Documents of the district congresses of the parish clergy of the 1860s - 1870s for the Vologda diocese: a case of source analysis

An attempt is made to analyze a little-studied variety of sources of the history of Church transformations in the 1860s-1870s - materials of the district (deanery) congresses of parish clergy. The documents of the congresses held in 1868-1877 in the Vologda diocese (where they were called «periodic meetings») are considered. The studied complex consists of the journal of the periodic meeting and accompanying documents, such as the Archpriest’s report, texts of speeches and dissenting opinions, notes of the clergy, as well as the de nition of the spiritual consistory. The publication of the meeting in the «Diocesan Gazette» and the entry about it in the parish chronicles are directly related to it. The journals of the periodic meetings recorded changes that took place in the self-consciousness of the clergy - in particular, overcoming their «fear» of discussions, including public discussions, and the formation of skills of expressing and defending collective interests. It is no coincidence that, when compiling the journals, the free-text form of the record was used more often than the tabular one.