On the Origin of the St. Petersburg Clergy of the First Half of the 18th Century

The formation of the St. Petersburg diocese, which took place in the first half of the 18th century (officially it was established in 1742, it was preceded by several successive ecclesiastical and administrative systems), coincided in time with the fundamental changes in the life of the Russian Church, which were generated by tsar Peter’s reforms. Tus, in the destinies of the St. Petersburg clergy of that era, many processes that are characteristic of the Church as a whole are reflected. And the situation in the capital seems to be the most illustrative of these processes. This article is devoted to such a historical aspect as the genealogical origin of the St. Petersburg clerics of the first half of the 18th century. In the conditions of the formation of the estate monarchy, the “closure” of the Russian clergy to a separate social group was completed. The study of the origin of individual clerics helps to better understand the mechanism and stages of the formation of the spiritual estate, concretizes the generalized data of fundamental historical works. In the article, based on the materials of the Russian State Historical Archive and the Central State Historical Archives of St. Petersburg: 1) the origin of some of the clergy and clergymen of the Northern Capital is shown; 2) the claims of some researchers about the “secular” roots of some part of the St. Petersburg clergy are questioned; 3) a brief overview of his family ties outside the class is made.