Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2016 number

The development of northern territories of Siberia included the study of nature and local population, settlement, economic growth, integration of aboriginals into the Russian society. Russian Orthodox priests greatly contributed to the study and development of the northern territories of Siberia. The present article characterizes motives, objectives, content and significance of research activities as well as memoirs of the Orthodox priests who lived in the northern territories of Siberia or visited them in order to study or mentally develop these areas, and to incorporate aboriginals into the Russian political and cultural space. Basic historical sources include more then 50 memoirs, diaries, travel notes of the clergymen. The author also used some other ego-documents - letters and some official reports vividly conveying the author’s personality. The primary goal and content of the clergy’s activity was to preach Christ, to strengthen the faith of the baptized and to convert the unbaptized, although there were many people who along with performing their primary duty greatly contributed to the education of the peoples of the North, establishment of schools, translation work, training of priests of aboriginal descent, acquainting them both with the Christian and European cultures. Notes of the missionary journeys for the most part contain information about the geography, numbers and settlement of local population (including indigenous peoples), its material culture, way of life - morals, customs, traditions, trades, dwellings, clothes, norms of common law, religious beliefs etc. The study led to the comprehension of “the other”, its inclusion into their own world and mental acquisition. Notes of the priests contain key geographical, ethnographic, statistical, linguistic, and historical data. These data are even more important for understanding the sociocultural image of the authors - clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church, the significance of their research, educational and general civilizing activities in the North of Siberia. The author suggests that the undoubtful success of aboriginals’ incorporation into the Russian civilizational space was to a large extent due to the accomplishments of missionaries in the course of their scientific, cultural and religious activities.