CC BY
18
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
Lyubov SATUSHIEVA
Ph.D. (Law), Assistant Professor, Chair of Constitutional and Administrative Law,
Berbekov State University of Kabardino-Balkaria (Nalchik, the Russian Federation).
RELIGIOUS CULTURE OF THE PEOPLES OF THE NORTHERN CAUCASUS AND THE RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES (FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY)
Abstract
The author relies on a vast body of published and unpublished archival documents to demonstrate how the Russian Empire gradually built regulatory systems in the sphere of religious relations in the Caucasus.
Her analysis of the specifics of the empire's legal policy in this sphere demonstrates that, on the whole, religious relations were regulated by secular laws. The state was obviously determined to endow all of its
peoples with the rights that its Russian subjects enjoyed. On the other hand, it tried to create a mechanism that would obligate the state structures to observe the law. In other words, it created conditions in which the Russian Muslims could fully enjoy their rights. The author supplies an answer to the central question: Did Russia manage to harmonize the interests of the Caucasian peoples and religious movements in the region through legal means?
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
KEYWORDS: Religious culture, the peoples of the Northern Caucasus, the Russian authorities, Christian Orthodoxy, sects, the Armenian Church, foreign Christian missionaries.
Introduction
The Caucasus, never one of the easiest regions at the best of times, invariably became a focal point during times of radical change. Today, when the Northern Caucasus obviously needs a contemporary legal regulation strategy, we need to look back at the history of legal regulation of religious relations and the life of the peoples of the Caucasus. The experience that has been accumulated in modernizing the religious sphere in the region is highly specific and, at the same time, very similar to what went on in other regions of what were called the "imperial margins."
In the last few decades, Russian society and the state have been showing a lot of interest in the development of legal regulation in the Caucasus. While the independent states of the Central Caucasus deal with their legal systems on their own, the Northern Caucasus is developing as part of the Russian Federation. The far from simple religious problems show that religious life has not yet received an adequate mechanism of control. The history of the development of contemporary Russian law in the Northern Caucasus is becoming increasingly important in view of the insistent demands of the leaders of radical Islam to replace it with the Shari'a, the Muslim legal system; they argue that the Shari'a has been and remains much closer to the North Caucasian peoples and, therefore, much more comprehensible.
In the early 19th century, the Russian Empire declared that it was absolutely tolerant of all religious confessions and trends within its borders. Indeed, in many cases, the Russian administration in the Caucasus strictly followed this principle. In 1828, for example, Ivan Paskevich, Commanderin-Chief of the Caucasian Army wrote to the Chief of the Main Staff of the Caucasian Army that the Erivan Regional Administration should "remain absolutely impartial in everything concerning the relations between the Armenians and the Muslims, never show the former preference and, most importantly, demonstrate religious tolerance and discontinue, if possible, all disagreements about religion and all reproaches (italics mine.—L.S.)."1 In the very first days of Russia's presence in the Caucasus, this fundamental principle underwent considerable changes under the pressure of the geopolitical circumstances.
Confronted with religious diversity, the Russian leading circles, which relied on the Russian Orthodox Church and the Holy Synod, had to deal with it as best as they could. In Georgia alone, for example, the Russians had to establish proper contacts with the Georgian Orthodox, Armenian, Assyrian, and Catholic clergy, etc.2
Christian Orthodoxy
The Russian administration, as well as the Holy Synod, in the Caucasus saw promotion of Christian Orthodoxy among the Russian Cossacks and the mountain peoples as their main task. In 1821, President of the Russian Bible Society Prince Alexander Golitsyn opened the Caucasian Depart-
1 Akty, sobrannye Kavkazskoy arkheografichekoy komissiey. Arkhiv Glavnogo upravleniia namestnika Kavkazskogo (Official Documents Gathered by the Caucasian Archeographic Commission. Archives of the Main Administration of the Vicegerent of the Caucasus), ed. by A.D. Berzhe, Vol. 7, Tiflis, 1878, p. 490.
2 See: Ibid., Vol. 1, 1886, pp. 250-285, 536, 550.
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
ment of the Bible Society in Ekaterinodar (now Krasnodar) to promote the Holy Scriptures in the Caucasus.3 Georgia, which adopted Christianity even before Russia, was a Christian Orthodox state; this explains why the Russian authorities established close ties with the Georgian clergy.
