Аграрная история, 2022, № 11

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3

 
Publication date: July 15, 2022 
DOI: 10.52270/27132447_2022_11_3 
 

 

LAND PROVISION OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH: HISTORY 

AND MODERNITY 

 

Ershov, Bogdan Anatolyevich1, Fedyanin, Vitaly Ivanovich2,  

Kvashnina, Galina Anatolyevna3 

 

1Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Voronezh State Technical University, 84, 20-letiya 

Oktyabrya Street, Voronezh, Russia, E-mail: bogdan.ershov@yandex.ru 

2Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Voronezh State Technical University, 84, 20-letiya 

Oktyabrya Street, Voronezh, Russia, E-mail: fedyanin.50@mail.ru 

3Candidate of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor, Voronezh State Technical University, 84, 20-

letiya Oktyabrya Street, Voronezh, Russia  

 

Abstract 

 
The article considers the land provision of the Russian Church and clergy in the post-reform period. It is 

shown that during this period the government gradually increased the land ownership of the clergy, since this 
did not contradict the already established dependence of the Church on the state. The reason for this process 
was that after secularization, the Church was supported by the state, and the government could not provide the 
Church with anything but land, since insufficient state funds were allocated for the Church. In addition to land 
grants, the State continued to pay staff salaries to monasteries, including the salary of the brethren, as well as 
alms (for the maintenance of provincial monasteries). But in most cases, state payments were auxiliary, not 
basic. At the present time, which is undoubtedly favorable for the Church and its activities, new difficulties and 
tasks arise before it. In particular, since most of the parishes are located in rural areas, there is a question of 
granting land plots to rural clergy. 

Keywords: church, state, land, salary, clergy. 

 

I. INTRODUCTION 

 

The clergy of the Central Black Earth region in the post-reform period becomes an active participant in 

the land market. In the period from 1863 to 1877, according to 10 provinces of the Central Black Earth region, 
the clergy sold 6,989 acres of land, while 26,118 were acquired. As a result, the clergy bought up 19,129 acres. 
Thus, the clergy of the Central Black Earth region in the post-reform period was mainly engaged in buying up 
land. However, the scale and quantity of acquired landed property was rather insignificant (compared to the 
nobility or the merchant class).  

 

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It can be noted that among the clergy themselves in the post-reform period, a process of gradual property 

differentiation was observed, which was expressed in the appearance of an insignificant stratum of landowners. 

 

II. METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS 

 

The methodological basis of the study was the principle of historicism and scientific objectivity. We sought 

to consider specific phenomena as interconnected and changing over time, to reveal the objective laws of the 
historical development of methods and forms of church land ownership and land use over a certain period of 
time. In the work on the study, an analytical method was used, which was used when considering statistical 
data, a comparative method of empirical study, which makes it possible, through a broad comparison of facts, to 
formulate the main conclusions and generalizations. 

Almost every rural church had a land allotment. As a rule, it was arable land and hayfields. The amount of 

land was divided among the members of the clergy in the same proportion as all church income. In a three-state 
parish (priest, sexton, sexton), the land was divided into 5 parts, the priest received 3 parts, and the clerks 
received one each. On the four-staff - the priest received half of the land, the other half was divided among 
themselves by the deacon, deacon and sexton. As a rule, the family of a priest could not effectively cultivate 
their land, both due to a lack of labor, and because of employment in the service. In many parishes, the clergy 
rented their allotment to the local landowner, for which they received money and food from the landowner. So, 
the priest of the village of Verzilovo, Serpukhov district, received from the princes of Shakhovsky a ruble in the 
amount of 225 rubles in banknotes, 15 quarters of rye and oats, 1.5 - buckwheat flour, humus fodder and 
firewood (in 1850). The clergy of the village of Kiyasovo, Serpukhov district, for the use of their land received 
from the landowner Gagarin (in 1850) the following rule: the priest - 48 rubles 86 kopecks in silver, 135 pounds 
of rye flour, 10 quarters of oats. The deacon, sexton and sexton received 28.5 kopecks of silver, 135 pounds of 
rye and 10 quarters of oats for all 32 rubles. 

