Spiritual education as a government sponsor: the capitals of the holy synod in the Russian budget of the 1860s

The Russian Church in the 1860s, as in previous periods, enjoyed the financial support of the state, while also having its own funds, including the capitals at the disposal of the Holy Governing Synod. The most significant of them was the fund of ecclesiastical educational institutions, intended to ensure the functioning of theological schools. But the Church's own funds could also be used to finance state expenditures, such as the costs of maintaining the apparatus of the Department of Spiritual Affairs of the Orthodox Confession. In the course of the budget reform (the beginning of the 1860s), synodal capital were recognized as church property, an attempt was made to exclude church funds from the state budget. Starting in 1863, the expenses for the salaries of synodal officials were made from the treasury, funds of theological educational institutions were exempted from unearmarked expenditures. But this principle was not consistently observed: in case of financial difficulties, the government could again use synodal funds. The article examines the history of the transfer of 100,000 rubles from the capital of the Synod to the state budget for 1867. These cases do not allow us to talk about the financing of the state by the Church, but they must be taken into account when assessing the financial relations of the Church and the state in Russia during the Synodal Period.