State reforms under Peter 1. Administrative reforms of Peter I the Great

Church reform of Peter I- activities carried out by Peter I at the beginning of the 18th century, which radically changed the management of the Orthodox Russian Church, introducing a system that some researchers believe to be Caesar-papist.

The position of the Russian Church before the reforms of Peter I

By the end of the 17th century, a significant number of both internal problems and problems related to its position in society and the state, as well as the almost complete absence of a system of religious and church enlightenment and education, had accumulated in the Russian Church. In half a century, as a result of the not entirely successfully carried out reforms of Patriarch Nikon, an Old Believer schism occurred: a significant part of the Church - primarily the common people - did not accept the decisions of the Moscow Councils of 1654, 1655, 1656, 1666 and 1667 and rejected the transformations prescribed by them in the Church, following norms and traditions that formed in Moscow in the 16th century, when the Moscow Church was in schism with Ecumenical Orthodoxy - until the normalization of its status in 1589-1593. All this left a significant imprint on the society of that time. Also, during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, Patriarch Nikon pursued a policy that clearly threatened the emerging Russian absolutism. Being an ambitious man, Nikon tried to maintain the same status in the Moscow State that Patriarch Filaret had before him. These attempts ended in complete failure for him personally. The Russian tsars, clearly seeing the danger of the privileged position of the Russian Church, which owned vast lands and enjoyed benefits, felt the need to reform the government of the church. But in the 17th century the government did not dare to take radical measures. The privileges of the Church, which came into conflict with the emerging absolutism, consisted of the right of land ownership and trial of clergy in all matters. The land holdings of the church were huge; the population of these lands, in most cases exempt from paying taxes, was useless to the state. Monastic and bishop's commercial and industrial enterprises also did not pay anything to the treasury, thanks to which they could sell their goods cheaper, thereby undermining the merchants. The continuous growth of monastic and church land ownership in general threatened the state with huge losses.

Even Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, despite his devotion to the church, came to the conclusion that it was necessary to put a limit on the claims of the clergy. Under him, the further transfer of land into the ownership of the clergy was stopped, and lands recognized as taxable, which ended up in the hands of the clergy, were returned back to taxation. By Council Code In 1649, the trial of the clergy in all civil cases was transferred to the hands of a new institution - the Monastic Prikaz. The monastic order was the main significant subject of the subsequent conflict between the Tsar and Nikon, who in this case expressed the interests of the entire corporation of the highest clergy. The protest was so strong that the tsar had to give in and agree with the fathers of the Council of 1667, so that the trial of clergy in civil and even criminal cases would be returned to the hands of the clergy. After the Council of 1675, the Monastic Order was abolished.

An important factor in church life at the end of the 17th century was the annexation of the Kyiv Metropolis to the Moscow Patriarchate in 1687. The Russian episcopate included Western-educated Little Russian bishops, some of whom would play a key role in the church reforms of Peter I.

General nature and background

Peter I, having stood at the helm of government, saw the mute, and sometimes obvious, dissatisfaction of the clergy with the transformations that were begun to modernize Russia, because they were destroying the old Moscow system and customs, to which they were so committed in their ignorance. As the bearer of the state idea, Peter did not allow the independence of the church in the state, and as a reformer who devoted his life to the cause of renewal of the fatherland, he did not like the clergy, among whom he found the largest number of opponents of what was closest to him. But he was not an unbeliever; rather, he belonged to those who are called indifferent to matters of faith.

Even during the life of Patriarch Adrian, Peter, a very young man who led a life quite far from church interests, expressed his wishes to the head of the Russian clergy regarding the putting in order of the clergy. However, the patriarch shunned innovations that penetrated the structure of state and social life in Russia. Over time, Peter's dissatisfaction with the Russian clergy intensified, so that he even got used to attributing most of his failures and difficulties in internal affairs to the secret but stubborn opposition of the clergy. When, in Peter’s mind, everything that opposed and was hostile to his reforms and plans was embodied in the person of the clergy, he decided to neutralize this opposition, and all his reforms related to the structure of the Russian Church were aimed at this. They all meant:

1. Eliminating the opportunity for a Russian dad to grow up - "to the second sovereign, an autocrat equal or greater" what the Moscow Patriarch could become, and in the person of Patriarchs Filaret and Nikon to a certain extent became;
2. Subordination of the church to the monarch. Peter looked at the clergy in such a way that they “there is no other state” and it should "on par with other classes", obey general state laws.

Peter's travels through the Protestant countries of Europe further strengthened his views on the relationship between the state and the church. With considerable attention, Peter listened to the advice of William of Orange in 1698, during his informal meetings, to organize the Church in Russia in the Anglican manner, declaring himself its Head.

In 1707, Metropolitan Isaiah of Nizhny Novgorod was deprived of his chair and exiled to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, who sharply protested against the actions of the Monastic Order in his diocese.

The case of Tsarevich Alexy, with whom many clergy pinned hopes for the restoration of former customs, was extremely painful for some of the higher clergy. Having fled abroad in 1716, the Tsarevich maintained relations with Metropolitan Ignatius (Smola) of Krutitsky, Metropolitan Joasaph (Krakovsky) of Kiev, Bishop Dosifei of Rostov, and others. During the search carried out by Peter, Peter himself called “conversations with priests and monks” the main reason for treason. As a result of the investigation, punishment fell upon the clergy who were found to have connections with the Tsarevich: Bishop Dosifei was defrocked and executed, as well as the Tsarevich’s confessor, Archpriest Jacob Ignatiev, and the clergyman of the cathedral in Suzdal, Theodore the Desert, who was close to Peter’s first wife, Queen Evdokia; Metropolitan Joasaph was deprived of his see, and Metropolitan Joasaph, summoned for questioning, died on the way from Kyiv.

It is noteworthy that throughout the preparation for the reform of church government, Peter was in intensive relations with the eastern patriarchs - primarily the Patriarch of Jerusalem Dositheos - on various issues of both a spiritual and political nature. And he also addressed the Ecumenical Patriarch Cosmas with private spiritual requests, such as permission for him to “eat meat” during all fasts; His Letter to the Patriarch dated July 4, 1715 justifies the request by the fact that, as the document says, “I suffer from febro and scurvy, which illnesses come to me more from all sorts of harsh foods, and especially since I am forced to be constantly for the defense of the holy church and state and my subjects in military difficult and distant campaigns<...>" With another letter from the same day, he asks Patriarch Cosmas for permission to eat meat at all posts for the entire Russian army during military campaigns, ““our more Orthodox troops<...>They are on difficult and long journeys and in remote and inconvenient and deserted places, where there is little, and sometimes nothing, of any fish, below some other Lenten dishes, and often even bread itself.” There is no doubt that it was more convenient for Peter to resolve issues of a spiritual nature with the eastern patriarchs, who were largely supported by the Moscow government (and Patriarch Dosifei was de facto for several decades a political agent and informant of the Russian government about everything that happened in Constantinople), than with their own, sometimes obstinate, clergy.

Peter's first endeavors in this area

Even during the life of Patriarch Adrian, Peter himself forbade the construction of new monasteries in Siberia.

In October 1700, Patriarch Adrian died. Peter was at that time with his troops near Narva. Here in the camp, he received two letters concerning the situation created by the death of the Patriarch. Boyar Tikhon Streshnev, who remained in charge of Moscow during the sovereign's absence, according to the old custom, gave a report on the death and burial of the patriarch, on the measures taken to protect the property of the patriarchal house, and asked who to appoint as the new patriarch. Profit-maker Kurbatov, obliged by his position to represent the sovereign about everything that tends to profit and benefit the state, wrote to the sovereign that the Lord judged him, the tsar, “to govern his property and his people in everyday needs in truth, like the father of a child.” He further pointed out that due to the death of the patriarch, his subordinates took all matters into their own hands and disposed of all patriarchal income in their own interests. Kurbatov proposed electing, as before, a bishop for temporary control of the patriarchal throne. Kurbatov advised that all monastic and episcopal estates should be rewritten and given over to someone else for protection.

