Abstract
This
paper deals with the financial relations of the state and the Orthodox Church
in 1906–1917. The author examines such aspects as the features of the so-called
“special resources” and their differentiation, putting things in order in the
financial statements of the Spiritual Department, extending the audit of the
State Audit Office to all departmental finances. It also pays attention to
factors that complicated the consideration of the list of revenues and expenses
of the Holy Synod in the State Duma, as well as contributed to the reform of
the synodal control. The main contribution of the research composed in a
comprehensive analysis of the problem of “special resources” of the Synod in
the context of state-church relations. If it was not possible to separate the
church from the state in the period under review either for legislation in
general, or in reform of the Orthodox parish, or in the conduct of the Episcopal
Council, then in the field of church finance this was largely realized. On the
one hand, the conflict arose on the subject of subordination of the synodal
“special resources” to the audit of the State Audit Office and had objective
reasons. A brief reference about them could not suit the State Duma, and
deputies did not have sufficient information to make decisions on the budget.
In addition, the lower house painfully perceived any limitations of its
competence. On the other hand, state institutions (Council of Ministers, State
Audit Office, State Duma, etc.) considered the Synod, first of all, from the
standpoint of its departmental status. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the
ecclesiastical means proper for formal convenience and understanding of secular
officials were included in the category of “special resources”. Until the
beginning of the 20th century, this did not matter, as did a number of other
bureaucratic formalities, since the audit of the State Audit Office did not
extend to these resources. Providing more detailed reporting removed most of
the questions of lawmakers. Therefore, if “special resources”, which had a
budgetary origin, were turned into treasury income and were subject to
revisions of the State Audit Office, then church funds were subject to revision
only of the Audit Office under the Synod. The paper gives valuable information
about the financial situation of the Orthodox Church, as well as about the
features of control over the spending of state resources in Russia during the
Duma monarchy.