Church archives of the two. Archival copy of the entry in the metric book

During genealogical research, there comes a time when all relatives have been interviewed, online directories have been viewed, and only a search in the archives can help in further research of the genealogy. If you are looking for information about your ancestors who were born in Tsarist Russia, parish registers can help you.

Metric book (obsolete) - register, book for the official recording of acts of civil status (births, marriages and deaths). Parish registers were kept in Russia before the revolution in church parishes by the clergy or special civil officials. After the revolution, they were conducted only by government officials. The metric book was calculated for a year. It consisted of three parts:

• "about those who are born." In addition to the serial number, the first part indicated the date of birth and baptism, place of residence, class affiliation, first and last name of the father, gender of the newborn and the name given to him. Sometimes it was indicated which of the priests baptized the child and where this ceremony took place - in the parishioner's home or in the church. At the end, results could be given about the number of births per year.
• "about those getting married." The second part of the metric book also contained the serial number and date of the marriage. Information about the age of the bride and groom could be provided.
• "about the dying." The original section of the third part contains information about the place of residence of the deceased, his class status, first and last name, age and cause of death. The second and third parts also summed up the results for the year.

After the adoption in 1918, the “Code of Laws on Acts of Civil Status” were repealed and replaced by act (or register) books in the registry office. After the revolution, registry books were transferred to the registry office, and only subsequently to the archives.

To find the registry book you need, you must determine the church parish of the locality you are interested in. Refer to the reference literature of the 19th - early 20th centuries. Next, you should identify the parish church where your ancestors were baptized. Using archival reference books, find which archive stores the metrical registers of the church you are interested in. Write down the number of the fund, inventory and file.

In the archive, find the metric books of the specified church for the corresponding year of birth or marriage. If these years are unknown, you will have to look through several books for different years.

The section “about marriage” may indicate the age of marriage, the full names and patronymics of the parents, their place of residence, class and religious affiliation. The latter allows you to continue the search for their parents in the registers. This is how we get another generation of our ancestors.

Metrics- birth certificate, extract from the registry register on the date of birth.

Parish books- state registry office books, which recorded the names of persons, as well as the dates of their birth, marriage and death.

Search book- a church book for recording information about people planning to get married.

Search books have been compiled since the 16th century.

Parish books- church books in which the names of persons are recorded, as well as the dates of their birth, baptism, marriage and death.

Important. Russia is a multinational country, but the concept of “nationality” did not exist before. People differed in religion. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that “in addition to the registry registers of Orthodox churches, there are also funds of metrical registers of Roman Catholic churches, Lutheran churches, mosques and synagogues. Although nationality is not always equivalent to religion and cannot always significantly limit the range of sources.”>>>

In the Kingdom of Poland, the conduct of civil status acts was of a mixed church-civil nature.

Orthodox parish books

In Russia, Orthodox parish registers were introduced at the beginning of the 18th century - in 1702, the Decree of Peter I was issued “On submitting weekly reports of births and deaths to the Patriarchal Spiritual Order to parish priests.” In 1722, priests were entrusted with maintaining parish books “with the entry into them of: confessors, schismatics, those who have arrived and those who have departed.”>>>

In 1779, the Decree of the Synod “On the correct maintenance of metric books in all parish churches” obliges parishes and consistories to have and maintain metric books, which are beginning to be called parish books. Since 1802, parish books must be kept only in the church (not, for example, in the priest’s home) and one common large book must be kept for one parish. However, from the 1840s to the 1850s, each type of registration (birth, marriage, death) was kept in a separate book.

The metric book form was finally approved in 1838. The metric book contains information about birth, marriage, death:
“- about birth - date of birth and baptism, first and last name, place of residence and religion of parents and godparents, legality and illegality of birth; - about marriage - first name, last name, place of residence, nationality, religion of the bride and groom, at what age they get married, wedding date, last names and first names of witnesses; - about death - first name, last name, place of residence, age of the deceased, date and cause of death, place of burial.”
Important. Throughout the existence of metric books in Russia, they have not been maintained conscientiously enough, so some events may not be recorded on time, and those recorded may contain inaccuracies. In addition, if in the first half of the 19th century events could only be registered in one’s own parish, then the practice became more liberal and parishioners could register events (baptisms and weddings) in neighboring parishes with impunity.

Important. Parish registers are not a registration of the fact of birth, marriage or death, but a registration of the church rite of these events. Therefore, the following may not be recorded in parish registers:
- stillborn (they were not baptized);
- those who died soon after birth (if they did not have time to be baptized and did not have a funeral service);
- suicides (from the point of view of the church, suicide is a sin, therefore the funeral ceremony is not held);
- those living far from the parish (when the priests could not reach the deceased in time and the funeral ceremony was not carried out).

Stillborns, as well as those who died shortly after birth, do not receive baptism; they may not be included in the birth statistics. On the other hand, in Christian metrics, in addition to births, cases of baptism of adults are recorded. The Orthodox registers of the dead may not include infants who died before baptism, for whom the burial rite was not performed, as well as suicides. According to the military-ecclesiastical department, it is expressly prohibited to include stillborns in the metrics. In provinces or dioceses, where the population is very scattered and the parishes are spread out (for example, in Siberia), the dead are often forced to be buried without the participation of the clergy and, therefore, are not included in the registers of parishes.

Parish registers were kept in parishes until 1918, and in some regions of Russia until 1921. Then maintaining registry books becomes the responsibility of the Civil Registry Office departments.

The parish registers of the military and naval departments were originally kept in the Russian State Historical Archive, but now almost all of them have been lost. Perhaps they were written off and destroyed in the 1950s and 1960s during the work of “unloading” the archive funds.

Currently, parish registers are stored mainly in regional state archives, and in some administrative units they are still kept in the registry office.

Catholic parish registers

For the Roman Catholic Church, registry books were legally established in 1826. However, the first metric book of baptized Catholics was established in St. Petersburg in 1710, and since 1716, Catholic metric books have been kept in Latin. The responsibility for maintaining metric books for Catholics in Russia was assigned to Catholic priests and abbots.

Lutheran parish registers

For the Evangelical Lutheran Church, registers of parishes were legally established in 1764. The responsibility for maintaining registry books among Lutherans in Russia was assigned to preachers.

Mohammedan (Muslim) metric books

For Muslims, metric books were legally established in 1828 - 1832, and for Muslims of the Transcaucasian region - in 1872. The responsibility of maintaining metric books among the Mohammedans in Russia was assigned to the imams, and among the Karaites - to the Gazzans. Among the Muslim and pagan population of Asian Russia, especially among the nomadic peoples (Kyrgyz, Kalmyks), registration of births, deaths and marriages was practically not carried out.

