UDC

Authors

Abstract

The paper studied the position of secular staff (shtatnye sluzhiteli) of the Solovetsky monastery in the last third of the 18th century according to the legal acts and records of the monastery. After the secularization reform of 1764, the Solovetsky monastery was supposed to have 25 secular servants paid by the state. The article deals with such issues as servants’ recruitment, service period, privileges, duties and salaries. Fiefdoms of the monastery located nearby were supposed to deliver servants in the quantity corresponding to the number of people in the fiefdom. In 1838 a twenty-year period of service for the secular staff was stipulated by law for the first time. The servants had many various duties: from simply logging wood to such important errands as going to the mainland to buy goods for the monastery. Sometimes they were assigned with selling candles and icons, cleaning and guarding the church as well as singing in the choir. In addition to the state salary, which at the end of the 18th century amounted to about 700 roubles a year, the secular staff received additional payment from the monastery (about 200 roubles annually). The practice of employing secular servants lasted for about 100 years and stopped in 1861 with the abolition of serfdom in Russia

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References

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