The parish clergy and the development of local history in nineteenth century Russia

The history of Orthodox parish clergy and their position in the late imperial Russian society is explored. Although the white clergy in the Russian Orthodox Church constituted a sizable portion of society and in some respects were part of the state mechanism, they had very low social prestige in the 19th century, however, these priests discharged the function of official historian and recorder of life's passages in the rural parishes' and due to their education and experience created conditions favorable to the shaping of the people's historical consciousness.