Northern Fish and the Connections inside Moscow Society of the 2nd Half of 17th Century (with Reference to the Account Books of the Siya Monastery of St Antonius)

This article provides an overview of the so-called fish books of the Siya Monastery of St Antonius kept in the RGADA and in the Archives of the St Petersburg Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. An in-depth analysis of the account book of the monastery fish that were brought to Moscow as a gift for Christmas in 1686 is provided. The monastery elders went around with gifts to many people, starting from the highest spiritual and secular ranks, they were guided by the advice of the Patriarchal Treasurer Paisius, a native of the Siya Monastery of St Antonius. The value of gifts corresponded to the importance of the recipient. The list of persons included in the fish book of 1686 should be understood as a list of the most revered and important persons and institutions specifically for the Siya Monastery of St Antonius. It can be assumed that the data in this book shows us Moscow “powerful” people (in descending order), who were influential in practice, and not just in rank, and on whom the wellbeing of the Siya Monastery depended at the time. An analysis of the book of 1686 demonstrates a hierarchical society in which the offerings themselves are distributed according to rank (the quality and quantity of the fish offered directly depends on the rank) as are the verbal characteristics of these offerings. In relation to the upper ranks, they are written down as “honour”, and in relation to the lower ranks (ordinary, non-Duma clerks, etc.), basically, without this label: they simply went to “bow.”