A week after returning from Narva, Peter did as Kurbatov suggested. Metropolitan Stefan Yavorsky of Ryazan and Murom was appointed guardian and administrator of the Patriarchal Throne. The locum tenens was entrusted with the management of only matters of faith: “about schism, about opposition to the church, about heresies,” but all other matters under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch were distributed according to the orders to which they belonged. The special order in charge of these matters - the Patriarchal Order - was destroyed.

On January 24, 1701, the Monastic Order was restored, under the jurisdiction of which the Patriarchal Courtyard, bishop's houses and monastic lands and farms were transferred. Boyar Ivan Alekseevich Musin-Pushkin was placed at the head of the order, and clerk Efim Zotov was with him.

A series of decrees soon followed that decisively reduced the independence of the clergy in the state and the independence of the clergy from secular authorities. Monasteries were subjected to special cleaning. The monks were ordered to remain permanently in those monasteries where they would be found by special scribes sent by the Monastic Order. All those who were not tonsured were evicted from the monasteries. Women's monasteries were allowed to tonsure only women after the age of forty as nuns. The economy of the monasteries was placed under the supervision and control of the Monastic Order. It was ordered that only the truly sick and infirm be kept in almshouses. Finally, the decree of December 30, 1701 determined that the monks should be given cash and grain salaries from the income of the monastery, and that the monks would no longer own estates and lands.

A number of further measures alleviated the cruelty of the persecution of schismatics and allowed the free profession of their faith to foreigners, both Catholics and Protestants of all persuasions. These measures were based on the principle expressed by Peter, as usual, clearly and clearly: “The Lord gave kings power over the nations, but Christ alone has power over the conscience of people.”. In accordance with this, Peter ordered the bishops to treat opponents of the Church with "meekness and understanding".

To raise the general level of morality among the Orthodox flock, decrees were issued, “so that in cities and districts of every rank, male and female, people should confess to their spiritual fathers annually”, and a fine was levied for evading confession. This measure, in addition to moral purposes, was intended mainly to establish the belonging of these persons to ancient piety, for which they were subject to double tax. Special decrees issued in 1718 ordered Orthodox citizens to attend churches and stand in the temples with reverence and silence, listening to the holy service, otherwise they would face a fine, levied right there in the church by a special person appointed for this purpose. "a good person". Peter himself loved to commemorate all the solemn days of his life with solemn church services. Reading the news of the Poltava victory in cities, for example, was accompanied by a prayer service and five days of church bells.

To raise the moral level of the clergy themselves, an order was issued to the bishops, recommending them meekness in dealing with subordinates, caution in mistaking “unknown coffins” for holy relics and in the appearance of miraculous icons. It was forbidden to invent miracles. It was ordered that holy fools should not be allowed in; bishops were instructed not to get involved in worldly affairs, unless “it will be an obvious lie”, - then it was allowed to write to the king. According to the list of 1710, bishops were given a salary of one to two and a half thousand rubles a year. Back in 1705, a general purge of the clergy was carried out, from which soldiers and salaries were excluded and noted: sextons, monastery servants, priests, sextons, their children and relatives.

The fight against beggary

At the same time, Peter took up the necessary institution of ancient Russian piety - begging. All those asking for alms were ordered to be intercepted and taken to the Monastic Prikaz for analysis and punishment, and people of any rank were forbidden to give alms to wandering beggars. Those who were overcome by a thirst for alms were offered to give to almshouses. Those who disobeyed the decree and gave alms to wandering beggars were seized and fined. Clerks with soldiers walked along the streets of Moscow and other cities and took away both beggars and benefactors. However, in 1718, Peter had to admit that, despite all his measures, the number of beggars had increased. He responded to this with draconian decrees: the beggars captured on the streets were ordered to be beaten mercilessly, and if they turned out to be the owner's peasants, then to send them to the owners with an order to put this beggar to work, so that he would not eat bread for free, but for the fact that the landowner allowed his man to beg, he had to pay a five ruble fine. Those who fell into beggary for the second and third time were ordered to be beaten in the square with a whip and sent the men to hard labor, women to the spinhouse (spinning mill), children to be beaten with batogs and sent to the cloth yard and other factories. Somewhat earlier, in 1715, it was ordered to seize beggars and take them to the orders to be searched. By 1718, more than 90 almshouses had been established in Moscow, and up to 4,500 poor and weak people lived in them, receiving food from the treasury. The organization of charitable assistance to those truly suffering was carried out quite well in Novgorod thanks to the selfless activities of Job. Job, on his own initiative, at the very beginning of the Northern War of 1700-1721, established hospitals and educational homes in Novgorod. The royal decree then approved all the initiatives of the Novgorod ruler and recommended doing the same in all cities.

Guardian of the Patriarchal Throne

The Patriarchal Locum Tenens was entirely at the mercy of the sovereign and had no authority. In all important cases, he had to consult with other bishops, whom he was asked to summon alternately to Moscow. The results of all meetings were to be submitted to the locum tenens of the patriarchal throne (the first was Metropolitan Stefan Yavorsky) for approval by the sovereign. This meeting of successive bishops from the dioceses was called, as before, the Consecrated Council. This Consecrated Council in spiritual matters, and boyar Musin-Pushkin with his Monastic Order in others, significantly limited the power of the locum tenens of the patriarchal throne in governing the church. Musin-Pushkin, as the head of the Monastic Prikaz, is promoted everywhere by Peter, as some kind of assistant, comrade, sometimes almost the head of the locum tenens of the patriarchal throne. If in the obligatory Consecrated Council of bishops convened annually in turn under the locum tenens one can see the prototype of the Holy Synod, then the head of the Monastic Prikaz acts as the ancestor of the synodal chief prosecutor.

The position of the head of the Russian clergy became even more difficult when, in 1711, the Governing Senate began to operate instead of the old Boyar Duma. According to the decree establishing the Senate, all administrations, both spiritual and temporal, were required to obey the decrees of the Senate as royal decrees. The Senate immediately took possession of supremacy in spiritual governance. Since 1711, the guardian of the patriarchal throne cannot install a bishop without the Senate. The Senate independently builds churches in the conquered lands and itself orders the ruler of Pskov to place priests there. The Senate appoints abbots and abbesses to monasteries, and disabled soldiers send their requests for permission to settle in a monastery to the Senate.

In 1714, a case arose in Moscow about the doctor Tveritinov, who was accused of adherence to Lutheranism. The case went to the Senate, and the Senate acquitted the doctor. Metropolitan Stefan then examined Tveritinov’s writings and found his opinions absolutely heretical. The matter was raised again and again reached the Senate. At first, the locum tenens was present at the consideration of the case in the Senate. But the Senate again spoke out about Tveritinov’s innocence. The debate between the senators and the locum tenens was very stubborn.

Since 1715, all central institutions began to be concentrated in St. Petersburg and divided into collegial departments. Of course, Peter comes up with the idea of ​​including the government of the church on the same grounds in the mechanism of government. In 1718, the locum tenens of the patriarchal throne, temporarily staying in St. Petersburg, received a decree from His Majesty - “he should live in St. Petersburg permanently and the bishops should come to St. Petersburg one by one, contrary to how they came to Moscow”. This caused the metropolitan's dissatisfaction, to which Peter responded sharply and sternly and for the first time expressed the idea of ​​​​creating a Spiritual College.

Creation of the Spiritual College, or Holy Synod

The key figure in the organization of the Theological College was the Little Russian theologian, rector of the Kiev-Mohyla Academy Feofan Prokopovich, whom Peter met in 1706, when he gave a counter speech to the sovereign at the foundation of the Pechersk fortress in Kyiv. In 1711, Theophanes was with Peter on the Prut campaign. On June 1, 1718, he was named bishop of Pskov, and the next day he was consecrated to the rank of bishop in the presence of the sovereign. Soon Prokopovich was entrusted with drawing up a project for the creation of the Theological College.

