§ 3. "Spiritual Regulations" and the Establishment of the Holy Synod

a) After the death of the last patriarch, Peter was at first content with temporary measures, and only from 1718, when the victory over the Swedes was already beyond doubt, he intensively engaged in the reorganization of state and church administration. According to Peter, both these problems were equally important and should be solved together, and the central state authorities should be entrusted with control over the Church. Such an attitude was unambiguously expressed already in the decree of March 2, 1717, which stated that the "spiritual rank" should be subordinate to the Governing Senate. The policy of the Senate soon placed the locum tenens of the patriarchal throne in a dependent position. After the establishment of collegiums (1718–1720), accountable to the Senate, and the reforms of local administration (1719), a new structure of the state apparatus was determined. Now the time has come to adapt the church leadership to the state mechanism, incorporating the former into the latter. The need for a collegial principle of governing the Church seemed to the tsar to be as self-evident as the subordination of the Church to his royal will. Nevertheless, it was clear to Peter that the introduction of this order looked like a decisive revolution in the eyes of the clergy and the people, and therefore he wanted to give his reform a motivated and intelligible justification [181].

The conflict with the heir to the throne was the last reason for the decisive measures taken by Peter against the opposition of the clergy, which was revealed in the course of the trial. At first, it was important for Peter to create a higher administration of the Church in order to then raise the educational level of the clergy. But it was also important that it was now, in peacetime, when Peter was embarking on the implementation of his program of reforms, that the clergy should work for the state. Therefore, Peter decided not only to reform the church administration by means of an official decree, but, moreover, to support it with a detailed justification [182].

When the idea of abolishing the patriarchate finally matured in Peter and the time came to issue a legislative act that would explain and justify this innovation, the only one to whom Peter could entrust this delicate and responsible matter was the young Pskov Archbishop Theophan Prokopovich [183]. Theophan was undoubtedly the most educated man in Peter's entourage, and perhaps even the most educated Russian man of the eighteenth century, with universal interests and knowledge in the fields of history, theology, philosophy, and linguistics. [ ] Theophanes was a European, he "shared and professed the typical doctrine of the century, repeated Pufendorf, Grotius, Hobbes... Theophanes almost believed in the absoluteness of the state... Theophanes is not only adherent, he belongs to the Protestant scholasticism of the seventeenth century... If Theophanes' "treatises" did not contain the name of the Russian bishop, it would be most natural to guess their author among the professors of some Protestant theological faculty. Everything here is permeated with the Western spirit, the air of the Reformation," writes one Russian theologian [185]. It was important to Peter not only that Theophan possessed all this knowledge, there was another good reason to entrust him with the justification of the planned restructuring of church administration: Peter was convinced of Theophanes' devotion to his reforms. Theophan understood this and fulfilled his task, sparing neither effort nor time, putting all of himself into the matter. He was a devoted adherent of Peter's reforms and an official apologist for government measures, which was manifested repeatedly, especially in his treatise "The Truth of the Monarch's Will". Theophanes' views on the relationship between the state and the Church fully coincided with the views of Peter: both sought a suitable model in the ecclesiastical institutions of Prussia and other Protestant countries [186].

It was natural for the tsar to entrust the writing of the "Spiritual Regulations" to Theophanes, just as it was natural for Theophan to await such an assignment [187]. Of course, Peter gave Theophan some directives, but on the whole the content of the "Regulations" reflects Theophanes' ecclesiastical and political views, while in the style one can see his unfettered temperament. The "Regulations" were conceived not only as a commentary on the law, but were themselves intended to contain the basic law of church administration. However, this goal was achieved only partially and in a far from the best way, since the written text does not contain clear legal definitions even of the structure and powers of the governing bodies [188]. On the other hand, it contains elements that give it the character of a political treatise, the author of which cannot conceal his personal views (one might say, the views of Peter) and his attitude to various phenomena of church life of the past seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth century. In some places, the "Regulations" turns into an accusatory sermon or satire. "There is a lot of bile in the Regulations. This is an evil and malicious book" [189]. The author's argumentation is purely rationalistic. He has no sacred concept of the Church as the Body of Christ. Arguments in favor of a collegial system cannot hide the fact that the main meaning of the "Regulations" is not so much the abolition of the patriarchate as the revolutionary restructuring of relations between the state and the Church. With the publication of the "Spiritual Regulations," the Russian Church became an integral part of the state structure, and the Holy Synod became a state institution. The Russian Church is losing its close connection with universal Orthodoxy, with which it is now united only by dogmas and ritual. The Russian jurist A. D. Gradovsky defines it as follows: the Holy Governing Synod, formerly called the Spiritual Collegium, was established by a state act, and not by an ecclesiastical one, the "Spiritual Regulations"... In the view of the "Regulations", the Synod was to be a state institution dependent on the secular authorities" [190].

After the manuscript was presented to the tsar and some corrections were made by him personally (February 11, 1720), on February 23 or 24, the "Regulations" were read out in the Senate and signed by the tsar. On February 14, 1721, the establishment of the Ecclesiastical Collegium was celebrated with a solemn service. Theophan Prokopovich delivered a sermon in which he proclaimed the task of the new "church government" to improve the church and religious life of the Russian people, without going into the question of the abolition of the patriarchate. Theophanes appealed to the "civil and military rulers" with a request to support the activities of the "church government" [191].

