On the Question of the Cultural Role of the Russian Orthodox Church (on the Example of the Altai Spiritual Mission)

 One of the types of modern scientific knowledge, close to cultural and religious studies, is regionalism.

It acts as an interdisciplinary science specializing in the study of the specifics and peculiarities of the course of different forms of regionalization (from the point of view of geography, culture, economics and politics). The object of research in this case is a region or geographical area. A region (Latin regionis – region) is a territory, therefore regionalism explores a region as an independent spatial-geographical, administrative-territorial and historical-cultural value. One of the leading Russian scientists interpreting regionalism from the standpoint of cultural principles is Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Professor A.O. Boronoev. From his point of view, the ethnic composition of the region and its ethno-cultural component are the leading ones in the analysis of a particular region of Russia ^{[28; 22; 27, pp. 8-17]}.

The region of Western Siberia is significant from an ethnocultural and economic point of view, making a huge contribution to the national economy and culture of Russia both in the past and now. Altai is the pearl of the West Siberian region and it was one of the centers to which the attention of the Russian Orthodox Church was riveted ^{[10, pp. 156-158; 1, pp. 12-16;]}, the object of activity of the Altai Spiritual Mission (hereinafter – the ADM). First you need to understand the very concept of "mission". Of course, this lexeme of Latin origin (missio, onis (f)) is primarily a parcel, a dispatch ^[2]. According to various pre-revolutionary academic publications, including a dictionary compiled by A.H. Chudinov, this lexeme can have one of three meanings. In accordance with the first, it is interpreted as a diplomatic representation of a State. According to the second interpretation, it means a group of priests sent to a state whose population professes paganism to help spread Christianity in it. According to the third interpretation, it implies a vocation ^[29].

In a similar dictionary compiled by M. Popov, there are also three understandings of this borrowed term. In accordance with the first, it means diplomatic representation. According to the second interpretation, this borrowing has a religious connotation and represents messengers from a state professing Christianity to another state adhering to paganism in order to achieve the Christianization of the latter. According to the third interpretation, it implies a certain task, purpose or a certain goal ^{[20, p. 136]}. At the same time , in another similar dictionary edited by F. Pavlenkova's first interpretation of this term interprets it as sending missionary priests to non-Christians who preach the transition to the true (Christian) faith. It can also mean groups and associations of similar people created in order to coordinate and improve the effectiveness of their actions, as well as increase the impact of activity. According to the second formulation, this term is interpreted as any representation that serves to solve the task. The last third definition interprets it as a purpose ^[18]. In the collection "Explanation of 25,000 foreign words that have come into use in the Russian language, with the meaning of their roots", compiled under the editorship of A.D. Mikhelson, only two interpretations of this borrowed term are given. In accordance with the first, it is defined as a representation, while the second meaning also has a church-religious connotation and is formulated as a group of persons with the status of missionaries-preachers of the Christian faith specializing in proselytism among pagans ^[17].

The Cultural Institute of Spiritual Missions, in the aspect of the Christianization of peoples, arose in the Roman Catholic environment in the Jesuit Order at the end of the XVI century. Within the framework of the Russian Orthodox Church, this concept began to spread in the XVIII century. To emphasize the difference with the diplomatic mission, the church institute began to be called a "Spiritual mission". The concept of a "Spiritual mission" as a special preaching institute was fully established only in the XIX century, thanks to the creation of an exemplary Altai Spiritual Mission. The revolution of 1917 and the subsequent collapse of the Russian Empire destroyed the structure of Spiritual missions within the country, and foreign Spiritual missions began to develop in their own peculiar ways.

The date of foundation of the ADM is considered to be 1830. Its founder was the most famous missionary preacher, the Monk Makarii (in the world – Glukharev) ^[23]. In strict accordance with the traditions established in the time of Cyril and Methodius, preachers in Altai engaged in missionary work in all its key varieties, conducted educational and moral activities, performed prayer services and taught the basics of Christianity in the language of those to whom they preached, that is, in Altai and Shor. Since the advent of the ADM and up to 1920, missionaries have contributed to the rejection of traditionally professed shamanism and the conversion to the Orthodox faith of over 50% of Altaians and Shors. In other words, they were mainly engaged in cultural activities.

