform, the non-institutional position in relation to the Church organization made it possible for them to acquire a new corporate identity: at the Council of 1917, scientists felt themselves to be the “Church elite”, which can and should maintain the core of the new ecclesiology – conciliarity (sobornost’).

Principles of Staffing the Church Elite in Russia in the 16th Century: The Episcopate

Principles of Staffing the Church Elite in Russia in the 16th Century: The Episcopate

ІНТЕЛЕКТУАЛЬНІ КОМУНІКАЦІЇ ГРИГОРІЯ СКОВОРОДИ

The article analyzes the peculiarities of Hrihorii Skovoroda's intellectual communications, based on the materials of his correspondence with secular and church elites. It is noted that the epistolary legacy of Skovoroda as a student of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, reflects the basic principles of the educational process of this institution. The writer's correspondence known today includes more than 125 letters, the largest part of which is correspondence with M. Kovalynskyi (79 letters). Analysis of H. Skovoroda's correspondence allows us to single out certain features of it: 1). Household details and biographical aspects occupy an insignificant place in the letters, their main content is philosophical and ethical ideas and instructional instructions. 2). Almost all ancient Greek mythology is present in the letters. The thinker often compared his friends with ancient characters. 3). The educator's correspondence contains a lot of poetical inserts, which later became part of separate collections. 4). Letters are written, as a rule, in a mixed (hybrid) language, most often it is a combination of Russian, Latin and Greek. It is emphasized that the epistolary heritage of H. Skovoroda demonstrates the activities of the Kharkiv Collegium as an eloquent example of active contacts between Ukrainian church and secular elites. Sources reveal close personal and written communication of H. Skovoroda with many spiritual persons involved in the collegium: Archimandrite Hervasii Yakubovych, Rector Iov Bazylevych, Prefect Lavrentii Kordet and especially with the Bishop of Belgorod and Oboyan Ioasaf Mytkevych. In general, H. Skovoroda's correspondence with secular and spiritual persons, representatives of the academic school of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, is an indicative manifestation of the functioning of the "Mohyla intellectual space".

Статус в миру и церковная карьера в России XVI века

The article reviews the peculiarities in the biographies of some Russian church leaders. The author shows that successful church and administrative career demanded more than patronage of the representatives of political and church elite. The latter only paved the monk’s way to consecration. To enter the narrow circle from which the candidates were elected demanded observation of other rules: usually, monastic vows taken at early age, lengthy monastic service (30 years in the least), as well as education (knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, Patristic literature and hagiography, basics of worship). The noble origin didn’t play any significant role. The author have managed to discover only four bishops (out of 120) belonging to aristocratic families from the Boyar Duma. The article notes several exemptions of these rules: the Novgorod archbishop Serapion I (1506–09), metropolitan Afanasii (1564–66), metropolitan Dionisii (1581–86), and also the Kazan metropolitan (1589–1606) and later patriarch (1606–1612) Germogen became heads of their dioceses after a short monastic service (1 to several years). Some were under the patronage of grand princes. However, their successful career cannot be explained by that reason only. It has been established that in some cases there was a special variant of the church career. These 4 representatives of the church elite began their careers as white priests, thus obtaining the necessary knowledge and skills to head of the church. They differ from other monks belonging to other social groups who spent decades on obtaining the necessary knowledge and skills. The study of the biography of the Vologda archbishop (1588–1603) and the Rostov metropolitan (1603–1604/1605) Iona (Dumin) gives reason to suppose that he also belonged to the white clergy group. The author demonstrates that the 16th century saw an emergence of this tendency (when the representatives of the white clergy took higher positions in the church hierarchy), which manifested itself more clearly in the 18th and 19th centuries. If in the 16th century white clergy numbered about 43% of bishops, by late 19th century their proportion reached 87,67%.