In the Northern Caucasus, the Cossacks were the largest Orthodox group; many of their villages had churches, some of which could be folded up and moved elsewhere to begin functioning again in new places. The religious life of the Cossack Orthodox community was supervised by the Astrakhan, Theodosia, and Mariupol dioceses. A document entitled "On the Churches and the Kuban Cossack Host" shows that the churches took orders from the military. The State Archives of the Krasnodar Territory contain a request from a colonel of the Black Sea Cossack Host and the regiment judge addressed to the Right Reverend Bishop Iov of Theodosia and Mariupol, in which the Cossacks asked for permission to build a church in Taman on a stone foundation (the old church stood on a wooden foundation) and received it. In 1797, the foundation stone of a church for the Cossacks was laid in Ekaterinodar: Archpriest Father Roman Porokhin decided to lay the foundation of this cathedral in the name of Christ's Resurrection.4
Support of the Armenian Church
The Russian authorities also engaged in regulating relations with other Christian Churches. The memorandum of 1828 compiled by Senator Dmitry Bludov about the Armenian Church in Russia said in particular: "The H.I.M. decrees granted to several Armenian societies in Russia on 28 October, 1798 confirmed their right to freely perform their faith to build churches in their villages and perform all religious services and liturgical rules." The document further confirmed their status: "All Armenian societies and their clergy ... depend, in religious matters and church rites, on their patriarchs The Armenians of Russia had their own consistory and administration.5 The Armenian Consistory was set up in Tiflis, the capital of Georgia. In 1843, the report submitted by the main Administration of Transcaucasia said that "besides the Orthodox faith practiced by the peoples of Georgian origin, two main religions of Transcaucasia—the Armenian-Gregorian and Islamic—keep the people of Transcaucasia separated. It is important to patronize the former because of the considerable size of the Armenian population, which constitutes the core of the industrial and trade class and, even more important, because the First Ejmiadzin Monastery, the seat of the Patriarch-Catholicos of Armenians, is situated in the empire." In 1843, the election of a new patriarch and the attention that the Russian government gave the process showed the Armenians that "the government was concerned about the arrangements for and continued wellbeing of the Armenian-Gregorian Church." The Russian authorities had to help, as far as they could, overcome the problems inside the church (that is, be involved in its life using, as the document put it, "all the measures at its disposal").6
Support of Foreign Christian Missionaries
It should be said here that, fully aware that the efforts of the Orthodox clergy were not always effective, the Russian authorities permitted various forms of foreign Christian missionary activity.
In 1804, the Scottish missionaries launched Protestant missionary activities in the Northern Caucasus under special permission from the Russian Government. Early in the 19th century, Prince
3 State Archives of the Krasnodar Territory (further GAKK), rec. gr. 249, inv. 1, f. 787. "On Opening the Bible Society in Ekaterinodar. 1821" (all documents are in Russian unless otherwise stated).
GAKK, rec. gr. 249, inv. 1, f. 294. "On Churches in the Kuban Cossack Host. 1794," sheets 6, 58.
Akty..., Vol. 7, p. 264.
Ibid., Vol. 9, 1884, p. 614.
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
Pavel Tsitsianov received a rescript from St. Petersburg in which he was instructed to help the missionary activities of two Scots—Henry Brunton and Alexander Paterson.7 The Scots spent a lot of time talking to the local people; some of them were persuaded to be baptized. In 1807, Protestants baptized a local mountain dweller, Sultan-Kat Giray, who later became an officer of a dragoon regiment. Those who were baptized went back to the mountains to live in constant fear lest their fellow citizens learned about their apostasy, normally punished with death. Two mullahs baptized by Protestant missionaries were murdered in their auls; they were buried "without honors or even without common rites." To protect the newly baptized people, the Protestants asked the Russians to allow these people to settle in their colony. The Russian authorities refused, which made the Scots very doubtful about how successful their missionary activities in the Northern Caucasus would be.
