Policy of the Emperor Nicholas I towards the Uniate Church and the Polish uprising 1830–1831

The reign of Emperor Nicholas I began under the slogan of “continuing the reign” of Emperor Alexander I. Initially, he did not aim to alter the governmental system in the western provinces, which had been established under his predecessor. However, by the second half of the 1820s, there was a gradual departure from the previous course, particularly in the realms of educational and religious policy. The young emperor rejected any encroachments on the territorial integrity of the Russian Empire. He regarded Russia’s possession of the “Lithuanian heritage” of Empress Catherine the Great as historically justified. Nicholas I and his officials considered the Polish rebellion of 1830–1831 as a continuation of the revolutionary unrest in Europe that commenced with the July Revolution in Paris. After the suppression of the rebellion, the process of forming a new political governance model for the Western Region commenced. Nicholas I’s strategy for integrating the western provinces included key elements such as aligning the local government system with models common throughout the Russian Empire, fully incorporating the Polish nobility into the empire’s elite, strengthening all-Russian institutions, introducing the Russian language into local judicial proceedings and educational institutions, gradual Russian colonization of border territories, and more. Even before 1830-1831, Nicholas I demonstrated his intention not only to halt the polonization of the Uniate Church but also to foster closer ties between Greek Catholics and the Orthodox Church. After the suppression of the Polish rebellion, the liquidation of several Catholic and Uniate monasteries and the secularization of church property became significant developments in the realm of confessional politics. While the overall participation of the Uniate clergy in the rebellion was insignificant, reports of mutinous activities among the Basilian monks resonated greatly in Saint Petersburg. The article explores Emperor Nicholas I and his officials’ assessment of the religious factor in the Polish rebellion of 1830–1831 in the western provinces, as well as the significance they attributed to the loyalty of the highest hierarchs of the Uniate Church.