The Reports of the Ober-Procurators of the Holy Ruling Synod as a Source for the Study of the Situation in the Kyiv Eparchy and Its Monasteries in the Second Half of the 19th and Early 20th Centuries

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to cast light upon the problem of researching published sources on the history of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, as well as to supplement the achievements of previous researchers and to propose a detailed analysis of the situation and activities of the Kyiv diocese and its monasteries, presented in the published reports of the ober-procurators of the Holy Ruling Synod between 1884 and 1914.

The scientific novelty of the material presented in this article lies in the fact that, for the first time in the national historiography, “All-Public Reports of the Ober-Procurators of the Holy Synod” between 1884–1914, which were published and open to the general scientific community, were subjected to a detailed analysis. The authors also clarify the level and significance of information about the situation in the Kyiv Eparchy, its clergy, its numbers, its composition, as well as the cultural, educational and charitable activities of its monasteries.

The article argues that the essence of the reports by the ober-procurators of the Holy Ruling Synod on the situation in the Kyiv Eparchy and its monasteries is practically undeveloped in the scientific literature. Such reports were addressed to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church – the Russian Emperor. They are an important and extremely informative source for modern researchers, familiarity with which will permit them to assess the general condition of the main confession in the empire. More specifically, these reports reveal the state of the Kyiv Eparchy for each calendar year. Every report had a relatively standard structure and was published as a separate book. An analysis of these sources makes it possible to establish the role and place of the hierarchs of the Kyiv Eparchy in the overall structure of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as their personnel and activities.

Furthermore, additional information, provided in the reports on the number of Orthodox monasteries in the Kyiv Eparchy and the number of monks, is of particular interest, which allows the authors to trace the dynamics in changes in these numbers over thirty years. The study of the reports reveals new information on the life in the Orthodox monasteries in the Kyiv region, in relation to their charitable, cultural and educational activities.