The human dimension in the everyday life of the Orthodox priesthood in the conditions of the North Caucasus frontier in first half of the 19th century
Authors:   Pyatigorsk State University, Lazaryan S. S. , Klychnikov Yu. Yu. ,   Pyatigorsk State University
Published: February 2025

Introduction. The concept of “frontier” was proposed by the American researcher F.D. Turner to describe the border territories of North America and the nature of the processes of imputed transformation that developed there, carried out by European settlers on the basis of the archetypes of the Anglo-Saxon heritage. The authors of the article used the concept as a setting model for considering the transformative actions carried out by the Russian Empire in the North Caucasus in the first half of the 19th century. Having identified parallels and pointing out the differences between the North Caucasian frontier and its participants from the North American frontier, the authors focused their attention on the anthropological aspects of the processes taking place in the border space of sociocultural transition. The clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church was chosen as a representative object due to the importance of the role they played.
Materials and Methods. The research was carried out on the basis of analytical understanding of a large number of works by national and foreign Caucasian historians, ethnologists and political scientists who studied the phenomenon of the borderland and the circumstances of the incorporation of the North Caucasus into the Russian Empire in the first half of the 19th century. The study was based on the principles of historicism and scientific objectivity. The appeal to the scientific creativity of specific scientists was determined, first of all, by the depth and comprehensiveness of their penetration into the essence of the historical space within which the North Caucasian frontier was realized.
Analysis. Based on the presented interpretations given by T.M. Barrett, S.M. Markedonov and D.I. Oleynikov, the authors defined the essence of the North Caucasian frontier as a border contact zone of intercultural interaction of various ethnosocial and ethnoconfessional groups that were in competitive relations with the Russian state. The points of view on the role of the military clergy shared by E. Koparev and F.M. Laskeyev made it possible to identify the cognitive potential contained in their works. They also allowed specifying the general and special in the goal setting of the prescribed priestly service in conditions of collision and confrontation that permeated the space of the North Caucasus with extremes in the named era. With the reference to the opinion claimed by Archpriest I. Belyaev, the necessary qualities of human nature and its moral principles, mandatory for the intended priestly field in the Caucasus, were identified.
Results. Based on the results of the study, it can be stated that various and numerous factors of the North Caucasian frontier were reflected in the biographies of clergy in the most peculiar way, contrary to the duties assigned to them and the fields they performed. For some clergy, the situation described above became the foundation of their moral heroism, while for others it was the road to moral insanity and degradation.