Keyword: «orphanages in moscow»

Studying the historical experience of church charity in the field of orphan care in pre-revolutionary Russia is of considerable interest both from the point of view of recreating a holistic picture of social policy and for finding effective ways of interaction between the government, society and religious organizations in modern social work. The aim of the article is to examine the formats of the Russian Orthodox Church's participation in the care for orphans and children left without parental care in Russia in the last third of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The methodological foundations of the research were the problem-chronological and historical-contextual approaches, as well as the concept of humanistic pedagogy. As a result of the study based on the analysis of a wide range of archival documents, statistical materials and periodicals, it was found that the church's contribution was realized both through the direct establishment of orphanages and other educational institutions and through indirect participation in the activities of secular children's institutions. An analysis of the all-Russian statistics showed the key role of the largest charitable societies, such as the Romanov Committee, in coordinating the network of orphanages that actively interacted with church parishes. Using the example of Moscow, the article analyzes the integration role of the Elizabethan Charitable Society, which united 230 parishes, and the multifaceted activities of the Novodevichy Monastery, which organized a vocational school, orphanages and a school on its basis. It is shown that the financing of church initiatives was largely (up to 74%) based on private donations. The theoretical significance of the work lies in the concretization of the historical, pedagogical and social aspects of the church's participation in charitable activities for the care of orphaned children, which deepens the understanding of the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the social policy of the Russian Empire. The practical significance lies in the possibility of adapting the identified historical approaches to the interaction of the church, the state and society, the implementation of the experience of using private donations in the organization of parish care for children in the development of modern social programs to support children left without parental care.