Organizational and legal regulation of social activities of Orthodox institutions in Russia in 18th–early 20th centuries

Assistance to the poor, mercy and charity were significant constituents of social and spiritual life of Russia even before the period considered in the article. A person in need of mercy was one of the main remedies of spiritual healing for any Old Russian person, which was especially emphasized by the Orthodox Church uniting all Russian people - princes, clergy, merchants and peasants - with the idea of love for people. However, until the 18th century the traditions of Christian love-of-the-poor formed spontaneous nature of social assistance to the population; there were no special regulators of charitable activities. The period from 1700 to 1917 is chosen for a thorough analysis for a reason: it was the time when legal norms and social regulators for organizations aimed at helping others started to emerge, and it was also the time when the state social security system started to develop. The purpose of the article is to present a historical analysis of the organizational and legal regulation of the pre-revolutionary social activities of the Russian Church. The study focuses not only on the private socially oriented activities of special associations created by the Orthodox Church in Russia and operating on the basis of parishes and monasteries (brotherhoods, sisterhoods, almshouses, hospitals, charity canteens, etc.), but also on the practice of church care for state social organizations, that is, the experience of interaction between the Church and the state in the sphere of public charity.