The role of the clerks of the Patriarchal State Order in the issuance of patriarchal alms in the second half of the 17th century.

Okhlopkova Viktoriia ORCID: 0009-0002-1184-5896 Postgraduate student; Faculty of History; Lomonosov Moscow State University 1E Leninskie Gory str., Moscow, 119991, Russia ohlopkovava@my.msu.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

The expenditure books of the Patriarchal Treasury Order, one of the central bodies of church administration in Russia in the 17th century, are a historical source with significant information potential in relation to the issue of giving alms to those in need by the Moscow patriarchs, especially in the second half of the 17th century. The information in the expense books is structured by expense item and in most cases arranged according to the chronology of money disbursements.

Several officials of the order, including the clerks, participated in the compilation of the expense books. The clerks draw attention to themselves by the duality of their functionality: they not only performed daily "paperwork", but also directly gave alms to the poor.

The purpose of this article is to define the scope of duties of the Patriarchal clerks of the State Order both in connection with the disbursements of alms and in connection with the financial reporting of these disbursements. To achieve this goal, it is necessary, firstly, to answer the question of who and how the accounts books of the Patriarchal Treasury Order were compiled in the second half of the 17th century, and secondly, to reconstruct the mechanism of issuing money by clerks based on the texts of sources.

Compilation of the account books of the Patriarchal State Order in the second half of the 17th century.

Formally, the books were kept on behalf of the treasurer: as of the beginning of the year, the names of the treasurers — one or, less often (in 1687-1700), two — were indicated in the titles of the expense books ^{[1, pp. 366-370]}. All the treasurers were monks, and they were often recruited from the largest monasteries (Solovetsky, Pskov-Pechersk, Suzdal Spaso-Evfimiev, etc.), which means that at the time of their appointment "they were already familiar with the main tasks of running a large church economy" ^{[1, pp. 365-366]}. In the case of two treasurers, the clerk actually acted as the second treasurer.

The participation of clerks in the compilation of expense books is indicated by staples: for example, in the expense book for 1650 we find staples of clerk Ivan Kokoshilov, in the expense books for 1654 and 1660 — staples of clerk Parfeny Ivanov, in the books for 1670, 1672, 1676, 1685 — staples of clerk Perfili Semennikov. Staples, in turn, can be considered a sign of a genuine expense book.

During the period of the existence of two treasurers, the functions of deacon were assumed by the second treasurer: from December 1686 to January 31, 1700 — Andrey Denisovich Vladykin, then Ivan Ivanovich Yakovlev ^{[1, p. 370]}. These people were not named second treasurers in the books, but the formal treasury is evidenced by a salary identical to the treasury, which could be appointed after five years in office ^{[2, p. 12]}.

The treasurer (the only one or the first of the two named in the title of the book) also took an active part in compiling the expense books: as the person financially responsible for certifying the transfer of money, he had to mark "given" in front of the records on the issue of money, but the clerk was also authorized to put such a mark ^{[2, p. 217]}. In the history of the Patriarchal Treasury Order, there was also a period of absence of any treasurer - from 1652 to 1654 ^{[1, p. 369]}.

In most cases, the descriptive article was followed by the clerk's or treasury's mark "given" as part of the entry in the account book; since the previous text was usually written by a clerk rather than a clerk, the handwriting was naturally different ^{[2, p. 217]}.

A simplified version of this mark is also possible, visually resembling a paperclip: the word "given" was divided into two syllables, which were played in turn opposite consecutive entries ^{[3, l. 313-326]}. Then the name of the clerk who had given the money from his "desk" was indicated, for example: "given to the reception of Elizark Fedorov" ^{[4, l. 125]}. The "given" mark was indeed put by the treasurer, in a different handwriting, however, he was the certifying person, and not the one who issued the money directly.