On January 25, 1721, Peter signed a manifesto on the establishment of the Theological College, which soon received a new name Holy Governing Synod. The members of the Synod, convened in advance, took the oath on January 27, and on February 14, the inauguration of the new administration of the church took place.

In the same published by special decree Regulations of the Spiritual College explained, as Peter usually did, the “important guilts” that forced him to prefer conciliar or collegial and synodal government of the church to the individual patriarchate:

“It is also great that from the conciliar government there is no need for the fatherland to fear the rebellions and confusion that come from its own single spiritual ruler. For the common people do not know how different spiritual power is from autocratic power, but amazed by the great honor and glory of the highest shepherd, they think that such a Ruler is the second Sovereign, equivalent to the Autocrat, or even greater than him, and that the spiritual rank is a different and better state, And the people themselves are in the habit of thinking like this. What if the tares of power-hungry spiritual conversations are still added and the fire is added to dry boastfulness? And when some kind of discord is heard between them, everyone, more than the spiritual ruler, even blindly and madly, agrees and flatters themselves that they are fighting because of God Himself.”

The composition of the Holy Synod was determined according to the regulations of 12 “government persons”, of which three must certainly bear the rank of bishop. As in the civil colleges, the Synod consisted of one president, two vice-presidents, four advisers and five assessors. In 1726, these foreign names, which did not fit in well with the clergy of the persons sitting in the Synod, were replaced by the words: first-present member, members of the Synod and those present in the Synod. The President, who is subsequently the first person present, has, according to regulations, a vote equal to the other members of the board.

Before entering into the position assigned to him, each member of the Synod, or, according to the regulations, “every collegium, both the president and others,” had to “take an oath or promise before St. Gospel", where "under the nominal penalty of anathema and corporal punishment" they promised to "always seek the most essential truths and the most essential righteousness" and act in everything "according to the regulations written in the spiritual regulations and henceforth may follow additional definitions to them." Along with the oath of fidelity to serving their cause, the members of the Synod swore fidelity to service to the reigning sovereign and his successors, pledged to report in advance about the damage to His Majesty’s interest, harm, loss, and in conclusion they had to swear an oath to “confess the final judge of the spiritual council of this collegium, the existence of All-Russian monarch." The end of this oath, composed by Feofan Prokopovich and edited by Peter, is extremely significant: “I swear by the all-seeing God that all this that I now promise, I do not interpret differently in my mind, as I utter with my lips, but in that power and mind, such power and mind The words written here appear to those who read and hear.”

Metropolitan Stefan was appointed President of the Synod. In the Synod, he somehow immediately turned out to be a stranger, despite his presidency. For the entire year 1721, Stephen was in the Synod only 20 times. He had no influence on matters.

A man unconditionally devoted to Peter was appointed vice-president - Theodosius, bishop of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery.

In terms of the structure of the office and office work, the Synod resembled the Senate and collegiums, with all the ranks and customs established in these institutions. Just as there, Peter took care of organizing supervision over the activities of the Synod. On May 11, 1722, a special chief prosecutor was ordered to be present at the Synod. Colonel Ivan Vasilyevich Boltin was appointed the first chief prosecutor of the Synod. The main responsibility of the chief prosecutor was to conduct all relations between the Synod and the civil authorities and vote against the decisions of the Synod when they were not consistent with the laws and decrees of Peter. The Senate gave the chief prosecutor special instructions, which were almost a complete copy of the instructions to the prosecutor general of the Senate.

Just like the Prosecutor General, the Chief Prosecutor of the Synod is called an instruction “the eye of the sovereign and attorney on state affairs”. The Chief Prosecutor was subject to trial only by the sovereign. At first, the power of the Chief Prosecutor was exclusively observational, but little by little the Chief Prosecutor becomes the arbiter of the fate of the Synod and its leader in practice.

Just as in the Senate there were fiscals next to the post of prosecutor, so in the Synod spiritual fiscals were appointed, called inquisitors, with a proto-inquisitor at their head. The inquisitors were supposed to secretly monitor the correct and legal course of affairs of church life. The Office of the Synod was structured on the model of the Senate and was also subordinate to the Chief Prosecutor. In order to create a living connection with the Senate, the position of an agent was established under the Synod, whose duty, according to the instructions given to him, was to “recommend both in the Senate, and in the collegiums and in the office urgently, so that, according to these Synodic decisions and decrees, the proper dispatch is carried out without continuation of time." Then the agent made sure that the synodal reports sent to the Senate and collegiums were heard before other matters, otherwise he had to “protest to the presiding persons there” and report to the prosecutor general. The agent had to carry important papers coming from the Synod to the Senate himself. In addition to the agent, there was also a commissioner from the Monastic Order at the Synod, who was in charge of the frequent and extensive in scope and significance of the relations between this order and the Synod. His position was in many ways reminiscent of the position of commissars from the provinces under the Senate. For the convenience of managing the affairs subject to the management of the Synod, they were divided into four parts, or offices: the office of schools and printing houses, the office of judicial affairs, the office of schismatic affairs and the office of inquisitorial affairs.

The new institution, according to Peter, should have immediately taken up the task of correcting the vices in church life. The Spiritual Regulations indicated the tasks of the new institution and noted those shortcomings of the church structure and way of life, with which a decisive struggle had to begin.

The Regulations divided all matters subject to the jurisdiction of the Holy Synod into general ones, relating to all members of the Church, that is, both secular and spiritual, and into “own” affairs, relating only to the clergy, white and black, to theological school and education. Determining the general affairs of the Synod, the regulations impose on the Synod the duty to ensure that among the Orthodox all “it was done correctly according to the Christian law” so that there is nothing contrary to this "law", and so that it doesn't happen "scarcity in instruction due to every Christian". The regulations list, monitor the correctness of the text of the holy books. The Synod was supposed to eradicate superstitions, establish the authenticity of miracles of newly discovered icons and relics, monitor the order of church services and their correctness, protect the faith from the harmful influence of false teachings, for which it was endowed with the right to judge schismatics and heretics and have censorship over all the “stories of the saints” and all kind of theological writings, making sure that nothing contrary to Orthodox doctrine passes through. The Synod has categorical permission "perplexed" cases of pastoral practice in matters of Christian faith and virtue.

Regarding enlightenment and education, the Spiritual Regulations ordered the Synod to ensure that “We had a Christian teaching that was ready for correction”, for which it is necessary to compile short and understandable books for ordinary people to teach the people the most important dogmas of the faith and the rules of Christian life.

In the matter of governing the church system, the Synod had to examine the dignity of persons promoted to bishops; protect the church clergy from insults from others "secular gentlemen having a command"; to see that every Christian remains in his calling. The Synod was obliged to instruct and punish those who sinned; bishops must watch “Aren’t the priests and deacons acting outrageously, aren’t drunks making noise in the streets, or, what’s worse, aren’t they quarreling like men in churches?”. Regarding the bishops themselves, it was prescribed: “to tame this great cruel glory of bishops, so that their hands, while they are healthy, will not be taken, and the brethren at hand will not bow to the ground.”.

All cases that had previously been subject to the patriarchal court were subject to the Synod's court. Regarding church property, the Synod must oversee the correct use and distribution of church property.

Regarding its own affairs, the Regulations note that the Synod, in order to correctly fulfill its task, must know what the duties of each member of the Church are, that is, bishops, presbyters, deacons and other clergy, monks, teachers, preachers, and then devotes a lot of space to the affairs of bishops, affairs educational and educational and the responsibilities of the laity in relation to the Church. The affairs of the other church clergy and those concerning monks and monasteries were set out in detail somewhat later in a special “Addendum to the Spiritual Regulations.”

This addition was compiled by the Synod itself and sealed to the Spiritual Regulations without the knowledge of the Tsar.

