Parish clergy of the Oryol diocese on the eve of the February 1917 revolution

Abstract

The article deals with the main problems of the Oryol clergy on the eve of the February 1917 revolution. On the basis of statistical data and newspaper publications the author comes to a conclusion about unsatisfactory situation of Oryol clergy on the eve of the Great Russian Revolution. Unstable financial condition of clergy was very slowly solved by the government - at 20-fold increase of parishes on public wages from the end of XIX century, 1/3 of parishes of the diocese in 1917 still were without it. It is also noted, that the salary of the Oryol clergy was at an extremely low level, which did not correspond to the role which was given to clergy in the system of the state power. Ownership of land by the parish, as a means of supporting the clergy, proved to be a burden on the clergy. There were no forces to work the land, and the leasing of land to peasants created only tension and conflicts. In addition, the ownership of land by the clergy was deemed unjust, and in 1917 it was manifested in a massive encroachment by the peasants on church properties. The problem of payment for the demand (sometimes the only source of income for the clergy) was most acute. The poverty of the peasantry and their inability and often unwillingness to pay for church services seriously affects the welfare of the clergy, and puts them in a category of beggars and humiliated. This condition deprived the clergy of their authority with their parishioners, as was shown by the revolutionary events of 1905–1907, when priests’ exhortations to stop the agrarian unrest had no effect. The author believes these factors were decisive in March 1917, when the Oryol clergy supported the revolution, which had begun, in the hope of changing their position.