SURVIVE STRATEGY AND STRUGGLE OF MARAPU ADHERENTS IN TARUNG VILLAGE, WEST SUMBA

Marapu is the indigenous religion of community in Tarung Village and Sumba Island in general. Marapu adherents experience hegemony including state discrimination and the spread of religion by the church elite. This study aims to reveal the hegemony process experienced and the survive strategies and struggles of Marapu adherents. Data were analyzed using hegemony theory and practice with qualitative research methods. The results showed Marapu adherents experience state hegemony in the aspect of their religious legality. This condition was used by church elite to spread their religion. The people of Tarung Village accept Christian/Catholicism, but still maintain the Marapu ideology as their religion, so that the reality that occurs in the local community is the practice of religious dualism as strategy of survive and negotiation. The struggle of Marapu followers continues after the Decision of Constitutional Court Number 97/PUU-XIV/2016 by trying to obtain a determination as Marapu customary law community.
 Keywords: Hegemony, Survive Strategy, Struggle, Marapu, Indigenous Religion

Baroque religious pilgrimages and decorations of printed pilgrimage guides

Pilgrimage guides belong to the most widely published types of religious literature in Bohemia and Moravia in the 17th and 18th centuries. During this period Baroque religiosity grew stronger and the Catholic Church sought to consolidate its position in the country, which inclined to the ideas of the Reformation. Religious pilgrimages, festivities and ceremonies along with the worship of saints and faith in miracles, served as promotional tools of the Catholic faith. In order to spread Marian Piety, Czech and Moravian printers published works written by the representatives of church elites. In their works they dealt with the history of pilgrimage sites related to the Virgin Mary. The prints were published in Latin and German. In addition to the treatise about the pilgrimage sites and miraculous healings, they included prayers, songs and recommendations as to how to behave during a pilgrimage. It was not only the text component which the reader found interesting; he/she was also impressed by the graphic design of the print. The book decoration consisted of vignettes, friezes, typographic ornaments, lines or clichés, which fulfi lled an aesthetic and practical function. The customers’ interest was stimulated by copper engraving illustrations and Baroque allegorical frontispieces depicting a Marian statue and miracle picture or by depiction of the concrete pilgrimage site in the form of a veduta. The authors included some of the important Czech illustrators and engravers who collaborated with famous foreign artists.

Dinamika Elit Gereja dalam Panggung Politik

The church is an organizational organization that takes the interests of various church elites and parties to become a competition arena for local political elites. Thus, the elite church became the target of political elites and academics who wanted to seize power. This condition is evident, in various political constellations, religious organizations are laden with political contracts. Involve church elites in political momentum, there is support and response. This research explains how church elites compete on the political front and the views of church members of the church involved in politics. The methodology used is descriptive qualitative by determining informants using a purposive technique, in which the informants are determined based on their capacity to answer questions that are the locus of this study. The informants in the study were 13 people. The research location is in North Halmahera Regency. The results of the research show that political momentum contains political views and interests, thus giving permission to the church split (GMIH). The church elite (pastor) with its theological mission transformed into a practical political mission, the community (congregation) was educated with the political education of race, ethnicity, and religion which was then considered as the truth that all levels of society must accept.

ЗАЧЕМ ЮРОДСТВУЕТ ПРОТОПОП АВВАКУМ? АНАЛИЗ ТВОРЧЕСКОГО ЗАМЫСЛА "ЖИТИЯ" ПРОТОПОПА АВВАКУМА

The article studies the polemical orientation of the hagiographical Life of the Archpriest Avvakum, Written by Himself in relation to the author’s earlier works, The Answer of the Orthodox, and other texts that were included together with the Life in the Pustozersk Collection. An analysis of the creative evolution of Avvakum’s thought will demonstrate that the Life’s appeal to holy foolishness at its narrative climax was its strongest ideological weapon against the new Church elite (the Nikonians). This appeal gave rise to an unprecedented emphasis on the author’s personal life experience that was meant to be proof of the “theoretical” arguments against Nikonian rationalism in the The Answer to the Orthodox. As a demonstration of a mystical-experiential approach to knowledge of God, his dramatized holy foolishness justified his choice to present his own biography as a publicistic hagiographical narrative.

