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The paper discusses the interaction of the police and the church of county town of Verkhneudinsk in the protection of Orthodox morality and decorum. The church, like the police, in the context of common policy by the state regulation of private society, was endowed with the basic functions of maintaining law and order in society. By using archival materials, author results in a number of subjects for the characteristics of the main directions of joint activities of the two institutions. The special importance of the interaction of police and spiritual power was the preservation of Orthodox morality and ethics inherent in the historical period. Within the framework of these tasks, the police provided a sufficient level of authority to preserve the influence of the clergy and Orthodoxy as the basis of the ideological content of society. Both of these authorities intervened in the private life of the society, regulating the execution of necessary church activities, private life and so on. In case of failure of individuals to perform the mandatory regulations, there were repressive measures, which caused some kind of protest and resistance. According to the author, the church on equal terms with the police was a bureaucratic agency, acting on behalf of the ruling power.

Keywords: city police, history of Verkhneudinsk, church administration, commandant of the fortress, Irkutsk Province, interaction of secular and spiritual power, Irkutsk spiritual consistory

DOI: 10.22250/2072-8662.2020.2.15-22

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About the author 

Roman A. Evtekhov –PhD (Historical Sciences), Research fellow at the Department of History and Theory of Politics, Lomonosov Moscow State University;
1 Leninskie gory st., Moscow, Russia, 119991; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.