The Activities of the Orthodox Church in the Western Russian Dioceses of the Russian Empire in the Context of Confessional Issues After the Adoption of the Manifesto ‘On Strengthening the Principles of Religious Tolerance’ from 1905 to 1909 (based on

Abstract

The Manifesto «On Strengthening the Principles of Religious Tolerance» as of April 17, 1905, raised many issues for the Orthodox Church in the Russian Empire, which had accumulated during the Synodical period. This legislative act was received ambiguously, since the new conditions for all denominations were putting the «dominant religion» at risk. In the Western Russian dioceses of the Orthodox Church of the Russian Empire pro-Catholic and pro-Polish forceshad revengeaiming the abolition of Union in the region. This article attempts to reflect the activities of the Orthodox Church in the Western Russian dioceses of the Russian Empire in the context of confessional issues after the adoption of the manifesto «On the strengthening of the principles of religious tolerance» by church periodicals. Chronological framework of research is the period from April 17, 1905 – the signing of the manifesto «On strengthening the principles of religious tolerance» – to October 30, 1909 – the adoption by the State Duma of the bill «On changing the laws concerning the conversion from one confession to another». During the mentioned period, in the western part of the Russian Empire, the most violent confrontations between Catholics and Orthodox took place. In this article the terms «Western Russian territory» and «Western Russian region» are used. They came to be actively used thanks to the scientific work of one of the most prominent church and secular historians, Mikhail Osipovich Koyalovich.