PAYMENT FOR THE RELIGIOUS RITES AS A SOURCE OF INCOME FOR THE ORTHODOX PARISH CLERGY OF KYIV EPARCHY IN THE 19TH – EARLY 20TH CENTURIES

Abstract

The article deals with payment for the religious rites as one of the main sources of the Orthodox parish clergy’s income in Kyiv Eparchy in the 19th – early 20th centuries. It is noted that the Government of the Russian Empire determined the fixed fees for such kind of church services. But the price-fixing remained nominal and the rates were often bigger at the local level. The measures of the church administration aimed at preventing such situation had no effect and just restrained the priests’ actions. It has been established that the amount of the payment for religious rites depended on their peculiarities and local circumstances such as the number of parishioners and their welfare. Marriages and funerals were among the most expensive services. The attention is drawn to the fact that the church administrators made the guidelines according to which the distribution of profits among parish members was regulated. It is emphasized that the parish clergy had ambiguous attitude to the payment for religious rites and their preservation. The pages of the church periodicals often insisted on the fact that such situation undermined the authority of the priests, made them humiliated and dependent on the parishioners. At the same time, the clerics could not abolish the religious rites as they were an important source of their income. Some priests tried to exact money from the parishioners in an effort to get bigger profit. The priesthood often advocated the need to be properly supported from the treasury or by the parish communities. It was established that the third of the priest’s total income consisted of the fees for religious rites.