The publication dedicated to the Synod is presented on the Presidential Library portal

The Presidential Library portal presents the next edition of the "Collections of the Presidential Library" from the series "Electronic Archive" - ​​"The Holy Synod in the History of Russian Statehood" (2017).

The collection contains materials of the All-Russian Scientific Conference "The Holy Synod in the History of Russian Statehood", held in 2016 by the Presidential Library. The articles included in the collection are devoted to the role of the Holy Government Synod in the system of public administration.

The publication reveals the importance of the institution of prosecutorial supervision under the Synod. The tone of most of the texts relating to the activities of the perennial chief procurator of the Holy Synod K. P. Pobedonostsev differs markedly from the one that took place during the Soviet period. For Pobedonostsev the establishment of the autocratic power of the Holy Synod was a right thing, which consolidated the Church's relationship with the state. The Holy Synod in Pobedonostsev's view was to serve as a kind of outpost in the fight against new trends in society, the custodian of its foundations, in every sense of the word - "a preservative of Orthodox statehood".

One of the duties of the spiritual department was education. The role of the Holy Synod in the organization of parochial schools in Russia in 1805-1825 is difficult to overestimate. At its meetings, the issues of creating schools and providing them with pedagogical personnel were formed. So, for example, on the initiative of the Chief Prosecutor, 10 seminarians from among those who "give good hope in the notion and have taken the advantage in honest deeds in the first place" were selected and sent to study in England.

A separate section of the collection is dedicated to the St. Petersburg Synodal Library, which collection mainly consisted of publications that had been censored religiously by the Office of Orthodox Faith, as well as books from monasteries. By 1905 the library numbered more than 80 thousand titles of publications, including Slavic and Russian manuscripts, old printed books, periodicals and scientific reference books.

The Presidential Library portal features a digital copy of the "Royal and Patriarchal Letters on the Establishment of the Most Holy Synod" (1838) and the collection "The Holy Synod in the History of Russian Statehood" which today numbers more than two thousand digitized printed publications and archival documents. They are structured around five main sections: the history of the Holy Synod; addresses of the Holy Synod; Synodal Library, archive and printing house; chief procurators and members of the Holy Synod; Synodal periodicals.

It is symbolic that the Presidential Library is housed in the historic building of the Synod on the Senatskaya Square in St. Petersburg, where meetings of the Holy Synod are currently held. In the near future, users of the portal of the Presidential Library will be able to make a virtual tour through the historical building of the Synod with the help of a 3D-tour.