The role and importance of libraries in the functioning of the Orthodox mission in the Ryazan Diocese (based on the materials of the Brotherhood of St. Basil, Bishop of Ryazan)

Abstract

In the article, by using archival, both published and unpublished sources, an attempt is made to describe the history of the creation and functioning of missionary libraries in the Ryazan diocese. The historical phenomenon of the problem under study was connected with the activities of the Brotherhood of St. Basil, Bishop of Ryazan. The missionary organization carried out the idea of creating libraries in each parish of the diocese. This activity was not always supported by the clergy and the parish, but in general, the idea of creating a network of missionary parish libraries, headed by the general archdiocese, had a qualitative and fruitful development. The relevance of the research of the given topic is the growing interest in studying the history of the missionary activity of the Russian Orthodox Church in the regions of the Russian Federation. The chronological period is the boundaries of the existence of the missionary organization itself, it is 1877–1917, when, together with the dissolution of the Brotherhood, the activities of diocesan libraries were discontinued. The important significance of the historical phenomenon of the missionary library was that it was in them that the literature was accumulated, which served the missionaries of the Brotherhood as an invaluable help for conducting disputes and polemical conversations with Old Believers and sectarians. The study of the history of the development and functioning of missionary libraries contributes in our time to organically build a parish mission in the Ryazan diocese, in particular in the organization of libraries, so as not to repeat the gross mistakes of previous generations.