PHJ № 2 (34) 2022 — Table of contents

The history of the spread of the Orthodox faith and the Russification carried out by the Russian state in the 19th century have been studied and disclosed in hundreds of scientific works (in our study, we note only modern works). The topic, however, is so great that researchers discover new aspects of the state’s religious and ethnic policy. One of these aspects was the use of the justice authorities to implement general imperial norms in the life of non-Russian communities. Revealing this topic on the example of the confrontation between two judicial figures — the chairman of the congress of justices of the peace (N. V. Loganov) and the chief prosecutor of the Senate (A. F. Koni), we have identified two approaches to Russification. One (Loganov) assumed the active use of administrative authorities, coercion, and the justice authorities were seen as a punitive body helping the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Others (Koni) believed that freedom of conscience is above all, and the introduction of Orthodoxy and Russification should take place through persuasion, propaganda, and a positive example. Obviously, Koni’s path was more advantageous and preferable. But where could so many competent officials be found to maintain such a road? The general composition of Russian officials was distinguished by an average level of training, and their chiefs — generals or right-wing monarchists — preferred to go ahead. The officials of the western provinces of the empire, liquidating the union and squeezing out the Polish language, “broke a lot of firewood”, embittered the population, and formed a staunch opposition among the population. Appealing police actions in court, the filed-nye faced with collusion of justice and internal affairs bodies. The situation changed when the appealed sentences reached the Senate. At the end of the 19th century, such sentences were constantly “broken” when they found themselves in the Criminal Cassation Department of the Senate, where they were not allowed to go by Chief Prosecutor Koni. The position of the Senate undermined the assertive policy of the administrative bodies of government of the provinces. The fight against Uniatism gave rise to many problems, confused the legal situation, and put thousands of people in a stricken position. After 1905, the gradual introduction of the principle of freedom of conscience into legislation and the life of Western Russian society began. Half of the former Polish Uniates left Orthodoxy and converted to Catholicism.