ПИСЬМА ХРИСТИАНСКОГО ИНТЕЛЛЕКТУАЛА: АЛКУИН И ЕГО ЭПИСТОЛЯРНОЕ НАСЛЕДИЕ

The article examines the epistolary legacy (numbering more than three hundred letters) of Alcuin of York, perhaps the most prominent figure of the so-called Carolingian Renaissance, a famous associate of Charlemagne. Comparison of Alcuin’s letters with samples of late antique epistolography makes it possible to trace the degree of continuity of cultural and social practices of pagan Antiquity and the Christian Middle Ages. In addition, reference to Alcuin’s correspondence makes it possible to look into the inner world of a Christian intellectual, to get acquainted with the issues and problems that occupy the minds of his contemporaries, to build a scheme of Alcuin’s network communication and to understand how far his spiritual influence extended in Europe and with which social layers he communicated. Setting the goal of identifying the characteristic features of the Christian intellectual community at the turn of the VIII—IX centuries on the basis of the analysis of Alcuin’s epistolary heritage, the author of the article defines the social and geographical boundaries of the circulation of Alcuin’s letters, identifies the succession of his letters from the ancient epistolary tradition, identifies and analyzes the main problems raised in Alcuin’s letters. To achieve this goal, the article uses a historical and anthropological approach with elements of semiotic analysis. The succession of Alcuin’s correspondence from the traditions of late antique epistolography is reflected, first of all, in the form of letters, the way they were written, and the use of stable rhetorical techniques. At the same time, attention is drawn to the change in the social portrait of the address and, due to this, the expansion of the circle of addressees, which now includes not only representatives of the highest secular and church elite, but also nsufficiently educated and ignoble people, for whom Alcuin acted as a spiritual father and mentor. The analysis of the letters shows that Alcuin’s awareness of his responsibility for the fate of the addressees determines the subject matter of the letters, many of which are devoted to explaining the responsibilities of certain members of the Christian community, defining the area of responsibility of the laity and clergy, constructing of the image of an ideal clergyman or a righteous layman.

INQUSITOR GENERALIS: IZMEĐU VOLjE ZA MOĆ I SLOBODE OD MOĆI

/ In this paper, we observe the chapter “The Great Inquisitor” in the novel The Brothers Karamazov as a literary field in which the dominant discourse of Power, the Church elite, represented by the Grand Inquisitor, is confronted by the subversive aspirations of marginalized social groups, embodied in the figure of Christ. Initially considering that the “poem” is an eminent text of culture, in which a vast number of textual clues have been absorbed, primarily the Holy Bible, we discover how the character of the Grand Inquisitor was constructed from the generic-hermeneutic angle. This implies a contextual theological, (inter)textual and semantic framework. In the central part of the paper, the focus of our analysis is the mechanisms by which institutions of power control subversive elements and aspects of their rebellion from the perspective of New Historicism. At the end of the paper, we point to the histori- cal and civilizational implications of an antagonistically conceived narrative on the problems of human freedom, action, and the implementation of power in history and, consequently, the organization of the (contemporary) world.

Art in the Process of Integrating the Don Host to the Russian State

Introduction. Studying culture and art in the formation of the Cossacks, designing its estate status is carried out in the perspective of current ideas about cultural policy contributing to more complete systemic reconstruction of the process. The novelty consists in showing the interaction of artistic and traditional household culture, the transformation of the latter. The purpose and objectives were analyzing the role of art in integrating the Cossacks into the Russian state, identifying the direction of changes in the culture; historical periodization of perception and adaptation of new art forms; establishing the specificity of the selected periods and the results achieved. Methods and materials. Research methods include the historical one, which allows considering changes in culture based on facts of social history, and cultural one, which gives approaches to studying regulation of the integration process in accordance with the principles of cultural policy. The source base consists of published official documents (letters, laws, decrees) containing reliable information, and art criticism, historical and ethnographic literature, which describes specific phenomena of culture and art. Analysis. The supreme power used effective and relevant for a particular historical period institutions and resources: religion and church (17th c.); service in the army and military education system (18th c.); reforming of social organization (incorporation into the estate structure of the state) and the control system of the Army (separation of the military and civilian system of administration) (19th c.). Results. By creating infrastructure, developing church and secular education, the government promoted systemic renewal of culture and Cossacks’ digestion of its forms that were perceived in Russia and Europe as close, identical and related (architecture, painting, choral singing and orchestra music, drama and musical theater). At the early stage of integration into the Russian state, contact forms and democratic nature of the cultural interaction process prevailed. Cultural expansion of the 18th – 19th centuries had a systemic nature and was determined by purposeful influence of the institutions (church, army, school and social elite) that contributed to renewal of culture according to the Western European model.