Jewish (Jewish) metric books (notebooks)

For Jews, registry books were legally established in 1835, but were kept since 1804. Each book was written in two languages ​​- Russian and Hebrew. The responsibility for maintaining metric books among Jews in Russia was assigned to rabbis. The rabbi kept the book in two copies, one kept in the synagogue, and the second in a city institution.

Jewish metrical books include records of four rites: birth, circumcision, marriage, death. However, since in Judaism the ritual can be performed by any Jewish believer, an entry in the registry register may not have been made if the ritual was not performed in a synagogue. Metric records of girls (birth, death) were not always carried out. Some records were lost as a result of careless cutting of sheets after stitching notebooks.

Metric books of schismatics

For schismatics, registry books were legally established in 1874. Until 1905, the metric books of schismatics were kept by the police. Many schismatics were officially listed as Orthodox. From 1905 - 1906, the maintenance of metric books of schismatics was entrusted to their own clergy, abbots and mentors.

Baptist registers

For Baptists, registers of parishes were legally established in 1879. Maintaining metric records of deaths, births and marriages of Baptists was the responsibility of the police.

Metric books of the Old Believers

Until 1905, registries of Old Believers (with the exception of fellow believers) were kept by the police. From 1905 - 1906, the maintenance of the metric books of the Old Believers was entrusted to their own clergy, abbots and mentors. In Old Believer communities, without priestly consent, the maintenance of books since 1907 was entrusted to special elders elected by community meetings.

Parish books of sectarians

Until 1905, sectarian registers were kept by the police. Many sectarians were officially listed as Orthodox. From 1905 - 1906, the maintenance of metric books of sectarians accepting the priesthood was entrusted to their own clergy, abbots and mentors. The books of sectarians who did not recognize clergy were kept in cities by city councils or city elders, and in counties by volost boards.

Metric books of other religions

Maintaining metric records of deaths, births and marriages of Mariavites and pagans (a small part of the Cheremis, Votyaks and Chuvash, Chukchi, Ainu and others) was entrusted to the police. Among Buddhists and Lamaites, the maintenance of metric books was carried out by their clergy.

A church register is a register containing official civil records, as well as other significant notes from the life of the population of a particular county, for example, a change of religion. Birth book is a chronological list of events for the year, divided into three main parts:

1) records “about births” (birth of a child);

2) part “about those getting married” (marriage);

3) block “about dying” (death and its causes).

However, it is worth noting that in the recording registry of the church Infants who died before baptism and suicides were not included. There was a difficulty with places where the population was greatly spread over large areas. In such provinces and dioceses, people could be buried without burial rites and the participation of representatives of the clergy, which made it impossible to record such events in the register of the dead. There was another feature of keeping metrics: due to the fact that the registration of events by priests took place from words, in the records of metric notebooks you can often find everyday (folk) names of settlements or their individual parts. Knowing the important nuances described in this article can be useful when compiling a genealogy book and conducting effective genealogical research.

What does a metric book consist of, sample entries

The first thing that readers should understand is that records were entered into metric books not about the facts of birth, marriage or death, but about the registration of church ceremonies. Initially, parish priests were given blank notebooks (stitched sheets of paper) with a graphical distribution of blocks, and only after filling them out did the notebooks become metric books. Depending on the year and location, some data may be missing. If you come across some unfamiliar terms in the text and want to clarify what they mean, you can read their definitions in the exclusive section “Genealogical Encyclopedia” on our website.

Example (sample) of a birth record:

“A metric book given from the Starodub spiritual consistory to the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in the district town of Starodub, 1st district of the deanery of the Starodub district, for recording those born, married and deceased for 1887. A record of births.

The number of males born in August is 76.

On October 14, 1900, Sergei was born and baptized on September 15, his parents were the Starodub tradesman Polikarp Vasiliev, son of Druzhnikov, and his legal wife Lydia Ioannova, both of the Orthodox faith.

Receivers: Starodub tradesman Nikolai Ioannov Druzhnikov and Erofey Nikolaeva Serdyuka, wife Vassa Karpov.

The sacrament of baptism was performed by the parish priest Mikhail Vostretsov."

Birth records indicated the child's serial number, date of birth and baptism, gender and name. In addition to the above in metric books about births you can find place of residence, ownership (which landowner they belonged to), class, nationality (rarely), religion, names, surnames, patronymics of father and mother. If these were not known, then a record was made indicating the illegitimacy of the birth. If there were godparents (godparents), they were also recorded, as well as their class and ownership affiliations. Additionally, in the part about the births, it was written down which of the priests and clergy performed the baptismal ceremony and where it took place. Such ceremonies could take place in a church or a parishioner’s home.

Example (sample) of the part about those getting married:

"A metric book given from the Kamyshin spiritual consistory to the Church of the Annunciation in the village of Yartsevo, Kamyshin district, Kamyshin province, to record those born, married and died in 1891. A record of those married.

Groom - from the village of Yartsevo, the deceased peasant Semyon Ivanovich Rybakov, son Anton, Orthodox, by first marriage, 20 years old.

Bride - village Yartsevo peasant Nikolai Ipatiev's daughter Ksenia, Orthodox, first marriage, 19 years old.

Guarantors: for the groom - peasants of this village Ivan Sergeev Rybakov and the same village Mikhail Anton Rybakov, for the bride - peasants Iona Vasiliev Semin and Kirill Sergeev Dikiy - both villages of Yartsevo.

The sacrament of the rite was performed by the parish priest Innokenty Preobrazhensky."

Part of the registry register for those getting married included a serial number (the standard of the church register) and the date of the ceremony. The responsible minister indicated the names, surnames, patronymics, place of residence, father's name, religion, sometimes there is a record of nationality, as well as class and ownership affiliations of the bride and groom. The part about those getting married included data on the age of the spouses at the time of marriage and what kind of marriage they got married in. If there were witnesses (guarantors), their names (including surnames and patronymics), classes, belonging to any property and personal marks (optional) were recorded in the registry register. It was necessary to register which of the clergy and clergy performed the marriage.

Example (sample) of a block about the dead:

“A church book given from the Lipetsk diocese to the Church of the Annunciation in the village of Maryino, Lipetsk district, Lipetsk province, to record those born, married and died in 1898. A record of the dying.

On October 20, 1901, resident of the village of Maryino, peasant Nikolai Ivanov Vasilyev, daughter Maria, 1 year old, died.

On December 11, 1901, tradesman Pyotr Sergeev Kozhukhov, 72 years old, died from Lipetsk and was buried on December 13, from consumption.

Priest John Popov confessed, gave communion and performed the burial.

