History of relations between the Russian Imperial Consulate in Jerusalem and the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem

Importance. The Holy Land, centered in Jerusalem, has always been for Russia not only one of the most important spiritual centers, but also an object of foreign policy interests (within the framework of the political strategy of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and modern Russia). However, many aspects of the activities of Russian institutions in Jerusalem have not been sufficiently investigated to date. One of them is the relationship between the Russian Consulate and the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission. The purpose of the study is to analyze their interaction and identify the causes of its intense nature in the second half of the 19th century.

Materials and Methods. The work is based on a comparative analysis of both archival documents and works published at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries concerning the history of the Russian Empire’s presence in the Middle East and Jerusalem, as well as the activities of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, the Russian Consulate in Jerusalem and the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society. In addition to comparative analysis, the methodological basis of the study was made up of systematic and socio-cultural approaches, as well as the principles of objectivity and historicism.

Results and Discussion. It is shown that the activities of the Russian Consulate in Jerusalem and the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission are clearly regulated by the relevant instructions, which did not allow for double interpretation. At the same time, the instructions that the Mission received are contradictory: on the one hand, its superiors are required to avoid conflicts with foreign structures, primarily with the Jerusalem Patriarchate, and on the other, they were instructed to make efforts to get out of the latter’s care.

Conclusion. Russian Embassy in Jerusalem proved that the primary cause of the strained relations between the Russian Consulate in Jerusalem and the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem was the contradiction between the current state expediency, within which the Russian Consulate in Jerusalem operated, and the political goals of the Russian Empire in the Holy Land, which were pursued by the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem.