The situation in the south of the Ryazan diocese on the eve of foundation of Voronezh diocese in 1682 on the example of Voronezh and Yeletsky uyezds

Abstract

At the Great Moscow Council in 1667, one of the decisions made was the creation of two new dioceses within the borders of the Ryazan Metropolitanate - Voronezh and Tambov. The establishment of these two dioceses in the southern regions of the Ryazan metropolitan area was due to the remoteness of these territories from the seat of the ruling bishop, and as a result, the power of the bishop in these areas was practically non-existent. The emergence of new settlements demanded improvement in the lives of the people in all aspects, including the spiritual sphere. A major challenge for the larger diocese was providing Christian education. Due to the vast size of the diocese, the ruling bishop was unable to travel frequently throughout his territory, and local authorities did not always follow the instructions of the bishop closely enough.Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich understood that in order to successfully Christianize the population of newly acquired territories, it would be necessary to increase the number of dioceses. However, the decision of the Great Moscow Council to establish the Voronezh and Tambov dioceses had not been implemented. The issue of diocesan restructuring remained unresolved, and it was addressed again by Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich. In his 16 proposals to the Council in 1682, he presented a draft for the diocesan structure of the Russian Orthodox Church. One of the principles behind the establishment of dioceses was to ensure that the borders of each diocese were close to the location of their respective bishops. In drafting his proposals, Tsar Fyodor used various documents, such as census books and boundary books. These documents provided information about the actual situation on the ground and allowed for an assessment of the state of the Russian Orthodox Church.In Russian historiography, the events leading up to the Council of 1682, as well as the acts of the council and its aftermath, have been studied. However, many documents remain unexplored in some cases. In particular, the state of the Ryazan Diocese on the eve of the establishment of the Voronezh Diocese warrants further research. This issue has both scientific and practical significance.