Donations to the Monasteries in the Hetmanshchyna: A Social Portrait

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to reproduce the social composition / social portrait of the Hetmanshchyna monasteries donations in order to identify the interests of social groups in a particular monastery; determining the area of distribution of a particular monastery’s influence, and thus outlining the social, geographical and dimensional “extent” of faith.

The research methodology is based on a total analysis of data on depositors included in the sacristy descriptions of monastic temples; application of quantitative-statistical and prosopographic methods.

The scientific novelty of the research is to study the sacristy descriptions as a holistic complex of unique sources that allow reproducing the statistical picture of the social composition of the Hetmanshchyna monasteries depositors, creating a basis for further interpretations.

Conclusions. The social portrait of the Hetmanshchyna monasteries depositors, first of all depended on the status, location of the monastery, the presence of revered shrines, and finally on the activity shown by the monastery itself in communication with potential donations. Each monastery had a special, unique social composition of donors, although individual donors could donate to several monasteries. For all monasteries there is dominance among the investors of the black clergy. First of all the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and the St. Sophia Cathedral look “elite” in terms of social composition of donors. Undoubtedly, Kyiv, with its monasteries, had the status of the sacred capital of the Hetmanshchyna; in the 18th century it became an important sacred center for Russian society. The monasteries of the Hetmanshchyna, outside Kyiv, according to the social composition of the depositors give the impression of local sacred centers, and their possible strengthening is situational and temporary.