On the question of the territorial administration of the diocese of Siberia during the last third of the 17th century

In this article, the author considers primary sources to reconstruct the system of territorial administration of the Tobolsk Metropolitan District during the last third of the 17th century and considers the roles of district deans ( zakazchiki ) and church tax collectors ( desyatilʹniki ) in Russia. The author demonstrates the complex nature of the system of territorial administration in Siberia, and shows how the tasks of desyatilʹniki passed to zakazchiki in some districts up until the abolition of the institute of desyatilʹniki in 1697-98. The author proposes that razryady (administrative districts) as an ecclesiastic administrative structure are a historiographical myth, and that the actual administrative districts were the desyatini, in which all authority was given to one person. The “Rospisʹ Imennaya” of zakazchiki and presbyteral deans, which took over the functions of desyatilʹniki in 1698, is presented in an appendix.