"Happy in Arcadia" - Retrospective

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Balls, champagne and … slavery, although they replaced this word with another, Russian word - serfdom. The idealization of tsarist Russia, as an ideal Christian country, reminds in reality, only predatory plunder and obsessive "Christian" servility to the golden calf.

Mythical image - "The Russian Empire was inhabited by a God-fearing people who believed and prayed for the glory of the royal splendor." The people of that time are being exhibited as role models that modern new Christians should aspire to.

Many people think so, but was it so?

For more than three centuries, serfdom introduced by the church mercilessly exploited the Russian people. Burned, drowned, flogged; sold, donated, bequeathed by inheritance, like a commodity or cattle. Our history is very stingy on this subject, the church censor was on guard.

The abolition of serfdom was preceded by an uprising of the rebellious people. Ten years before the reform of 1861, 410 peasants were exiled to Siberia for terrorist acts against the landlords.

During this - the same time, there are 559 peasant uprisings, of which the uprising of the peasants of the Vitebsk province was especially impressive, about which the historian M. M. Pokrovsky reports:

“The movement was attended by about 10,000 people. Preparing for the march, the peasants procured weapons, bought gunpowder, poured bullets, reforged plowshares into pikes. The police who tried to stop them were completely defeated. Small military detachments were also defeated. According to eyewitnesses, the peasants walked adhering to all military rules.

Ahead was a party of 150 men, armed with sticks, scythes, etc.

On the sides, in the middle and in the tail were also armed men. To suppress this movement, it was necessary to send a whole regiment of infantry and several hundred from other regiments."

The Crimean War further agitated the millions of peasants and the uprisings intensified. Uprising rose in the Kiev region, which went down in history under the name of the "Kiev Cossack region".

This peasant movement lasted three months and was very organized. The uprising was brutally suppressed by the forces of sixteen squadrons of dragoons, two sapper companies, a battalion of a jaeger regiment and an artillery battalion.

The war and these incessant uprisings in different areas of the empire are the main factor that forced the government to hasten to announce the manifesto on the "liberation" of the peasants from serfdom because …

And they freed … the peasants "were released" stripped to poverty, without any supplies, in only trousers, some even homeless.

From slavery straight to bondage - for a piece of bread, for shelter for children.

"In no other country in the world did the peasantry experience such ruin, such poverty, such humiliation and such outrage after the 'liberation' as in Russia." (V. I. Lenin)

Like this…

"Balls, beauties, footmen, cadets, and Schubert's waltzes, and the crunch of a French roll "…

I. S. Aksakov writes in his diaries that only in Germany alone, 275 thousand families of landowners took refuge from the anger of the people. And at the same time the author asks himself: - "Who will return the youths trained there, in Germany, for Russia, for her people?"

And where is the church and its "white, fluffy" clergy?

The people have always considered Orthodoxy to be a "government faith" and the masses are drifting into schism.

"Your Orthodox faith," said one unpopularist I. S. Aksakov, who was studying the schism in the Yaroslavl province, "is a government, civic faith, not based on a living, sincere conviction, but serving as one of the tools for the government to maintain order."

In addition to the mass of people who have finally broken all ties with the ruling Church and have gone into schism, everywhere you can find many people who have not yet joined any particular sect, but at the same time are completely indifferent to the Church.

They do not go to church, do not receive communion, and only occasionally confess in order to be recorded according to the spiritual inscriptions that come at confession.

"In 14 parishes of the 1st camp of the Yaroslavl district, out of 17,930 parishioners who attend communion, only 4,300 people."

If, in modern terms, a split is only a peasant with a beard and a zipun, then this is a deep delusion. This is an era of religious, spiritual search that has captured the entire society, from the very top to the very bottom.

So at the head of one was the Emperor Alexander 1 himself, together with some of his closest dignitaries. Most of the Decembrists, with their leader Pestel, were Old Believers, and their movement was progressive. All these movements towards progress were harshly suppressed by the Church Orthodox Inquisition.

