KUNGUR TIKHVIN CONVENT DURING THE PERIOD OF CHURCH REFORMS OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE 18TH CENTURY

Abstract

The history of Russian female monasticism of the first half of the 18th century is a poorly studied topic in Russian historiography. The article is devoted to the last women's monastery created in the Urals in the pre-Synodal era. Various aspects of its life during the difficult period of church reforms of Peter I and his successors are revealed. Based on new archival documents of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts and the Central State Archive of the Kirov Region, the 50-year history of the monastery is presented in a comprehensive manner for the first time. A brief review of the development of the Kungur lands and their Christianization is given, the prerequisites and circumstances for the emergence of the monastery are analyzed. The formation of its architectural ensemble is shown, the view of the temple and its interior decoration is described, a brief analysis of the book collection is given. The article examines the personalities of the abbesses of the monastery and gives a description of the age and social composition of the sisters. The questions of «survival» of the monastery in the course of Peter the Great reforms, the sources of its existence are analyzed. Since the monastery was worldly, the role of benefactors in its development, strengthening its material level in difficult historical conditions is especially noted. The attempt to close the monastery in 1724–1725 and the reasons for its slow death in the next quarter of a century are considered. The history of the Tikhvin icon of the Mother of God is revealed in connection with the history of the Kungur monastery. Its importance in the life of the town after the closure of the convent is shown, in particular, in connection with the history of the uprising of Yemelyan Pugachev.