Specifics of the process of secularization of church lands based on the example of some holdings of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius monastery in the Pereslavl district

The article raises the topic of the history and features of the secularization of the land fund of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Laura - the largest church feudal lord in Russia. Based on the example of the study of estates in two Pereslavl volosts, Rozhdestvenskaya and Serebozhskaya, a picture of the formation of a monastic domain and its gradual confiscation by the state is shown. The process of expropriation of church property took place gradually, starting with Peter I and ending with the manifesto of Catherine II and the creation of the College of Economics in 1764. For centuries, the Trinity Monastery enjoyed a privileged status, and the seizure of its property was especially difficult. In the Rozhdestvenskaya and Serebozhskaya volosts, the monastery held large estates with centers in the villages of Makhra and Konstantinovskoye, with a population of more than 2800 people (in both parishes) and 22 thousand quarters of the land. The main occupation of the serf peasantry was the cultivation of the land, logging, cattle breeding, etc. With the establishment in 1742 of the Pereslavl-Dmitrov Diocese, the Laura churches were transferred to its jurisdiction and staff appointments were made by the Pereslavl bishops in agreement with the Council of the Laura. In 1764, by the decision of the imperial power, these estates of the Lauvra were taken away to the state treasury, the peasants acquired the status of economic (state) workers.