Insuring Church Property in 1910–1917 (Based on the Materials from Mezen Uyezd of the Arkhangelsk Diocese)

Abstract

Within the framework of studying the economic activity of the Russian Orthodox Church in the pre-revolutionary period, the article covers a little-known aspect of the organization of insurance in Mezen Uyezd of the Arkhangelsk Diocese in 1910–1917. The main stages of mutual fire insurance in the Ecclesiastical Department are highlighted: the adoption of regulatory legal acts (1904–1909), property valuation (1910) and insurance of church real estate (1911–1917). Based on the analysis of documents from fund 799 “Economic Administration Under the Synod” of the Russian State Historical Archives, data are accumulated on the number of insured objects, the amount of annual contributions and the number of cases of insured loss and payments on them. Church real estate was insured according to the applicable laws as well as instructions and decisions of the General Insurance Authority. The sources allow us to assess the involvement of officials of the Insurance Department of the Synod, the Ecclesiastical Consistory and rural deans of Mezen Uyezd in insuring the buildings of the Ecclesiastical Department. The valuation of real estate and calculation of insurance premiums and payments on insured losses were assigned to rural deans, whose activities at the level of the diocese were controlled by the Ecclesiastical Consistory, while correctness of the calculations was checked by the Synod’s insurance division. The paper analyses the ratio of annual contributions to compensations for damage from fires during the period of mutual insurance in Mezen Uyezd of the Arkhangelsk Diocese; the data obtained are compared with the average. A conclusion is drawn that, due to increased fire risk, it was more expedient to insure church property in Mezen Uyezd of the Arkhangelsk Diocese than in the Russian Empire as a whole.