In the block of the metric book about the dead, the serial number, first name, last name, patronymic of the deceased, the date of his death and burial, information about the place of residence, as well as belonging to a certain class and possession were recorded. The authorized clergyman entered information about the age at which the person died, for what reason the death occurred, and where he was buried. This part of the metric book indicated the representative of the clergy who participated in the burial and the priest who confessed the deceased before death.

Where are the church registries stored and how to find them

Those interested in conducting genealogical research and compiling their family tree regularly ask the question " Where can I find parish books?"To facilitate the search, we decided to cover this topic in detail. The laws of that time established that metrics should be kept in two copies. The original version, as a rule, was kept in the church, the duplicate (a copy certified by the church clergy) was redirected to the consistory archive - to In those days, it was an institution with judicial, as well as church-administrative functions. Due to the fact that in 1918 the “Code of Laws on Acts of Civil Status” was adopted, metric notebooks were replaced with registry notebooks (also called “act books”). can be found in local registry offices. However, apparently by inertia, in some regions of Russia. church registers were carried out until 1921.

In the Russian Federation, there is a law according to which the storage period for metrics and civil status records by civil registry offices is 100 years, after which all documents are redirected for permanent storage to the State Archives (in some cases this period may be slightly less). To find or find out where the church registries that interest you are stored, you need to determine the year and place of birth of a relative, calculate the type of institution where it should be located based on the age of the document (for example, a regional archive or RGADA in Moscow), and then send the appropriate requests to territorial organizations. We draw the attention of readers to the fact that most of the registry books have survived to this day, but part of the fund “sank into oblivion” due to numerous fires and other reasons, which, of course, complicates the search for relatives. Some of the records are not possible to find, since metrics books simply no longer exist in our time. We recommend not to despair after the first unsuccessful searches and try to find the storage locations for the second copies of the registers of parishes. In the " " section of our website, we try to maintain an up-to-date database of archives and organizations, where you can determine the possible location of historical documents related to your relatives. We suggest using it and also searching for a specific book for the desired date on the Internet.

If you have any additions, please let us know in the comments and we’ll make a useful resource together!

All rights reserved, text copying is permitted only with a link to the site.

to obtain an archival certificate, copy, extract, information letter on acts of civil status

(a similar form can be used to obtain data from metric books)

Today, most documents on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church are part of the Archival Fund of the Russian Federation and are stored mainly in federal archives, museums and libraries. These materials are available to researchers, but documents from modern institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church are extremely rarely introduced into scientific circulation. Experts express concern about the degree of completeness of their preservation, the lack of a single coordinating center in this matter, the degree of preparedness of documents for working with them and their accessibility for researchers. The editors of the magazine "Domestic Archives" asked clergy, church historians and researchers working with documents on church history to express their opinions on this issue. The materials of the round table were published in the new issue of the magazine "Domestic Archives" (2007. No. 4).

M.I. Odintsov, Head of the Department for the Protection of Freedom of Conscience of the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights in Russian Federation, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor: In accordance with the nature of the existing by the beginning of the 20th century. relations between the Russian state and religious organizations, maintaining church records and preserving materials on the activities of church institutions was a responsibility for all religious organizations. This is precisely what predetermined the fact that we have a huge archival fund concerning the religious life of Russia. Many diocesan bishops of the Russian Church, realizing the importance of preserving historical evidence, demanded that church parishes, monasteries and religious educational institutions constantly take care of church archives and include in their composition not only official materials, but also a wide variety of other information about church life. For example, we can refer to the works of the famous church and public figure, Metropolitan of Novgorod Arseny (Stadnitsky). For decades, Vladyka carefully collected documents and materials with which he worked and which he received from numerous correspondents. His huge personal fund, now stored in the GARF, is an inexhaustible storehouse of information on the history of the Russian Church in the 19th–20th centuries. He demanded the same approach to archival materials from his subordinates wherever he happened to serve.

After the revolutionary events of 1917, in the new state-church relations, official documentation of state significance (primarily acts of civil status) migrated from church funds to state archives, and the remaining part, recognized by the state as “unnecessary”, due to this circumstance remained in church institutions. Wars, revolutions, anti-religious ideological campaigns, redrawing borders between states and within states have had a negative impact on the composition of church archives - much has been lost irretrievably.

But let’s also give credit to those unmercenary people of the 1920s and 1930s who, by hook or by crook, managed to convince some of the state repositories to accept the “priest’s documents.” Thanks to them, we, for example, can see, read and explore the original materials of the Local Church Council of 1917–1918. Efforts to preserve materials about church life and such representatives of the Bolshevik elite as V.D. were extremely useful. Bonch-Bruevich, P.A. Krasikov A.V. Lunacharsky, P.G. Smidovich.

It’s a paradox, but the “saviors” of many church documents were also all kinds of punitive, controlling or ideological institutions of the Soviet era. It is clear that this was done solely from pragmatic aspirations, but this documentary layer often turns out to be the only source of our information about religious life in the USSR. Such, for example, is the fund of the Council for Religious Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church (later - religious cults), stored in the GARF and containing tens of thousands of priceless documents.

The destruction of the USSR again had a detrimental effect on church archives, dooming them to division and loss.

The accessibility of church archives is not a problem of today. Suffice it to recall how difficult it was sometimes for Russian historians who turned to church topics to “penetrate” not only the archives of existing church institutions, but also the funds of state archives containing information on state-church relations necessary for their research. Often, numerous certificates, permits, approvals, and inspections were required. Likewise, in the Soviet era, the archives of church institutions or other institutions in contact with them were in state storage facilities in “closed” storage and were actually inaccessible. Only the last two decades have significantly changed the situation, and researchers can work with these materials. And we must thank again and again all the archivists who preserved documents on the history of our Fatherland.

The Soviet period aggravated the problem of archives of existing religious institutions. They were not in demand by the state; There were no private archives where they could be placed, and as a result, their fate largely depended on the personal initiative and desires of specific church officials. It can be argued that by the end of the Soviet period there were practically no such church archives.

The fate of archives at religious centers, including the Moscow Patriarchate, developed somewhat differently. In the post-revolutionary period, they all started from scratch, since documents and materials that previously belonged to them were requisitioned during various repeated searches. Gradually, a new body of documents was formed, which was completely closed to secular researchers. This situation continues today, when almost every church has an archive of this kind. Obviously, the question has arisen about developing rules according to which these archives could be transferred to state repositories.

