UDC

Authors

Abstract

The article studied the missionary work of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose missionaries had throughout the history of Russia been actively involved in the intercultural and interethnic communication. Traditions of the Orthodox mission are inseparably connected with the spiritual culture of Russia, tradition of the Russian sainthood, spiritual experience of Russian monks as well as their cultural, educational and enlightening activities. With its missionary work, the Church was helping minor ethnic groups within the Russian state to very soon feel as Russian citizens. The Russian Orthodox Church had a major role in ethno-cultural interaction, being an important part of the formation of the Russian statehood. One of the most important missionary initiatives on the regional level was the spiritual mission of 1825–1830 “to enlighten Samoyeds on the Christian faith”. The author of the article describes the activity of this mission that has not been sufficiently studied, i.e. the literary and scientific work of the missionaries. Using archival documents as well as national and local periodicals, the author provides new facts about the Samoyed mission, points out the importance of its work for the development of linguistics and regional ethnography, highlights the role of the missionaries’ literary heritage for the knowledge of culture and customs of the small-numbered peoples of the North. For the first time, private letters of the missionaries are introduced.

Keywords

References

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