Abstract

The importance of the research is caused by the significance of institutional history issues in modern history research, i.e. functioning of educational systems as a special field of interaction of state and society, various public institutions, science, an individual and generations (teachers and students). The purpose of the article is to determine the position of the lyceum catechist in a secular educational environment based on research of a particular era (19th - early 20th centuries) and a specific region (Kazan as a typical provincial center of the Russian Empire). The main methodology of the research has become the prosopography method used to create the collective biographies by identifying a specific group of persons related to a common field and interests, representing a corporate community (in this case - the Orthodox Church), implemented by the responses to the same questions. In the research, the authors obtained results showing a unique position of a lyceum catechist in the Russian Empire of specified period who belonged simultaneously to two corporations - the clergy of the Orthodox Church and members of the educational community of secular secondary education. The requirements of each of these corporations to be met by their members often came into conflict between particular individuals. These circumstances have contributed to the deepening crisis of religious education in secular educational environment of the Russian Empire. The results presented in the article may be useful for the studies within the institutional history of education and the church, as well as for modern Russian discussions about the place of religion in a secular educational environment.

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