Alexander Paterson, one of the missionaries, arrived in Russia with a promise from the Russian government to protect the Scots and support them. In fact, however, Russia did not always successfully cope with the task; this is fully confirmed when Paterson, as head of the Scottish colony, asked the Russian authorities in 1813 to allow them to move to a safer place: the colony, dangerously close to Kabardin auls, was regularly invaded, while the Most Gracious deed that promised them protection against the mountain peoples did not always prove adequate.8
The Scottish missionaries were most active among the Ingush who, however, stubbornly refused to be baptized. In 1822, the Scots decided to leave the Northern Caucasus.9 General Ermolov was dead set against the Protestant missionaries: contrary to Russia's interests they taught people to be devoted to Scotland, not Russia.
The Russian authorities actively supported the Catholic missionaries, who were much more successful than their Orthodox colleagues: they would prefer to see the North Caucasian mountain dwellers Catholics rather than Muslims. Jesuit missionaries from Europe acquired part of the fortress of Vladikavkaz, which they used for their activities.10
After a while the situation changed: in 1827, the Russian authorities informed the Metropolitan of the Roman-Catholic Church in Russia Kolumna-Cieciszowski in a secret letter that several recent decrees had prohibited the clergy of the Roman churches from converting to their faith those who belonged to Eastern Christianity and to other faiths. On the strength of these decrees, the Russian authorities demanded that the Roman Church observe "civil harmony with people of other faiths and ... keep away from the flock of others." The Protestant and the Armenian churches were also warned.11
From the point of view of missionary activities, the Ossetian communities looked more promising. However, two documents dated 1830—"Discussion of the Course of Development of the Spiritual Ossetian Commissions Existing So Far"12 and "Preliminary Provisions for Establishing a Missionary Society in the Caucasus"13—banned "introduction of other faiths beyond those professed in the Empire." This meant that from that time on Scottish and other missionary activities were outlawed.
Christian Sects
All sorts of Christian sects (Dukhobors, Sabbatarians, etc.) described as schismatic and very popular among the Cossacks constituted the main problem of spiritual life in the Cossack-populated areas. On the whole, the followers of schismatic sects (Raskolniki) "were not persecutedfor the teach-
' See: Akty..., Vol. 2, 1868, pp. 281, 926.
7 <
8 See: Ibid., Vol. 5, 1873, p. 909.
9 See: Ibid., Vol. 6, Part Two, 1875, p. 507.
10 See: Ibid., Vol. 4, 1870, p. 178.
11 See: Ibid., Vol. 7, p. 311.
12 See: Ibid., Vol. 8, 1881, p. 247.
13 Ibid., p. 247.
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
ings of their sects; they may side with the teaching and perform the rites, but not in public. Under no pretext, however, may they avoidfollowing the general rules of behavior established by law."14 Reality, however, was much more complicated. In 1826, Councilor of State Sergey Lanskoy suggested to General Ermolov that the Dukhobor Cossacks of the Don Cossack Host be moved closer to the border and settled along the Caucasian Line. Lanskoy had the Committee of Ministers behind him, which argued that this would be "doubly useful: first, these people, being in immediate contact with the mountain people, will have to defend their property and families with arms; second, others seeing the way the government used the Dukhobors will prefer to keep away from the sect." It was believed that since the Dukhobors had a bad influence on others they should be used as "living shield."15 Sergey Lanskoy further wrote that since there were not enough Dukhobors from the Don Cossack Host to be spread along the Caucasian Line, Dukhobors from other gubernias could be used for this purpose. General Ermolov objected: there were only 86 Dukhobor families in the Don Cossack Host, which meant that, if moved to the borders where the mountain people live, "they will be sacrificed to these people during the first attack." The General suggested moving the Dukhobor Cossacks to Siberia.16 The issue resurfaced in 1839 when Governor Count Mikhail Vorontsov wrote to Evgeny Golovin, Chief Administrator in the Caucasus, that to wipe out the "plague," the Dukhobors of the Taurida Gubernia should be moved deep into the Caucasus.17
There were many Sabbatarians among the Cossacks, whom the government did not like. In 1825, in a letter to General Ermolov, Sergey Lanskoy wrote that "the Committee of Ministers is sure that this dissent with the Orthodoxy should not at all be tolerated by the government, which should protect the dominant faith and its members against temptations pernicious to them and to society, and believes that this evil should be cut short and that reliable barriers should be put in place."18 There was also a sect of Bespopovtsy among the North Caucasian Cossacks.19 In 1836, the Ministry of Internal Affairs asked the governor of the Black Sea Area whether there were Old Believers and Raskolniki in the region. There was a certain Petr Chirikov there, who, in 1830, had joined the sect of castrates (Skoptsy), was punished by flogging, and was living in an area under police supervision. He tried to persuade others to join the sect, but few were tempted. There were dissenters (2,042 men and 493 women) who did not recognize either priests or icons; they had no churches. Other dissenters had priests and icons; they had three churches, 15 chapels, and one monastery. There were no Sabbatarians, Dukhobors, Molokans, or Pomors in the area.20 The Jews were banned from the Caucasian and Black Sea areas "because there were Sabbatarians living there (1831)."21
In 1836, Baron Rozen suggested that 20 thousand peasants from the Poltava and Kharkov gubernias should be moved to the Black Sea Area to improve the arrangements of the Black Sea Host and "to prevent schismatic activities detrimental to society by imposing strict responsibility on the local commanders so that they keep Old Believers, Sabbatarians or Judaizers, Dukhobors, Molokans, and others isolated from the settlers." Only "people of the Greco-Russian faith" were allowed to resettle; any Raskolniki wishing to join by deceit "will be exposed and exiled to Siberia."22 Back in 1830, according to the "Note on Russian Settlers-Raskolnki in the Caspian Area," Old Believers,
