Scientific publications

The article examines the main patterns and directions of activity of diocesan bishops. It was revealed that the main spheres of work of archpastors were the solution of personnel issues (care for training the clergy and filling vacancies at churches), the problem of forming the material foundations of religious life (building churches, replenishing church property) and developing the system of church education. The volume of creative work gradually increased, along with the volume of business documentation, since the Synod demanded that the bishops draw up annual reports on the main difficulties and achievements in the sphere of religious life of the dioceses entrusted to them. Missionary activity became a matter of concern for the archpastors. On the one hand, it included the introduction to Orthodoxy of representatives of the Finno-Ugric peoples (Karelians and Vepsians), on the other hand, it was connected with the reunification of the Old Believers with the ruling church. All of these duties required constant constructive interaction with numerous secular authorities, local peasant communities, and the Synod.