In the tsar's manifesto of January 25, 1721, compiled by Theophanes, along with the reasons for the reform, it is indicated that the "Spiritual Regulations" are henceforth the basic law of the supreme church administration, and the reasons for the reform are set forth. This makes the manifesto a legislative act. "By the grace of God, We, Peter the Great, Tsar and Autocrat of All Russia, and so on and so forth...

And when he, the unhypocritical Judge, asks Us for an answer about the assignment entrusted to Us by Him, let us not be unanswered. For this reason, in the image of the pious kings of the past, both in the Old and in the New Testaments, they took care of the correction of the spiritual order, and did not see a better way to do this, more than a conciliar government. Since it is not without passion in a single person, moreover, it is not a hereditary authority, for this reason we do not neglect it, we establish the Spiritual Collegium, that is, the Spiritual Conciliar Government, which, according to the following "Regulations", has to govern all spiritual affairs in the All-Russian Church. And we command all our faithful subjects, of every rank, spiritual and temporal, to have this for an important and powerful government, and to ask it for the utmost matters of spiritual administration, decisions and executions, and to be satisfied with its certain judgment, and to listen to its decrees in everything under great punishment for resistance and disobedience, against the other collegiums. This collegium must also supplement its own "Regulations" with new rules, which require various different cases. However, this should be done by the Spiritual College not without Our permission. In this Ecclesiastical Collegium, we determine that the members of this Ecclesiastical Collegium shall be named here: one president, two vice-presidents, four counsellors, and four assessors. And since it is mentioned in this "Rules of Procedure" in the first part, the seventh and eighth paragraphs, that the president is subject to the judgment of his brethren, this is the same collegium, even if he has committed a noble sin, for this reason we determine that his vote should be equal to that of the rest. All the members of this collegium, when entering into their business, have to take an oath, or promise, before the holy Gospel in the attached form of oath.

Under this is signed by the Tsar's Majesty in his own hand, Peter.

In St. Petersburg, January 25, 1721."

The text of the oath: "I, the undernamed, promise and swear by Almighty God, before His holy Gospel, that I must, and according to my duty, and I will strive in every way in councils, courts, and all the affairs of this Spiritual Governing Assembly, to always seek the most essential truth and the most essential truth, and to act in accordance with the statutes written in the "Spiritual Regulations". And if in the future, with the consent of this Spiritual Government and with the permission of the Tsar's Majesty, it will be determined... I swear by Almighty God that I will and must. to my natural and true Tsar and Tsar Peter the Great, the autocrat of all Russia, and so on... and to Her Majesty the Empress Catherine Alexeevna to be a faithful, kind and obedient slave and subject" [192].

Immediately after the creation of the Ecclesiastical Collegium, on February 14, 1721, the latter petitioned the tsar for its renaming into the Holy Governing Synod, since the name Ecclesiastical Collegium was incomprehensible to the people and could cause bewilderment during public church prayer. The tsar agreed with these arguments and approved the renaming [193].

The details of the entire legislative process are set forth at the end of the "Regulations" in the following words: "All this, written here first by the All-Russian monarch himself, His Imperial Most Holy Majesty, was pleased to hear before him, to reason and correct on February 11, 1720. And then, by decree of His Majesty, the Most Reverend Bishops, Archimandrites, and the Governing Senators, listened and, reasoning, corrected this very February 23. His Imperial Majesty himself deigned to sign the same in confirmation and fulfillment of the immutable fulfillment, according to the attribution of the hands of the clergy and senators present, with his own hand."

After the meeting, Peter gave the following order to the Senate: "Since yesterday I heard from you that both the bishops and you heard the draft of the Ecclesiastical Collegium and accepted everything as good, for this reason it is proper for the bishops and you to sign it, which I will then seal. And it is better to sign two and leave one here, and send the other to the other bishops for signing." However, this order was addressed not to the locum tenens, but to the Senate, by decree of which in May 1720 Major Semyon Davydov and Archimandrite Jonah Salnikov collected the signatures of the bishops of all twelve dioceses (with the exception of the Siberian diocese because of its remoteness), as well as archimandrites and abbots of the most important monasteries. The instructions of the Senate to the plenipotentiaries read: "And if anyone does not sign it, take it from him in a letter by hand, which for the sake of the parable does not sign it, so that he can show it by name... and that he (the plenipotentiary – Ed.) will have a repairman, he will write about this to the Senate at the post office all weeklong." The bishops were well aware of the consequences of the refusal, and it was not difficult for the tsar to achieve his first goal: the higher Russian clergy unquestioningly signed the "act of capitulation" of the Church to the state. The "Spiritual Regulations" end with the signatures of Peter I, then seven senators, six metropolitans, one archbishop, twelve bishops, forty-seven archimandrites, fifteen abbots of monasteries, five hieromonks; a total of eighty-seven signatures of clergymen [194].