PECULIARITIES OF THE CHURCH-PERSONNEL REFORM IN 1845 IN THE PARISHES OF THE CAUCASIAN DIOCESE

Abstract

The article highlights the need for church reform in human resources. The material security of the parish clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church was marked by sharp contrast. In large cities, there were rich parishes, where the church clergy received a good reward for the performance of the services. However, the bulk of the parish clergy, which served in rural parishes, including the North Caucasus, on parishioners' donations, part-time farming and land cultivation. Obtaining alms and farming was humiliating for the clergy endowed by high legal status in the Russian Empire. In addition, with the reference to materials stored in the funds of the State Archives of the Stavropol Krai, the article studies the peculiarities of human resources reform that was carried out in the Caucasus Diocese since 1845. It reveals contradictions among church clerics that were generated by changes and the ways to overcome them. To improve the financial situation of the church clergy, the state carried out a number of reforms, but they failed to overcome the unfavorable situation in the material provision of the parish clergy aggravated by more global problems, even by the beginning of the 20th century.