The methods practiced by missionaries in Altai, including doctrine, culture, linguistics and education, became widespread in other missions initiated by the Russian Orthodox Church, since they were not reduced to a simple rejection of paganism and conversion to Christianity, but helped the versatile arrangement and organization of the life of baptized Gentiles. In particular, that is why, within the framework of the congress of missionaries held in Irkutsk in 1910 ^[12], the ADM was universally recognized as exemplary and guiding. Thus, she became an example for other Spiritual missions. The indisputable advantage of the ADM should be called its cultural and creative activity, since it was intensively engaged in enlightenment, education and training of wards, translation of literature into local languages, literature and book publishing. Even today, the works of preachers in Altai devoted to the topics of ethnography and linguistics remain relevant from the point of view of science and are in demand by scientists and researchers ^{[31; 5, p. 142-221; 3; 14; 15; 16; 19; 6; 11; 13; 26]}, specializing in regional studies and engaged in detailed study and analysis cultural origins of this region of Russia.

The reason for the appearance of the ADM was an order issued by the Synod and dated December 24, 1828. The above-mentioned document was dedicated to the return to the Siberian region of the service of foreign missionary preachers, which ceased to exist in 1799. In order to find a person suitable for performing this task and serving on Siberian soil, Archbishop of Siberia and Tobolsk Evgeny (in the world – Kazantsev) sent a corresponding request to three representatives of the clergy. They included Bishop Vladimir of Kursk (in the world – Supper), Bishop Aaron of Arkhangelsk (in the world – Narcissov) and Archimandrite of the Solovetsky monastery. The response to the appeal of the Holy Synod came from Archimandrite Makarii (in the world – Glukharev). This clergyman then served in the Glinskaya desert, formally assigned to the Kursk diocese. Later, the Synod issued a new decree dated May 27, 1829. In accordance with this document, Archbishop Eugene was charged with the duty "to turn Archimandrite Macarius, at the discretion of His Eminence, to the work of preaching, where it seems necessary" ^{[5, p. 166]}. Soon Archimandrite Makarii undertook a journey to Moscow, leaving his native places. In the capital, he was first blessed to engage in missionary work by Metropolitan Filaret of Moscow (in the world – Drozdov), and in the autumn of 1829, as planned, he came under the direction and patronage of Archbishop Eugene.

During the ten-month period, the Monk Makarii, as part of the upcoming missionary activity of the preacher in Tobolsk, trained and prepared assistants who could become a support in this difficult and responsible matter, and selected a further place of service. Guided by the order received from the Synod, during his stay in Tobolsk, he appointed as assistants two young men – the offspring of representatives of the clergy who studied at the local seminary and became volunteers. The son of the psalmist B. expressed a desire to help him in the matter of preaching on his own . Popov and the son of the clergyman A. Volkov. In their activities, Father Macarius and his assistants were obliged to focus on the directive issued by the Synod back in 1769. In addition to this document, he was sent a copy of the order concerning various benefits and indulgences, which all foreigners who convert to the Christian faith could count on receiving. The decree on the corresponding preferential treatment and privileges was approved by the State Council of the country in the summer of 1826. In accordance with this document, all converts to Christianity could count on temporary relief from paying taxes and carrying out various duties for 3 years. Such a state policy helped to convert the indigenous ethnic groups living on the periphery of the Russian Empire to the Christian faith.

During his own stay in Tobolsk, Father Makariy devoted a lot of time to forming a list of rules regulating the specifics of relationships and regulating the process of interaction in missionary groups. This list was based on the principles and customs of cohabitation of monks and elders, which were a distinctive feature of the Orthodox branch of Christianity established in our country. The list of rules developed by him was expressed in the form of vows. In particular, the document stated the following principles: "We wish that we have everything in common: money, food, clothing, books and other things; and this measure may be convenient for us in the pursuit of unanimity. We wish those of us who, by the determination of the authorities, will be entrusted with special care of the matter of preaching, to obey according to the rules of the monastic community both in assignments related to preaching and in other relations and cases... We wish to receive instructions from him with attention, humility and love... We wish to be sincere and frank before him in the frequent confession of thoughts" ^{[32, pp. 38-39]}.

