The life of the Imperial court, questions of the morality and the charity in the cultural policy of Elizabeth Petrovna

Abstract

The article discusses one of the most important directions in the cultural policy of the rule of the Elizabethan rule – the relationship between the government and the church. The justification of the legality of being on the throne for Elizabeth was “consanguinity” with Peter the Great and a return to traditional national values. The Church, in the person of its preachers, became the Empress’s chief assistant in the implementation of the ideological program. Talented preachers convinced Orthodox citizens of the importance and expediency of government measures, threw harsh accusations against the former “German” authorities, praised the Empress and her “glorious” parents, and exaggerated the merits of Peter the Great daughter in state reforms. The Empress, in turn, took care of the Christian morality of subjects, the spread of Orthodoxy, the veneration of shrines, the construction and improvement of church institutions, made numerous donations to the church, granted rights and privileges, and monitored the formation of the clergy. However, the interests of the state notably were always the basis for the cultural policy of the government, and in matters relating to the church, it proceeded primarily from the tasks of the state, never forgot about the strict implementation of its orders and cost savings.