“Of Course, You Can Say Anything: That’s What Language and Publicity are for”: Civil-Censorship Control of the Content of the Church Periodical Press in the 1860s (Using the Example of the Smolensk Diocesan Gazette)

The article, based on archival and published sources, examines the history associated with civil censorship control over materials published in the pages of the Smolensk Diocesan Gazette in 1866–1867. The articles in question expressed the opinion that local aristocratic gentry treated the Orthodox clergy rather critically, not considering it possible, in particular, to take any measures to improve their financial situation. Honest, although rather emotional, publications in the pages of the local church periodicals provoked a critical reaction, both from the gentry and from the Main Administration for Press Affairs. The office of the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod was forced to intervene in resolving the conflict, after which the ruling bishop Bishop John (Sokolov) forbade the publication of any articles on the pages of the Gazette that dealt with contemporary issues of life. The article concludes that civil control over diocesan periodicals contributed to the fact that diocesan Gazettes became increasingly lifeless and irrelevant.