Archimandrite Makariy (Veretennikov), Master of Theology, Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy, laureate of the Makariev Prize : Archives and the materials contained in them are the repositories of our memory, our heritage, present and future. Initially in Rus', archives existed at princely residences, bishops' departments, monasteries, churches, boyar estates, etc. Office materials that were no longer in immediate use were set aside and stored separately. Later they emerged as independent, primarily government institutions. At the same time, the established tradition of careful and careful recording and storage of documentation was continued. The fate of church archives was affected by trends in domestic politics.

After the revolution, the Church lost its land, and then the function of recording the civil status of the population; the relevant documentation was transferred to government agencies, and the range of church documents narrowed. The subsequent persecution of the Church and the clergy led to the massive destruction of church documentation. The surviving church documents in the archives are only a small part of the church records collection. It should be noted that the preservation of documentation, “evidence”, in subsequent times in an environment of constant repression was quite dangerous. Then repressive measures against the Church weakened, but ideological oppression continued and did not weaken until very recently. However, life went on and found a certain reflection in the documents. But the Church was more often staffed by people who had reached retirement age, whose “education” the authorities were less involved in and worried about less. True, the professionalism of such personnel could leave the best, but in the conditions of the survival of the Church this was quite acceptable. The condition of church archival materials depended on the qualities of the personnel through whose hands they passed.

With the beginning of perestroika, a dialogue between the public and the clergy arose. In January 1988, at a meeting of teachers and students of the Moscow Theological Academy and the Historical and Archival Institute, the question of the state of church archives was raised. Today we can talk about the archives of parish churches, monasteries, religious educational institutions, dioceses and central church institutions. To what extent they are formed depends, first of all, on the duration of the institutions themselves. There appear to have been no instructions from the central government on this issue. In theological educational institutions, in the curricula, if this issue is mentioned, it is mainly in a historical context.

B.L. Fonkic, corresponding member of the Academy of Athens, member of the International Committee on Greek Paleography, honorary doctor of the University of Thessaloniki. Aristotle, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor: I think that almost 50 years of experience in studying Greek manuscripts and documents, work in libraries and museums of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Lvov, Venice, Vatican, Florence, Munich, Berlin, Athens, Athonite monasteries, Oxford, London, Paris, Madrid, Sofia and many others allow me to say a few words about Greek manuscript books and documents kept in the monasteries of the Christian East.

Almost 65 thousand Greek manuscripts of the 4th–19th centuries, thousands of documents from the Byzantine and post-Byzantine periods of Greek history have survived to our time. Almost half of the Greek manuscript books (probably about 30 thousand) are located in various repositories of the Greek world (within the borders of the four eastern patriarchates); as for documents, apparently at least 90% they belong to the Greek monastic archives and are located both in Greece itself (Athos, Meteora, Patmos, Thessalonica, etc.) and in Sinai, Palestine, and Cairo.

If all the manuscript funds concentrated in the state repositories of Europe have long been available for study, then the monastic collections of the Greek area, whether handwritten books or documents, to this day remain essentially inaccessible for their scientific development, for systematic work on them . Of course, the situation that existed in the 19th century has long since changed significantly for the better: many monastery libraries and archives are now well equipped; if you wish, you can even get a microfilm or other copy of any material, which is being conducted (or planned) in some places. ) cataloging of funds. But with all this, even in places that seem to have been developed by science for a long time, a specialist may be faced with the reluctance of the custodians to open their funds, give out the necessary materials, or generally show at least something. In our community there is a well-known case when in the 70s. XX century The Sinaiites refused to give 17 manuscripts of Gregory Nazianzus to the famous Belgian scientist Jacques Noret for his work. I myself, despite all my connections and acquaintances in the Greek scientific world, encountered refusals (and the “explanations” of the reasons were at the level of outright lies) in Meteora, on Patmos and even on the Holy Mountain.

The situation is somewhat easier when you are interested in handwritten books. If it comes to documents, then you can come across obstacles that a lifetime will not be enough to overcome. Suffice it to recall the background to the publication of the “Archives of Athos” by French Byzantinists! There are storage facilities that are closed to anyone for decades. For many years now, for example, the Lavra of St. Afanasia on Mount Athos does not want to allow specialists to study its funds.

Everything would be fine if the owners themselves wanted and knew how to research and catalog manuscripts and documents. But this almost never happens! At best, outside specialists are brought in, but this rarely leads to a positive result.

It seems to me that it is impossible to overcome the current situation - at least in the coming decades: there are no forces in Greek society that would be interested in this - neither among secular figures of science and culture, nor, especially, among the Orthodox Church.

E.V. Starostin, Chairman of the section on problems of documents of church archives of the Central Council of the Russian Society of Historian-Archivists, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor: The Russian Orthodox Church has made a huge contribution to the development of the economic, socio-political, spiritual and cultural life of Russia. Entire centuries of our history would have turned out to be a continuous blank spot if the historical monuments that emerged from the bowels of the Russian Orthodox Church had not been preserved. Generations of the living, at a minimum, should be grateful to the unknown guardians of our common historical and cultural heritage.

In the pre-revolutionary era, the Russian Orthodox Church created an effective document storage system: church ancient depositories, consistory and diocesan archives functioned in the cultural centers of the country, and theological academies collected excellent collections. At the beginning of the 20th century. In Russian government circles, the issue of creating a central church repository on the basis of the Archives of the Holy Synod was seriously discussed. After 1918 the Church lost a lot. Over time, of course, the state needs to return its documentary heritage to the Russian Orthodox Church in the form of originals or copies, but only if it ensures decent storage and the possibility of use. The first steps of the Church in this direction after the collapse of the USSR are not very encouraging: if church hierarchs understand the importance of preserving historical and cultural heritage, they leave it until the Greek calendar. A modern archive is expensive, and even more expensive is the training of qualified personnel and the maintenance of the structure of archives as carriers of the cultural spiritual memory of the people.

Positive changes are certainly taking place: record keeping in church institutions and the current storage of documents have been restored; the process of reconstructing local archives is underway; The Patriarchal Library in St. Andrew's Compound, along with publications, began to accept church funds; the archives of the KGB and other repressive bodies were studied to identify documents about the new martyrs; two directories-indexes of archival documents on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church appeared; at the Orthodox St. Tikhon's University for the Humanities since 2001, students have received educational services in historical and archival studies; the CS ROIA section held the first international conference on the archives of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2003; The Institute of History and Archives has opened a specialization in church archives and is preparing to publish the 1st volume of a guide to documents of the Russian Orthodox Church preserved in the state archives of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The publication of this substantial almost thousand-page publication, in the preparation of which archivists from three Slavic countries participated, will hopefully serve to intensify the vital work of preserving our historical memory.

Priest Andrei Dudin, head of the Vyatka Diocesan Archive (VEA): In our diocese, the archive was recreated by decree of Archbishop Chrysanthus of Vyatka and Slobodsk on August 31, 1998.