Decembrist Prince Shakhovsky F. P. pardoned by a secular court, was brought before the church, until his death he was kept in solitary confinement, in the prison of the Suzdal monastery.

The book of the Decembrist Turgenev N. I. written in 1818 "Economy of Russia" ("Experience of the theory of taxes"), written at the request of the emperor, after 9 years was declared heretical and burned down in the flames of the Inquisition.

“In many villages, - says the official - researcher Arnoldi, - you can see a complete indifference to the faith. In the parish of the village of Korobov, Kostroma district, there are 1,320 souls, of which, according to the priest, no more than 10 people can be suspected of schism; meanwhile, on the feast of the Intercession of the Mother of God, there were only three persons from the entire parish at mass."

It is the same in many other parishes. “There are 684 souls in the parish of the village of Selts, of which 523 souls do not attend confession, except for schismatics. In the parish of Sameti village, out of 1.948 souls, there are no more than 1.400 souls for confession”.

A similar proportion applies to almost the entire province. In the parish of the village of Urenya, there are 5,662 souls, meanwhile, on major holidays, no more than 4 or 5 people visit the church.

“In the Kologriv district,” says another official researcher, Brianchaninov, “there is no schism, but the people are indifferent to the (official) faith, and the churches are mostly empty.”

In the half of the sixties in the Simbirsk province, more than twenty-five thousand at once turned into schism. In 1867, half of the city of Petrovsk, Saratov province, (about five thousand) went into schism.

In the same year, half of the village of Bogorodsky, Gorbatovsky district, Nizhny Novgorod province, including three thousand people, left Orthodoxy and joined the schism.

In 1879, at an Old Believers' cathedral in Moscow, Vitaly Uralsky proposed for discussion of the cathedral the issue of joining its flock with 8,000 people of different “infidels” from the inhabitants of Perm and Orenburg provinces.

The workers 'and peasants' unrest in 1905 caused a wave of contradictions. And even the issue of executions was considered at the highest level - in the State Council of the Empire. Boris Kubansky, who was present at the Council, writes a report from the meeting:

“The issue of executions is being investigated. Here are the appointed members say - old dignitaries who have turned gray in the useful labors of the police department; here are the completely decrepit bureaucrats, dried up in the quiet of the offices, with flies that have covered the bottom of the inkpots on their chiseled "bureaus".

Dry people - dry speech. However, the speeches of some are favorably disposed towards human weakness: other bureaucrats are in favor of the abolition of executions.

Nice and flattering.

Even awkward, but nice.

It's embarrassing, it's so unusual: a Russian official and mercy. We are so accustomed that they stamped their feet at us for no reason, shouted at us with furious foam at the mouth, beat us into a ram's horn, punished us for "illegal" meetings - these very dignitaries and their aggregates, - such graceful and polite gentlemen at receptions of the noble foreigners like that.

Awkward, but nice …

Alas! Our joy is short-lived …

A priest rises from the chair - an approved disciple of Christ, recognized by his superiors - humble, all-forgiving, all-merciful …

We are waiting for words of patience, humility, love … We are waiting …

The priest says … His speech is full of evil poison. He is for executions, he demands executions for his enemies, with a bony old hand he tightens the knot of the rope noose around their outstretched necks. He blasphemes: he calls the Meek Teacher of Life a supporter of execution - since there is no direct prohibition of murder in the Great Book of the Gospel, His disciples.

I remember - there is no prohibition in that book of theft, lies, envy, everything already forbidden by the commandments. The commandments say: "Thou shalt not kill." "And with the permission of the authorities - beat", says the deputy - the priest … Humbly …

How much anger … a sea of blood - legitimately - spilled … It's hard to remember … The newspaper falls.

I move my gaze to the wall, The gentle loving gaze of Christ looks at me from the icon.

