The practice of holding people’s readings by Orthodox fraternities of the Volyn and Kyiv province (second half of the XIX century)

The purpose of the article is to analyze the specifics of the organization and conduct of religious and moral readings and talks by Orthodox church fraternities in the Volyn and Kyiv provinces. It was found that all the work on the organization of readings was governed by the «Rules for holding public readings in provincial cities». This document clearly set out the requirements that had to be met by individuals or companies that organized the reading. The Ministry of education has established a list of certain periodicals that could be used during these events. Public readings were allowed after obtaining permission from the trustee of the school district and by prior arrangement with the local governor. Separately, the article reveals the main aspects of the work of orthodox fraternities in the organization and conduct of out-of-service public readings. The example of individual church fraternities shows the peculiarities of their approach to the planning, organization and organization of religious talks, the results of the work are clarified. It was found that representatives of church fraternities formed a list of identified and agreed topics of public lectures, used visual aids and illustrative material to better remember what they heard. It was noted that the reports mainly covered the principles of orthodox doctrine: religious and moral readings were held for educational purposes, to raise the education of the local population, as well as to promote and promote the ideas of orthodoxy. It was determined that the agitation aspect was followed in the practice of holding public readings, as members of the fraternities sought to warn the local orthodox population against catholic influence. It was also planned to carry out explanatory work against the spread of certain protestant movements .