We interpret the phrase "coming from receiving [someone]" as an indication of a certain financial reserve that was available to a particular official, most often a subordinate. It seems that I. I. Shimko called it the "table" ^{[2, p. 217]}. In the Dictionary of the Russian language of the XI–XVII centuries. one of the meanings of the phrase "being in reception" is "available", which corresponds to our assumption ^{[5, pp. 147-148]}.

According to I. I. Shimko, the clerks who provided the money were engaged in rewriting the primary data from the "commemorative notebooks" (the primary source for compiling expense books that has not survived to this day), but none of them had special responsibilities for maintaining expense books ^{[2, p. 217]}. According to an extract submitted in 1679 to Patriarch Joachim, the deacons assisted the treasurers in all matters except those of a purely ecclesiastical nature ^{[2, p. 14]}. Accordingly, the same remark is relevant for compiling expense books.

The number of clerks of the Patriarchal State Order during the second half of the 17th century ranged from four to twelve. The clerks procured "building materials" and "household supplies" for the Moscow Patriarchal Court, shoes and clothing for its employees, purchased various items for the order and the household treasury, and finally distributed alms to those who had fallen ill in the poorhouses and kolodniks. It was the clerks who managed the "tables" for certain cases of the order (see above about the turnover of "reception") ^{[2, pp. 18-19]}.

Thus, officials such as the clerk, clerk, and treasurer participated in the compilation of the expense books. The clerks and treasurers confirmed the fact of the money being given out, while the clerks directly handed out the money, and also rewrote the primary data, entering it into the expense book. Formally, the books of accounts were kept on behalf of the treasurer. The deacons' personalities are no less important to researchers: it is their names that contain the staples. There was no clear division of powers between clerks and treasurers in terms of the procedure for compiling accounting books, which is confirmed by the phenomenon of the absence of a treasurer in 1652-1654 and the presence of two treasurers at once in 1686-1700.

The mechanism of giving alms by clerks

Let us express our thoughts on the official duties of the clerks in matters of issuing patriarchal alms. I would like to pay special attention to I. I. Shimko's statement quoted above about who was given alms by the clerks, and taking into account our experience working with the texts of the expense books, make some adjustments.

Indeed, the clerks distributed alms to prisons and almshouses. However, it seems that their function of giving out so-called hand-delivered alms, i.e. alms that was distributed during patriarchal gatherings on the street or in churches, was more important and therefore more frequently performed. It was also called issued by hand, or issued by hand. Chartered alms was one of the two main types of patriarchal alms, along with daily alms. If daily alms represented guaranteed payments ^{[6, p. 10]}, then it was a matter of chance to receive daily alms for a beggar: I met the patriarch in the Kremlin, where the Patriarch's Court was located, or anywhere in the city on one day or another — I received alms on that day, I did not meet — I didn't get it.

It can be said that the statements in historiography that one or another patriarch (Nikon appears most often in the scientific literature in this context) generously gave alms are rather a metaphor, because although the patriarch was present during the disbursement of money and, possibly, decided on the spot to whom and how much to give, Technically speaking, the extradition was carried out mainly by clerks. Meanwhile, there were possible exceptions, primarily if we talk about the patriarch's giving money from hand to hand to non-beggarly categories of the population (primarily to church officials and servants of the Patriarchal Court) ^{[7, l. 160-161]}. They were also allowed for beggars. However, in exceptional cases, the presence of the dean was also necessary both from the point of view of practicality (assistance to the patriarch in handing out if there were many beggars along the way) and from the point of view of ceremonial.

