The first issue of the Yakut Diocesan Bulletin released

16 (28) April 1887 in Yakutia, was released the first issue of the Yakut Diocesan Bulletin.

In 1870, the Yakut Region became an independent diocese. There was organized the Yakut diocesan missionary committee with diverse activities for the promotion and implementation of the Christian faith. At the same time came to life different religious educational associations and social organizations such as the Church brotherhood in the name of Christ the Savior, the Imperial Palestinian Society Department, which also considered their first duty the spread among the people of the scriptures and doctrinal, didactic books not only in Russian, but also in the languages of non-Russian inhabitants of the region.

During diocesan reorganization in the management of the clergy, there arose a need in a print body. But only in 1884, at the request and initiative of Bishop James, under a decree of the Holy Synod of September 22 (October 4) it was allowed to publish in Yakutsk the "Yakut Diocesan Bulletin", "as the best conductor of the Christian religion for the local non-Russian inhabitants, scattered over a wide area of the Yakutsk Diocese."

The first issue of the paper was released 16 (27) April 1887 and continued to be published twice a month with a print run of 250 copies, in the form of one printed sheet of a book format. The pages of the "Yakut Diocesan Bulletin" covered: missionary activities; reports, minutes of the meetings of the Yakut Committee of the Orthodox Missionary Society, the Council of the Church brotherhood in the name of Christ the Savior, the Trusteeship of Diocesan school council, statutes, regulations, instructions, pastoral activities, etc. Articles of spiritual and moral content: speeches, teachings, speeches of saints and clerics, descriptions of their travels in the region, chronicles of constructions of churches, the history of the Theological Seminary. There also were published essays on the state of public education, medicine, history and ethnography.

Special attention was paid to the promotion of the Christian religion in the language of foreigners, which main instrument was a missionary book. Publications in the "Yakut Diocesan Bulletin" demonstrate the development of missionary publishing activities.

Editors of the “Yakut Diocesan Bulletin" were: S. M. Dobrotvorsky - Archpriest, rector of the seminary (1887-1888); Archimandrite Joannicius (1890-1891); N. P. Truskovsky - rector of the seminary (January - August 1892); Archimandrite Stephen (1892-1895); F. A. Stukov - Archpriest (1895-1899); P. Yavlovsky (1900-1905); A. Berdennikov (1906-1913), from 1914, as editors had worked N. Moskvin, P. Bulgakov , A. Okhlopkov.

The revolutionary events of 1917, the change of the political system had fundamentally overthrown the age-old foundations, Yakut religious consistory was liquidated. The transformed Diocesan Council, having changed the title of the "Yakut Diocesan Bulletin", continued to to release the "Voice of the Yakut church" from January 1, 1918, which, as the official successor to the "Yakutsk Diocesan Bulletin" continued the numbering of its issues until 1920.

March 1, 1920 with the liquidation of the Diocesan Council, by order of the Chief of the Military-Revolution Staff of the Red Army of March 9, 1920, N 107, the activities of the authoritarian centralized hierarchical government of the Church were terminated and as a result the publication of the "Voice of the Yakut church" discontinued.

Lit.: Гуляева Е. П. Книга в Якутии: (1812—1916). Якутск, 2004; Олейников Н. Е. Библиографический указатель статей, напечатанных в «Якутских епархиальных ведомостях» за 2-е десятилетие их издания (1897-1907). Якутск, 1915; Явловский П. Л. Систематический указатель статей, помещенных в Неофициальной части «Якутских епархиальных ведомостей» за первое десятилетие издания (1887-1897 гг.). Сергиев Посад, 1898; Якутские епархиальные ведомости [Электронный ресурс] // Память Якутии. Б. д. URL: http://www.sakhamemory.ru/browseBooks.aspx?CategoryID=73.

Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:

Sakha (Yakutia) Republic: pages of history: [digital collection].

The material was provided by the National Library of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic