Church preaching in the parishes of the Kola deanery in the late 18th — early 19th century

The article is devoted to the previously unexplored issue of the preaching activities of urban and rural clergy in the parishes of the Kola deanery of the Arkhangelsk Diocese in the late XVIII — early XIX century. The research is based on documents from the foundation of the Kemsky Spiritual Collegium (National Archive of the Republic of Karelia), which was subordinated to parishes in Russian Lapland. It turns out that at that time there were no "learned priests" with full seminary education in the clergy of the Kola deanery who could deliver catechetical teachings of their own composition. The preaching of local priests was limited to the recitation of ready-made texts recommended by the Holy Synod. New information is introduced into scientific circulation about the Kola dean Archpriest Vasily Ivanovsky, who played a prominent role in the parish administration in the Kola North at the end of the XVIII — early XIX century.