14 Ibid., Vol. 6, Part Two, p. 754.
15 Ibid., p. 464.
16 See: Ibid., p. 465.
17 See: Ibid., Vol. 9, p. 16.
18 Ibid., Vol. 6, Part Two, p. 631.
19 See: Ibid., p. 752.
20 GAKK, rec. gr. 249, inv. 1, f. 1483. "On a Secret Circular Letter of the Ministry of the Interior on the Way the Old Believers and Raskolniki Should be Brought to Oath," sheets 1-27.
21 GAKK, rec. gr. 249, inv. 1, f. 1224. "On the Ban for the Jews to Live in the Caucasian and Black Sea Areas because There were Sabbatarians Living there and on a Number of Sectarians in the Black Sea Area and on Deporting the Jews from the Black Sea Host."
22Akty..., Vol. 8, pp. 839-840.
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
Dukhobors, Molokans, Skoptsy (Castrated), Judaizers (or Sabbatarians) were moved there.23 According to the correspondence of Count Vorontsov, in 1845, the Russian authorities decided to "review the rules of resettlement of dissenters of pernicious sects from the inland gubernias" to the Caucasus to undermine their influence in Russia.24
Islam and Christian Orthodoxy among the Mountain Dwellers of the Northern Caucasus
Formally, Russia demonstrated that it was "tolerant" of the Muslims. A letter Evgeny Golovin wrote to Minister of War Chernyshev in 1839 said, in part, that "to persuade the mountain dwellers who live opposite the left flank of the Caucasian Line that our government is tolerant and looks after the Muslim peoples in the same way as all other loyal peoples," mullahs from Kazan were sent to Daghestan to organize Muslim services.25 In 1846, Count Vorontsov issued an address to the peoples of Chech-nia and Daghestan in which he persuaded them to calm down and accept the rule of Russia: "Your faith, your laws and customs, your wives and children, your property and your lands will remain untouched."26 In the latter half of the 19th century, Ossetia acquired the Ossetian police, in which Muslims and Orthodox Christians served together; those who distinguished themselves were presented with awards irrespective of their religious affiliation.27
Let us take a look at a case where the traditions and customs of the mountain peoples were raised for the first time. It is called "Demands of the Kabardin Princes to Preserve the Rights and Customs of Their Land" (1827-1833); the Kabardins asked, among other things, for patronage and freedom of religion. The Commander of the Caucasian Army instructed his subordinates to find out whether freedom of religion among the Kabardins was violated. Colonel of Artillery Katsarov, who commanded a fortress in Nalchik, wrote on 24 July, 1827 to Commander of the Caucasian Troops General Emmanuel: "There have been no infringements on the freedom of religion among the Kabardins." However, this was at a time when pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina were banned because the mountain people "brought a pestilence" with them when they returned. The ban was instituted in 1822 under General Ermolov; before that the mountain people visited the holy places with partial financial aid from the local authorities.28
It was as early as the 19th century that the Russian authorities divided the Muslims of the Caucasus into the Muslims of the Northern Caucasus and Transcaucasia. The former had no special status in the Russian Empire, while efforts were made to create a certain status for the latter. In 1831, a Committee on Arrangements for the Muslim Provinces of Transcaucasia was set up in Tiflis. It contained a section called "On the Clergy."29
The documents said the following about Islam, the religion of a large share of the Transcaucasian population (including Daghestan): "It is very important to keep in check at all times its hostility toward Christianity. This has become especially important today, when we should cut short the religious-political teaching of the murids detrimental to our power here." It was suggested that "the [Islamic] clergy respected by the people and loyal to the government be supported, dissent among the Muslim