Measures to restrict the white clergy

Under Peter, the clergy began to turn into the same class, having state tasks, their own rights and responsibilities, like the nobility and townspeople. Peter wanted the clergy to become an organ of religious and moral influence on the people, at the complete disposal of the state. By creating the highest church government - the Synod - Peter received the opportunity to have supreme control over church affairs. The formation of other classes - the nobility, townspeople and peasants - already quite definitely limited those who belonged to the clergy. A number of measures regarding the white clergy were intended to further clarify this limitation of the new class.

In Ancient Rus', access to the clergy was wide open to everyone, and the clergy was not bound by any restrictive regulations at that time: each clergy person could remain or not remain in the clergy rank, freely move from city to city, from serving in one church to another; the children of clergy were also not bound in any way by their origin and could choose whatever field of activity they wanted. Even unfree people could enter the clergy in the 17th century, and landowners of that time often had priests from strong people. People willingly entered the clergy because there was more opportunity to find income and it was easier to avoid taxes. The lower parish clergy was then selective. The parishioners usually chose from among themselves a person who seemed suitable for the priesthood, gave him a letter of choice and sent him to be “placed” with the local bishop.

The Moscow government, protecting the state's payment forces from decline, has long begun to order cities and villages to elect children or even relatives of deceased clergymen for declining priestly and deacon positions, hoping that such persons are more prepared for the priesthood than "rural ignoramuses". Communities, in whose interests it was also not to lose extra co-payers, tried to choose their shepherds from the spiritual families known to them. By the 17th century, this was already a custom, and the children of clergy, although they could enter any rank through service, preferred to wait in line to take a spiritual place. The church clergy therefore turns out to be extremely crowded with the children of the clergy, old and young, waiting for a “place”, and in the meantime staying with the fathers and grandfathers of the priests as sextons, bell ringers, sextons, etc. In 1722, the Synod was informed that at some Yaroslavl churches there were there were so many priests’ children, brothers, nephews, and grandchildren in the priest’s places that there were almost fifteen of them for every five priests.

Both in the 17th century, and under Peter, there were very rare parishes where only one priest was listed - in most there were two or three. There were parishes where, with fifteen households of parishioners, there were two priests in a dark, wooden, dilapidated church. In wealthy churches, the number of priests reached six or more.

The comparative ease of obtaining rank created in ancient Russia a wandering priesthood, the so-called “sacral priesthood.” In old Moscow and other cities, places where large streets crossed, where there was always a crowd of people, were called kresttsy. In Moscow, the Varvarsky and Spassky sacrums were especially famous. It was mainly the clergy who gathered here who had left their parishes to freely pursue the rank of priest and deacon. Some mourner, the rector of a church with a parish in two or three households, of course, could earn more by offering his services to those who wanted to serve a prayer service at home, celebrate the magpie in the house, and bless a funeral meal. All those in need of a priest went to the sacrum and here they chose whoever they wanted. It was easy to obtain a letter of leave from the bishop, even if the bishop was against it: the bishop’s servants, eager for bribes and promises, did not bring such profitable matters to his attention. In Moscow during the times of Peter the Great, even after the first revision, after many measures aimed at destroying the sacral clergy, there were more than 150 registered priests who signed up for the order of church affairs and paid stole money.

Of course, the existence of such a wandering clergy, given the government’s desire to enroll everything and everyone in the state into “service,” could not be tolerated, and Peter, back in the early 1700s, made a number of orders limiting the freedom to enter the clergy. In 1711, these measures were somewhat systematized and confirmed, and an explanation of the measures to reduce the clergy follows: from its spread, “the sovereign’s service in its needs was felt to be diminished.” In 1716, Peter issued an order to the bishops so that they “do not multiply priests and deacons for the sake of profit, or for the sake of inheritance.” Leaving the clergy was made easier, and Peter looked favorably on the priests leaving the clergy, but also on the Synod itself. Simultaneously with concerns about the quantitative reduction of the clergy, Peter's government is concerned about assigning them to places of service. The issuance of transitory letters is at first very difficult, and then completely stopped, and lay persons are strictly forbidden, under fines and punishment, to accept the demands of priests and deacons for fulfillment. One of the measures to reduce the number of clergy was the ban on building new churches. The bishops, upon accepting the cathedra, had to give an oath that “neither they themselves nor will they allow others to build churches beyond the needs of the parishioners.”

The most important measure in this regard, in particular for the life of the white clergy, is Peter’s attempt to “determine the number of priests and so order the church so that a sufficient number of parishioners is assigned to each.” The Synodal decree of 1722 established the states of the clergy, according to which it was determined “so that there would not be more than three hundred households in the great parishes, but in such a parish, where there is one priest, there will be 100 households or 150, and where there are two, there will be 200 or 250. And with three there would be up to 800 households, and with so many priests there would be no more than two deacons, and the clerks would be according to the preportion of the priests, that is, for each priest there would be one sexton and one sexton.” This staffing was not supposed to be implemented immediately, but as the excess clergy died out; The bishops were ordered not to appoint new priests while the old ones were alive.

Having established the staff, Peter also thought about feeding the clergy, who depended on the parishioners for everything. The white clergy lived by bringing them correction of their needs, and given the general poverty, and even with the undoubted decline in commitment to the church in those days, these incomes were very small, and the white clergy of Peter the Great’s times were very poor.

By reducing the number of white clergy, prohibiting and making it difficult for new forces from outside to enter it, Peter seemed to have closed the clergy class within himself. It was then that caste traits, characterized by the obligatory inheritance of the father’s place by the son, acquired special significance in the life of the clergy. Upon the death of his father, who served as a priest, the eldest son, who was a deacon under his father, took his place, and the next brother, who served as a deacon, was appointed to the deaconship in his place. The sexton's place was occupied by the third brother, who had previously been a sexton. If there were not enough brothers to fill all the places, the vacant place was filled by the son of the older brother or only enrolled for him if he had not grown up. This new class was assigned by Peter to pastoral spiritual educational activities according to the Christian law, however, not at the full discretion of the shepherds to understand the law the way they want, but only as the state authority prescribes to understand it.

And in this sense, Peter assigned grave responsibilities to the clergy. Under him, the priest not only had to glorify and extol all the reforms, but also help the government in identifying and catching those who reviled the activities of the tsar and were hostile to it. If during confession it was revealed that the confessor had committed a state crime, was involved in rebellion and malicious intent on the life of the sovereign and his family, then the priest had to, under pain of execution, report such a confessor and his confession to the secular authorities. The clergy was further entrusted with the responsibility of searching for and, with the help of secular authorities, pursuing and catching schismatics who evaded paying double taxes. In all such cases, the priest began to act as an official subordinate to the secular authorities: he acts in such cases as one of the police bodies of the state, together with the fiscal officers, detectives and watchmen of the Preobrazhensky Prikaz and the Secret Chancellery. Denunciation by a priest entails trial and sometimes cruel punishment. In this new orderly duty of the priest, the spiritual nature of his pastoral activity was gradually obscured, and a more or less cold and strong wall of mutual alienation was created between him and the parishioners, and the distrust of the flock towards the shepherd grew. "As a result, the clergy, - says N.I. Kedrov, - closed in its exclusive environment, with the heredity of its rank, not refreshed by the influx of fresh forces from outside, it gradually had to lose not only its moral influence on society, but itself began to become impoverished in mental and moral strength, to cool, so to speak, to the movement of social life and her interests". Unsupported by society, which has no sympathy for him, the clergy during the 18th century developed into an obedient and unquestioning instrument of secular power.