You, Teacher, were also executed - the Jerusalem Pharisees, the Jerusalem Black Hundreds and the Roman governor Pilate of Pontus crucified you. The people who gave you disciples, who followed you in droves, they took you away; You, who spoke about love, about brotherhood, who called the toilers and the burdened to itself … They crucified and put soldiers at Your grave. The people were deceived by the rich imperious hypocrites - and ruined”…

And here's another speech by the priest.

During his stay in the city of Baku in 1898, the Catholicos made several instructive speeches, of which the "Caspian" newspaper quotes in its issue, one delivered at a dinner in his honor:

“As I see, all of you, gentlemen present here, are wealthy and rich people, live in bliss and pleasure. But who works for you day and night increases your well-being?

A simple worker to whom you owe everything. All that is in front of us on the table, luxurious dishes, all these are the results of the hard work of an ordinary worker, produced by him in the sweat of his brow.

But the worker, giving everyone a plentiful and luxurious life, himself drags out a very miserable life, very often being on bread and on water.

Who should take care of improving the material situation of the worker, his life, take care of his education, the upbringing of his children, etc., if not you, his masters?

It is your responsibility to take care of all of this, as the worker is working for your welfare. I ask you about this and drink to the health of an ordinary worker."

What are diametrically opposed views. For such thoughts, where there is no class, the early Christian Armenian Church was persecuted.

Has there ever been a hierarch in the Russian Church in history who would have raised his voice against slavery - serfdom?

Was there a priest who protested against flogging and torture when corporal punishment was performed under the banners of the Orthodox Church?

If society was indifferent to religion, then how did the church itself perceive it? In the first month after the revolution, the Provisional Government, represented by Kerensky, issues a "Resolution on the Abolition of Religious and National Restrictions."

In the days of the February revolution, the clergy decided to convene an all-Russian local council. Synod, in the same 1917. under the Government of Kerensky, he decided to cover the life of the church in his new newspaper "Free Church".

The banner of the newspaper is the editorial tasks set by the higher clergy to the clergy: a decisive return to the golden age of the apostolic times, and hence:

The conciliarity of the church, Connecting Churches.

Freedom of conscience.

The Eucharist as the basis of the new parish system.

Self-governing parish.

Separation of church from state.

Emancipation of the clergy. (Fig. In title)

So the new government, the government of the Soviets, with its 1918 Decree satisfied the desire of the clergy.

DECREE

about freedom of conscience, church and religious societies.

1) The Church is separated from the State.

2) Within the Republic, it is prohibited to issue any local laws or regulations that would restrict or restrict freedom of conscience, or establish any advantages or privileges based on the religious affiliation of citizens.

3) Every citizen can profess any religion or not profess any. Any right of deprivation associated with professing any kind of faith or not professing any faith is canceled. I, note. From all official acts, any indication of religious affiliation and non-affiliation of citizens is removed.

4) Actions of state and other public legal public institutions are not accompanied by any religious rites or ceremonies.

5) The free performance of religious rites is ensured insofar as they do not violate public order and are not accompanied by an encroachment on the rights of citizens and the Soviet Republic. Local authorities have the right to take all necessary measures to ensure public order and security in these cases.

6) No one can, referring to their religious beliefs, evade the execution of their civic duties. Exceptions from this provision, under the condition of replacing one civil obligation with another, in each individual case, are allowed by decision of the people's court.

7) A religious oath or oath is canceled. When necessary, only a solemn promise is given.

8) Acts of civil status are carried out exclusively by civil

authorities, departments for the registration of marriages and births.

9) The school is separated from the church. The teaching of religious beliefs in all state and public, as well as private educational institutions where general subjects are taught is not allowed. Citizens can teach and study religion privately.

10) All ecclesiastical and religious societies are subject to the general provisions on private societies and unions and do not enjoy any advantages or subsidies, or from the state, or from its local autonomous and self-governing institutions.

