SECULARIZATION OF CHURCH ESTATES AND SAINT ARSENIY MATSIEVICH

Abstract

The article is devoted to an important issue in church history and canon law, which touches on secularization, or the illegal extraction of many of its acquisitions. Information is provided about the secularization measures of Empress Catherine II in Russia and about the struggle with Ukrainian hierarchs, and first of all with Metropolitan of Rostov Arseniy. He didn’t give in to any deterrence, influence or authority in defending the truth of Christ. It is shown that the first attempts to seize church property were carried out by Tsar Ivan Vasiliovych III, who, using the right of the conqueror (in 1478), distributed half of Novgorod monastic and bishopric possessions to his boyar children, and in 1494 he did the same with a part of the property of Novgorod ruler, which had not yet been collected. He wanted to spread the same to the whole country, and even found support from some monks, such as Reverend Nil Sorskiy and other Belozerskiy hermits. Similar efforts were made by Ivan Vasyliovych (1503), who proposed to the Council in Moscow to pick up inhabited land holdings from all monasteries. And already under Peter I (in 1697), an order was made that limited monasteries even for new buildings new buildings, and all church people who were in the possession of the patriarch, bishops and monasteries were put under secular court. It has been proven that the secularization measures of the Moscow autocracy in relation to church properties are a little-studied topic today. After all, due to the «removal» of property, the Church of Christ did not have the opportunity to fully fulfill its high mission of enlightenment. Conclusions were made that the 18th century in general, especially its middle part, in the history of Ukrainian monasteries was an era of struggle for their ancient rights and privileges, which were encroached upon by the Cossacks, the bourgeoisie and other authority people The notable church hierarchs who initially opposed secularization are briefly described, including Bishop Damian of Kostroma, Metropolitan Timofey of Moscow, Bishop Sylvester of Starohorod, Archbishop Athanasius of Pereyaslav, but were forced to change their minds after having been reprimanded by the Synod. Metropolitan Arseniy Matsievich of Rostov, who was arrested, stripped of his rank and sent into exile, where he died, and Metropolitan of Tobolsk Saint Pavlo Konyushkevich, whom the Synod condemned to deprivation of rank, remained unchanged in their word. Its negative impact has been analyzed in detail using the example of the St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery.