Mankova I. Archbishop of Siberia Simeon’s Trip to Tobolsk and to the Kodsky Khanty in 1656

I. Mankova
Institute of the History and Archaeology of Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0003-1496-0574
E-mail: ilman.08@mail.ru

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ABSTRACT. Expanding the source base remains a crucial task for the historical studies of religious transformations among the indigenous population of northwestern Siberia in the 17th century. The article introduces a new source into scholarly circulation, which contains an early Russian description of the life and religious traditions of the Khanty people, who resided on the territory of the former Kodsky principality. This is a letter from the Archbishop of Siberia and Tobolsk Simeon to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich about a trip to Kodsky town in the summer of 1656. The source is held in the Siberian Order fund of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents (RSAAD). The purpose of the bishop’s visit was to put in order and consecrate the Trinity church for the prospective monastery. During his stay in the town of Kodsky, the bishop conducted missionary talks among the Khanty, who came from different volosts near the Ob River. The article discusses the circumstances under which Archbishop Simeon’s letter had appeared, analyzes Simeon’s ideas about the life and faith of the natives, and explains his attention to the plight of the Khanty people. The author suggests that the head of the Siberian diocese pointed to the insufficient material support from the secular authorities as the reason for the Khanty not to accept Orthodoxy. The document under consideration, in conjunction with other sources, gives grounds to question the assertion, widespread in historiography, about the automatic exemption of the newly baptized from the yasak duty. The letter allows us to clarify and add details to the history of the Kondinsky Trinity monastery, which has been of interest to many researchers. The full text of the letter is published in the appendix to the article.

KEYWORDS: Archbishop of Siberia and Tobolsk Simeon, Kodsky town, Khanty, Christianization, yasak duty

DOI 10. 312 5 0/2 618 - 8 6 0 0 -2 02 3 -3 (21) -9 0 -101
УДК 930.2+39 (=511.142)

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