23 See: Akty..., Vol. 10, 1885, p. 281.
24 See: Ibid., p. 117.
25 See: Ibid., Vol. 9, p. 326.
26 Ibid., Vol. 10, p. 361.
27 See: Ibid., p. 227.
28 The Russian State Military-Historical Archives (further RGVIA), rec. gr. 13454, inv. 2, f. 49. "Demands of the Kabardin Princes to Preserve their Rights," sheets 5-6rev.
29 Akty..., Vol. 7, p. 432.
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
clergy cut short, means of subsistence provided, ill-advised interference of civilian authorities in affairs under the competence of the spiritual structures discontinued, and the rights of the Muslim spiritual courts preserved."30
Back in 1805, Pavel Tsitsianov pointed out that the Russian authorities, which remained loyal to the principle of "religious tolerance in Russia," were, therefore, concerned about organizing the life of the Muslims. The top Muslim clergy of Transcaucasia received wages.31 In the Northern Caucasus, the situation was different. General G.A. Emmanuel submitted a "Note on Preserving Folk Rights and Customs" based on explanations received from the Kabardin princes and uzdens (members of the nobility) supplied with his comments. The document had the following sections: "On Encouraging Religion and Freedom of Religion," "On Separating Civil and Spiritual Laws," etc. The author succinctly described what the Russians wanted in the Caucasus in the sphere of religion: "to undermine the power of the Muslim clergy" and offered the following solutions: "proliferation of European education among the Asian peoples is the best and most reliable way to gradually uproot their hatred of Christians and achieve their loyalty to the Russian government." Dmitry Dashkov, who at that time looked after the foreign religious confessions, made the following comment on the general's Note: proliferation of enlightened Islam (that is, proliferation of Islam among the ordinary people) among the Kabardins would merely distance them from the Christians since there is a lot of hatred toward Christians, while the Muslim books treat Christians as infidels and preach hatred of them. Dashkov suggested a somewhat different approach to the problem: kadies selected from among the Kabardin clergy should be organized into a corps of pro-Russian Muslim clergy who would help the Russian authorities in the Caucasus to change the judicial customs of the Kabardins.32
In 1834, Rozen gave the head of the Tsebelda community the following instructions: "All Caucasian tribes that became subjects of the great Emperor of All Russia will preserve their faiths (italics mine.—L.S.). This means that the Tsebelda people will preserve their Muslim faith; no one will force them to change it. Your spiritual leaders ... will be always patronized by the Russian government."33 It was in 1837 that Baron Rozen specified the status of Islam in the Caucasus for the first time in The Statute of the Muslim Rule in Transcaucasia.34 According to a later document of 1863, "Note on Identifying the Personal Rights of the Supreme Estates in the Muslim Areas of Transcaucasia," the first draft of The Statute on Establishing a Higher or Privileged Estate in the Muslim Population of Transcaucasia appeared in 1845.35
In 1824, the "Instructions to the Chief Holy Person of the Kuban Province" regulated the life of the Muslim clergy and their flock; it dealt with the central issue—the number of clergy members in the auls; there should be no mosques in the auls with fewer than ten households.36
Back in 1744, an Ossetian department was set up at the Georgian Church with the purpose of baptizing the Ossetians (whose ancestors had been Christians). In 1769, it was moved to Mozdok and placed under the control of the Russian Orthodox Church.37 In 1759, Kargok Kanchokin, who owned Smaller Kabarda, was baptized and moved to Mozdok on the banks of the River Terek. In 1762, the Ruling Senate passed a Decree under which those wishing to embrace Christianity should be encouraged by the permission to settle "on our side" of the River Terek. The same decree ruled that the newly baptized should be encouraged by one-time grants from the "income of Kizlyar": the uzdeni
30 Ibid., Vol. 9, p. 614.
31 Ibid., Vol. 2, p. 286.
32 See: Ibid., Vol. 7, pp. 864-865.
33 See: Ibid., p. 455.
34 See: Ibid., p. 335.
35 National Archives of Georgia, rec. gr. 5. Chancellery of the head of the Chief Administration of the Head of the Civilian Affairs in the Caucasus, inv. 1, f. 131. "Note on Identifying Personal Rights of the Supreme Estates in the Muslim Areas of Transcaucasia."