It’s nice that the topic of preserving the archival heritage of the Russian Orthodox Church is once again relevant. Initially, it seemed that it consisted only in the lack of management of the archival fund of the Russian Orthodox Church, but the study of complexes of documents from the offices of different dioceses showed that the archival issue in the Church is a matter of the future. The vast majority of dioceses have been conducting their office work since the 1960s; it was insignificant in volume, so the office can handle this complex quite well. Over time, when the volume of diocesan records increases, the problem of storing and recording archival heritage will become more acute. In our diocese, it has already been resolved: the office stores documents for 10 years and transfers them to the VEA, diocesan parishes and departments of diocesan administration submit documents every 5 years, Vyatka Theological School - annually. This is the basic principle of compiling our archive. In addition, at the annual diocesan meeting, the head of the archive makes a special report in which he points out the shortcomings in this work in the parishes and ways to eliminate them.

Today there are 15 thousand units in VEA. archives, 47 funds, including early printed and handwritten books of the 16th–20th centuries. Most of the documents relate to the post-revolutionary period. This is not accidental, since the overwhelming majority of church archives, including the archive of the Vyatka Spiritual Consistory, after the closure of the diocese in 1936, were transferred to the State Archives of the Kirov Region. Among the most interesting are documents about repressed priests and laymen of the Vyatka land; a photographic fund constantly replenished with the help of parishioners, which contains over four thousand photographs of the clergy, churches of the diocese, and services from the end of the 19th century to the present.

VEA conducts excursions to the temples and monasteries of the city, takes part in pilgrimage trips, and the annual Trifonov educational readings. Archive staff prepare publications on historical topics in regional periodicals and the diocesan newspaper, exhibitions in museums and exhibition halls not only in the Kirov region, but also in other cities of Russia, in particular in Moscow, Vologda, Kostroma.

In 2007, as part of the 350th anniversary of the Vyatka diocese, the archive is preparing two exhibitions. On August 2, the exhibition “Vladyka Veniamin Tikhonitsky” will open, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the death of this prominent hierarch of the Vyatka Church. Another exhibition will open in October in the building of the regional museum of local history and, as fully as possible, will present the treasures of the funds (more than 300 exhibits) of the diocesan archive.

The archive pays significant attention to updating the material and technical base. In 2008, BEA will celebrate its 10th anniversary. The first guide to the archive's holdings is being prepared as a gift to researchers. Work in this direction continues.

V.F. Kozlov, head of the department of regional history and local history of the IAI RSUH, candidate of historical sciences, associate professor: The problem of accessibility and use of archival documents about the history and fate of churches and monasteries is becoming increasingly relevant today. Since the early 1990s. Only the Russian Orthodox Church has been given tens of thousands of churches and chapels, which have to be restored, collecting material for this in archives, libraries and museums. Communities are also faced with the task of writing and publishing a complete history of the temple and parish, organizing a current archive, and sometimes a simple museum exhibition.

It is known that almost all major archives of the Church, soon after the revolution of 1917, were transferred to state archives, i.e. were practically nationalized. Nevertheless, the documentation stored in state archives (funds of central, diocesan and parish church institutions - the Holy Synod, educational and charitable institutions, consistories, boards, committees, individual monasteries and churches) is not only accessible to researchers, but is also provided with scientific reference apparatus. The main problem that arises in this regard is the often high cost for communities of copying church documents for the needs of the temple, creating their own archive, museum, etc. Parishes should be given the right to widely copy former church documents at the cost of paper and consumables.

The same right should be given to the Church in the person of its parish and monastic communities when copying documents from institutions (administrative departments, church tables, cultural commissions, committees, etc.) stored in state archives that were involved in the 1920s–1980s. supervision of churches, repair and restoration work and storage of movable monuments (restoration workshops, museums, etc.). In the context of the almost complete cessation of documentation by churches of their life during the Soviet era, the funds of the above-mentioned state institutions often retain unique information about the last years of the life of the temple, its closure, and the fate of the property. Modern parishes should also have advantages in the use of these documents.

The problem of accessibility of visual sources – drawings, plans and, of course, photographs – is especially great for churches being restored. So, for example, for copying photographs in the photo library of the GNIMA named after. A.V. Shchusev (the funds of the Moscow Archaeological Society and the Central State Restoration Workshops) demand an exorbitantly high price from parishioners, as well as other categories of researchers. Modern church parishes have suffered greatly from state atheism in certain times, and they should be provided with the most favorable conditions for using documents stored in state archives.

At the same time, the modern Russian Orthodox Church has many archival problems. We have almost “lost” the 20-year history of the revival of churches and monasteries - perhaps one of the most vibrant and interesting periods in the history of the Church. The overwhelming majority of parish communities do not systematically record the events of their modern history, therefore many issues of the formation of communities, the transfer of churches to believers, repairs and restoration, beautification, and the organization of parish life remained undocumented. Modern parish reporting will leave history with dry, brief and rather boring reports. Perhaps we need to recall the obligatory practice before the revolution of keeping detailed church chronicles in each parish.

Temples and monasteries play an increasingly important role in the modern sociocultural life of cities and villages, regional history, and the development of the local history movement. The organization of systematic documentation of church and parish life and close cooperation of the Church with central and regional archival institutions is the most important common task. By the way, such cooperation could also be aimed at archival processing and introduction into scientific circulation of materials about the activities of the Church after 1917 that are still inaccessible to researchers. Such work has already begun in several regions.

Archpriest Boris Danilenko, director of the Synodal Library of the Moscow Patriarchate, candidate of theology: The fate of church archives in modern Russia worries many experts, and for good reason. Before the revolution, the archival work of the Russian Orthodox Church, or more precisely, the Office of the Orthodox Confession, was brought to its proper height. When in our time we talk about an exemplary church archive, the first thing that comes to mind is the archive of the Holy Synod, which until recently was located in the bowels of the Russian State Historical Archive in St. Petersburg in the Synod building. Unfortunately, this archive has not been accessible to researchers for several years now. The Synodal Archive, meanwhile, was not only a model in terms of systematization and preservation of unique documents, but also an example of the stability of archival storage. From the moment of its creation until the first years of the new millennium, it was located in the same place, known to every church scientist, every Russian historian-archivist.

The Synodal Archives contains materials relating to the construction of churches and monasteries in the 18th–20th centuries: elevations of facades made in ink and watercolor with a special artistic gift. Many of the archive files contain truly unique information regarding the biographies of Russian hierarchs. Without knowledge of this archival collection, it is impossible to talk about the materials of the Study Committee and Orthodox spiritual missions, personal collections of church scholars and unfinished publishing projects.

