The image of the god's law teacher of the secondary secular school in the memoirs of priests of the late 19th - early 20th centuries

In historiography there are two lines of study of the image of the God’s law teacher: Soviet one and modern one. According to the sources of the periodical press and the memory of the students, the researchers make the opposite conclusions. On the one hand, the system of Church education in the Russian Empire was negative. Another direction is trying to point to the groundlessness of this assessment. However, the researchers do not use as a source of memories of God’s law teachers, and their correspondence with government officials. On the basis of the analysis of the journal “God’s law teacher”, which presents their memories, as well as the materials of the RGIA, which are introduced for the first time in scientific use, the author concludes that the perception of the position of God’s law teachers was ambivalent. On the one hand, we see complaints about students, public perception of the subject and criticism of the state education system of the Russian Empire. On the other hand, the author comes to the conclusion that correspondence with statesmen gave not only an opportunity of additional earnings, but also an opportunity to make career. The content of the article is intended to promote an adequate understanding of the position of God’s law teacher in the education system of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, as well as to approach an objective understanding of the Law of God in the education system of the Russian Empire.