Orthodox Posts in the Life of the Russian Province

Abstract

In the 19th century, the financial position of the parish clergy in the countryside was not much higher than that of wealthy peasants, and in the city, it was comparable to the position of the lower part of the bureaucracy and the bulk of the townspeople (with the exception of the clergy of cathedrals and, of course, the court clergy). At this time, the practice (not formally legalized by any civil code or church canon) of the actual inheritance of church parishes was established, when the diocesan bishop, when the parish priest retired, secured, at the request of the latter, a place for his son or son-in-law.