The position of the black clergy

Peter clearly did not like monks. This was a trait of his character, probably formed under the strong influence of early childhood impressions. "Scary scenes, says Yu.F. Samarin, - They met Peter at the cradle and worried him all his life. He saw the bloody reeds of the archers, who called themselves defenders of Orthodoxy, and was accustomed to mixing piety with fanaticism and fanaticism. In the crowd of rioters on Red Square, black robes appeared to him, strange, incendiary sermons reached him, and he was filled with a hostile feeling towards monasticism.”. Many anonymous letters sent from monasteries, “accusatory notebooks” and “writings” that called Peter the Antichrist, were distributed to the people in the squares, secretly and openly, by the monks. The case of Queen Evdokia, the case of Tsarevich Alexei could only strengthen his negative attitude towards monasticism, showing what a force hostile to his state order was hiding behind the walls of the monasteries.

Under the impression of all this, Peter, who in general was far from the demands of idealistic contemplation throughout his entire mental make-up and who placed continuous practical activity in the purpose of a person’s life, began to see in monks only different "obsessions, heresies and superstitions". The monastery, in the eyes of Peter, is a completely superfluous, unnecessary institution, and since it is still a source of unrest and riots, then, in his opinion, it is also a harmful institution, which would not be better to completely destroy? But even Peter was not enough for such a measure. Very early, however, he began to take care of using the strictest restrictive measures to constrain the monasteries, reduce their number, and prevent the emergence of new ones. Every decree of his relating to monasteries breathes with the desire to prick the monks, to show both themselves and everyone all the uselessness, all the uselessness of monastic life. Back in the 1690s, Peter categorically forbade the construction of new monasteries, and in 1701 he ordered all existing ones to be rewritten in order to establish the staff of the monasteries. And all of Peter’s further legislation regarding monasteries is steadily directed toward three goals: to reduce the number of monasteries, to establish difficult conditions for acceptance into monasticism, and to give monasteries a practical purpose, to derive some practical benefit from their existence. For the sake of the latter, Peter was inclined to turn monasteries into factories, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, that is, “useful” government institutions.

The Spiritual Regulations confirmed all these orders and especially attacked the foundation of monasteries and desert living, which is undertaken not for the purpose of spiritual salvation, but “for the sake of living freely, in order to be removed from all power and supervision and in order to collect money for the newly built monastery and profit from it.” The regulations included the following rule: “the monks should not write any letters to their cells, either extracts from books or letters of advice to anyone, and according to spiritual and civil regulations, do not keep ink or paper, since nothing ruins monastic silence so much as their vain and futile letters..."

Further measures required monks to live in monasteries permanently, all long-term absences of monks were prohibited, a monk and nun could only leave the monastery walls for two or three hours, and then only with written permission from the abbot, where the period of leave of the monk was written under his signature and seal. . At the end of January 1724, Peter published a decree on the monastic title, on the placement of retired soldiers in monasteries and on the establishment of seminaries and hospitals. This decree, finally deciding what the monasteries should be, as usual, told why and why a new measure was being taken: monasticism was preserved only for the sake of “the pleasure of those who with a straight conscience desire it,” and for the bishopric, for, according to custom, bishops can only be from monks. However, a year later Peter passed away, and this decree did not have time to enter into life in its entirety.

Theological school

The Spiritual Regulations, in its two sections “The Affairs of Bishops” and “College Houses and the Teachers, Students, and Preachers in Them,” gave instructions on the establishment of special theological schools (bishop’s schools) for the training of priests, whose level of education by that time was extremely unsatisfactory.

In the sections “The Affairs of Bishops” it is reported that “it is very useful for the correction of the church to eat this, so that every Bishop should have in his house, or at his house, a school for the children of priests, or others, in the hope of certain priesthood.”

Compulsory education was introduced for the sons of clergy and clerks; those who were untrained were subject to exclusion from the clergy. According to the Regulations, diocesan theological schools were to be maintained at the expense of bishops' houses and income from monastery lands.

In pursuance of the project set out in the Regulations, seminary-type theological schools were gradually created in different cities of Russia. In St. Petersburg in 1721, two schools were opened at once: one in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra by Archbishop Theodosius (Yanovsky), the other on the Karpovka River by Archbishop Feofan (Prokopovich). In the same year, a seminary was opened in Nizhny Novgorod, in 1722 - in Kharkov and Tver, in 1723 - in Kazan, Vyatka, Kholmogory, Kolomna, in 1724 - in Ryazan and Vologda, in 1725 - in Pskov.

The schools accepted boys who had already received primary education at home or in digital schools. The course of study, according to the rules developed by Feofan (Prokopovich), was divided into eight classes, with the teaching of Latin grammar, geography and history in the first class, arithmetic and geometry in the second, logic and dialectics in the third, rhetoric and literature in the fourth, the fifth - physics and metaphysics, the sixth - politics, the seventh and eighth - theology. Languages ​​- Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Church Slavonic - were to be studied in all classes, but in fact only Latin was taught, which was also the language of teaching: even the Holy Scriptures were studied according to the Vulgate.

For all connoisseurs of Russian history, the name of Peter 1 will forever remain associated with the period of reform in almost all spheres of life of Russian society. And one of the most important in this series was military reform.

Peter the Great fought throughout the entire period of his reign. All his military campaigns were directed against serious opponents - Sweden and Turkey. And in order to wage endless grueling, and, moreover, offensive wars, a well-equipped, combat-ready army is needed. Actually, the need to create such an army was the main reason for the military reforms of Peter the Great. The process of transformation was not immediate; each stage took place in its own time and was caused by certain events during the hostilities.

It cannot be said that the tsar began reforming the army from scratch. Rather, he continued and expanded the military innovations conceived by his father Alexei Mikhailovich.

So, let's look at the military reforms of Peter 1 briefly point by point:

Reform of the Streltsy army

In 1697, the Streltsy regiments, which were the basis of the army, were disbanded and subsequently completely abolished. They were simply not ready to conduct constant hostilities. In addition, the Streltsy riots undermined the tsar’s trust in them. Instead of the archers, three new regiments were formed in 1699, which were staffed by also disbanded foreign regiments and recruits.

Introduction of conscription

In 1699, a new system of army recruitment was introduced in the country - conscription. Initially, recruitment was carried out only as needed and was regulated by special decrees, which stipulated the currently required number of recruits. Their service was for life. The basis of recruitment was the tax-paying classes of peasants and townspeople. The new system made it possible to create a large standing army in the country, which had a significant advantage over European mercenary troops.

Changing the military training system

Since 1699, the training of soldiers and officers began to be carried out according to a single drill code. The emphasis was on constant military training. In 1700 the first military school for officers was opened, and in 1715 the Naval Academy was opened in St. Petersburg.

Changes in the organizational structure of the army

The army was officially divided into three branches: infantry, artillery and cavalry. The entire structure of the new army and navy was reduced to uniformity: brigades, regiments, divisions. The administration of army affairs was transferred to the jurisdiction of four orders. Since 1718, the Military Collegium has become the highest military body.

In 1722, the Table of Ranks was created, which clearly structured the system of military ranks.

Army rearmament

Peter I began to arm the infantry with flintlock rifles with a single caliber bayonet and swords. Under him, new types of artillery pieces and ammunition were developed. New types of ships were created.

As a result of the military reforms of Peter the Great, rapid economic growth began in Russia. After all, in order to provide such an army colossus, new steel and weapons factories and ammunition factories were needed. As a result, by 1707 the state’s dependence on the import of weapons from Europe was completely eliminated.

The main results of the reform were the creation of a large and well-trained army, which allowed Russia to begin active military competition with Europe and emerge victorious.

Reforms of Peter I

Reforms of Peter I- transformations in state and public life carried out during the reign of Peter I in Russia. All state activities of Peter I can be divided into two periods: -1715 and -.

A feature of the first stage was haste and not always thought out, which was explained by the conduct of the Northern War. The reforms were aimed primarily at raising funds for the war, were carried out by force and often did not lead to the desired result. In addition to government reforms, at the first stage, extensive reforms were carried out with the aim of modernizing the way of life. In the second period, reforms were more systematic.