After the peasant reform, the landowners, as a rule, did not take the land, because having lost serfs, they 

also lost gratuitous workers. For example, in 1861, in the village of Maryinskoye, Kolomna district, a local 
landowner definitely refused to pay the due to the priest. As a result, the father found himself in a difficult 
position. Rug was not paid and the land was not returned. And there are no funds, and there is nowhere to sow 
grain. Deciding to search for the truth, the priest petitioned St. Philaret of Moscow for help. Vladyka Metropolitan 
completely took the side of the young clergyman. The decree of the consistory demanded that the landowner 
fulfill her obligations - to pay the priest the due funds. She agreed and paid part of the money, but the contract 
was terminated. At the end of the XIX century. priests leased the land not to the landowners, but to the local 
peasants. 

It must be emphasized that in the pre-secularization period, the accumulation of land by the clergy took 

place mainly through private contributions, which the state constantly prevented, up to direct prohibitions on 
bequeathing and donating land to monasteries. After secularization, the growth of church lands occurred mainly 
at the expense of the treasury, under the direct patronage of state power. 

Having deprived the Church of property, the state was forced to take care of the parish clergy and 

monasticism. Life practice has shown the expediency of endowing the episcopate, clergy and monasticism with 
land. Therefore, during the 19th century there was a steady growth of church, bishops and monastic land 
ownership. In the reign of each emperor from Paul I to Nicholas II, the Russian Orthodox Church alienated 
several dozen acres from state lands and state forestries. The reasons for allocating land to the clergy were 
varied. The most important of these was inflation, which grew from year to year. The clergy, who were put on a 
salary, experienced all the hardships of this process. This led to the allocation of land and other real estate to 
the church, to an increase in salaries, and a comprehensive improvement in the life of the clergy. It should be 
especially noted that the accumulation of land after secularization is not a continuation of an interrupted 
process, but a new process that took place in new historical conditions, with a different direction and goals. 

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Gradually from the XIX-th century the government issues a number of legislative acts regulating the size 

of church land allotments. In the north of Russia in Karelia, where there was little land suitable for arable 
farming, land surveying sometimes led to conflicts. 

There are few examples of this kind. All these cases are significant only in view of the fact that 

dissociation from the church in accordance with the legislation of 30 or less acres of land remained a rather rare 
fact. 

Sometimes there was no free land, then the clergy developed it themselves (clearing the land from the 

forest). So, in the Yangozersky parish there was no “purposely allotted church land”, but “consisted” “according 
to fortresses and various letters from former times from 7176 (1668 - M.P.) of the year given to the clergy and 
clergy owned and plowed by their labors for sowing rye in the field for 5 quarters, and in two for the same. In the 
parish of Salmenizh, according to the same source, the clergy had no land other than "developed by their 
labors." Occasionally, clergy and clergy bought land. The paucity of evidence may be due to the fact that clergy 
were forbidden to acquire plots of peasant land, increasing social tension in parishes and entering into litigation 
with parishioners. 

Land plots sometimes went to the clergy from testators who were not their relatives and gave their land 

not to specific clerics, but to the parish church. So, judging by the will, the peasant Afanasy Larionov gave in 
1787 his plot “to the house of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker for eternal remembrance” and ordered “children 
and grandchildren, neither relatives nor nephews to intervene in any fiction.” But wills were deposited in the 
funds of judicial institutions only in cases where the heirs violated the will of the deceased. Therefore, it is 
impossible to judge how typical this way of replenishing the land assigned to the church is. 

 

Vladimir Egorovich Makovsky "Prayer for Easter", 1888. 

The members of the clergy divided the plots received from parishioners or marked off by land surveyors 

among themselves in accordance with their positions. In the 19th century this issue is not specified in the 
legislation, and the clergy were guided by local traditions. 

The clergy freely disposed of those land plots that were in their individual possession: clearings and 

purchase lands.  

