The category of clergymen in Russiain parish system in the late XIX - early XX centuries

The article deals with the history of clergymen in the second half of the XIX century which was marked by the processes of social disintegration connected with the Great reforms and the abolition of serfdom. During the investigated period the church service became less prestigious than earlier. Many representatives of the clergy started to choose secular professions. Relatives of clergy wives, sisters, brothers, children of the priests may also be attributed to the social group of clergy. In the second half of the XIX century the clerical rank for many of them ceased to be obligatory. According to the logic of their existence in the conditions of ongoing Russian modernization they must have dissolved among other inhabitants. Some of them could transfer to other classes or join the ranks of declassed elements. But Russian parishes’ everyday life of the late XIX - early XX centuries shows that the clergy got special support and assistance from the Church structures. They could become parish specialists and provide different services of the Church. In accordance with the parish ethics the clergy and their relatives should be present at the services. All of that become the key to their privileged existence in the parish and in some cases promoted the transformation of the category of clergy to the class of parish specialists, the first of the laity of the Church. The paper proves that the category of clergy has been transformed from the estate to the professional class.