11) Compulsory collection of fees and taxes in favor of church or religious societies, as well as measures of coercion or punishment on the part of these societies over their members are not allowed.

12) No ecclesiastical and religious societies have the right to own property. They do not have the rights of a legal entity.

13) All property of ecclesiastical and religious societies existing in Russia shall be declared national property. Buildings and objects intended specifically for liturgical purposes are given away by special ordinances of local or central state authorities, and free use of the respective religious societies.

Prev. S. N. K. Ulyanov (Lenin).

Nar. Com.: N. Podvoisky, V. Algasov, V. Trutovsky, A. Schlichter, P. Proshyan, V. Menzhinsky, A. Shlyapnikov, G. Petrovsky.

Exercise affairs Bonch-Bruevich. Secretary N. Gorbunov

Let's try to figure out what kind of law it is and why it is being so much talked about after the collapse of the Soviet Union without details.

Let's start in order as it is written.

Article one.

1) The Church is separated from the State.

What does this article mean? According to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, the word “church” should be understood as a union, a society of believers, and not just one stone or wooden church, where the clergy perform services.

There are many such unions or societies of believers. In addition to the Orthodox Church, there is a Catholic, Lutheran, Uniate. Sectarians have their own churches. People of the Muslim, Jewish faith make up their own religious communities. Each of them is headed by its own clergy.

But after all, all citizens of one country, regardless of their faith, likewise form one common union, which is called the state. The government is at the head.

According to the new law, the church, that is, the spiritual union of believers, is by no means destroyed, but only separated from the state, that is, from the political union of all citizens.

Henceforth, the state - by itself, the church - by itself.

The state, the government, henceforth, does not interfere at all in the affairs of the faith, does not provide any support to any church, any clergy. The church henceforth becomes simply a spiritual union of believers, which is governed and supported by the believers themselves.

Article two.

2) Within the Republic, it is prohibited to issue any local laws or regulations that would restrict or restrict freedom of conscience, or establish any advantages or privileges based on the religious affiliation of citizens.

Article three.

3) Every citizen can profess any religion or not profess any. Any right of deprivation associated with professing any kind of faith or not professing any faith is canceled. (Note. From all official acts, any indication of religious affiliation and non-affiliation of citizens is removed).

The Orthodox faith was so directly called the dominant faith, and the Orthodox Church was called the dominant church.

Sectarians: Old Believers, Dukhobors, Stundists, Molokans and others were subjected to all kinds of persecution.

Old Believers and other sectarians were prevented in every possible way from performing divine services. For a long time, for example, the temples of the Old Believers remained sealed.

Often the sectarians hid in the forests, where they performed their divine services. Whole raids were conducted on them, like on wild animals. Caught, put on trial, rotted in prisons, and exiled to hard labor.

The Dukhobors, peasants who preached hard work and a sober lifestyle, had to move to America because of these persecutions. For hundreds of years, the Russian government and clergy mocked millions of people, only because these people did not want to accept the imposed faith.

An entire people - Jews - from generation to generation were deprived of all rights at the same time - the confession of another religion.

They were forbidden to move freely from city to city and freely engage in their work. The whole people were locked up in several provinces (in the "Pale of Settlement").

The limit for admission to higher educational institutions for non-Orthodox people did not exceed 3%. The entire teaching staff of schools, colleges and universities was approved by the church, persecuted for dissent, scientists were forced to work in other countries.

Every bosses looked at the document to which faith you belong. In government places they even demanded a piece of paper from the priest. Believe it or not, give me a piece of paper. It will be bad without her.

This is what limited the freedom of faith, but this is not even supposed to be mentioned in any official document.

This is freedom of conscience.

Article four, 4) Actions of state and other public legal public institutions are not accompanied by any religious rites or ceremonies.

This article follows directly from the previous ones.

