The Church Schools and Seminaries in the Russian Revolution of 1905–06

Abstract

The Russian Orthodox Church faced the revolutionary events of 1905 and 1906 in a weak and divided condition, but also in a spirit of optimism. It remained financially more than ever dependent on the state. It was still subjected to lay control and to detailed bureaucratic supervision. It was still reliant on state protection against the inroads in its popular support made by Old Believers, other sectarians, Uniates and Catholics, and Muslims. Internally, the white clergy deeply resented the domination of the church hierarchy by the black clergy, and even within the hierarchy there were widely divergent views and bitter disputes. Like other interest groups in society, the church hoped to take advantage of the revolutionary disturbances to persuade the state, or, to be more precise, the Tsar, to make significant concessions in favour of its own vested interests. In particular, it wished to regain independent, self-governing status under a Patriarch, without necessarily sacrificing the material advantages and protection which it derived from its peculiar relationship with the state.¹