The Problem of Ensuring Church Discipline within the Clergy in the late 19th–Early 20th Centuries

The article attempts to comprehend the problem of church discipline by representatives of the parish clergy in the late 19th–early 20th centuries. On the basis of archival data, the author examines various forms of manifestation and the consequences of violation of the norms of canon law by clergy and clergymen of the Tula Diocese, most of which were caused by a number of reasons, among which are the tense relations with the flock and the difficult financial situation of the clergy themselves. The destruction of the social structure of Russian society and the politicization of the population in the late imperial era had a significant impact on the development of the phenomenon under study. The problem of ensuring church discipline within the clergy became especially acute at the beginning of the 20th century, when the clergy began to actively speak out from the pulpit about the events taking place in the country from different ideological positions. The article concludes that failure to comply with the prescriptions of the church charter was not a mass phenomenon, but at the same time had significant negative consequences for the image of clergy in society, reflecting the process of the transformation of values within the spiritual class.