Religion is a private matter. Governance of the state, city, rural municipality or village, the actions of the authorities is a public matter that concerns all citizens. There can be people of all faith and completely unbelievers. They got together for a certain task - say, to open a new school. And all of them would suddenly be forced to listen to a prayer service, and certainly an Orthodox one.

This could be when the church was state-owned, but with freedom of faith it cannot be so.

All these coronations, enthronement of kings, prayers in the squares, in ministries on various occasions, in schools at the beginning of classes, etc.

And how many people's money was wasted on such ceremonies!

Article five.

5) The free performance of religious rites is ensured insofar as they do not violate public order and are not accompanied by an encroachment on the rights of citizens and the Soviet Republic. Local authorities have the right to take all necessary measures to ensure public order and security in these cases.

Here the law is clear without explanation.

Article six.

6) No one can, referring to their religious beliefs, evade the execution of their civic duties. Exceptions from this provision, under the condition of replacing one civil obligation with another, in each individual case, are allowed by decision of the people's court.

This article refers to cases when someone does not want to fulfill his duties as a citizen, saying that his faith does not allow him to do so. Let's take an example:

Mnorie probably heard about Tolstoyans, Dukhobors and various sectarians who refused to go to military service.

At the same time, they said that, due to their convictions, they could not take a gun and go to kill and so on.

Such a person will be summoned to the people's court, and they will investigate the case: what kind of person he is, and how he lived before. Pretends or actually cannot serve because of faith. If it turns out that his religious convictions do not allow him to go into action, to go to war, the court can replace this obligation with some other.

But no one can refuse completely from work for the state benefit.

Article Seven.

7) A religious oath or oath is canceled. When necessary, only a solemn promise is given.

Article eight.

8) Acts of civil status are carried out exclusively by civil

authorities, departments for the registration of marriages and births.

It has long been suggested that the Russian people are the most faithful and God-fearing. Not a step without a priest: whether a child is born, a wedding, a funeral, in a word, every step is pop.

According to the old law, these records were kept only by the clergy from church books. The old order drove parents to the ass with a newborn. For hundreds of years, the clergy preached to the people that an unbaptized child would not go to the kingdom of heaven, but directly to hell.

It's the same with funerals. A man died - to bury it without fail with a priest, even if the deceased did not believe during his lifetime, as they say, neither in God nor in the devil.

And birth, and marriage, and death gave the clergy millions in income. From human joy and from human grief, the priests knew how to make for themselves an inexhaustible source of rich profit

Believe it or not, go to the priest, and baptize, and get married, and bury. Under the new law, no one is obliged to deal with a priest in the event of birth, marriage or death. This concerns the civil status of the population, and the civil authorities should be consulted in such cases.

Whoever considers it necessary is not forbidden, in addition, to turn to the clergy. And whoever considers this to be superfluous, he is limited to a civil marriage, a civil registration of a newborn and a civil (without a priest) funeral.

This is how this article separates the church from the state and protects the freedom of conscience.

Article Nine.

9) The school is separated from the church. The teaching of religious beliefs in all state and public, as well as private educational institutions where general subjects are taught is not allowed. Citizens can teach and study religion privately.

Millions of people's money were spent annually on these schools.

Rus. Vedomosti”, in 1912 gives an interesting information.

According to the official data of the school council under St. synod for the 26-year period of the existence of parochial schools, from 1884 to 1909 inclusive, they spent 231.5 million. rubles, of which 117 million, that is, more than half, from the state treasury.

The expenditures of churches and monasteries on parish schools have not exceeded 20 million in 26 years. rub., of which churches account for 16 million. rub., and the share of monasteries - only 4 million. rub.

And the rest were released from the funds of zemstvos, cities and rural communities.

Thus, our monasteries, of which a number of them have millions in income, spent less than 160 thousand rubles on parish schools. in year!

By the nature of the sources of funds for its existence, the parochial school in Russia is, therefore, far from being a church school …

The Workers 'and Peasants' Government by a new law prohibited the teaching of religion in all schools. The national treasury will not release now a single penny of labor for teaching the Law of God.

