Dubrovskaya, E. Yu. THE RELIGIOUS FACTOR WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF SOCIAL CHANGES IN BORDER KARELIA DURING THE EARLY XX CENTURY. Proceedings of Petrozavodsk State University. 2026;48(6):62–72. DOI: 10.15393/uchz.art.2026.1352


Marking the 800th Anniversary of the Baptism of the Karelians

THE RELIGIOUS FACTOR WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF SOCIAL CHANGES IN BORDER KARELIA DURING THE EARLY XX CENTURY

Dubrovskaya
E. Yu. 		Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Keywords:
Border Karelia
Orthodox priests
hieromonk Isaaky
travelogue
“Letters to Power”
pre-revolutionary decade
1917		 Summary: The article is devoted to the ego documents of Orthodox priests of the Early Twentieth century, primarily diary entries, that appeared in 1908 in the “Olonets Diocesan Gazette” and publications of 1916 in the “Karelian Proceedings” magazine, which belong to the pen of the assistant Karelian synodal missionary hieromonk (originally hierodeacon) of the Valaam Monastery Isaaky (Ivan Romanovich Trofimov) (1872–1952). The importance of the published texts as an important element of the regional culture of the Karelian-Finnish border region, inscribed in a common large layer of cultural heritage and reflecting the regional specifics of the territories on both sides of the border under the influence of religious and national factors, was emphasized. Despite numerous studies on religious life in Karelian villages of the early twentieth century, a detailed meaningful analysis of the missionary’s ethnographic notes and his reflections on the peculiarities of the spiritual world of the Karelian peasant based on impressions of visiting specific settlements of Salminsky Uyezd was not previously carried out. Sources allow us to identify the territorial aspects of the interaction of the two main confessional spaces of Border Karelia – the Orthodox and Lutheran faiths – in the final period of the imperial period of Russian history. For the first time the appeal of the Mikhailov priests from Suistamo to the Vyborg Council of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies at the beginning of the February Revolution (March 1917) is being introduced into scientific circulation. This “Letter to Power” is noteworthy as eyewitness testimony about the consequences of mutual provocative actions of the warring parties in “battles for the soul of the Karelians”. It was concluded that the research of parish life within certain border areas, based on previously uninvolved ego-documents by Orthodox priests, is a viable approach to studying the role of the religious factor in the social history of Border Karelia of the period under consideration.



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