UDK 94(47):271:316.4

 

EDN JBMXYQ

 

Original article

 

Social Service of the Orthodox Church on the Territory of the Penza Diocese during the First World War

 

Guseva T. M., Mikhalkovich N. Yu.

 

Abstraсt

The article, based on an analysis of the material contained in the Penza Diocesan Gazette, examines the experience of various church organizations in providing assistance to the active army, wounded soldiers, and families of soldiers who went to the front. A major role in organizing assistance was played by the parish councils of trustees, formed in all parishes of the Penza diocese, which took care of the soldiers’ families. They did a lot of organizational work to compile lists of soldiers’ families, collected donations, and explained what rights those families had. The activities of the Orthodox monasteries in the province were widespread: they organized hospitals, helped the wounded at railway stations, prepared linen for the wounded, and helped soldiers’ families. Both large and small monasteries became involved in social service for the benefit of the fighting soldiers. A specially formed diocesan committee was involved in organizing assistance to refugees and contributed to the unification of the activities of Orthodox religious institutions with other similar organizations to organize the life of refugees. Funds for the needs of the front and soldiers were collected by all church organizations and institutions: monasteries, parochial schools, religious schools, churches, and representatives of the clergy. In their sermons, the clergy instilled hope in people and spoke about the strength of spirit of Russian soldiers. Even during the war, the church sought to perpetuate the memory of heroic events, an example of which is the desire of the residents of Ruzaevka to build a temple in memory of the victory of Russian soldiers near Peremysl.

 

Keywords: World War I, Russian Orthodox Church, Penza Province, clergy, social service, parish boards of trustees, hospitals

 

For citation: Guseva TM, Mikhalkovich NYu. Social Service of the Orthodox Church on the Territory of the Penza Diocese during the First World War. Center and Periphery. 2024;19(3):43—49. EDN JBMXYQ

 

REFERENCES

 

1. Borshchukova ED. Patriotic activity of the Orthodox Church during the First World War. Izvestia: Herzen University Jounal of Humanities Scieces. 2014;(172):67—73. (In Russ.)

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Information about the authors:

Tatyana M. Guseva, Principal Researcher — Head of Department of History of the Research Institute of the Humanities by the Government of the Republic of Mordovia (3, L. Tolstogo Str., Saransk 430005, Russia), Doctor of Historical Sciences, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7417-6664, tatiana.guseva@mail.ru

Nikita Yu. Mikhalkovich, Post-Graduate Student of Department of History of the Research Institute of the Humanities by the Government of the Republic of Mordovia (3 L. Tolstogo Str., Saransk 430005, Russia), nik970213@inbox.ru

 

Contribution of the authors:

Guseva T. M. — concept development, literature analysis and material collection, scientific text editing;

Mikhalkovich N. Yu. — collecting material, writing the initial version of the article.

 

Conflict of interests: the authors declare no conflict of interests.

 

The authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

 

The article was submitted 17.06.2024; approved after reviewing 12.07.2024; accepted for publication 17.07.2024.