On the Anthropology of Religious Life in the First World War: Railcar Church on the Murmansk Railway (1915–1918)
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The author studies the historical and ethnographic aspects of the organization of the activities and services of the clergy of railway mobile churches in the European north of Russia in 1915–1918. It was an effective form of providing spiritual assistance to visitors who found themselves far from their homeland, workers and employees of Murmansk. The church and railway departments interacted on issues of spiritual control and meeting the religious needs of the population. In the conditions of the North, the mobility of the clergy was of particular importance, therefore, the ability of railway priests to reach the population and attract a new flock was higher than that of parish priests. The author revealed the peculiarities of the functioning of the railcar church, the composition of the clergy, the space of activity, as well as the ways the clergy work with the temporary road "flock". For the first time, the author introduced into scientific circulation certain types of official and registration documents from the collections of the National Archive of the Republic of Karelia, the Central State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg. These documents are related to the activities of mobile churches and the movements of clergy, the provision of spiritual assistance, and the registration of life cycle events of participants in railway construction in the European North of Russia during the First World War. The conclusions relate to the fact that the Orthodox Church has highly adapted to the transforming ethno-cultural space, as well as the formation of new settlement communities within it during the years of war and revolution.
Source: Transaction Kola Science Centre
Author: Olga Zmeeva
Institutions: Russian Academy of Sciences, Kola Science Centre
Language: English
Topic: Soviet and Russian History
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
Funder: Russian Academy of Sciences
OpenAlex ID: W4406701661