Reports of the chief prosecutor, the diocesan bishop and the governor of the province as a source for provincial church history (based on the example of reporting documentation for the Chernigov province and diocese)

When studying the late synodal period in the history of the Russian Church, researchers often use official reporting documentation from the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. These include reports of the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod, reports on the state of dioceses and reports of governors, the latter of which are extremely rarely used in this area of research. It should be noted that sometimes all 3 types of documentation provide information on the same subjects, while such information varies depending on the type of source. In this article, using the example of the Chernigov province and diocese, we trace what information about church life is contained in reports on the state of the province and how it correlates with the data provided by the diocesan authorities and the chief prosecutor of the Synod. Also, taking into account the specifics of each group of sources, an attempt is made to determine which group of documents provides the most accurate and reliable information on provincial church history.