Decisions in the Senate were made collegially, at a general meeting, and were supported by the signatures of all members of the highest state body. If one of the 9 senators refused to sign the decision, the decision was considered invalid. Thus, Peter I delegated part of his powers to the Senate, but at the same time imposed personal responsibility on its members.

Simultaneously with the Senate, the position of fiscals appeared. The duty of the chief fiscal under the Senate and the fiscals in the provinces was to secretly supervise the activities of institutions: cases of violation of decrees and abuses were identified and reported to the Senate and the Tsar. Since 1715, the work of the Senate was monitored by the Auditor General, who was renamed Chief Secretary. Since 1722, control over the Senate has been exercised by the Prosecutor General and Chief Prosecutor, to whom the prosecutors of all other institutions were subordinate. No decision of the Senate was valid without the consent and signature of the Prosecutor General. The Prosecutor General and his deputy Chief Prosecutor reported directly to the sovereign.

The Senate, as a government, could make decisions, but required an administrative apparatus to carry them out. In -1721, a reform of the executive bodies of government was carried out, as a result of which, in parallel with the system of orders with their vague functions, 12 colleges were created according to the Swedish model - the predecessors of future ministries. In contrast to orders, the functions and spheres of activity of each board were strictly demarcated, and relations within the board itself were built on the principle of collegiality of decisions. The following were introduced:

• The Collegium of Foreign Affairs replaced the Ambassadorial Prikaz, that is, it was in charge of foreign policy.
• Military Collegium (Military) - recruitment, armament, equipment and training of the ground army.
• Admiralty Board - naval affairs, fleet.
• The Patrimonial Collegium - replaced the Local Order, that is, it was in charge of noble land ownership (land litigation, transactions for the purchase and sale of land and peasants, and the search for fugitives were considered). Founded in 1721.
• The chamber board is the collection of state revenues.
• The State Board of Directors was in charge of state expenditures,
• The Audit Board controls the collection and expenditure of government funds.
• Commerce Board - issues of shipping, customs and foreign trade.
• Berg College - mining and metallurgy (mining industry).
• Manufactory Collegium - light industry (manufactures, that is, enterprises based on the division of manual labor).
• The College of Justice was in charge of issues of civil proceedings (the Serfdom Office operated under it: it registered various acts - bills of sale, the sale of estates, spiritual wills, debt obligations). She worked in civil and criminal court.
• The Spiritual College or the Holy Governing Synod - managed church affairs, replaced the patriarch. Founded in 1721. This board/Synod included representatives of the highest clergy. Since their appointment was carried out by the tsar, and his decisions were approved by him, we can say that the Russian emperor became the de facto head of the Russian Orthodox Church. The actions of the Synod on behalf of the highest secular authority were controlled by the chief prosecutor - a civil official appointed by the tsar. By a special decree, Peter I (Peter I) ordered the priests to carry out an educational mission among the peasants: read sermons and instructions to them, teach children prayers, and instill in them respect for the king and the church.
• The Little Russian Collegium exercised control over the actions of the hetman, who held power in Ukraine, because there was a special regime of local government. After the death of Hetman I. I. Skoropadsky in 1722, new elections of a hetman were prohibited, and the hetman was appointed for the first time by royal decree. The board was headed by a tsarist officer.

The central place in the management system was occupied by the secret police: the Preobrazhensky Prikaz (in charge of cases of state crimes) and the Secret Chancellery. These institutions were administered by the emperor himself.

In addition, there was a Salt Office, a Copper Department, and a Land Survey Office.

Control over the activities of civil servants

To monitor the implementation of local decisions and reduce endemic corruption, since 1711, the position of fiscals was established, who were supposed to “secretly inspect, report and expose” all abuses of both high and low officials, pursue embezzlement, bribery, and accept denunciations from private individuals . At the head of the fiscals was the chief fiscal, appointed by the king and subordinate to him. The chief fiscal was part of the Senate and maintained contact with subordinate fiscals through the fiscal desk of the Senate office. Denunciations were considered and reported monthly to the Senate by the Execution Chamber - a special judicial presence of four judges and two senators (existed in 1712-1719).

In 1719-1723 The fiscals were subordinate to the College of Justice, and with the establishment in January 1722, the positions of the Prosecutor General were supervised by him. Since 1723, the chief fiscal officer was the fiscal general, appointed by the sovereign, and his assistant was the chief fiscal, appointed by the Senate. In this regard, the fiscal service withdrew from the subordination of the Justice College and regained departmental independence. The vertical of fiscal control was brought to the city level.

Ordinary archers in 1674. Lithograph from a 19th century book.

Army and Navy reforms

Army reform: in particular, the introduction of regiments of a new system, reformed according to foreign models, began long before Peter I, even under Alexei I. However, the combat effectiveness of this army was low. Reforming the army and creating a fleet became necessary conditions for victory in the Northern War of 1721. In preparation for the war with Sweden, Peter ordered in 1699 to carry out a general recruitment and begin training soldiers according to the model established by the Preobrazhensky and Semyonovtsy. This first conscription yielded 29 infantry regiments and two dragoons. In 1705, every 20 households were required to send one recruit to lifelong service. Subsequently, recruits began to be taken from a certain number of male souls among the peasants. Recruitment into the navy, as into the army, was carried out from recruits.

Private army infantry. regiment in 1720-32 Lithograph from a 19th century book.

If at first among the officers there were mainly foreign specialists, then after the start of the work of the navigation, artillery, and engineering schools, the growth of the army was satisfied by Russian officers from the noble class. In 1715, the Maritime Academy was opened in St. Petersburg. In 1716, the Military Regulations were published, which strictly defined the service, rights and responsibilities of the military. - As a result of the transformations, a strong regular army and a powerful navy were created, which Russia simply did not have before. By the end of Peter's reign, the number of regular ground forces reached 210 thousand (of which 2,600 were in the guard, 41,560 in cavalry, 75 thousand in infantry, 14 thousand in garrisons) and up to 110 thousand irregular troops. The fleet consisted of 48 battleships; 787 galleys and other vessels; There were almost 30 thousand people on all ships.

Church reform

Religious politics

The era of Peter was marked by a trend towards greater religious tolerance. Peter terminated the “12 Articles” adopted by Sophia, according to which Old Believers who refused to renounce the “schism” were subject to burning at the stake. The “schismatics” were allowed to practice their faith, subject to recognition of the existing state order and payment of double taxes. Complete freedom of faith was granted to foreigners coming to Russia, and restrictions on communication between Orthodox Christians and Christians of other faiths were lifted (in particular, interfaith marriages were allowed).

Financial reform

Some historians characterize Peter's trade policy as a policy of protectionism, consisting of supporting domestic production and imposing increased duties on imported products (this was consistent with the idea of ​​mercantilism). Thus, in 1724, a protective customs tariff was introduced - high duties on foreign goods that could be produced or were already produced by domestic enterprises.

The number of factories and factories at the end of Peter's reign extended to, including about 90 that were large manufactories.

Autocracy reform

Before Peter, the order of succession to the throne in Russia was not regulated by law in any way, and was entirely determined by tradition. In 1722, Peter issued a decree on the order of succession to the throne, according to which the reigning monarch appoints a successor during his lifetime, and the emperor can make anyone his heir (it was assumed that the king would appoint “the most worthy” as his successor). This law was in force until the reign of Paul I. Peter himself did not take advantage of the law on succession to the throne, since he died without specifying a successor.

Class politics

The main goal pursued by Peter I in social policy is the legal registration of class rights and obligations of each category of the population of Russia. As a result, a new structure of society emerged, in which the class character was more clearly formed. The rights of the nobility were expanded and the responsibilities of the nobility were defined, and, at the same time, the serfdom of the peasants was strengthened.

