Question of the Composition of the Local Council in the 1906 Predsobornoe Prisutstvie

Abstract

The article is devoted to a subject that is still full of secrets and unexpected facts. The problem of the composition of the expected Local Council was one of the main ones at the beginning of the 20th century in discussions about desirable reform in the life of the Church, the apogee of which was to be the All-Russian Holy Council. Naturally, the participants of the proposed Council were to be the best representatives of all levels. The decision on such a controversial issue was not taken suddenly. The purpose of the study is to analyze the discussions of the first pre-conciliar – Predsobornoe Prisutstvie of 1906 on the composition of the long-awaited Local Council. This study led to the conclusion that the participants of the Prisutstviya differed during the discussion of the composition of the Cathedral, for some it was presented as purely episcopal, the decisions of such a Council should only be communicated to the entire Church. Others, who were in the majority at the time under study, wrote about what a majestic event like the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church must represent all levels of society, so that the decisions taken there, are not one-sided and would address all the troubled aspects of the Church’s life. The results of the Prisutstviya work inspired the Holy Synod, with the Emperor’s signature, to publish an expanded and amended Statute on the composition of the Council, which will be edited by the Pre-Conciliar Council in 1917, but in its basis will be fundamental for the wording of the Regulation of 1917, regulating the convening and activity of the Local Council hundred years ago.