Imperial Russia and the Armenian Catholicos at Home and Abroad

Rarely have the geographical boundaries of religious communities coincided with the borders of states. As a result believers have often found themselves having to cross state frontiers in order to fulfill spiritual needs, while states have worked to manage the complications, and to exploit the opportunities, presented by the international dimensions of different religious traditions. In light of Russia’s multi-confessional composition, such concerns occupied a significant place in the empire’s history, one that scholars are only now beginning to appreciate fully. By taking believers beyond the borders of the empire—whether to Urga, Mecca, Jerusalem, or Rome—pilgrimage raised questions concerning border control, consular services, and contact between Russian and foreign subjects. Clerical vacancies in Russia sometimes forced religious communities to seek candidates from abroad, thus bringing issues of subjecthood, knowledge of the Russian language, and political reliability to the fore. The incorporation of Catholics into the Russian empire compelled St. Petersburg to conduct complex relations with the papacy, while the presence of Orthodox Christians in the Balkans and Palestine provided Russia with opportunities to pressure the Sublime Porte. In short, religious issues implicated the Russian empire in the affairs of adjacent states and thus served as an important foundation for the interaction of Slavic Eurasia with its neighboring worlds.