36 See: Akty..., Vol. 6, Part Two, p. 109.
37 See: Ibid., Vol. 1, p. 83.
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
could expect 10 rubles; the ordinary people, 5 rubles, while the unmarried would receive 2.5 rubles.38 According to an apt comment by General von Medem, military commander of the Mozdok Line, made in 1772, "because of the way of life and the places they live the Kabardins were and will remain in future, very much according to the Muslim laws, hostile at heart to our Christian side."39 The general was convinced that Russia should demonstrate tolerance of the Kabardins and the other North Caucasian peoples and "deal with them with maximum firmness, benevolence, and fairness" to convince them that it was in their interests to become part of Russia.40
Prince Grigory Potemkin wrote that in 1787 nine Karachai elders had come to him to ask for protection against the Kabardins; they were prepared to be baptized together with their families and all their people. Prince Potemkin invited clergy members from the Ossetian Spiritual Orthodox Commission to perform the rite. The Karachais, 120 households in all, moved to the White River; the Russian authorities pledged to protect them against the Kabardins.41 Other peoples were prepared to do the same under the same condition. The Kabardins were brave and very aggressive in their relations with the other North Caucasian peoples. According to a report of 30 April, 1772 submitted by General von Medem, the peoples of the Northern Caucasus had nothing against Christianity "from the practical point of view." The Ingush, for example, preferred to gain Russia's patronage against the Kabardins, to whom they paid tribute (one ram from each household), therefore, "many of them became baptized" to be moved under protection of the Russian troops.42 The general deemed it necessary to stress that "since those who come down from the mountains are driven by mercantilist considerations rather than a sincere desire to become Christians, and frequently to avoid punishment," these people should be baptized only with his permission. "This ended one of the greatest causes of displeasure among the mountain peoples."43
In 1809, in a leaflet addressed to the trans-Kuban peoples, General Alexander Tormasov wrote that since these people had become resolved to end their inroads, Russia forgave them and was prepared to extend its patronage to them: "The government will do everything it can to improve your wellbeing." The trans-Kuban peoples acquired the right "to build mosques, if they wanted, and to conduct services according to their faith and law"; they were allowed to be engaged in barter or any other form of trade. "You can see for yourself that Russian patronage will be mild and very charitable for you. You can also see that your faith is not persecuted, but, on the contrary, encouraged... Indeed, the rules of your faith teach you to obey God and the Emperor because all resistance with bring evil to you." Any violation of the oath to the Emperor given on the Koran was described as evil, as the violation of Islam, while violations of the Koran promised hell to those who violated its commandments.44
In 1810, in his letter to General Sergey Bulgakov, Major General Ivan Delpotso pointed out that the Ingush who had settled in Nazran had adopted Islam. He insisted that they should move to Vladikavkaz, "remain loyal, destroy their mosques, and drive away the Muslim mullahs, preachers, and teachers."45 In 1810, General Tormasov wrote that the Ingush people "are not yet firm in their Muslim faith and can be baptized."46 The same year, he wrote to General Bulgakov that it was important "to revive among them the Christian law they have abandoned and forgotten, build a church, on state money, in one of their big villages, and give them a reliable priest of good conduct" and with a good salary.47
8 See:Akty..., Vol. 1, p. 82.
9 Ibid., p. 86.
1 See: Ibid., p. 89.
1 See: Ibid., Vol. 2, p. 1116.
2 See: Ibid., Vol. 1, p. 86.
3 Ibid., p. 90.
1 See: Ibid., Vol. 4, pp. 889-890.
5 Ibid., p. 896.
6 Ibid., p. 898.
' See: Ibid., p. 897.
