From the History of the Transfer of Church Property to State Ownership in the Yaroslavl Province in 1918

Identificator

EDN: PUELWK; УДК 94(470.316)

Authors

Arkhipova Lyubov Mikhailovna, Doctor of History, professor of the Department of National History, Yaroslavl State Pedagogical University n. a. K. D. Ushinsky. Russia, Yaroslavl. ORCID: 0000-0001-8285-5720. E-mail: lubov.a2011@yandex.ru

Journal

HERALD OF HUMANITARIAN EDUCATION, №2 (42), 2026

Section

NATIONAL HISTORY

Pages

52-61

Abstract

The article examines the relevant scientific history of property relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the state in the first year of the implementation of the anti-religious decrees of the Soviet government. While fundamental historical works on the anti-church policy of the proletarian dictatorship present a conceptually meaningful view of its causes, scope, means, and results, regional studies always offer the prospect of filling concepts with new specific historical material, introducing archival sources and information about local specifics into scientific discourse. This study is based on the principles of social history and the use of neo-positivist methodology and source studies techniques in the collection and interpretation of historical information. The object of study is the organizational aspects of the implementation of anti-religious legislation. The subject is the formation of new property relations between the Yaroslavl Soviets of deputies and the diocese. The main source base was made up of circulars, business correspondence, reports, presentations, inventories of property and acts of its requisition, applications of parish communities, bank certificates on the capital of churches and monasteries, etc., preserved in the funds of the provincial and district departments (executive committees of soviets) on the separation of church from state in the State archive of the Yaroslavl region and its Rybinsk branch. In conclusion, the article presents observations on the peculiarities of the transfer of church property to the state in the Yaroslavl province. The areas of application of the research results are cultural, educational, and research.

Keywords

Russian Orthodox Church Soviet government Yaroslavl province separation of church and state financial and material basis requisitions resistance

