Public Places in the 18th-Century Russian City: Church

This article, devoted to the behaviour and communication of people in public places of the 18th-century Russian city (markets, taverns, baths, inns, etc.), focuses on the behaviour of people in churches. They hosted events of local importance (weddings, baptisms, funerals, etc.) as well as communication between the authorities and their subjects (swearing oaths, reading decrees, etc.). The ecclesiastical space is presented as a place of social and gender tensions, aggravated in the time of Peter the Great by the “reform of piety”. Old Believers, foreigners of other faiths, supporters and opponents of Peter’s reforms and “ungodly” Orthodox Christians who clashed in the church and violated the unity of the Orthodox community. The church space proved to be saturated with human impressions, emotions and information. Although some people dared to express their dissatisfaction with the authorities, it was only on an emotional level, and therefore it is impossible to call the church space “public” in the sense given by J. Habermas.