Diocesan Construction in the European North of Russia in the 17th Century: Problems and Features

Problems of opening new dioceses and subsequent diocesan construction in the European North of Russia in the 17th century are considered. The study is focused on three northern dioceses: the Diocese of Vyatka and Great Perm’ (opened in 1657), the Velikii Ustyug and Tot’ma Diocese, and the Diocese of Kholmogory and Vaga (opened in 1682). It is shown how, in the first years after opening, diocesan authorities solved the problems of forming the territory of the diocese (its demarcation with neighboring dioceses) and the episcopal domain (patrimonial lands, the income from which went to the development of the bishop’s house), establishing a system of management and collection of church duties on their lands, and building vertical bureaucratic ties with the parish network. Attention is paid to the issue of formalizing the attributes of external representativeness of the episcopal authority in the new dioceses: the construction of cathedrals and bishops’ houses. The upper chronological boundary of the study is the turn of the 18th century, when the logic of diocesan construction, which had developed in the 17th century, was changed due to the beginning of the church reforms of Peter the Great.