Acedia, loneliness, and the mandatory celibacy of Catholic parish clergy: a theological-sociological exploratory analysis

This article utilizes the analytical concept of acedia as the fundamental theoretical framework and applies a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed materials and documents on spiritual sloth, spiritual dryness, Catholic clerical celibacy, social bonding and communal spirituality. This article explores how the Catholic parish clergy’s mandatory celibacy intensifies loneliness and facilitates the spiritual sloth of parish clergy or what is theologically known as acedia. Unlike religious priests who live in religious communities, parish clerics fundamentally live, work, and pray alone in the parish, without strong communal support from fellow priests, bishops, and lay parishioners; thus, making them prone to loneliness, a main component of acedia. This article argues that mandatory celibacy further deprives parish clerics of the social and spiritual support necessary to enhance diocesan clerical spirituality and strengthen spiritual resistance against acedia. It recommends a structural adjustment in the social and spiritual life of parish priests, creating small communities of priests situated in similar territory or districts to allow them to live and work as a team with strong social and spiritual support in the spirit of “living baptismally” to overcome priestly acedia.

THE PROBLEM OF INFORMATION VALUE OF CONFESSIONAL STATEMENTS IN HISTORICAL LITERATURE

The article considers the achievements of modern Russian historiography in the field of compiling documents for demographic census registration by the parish Orthodox clergy in the synodic period of the Russian Orthodox Church. Among the problems that have been the most reflected, especially in the regional historiography of recent decades are the external features of confessional statements, changes in their forms during the XVIII–XIX centuries, the estates groups and strata represented in them, changes in the composition of parish families over several years, the gender and age composition of parishioners, migration processes within a one particular locality. The greatest value undoubtedly is the statistical data on the performance of Christian sacraments of confession and communion by parishioners. The works of researchers who analyze and use ecclesiastical signed documents, note a huge information potential of this type of historical sources. Ecclesiastical signed documents reveal not only the peculiarities in the social structure of an individual parish, diocese or eparchy as a whole. They are a fairly reliable indicator of the population’s introduction to the Orthodox faith and rites, especially beginning from the early XIX century, when the possibilities of data falsification by the parish clergy were minimized. This type of mass sources, such as signed documents, makes it possible to consider the history of everyday life, household and housing conditions, the distance of the village to the temple. The revealed shortcomings in ecclesiastical signed documents include the following: fixing the population only present in the parish, giving amorphous reasons for non-fulfillment of the sacraments such as «failure», «negligence», inaccurate determination of parishioners’ age in remote parish villages, real attitude of believers to the church and dogmas.

On the Question of the Profitability of Land Plots of Orthodox Clergy in the early XX century (based on the materials of the Mordovian region)

Introduction. The article presents the results of a study of the land use of Orthodox parishes based on the materials of the Mordovian region of the beginning of the XX century. Materials and Methods. In the course of the study, general scientific and special historical methods were used. With the help of comparative-historical and problem-chronological methods, the evolution of the system of land ownership and land use is traced. The identification of common and special features in the financing of rural clergy is possible only if the method of system analysis and the structural method are applied. Results. The publication contains a brief digression into the history of land relations, it traces the trends in the development of church land ownership in the early 1900s. It is established that due to the shortage of land and agricultural overpopulation, land grants on the territory of the Mordovian territory have not received significant distribution. On the basis of archival materials and published sources, the main forms of land use of the parish clergy are analyzed, which include: self-cultivation of land; leasing of land; hiring of peasants for land cultivation; combination of forms of land use. The authors found that by the end of the period under review, the use of land prevailed among the forms of land use. As a result of the processing of clerical records, the amount of profitability of church plots was determined. By leasing church land, most parishes received a relatively small but stable income. In 1915, in the Ardatovsky district of the Simbirsk diocese, it was equal to about half of the state salary. Conclusions. At the end of the study, it is concluded that on the eve of the revolution, only a small part of the rural clergy was engaged in agriculture, that is, the process of turning the clergy into a professional group of Orthodox pastors was almost complete.

Parish Clergy of Voronezh Diocese in Fight Against the Cholera Epidemic of 1892—1893

The article is devoted to the study of the role of clergy and clergymen of the Voronezh diocese in the fight against the spread of the cholera epidemic of 1892-1893. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that the contribution of the clergy of the Orthodox Russian Church to countering the spread of infectious diseases has practically not been studied. It is noted that in the Russian Empire, Orthodox clerics were not only ministers of the altar, but also performed a number of socially significant functions. Based on a wide range of historical sources, the author analyzes the attitude of the population of the Voronezh province to cholera disease. The educational activity of clerics, the participation of clergy in organizing aid to parishioners are considered. It is emphasized that the clergy were closely associated with the peasant population of the empire, daily contact with them during the divine service. The study showed that the state tried to use the experience and knowledge of the clergy and clergymen, considering them as the social support of the autocratic system. The author concludes that the parish clergy and clergymen played an important role in the fight against infectious disease, not only participating in educational activities and spiritually supporting the population, but also providing those in need with initial medical assistance.

The problem of maintaining balance of liberal and conservative principles at the congresses of clergy and Laity of Southern Russia in 1917

The article examines the congresses of clergy and laity that took place after the February Revolution of 1917 in the South of Russia — on the Don, Stavropol and Kuban, which were the part of the movement propagated throughout the country. It marked the broad inclusion of clergy and laity in the reform of the synodal system of relations and the solution of accumulated intra-church problems. The author examines the nature of the expansion of the participation of parish clergy and laity in church administration, the participation of diocesan bishops in these processes, the question of how the participants of the congresses imagined combining these ideas with the traditional hierarchical structure of the Church. The study is based on the protocols of the congresses of the clergy and laity and the discussion of their decisions on the pages of the periodical press of that time. The author comes to the conclusion that the congresses of the South of Russia have shown a desire to unite all members of the church community, without violating the traditional right of diocesan bishops to church governance. The revolt against the episcopal authority has passed the Cossack territories. In the inclusion of lower clergy and laity in the church administration, their participants saw the implementation of the principles of conciliarity. The most important component of the reform was the inclusion of laypeople in the church administration bodies of different levels, which took place at the initiative of the clergy as a whole.

Reflection of the Clergy Ethos in the State of the Dioceses Reports on Eastern Siberia (the Second Half of the 19th – Early 20th Centurу)

This article examines the reports on the status of the Irkutsk, Yenisei and Trans-Baikal dioceses as a source for studying the clergy ethos, which is defined as the correlation of normative values with their practical activities and everyday behavior. The author reconstructs the normative model of behavior of the white clergy and its transformation in connection with the change in the objective conditions of its activities. The author analyzes the ideas of the diocesan leadership about the differences between “what is” and “what is proper” in the clergy pastoral activities, causes, consequences and measures to overcome these differences. The content of the reports allows us to conclude that in the late 19 – early 20 centuries there was a certain “worldliness” (Great Apostasy) of the clergy ethos, since the normative behavior model implies an increase in the responsibility of the parish clergy not only for pastoral, but also for public service.