It should be emphasized that the attitude of the members of the Altai Spiritual Mission to material goods according to the Rules was akin to monastic (monastic). And this attitude went in the history of the Russian Church from Nile Sorsky (XVI century). According to Sorsky, the monk must be content with the ideal (spiritual). The works he wrote were recognized and popularized in Russian Orthodoxy. Nil Sorsky believed that the "flowers of virtues" can bloom and bloom only in conditions of total "silence" (that is, the ancient Greek "hesychia" practiced within the framework of hesychasm), whereas they wither from excessive talkativeness and meaningless chatter. Thus, he reduces Christian asceticism to two points: "the cutting off of thoughts" and "the retreat of the world." He taught the pupils the importance of purely physical labor and urged them not to shun it, justifying their own position by saying that "our residence and needs from our own labors should be arranged." Father Neil also liked to remind the monastery residents of the saying of the Apostle Paul about the usefulness of labor (2 Thess. 3:10) and warned against the abuse of alms and excessive reliance on donations.

Such common human qualities as greed, avarice, the desire for enrichment, Nil Sorsky considered deadly, "poison". That is why he instructed that when hiring employees, they should be paid according to their conscience for the work done. He also had an extremely negative attitude to excessive adornment, which became quite widespread in church life, in particular, he condemned the use of utensils made of gold and silver ^[21].

During the preparation of the members of the Altai mission for the further performance of their own duties, the Tobolsk Consistory, following an order from Archbishop Eugene, was engaged in collecting information concerning ethnic groups living in the territory of the local diocese, and at the same time not converted to the Christian faith. In other words, she conducted research of a regionalistic nature. The purpose of such work was to simplify and facilitate the process of choosing a place for the upcoming missionary, preaching service among the unbaptized peoples for St. Macarius. The first planned route of the missionaries included a trip north from Tobolsk, to the area where two nomadic peoples lived: Khanty (formerly known as Ostyaks) and Samoyeds (modern name – Nenets). Not everyone in these ethnic groups adhered to paganism, someone had already been baptized. However, the initial plans had to be abandoned due to the climatic features of this territory: harsh weather conditions in the Far North and a lot of swamps. The original route had to be revised, and the next destination was the Kokchetav military district, where the Kyrgyz nomads lived (the obsolete name of the Kazakhs).

This area differed favorably from the previous one with a temperate climate. In addition, the local people spoke Kyrgyz, which is very similar to another – Tatar, familiar not only to the Monk Makarii, but also to his volunteer assistants. A serious obstacle was the sharply negative reaction on the part of I.A. Velyaminov, who at that time held the post of Governor-General in the West Siberian region. After receiving a written notice from Archbishop Eugene about sending Christian preachers for missionary purposes, he initially refused, as he did not want to provoke protests among the Kyrgyz people. With this in mind, Archbishop Eugene had to change his initial plans, and he called on the Monk Makarii to look at the Kalmyks nomads (in the XIX century, the northern Turkic-speaking tribes of the Altai Mountains were usually called Tatars, and the southern Kalmyks), who also professed paganism and lived in the Biysk district, located within the borders of the Tomsk province. After a positive decision and careful preparation, on August 3, 1830, a group of preachers left Tobolsk, making a temporary stop at the Abalak Monastery. They intended to arrive in Biysk, to which they had to travel a considerable distance. Having stopped in Barnaul, the travelers took the things intended for them from Archpriest Sozont, who lived there. The list of these things included myrrh, literature for conducting divine services, vestments, etc. The final destination was the village of Ulala located in the Altai Mountains (today's name is Gorno–Altaysk). As ordered by Archbishop Eugene, a group of missionary preachers all the time reflected in writing the events taking place on the road, as a result of which the corresponding archive was preserved (the records are in the RGIA. F. 843. Op. 2. D. No. 1720.).

Immediately after arriving at the appointed place, on September 7, 1830, Father Makarii conducted the baptism ceremony of the Altai youth Eleska, giving him, as a pioneer, the Christian name John in honor of John the Baptist. For the preachers themselves, this date turned into an unofficial birthday of the Adm. Then he moved from the village of Ulaly to the nearby village of Maimu, where his acquaintance with the local Teleutes and other tribal peoples who lived in the Altai began. After the rite of baptism into the Orthodox faith, the Monk Makarii helped the Altaians to switch to a sedentary lifestyle at their place of residence or in neighboring settlement settlements. It was in Mima that the preachers launched a program to teach local children to read and write, and also treated them to the best of their abilities, independently providing various medical care to people in need. There was work of an exclusively cultural nature.