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So, in 1889, the sexton of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the Tulomozero volost, as can 

be seen from his will, left his son, the peasant Osip Ivanov, "plowed land and hay meadows of his own and 
according to mortgage letters." If it was about church land (scribed or separated in the course of a general 
survey), then the order of inheritance was different. For example, judging by the petition of the “deacon’s son” 
Yegor Kuzmin from the Ilyinsky exhibition of the Vodlozero churchyard, the petitioner lost the right to use church 
land after failing the bishop’s exam, and the church land that he could have received was placed at the disposal 
of another, more qualified and successful member of the clergy ". 

Having received the plots due by law, local priests and at the end of the XIX-th - beginning of the XX-th 

century. Engaged in agriculture, which remained an important source of livelihood for them. 

In the 1890s in the European part of Russia, there were 28,000 churches endowed with land. Of these, 

city churches owning land accounted for 1,117 (3.9%). The entire church land was approximately 1 million 671 
thousand 198 acres, of which 96 thousand 194 dess. belonged to city churches (5.8%), and 1 million 575 
thousand dess. - rural (94.2%). 

Churches also differed in size of their landholdings. 245 churches had from 250 to 500 dessiatins. land, 

50 churches had from 500 to 1 thousand dess., 29 churches had from 1 to 1.5 thousand dess., but the majority, 
of course, could not count on such a large amount of land allotments and limited themselves to those plots 
allocated by the government. On average, in the European zone of Russia, including Samara, Simbirsk and 
Penza provinces, their sizes did not exceed 57–60 dess. for every church. 

The value of church landed property without buildings, factories, shops, etc., was 116 million rubles. ser. 

The church's land ownership tended to increase. Thus, by 1905 church land had been added by 200,000 dess. 

 

III. CONCLUSION 

 

At the present time, which is undoubtedly favorable for the Church and her activities, new difficulties and 

tasks arise before her. In particular, since the majority of parishes are located in rural areas, the question arises 
of providing rural clergy with land allotments. In the Land Code of the Russian Federation, religious 
organizations turned out to be essentially forgotten: the place and regime of the lands of religious organizations 
as part of the participants in land ownership and land use are not prescribed, but there is only a mention of them 
in the general list of those legal entities to whom agricultural land is provided (Article 82 ZK RF). 

Religious organizations are also mentioned in Art. 78 of the Code, in the list of users of agricultural land, 

which states that these lands can be used for agricultural production and for other purposes related to 
agricultural production. Meanwhile, such an understanding of the purpose of lands administered by religious 
organizations is incomplete and extremely narrow, because on the territory of these organizations there are 
places of worship, cemeteries, household and household buildings, part of the territories is allocated for 
religious processions and celebrations, which is associated with mass visits to believers, etc. Apparently, this is 
why the Federal Land Cadastre Service of Russia classifies, for example, monastic lands as "lands of industry, 
transport, communications, radio broadcasting, television, computer science, space support, energy, defense 
and other purposes", including them to "land for other purposes". Within the same category, monastic lands 
refer to social and cultural facilities located outside the boundaries of settlements, provided for various purposes 
and not taken into account in other categories. Meanwhile, a certain part of the lands occupied by monasteries 
and other religious organizations should also be attributed to the lands of specially protected territories and 
objects of historical, cultural and spiritual significance, with all the ensuing consequences. 

The attitude of the Church itself to various forms of ownership is interesting. It is expressed in the 

Fundamentals of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church: "The Church recognizes the existence of 
diverse forms of ownership. State, public, corporate, private and mixed forms of ownership in different countries 
have taken root in different ways in the course of historical development. The Church does not give preference 
to any of these forms" (VII.3). 

