Russian Clergy in the United States (late 19th – early 20th centuries): Problems of Recruitment and Motivation

Abstract

This article, through archival materials, develops the understudied theme of clergy recruitment and motivation for service in the North American diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. It explains why the recruitment of the clergy for the diocese was a serious problem: the church did not have enough resources to train priests in America, while candidates from Russia were deterred by such factors as the language barrier, the lower social status of Orthodox priests in the United States, the meagre salary compared to in Russia, and the fact that American culture was so alien to them. On the other hand, many of those who expressed the desire to serve in the United States were unsuitable as candidates. Various categories of people are identified in this paper who entered the ministry in the diocese both from Russia and from among local residents. The best clergymen, who made up the cream of the Orthodox clergy in America, turned out to be church people from the Russian Empire, selected by the heads of the North American diocese themselves, especially during their visits to Russia. The motives of the candidates for the remote diocese are analysed on the basis of their applications addressed to the head of the diocese, compared with data from other primary sources, such as analytical conclusions of St. Tikhon (Bellavin), head of the diocese in 1898–1907; messages from the Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod Konstantin Pobedonostsev, who collected information about applicants; and the memoirs of Archbishop Plato (Rozhdestvensky), who headed the diocese from 1907 to 1914. The study revealed a great variety of motives: from sincere desire to serve the Church and save people’s souls, to aspirations unrelated to church service, such as the desire to see an interesting and rapidly developing country and to supplement one’s education. In addition, the American periods of the lives of two Russian clergymen, reconstructed from archival materials and summarized in this article, shed light on the realities of the lives of talented young Russian people in America at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. Finally, the life path of the best clergymen of the diocese is outlined in the article.

English translation from the Russian text: Pechatnov V. O., Pechatnov V. V. 2023. Russian Clergy in the United States (Late 19th – Early 20th Centuries): Problems of Recruitment and Motivation. Concept: Philosophy, Religion, Culture. 8(2). P. 50–68. (In Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.24833/2541-8831-2024-2-30-50-68