The success achieved in the Altai Mountains prompted the Monk Makarii to finally relocate to Ulala. As a result, this locality turned into a key location for the ADM. Until the newly arrived missionaries launched their own activities in Altai, the priests who headed the church parishes in neighboring towns and villages failed to achieve significant success in the issue of Christianization of the local autochthonous population. In particular, during the 70-year period preceding the advent of the ADM, only 300 people converted to the Christian faith and, despite this, they were in no hurry to abandon paganism, but rather tried to combine the new religion with the old pagan ideas.

Before the participants of the first ADM group started performing their duties, the overwhelming majority of the two ethnic groups – Altai and Shor – professed shamanism, that is, paganism. Their religious beliefs instructed them to practice the veneration of spirits (river, forest, mountain), and if there was a need to go to the kamas, that is, shamans, for help. Therefore, first of all, the missionaries had to focus their efforts on solving the problem of catechization. In particular, they launched an educational process among the baptized local population - both adults and minors. In addition, they tried to teach them the rules and secrets of gardening and methods of cultivating the land, and when necessary, they were engaged in baking for distribution to people. The missionaries also had to work on maternity care and comprehensive assistance to those wishing to abandon nomadism and settle on earth, including the arrangement of household life ^{[25, p. 19]}.

After a detailed study of the dialects of the Mountain-Altai peoples and their careful assimilation, Father Makarii managed to develop an appropriate alphabet and compose an alphabet. At the next stage, he began to translate, in particular, translated some texts into the dialects of indigenous ethnic groups, thereby contributing to the appearance of their writing based on the Cyrillic alphabet. The spiritual culture of the Altai ethnic groups has thus acquired its historicity, which is directly connected with the acquisition of writing. The oral creativity of the Altaians has acquired a materialized character. And the Cyrillic alphabet linked the ethnic cultures of this region with the unified culture of our Fatherland – with Russian culture. In this regard, we will point out the negative trends in the language sphere that are present in Central Asia and Kazakhstan today – the transition to Arabic and the Latin alphabet. This phenomenon is aimed at breaking cross-cultural ties with Russia.

The Teleut dialect was chosen as the basic foundation for the creation of the Altai literary language, whose lexicon was largely supplemented by borrowings drawn from dialects spoken by other Mountain Altai ethnic groups. In his translation work, Father Makarii could rely not only on his own skills, but also on his local assistant, M. Chevalkov. This young teleut was personally baptized into the Orthodox faith by the Archimandrite, and later not only chose the path of church service, being awarded the title of the first clergyman among his people, but also eventually turned into the most famous local writer.

While living in the Altai Mountains, Father Makarii managed to prepare translations of the Gospel, and almost entirely. In addition, the list of his works includes translations of the most significant passages from the Acts of the Apostles, the epistle of John the Theologian and a number of other documents and literary sources important for Christians and Christian worship, including the 10 Commandments with detailed explanatory comments. As part of the transfer in 1841 to Metropolitan Filaret of Moscow for approval of the alphabet compiled by him, intended for teaching purposes – teaching literacy to children of indigenous Mountain-Altai peoples, Father Makarii attached a corresponding note. The note read as follows: "The mission is already preparing for presentation to the church authorities an alphabet in the Teleut dialect, which is closely related to all other dialects of local foreigners and understandable to all of them, in accordance with this Slavic and Russian alphabet" ^{[25, pp. 40-41]}.

In 1844, the post of the deputy of Father Makarii, who led the ADM, went to his key assistant and right–hand man, the clergyman Stefan Landyshev, whose candidacy was approved by Metropolitan Filaret of Moscow. Having received the post of his predecessor, the Monk Stephen began to expand the number of full-time staff of the mission. So, by 1858, a total of 18 clergymen, four deacons and 12 monks worked at the Adm. Informational notes concerning the success of the mission were published in the church periodicals, which have a large readership. During the 21-year period of his tenure as the head of the ADM (until 1865), St. Stephen was able to convert approximately 3150 people to Orthodoxy. Also during this time, two more representative offices of the mission were additionally founded for the Altaians, and the number of educational institutions for the local population grew in parallel. The successor of Archimandrite Makarii also contributed to the creation of Altai monasteries, which simultaneously played the role of distributors of Russian culture. In 1863, the Ulala women's community appeared here, which later turned into a monastery named after St. Nicholas. A similar monastery, named after the Most Holy Theotokos, appeared here a little earlier – in 1879. In the future, orphanages were formed on the basis of monastic institutions.

