CIVILIZATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN YAKUTIA (17TH - EARLY 20TH CENTURIES)

Orthodoxy became one of the main means of integration of the ethnic groups of the Sakha region in all-Russia's socio-economic structure in the process of inter-civilizational interaction. The article is aimed at identifying the main activities of the Russian Orthodox Church as a civilization integrators of the public policy in the territory of Yakutia in the 18th - early 20th centuries, namely the definition of the stages of the missionary activity; the integration activities of the parish clergy; the practice of applying spiritual justice; characteristics of the educational ministry of the clergy, as a means of familiarization of the people of Yakutia to the Russian civilization. It was found out that the peculiaritiesof living in the far North led to the fact that the systematic relationship between the population and the civil authorities were onlyin regional and district centres. For most of the rural population, leading the nomadic or semi-nomadic way of life, a parish priest played a great role. Thus, on the basis of Orthodoxy there was founded a universal basis for inter-civilization interaction, when ethnic origin wasenrichedby the Orthodox, the Russian, and the world civilizations.

Russian Orthodox Church, the Yakut Diocese, missionary work, parish, clergy, spiritual justice, integration, the clergy