ON THE MISSIONARY AND EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF BISHOP ANDREY (A.A. UKHTOMSKY) IN THE DIOCESE OF KAZAN
Authors: Taimasov Leonid A. 
Published: November 2024

Among the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, who made a significant contribution to the establishment of Orthodoxy in the Volga-Ural region, special attention is drawn to the personality of A.A. Ukhtomsky.

The purpose of the study is to study the life path and evaluate the missionary and educational activities of Bishop Andrey, his contribution to preserving N.I. Ilminsky system in the practice of Christian education of the newly baptized peoples of Kazan diocese.

Materials and methods. The research was carried out on the basis of literature and sources analysis. The study covered monographs, scientific articles, and publications of A.A. Ukhtomsky himself in periodicals and pamphlets, opinions and judgments about him, his activities given by officials, educators, clergymen, ordinary people. Individual archival documents from the funds of the Synod of the Russian State Historical Archive (RSHA), the funds of N.V. Nikolsky, D.F. Filimonov, the Scientific Archive of the Chuvash State Institute of Humanities (SA of ChSIH), information from the First General Population Census of the Russian Empire, etc. were used as sources. General scientific and special methods of scientific analysis were used, primarily chronological, institutional, and cultural-anthropological ones. The chronological method made it possible to shed light on a stage in the life of A.A. Ukhtomsky against the background of complex socio-political and socio-economic processes of the early XX century. The institutional approach was used to describe the religious policy of tsarism and the Russian Orthodox Church. The cultural-anthropological approach was applied when considering the views of the bishop on the problems of interaction between the state, the church and the society, Christian education of the peoples of Kazan diocese, and its use made it possible to show the attitude of the multinational flock to the archpastor.

Research results. A.A. Ukhtomsky came from an ancient noble family and was the first child in a large family. After graduating from Rybinsk Men’s Gymnasium, he entered the Nizhny Novgorod Count Arakcheev cadet corps. After graduation, under the influence of the righteous John of Kronstadt, he chose the path of spiritual ministration. In 1891–1895 he studied at Moscow Theological Academy. His formation as a missionary educator took place in Kazan, where he spent sixteen years of productive activity. He used the experience gained during his ministry in the Middle Volga region in the management of Sukhumi and Ufa dioceses. His fate during the revolution, the Civil War and the Soviet transformations was thorny and ended tragically: Archbishop Andrey was repeatedly arrested and exiled, and in 1937 he was shot in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region. The scientific significance of the study is to expand the scientific and theoretical base for further studying ethno-confessional processes, assessing the role of Bishop Andrey (A.A. Ukhtomsky) in the establishment of Orthodoxy in a multiethnic region at the turn of the XIX–XX centuries.

Conclusions. The Kazan period of Bishop Andrey (Ukhtomsky)’s ministry became a time of his views formation on the issues of religious policy, the practice of Christian education of newly baptized peoples, when the ideas of direct Russification of “members of national minorities” prevailed in government circles and among the church leadership. The adamant position of the archpastor regarding the continued use of the N.I. Ilminsky’s system enabled to develop national cultures on a Christian-Orthodox basis. During his years of ministering in Kazan province, he was a member of Kazan Temperance Society, headed the Brotherhood of St. Gurius, having established the «Circle of Sisters-employees of the Saint’s Brotherhood». Bishop Andrey initiated and supported the creation of an Orthodox monastery and a community of baptized Tatars. He subsequently applied the experience of managing a multiethnic flock acquired in Kazan diocese when he headed Sukhumi (1911–1914) and later Ufa dioceses (1914–1921).