Missionary Activity of the Church

Introduction

In the XIX - early XX centuries Russian Orthodox missionary work spread throughout the vast Russian Empire. Russian missionaries did a lot of work with the small peoples of the North, the Far East and Siberia to convert them to Orthodoxy. During this historical period, the country was being modernized, and there was also a crisis of traditional values and the growth of sectarianism, which is consonant with the present. Missionary work in the Russian Orthodox Church was internal and external: the internal carried out work directed against schismatics and sectarians; and the external was oriented towards foreigners inside Russia and outside it.

Before the revolution of 1917, the Voronezh province was the center of the old Russian sectarianism. The new sectarianism was fundamentally different from the old Russian sects, which arose spontaneously, did not have a dogmatic system, and were distinguished by mysticism. Such, for example, are «khlysty» that appeared in the Voronezh province at the beginning of the 19th century.

In 1803, a report was sent to the governor of Voronezh from the Bogucharsky district police officer, which states that the missionary Mikhail Granatovsky arrived in the Shiryaevo settlement of the Bogucharsky district, who turned to the volost foreman with a request to collect «khlysty» for a religious conversation. Khlysty gathered in the composition of 18-20 people in the premises of the zemstvo school. The purpose of the conversation was to strengthen the Orthodox faith and to explain to this sect their false doctrine. Riots began in the school building, which were provoked by representatives of the sect. The district police officer reported that the perpetrators were brought to justice. This was reported to the Kharkiv Judicial Chamber and the Ostrogozhsky District Court. Subbotniks, who stood apart and were the heirs of the Novgorod “heresy of the Judaizers”, subsequently finally converted to Judaism. At the beginning of the 19th century, in the Voronezh province, they settled in the village of Ilyinka.

In 1890, in an article by M. Bylov, which was published in the Voronezh Diocesan Vedomosti, reports appeared about the Subbotniky sect. The article uses archival materials from the fund of the Voronezh Spiritual Consistory.

The peasants of the villages of Mechetki, Puzevo, Gvazda of Bobrovsky and Pavlovsky districts of the Voronezh province, interrogated in the consistory in 1802, described their “superstition” as follows: “do not worship holy icons; do not go to God's Church; not to confess and not to take communion, but to believe in God in the soul; read psalms; do not eat pork; to honor Saturday, but not to honor Sunday; Don't wear crosses.”

The “Subbotniky” completely rejected Orthodoxy and Christianity and built their doctrine and life according to the Old Testament. They did not know Jewish prayers, and therefore, instead of prayers, they read those psalms that could be found in Orthodox books. Thus, a large and significant Jewish community was formed in Russia.

The Synod, local diocesan bishops paid special attention to subbotniks, so the Russian archives contain a lot of material about sectarians.

The funds of the Russian State Historical Archive contain one of these documents. The Ministry of Spiritual Affairs and Public Education conducted an investigation into the relationship of the Jew Leib Klodnya, a resident of the city of Pinsk, with Efim Lukyanchenkov, a subbotnik peasant from the Voronezh province. These people, interrogated by the St. Petersburg police in 1822, were suspected that L. Klodnya was teaching, and E. Lukyanchenkov was accepting the “Jewish teaching about faith.” Numerous manuscripts containing translations of Jewish prayers and information about Jewish holidays fully confirmed the suspicions.

The main culprit, L. Klodnya, was sentenced to exile in Siberia under police supervision, and E. Lukyanchenkov had to be “confirmed” in Orthodoxy by the rector of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg. The Synod demanded that experienced clergymen be sent to the villages infected with “Jewishness”, capable of leading hardened hearts to repentance, to meekness, humility and prudence.

Prince (knyaz') A. Golitsyn, the Minister of Spiritual Affairs and Public Education, also reported that Jews in the Voronezh province were spreading their teachings among the local population, for which Alexander I issued a decree “On the incontinence of Jews in the domestic service of Christians.” Count V. Kochubey, the Minister of the Interior, in 1823 submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers a report on the “Subbotniky”, of which there were about 20 thousand people in different regions of Russia, and on what measures were being taken to combat this sect (Ershov, 2017).