The Crisis of the "State Church" in the Focus of the Parish Question. 1860s-1917

Abstract

In this article, the author looks at the development of the so-called Orthodox parish issue within the last fifty years of the Russian Empire. This issue helps identifying the main elements of the crisis in which the State Church system would find itself in 1917. The problem was present since the 18th century and then exploded in heated discussions in the beginning of the 20th century. The parish issue turned out to be closely intertwined with all major social and political problems: the crisis of the peasant community, urbanization, the reform of local government, the church education system, and the material support of the clergy. However, as a part of the imperial state machine, the Synodal system was not able to solve this issue, due to at least four factors: inter-departmental competition; politization of the issue; the lack of public consensus; and the lack of a unified will that would guide comprehensive reforms.