Anyone who had the good fortune to work with synodal documents in the building on Senate Street opened old cardboard folders with signatures made in purple ink by the unforgettable K.Ya. Zdravomyslov, the last head of the Synodal Archive, can say without exaggeration: “I am involved in the Synodal era.” These folders stood on ancient shelves made many decades ago, no one dared to disturb their order and harmony... One could only be amazed that neither the First Imperialist War, nor the October Revolution, nor the Great Patriotic War, nor the Siege of Leningrad, nor the repressions of 1930 -1950s, neither the “Khrushchev thaw” with its atheistic frosts had any impact on the fate, or more precisely, the location of this church treasure in the cultural space of the city on the Neva. Nowadays, the Synodal Archive, like the entire RGIA, has been moved to a new location, and one can only console ourselves with the hope that a little time will pass and we, as before, will be able to use its treasures.

Of course, working conditions in the archive were bad. I remember how, five years ago, being there on frosty winter days, I was amazed at the resilience of the archive workers: they, wrapped in down scarves, worked at a temperature of thirteen degrees. They looked like January bullfinches... And it was difficult for the researchers themselves to work in poorly heated rooms, but first of all it is worth bowing to the heroism of the archive employees, continuers of the work of their pre-revolutionary predecessors. They became almost the only opponents of moving the archive.

I believe that a terrible mistake was made. Every place has its own genius. And, of course, the Synodal Archive also had a genius loci. Did he survive? Probably, each of the researchers who worked with the documents of this collection has the right to both personify such a genius and deny the very fact of his existence. But this is a personal matter... But none of us has the right to so treacherously dispose of the fate of the most significant church archive in Russia! Apparently, in a hurry, they again forgot about the scientific community - historians, philologists, theologians, in a word, about all those who know a lot about archival matters...

The future fate of the personal archives of modern Orthodox hierarchs, clergy, and church scientists is also a question about which we have to worry today. In Russia, even in the last century, a certain culture of the epistolary genre was alive. People wrote letters to each other. There are unique collections that include correspondence between church hierarchs, church scientists, representatives of the white and black clergy and simply the Russian intelligentsia with clergy. Suffice it to recall, probably, the best collection in this regard by N.N. Glubokovsky, stored in the Plekhanov House, in the branch of the manuscript department of the Russian National Library. People wrote to each other because they did not have the opportunity to speak “mouth to mouth” and could not meet in person. These letters contained everything: stories about what happened in the scientific, academic and church world, and reactions to certain events in pre-revolutionary Russia. The most intimate thoughts were entrusted to letters, which were sometimes framed in the form of entire essays, essays... But time passed, and everything changed. First the telephone appeared, then the Internet, and, probably, after several decades, it will no longer be possible to speak about the work of modern humanities scholars in general and theologians in particular based on the materials of their correspondence. It seems to me that now our letters are of a purely clerical, notification nature. Even in the church environment they usually have no scientific significance. The discussion of this or that event does not take place in the form familiar to our predecessors - in the best case for later researchers, it comes down to electronic correspondence. It is difficult to find a written message that has emerged within the last year that sheds light on a particular research question in a field such as church history. The exception is international correspondence. Sometimes scientists still entrust their most intimate thoughts to notes and letters, turning to distant colleagues. But this is most likely a kind of tribute to the conspiracy theories of past years.

One of the problems of modern church archives is that they, like their sister libraries and museums, arise spontaneously. There are no church-wide regulations on the need to create them at diocesan administrations, monasteries, religious educational institutions and, especially, parishes. Where there are proactive and sufficiently professionally trained specialists, something happens. There are, thank God, good examples. Of course, “due to official necessity”, sooner or later office archives appear in all church institutions. But an organized “archival space” still does not exist in the Russian Orthodox Church. Dialogues are needed: dialogues between people who work as church scholars in secular archives, in secular manuscript collections, and between specialists who, representing the interests of government agencies and certain secular institutions, work or want to work with church materials. It seems to me that joint conferences, meetings, and dialogues are rarely held.

Recreated in 1987, the Synodal Library of the Moscow Patriarchate has become a “quiet haven” for some collections of church documents of interest to researchers. We are currently preparing a number of collection descriptions for printing. The collections of the Synodal Library, including its archival part, are available to all categories of readers. By the way, we took the principle of accessibility as fundamental even at the initial stage of the library’s activities.

Concluding what has been said, I would like to note that we, church people, would like to see in the activities of state archival institutions of modern Russia a model that can be imitated without fear of accountability before God and people.

Popov A.V. Archives of the Russian Orthodox Church: history and modernity // XVI Annual Theological Conference of the Orthodox St. Tikhon's Humanitarian University: Materials 2006. Vol. 2. M.: PSTGU, 2006. pp. 193-198