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Today the Church does not raise the issue of restitution of the lands that belonged to her before the 

revolution. This is neither necessary nor possible for many reasons, including economic ones: parishes and 
monasteries do not have the necessary funds, equipment, and labor to develop large agricultural lands. But 
some additional land should be allocated to it. This is especially true of those holy places where a large number 
of pilgrims flock. By the way, many monasteries engaged in agricultural production achieve very high rates in 
this field of activity. Thus, in the economy of Optina Pustyn (Kaluga region), grain crops are obtained that are 
much higher than the yields of neighboring agricultural enterprises. There are four ponds stocked with fish, there 
are a number of high-yielding cows and an apiary. The merits of the monasteries in the promotion of gardening 
in the northern regions of the country, the development of beekeeping, etc. are known. 

In recent years, with great difficulty, there has been a transfer of temple buildings and other property that 

once belonged to them to religious organizations. This process is regulated by Decree No. 490 of the 
Government of the Russian Federation dated June 30, 2001 "On the procedure for transferring federal property 
for religious purposes to religious organizations," but there are many unresolved issues. 

Very important, but not yet resolved, is the question of the participation of the state in the restoration of 

churches returned to the Church. A large part has historical value and belongs to the monuments of culture and 
architecture, protected by the state. But this, obviously, also implies that the state should play an active role in 
their restoration. Meanwhile, the state, with some exceptions, entrusted this activity to the Church. (For 
example, the state satisfied the application for assistance in the restoration of 12 churches of the Novgorod 
diocese only for St. Sophia Cathedral.) 

The restoration of the former temple buildings returned to the Church, which are now in a dilapidated 

state, on a larger scale could be carried out through charity concerts of famous cultural figures, teleconferences 
and other actions. 

 

REFERENCE LIST 

 

Alekseeva S.I. (2003) The Holy Synod in the system of higher and central state institutions of post-reform 

Russia. 1856-1904. St. Petersburg: Nauka. 275 p. (in Russ). 

Bellustin I. (1858) Description of the rural clergy. Russian foreign collection. Leipzig: Gustav Behr Printing 

House. Vol. IV. 166 p. (in Russ). 

Bychkov S.S. (1998) The Russian Church and the Imperial Power. Moscow: Nauka. 317 p. (in Russ). 

Drugovskaya A.Y. (1998) Charity of Kursk monasteries in the late XIX - early XX century. Cultural 

heritage of the Kursk region. Kursk. Pp. 57-60. (in Russ). 

Ershov B.A., Lubkin Y.Y. (2016) The activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in countering extremism 

and terrorism in modern Russia. Historical, philosophical, political and legal sciences, cultural studies and art 
history. Questions of theory and practice. Vol. 11-2 (73). Pp. 97-99. (in Russ). 
 

Ershov B.A., Nebolsin V.A., Solovieva S.R. (2020) Higher education in technical universities of Russia. 

7th International conference on education and social sciences. Abstracts Proceedings. Pp. 55-58. (in Engl). 

Ershov B.A., Perepelitsyn A., Glazkov E., Volkov I., Volkov S. (2019)  Church and state in Russia: 

management issues. 5th International conference on advences in education and social sciences. Abstracts & 
Proceedings, e-publication.  Pp. 26-29. (in Engl). 

Ershov B.A., Zhdanova T.A., Kashirsky S.N., Monko T. (2020)  Education in the university as an 

important factor in the socialization of students in Russia. 6th International Conference on Advances in 
Education. Abstracts & Proceedings. Pp. 517-520. (in Engl). 

 

                         ©  Journal  «Agrarian History», № 11, 2022, e-ISSN 2713-2447 

 

  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License 

 

8

Fursov V.N., Ershov B.A., Lubkin Y.Y. (2016) The participation of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 

patriotic education of the young generation in modern Russia. News of the Voronezh State Pedagogical 
University. Vol. 1 (270). Pp. 147-150. (in Russ). 

Ivanova N.A. (2004) The class structure of Russia in the late XIX - early XX centuries. Moscow: Nauka. 

572 p. (in Russ). 

Kartashev A.V. (2000) Essays on the history of the Russian Church: in 2 volumes. Moscow: Eksmo-

Press. Vol. 2. 814 p. (in Russ). 

