SECULARIZATION OF CHURCH LANDS DURING ABSOLUTISM IN RUSSIA

ABSTRACT

In the History of the Russian Orthodox Church, the secularization of church lands restructured the policy of interaction between the state and the church. The beginning of the process of secularization of church lands in Russia, occurred at the time of the Manifesto of 29.02.1764. The violent reaction in response to the changes in domestic policy in the field of church property, followed from the monasticism and the church, it is very negative. The Church, having lost most of its lands, could not further manage its property at the previous level without active cooperation with the state, making this task impossible.

Keywords: secularization, ROC, Russian Empire, absolutism, Catherine the Great, Manifesto of 29.02.1764.

In the history of Russia, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) played an important role in domestic politics, shaped the culture of society, and had an autonomy unlike other institutions of the time. During the period of absolutism in Russia, church lands were subjected to the process of secularization, which was part of the broad reforms carried out under the influence of Western European ideas of enlightenment. The beginning of the process of secularization of church lands in Russia, marked the moment of the Manifesto of 29.02.1764. It had significant consequences for the nature and organization of church life in the country and the further development and role in governance in the country. It also created a precedent for the transfer of a large amount of land and property into state ownership.

Undoubtedly, the ROC was the most general synthesis of the feudal system, the center of the feudal system [4, p. 3]. The church played a connecting role in the formation of Russian culture and the formation of national interests in Russia, but the question of the relationship between the church and the state mechanism in the period of absolutism remains unstudied.

The genesis of the relationship between the state and the church and the creation of restrictions on the ownership of land property of the church can be attributed to the reigns of John III and Peter III. Thus, Peter III “did not ceremonize with the church at all, he issued an order to remove from the churches all icons except Christ and the Virgin Mary, and ordered all priests to shave their beards and wear civilian dress” [5, p. 251; 5, с. 251]. This step characterizes the head of state as an institution of hierarchy, which is above the church, which further gave the predecessors experience in interference in church affairs and influence on the church itself by imperative method.

At the beginning of the reign of Catherine the Great, the hierarchs submitted a petition for the return of their fiefdoms. The Empress sent it to the Senate and instructed it to “have a discussion about the clergy, how to make them happy for their maintenance”. And in response to this request of the Empress there appeared various opinions about the future fate of these fiefs both in the Senate and at the Conference of the Senate and the Synod. The Great Russian bishops, under the leadership of Archbishop Demetrius (Sechenov) of Novgorod, at once revealed a tendency to trust the secular power, to throw off the burden of economic landowning worries and to move to the position of paid servants of the single religious-state whole of Russia. In the atmosphere of the new statehood, the general concepts were revised and changed. Neither the army nor the bureaucracy were evaluated as forces enslaved by the state. On the contrary, their privileges were drawn in their salaries. The bishops of the Great Russians internalized this “state” provision of the Church in contrast to the Malorossians, who had more deeply imbibed into their psychology the spirit of Polish-schlachetty. The nobility and landowning life in them identified with the spirit of Christian freedom and church autonomy. But the Russian Empire was built by the inspiration of the Great Russians, including the episcopate.

The inevitability of solving the church-land question, in the form of secularization, had economic and social consequences. Elizabeth, famous for her decree to solve the problem, gave a clear answer that the state could not digest the church with its great influence, large lands and role in policy making. The clergy, in their unconscious habituation to this outdated and landowning system, were jealous of it on additional theological and canonical grounds.

However, the secularization of church lands also caused negative consequences. It led to a decrease in the land property of the church and increased its dependence on the state. It also caused discontent on the part of the clergy and parishioners, who were losing control over their land holdings. There were pockets of discontent, as well as in some places (Donskoy Monastery), the monks met the military detachments with oak horns, stones and got into a fight with them [9].

As a result of the secularization of lands, the church became more dependent on the state than before because of the increased complexity of independent economic management within church fiefdoms.

In that way, the secularization of church lands during absolutism in Russia was an important stage in the history of church and state. It contributed to the modernization of the country and the strengthening of central authority, but it also caused discontent and protests on the part of the church and ordinary parishioners.

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