Functional features of Orthodox church at possessional manufactory in Aremzyanskoe Selo of Tobolsk Governorate in 1767–1849

Aremzyanskoe Selo (henceforward “the Village”) of Aremzyanskaya (Abalakskaya) Volost, Tobolsk Governorate, is a memory site of the Russian scientist Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev. Here, he spent his childhood years. The study is based on the first scientific papers identified in the Tobolsk Ecclesiastical Consistory (F. I156) of the State Archive in Tobolsk. Using the specified materials, the paper examines features of interactionsbetween the owners and the Orthodox churches’ clergy of a possessional manufactory in the Village, Tobolsk Governorate, in 1767–1849. The research methodology involves such general scientific principles as historicism, objectivity, causality, and systematization. To analyze the publications and archival records, the authors apply the following historical research methods: description, historical comparison, retrospective terminology consideration, and others. The resources analysis defines the functional features of a parish church in the manufactory village. The possessional manufactory owner was responsible for not only constructing the production buildings, acquiring the equipment and labor but also providing the workers with accommodation and all necessities. Therefore, the erection and keeping of churches, bread-reserving shops, schools, and hospitals were the duty of the manufactory owners. Compared to the cases where churches were the peasants’ or Village meeting’s initiatives, the manufactory owners themselves managed the parish clergy and church building maintenance. Therefore, the owner officially agreed to support the priests with bread and monetary prestimony, the amount of which depended on many factors. In the 19th century, due to new church construction, the monetary prestimony was paid by the parishioners. The State didn’t maintain churches in villages with possessional manufactories and plants. The head of the manufactory Maria Dmitrievna Mendeleeva actively participated in the parish’s life. She founded a school for the manufactory workers’ children. In addition, when the children of the priest, workers, and state peasants of the Aremzyansky parish were christened, the Mendeleev family members became their godparents. The possessional manufactory demolition and social status change of the possessional workers are the processes that lasted for decades. The issues for further research include the priests’ spiritual and educational activities as well as church functioning during the transition period (1850–1860s) and onwards. The results have scientific and practical significance.