Kolesnikova B.C. (2004) A short Encyclopedia of Orthodoxy. The way to the temple. Moscow: 

Tsentrpoligraf. 589 p. (in Russ). 

Kostomarov N.I. (1995) An essay on the domestic life and customs of the Great Russian people in the 

XVI-XVII centuries. M.: Charlie. 656 p. (in Russ). 

Leontieva T.G. (2002) Faith and Progress: the Orthodox rural clergy of Russia in the second half of the 

XIX- early XX centuries. Moscow: Novy Chronograph. 272 p. (in Russ). 

Mironov B.N. (2003) Social history of Russia during the Empire period (XVIII -early XX century). St. 

Petersburg: Dmitry Bulanin. Vol. 1. 347 p. (in Russ). 

Predtechensky A.V. (1957) Essays on the socio-political history of Russia in the first quarter of the XIX 

century. M. AS USSR. 456 p. (in Russ). 

Smolich I.K. (1997) Russian monasticism. 988-1917. Life and Teaching. Moscow: Orthodox 

Encyclopedia. 606 p. (in Russ). 

Starostin E.V. (2005) Archival heritage of the Russian Orthodox Church: ways of study and development. 

Domestic Archives. Vol. 4. Pp. 31-38. (in Russ). 

Yelagin N.V. (1881) The White clergy and its "interests". St. Petersburg: Printing House of R. Gomke. 181 

p. (in Russ). 

Zyryanov P.N. (1984) The Orthodox Church in the struggle against the Revolution of 19051907. Moscow: 

Nauka. 224 p. (in Russ). 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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9

 

ЗЕМЕЛЬНОЕ ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИЕ РУССКОЙ ПРАВОСЛАВНОЙ ЦЕРКВИ: 

ИСТОРИЯ И СОВРЕМЕННОСТЬ 

 

Ершов Богдан Анатольевич1, Федянин Виталий Иванович2,  

Квашнина Галина Анатольевна3 

 

1Доктор исторических наук, профессор, Воронежский государственный технический 

университет, ул. 20-летия Октября, 84, Воронеж, Россия, E-mail: bogdan.ershov@yandex.ru 

2Доктор технических наук, профессор, Воронежский государственный технический университет, 

ул. 20-летия Октября, 84, Воронеж, Россия, E-mail: fedyanin.50@mail.ru 

3Кандидат технических наук, доцент, Воронежский государственный технический университет, 

ул. 20-летия Октября, 84, Воронеж, Россия 

 

Аннотация 

 

В 
статье 
рассматривается 
земельное 
обеспечение 
Русской 
Церкви 
и 
духовенства 
в 

пореформенный период. Показано, что в этот период правительство постепенно увеличивало 
земельную собственность духовенства, поскольку это не противоречило уже установившейся 
зависимости Церкви от государства. Причиной этого процесса было то, что после секуляризации 
Церковь поддерживалась государством и правительство не могло предоставить Церкви ничего, кроме 
земли, поскольку на Церковь выделялось недостаточно государственных средств. В дополнение к 
земельным пожалованиям государство продолжало выплачивать монастырям жалованье персоналу, 
включая жалованье братии, а также милостыню (на содержание провинциальных монастырей). Но в 
большинстве случаев государственные выплаты были вспомогательными, а не основными. В настоящее 
время, которое, несомненно, благоприятно для Церкви и ее деятельности, перед ней возникают новые 
трудности и задачи. В частности, поскольку большинство приходов расположено в сельской местности, 
встает вопрос о предоставлении земельных участков сельскому духовенству. 

Ключевые слова: церковь, государство, земля, жалованье, духовенство. 

 
СПИСОК ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ 
 

Alekseeva S.I. (2003) The Holy Synod in the system of higher and central state institutions of post-reform 

Russia. 1856-1904. St. Petersburg: Nauka. 275 p. (in Russ). 

Bellustin I. (1858) Description of the rural clergy. Russian foreign collection. Leipzig: Gustav Behr Printing 

House. Vol. IV. 166 p. (in Russ). 

