The Clerical Policy of the Zemstvo Liberal Fronde of Chernihiv Province (1860-80s)

Abstract

The purpose of the research paper is to clarify the basic components of the clerical policy of the zemstvo liberal party of Chernihiv province (hubernia), which was an integral and organic part of the ethno-confessional program of that trend of the liberation movement in the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th century. The scientific novelty of the study is in the fact that for the first time in historical science, an attempt is made to study the fundamental principles of the clerical policy of the zemstvo liberal party of Chernihiv province as a basis for the ethno-confessional program of the opposition aristocratic fronde. Conclusions. The analysis of historical sources allows us to state the fact that the clerical policy of the zemstvo liberal fronde of Chernihiv province was an organic and integral part of the ethno-confessional programmatic of the opposition movement in the region. Relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the zemstvo liberal party of the region in the second half of the 19th century underwent a certain evolution: from aspirations of partnership and practical attempts of cooperation to social competition, and later opposition to each other. The demarcation line of the mentioned metamorphoses was the revolutionary change in the domestic political course of the Russian Empire – from the era of modernizations of Alexander II to the era of political reaction of Alexander III. In our opinion, the failure of broad interaction of the church with the system of elected institutions of local self-government and, in particular, the zemstvo opposition of Chernihiv province, was one of the reasons for the systemic crisis of Russian absolutism at the end of the 19th century.