Translating Islam into the language of the Russian state and the Orthodox Church

ABSTRACTThis contribution analyses the discursive strategies exercised by Russia’s state-appointed Islamic authorities. It draws on a linguistic corpus that consists of speeches and sermons by Mufti Ravil’ Gainutdin, the head of a major Muslim Spiritual Directorate in Moscow. A multi-levelled analysis shows that the mufti’s lexical and rhetorical choices correspond to the discourse of the Russian Orthodox Church elites. This affinity is a discursive strategy that allows Gainutdin to position himself as the authoritative leader of Russia’s Islamic community and to construct Islam as Russia’s ‘familiar’ and ‘traditional’ religion.

ШЛЯХ ДО АВТОКЕФАЛІЇ УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ ПРАВОСЛАВНОЇ ЦЕРКВИ У 1918 РОЦІ (КРІЗЬ ПРИЗМУ ДОКУМЕНТІВ ДРУГОЇ СЕСІЇ ВСЕУКРАЇНСЬКОГО ПРАВОСЛАВНОГО ЦЕРКОВНОГО СОБОРУ)

The events that are taking place today in the church field of the Ukrainian State testify to the importance of the national church in building the national security of the country. The union of the church with the state has been formed for centuries, and to consider the absence of this tandem today would be wrong. However, such an alliance can be dangerous for the state if the church provokes separatism, ignites national conflict, undermines the national security of the state. Evidence of this is the aggressive policy of the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church towards Ukraine throughout history, which has turned the church into an instrument of political games. Thus, by annexing the Metropolitan of Kiev in 1686 and establishing a protectorate over the Ukrainian church space, the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church did everything to destroy the Ukrainian church tradition. History of Ukraine of the twentieth century testifies to the repeated attempts of Ukrainians to get out of the grip of the Russian Orthodox Church and build their own independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church. A striking example of this is the All-Ukrainian Orthodox Church Council of 1918, which, in the context of national competitions of the Ukrainian people for their own state, brought to the agenda of the revolutionary events the question of independence of the Ukrainian Church. At the second session of the Council, the idea of autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for the first time in many years consolidated a small part of the Ukrainian church and political elite around it. This article is devoted to analyzing the documents of this council session. The author tries to present the main stages of the competition for the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the difficulties that have arisen.

УКРАЇНСЬКА ЦЕРКОВНА ЕЛІТА І РОСІЙСЬКИЙ ЦЕНТРАЛІЗМ: ПРОТИСТОЯННЯ СИНОДАЛЬНОГО ПЕРІОДУ

The essence of opposition of the Ukrainian church elite to the Russian centralism of the Synodal period (1721-1786) and analyzes its role in defending the rights and interests of the Orthodox Church are described in the article. The formation of Synod in 1721 opened in a new period in the history of the Orthodox Church in the Russian Empire, and in Ukraine in particular. The task of this institution, established on the European model, was to unify church life and to offset its local features according to the program outlined by the Spiritual Regulation at the behest of Peter I. The activities of Synod came into sharp contradiction with the privileges of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which it continued to enjoy from the time of its subordination to the Moscow Patriarchate. The Metropolitan of Kyiv was deprived of its decisive status, and its superiors - the title of Metropolitan and the right of free election. The restoration of these rights became the main task for the Ukrainian church elite. Under the reign of Empress Anna Ioanivna, the clergy made a major effort to restore the economic rights of the Church, undermined by the release of Hetman Danylo Apostol in 1728, which, however, were fruitless. The reign of Empress Elizabeth began a new era in the autonomous aspirations of the Ukrainian church elite. In response to the petition of Kyiv Bishop Rafail Zaborovskyi, the Metropolitanate of Kyiv was returned to its former status, and ts head - the title of Metropolitan. At the same time, the attempts to restitute the clergy property rights, as so as the restoration of the jurisdiction of the Kyiv Metropolitanate were unsuccessful. The reign of Catherine II, whose main purpose was the complete centralization in all spheres of the Russian Empire and the secularization of church property, became the most difficult and acute period of confrontation with the Russian imperial regime. The Ukrainian church elite, headed by Metropolitan of Kyiv Arsenii Mohylianskyi, tried to use the preparation of the New Code Commission to assert its rights. This has been proven by petitions to restore the status of the Kyiv Metropolitanate and clergy rights. However, the Commission did not complete its activities and the relicts of the autonomy of the Ukrainian elites were finally buried.