Bychkov S.S. (1998) The Russian Church and the Imperial Power. Moscow: Nauka. 317 p. (in Russ). 

Drugovskaya A.Y. (1998) Charity of Kursk monasteries in the late XIX - early XX century. Cultural 

heritage of the Kursk region. Kursk. Pp. 57-60. (in Russ). 

 

                         ©  Journal  «Agrarian History», № 11, 2022, e-ISSN 2713-2447 

 

  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License 

 

10

Ershov B.A., Lubkin Y.Y. (2016) The activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in countering extremism 

and terrorism in modern Russia. Historical, philosophical, political and legal sciences, cultural studies and art 
history. Questions of theory and practice. Vol. 11-2 (73). Pp. 97-99. (in Russ). 
 

Ershov B.A., Nebolsin V.A., Solovieva S.R. (2020) Higher education in technical universities of Russia. 

7th International conference on education and social sciences. Abstracts Proceedings. Pp. 55-58. (in Engl). 

Ershov B.A., Perepelitsyn A., Glazkov E., Volkov I., Volkov S. (2019)  Church and state in Russia: 

management issues. 5th International conference on advences in education and social sciences. Abstracts & 
Proceedings, e-publication.  Pp. 26-29. (in Engl). 

Ershov B.A., Zhdanova T.A., Kashirsky S.N., Monko T. (2020)  Education in the university as an 

important factor in the socialization of students in Russia. 6th International Conference on Advances in 
Education. Abstracts & Proceedings. Pp. 517-520. (in Engl). 

Fursov V.N., Ershov B.A., Lubkin Y.Y. (2016) The participation of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 

patriotic education of the young generation in modern Russia. News of the Voronezh State Pedagogical 
University. Vol. 1 (270). Pp. 147-150. (in Russ). 

Ivanova N.A. (2004) The class structure of Russia in the late XIX - early XX centuries. Moscow: Nauka. 

572 p. (in Russ). 

Kartashev A.V. (2000) Essays on the history of the Russian Church: in 2 volumes. Moscow: Eksmo-

Press. Vol. 2. 814 p. (in Russ). 

Kolesnikova B.C. (2004) A short Encyclopedia of Orthodoxy. The way to the temple. Moscow: 

Tsentrpoligraf. 589 p. (in Russ). 

Kostomarov N.I. (1995) An essay on the domestic life and customs of the Great Russian people in the 

XVI-XVII centuries. M.: Charlie. 656 p. (in Russ). 

Leontieva T.G. (2002) Faith and Progress: the Orthodox rural clergy of Russia in the second half of the 

XIX- early XX centuries. Moscow: Novy Chronograph. 272 p. (in Russ). 

Mironov B.N. (2003) Social history of Russia during the Empire period (XVIII -early XX century). St. 

Petersburg: Dmitry Bulanin. Vol. 1. 347 p. (in Russ). 

Predtechensky A.V. (1957) Essays on the socio-political history of Russia in the first quarter of the XIX 

century. M. AS USSR. 456 p. (in Russ). 

Smolich I.K. (1997) Russian monasticism. 988-1917. Life and Teaching. Moscow: Orthodox 

Encyclopedia. 606 p. (in Russ). 

Starostin E.V. (2005) Archival heritage of the Russian Orthodox Church: ways of study and development. 

Domestic Archives. Vol. 4. Pp. 31-38. (in Russ). 

Yelagin N.V. (1881) The White clergy and its "interests". St. Petersburg: Printing House of R. Gomke. 181 

p. (in Russ). 

Zyryanov P.N. (1984) The Orthodox Church in the struggle against the Revolution of 19051907. Moscow: 

Nauka. 224 p. (in Russ). 

