Material Support of the Rural Parish Clergy of the St. Petersburg Province in the 19th Century

The article is devoted to the poorly studied topic of material support of the rural parish clergy of the St. Petersburg province in the 19th century. On the basis of archival documents, an attempt was made to analyze the material situation of the clergy of this province after a number of measures taken by the government in the 1830s–1840s to improve their financial support. Principal attention is paid to the post-reform years, when the level of material support of the clergy was one of the highest for the 19th century. The housing issue and the degree of land provision for clergy are also considered. There is no doubt that this topic is extremely complex, requiring more detailed and extensive research. For this reason, it is impossible to consider all aspects of the material support of the rural clergy within the framework of one article. However, the material presented makes it possible to assess in general terms what this security was. The numerical indicators presented in the work convincingly prove that the rural clergy experienced significant material difficulties, which they did not manage to overcome until the end of the 19th century.