The history of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) is so closely connected with the history of Russia that it is impossible to separate them from each other. It was the adoption of the Christian faith by our ancestors in 988 that gave a powerful spiritual impulse, thanks to which the Russian people and state appeared on the historical arena. This circumstance determines the significance that the archival heritage of the Russian Orthodox Church has for Russian culture and history.
After the October Revolution of 1917, a significant number of archives and archival documents of the Russian Orthodox Church were nationalized and deposited in state repositories (1). The seizure and storage of such documents in state archives as state property was legislated by the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR dated June 1, 1918 on the reorganization and centralization of archival affairs in the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. It stated, in particular: All archives of government institutions are liquidated as departmental institutions, and the files and documents stored in them will henceforth form the Unified State Archival Fund (2). In this case, the concept of departmental institutions extended to the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church and its institutions, financed in whole or in part by the state.
In accordance with modern Russian legislation, namely the Federal Law of October 22, 2004 On Archival Affairs in the Russian Federation, church archives and documents before the separation of the Church from the state are considered state property. Article 9 of the law refers to the classification of archival documents of religious associations as private property after the separation of church and state, that is, it is understood that the archival documents of the Church created during the period from the establishment of the Holy Governing Synod in 1721 until the issuance of the Decree on January 23, 1918 separation of church and state and schools from church are considered state property. Thus, state ownership of archival documents of the Russian Orthodox Church was secured at the legislative level before the separation of the Church and the state. These documents include the funds of the Local Council of the Russian Church of 1917-1918. and the Office of Patriarch Tikhon, stored in the State Archives of the Russian Federation (GA RF); numerous funds of monasteries and churches stored in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA), the Russian State Archive of the Far East (RGA DV), the Central Historical Archive of Moscow (CIAM), etc.; funds of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, the Office of the Holy Synod, its committees, departments, stored in the Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA), etc. The volume of these documents, which have great historical value, is significant.
It should be noted that the Russian Orthodox Church has never made demands for the return of its documents stored in state archives. In our opinion, if we follow the letter of the law, she could raise the question of returning her documents for the period before 1721 (a large array of documents from this period is stored in the RGADA). Touching on the topic of the archival heritage of the Russian Orthodox Church, the famous Russian historian of church archives, Professor E.V. Starostin notes: Essentially, this topic remained taboo for Russian historians and archivists for a century. There was an ideological taboo on it, which few dared to violate, since it was unsafe. As for representatives of church science, they also avoided raising pressing questions about the fate of their documentary heritage (3).
The legal status of the fund of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad, stored in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, is not so impeccable. Until 1941, the archive of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad was located in Belgrade in the apartment of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad, Metropolitan Anastasius. In 1941, this archive was confiscated by the German occupation authorities and taken to Germany (4). In 1945, the archive was found and taken by Soviet troops to the USSR, where it was placed in the Special Archives. On August 25, 1948, in accordance with the decision of the State Autonomous Institution of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR 12/3-937, the archive of the foreign Synod in the amount of 55 files and 16 kilograms of placer was transferred to the Central State Administrative District of the USSR (now the Civil Aviation of the Russian Federation) (5). After the scientific description, the fund R-6343 Higher Church Administration of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad was formed in the amount of 384 cases. In 1996, the name of the foundation was changed to the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, Sremski Karlovci, Yugoslavia. In 1992, 1998 Several files were added to the fund, formed from a scattering of documents received from the Library of Federal Archives. Until 1988, the documents of the fund were kept in secret storage. In 1988, by decision of the commission of the Central State Archive of Ordinance of the USSR, on the basis of Act 1 of February 29, 1988, the documents of the fund were declassified. In 1995, to create an insurance fund, the fund's archival documents were microfilmed in the amount of 384 files, 663 microfiches, 24,020 frames (6). The documents of this fund were created and reflect the activities of the Church after the separation of the Church and the state. Moreover, most of them were formed in the activities of church institutions outside the USSR. Consequently, according to the law on archival affairs in the Russian Federation, the documents of this fund must be included in the non-state part of the Archival Fund of the Russian Federation. Article 6, paragraph 7 of this law states: The inclusion of privately owned documents in the Archival Fund of the Russian Federation is carried out on the basis of an examination of the value of the documents and is formalized by an agreement between the owner or possessor of archival documents and the state or municipal archive (local government body of a municipal district, city district), museum, library or organization of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Is there such an agreement between the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and the Federal Archival Agency of Russia? The question is rhetorical.
A significant number of documents reflecting the history of the Russian Orthodox Church and its position in the Soviet Union were formed in the activities of the party and state authorities of the USSR. These archival documents are certainly state property. But this does not diminish their importance as historical sources on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church. In our opinion, the most informative is the fund of the Council for Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR (until 1965, the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church), which includes more than 13 thousand storage units for 1938-1991. (7) Materials of this fund, stored in GA RF, show that the Soviet government closely monitored the Russian Orthodox Church, moreover, had fairly complete and objective information about the processes taking place in it and had a significant influence on them. The documents of the Council have been preserved with sufficient completeness over all the years of its existence. This is partly explained by the fact that some of the documents were kept in secret storage: they were not subject to an examination of their value and were not allocated for destruction. The Civil Code of the Russian Federation also houses the funds of the Permanent Central Commission on Cults under the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, the Union of Militant Atheists of the USSR, etc.
Many personal funds of hierarchs, priests and other figures of the Russian Orthodox Church have been deposited in the Russian state archives. The largest number of such funds is available in the RF Civil Code. Among them are the personal funds of Metropolitan Arseny (Stadnitsky), Archpriest Peter Bulgakov, Archbishop Varnava (Nakropin), Priest Georgy Gapon, Metropolitan Evlogy (Georgievsky), church historian A.V. Kartashev, Archpriest Dimitry Konstantinov, Church historian V.S. Rusak, Archpriest Innokenty Seryshev, Protopresbyter Georgy Shavelsky and others (8).
The coming to power of the Bolsheviks in 1917 and the more than seventy-year existence of the Russian Orthodox Church under the rule of the communist state interrupted the natural formation of a network of church archives, the normative and methodological basis for their activities, and also prevented the formation of a new scientific discipline of church archival science. However, despite the destruction and closure of monasteries and churches, the destruction of part of the church archives, many documents after nationalization were preserved in state archives.
In Soviet times, in archiving, the storage function prevailed over the use function. Documents on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church were mainly kept in special storage facilities or in secret storage. The recommendations of the First International Scientific Conference Archives of the Russian Orthodox Church: Paths from the Past to the Present, held in November 2003, stated: the funds of religious institutions, dispersed into state repositories, were practically not studied during the atheistic twentieth century (9).
The use of documents was subordinated to communist ideology. Based on the fact that the main task of atheistic work was considered to be to reveal the class role of religion and the church, atheist historians highlighted the exposure of church counter-revolution, the exploitative nature of religious organizations, and the disclosure of the political position of the clergy. The works of historians were supposed to help believers overcome religious prejudices. Therefore, the main topics of scientific research were the anti-Soviet actions of the clergy. In accordance with the assigned tasks, the state policy towards the church has always been considered by researchers as positive, and the actions of the church, religious organizations and figures as counter-revolutionary. The distinctive features of the historiography of those years were the narrowness of the source base and insufficient attention to archival documents. The main sources of historical works were the decrees of the Soviet government, the works of V.I. Lenin and other party ideologists.
In recent years, due to fundamental changes in the political system and the internal political life of the country, the situation in Russian historical science has also changed. Many peripheral and previously taboo research topics have come to the fore. In the new conditions, Russian secular and church historians had the opportunity to turn to the history of the Russian Orthodox Church. The basis and foundation for the emergence of serious scientific works based on a large source base is also a large complex of previously inaccessible documents on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church, preserved in the state archives of Russia.
In 1991, after the collapse of the communist regime, the Russian Orthodox Church freed itself from state shackles and got rid of the intrusive tutelage of party and state bodies. But gaining true independence is not a one-time act, but a difficult and long process of getting rid of the burden of the past and overcoming the inertia of church subordination to the state. Currently, the Russian Orthodox Church has many problems that require solutions and are being successfully resolved. Unfortunately, the problem of the archival heritage of the Russian Orthodox Church and its preservation remains far on the periphery of the consciousness of church hierarchs and priests.
In the Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church, the word archive appears only five times. The Charter provides for one central archive under the Administration. Article 5 of the Charter defines: The synodal institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church are: a) Management of the affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate with its offices of the Patriarch, the Synod, the Synodal Library, the necessary departments and the archive. The Charter also provides for diocesan archives and parish archives: Each Diocesan administration must have a diocesan archive. If necessary, archives can be organized under the dean: Under the dean there may be an office, the employees of which are appointed by the ruling bishop, and an archive.
However, the Russian Orthodox Church has not yet created a single central archive. More precisely, there are archives, but their status, sources and order of acquisition, relationships among themselves and with the Administration of the Moscow Patriarchate are not regulated. As already noted, the Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church mentions one central archive, the Archive of the Administration of the Russian Orthodox Church. At the same time, the Russian Orthodox Church operates as church-wide Archives of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. In addition, the Russian Orthodox Church has the Synodal Library, which is a church-wide repository of printed publications and manuscript materials, an institution conducting library, research, information, bibliographic and publishing work. The library is equipped not only with books, but also with archival documents. The Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church has an extensive historical archive. In 2001, reports appeared in the press about the creation of a central church-historical archive on the basis of the church-scientific center Orthodox Encyclopedia (10). Moreover, the director of the center suggested that in the future the documents of the Department of External Church Relations will be included in the archive being created. But in the Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church there is not a word about the church-historical archive that exists at the Orthodox Encyclopedia center. It is also not clear how the new archive will be completed, on what basis the diocesan archives, archives of Synodal institutions and others will transfer their completed files that have lost their operational significance. According to the author, at present, while the Russian Orthodox Church does not have regulatory documents similar to the Basic Rules for the Work of State Archives, the Basic Rules for the Work of Archives of Organizations, and the sources of acquisition, the composition of documents that must be permanently stored in parish, diocesan and central archives, it is too early to talk about the emergence of the Central Church Historical Archive of the Russian Orthodox Church. It is impossible to imagine that such an archive would be created on the basis of a church-scientific center, the main task of which is the preparation and publication of new volumes of the Orthodox Encyclopedia. Apparently, at the Orthodox Encyclopedia it is planned to create an archive of scientific and reference documents necessary for publication and other activities of the center.
To date, there is no unified normative and methodological basis for the activities of archives and record keeping in church institutions. There are no standard instructions for record keeping in church institutions, standard regulations on diocesan and parish archives, rules for operating archives of the Russian Orthodox Church, approximate and standard lists of documents indicating storage periods, methodological recommendations for conducting an examination of the value and description of documents stored in diocesan and parish archives. The status of the parish archive has not been determined (whether it is an archive with a variable composition of documents or stores documents permanently), which documents should be transferred to it and how their description, storage and use should be organized.
Summing up the results of a brief review of the current state of the archives of the Russian Orthodox Church, we can state the absence of a normative and methodological basis for organizing office work and archival affairs in the Russian Orthodox Church. In organizing office work, parishes, diocesan and synodal institutions are guided by state regulations. But this concerns primarily financial and accounting documentation, the provision of which is required by government organizations (11). The situation of archives and church records management is currently in a depressing state, which requires the speedy adoption by the highest church authorities of regulations governing this area.
In our opinion, for economic reasons, not every parish will be able to allocate premises for an archive and ensure proper storage, description and use of archival documents. Therefore, when organizing a network of archives of the Russian Orthodox Church, it seems to us appropriate to give parish archives the status of archives with a variable composition of documents, in which they must transfer documents with constant storage periods for permanent storage in the diocesan archives. Diocesan archives, in turn, should receive the status of archives with a permanent composition of documents, completed with documents of diocesan institutions, deaneries and parishes. Along with this, a single central archive of the Russian Orthodox Church (Archive of the Moscow Patriarchate) should be created. This archive could receive files and documents from the office of the Patriarch of All Rus', the Holy Synod, synodal institutions, Local and Bishops' Councils of the Russian Orthodox Church, foreign institutions and Missions of the Russian Orthodox Church, which have completed clerical work and have lost their operational significance, etc. Another source for completing the Archive should be the personal funds of hierarchs and priests of the Russian Orthodox Church and other persons accepted for storage after examination of the value of documents under an agreement between the Archive and the fund creator.
From the author’s point of view, the preparation of normative and methodological documents on office work and archival affairs, and control over their implementation throughout the entire Russian Orthodox Church should be carried out by the Administration of the Moscow Patriarchate. To solve these problems, close cooperation of the Russian Orthodox Church with the Federal Archival Agency and its body the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Documentation and Archival Affairs, the Center for Archival Research of the Historical and Archival Institute, the Russian Society of Historian-Archivists and other organizations is necessary. In December 2003, an Agreement on Cooperation was signed between the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Federal Archival Service of Russia, but, unfortunately, it was not filled with real content and did not lead to an improvement in the state of archival affairs and record keeping in the Russian Orthodox Church. Therefore, on the basis of the signed agreement, it is necessary to develop real cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Federal Archival Agency. This must be done immediately. Otherwise, we are threatened not only with the loss of a large complex of documents on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, but also with the irreparable loss of part of our historical and social memory.