 

                         ©  Journal  «Agrarian History», № 11, 2022, e-ISSN 2713-2447  

 

  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License 

 

11

 

Дата публикации: 26 июля 2022  
DOI: 10.52270/27132447_2022_11_11 
 

 

ОРГАНИЗАЦИЯ РАСПРЕДЕЛЕНИЯ ЗЕМЕЛЬНЫХ УЧАСТКОВ НА 
ДАЛЬНЕМ ВОСТОКЕ ДЛЯ ОТСТАВНЫХ ЧИНОВ МАНЬЧЖУРСКОЙ 

АРМИИ       

 

Гуринов Сергей Леонидович1 

 

1Доктор исторических наук, Воронежский государственный аграрный университет имени 

императора Петра I, ул. Мичурина 1, Воронеж, Россия, E-mail: gurinovsl@mail.ru 

 

Аннотация 

 

В статье рассматривается колонизация Дальнего Востока, которая была одной из важнейших 

проблем российской внутренней и внешней политики в начале ХХ века. После поражения в русско-
японской войне 1904-1905 годов отношения с Китаем серьезно ухудшились. Поэтому особое внимание 
было уделено ситуации на российско-китайской границе, где значительно участились случаи нарушения 
государственной границы хунхузскими бандформированиями. Военное ведомство Российской империи 
небезосновательно считало, что Россия и Китай находятся накануне крупного вооруженного конфликта. 
По мнению российских военных экспертов, только разразившийся в Китае общенациональный 
революционный 
кризис 
предотвратил 
предстоящее 
военное 
противостояние. 
Одной 
из 

запланированных государственных мер по укреплению дальневосточных границ России и стабилизации 
отношений с Китаем стала раздача земельных участков в Иркутском генерал-губернаторстве и 
Приамурском крае отставным чинам российской армии. Прежде всего, речь шла об отставных офицерах 
и нижних чинах маньчжурской армии, принимавших участие в русско-японской войне 1904-1905 годов. В 
то же время появление русских землевладельцев в Иркутском генерал-губернаторстве и Приамурском 
крае должно было оказать положительное влияние на колонизацию Дальнего Востока. Раздача 
земельных участков отставным российским военнослужащим на территории Иркутского генерал-
губернатора обеспечила заметное усиление российского влияния в зоне государственных интересов. 
Более того, бывшие российские военнослужащие могли бы послужить важной опорой в случае 
возможного вооруженного российско-китайского конфликта. 

Ключевые слова: земельные участки, военный конфликт, российское военное ведомство, 

колонизация, национальный кризис, китайская революция. 

 

 
 

 
 

 

                         ©  Journal  «Agrarian History», № 11, 2022, e-ISSN 2713-2447  

 

  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License 

 

12

 
I. ВВЕДЕНИЕ 
 

В начале ХХ века происходит обострение российско-китайских отношений, связанных с 

поражением России в русско-японской войне 1904 – 1905 гг. [6] [7] Несмотря на то, что официально 
Китай сохранял нейтралитет в период боевых действий против Японии, местные бандиты хунхузы под 
руководством японских офицеров-инструкторов совершили ряд дерзких и успешных нападений на 
тыловые части русской маньчжурской армии. [10] [11] В тоже время японские части во время войны от 
действий хунхузов абсолютно не пострадали. [12] [18] 

После завершения русско-японской войны 1904 – 1905 гг. хунхузы постоянно нарушали 

государственную границу России и Китая. В российском военном ведомстве укрепилось мнение, что 
китайская сторона, вдохновленная примером японских соседей, готовится к началу полномасштабного 
военного конфликта в дальневосточном регионе. [19] [20]  Однако последовавшие вскоре революция и 
общенациональный кризис заставили китайских военных отказаться от своих планов. (Рис 1.) 

 

Рис 1. Хунхузы 

На фоне развивающегося в начале ХХ века российско-китайского конфликта русское 

правительство принимает решение о льготной раздаче в Иркутском генерал-губернаторстве и 
Приамурском крае сельскохозяйственных наделов отставным нижним чинам и офицерам русской армии. 
Преимущество при выделении земельных участков отдавалось ветеранам российской маньчжурской 
армии, принимавшим участие в русско-японской войне 1904 – 1905 гг. и ориентировавшимся в местных 
условиях.