The preachers who were part of the ADM concentrated on reading and conversations unrelated to worship services. At first, they chose spiritual, religious and moral literature for public reading, and read it aloud to local residents who converted to Orthodoxy, right in their homes, which were served by yurts. In the future, they began to organize gatherings for this purpose: in warm weather, reading was held right on the street, and in cold weather, the role of the reading room was played by the room. In the future, missionaries who served in other localities assigned to the Tomsk diocese willingly borrowed this practice.

The Altai Spiritual Mission did not forget about the purely social problems of the local population, worked in the field of material culture; taught the Altaians a sedentary lifestyle, agricultural and gardening skills, provided practical support. As far as they could, the preachers treated everyone who needed medical help, including vaccinating the local population against smallpox. They also provided support to the poor, the blind, the disabled and the helpless elderly. They distributed bread to them for free, provided them with clothing and tools for farming, helped to buy farm animals, etc. Despite the active charity of missionaries, most of their initiatives were financed independently, at the expense of patrons, and not subsidies, since the state did not seek to subsidize them from the treasury.

In 1865, the ADM received new leadership – the managerial post went to Archimandrite Vladimir (in the world – Petrov). As a leader, he decided not to stop developing various areas of work of preaching groups associated with the spheres of worship, literature, culture and charity. Subsequently, the Monk Vladimir contributed to the creation of the St. Petersburg missionary society, designed to help the Altai mission and the previously created Trans-Baikal mission. His activity in the leadership position was fruitful and successful, therefore, the mid-1880s is rightfully considered the "golden age" and the apotheosis of the development of missionary activity. The missionaries made a lot of efforts within the framework of cultural and creative activities in matters of education and education of the local population. In particular, the educational institutions opened by the mission were divided into three categories: single-class, double-class and literacy schools. This suggests a conclusion about the multidirectional nature of education under the guidance of missionaries, since they not only taught children, but also taught adults in order to eliminate illiteracy among the latter.

In the period from the 1860s to the 1880s, the members of the Altai mission were intensely engaged in translation activities. They sought to introduce various literary works of indigenous peoples – Altaians, Shors and Kyrgyz (Kazakhs) – native speakers of the respective languages. In addition, literary and theological works were composed by members of the ADM in the languages of these ethnic groups. The reputation of the most famous and fruitful translator in the ADM was earned by Archpriest Vasily Verbitsky, through whose efforts the "Dictionary of the Altai and Aladag dialects of the Turkic language" was born ^[4]. Also, the members of the ADM laid the foundation for the Altai literary language, whose appearance in many ways helped to unite the various Turkic-speaking ethnic groups living in this area into one people, and to realize themselves as such. Among the publications that launched the unification process, it is worth highlighting the "Grammar of the Altai language", first published in 1869. Later, in 1882, the Altai Primer was published, and in 1884, the "Indication of the Way to the Kingdom of Heaven" got into print. And a year later, the "Shorsky Primer" was also published.

At the beginning of the XX century, one of the forms of the Orthodox activity of the mission was the opposition to the popularization of Burkhanism in the general population, which was a local kind of Lamaism that was used only in Altai. This religious trend threatened to turn into the dominant religion of the Altai people. However, in mid-1917, the Provisional Government, which led the country after the overthrow of the tsar, ordered that the schools and libraries operating under them be removed from the leadership of the ADM. As a result, these institutions mostly ceased to function due to the lack of subsidies from the state treasury. When the Soviet government, which replaced the Provisional Government, consolidated its own positions in the Altai in 1920, the ADM lost centralization and could no longer be managed as before. Later, in the 1920s and 1930s, its remaining representative offices were closed, monasteries and churches also ceased to exist, and other institutions located in its department ceased to function. Thus ended the century-old history of the Altai mission, which has done so much to preserve the culture of the peoples of Western Siberia: Altaians, Shors and many others. The ethno-cultural creativity of the missionaries, we note as an intermediate conclusion, did not so much contribute to the Russification of the indigenous peoples of this region of Russia, as it helped to form the culture and way of life of these ethnic groups. The history and culture of the Shor ethnic group can serve as an illustrative example in this regard.