Let's look at the mechanism of issuing money using specific examples. In the account book of 1685 (compiled under Patriarch Joachim) we read: "Genvarya on the 4th day <...> his Holiness the Patriarch granted them (the beggars. — V. O.) he distributed alms himself, giving six money to each person, ten rubles and twelve altyn, yes <...> to the beggars, who came at the same time, but could not fit into the Cross Chamber (the main court hall of the Patriarchal Palace. — V. O.), alms were handed out in front of the Cross Chamber in the senech a ruble shesnatyat altyn two money. In total, the alms are eleven rubles, two rubles, two rubles, two rubles, two rubles, two rubles, two rubles, two rubles, two rubles, two rubles, two rubles, two rubles. At Ivashka Veshnyakov's reception, Ivan Neustroev carried money on a platter in front of His Holiness the Patriarch and distributed alms to beggars in the hallway in front of the Cross Chamber. About the note of that money in the litter of the treasurer of the elder Paisii of Si. Ivashko Neustroev distributed that money and signed it" ^{[8, l. 160-1603]}. The clerks in such cases clearly bore great financial responsibility, because carrying money on a platter, you can quickly miss them.

As a rule, various clerks were responsible for almshouses, prisons, and charity. In the account book of 1699 (compiled under Patriarch Adrian) we read: "In total, two people were sent to the almshouses for two money each, for a total of ten rubles and four altyn rubles, in total, by order of the prison guard and beggars, two hundred rubles were given to the reception of Grishka Coverin. Monk Tikhon Makarievsky, the treasurer, noticed about the note of that money in the decree. Dmitry Avramov, the bailiff, distributed alms in the Big Courtyard, and Alexey Afanasyev, the bailiff Dmitry Oktaev, distributed alms in prisons. Alexey Spiridonov walked around the poorhouses. Dmitreiko Avramov gave ten rubles, seven altyn, two alms to the poor and signed his name. Mishka Oktaev distributed the prison money and signed his name. Alyosha Afanasyev distributed the money and signed his name. Alyosha Spiridonov took out and painted in poorhouses" ^{[9, L. 198ob]}.

Thus, in this case, six officials were responsible for giving alms: 1) clerk Grishka Koverin, who gave the money "out of the reception" so that they could be distributed as alms in the future; 2) treasurer Tikhon Makarievsky, who witnessed the disbursement of money; 3) clerk Dmitry Avramov, who gave the alms; 4-5) clerks Dmitry Oktaev and Alexey Afanasyev, who distributed alms in prisons; 6) clerk Alexei Spiridonov, who distributed alms in almshouses. It is noteworthy that the clerks' "specialization" in giving alms was not constant.: Dmitry Oktaev, in particular, distributed alms to both poorhouses ^{[10, l. 134ob]} and handouts ^{[10, l. 153ob]}.

Conclusion

Three categories of officials participated mainly in the compilation of the accounts books of the Patriarchal Treasury Order: the clerk, the clerk, and the treasurer. The clerks handed out the money and copied the primary information into the expense book, while the clerks and treasurers certified the fact of the money being given. Books of accounts were usually kept on behalf of the treasurer. The deacons' personalities are also important to us, since it is their names that are read on the staples. However, deacons and treasurers did not have a clear division of duties in terms of the procedure for compiling accounting books. In addition, there is a period of absence of the treasurer (1652-1654), and the period when a second treasurer was appointed as an alternative to the clerk (1686-1700). The absence of the clerks was impossible, given the range of their duties.

The role of the clerks in giving alms was significant: in handouts, in prisons, in almshouses. In the case of hand-delivered alms, during patriarchal gatherings, the deacons (most often) distributed alms from their hands to the poor or helped in giving it to the patriarch if he decided to do it himself. A special money—giving ceremony is also known from the text of the source, suggesting that the subdeacon carried the money on a platter, indicating the significant financial responsibility of the subdeacon, who is actually a trusted person for the patriarch. Most often, one subdeacon was in charge of giving alms of a certain nature, less often two. At the same time, the clerks did not have a permanent distribution of alms (for certain categories of the population).

Research along the lines outlined by us should be continued and in the future may provide a more detailed reconstruction of the daily lives of representatives of the bureaucratic apparatus of the Moscow Patriarchal House, or even become the basis for a comparative study of charity at the junction of different languages and cultures, since the concept of charity is not alien to the history of Western states ^{[11, p. 366-368]}.