The Participation of Women’s Monasteries in Missionary Activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Second Half of the XIX – Early XX Centuries

Abstract

The study of the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the life of Russian society is an urgent task for Russian historical science. The solution of this problem requires a comprehensive objective study of the missionary activities of Orthodox monasteries in the second half of the XIX – early XX centuries. The contradiction between the insufficient knowledge of the missionary activity of women’s monasteries and the need to study it in order to obtain a holistic view and an objective assessment of this activity has become a research problem. The purpose of the article is to analyze the participation of women’s monasteries in the missionary activities of the church among groups of the Russian population of different confessions in the second half of the XIX – early XX centuries. The novelty of the article lies in the fact that the evolution of the establishment of nunneries is investigated; the main directions and forms of their work are characterized; factors that influenced the work of monasteries in the church mission are identified; the results of their missionary activities are analyzed. For the first time, summary statistics on women’s missionary monasteries are presented. The study was conducted on the basis of a systematic approach using the principles of objectivity and historicism, historical-genetic and historical-comparative methods. The author concludes to the conclusion that the activities of women’s monasteries contributed to the expansion of the church mission through the use of various forms of work with the population. Social and charitable activities were of great importance. The advantage of nunneries is the use of forms of work that are attractive to the population. This not only contributed to the solution of missionary tasks but also ensured the cultural and civilizational development of the population, influenced its religious and moral state. The results of the research can be used in the content of the academic disciplines “History of Russia”, “History of traditional religions of Russia”, in studies on the church mission, the history of Russian Orthodox female monasticism. The prospects of the research are to study the missionary activities of “non-native” nunneries, co-religionist nunneries, and women’s missionary communities.

Keywords

• russian orthodox church
• missionary work
• female monastery
• education
• spiritual and moral education
• enlightenment