The Particular Features of the Conflicts in the Parishes Be- longing to the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra in the 18th Century (In the Rozhdestvensky and Sere- bozhsky Districts of Pereslavl Uyezd)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the particular features of the 18th-century conflicts among the clergy of the churches belonging to the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra which were located in the districts (Russ.: stan, volost) Rozhdestvensky and Serebozhsky of Pereslavl uyezd. In the old village (Russ.: selo) of Makhra, donated to the monastery in 1572 by Lovchikov family, the position of Father Superior was hereditary for a century and a half; as for the other church positions, the situation was similar. But in the mid-1750, after an allotment of church positions, a conflict arose as the family of Grigoriy Zabolotsky, father of the future rector of the Trinity Seminary, also aspired to the positions in Makhra’s Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos (this family did not pertain to Makhra but was supported by the local nobility). The long-lasting struggle for the hereditary positions finished in the 1770s when the positions eventually remained with their original obtainers — the family of Priest Naum Orlov. In Konstantinovskoye village (Russ.: selo) the matters of positions and land also became the ground of the conflicts between clergymen who struggled for hereditary rights and for the borders of their respective parishes (parish conflicts would be internal or inter-parish at different times). The bishops of the diocese of Pereslavl-Zalessky and Dmitrov would nearly always solve questions of position in favour of the ab-original clergy family, also taking into account the parishioners’ feelings.