The study of the history and culture of different peoples inhabiting or inhabiting the territory of our multinational country is still quite relevant for Russian historical science. Among these issues, a prominent place is occupied by the history of foreign colonization of the southern Ukraine, which began at the end of the 18th century. Foreign colonists (Germans, Mennonites, Bulgarians and others) took an active part in the development of these territories and played an important role in their economic and cultural development in the post-reform period. The purpose of the article is to study, using the example of the German and Mennonite settlements of the Tavricheskaya gubernia, certain aspects of the religious life of the colonist community in the southern region of modern Ukraine, related to the peculiarities of church construction and the formation of new church parishes among them. Religion played a very important role in the internal life of the German-speaking colonies in southern Ukraine. This, in particular, is evidenced by the great attention paid to the construction of churches and the opening of new church parishes by the colonial communities themselves. In turn, the tsarist government provided the colonists with a certain autonomy in their internal church affairs, but limited their religious influence on the local population. At the same time, the policy of the authorities in relation to the colonial clergy was characterized by a certain duality. On the one hand, she endowed him with significant benefits, and on the other hand, she tried to establish full control over his activities.
Read full abstract