Forced Penance in Russian Monasteries in the Second Half of the 18th Century: From Punishment of the Body to Correction of the Soul

Abstract

This paper focusses on the use of the sacred space of monasteries for the punishment of criminals and their simultaneous spiritual purification. The uniqueness and therefore special heuristic value of study into this phenomenon is determined by the following circumstances. The ritual of tonsure has long been used by rulers to punish undesirable and dangerous individuals and remove them from proximity to the throne. However, the “honor” of such a manifestation of royal anger was only awarded to those belonging to the tsar’s inner circle, and disgraced courtiers did not find themselves locked behind monastic walls for the sake of their internal spiritual correction, but solely in order to isolate them. During the reign of Catherine II, the Empress’s own initiative saw a marked increase in the practice of penance in monasteries as punishment for serious crimes. It is noteworthy that such sentences first appeared in Catherine’s written confirmations of sentences, after which they began to be widely utilized by the secular courts. The conclusions of this work are based on royal confirmations of death sentences passed by the Senate, the archives of the local chancelleries, and reports submitted by the abbots of monastic foundations. These materials enable us to draw preliminary conclusions regarding the gradual humanization of punishments in Russia in the second half of the 18th century and the growing use of ecclesiastical practices in court sentences, all at a time in which the scope of spiritual jurisdiction was being reduced.