Confinement in Monasteries in the Juridical and Administrative Practices of Russian Bishops at the End of the 17th and the Beginning of the 18th Century

Beginning in the 16th century, the banishment to monasteries in different forms was a regular means of punishment meted out by the church in Russia, which served both as punishment and repentance and correction (penitence). The more famous monasteries which became places of banishment were situated in the northern part of Russia, from Vologda to the White Sea. In the last third of the 17th century, an active struggle with the Old Believers (staroobriadtsy), the enemies of the reforms of Nikon, was going on at the same time as the establishment of new bishop's sees, which aspired to take the old monasteries under their control. The subject of this article is the problem of the participation of local sees in the introduction and administration of banishment to monasteries, when the central power conferred this privilege to the bishop's sees. Based on the study of as yet unexamined archive materials, the power of local eparchs, which allowed them to use monasteries as penitentiaries, is demonstrated. Furthermore, tendencies to soften the practice of confinement to monasteries and the process of secularisation at the beginning of the 18th century are illustrated.