To the questi on about number of Protestants in the Central state app aratus of Russia under Catherine II (on the basis of offici als’ list of 1767)

Abstract

The article focuses on the share of Protestants among civil servants in the Russian Central government
at the beginning of the reign of Catherine II. The analysis is based on the published register
of officials in 1767 (“A list of the masters of public Affairs, namely senators, procurators and all
those present in colleges, offices, regions, provinces and cities”). The article identifies the religious
belonging of those foreign officials who served in the Central state apparatus. During the research
the author has solved two problems: at first, he determined a circle of persons who could potentially
profess the Protestant faith (whose families came from countries of Western and Central Europe);
secondly, the author has produced documentary verification of their confessional status. For this
purpose he used the genealogical method, which consists in the search and systematization of unique
biographical data, as well as in the ascertainment of family ties (including the data of Lutheran and
Catholic metric books). In addition to church books, the article is based on the data of entombments
in the non-Orthodox cemeteries of Petersburg, on the personal sources and also on the conclusions of
special genealogical and Church historical researches. As a result, the author found that in 1767 among
civil officials (of I—XII classes) in the Central state apparatus of Russian Empire the Protestants was
not less than 3,3% but not more than 9,2% (on average about 6%). In the officials’ category of the
first eight classes (in higher level of administration) the share of Protestants averaged about 7%. In
comparison with indicators of previous reigns (under Peter the Great and Anna Ioannovna) there was
a decrease in the proportion of Protestants in Russian state apparatus to 1767. The author concludes
that foreigners were no longer indispensable for administrative modernization of Russia — as, for
example, in the period of Colleges’ reform under Peter the Great. Nevertheless, the Protestants (and
Europeans generally) continued to take a strong position in Russian Central government and really
were able to influence the governance and political development of our country.