The first Russian convents were established during the reign of Vladimir the Great, but the cradle of all the Russian convents was the Petchersky Laura at Kief, which had been founded by Anthony, a monk of Mount Athos, during the reign of Yaroslav (1036- 5i). From that time the convents increased rapidly. In 1542 Ivan II Vasilivitch forbade, at the Council of Moscow, the establishing of a convent without the per- mission of the monarch and the diocesan bishop. Peter the Great not only forbade bishops and other persons to build convents or hermitages, but also ordered the aboli- tion of smaller convents and of all hermitages. Catiia- rine II, in 17G4, confiscated the entire property of the convents. At the same time many convents were sup- pressed, for the empress intended to preserve only the most prominent convents in the large cities and those that were most celebrated. In consequence of numerous petitions addressed to her, the empress allowed the con- timiance of many convents under the condition that such convents shoidd support themselves or be support- ed by the voluntary offerings of the people. Since that time two classes of convents have been distinguished, those which are supported by the Economy College and tliose which are not. The former are, like the eparchies, divided into tliree classes, according to the number of inmates and the amount of their salaries.
4. Stdtislics. — The procurator- general of the Holy Synod publishes annually an account of the conihtion of the Russian Church. The following facts are taken
from the report made by the present procurator-general, count Tolstoi, on the state of the Church in 187(5, and published in April, 1878. There were in 1875 in all the eparchies, with the exception of the exarchate Grusia, the Alexandro-Nevski Laura (convent of tlie tirst rank) of St. Petersburg, and the Petchayevsk-Uspensky Laura at Kief, from which no report had been received. 6*3 archiepiscopal houses and 380 convents of monks, of which 1G9 received no support from the State. Tlie total number of monks was 10,512, of whom 4G21 were serving brothers. Of nunneries there were 147 (forty of which derived no support from the State), with 14,574 nuns, of whom 10,771 were serving sisters. Tlie num- ber of cathedral churches, including 57 episcopal church- es, 5G2 chief churches of cities, 3 army cathedrals, and 3 navy cathedrals, was 625; of other churches, 39,338 ; of chapels and oratories, 13,594. Of the churches, 227 par- ish churches are reported to belong to Raskolniks. The total number of the secular clergy, which includes the sextons, was 98,802. In the course of the year 1876, 323 churches and 170 chapels and oratories were built. There were 87 hospitals with 1192 inmates, and 605 poorhouses with 6763 inmates. The number of persons received into the Russian Church was 12,340, embracing 1192 Roman Catholics, olG United Greeks, 8 Armenians, 688 Protestants, 2539 Raskolniks, or Old Believers (1498 completely united with the Russian Church, and 1041 re- served the use of the ancient canons), 450 .Jews, 219 Mo- hammedans, and 6728 pagans. The number of divorces was 1023 ; in 29 cases the cause was remarriage of the one party during the lifetime of the other; in 2, too close con- sanguinity; in 15, impotence; in 80, adultery ; in 650, the unknown residence of one party; in 247, the condemna- tion of one party to forced labor or exile. The institu- tions for the etlucation of the i lergy, with the number of their teachers and pupils, were as follows :
Institutions.
Number.
Teachers.
Pupils.
4 1S6
131
888 1G23
ftS6 12.401 .
27,85.')
Total
243
2C4'2
40,842
The number of schools connected with churches and monasteries was 6811, with an aggregate of 197,191 pu- pils, of whom 170,461 were male and 26,730 female. The number of Church libraries was 15,770 ; the number of new libraries established in the course of the year, 235. The Church property under the administration of the procurator-general amounted, on .Jan. I, 1877, to 26,855,858 rubles. The population connected with the Orthodox Russian Church, with the exception of three Asiatic eparchies, the exarchate Grusia, and the army and navy, from which no reports had been received, amounted to 57,701,660. Adding an estimate of the Orthodox population in the districts above named, the total population of the Orthodox Russian Church was in 1876 about 60,100,000. The Orthodox Church pre- vails in each of the sixty governments into which Eu- ropean Russia isdividcd, except sixteen, nf which twelve are chietly inhabited by Roman Catholics, three bj' Protestants, and one by Mohammedans. Of the total Orthodox population about 54,900,000 live in European Russia, 2,100,000 in Caucasia, 3,000.000 in Siberia, and 270,000 in Central Asia. The grand-duchy of Finland has about 37,000 adherents of the Russian Church. Out- side of Russia the Russian Ciuirch has established mis- sions in China and Japan which are reported as making satisfactory progress, and as counting in each country a population of about 5000 soul.s.
II. Other Christian Churches. — "WhWc nearly the entire population in those provinces wliich have not been under any other than Russian rule belong to the Greek Church, the empire lias received a large Roman Catholic population by the jiartition of Poland, and a considerable Protestant jiopMlation by the annexation of the Baltic provinces. The conquest of Erivan in
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1828 placed under Russian rule not only a considerable ])ortion of the Armenian Church, but the seat of its head, the catholicos of Etchmiadzin.