And this is quite fair. Schools are for everyone, but not everyone needs religion. You can’t spend everyone’s money on what only part of the population needs. All children cannot be forcibly taught what many parents consider absurd.

The new law does not prohibit anyone from teaching and learning religion. If there are parents who are willing to teach their children the Law of God, they can do it in private.

Article ten.

10) All ecclesiastical and religious societies are subject to the general provisions on private societies and unions and do not enjoy any advantages or subsidies, or from the state, or from its local autonomous and self-governing institutions.

Previously, the treasury allocated huge funds for the maintenance of monasteries, gave land to the clergy, exempted the property of the church and clergy from all taxes.

All these expenses had to be paid by every citizen, both believer and unbeliever. The treasury, collecting money, did not ask who is a believer and who exactly professes the Orthodox Bepy.

And the Orthodox, and the Catholic, and the Jew, and the Muslim - all contributed different taxes to the treasury, and part of these taxes went to the Synod, to churches, to the clergy, etc.

It is absolutely impossible to determine the size of the former church economy and indicate the exact figure of the income received. The church authorities in the center and in the localities did not have an accurate account of the property at their disposal, or correct supervision over the conduct of the church. farms. Ignorance in this regard gave rise to the most fantastic rumors in society and the press, but no one truly knew whether the Orthodox Church was poor, like a church mouse, as some asserted, or monstrously rich, as others asserted.

The answer to this question is given by the following data:

The central church authority is St. synod - owned real estate in Petrograd and Moscow. In Petrograd, the synod owned 10 manor places, built up with houses. These houses housed synodal institutions and officials lived. Synodal printing house with a usual gross profit of up to 400,000 rubles. (in 1917, due to the increased prices for publications and orders, this profitability reached 1,200 thousand rubles).

In Moscow, income items were retail premises on Ilyinka (Teplyi Ryady), the Slavyansky Bazaar hotel, a printing house and dozens of land plots in different districts of the Moscow province, with a yield of up to a million rubles. per year (including the printing house gave up to 500,000 rubles. gross income).

The special funds of the synod, that is, capital with a specific purpose, the interest on which was spent by the synod itself without any participation and control of legislative institutions, reached 46,989,669 rubles by the beginning of the revolution. and gave an income of 2.046.153 rubles.

Thus, the total profitability of sources belonging to St. synod, did not exceed 3.000.000 rubles. in year. Meanwhile, the estimated expenditures made by the central administration by the beginning of the revolution were 87,081,525 rubles. From what sources were these costs covered?

The main resource was government appropriations. According to the 1916 estimate, 62,920,835 rubles were released from the treasury, and according to the 1917 estimates, 66,795,337 rubles were requested for the needs of the department. The rest of the amount (from 17 to 21 million) was received from the dioceses in the form of various kinds of fees and taxes.

Article eleven.

11) Compulsory collection of fees and taxes in favor of church or religious societies, as well as measures of coercion or punishment on the part of these societies over their members are not allowed.

Everyone understands what this article is talking about, because no

a village that would not have been imposed by the priest in tribute to the clergy and the church.

And the entire population of Russia paid tens of millions of rubles a year to the church and the clergy.

The clergy received 40 million rubles from the treasury. They collected up to 15 million rubles from peasant communities.

The Moscow Metropolitan received:

Salary (from the treasury) - 6,000 rubles; Canteens (from the treasury) - 4,000 rubles.

From the estates: the Archbishop's house, the Chudov monastery, Tr. - Sergievsk. Lavra, Iverskaya chapel, etc.