Recieved

13.04.2026

Published

20.08.2026

References

1. Blagovestnik. Episkop Romanovskij Veniamin (Voskresenskij). Zhizneopisanie. Pis'ma [The Evangelist. Bishop Veniamin (Voskresensky) of Romanov. A Biography. Letters] / comp. by E. I. Bolshakova. S. l., s. a. 393 p.
2. Vse my Hristovy. Svyashchennosluzhiteli i miryane zemli Yaroslavskoj, postradavshie v gody gonenij za veru pravoslavnuyu. 1918–1953. Kratkie biograficheskie svedeniya [We Are All Christ's. Clergy and Laity of the Yaroslavl Land Who Suffered during the Years of Persecution for the Orthodox Faith. 1918–1953. Brief Biographical Information] / comp. by Bishop Veniamin (Lihomanov) et al. Parts 1–3. Yaroslavl ; Rybinsk, 2012–2017.
3. Vsepoddannejshij otchet ober-prokurora Svyatejshego Sinoda po vedomstvu pravoslavnogo ispovedaniya za 1913 gg. [The Most Humble Report of the Chief Procurator of the Most Holy Synod for the Department of the Orthodox Confession for 1913]. SPb., Sinodal'naya tip. (Synodal Printing House), 1915. 316 p., appx. 1. Tables No. 1–4, 6–8, 17–19; appx. 2. Tables No. I, II.
4. SAYR (State Archive of the Yaroslavl Region). Rybinsk Branch. F. R 118. Op. 2. D. 5.
5. SAYR. Rybinsk Branch. F. R 118. Op. 2. D. 29.
6. SAYR. Rybinsk Branch. F. R 118. Op. 2. D. 32.
7. Gol'dberg R. Gorod pered myatezhom [The City before the Mutiny] // Shestnadcat' dnej. Materialy po istorii belogvardejskogo myatezha (6–21 iyulya 1918 g.) [Sixteen Days. Materials on the History of the White Guard Mutiny (July 6–21, 1918)]. Yaroslavl, Izdanie Yaroslavskogo Gubkoma RKP (Published by the Yaroslavl Provincial Committee of the RCP), 1924. Pp. 47–53.
8. Dashkovskaya O. D. Russkaya pravoslavnaya cerkov' i kreditnye uchrezhdeniya v konce XVIII – nachale XX vv. (po materialam Yaroslavskoj eparhii) [The Russian Orthodox Church and Credit Institutions in the Late 18th – Early 20th Centuries (Based on Materials of the Yaroslavl Diocese)] // Duhovnaya missiya, civilizacionnaya identichnost' i cennostno-smyslovye aspekty istorii Yaroslavsko-Rostovskoj eparhii v X–XXI vv. – The Spiritual Mission, Civilizational Identity and Value-Semantic Aspects of the History of the Yaroslavl-Rostov Diocese in the 10th–21st Centuries. Yaroslavl, Shukaeva i sem'ya, 2022. Pp. 114–119.
9. Dekrety Sovetskoj vlasti. T. 1. 25 oktyabrya 1917 – 16 marta 1918 [Decrees of the Soviet Government. Vol. 1. October 25, 1917 – March 16, 1918]. M., Gos. izd-vo polit. lit. (State Publishing House of Political Literature), 1957. 626 p.
10. Malinin B. U Belyh pod pyatoj. "Soyuz zashchity Rodiny i svobody" [Under the Heel of the Whites. "The Union for the Defence of the Motherland and Freedom"] // Shestnadcat' dnej. Materialy po istorii belogvardejskogo myatezha (6–21 iyulya 1918 g.) [Sixteen Days. Materials on the History of the White Guard Mutiny (July 6–21, 1918)]. Yaroslavl, Izdanie Yaroslavskogo Gubkoma RKP (Published by the Yaroslavl Provincial Committee of the RCP), 1924. Pp. 57–87.
11. Monahinya Smaragda (Zykova). Tolgskij monastyr' v gody gonenij na Cerkov' v XX veke [Nun Smaragda (Zykova). The Tolga Monastery during the Years of Persecution of the Church in the 20th Century] // Zhizn' vo Hriste – Life in Christ. 2014. No. 1 (2). Pp. 71–72.
12. Orlov I. B. Sovetskoe gosudarstvo i Cerkov' v 1920-e gody: problemy i perspektivy sotrudnichestva [The Soviet State and the Church in the 1920s: Problems and Prospects of Cooperation] // Epoha knyazya Vladimira i razvitie Rossijskoj gosudarstvennosti : materialy Vseros. nauch.-prakt. konf. 26 iyunya 2015 goda, g. Yaroslavl' [The Era of Prince Vladimir and the Development of Russian Statehood : Proceedings of the All-Russian Scientific-Practical Conference, June 26, 2015, Yaroslavl] / ed. by Yu. Yu. Ierusalimsky. Yaroslavl, 2016. Pp. 420–436.
13. Otdelenie Cerkvi ot gosudarstva i shkoly ot Cerkvi v Sovetskoj Rossii. Oktyabr' 1917–1918 : sb. dok. [The Separation of the Church from the State and of the School from the Church in Soviet Russia. October 1917–1918 : a collection of documents] / ed. by Archpriest V. Vorobyov ; comp. by L. V. Milyakova. M., Izd-vo PSTGU (St. Tikhon's Orthodox University Press), 2016. 944 p.
14. Ryazancev N. P. K istorii Mologskogo vosstaniya 1918 goda [On the History of the Mologa Uprising of 1918] // Mologskij kraj: stranicy proshlogo [The Mologa Land: Pages of the Past]. Nekouz, 1997. Pp. 39–47.
15. Somov V. A. Vzveshennyj podhod k ocenke vzaimootnoshenij gosudarstva i cerkvi v pervonachal'nyj sovetskij period [A Balanced Approach to Assessing the Relations between the State and the Church in the Early Soviet Period] // Gumanitarnye issledovaniya Central'noj Rossii – Humanities Researches of the Central Russia. 2025. No. 1 (34). Pp. 32–38. DOI: 10.24412/2541-9056-2025-134-32-38.
16. Documentation Centre for the Contemporary History of the Yaroslavl Region. F. 16. Op. 1. D. 3.
17. Cerkovnye vedomosti – Church Gazette. 1918. Jan. 5. No. 1. Unofficial part.
18. Cerkovnye vedomosti – Church Gazette. 1918. Jan. 20. No. 2. Unofficial part.
19. Cerkovnye vedomosti – Church Gazette. 1918. Jan. 31. No. 3–4. Unofficial part.
20. Cerkovnye vedomosti – Church Gazette. 1918. Feb. 7 (20). No. 5. Unofficial part.
21. Cerkovnye vedomosti – Church Gazette. 1918. March 2–15. No. 7–8. Official part.
22. Cerkovnye vedomosti – Church Gazette. 1918. March 16 (29). No. 9–10. Unofficial part.
23. Cerkovnye vedomosti – Church Gazette. 1918. July 1 (14). No. 23–24. Unofficial part.

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License