The ethnonym "Shortsy" did not appear immediately, but contributed to the consolidation of the Shor people, its formation as an ethnos and the establishment of folk culture and traditions ^{[9, pp. 7-10; 7, pp. 114-119; 8, pp. 7-12]}. The Shors belong to the category of Turkic-speaking ethnic groups and today live in the south of the Kemerovo region. From the point of view of material culture up to the XIX century. the main occupations of the Shor people were the smelting of iron and the creation of forged iron products – in these areas this ethnic group has achieved considerable skill. Universal recognition was due to the fact that in terms of technology, metal casting was characterized by complexity and remained impossible in the absence of a sufficiently high development of society, and also dictated the availability of appropriate knowledge from the master and his experience in this matter. Metal objects made by artisans were used by the Shors as payment of tribute intended for the Turkic khagans. In addition, contacting representatives of the Russian merchant class, the Shors used them for barter, as a means of exchange for various goods. However, by the end of the XVIII century. the Shors began to gradually lose their craft skills and from blacksmiths were reforged into hunters, which they later lived.

The Shors had a very specific, non-standard worldview, as well as peculiar religious customs, the appearance of which was largely due to shamanism, inextricably linked with polytheism. The Shors considered Ulgen and Erlik to be the main deities, who alone ruled the two worlds – the upper and lower, respectively. Also, among the Shor people, there was widespread veneration of spirits who completely control various natural objects – rivers, lakes, mountains, etc.

Interestingly, the name "Shortsy" in the lexicon of this nationality was absent as such until the XX century. The absence of a unified universally recognized self-designation in the lexicon speaks of an unformed, in fact, ethnos, and an unfinished process of ethnogenesis. Therefore, other peoples who lived next door to the Shors had their own names for them. The Russians had three variants of names in circulation at once: Kuznetsk Tatars, Kondomsky (from the name p. Condo) and mrassky (from the name p. Mpac-Cy) Tatars or Abintsy. The process of ethnogenesis and consolidation of several subethnoses into a single people ended only in the Soviet era. This was largely facilitated by the establishment of the Gorno-Shorsky National District by the new government, whose main settlement was the village of Kuzedeevo, which served as the base of the administrative office in the pre-revolutionary era. "Shortsy" as a self-designation used by the Kuznetsk Tatars, originates in the middle of the XIX century and owes its own appearance to the scientist-Turkologist B. B. Radlov: it was he he called the indigenous people so, the territory of the habitat of which was the Kuznetsky Uyezd, located in the Tomsk province.

The widespread use of the ethnonym "Shortsy" in everyday life, on the one hand, significantly intensified the process of consolidation of the Shor ethnos, and on the other hand, in many ways helped the emergence of a unique cultural code among this nation. For academician B.B. Radlov, this word was applied in nature, and was used exclusively to facilitate and standardize the classification process of autochthonous indigenous peoples, whose place of residence at that time was the territory of Tomsk Province. In the works of the scientist there are names of two main Shor genera – Kuban and Shor, with which he designated closely related subethnoses, however, without unambiguous indication of their true origin, that is, ethnicity ^{[30, pp. 506-514]}. For this purpose, the academician assigned to one category different subgroups of Tatars, whose habitat was the coastal zone of three rivers – Tom, Mpac-Cy and Kondoma, and gave them the general name "shortsy". Such a step was explained by the similarity of the languages of the mentioned subethnoses. This prompted the scientist to conclude that they are all only dialects of one language. In addition, this decision was also facilitated by the fact that other nationalities living next door to the Tatars, including the Teleutes and Lebedintsy, had one common name for them – "shor-kizhi" ^[24]. It should be borne in mind that the process of constructing the above-mentioned ethnonym was not of a natural nature, since it was invented by Academician Radlov for narrow practical purposes and became the basis of the cultural code of the Shor ethnos.

In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that the formation of the self-consciousness of the Shors, including the general Turkic, religious and cultural levels, was significantly influenced by interaction and communication with native speakers of Russian culture. Thus, it became a natural result of the intercultural communications that took place between Russians and representatives of the Turkic peoples living in Western Siberia. In addition, we note the importance of the cultural activity of the Altai Spiritual Mission in this process of intercultural interaction. For many decades, it has not only been of a doctrinal nature (communion with Orthodoxy and Russian culture), but has also become an example of the preservation of ethnic cultures and ethnic groups of a huge region of Russia.