Meticulous statisticians have estimated how much our "humble" fathers "earn" per day:

Metropolitan of Moscow - 222 rubles, Kiev - 230 rubles, St. Petersburg - 710 rubles, Novgorod - 842 rubles. Besides, each of the lords of the "unmercenaries" had a ready-made apartment, horses, carriages, and so on. And these are numbers, against the background of impoverishment and hunger …

Under the new law, the clergy are deprived of such huge incomes. Now it will receive support only from those believers who wish to pay a special fee for this. But even these contributions can only be voluntary. No action, coercion or punishment of the faulty payer is allowed.

It is understandable; since a believer does not pay more for his church, then he has ceased to believe in it. There is nothing to keep such a person in it by force.

This order was clearly unjust and stemmed from the fact that the Orthodox Church was the dominant, state church. And since the church is separated from the state, it goes without saying that the spiritual union of believers cannot enjoy any privileges and advantages over other unions.

Religious societies are subject to the same rules as civil societies. The issuance of financial assistance to them from state and public institutions is terminated.

Article twelve.

12) No ecclesiastical and religious societies have the right to own property. They do not have the rights of a legal entity.

This article of the law likewise hits the clergy not in the eyebrow, but right in the eye.

The church land numbered up to one million six hundred thousand (1, 600, 900) dessiatines, and the monastery land 739, 000 dessiatines.

Each monk had an average of forty dessiatines.

The Alexandra Nevskaya Lavra in Petrograd had 7,000 dessiatines for haymaking, 8,000 dessiatines of arable land, the Trinity-Zemchinsky Monastery-19, 372 dessiatines, the Dormition Mogilev monastery-20,000 dessiatines, the Saratov desert-26,000 dessiatines: Solovetsky Monastery-66, 000 dessiatines.

And, they leased this land, often in the press of those years, printed complaints from peasants about high rents …

In addition, the "holy monastery" did not disdain to engage in the most mundane affairs. So, for example, in Petrograd, the Alexander Nevsky Lavra owned 30 houses and 40 storage sheds, in Moscow monasteries owned 146 houses, in Kiev - 114, etc.

The churches of Moscow possessed land properties valued at more than a quarter of a billion (266, 216, 700 rubles). And, in every Russian city, dozens, hundreds of houses and farmsteads received in the form of donations, wills, inheritances.

Under the new law, ecclesiastical and religious societies are deprived of the right to own all these properties. This means that they do not have the rights of a legal entity. This is how it should be, because spiritual unions should have both goals and interests not commercial, capitalist, but spiritual.

But, of course, the clergy cannot come to terms with this. Therefore, it went on a campaign against the Soviet government and anathematized.

Article thirteen.

13) All property of ecclesiastical and religious societies existing in Russia shall be declared national property. Buildings and objects intended specifically for religious purposes are given away by special ordinances of local or central state authorities, and free use of the respective religious societies.

This article answers the question: to whom will the former property of church and religious communities go? They are declared public property.

The law gives believers and clergy full opportunity to use all buildings and objects that are specifically designed for worship. In every village and city, believers can form a community and submit an application to the local council about their desire to use the temple for worship.

Then the temple, with all the objects in it, is transferred to this Society for free use. At the same time, believers themselves must bear the costs, both for the maintenance of the church clergy, and for everything that is needed for the service to be performed.

But millions of dessiatines of the people's land have nothing to do with faith, and the land should be used by the people, and not feed and enrich one hundred and fifty thousand monks and priests.

Likewise, church houses and any property that is not directly related to worship should serve the needs of the entire people, should be used for schools, hospitals, people's houses, libraries, etc.

Statistics from newspapers and magazines of the early XX century.

S. Usherov "Death Penalties in Tsarist Russia", Kharkov, published by the All-Ukrainian Council of Political Prisoners.

"The split and sextant" A. S. Prugavin 1905

"Monastic prisons in the fight against sectarianism" A. Prugavin 1905

"Textbook of Russian history" M. Ostrogorsky 1916.

"Heresies and schisms" by Archpriest Ivantsov-Platonov 1877.

"Spiritual censorship" A. Kotovich 1909

And many others.