Russia Church Records: Difference between revisions

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*'''1721-1939''' - {{RecordSearch|1931806|Russia, Tatarstan Church Books, 1721-1939}} at [https://www.familysearch.org/search FamilySearch] — images

*'''1753-1925''' - [http://belarchive.ru/genealogiya.html Church Records from Belgorod and villiage records in various uezdz of Voronezh and Kursk gubernias from 1753-1925.]

*'''1901-1905, 1907-1909''' - [http://www.oldkozlov.ru/archives/metrika.php Church Books for the town of Kozlov (Michurinsk) for 1901-1905 and 1907-1909.]

*[http://earchive-estlatrus.eu/collections?p_p_id=earchivecatalog_WAR_earchiveportlet&_earchivecatalog_WAR_earchiveportlet_docTypeCode=church_book Various Church books from Latvian, Estonian, St. Petersburg, and the Russian State Historical Archives.]

Church records are excellent sources for accurate names, dates, and places of births, marriages, and deaths. Many people who lived in Russia were recorded in church records.  

The keeping of metrical books was mandated by a 1722 decree of Peter the Great. A format of three parts, christenings, marriages, deaths, was established in 1724, a printed format in 1806, and in 1838 a format that prevailed until the revolution. The consistory copy was considered official record. A Russian diocese - епархия (''eparkhia'') was coterminous with a Russian state - губерния (''guberniya''). The registers of each parish - приход (''prikhod'') in an country- уезд (''uyezd'') were commonly filed together for a single year. Confession lists are often interfiled with parish registers. Each Orthodox Christian was to confess and partake of the sacrament at least once a year. The principal time for confession was Lent. Children of both sexes in obligatory fashion were taken to confession, beginning from their seventh year. The form of confession lists was established in 1737: the sequential number of the household, surname, given names of all children at least a year old, sex, ages, whether or not the person attended confession, and if not, why (rarely noted).

Reliability: High.  Comparison can be made between the returns annually for verification of reliability.<ref name="profile">The Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Family History Record Profile: Russia,” Word document, private files of the FamilySearch Content Strategy Team, 1996-2001.</ref>

Followers of the Byzantine rite, primarily Ukrainians, that returned to union with Rome. In 1839 the Church was formally dissolved in the Russian Empire and its members considered Orthodox. The church persisted only in Galicia and Transcarpathia, then under Austro-Hungarian rule. When these areas were assimilated into the Soviet Union, this religion was outlawed. The descendants of Ukrainians may think their ancestors were Orthodox when they were really Uniate before 1839.  

Russia mandated the keeping of Roman Catholic registers in 1826. Three copies made, the third for the deanery - ''dekanat'', the level between the diocese and the parish. Aside from Russian Poland, there were five dioceses in 1900: Tiraspol (located in Saratov), Zhytomyr (Zhitomir), Mogilev, Vilnius (Vilno), Kaunus (Kovno).  

The Russian Poland region is a unique situation within the old Russian Empire.&nbsp; After the defeat of Napoleon, the Polish regions governed by Russia were given semi-autonomy.&nbsp; They therefore continued to keep the records, with minor 1826 variations, in the old Napoleonic paragraph form.&nbsp; They were in the Polish language until 1867 when Russian Cyrillic was mandated by the government.&nbsp; More information can be found on the Poland resources pages.  

In 1832 Russia mandated keeping these records. Aside from Russian Poland, there were eight diocesan offices, one in St. Petersburg, one in Moscow, and six in the Baltic states. The registers were kept in German, until law of 1891 required that they be kept in Russian. Before the Russian revolution of 1917, there were 32 [https://www.revolvy.com/page/Evangelical-Lutheran-Church-of-Ingria Ingrian] parishes in St. Petersburg and the surrounding area founded in the beginning of 1600. The priests came from Finland and Sweden. The books were written in Finnish, Swedish and German. The transcripts in St. Petersburg for 1832-1885 have been microfilmed.  

*'''1833 - 1885''' - {{RecordSearch|1469151|Russia, Lutheran Church Book Duplicates, 1833-1885}} at [https://www.familysearch.org/search FamilySearch] — index and images

The unique situation for Russian Poland also applies to the Lutheran records.&nbsp; The vast majority of Lutheran Church members were Germans who had migrated there during the Partitions of the late 1700s.&nbsp; The records were also in Polish Napoleonic paragraph format until 1867 and Russian Cyrillic after that.&nbsp; It is important to note that registration of b/m/d was a civil obligation.&nbsp; Therefore, prior to the establishment of&nbsp; a Lutheran Church Parish in a given region, Lutherans would register their events at the nearest Roman Catholic Parish.  

Additional information about Lutherans in Russian Poland can be found on the Poland resource page.

Dissenters from Orthodoxy who refused to accept alterations of religious rituals and prayers. Civilian registration of birth and marriage by police mandated in 1874 for those who were born into Old Believer families. One copy was made and kept in the provincial administration - ''gubernskoye pravleniye''.  

Civil registration was mandated in 1879. Two copies, one in the provincial administration and the other in the regional police headquarters - ''uezdnoye politseiskoye upravleniye''.  

'''Wiki articles describing online collections are found at:'''  

*[[Russia, Tver Province Orthodox Confession Lists - FamilySearch Historical Records|Russia, Tver Province Orthodox Confession Lists (FamilySearch Histaorical Records)]]

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{{H-langs|en=Russia Church Records|ru=Россия Церковные записи}}