The Economic Situation of the Kishinev Diocese in the 19th - early 20th Century

The article dwells, on the basis of archival materials for the first time in the national and foreign historiography, on the economic situation of Kishinev Eparchy within the Russian Orthodox Church in the period from Bessarabia’s accedence to the Russian Empire till early 20th century. An important indicator of the priests’material well-beingis sufficiency of their land estates and emoluments. In this context, the author focused on the size of land holdings of particular clergy parishes and the financial allowance of the clergy. The essay also pays attention to the revenues of particular clergy parishes from occasional services and sale of candles. The study revealed that most of the venues from candle trading could not be used by the members of clergy parishes for their needs, but were transferred to the general beudget of the eparchy. The clergy spent a signifi cant portion of their income on renting and upkeeping of housing. With regard for this circumstance, an attempt was made to determine the extent of suffi ciency of housing for this category of clergy. In the course of research, the author managed to fi nd the information on the number of Bessarabian priests’children in their care at the time the country has joined the Russian Empire, and on their level of education. These data are extremely important for comprehending the private life of the clergy and inancial standing of their families, as such information is found in the documentary materials of early 19th century extremely seldom, regardless of diocesan affi liation of priests