Nobility

Key milestones:

1. Decree on Education of 1706: boyar children must receive either primary school or home education.
2. Decree on estates of 1704: noble and boyar estates are not divided and are equated to each other.
3. Decree on sole inheritance of 1714: a landowner with sons could bequeath all his real estate to only one of them of his choice. The rest were obliged to serve. The decree marked the final merger of the noble estate and the boyar estate, thereby finally erasing the difference between the two classes of feudal lords.
4. “Table of Ranks” () of the year: division of military, civil and court service into 14 ranks. Upon reaching the eighth grade, any official or military man could receive the status of hereditary nobility. Thus, a person’s career depended primarily not on his origin, but on his achievements in public service.

The place of the former boyars was taken by the “generals”, consisting of ranks of the first four classes of the “Table of Ranks”. Personal service mixed up representatives of the former family nobility with people raised by service. Peter's legislative measures, without significantly expanding the class rights of the nobility, significantly changed its responsibilities. Military affairs, which in Moscow times was the duty of a narrow class of service people, is now becoming the duty of all segments of the population. The nobleman of Peter the Great's times still has the exclusive right of land ownership, but as a result of the decrees on single inheritance and audit, he is made responsible to the state for the tax service of his peasants. The nobility is obliged to study in preparation for service. Peter destroyed the former isolation of the service class, opening access to the environment of the nobility to people of other classes through length of service through the Table of Ranks. On the other hand, with the law on single inheritance, he opened the way out of the nobility into merchants and clergy for those who wanted it. The nobility of Russia is becoming a military-bureaucratic class, whose rights are created and hereditarily determined by public service, and not by birth.

Peasantry

Peter's reforms changed the situation of the peasants. From different categories of peasants who were not in serfdom from the landowners or the church (black-growing peasants of the north, non-Russian nationalities, etc.), a new unified category of state peasants was formed - personally free, but paying rent to the state. The opinion that this measure “destroyed the remnants of the free peasantry” is incorrect, since the population groups that made up the state peasants were not considered free in the pre-Petrine period - they were attached to the land (the Council Code of 1649) and could be granted by the tsar to private individuals and the church as serfs. State peasants in the 18th century had the rights of personally free people (they could own property, act in court as one of the parties, elect representatives to class bodies, etc.), but were limited in movement and could be (until the beginning of the 19th century, when this category is finally approved as free people) transferred by the monarch to the category of serfs. Legislative acts concerning the serf peasantry themselves were of a contradictory nature. Thus, the intervention of landowners in the marriage of serfs was limited (a decree of 1724), it was forbidden to present serfs as defendants in court and to hold them on the right for the debts of the owner. The norm was also confirmed about the transfer into custody of the estates of landowners who ruined their peasants, and serfs were given the opportunity to enroll as soldiers, which freed them from serfdom (by decree of Emperor Elizabeth on July 2, 1742, serfs were deprived of this opportunity). By the decree of 1699 and the verdict of the Town Hall in 1700, peasants engaged in trade or craft were given the right to move to posads, freed from serfdom (if the peasant was in one). At the same time, measures against runaway peasants were significantly tightened, large masses of palace peasants were distributed to private individuals, and landowners were allowed to recruit serfs. By decree of April 7, 1690, it was allowed to cede for unpaid debts of “manorial” serfs, which was actually a form of serf trade. The imposition of a capitation tax on serfs (that is, personal servants without land) led to the merging of serfs with serfs. Church peasants were subordinated to the monastic order and removed from the authority of the monasteries. Under Peter, a new category of dependent farmers was created - peasants assigned to manufactories. These peasants in the 18th century were called possessions. A decree of 1721 allowed nobles and merchant manufacturers to buy peasants to manufactories to work for them. The peasants bought for the factory were not considered the property of its owners, but were attached to production, so that the owner of the factory could neither sell nor mortgage the peasants separately from the manufacture. Possession peasants received a fixed salary and performed a fixed amount of work.

Urban population

The urban population in the era of Peter I was very small: about 3% of the country's population. The only large city was Moscow, which was the capital before the reign of Peter the Great. Although Russia was much inferior to Western Europe in terms of urban and industrial development, during the 17th century. there was a gradual increase. The social policy of Peter the Great concerning the urban population was aimed at ensuring the payment of the poll tax. For this purpose, the population was divided into two categories: regular (industrialists, merchants, craftsmen) and irregular citizens (all others). The difference between the urban regular citizen of the end of Peter's reign and the irregular one was that the regular citizen participated in city government by electing members of the magistrate, was enrolled in the guild and workshop, or bore a monetary obligation in the share that fell on him according to the social scheme.

Transformations in the sphere of culture

Peter I changed the beginning of the chronology from the so-called Byzantine era (“from the creation of Adam”) to “from the Nativity of Christ.” The year 7208 according to the Byzantine era became 1700 from the Nativity of Christ, and the New Year began to be celebrated on January 1. In addition, under Peter, uniform application of the Julian calendar was introduced.

After returning from the Great Embassy, ​​Peter I waged a struggle against the external manifestations of an “outdated” way of life (the ban on beards is most famous), but no less paid attention to introducing the nobility to education and secular Europeanized culture. Secular educational institutions began to appear, the first Russian newspaper was founded, and translations of many books into Russian appeared. Peter made success in service for the nobles dependent on education.

Changes have occurred in the Russian language, which included 4.5 thousand new words borrowed from European languages.

Peter tried to change the position of women in Russian society. By special decrees (1700, 1702 and 1724) he prohibited forced marriage. It was prescribed that there should be at least a six-week period between betrothal and wedding, “so that the bride and groom can recognize each other.” If during this time, the decree said, “the groom does not want to take the bride, or the bride does not want to marry the groom,” no matter how the parents insist on it, “there will be freedom.” Since 1702, the bride herself (and not just her relatives) was given the formal right to dissolve the betrothal and upset the arranged marriage, and neither party had the right to “beat the forfeit.” Legislative regulations 1696-1704. on public celebrations, mandatory participation in celebrations and festivities was introduced for all Russians, including the “female sex.”

Gradually, a different system of values, worldview, and aesthetic ideas took shape among the nobility, which was radically different from the values ​​and worldview of the majority of representatives of other classes.

Peter I in 1709. Drawing from the mid-19th century.

Education

Peter clearly recognized the need for enlightenment, and took a number of decisive measures to this end.

According to the Hanoverian Weber, during the reign of Peter the Great, several thousand Russians were sent to study abroad.

Peter's decrees introduced compulsory education for nobles and clergy, but a similar measure for the urban population met fierce resistance and was cancelled. Peter's attempt to create an all-estate primary school failed (the creation of a network of schools ceased after his death; most of the digital schools under his successors were repurposed as estate schools for training the clergy), but nevertheless, during his reign the foundations were laid for the spread of education in Russia.

The table “Reforms of Peter 1” briefly outlines the features of the transformative activities of the first emperor of Russia. With its help, it is possible to concisely, concisely and clearly outline the main directions of his steps to change all spheres of life of Russian society in the first quarter of the 18th century. Perhaps this is the best way for middle-level students to learn this complex and quite voluminous material, which is very important for the analysis and correct understanding of the features of the historical process in our country in the following centuries.

Features of the emperor's activities

One of the most complex, difficult and at the same time interesting topics is the “Reforms of Peter 1”. Briefly, the table on this topic demonstrates all the data students need.

In the introductory lesson, it should immediately be noted that the activities of Pyotr Alekseevich affected all layers of society and determined the further history of the country. This is precisely the uniqueness of the era of his reign. At the same time, he was a very practical person and introduced innovations based on specific needs.

This can be clearly demonstrated with a more detailed coverage of the topic “Reforms of Peter 1”. A brief table on the problem posed clearly shows the wide scope with which the emperor acted. It seemed that he managed to have a hand in everything: he reorganized the army, the authorities made significant changes to the social structure, the economic sphere, diplomacy and, finally, contributed to the spread of Western European culture and way of life among the Russian nobility.