Notes

1. Ionov A.S. S.G. Runkevich and the fate of archival materials of the Local Council of the Orthodox All-Russian Church of 1917-19188. Seizure of church documents by the authorities // Archives of the Russian Orthodox Church: paths from the past to the present (Proceedings of the Historical and Archival Institute T. 36). - M.: RGGU, 2005. - P. 337-341
2. The main decrees and resolutions of the Soviet Government on archival affairs 1918-1982. - M.: GAU. - 1985. - P. 6
3. Archives of the Russian Orthodox Church: paths from the past to the present (Proceedings of the Historical and Archival Institute T. 36). - M.: RGGU, 2005. - P. 11
4. Shkarovsky M.V. Nazi Germany and the Orthodox Church (Nazi policy towards the Orthodox Church and religious revival on the territory of the USSR). - M.: Krutitskoye Compound; Society of Church History Lovers, 2002. - P. 48
5. GARF fund file 6343, l. 4a
6. Certificate of microfilming of documents from the fund F. R-6343
7. GA RF, F. R-6991
8. Popov A.V. Archival heritage of foreign Orthodoxy // New Journal = New Review. - NY. - 2005 - N 239. - P. 158-173
9. Archives of the Russian Orthodox Church: paths from the past to the present (Proceedings of the Historical and Archival Institute T. 36). - M.: RGGU, 2005. - P. 376
10. The church-historical archive of the Russian Orthodox Church is being created // Morning. - 2001. - 41 (363). - March 1, 2001
11. Gorkavaya G.P. Archives of the Russian Orthodox Church in the past and present: essays / Ed. E.V. Starostina/ - M., 2000. - P. 24