The Question of Building a Chapel in Ulus Anchul (1914) and Orthodox Mission in Khakass-Minusinsk Region

Abstract

The article is devoted to the life and work of the Khakass missionary priest Simeon Tormazakov in the context of the mission in the Khakass-Minusinsk region at the beginning of the XX century. At that time, this region, inhabited by indigenous peoples (Khakass and Shors), was divided between two dioceses (Tomsk and Yenisei), however, due to the speci cs of the administrative division and features of the economic and cultural type, the boundaries between the dioceses were very arbitrary, as a result of which the population the same uluses were cared for by both the Tomsk and the Yenisei clergy. The author pays special attention to the issue of building a prayer house (chapel) in the Anchul ulus (now the Tashtyp district of the Republic of Khakassia). In 1914, at the initiative of the inhabitants of the aforementioned ulus and the missionary of the Altai mission, priest Ioann Shtygashev, an attempt was made to build a chapel, but this initiative met with resistance from the priest of the Yeniseisk diocese (to which Anchul belonged in territorial terms) Simeon Tormazakov. The misunderstanding was resolved and did not develop into a con ict stage: the leadership of the Altai mission acknowledged that Father Simeon was right. All this led to the termination of the practice of «double care» of foreigners in Minusinsk district.