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
On 22 August, 1810, General Delpotso and the Ingush people signed an agreement which made them Russian subjects on certain conditions. Under Point 2 of the document, they pledged "we shall regard all enemies of the Russian throne, including our Muslim neighbors, as our enemies" and were no longer obligated to pay tribute to the Kabardins (as they had done earlier). Under Point 11, "from the time of signing the agreement and in perpetuity, we and our descendants promise to object to the preaching and establishment of Muslim law among us, never accept effendis, mullahs and other Islamic spiritual figures and never build mosques. If we violate our promise the Russian commanders have the right to treat us as their enemies."48
The file "Demands of the Kabardin Princes to Preserve the Rights and Customs of Their Land" (1827-1833) contains an interesting comment by a Russian colonel: on the one hand, "the commanders did not allow the Kabardins to oppress those who want to be Christians," while on the other, "the Christians should not persuade the mountain people under false pretext to embrace Christianity."49
Under the secret instructions Prince Tsitsianov issued for the Mozdok military commandant, the Russian authorities should encourage "all people of other faiths wishing to embrace the Greek law and convert all of Kabarda to this faith." As a rule, however, the Kabardins who fled from their land and settled in Mozdok agreed to be baptized in order to continue stealing, killing, and plundering. Fully aware of this, Pavel Tsitsianov suggested that before baptism the moral qualities of those wishing to be converted and their knowledge of Russian should be checked.50
In the first half of the 19th century, the Northern Caucasus was an arena of incessant struggle between Russian-Georgian Orthodoxy and Turkish Islam, the Orthodox clergy being the losing side. Here is what one of the documents sent to the Ruling Senate said in 1830: "The Ossetians are Christians, however Turkish mullahs are preaching Islam among them and succeeding. The Orthodox priests do not have ingenuity and gifts of the mullahs; it is desirable therefore that the Georgian clergy send better priests in future."51
The Ossetian societies looked more promising from the missionaries' point of view. This is confirmed by the documents dated 1830: "Discussion of the Course of Development of the Spiritual Ossetian Commissions Existing So Far"52 and "Preliminary Provisions for Establishing a Missionary Society in the Caucasus."53 The rule "On Ways to Draw the Mountain Peoples and Russians Closer Together" was the centerpiece of the documents: "These ways lie within the responsibility of the civilian authorities; their success will also useful for the Missionary Society because this drawing closer will favorably dispose the people toward the civilian system while the ideas of these peoples will be purified and much more benevolent and, therefore, more responsive to the Word of God."54 By the mid-19th century, the Russian authorities had to admit that their efforts to spread Christianity among the Ossetians had failed. In 1848, Count Vorontsov wrote to Archimandrite Isidore about the decline of Christian feelings among the Ossetians and discussed the reasons.55 He wrote that "the mullahs who arrive from subjugated Chechnia have the right to visit Ossetian villages, in which Muslims live, to talk to them about their faith. Muslim landlords receive these mullahs at home, following the generally accepted rules of hospitality." He further wrote that if mullahs from the still rioting part of Chechnia come to Ossetia they should be treated "as enemies." "Organizing mosques in Muslim villages was never banned. They can do this very much like other Muslims living elsewhere in inland Russia. A ban on building mosques would have invited an unpleasant or even pernicious response."
48 Ibid., p. 900.
49 RGVIA, rec. gr. 13454, inv. 2, f. 49. "Demands ofthe Kabardin Princes to Preserve the Rights and Customs of Their Land," sheets 5-6rev.
