Sources on the history of the parish clergy self-consciousness in Russia

Abstract

The paper considers the main sources on the history of the parish clergy of the Synodal period, gives their characteristics, reveals the significance of these sources for the study of the clergy’s self-consciousness history and the daily life of clerics. The most popular source of the history of the clergy is the clerical records (documents on the service of the clergy). On the basis of their data the statistics on the history of the clergy and churches is recreated. There are also numerous materials of diocesan record-keeping-petitions of the clergy that can help in studying life and material support of clerics. Representatives of the clergy left a large set of memoirs, which are used in the study of lifestyle, research on the self-consciousness of the clergy. The paper presents examples of epistolary genre, diaries and memoirs; it also considers how these sources are in demand in modern historiography. The research gives the main reference books and works that help in the search for materials on the topic of the history of the clergy.

Keywords

• parish clergy
• clerical records
• memoirs
• letters
• russian church