Transformations in the army

At the middle level, it is very important that schoolchildren learn the basic facts of the topic “The Reforms of Peter 1”. A brief table on this problem helps students familiarize themselves with the data and systematize the accumulated material. For almost his entire reign, the emperor waged war with Sweden for access to the Baltic Sea. The need for strong and powerful troops arose with particular urgency at the very beginning of his reign. Therefore, the new ruler immediately began to reorganize the army.

One of the most interesting sections in the topic being studied is “The Military Reforms of Peter 1”. Briefly, the table can be depicted as follows.

The importance of military innovations

It shows that the emperor’s steps were dictated by the specific needs of his time, however, many of his innovations continued to exist for a very long time. The main goal of the reforms was to create a permanent and regular army. The fact is that previously there was a so-called local system of recruiting troops: i.e. the landowner appeared at the inspections along with several servants, who also had to serve with him.

However, by the beginning of the 18th century this principle had become obsolete. By this time, serfdom had already taken final shape, and the state began to recruit soldiers for service from peasants. Another very important measure was the creation of professional military schools for the training of officers and command personnel.

Transformations of power structures

Practice shows that one of the most difficult topics is “Political reforms of Peter 1”. Briefly, the table on this problem clearly demonstrates how deep the transformative activity of the emperor was in the governing bodies. He completely changed the central and local administration. Instead of which previously performed advisory functions under the tsar, he created the Senate on the model of Western European countries. Instead of orders, boards were created, each of which performed a specific function in management. Their activities were strictly controlled by the Prosecutor General. In addition, a special secret fiscal body was created to control the bureaucratic apparatus.

New administrative division

The topic “State reforms of Peter 1” is no less complex. Briefly, the table on this problem reflects the fundamental changes that have occurred in the organization of local government. Governorates were created that were in charge of the affairs of a certain area. The provinces were divided into provinces, and those, in turn, into counties. This structure was very convenient for management and met the challenges of the time in question. At the head of the provinces was the governor, and at the head of the provinces and districts was the voivode.

Changes in industry and trade

Particular difficulty is often caused by studying the topic “Economic reforms of Peter 1.” Briefly, the table on this problem reflects the complexity and ambiguity of the emperor’s activities in relation to merchants and merchants, who, on the one hand, sought to create the most favorable conditions for the development of the country’s economy, but at the same time acted almost serf-like methods, which could in no way contribute to the development of market relations in our country. Peter Alekseevich was not as effective as transformations in other areas. At the same time, this was the first experience in developing trade according to the Western European model.

Transformations in the social structure

The topic “Social reforms of Peter 1” seems simpler. A brief table on this issue clearly demonstrates the fundamental changes that occurred in Russian society of the time being studied. Unlike his predecessors, the emperor introduced the principle of distinction in the military and government spheres depending not on clan affiliation, but on personal merit. His famous “Table of Ranks” introduced a new principle of service. From now on, in order to receive a promotion or rank, a person had to achieve some success.

It was under Peter that the social structure of society was finally formalized. The main support of the autocracy was the nobility, which replaced the clan aristocracy. The emperor's successors also relied on this class, which indicates the effectiveness of the measures taken.

The study of this problem can be completed by summing up the results. What significance did the reforms of Peter 1 have in the history of Russia? A table or summary on this topic can serve as an effective means of summing up. Regarding social transformations, it should be noted that the measures of the ruler corresponded to the demands of his time, when the principle of localism was outdated, and the country needed new personnel who would have the necessary qualities to carry out the new tasks that faced the country in connection with the Northern War and Russia’s entry into the international arena

The role of the emperor's transformative activities

The topic “The Main Reforms of Peter 1”, a table whose summary is an important component in studying the history of Russia in the first quarter of the 18th century, should be divided into several lessons so that schoolchildren have the opportunity to properly consolidate the material. At the final lesson, it is necessary to summarize the material covered and indicate what role the transformations of the first emperor played in the future fate of Russia.

The measures taken by the ruler brought our country onto the European stage and included it among the leading European states. The topic “The main reforms of Peter 1”, table, summary clearly shows how the country reached the world level of development, gaining access to the sea and becoming one of the main members of the European concert of powers.

Reforms of Peter I: a new page in the development of the Russian Empire.

Peter I can confidently be called one of the greatest Russian emperors, because it was he who began the necessary reorganization of all spheres of society, the army and the economy for the country, which played a significant role in the development of the empire.
This topic is quite extensive, but we will talk briefly about the reforms of Peter I.
The emperor carried out a number of important reforms at that time, which should be discussed in more detail. And so what reforms of Peter I changed the empire:
Regional reform
Judicial reform
Military reform
Church reform
Financial reform
And now it is necessary to talk about each of the reforms of Peter I more separately.

Regional reform

In 1708, the order of Peter I divided the entire empire into eight large provinces, which were led by governors. The provinces, in turn, were divided into fifty provinces.
This reform was carried out in order to strengthen the verticals of imperial power, as well as to improve the provision of the Russian army.

Judicial reform

The Supreme Court consisted of the Senate, as well as the College of Justice. There were still courts of appeal in the provinces. However, the main reform was that the court was now completely separated from the administration.

Military reform

The emperor paid special attention to this reform, as he understood that a state-of-the-art army was something without which the Russian Empire would not be able to become the strongest in Europe.
The first thing to be done was to reorganize the regimental structure of the Russian army according to the European model. In 1699, a massive recruitment was carried out, followed by exercises of the new army according to all the standards of the strongest armies of European states.
Perth I began vigorous training of Russian officers. If at the beginning of the eighteenth century foreign specialists held the officer ranks of the empire, then after the reforms their place began to be taken by domestic officers.
No less important was the opening of the first Maritime Academy in 1715, which later gave Russia a powerful fleet, but until that moment it did not exist. One year later, the emperor issued the Military Regulations, which regulated the duties and rights of soldiers.
As a result, in addition to a new powerful fleet consisting of battleships, Russia also received a new regular army, not inferior to the armies of European states.

Church reform

Quite serious changes took place in the church life of the Russian Empire. If earlier the church was an autonomous unit, then after the reforms it was subordinate to the emperor.
The first reforms began in 1701, but the church finally came under state control only in 1721 after the publication of a document called “Spiritual Regulations.” This document also said that during hostilities, church property could be confiscated for the needs of the state.
The secularization of church lands began, but only partially, and only Empress Catherine II completed this process.

Financial reform

The wars started by Emperor Peter I required huge funds, which at that time did not exist in Russia, and in order to find them, the emperor began to reform the financial system of the state.
At first, a tax was imposed on taverns, where they sold huge quantities of moonshine. In addition, lighter coins began to be minted, which meant the coins were damaged.
In 1704, the main currency became the penny, and not money as it was before.
If previously households were screwed with taxes, then after the reforms every soul was screwed with taxes - that is, every male resident of the Russian Empire. Such strata as the clergy, nobility and, of course, the Cossacks were exempt from paying the poll tax.
The financial reform can be considered successful, since it significantly increased the size of the imperial treasury. From 1710 to 1725, income increased threefold, which means quite a lot of success.

Reforms in industry and trade

The needs of the new army increased significantly, which is why the emperor was forced to begin active construction of manufactories. From abroad, the emperor attracted qualified specialists to reform industry.
In 1705, the first silver smelting plant began operating in Russia. In 1723, an ironworks began operating in the Urals. By the way, the city of Yekaterinburg now stands in its place.
After the construction of St. Petersburg, it became the commercial capital of the empire.

Education reform

The Emperor understood that Russia had to become an educated state, and paid special attention to this.
From 1701 to 1821, a large number of schools were opened: mathematics, engineering, artillery, medicine, navigation. The first maritime academy was opened in St. Petersburg. The first gymnasium was opened already in 1705.
In each province, the emperor built two completely free schools, where children could receive primary, compulsory education.
These were the reforms of Peter I and this is how they influenced the development of the Russian Empire. Many reforms are now considered not entirely successful, but one cannot deny the fact that after their implementation, Russia took a big step forward.