50 See: Akty..., Vol. 2, p. 970.
51 Ibid., Vol. 7, p. 373.
52 See: Ibid., Vol. 8, p. 247.
53 See: Ibid., p. 253.
54 Ibid., p. 258.
55 See: Ibid., Vol. 10, p. 227.
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
Count Vorontsov suggested measures designed to weaken the determination of those Ossetians who wanted to leave Christianity to become Muslims and to fortify the position of Christianity among the Ossetians. He dispatched Second Captain of Cavalry Tolstoy together with an archpriest to the Ossetian districts of Vladikavkaz and Digora to announce that "the government does not interfere and will not interfere in the future with the administration of rites of the Muslim religion; it will remain loyal to religious tolerance, which means that their faith is secure; at the same time under the laws of our Empire and according to the spirit of the Christian religion, it is strictly prohibited to move from Christianity to Islam; those born Christians or once baptized cannot become Mohammedanized (italics mine.—L.S.). "56
Count Vorontsov said the same in his report on the administration of the Caucasian Area for 1846-1848. In the section "Religions," he wrote that the Russian authorities should work with "halfChristians" to draw them to Christianity, not to Islam.57
He suggested that Provisions for the Muslim Clergy should be drawn up since the drafts created so far "had nothing to do either with the spirit of the people or with the real needs." With this aim in view, he sent Nikolay Khanykov, who had excellent knowledge of Oriental languages, to study the situation regarding Islam inside the region. He travelled across all the Muslim provinces and set about drafting the Provisions. He warned that "this subject should be treated with the greatest care. The Muslim clergy interprets even the slightest limitations as the government's intention to suppress the Muslim faith, which might trigger fanaticism very dangerous for the state." It was decided to set up schools of the Omarov and Aliev Muslim trends to educate pro-Russian mullahs with a good command of Russian.
In this way, Russia started using money to control the Muslim clergy; the amount of money allotted to each of them depended on the degree of loyalty of their flock. In 1803, for example, Prince Tsitsianov, in his instructions to Count Vorontsov, pointed out that the Tabasaran kadi had asked for an increase in his salary of 1.5 thousand rubles; the authorities were reluctant since his "loyalty was sham." He died soon after this; his son, who filled his post, demanded more money to be answered, in turn, that "in the absence of any signs or any experience of his loyalty," he was not entitled to a salary.58 In 1834, Prince Shakhovskoy sent a report to Baron Rozen in which he stressed the need to "allocate money to building stone mosques; faith should not be restrained by the ban on pilgrimages to Mecca; a mosque and a school should be opened in Nalchik to teach the Russian language and Muslim law."59 On the other hand, General Karl Fezi wrote in 1838 to Baron Rozen: "Shamil is stirring up unrest among the mountain peoples against us. His efforts as a private person would have been vain had not religious fanaticism dominated the minds of the Lezghians and forced them to hate Christians." Therefore, concluded the general, the struggle against the Daghestanis is "a struggle against the religious and social prejudices of these savage tribes."60
In 1852, Vice Admiral Serebryakov, engaged in naval warfare against the Ottoman Turks off the Black Sea coast, reported to his superiors: "The Caucasian clergy is operating within a wide range of its holy activities to fulfill its divine calling to enlighten the semi-savage tribes with the Word of God. Each private person appointed to administer the region should bear in mind that beside the honor and glory of arms he is duty bound to help the clergy in its works." He went on to describe the means and methods used to promote Christianity among the mountain peoples and pointed out that Islam had become an instrument of political confrontation between the mountain peoples, who called all Russian "gyaurs" (infidels), and the Russian state.61
56Akty., Vol. 10, p. 229.
57 See: Ibid., pp. 856-857.
58 See: Ibid., Vol. 2, pp. 757-758.
59 Ibid., Vol. 8, p. 637.
60 Ibid., Vol. 9, p. 309.
61 See: Ibid., Vol. 10, p. 233.
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
Islam, perceived as an instrument of anti-Russian policy, became a tag attached to the North Caucasian Muslims; from that time on the Russian Empire was no longer talking about the legal status of the Muslims, but was determined to fight Islam and its followers as the "enemies" of the Russian statehood in the region.
Conclusion
The legal regimes St. Petersburg established in the Caucasus in the 18th-early 20th centuries were nothing more than legal constructs ill-adapted to Caucasian reality. The local people could make neither heads nor tails of what the Russian officials and Russian lawyers expected from them. The Russian authorities were fully aware of their failures and, throughout the 18th and the first half of the 19th centuries tried to adjust, at least partly, the regulatory acts and mechanisms of their implementation to the requirements of Caucasian society and the level of its social development.
The history of legal regulation of religious relations between the Russian authorities and the so-called "alien peoples" (the peoples whose lands were joined to the Russian Empire in the 17th-19th centuries) shows that the Russian Empire, albeit willing to be a law-governed state in which legal principles prevailed over political expediency, fell short of the aim.
Study of specifics of the legal policy regarding religious relations in the Russian Empire revealed that, on the whole, they were regulated by secular laws. Russia wanted to gradually extend the rights its Russian subjects enjoyed to all other peoples; it even tried to create mechanisms that ensured the state's observance of these rights, that is, mechanisms for realizing the rights of the Russian Muslims.
