рус eng
«IZVESTIYA IRKUTSKOGO GOSUDARSTVENNOGO UNIVERSITETA». SERIYA «POLITOLOGIYA. RELIGIOVEDENIE»
«THE BULLETIN OF IRKUTSK STATE UNIVERSITY». SERIES «POLITICAL SCIENCE AND RELIGION STUDIES»
ISSN 2073-3380 (Print)

List of issues > Series «Political Science and Religion Studies». 2022. Vol 42

Orthodox Religion and Church in Everyday Life of Russian Diplomats in the United States of the Late 19th – Early 20th Century

Author(s)
Val. V. Pechatnov, V. O. Pechatnov
Abstract
The article, based on documents from Russian and American archives, explores the role of Orthodoxy in the value system of Russian diplomats, their participation in church life and relationships with the clergy. The article reveals the role of Orthodoxy and the Church in the daily life of diplomats of the Russian Empire who worked in the United States in 1867–1917, when the interaction of Russian diplomacy and the Aleutian-Alaska (North American) Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church reached its heyday. It is shown that the entire daily life of diplomats in America was built according to the church calendar with its series of religious holidays, fasts and other church events. It is concluded that, despite the divergence of corporate cultures of these institutions of spiritual and secular power of the Russian Empire, as well as the great differences in the lifestyle of diplomats and clergy, they were united by a common religious and state identity and a common mission – the promotion of Russian influence in the United States. In the conditions of being in an alien environment, Orthodoxy for diplomats became the most important part of Russian self-identification. At the same time, much depended on the individual characteristics of the representatives of the diplomatic corps: social origin, the degree of their religiosity and other features of the worldview. Concrete examples reveal the main types of participation of diplomats in the life of the diocese – from formal to zealously pious. The level of interpersonal communication between representatives of the clergy and the Russian diplomatic colony in the United States is also considered.
About the Authors

Pechatnov Valentin Vladimirovich, Candidate of Sciences (History), Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University), 76, Vernadskiy av., Moscow, 119454, Russian Federation, e-mail: vpechatnov@yandex.ru

Pechatnov Vladimir Olegovich, Doctor of Sciences (History), Professor, Department of European and American Studies, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University), 76, Vernadskiy av., Moscow, 119454, Russian Federation, e-mail: vopechatnov@gmail.com

For citation
Pechatnov Val.V., Pechatnov V.O. Orthodox Religion and Church in Everyday Life of Russian Diplomats in the United States of the Late 19th – Early 20th Century. The Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series Political Science and Religion Studies, 2022, vol. 42, pp. 81-97. https://doi.org/10.26516/2073-3380.2022.42.81 (in Russian)
Keywords
Aleutian-Alaskan (North American) Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, Foreign Ministry, diplomatic missions of Russia to the USA, P.S. Botkin, N.N. Lodyzhensky, Bishop Nikolai (Ziorov), Archbishop Tikhon (Bellavin).
UDC
341.781.2:271.2
DOI
https://doi.org/10.26516/2073-3380.2022.42.81
References
  1. Botkin S. Kartinki diplomaticheskoi zhizni [Pictures of diplomatic life]. Paris, E. Siyalskaya Publ., 1930. 187 p. (in Russian)
  2. Vitte S.Yu. Vospominaniya. T. 1: Tsarstvovanie Nikolaya II [Memories. Vol. 1: The reign of Nicholas II]. Foreword by M. I. Pokrovsky. Petrograd, St. Publ., 1923, 471 p. (in Russian)
  3. Grigor'ev B.N. Povsednevnaya zhizn tsarskikh diplomatov v XIX v. [Daily life of tsarist diplomats in the 19th century]. Moscow, Molodaya gvardiya Publ., 2010, 521 p. (in Russian)
  4. Zhuravleva V.I. Ponimanie Rossii v SShA. Obrazy i mify, 1881–1914 [Understanding Russia in the USA. Images and myths, 1881–1914]. Moscow, RGGU Pobl., 2012, 1150 p. (in Russian)
  5. Kuznetsov A.I. “Zasil'e” inostrantsev na diplomaticheskoi sluzhbe Rossiiskoi imperii: mif i realnost [“Dominance” of foreigners in the diplomatic service of the Russian Empire: myth and reality]. Novaya i noveishaya istoriya, 2014, no. 3, pp. 104-109. (in Russian)
  6. Kuznetsov A.I. Podgotovka i vospitanie diplomata v Rossiiskoi imperii (vtoraya polovina XIX – nachalo XX vv.) [Training and education of a diplomat in the Russian Empire (second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries)]. Ph. D. dissertation thesis. Moscow, 2005. 218 p. (in Russian)
  7. Mikhailovskii G.N. Zapiski. Iz istorii rossiiskogo vneshnepoliticheskogo vedomstva, 1914-1920 gg. Kniga 1 [Notes. From the history of the Russian Foreign Ministry, 1914-1920. Book 1.]. Moscow, Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya Publ., 1993. 520 p. (in Russian)
  8. Pechatnov V.O., Pechatnov Val.V. Russkii episkop v Amerike «pozolochennogo veka» [Russian Bishop in Gilded Age America]. Vestnik MGIMO-Universiteta. 2021. no. 1(14). pp. 7-30. (in Russian)
  9. Pravoslavie i ekumenizm. Dokumenty i materialy, 1902-1998 [Orthodoxy and ecumenism. Documents and materials, 1902-1998]. Moscow, MFTI Publ., 1999. 496 p. (in Russian)
  10. Sv. Aleksandr (Khotovitskii). Missionerskii period Pravoslavnoi tserkvi v Amerike 1896-1909 [St. Alexander (Khotovitsky). Missionary Period of the Orthodox Church in America 1896-1909]. Ed. by G.M. Soldatov. Minneapolis, Minnesota, AARDM Press, 1998, 242 p. (in Russian)
  11. Botkine P. Voice for Russia. Century, 1893, vol. 45, Febr., pp. 611-615.
  12. Saul N. Concord and Conflict: the United States and Russia, 1867-1914. Lawrence, Kansas, University Press of Kansas, 1996, 672 p

Full text (russian)