Parish chapels between the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 20th centuries (based on the materials of the Olonets diocese)

Abstract

The article discusses the main problems of chapels’ construction in the Olonets diocese. It is revealed that the building of this type of parish churches has always been associated with numerous difficulties, the number of which, however, was inferior to the difficulties and bureaucratic obstacles associated with the construction of churches. Contemporaries of the events with good reason associated the chapels with the Old Believer ideology. Permit to erect a chapel is conditioned by a number of circumstances. First of all, the remoteness of a number of villages from the parish church and the lack of regular visits to the parish church mattered. Some chapels played the role of monuments about significant events in the life of parishes. Occasionally chapels became significant points of candle trade and contributed to the replenishment of the treasury of parish churches.

Keywords

• chapels
• temples
• clergy
• parishioners
• legislation
• traditions
• orthodoxy