The history of the brotherhood of teachers of law of secondary male and female educational institutions and higher primary schools in the Simbirsk diocese in the early 20th century and its missionary goals

The article is devoted to the history of the creation of the Brotherhood of Teachers of Law of Secondary Male and Female Educational Institutions and Higher Primary Schools of the Simbirsk Diocese and its missionary goals since the beginning of the 20th century and until 1917. The teachers of the law from all departments in the Simbirsk diocese needed a fraternal association for the purpose of mutual exchange of experience on the theory and practice of teaching the Law of God. So far, no church- historical research has been carried out on this topic. The studied materials show that the issue of creating brotherhoods of teachers of law was initiated at the 4th All-Russian Missionary Congress in Kyiv in 1908 to weaken the Old Believer schism in the Russian Empire. Following the results of the All-Russian Congress of the Law Teachers of Secular Secondary Educational Institutions, held in St. Petersburg in 1909, the Holy Synod in 1910 recommended the creation of fraternities in the dioceses that promote an active exchange of experience on the theory and practice of teaching the Law of God, since the methodologically correct way of teaching this subject would be a powerful means to weaken the schism. The decision to create the Brotherhood of the Teachers of Law in the Simbirsk diocese was made at the congress of the teachers of the secondary educational institutions of all departments in July 1913, and the opening and the first meeting of the general meeting took place in August 1915. These events were covered on the pages of the periodical press, and information has also been preserved in the documents of the State Archive of the Ulyanovsk Region. In the most difficult conditions of wartime, the annual meetings of the Brotherhood of the Teachers of the Simbirsk Diocese were held, but the revolutionary events of 1917 did not allow the Brotherhood to achieve significant results in the implementation of its goals. The historical information presented in our work can be used at present in generalizing studies; in considering the issue of holding congresses and creating a Brotherhood for teachers teaching the basics of Orthodox culture, as well as in textbooks and lecture courses on the history of the Simbirsk diocese.