State and Religious Institutes under Nicolas I Rule and the Problems of the Russian Empire Religious Security

In the article the author examines the issues of Russian empire state and religious institutions formation and development, the organization of which was initiated by Peter I. The special role in the institutions organization and their interrelations establishment belonged to the traditional exclusive status of the “dominant” Russian Orthodox Church supported by the monarchy. Under the rule of Catherine II a new stage began in the development of faith toleration and “Russian schism” control institutions based on the ideas of Enlightenment, and the said stage continued until the beginning of the reign of Nicolas I. The government of Nicolas I promulgated the Code of laws that that codified the legal basis for the administration of Russian Church and “foreign confessions” subject to the faith tolerance institution that entered into sharp contradiction with the intolerance policy in regard to the communities of Russian old faith followers and members of sects that were officially termed “schism”. Realizing in parallel two diametrically opposed projects of institutions formation the government of Nicolas I pursued the strategic goal of providing the Russian state religious security.