On the issue of recreating the former Church of the Presentation of the Lord in the Feldjegersky Corps as a departmental church of the State Feldegersky Service of the Russian Federation

Lazarev Andrey Borisovich Postgraduate student; Department of Complex Humanities (subject-subject relations); Russian State Social University 4 Wilhelm Peak str., building 1, Moscow, 129226, Russia andrew-lazarev1991@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

The Church of the Presentation of the Lord at the Courier Corps is a church that was previously located in a building in St. Petersburg on the Fontanka River embankment, house 90 (hereinafter referred to as the building), and belonged to the Courier Corps (hereinafter referred to as the Corps), created by Decree of Emperor Paul I on December 17, 1796 ^[1] (on this day it was the first staff of this Building has been approved) to carry out their personal assignments, mainly for the delivery of urgent letters and military documents.

The history of the Church of the Presentation of the Lord at the Corpus (hereinafter referred to as the Church) is both known and unknown. It is known because there are several independent works by authors from different eras, from which you can learn historical facts about the history of the emergence and development of the Church. And it is unknown, because so far no single work has been published summarizing all the known information about the Church contained in the works of authors who studied the history of the Church, and also because the subject of their research did not include some of the issues that will be discussed in this article.

The authors-researchers of the history of the Church include the following persons:

- in the Russian Empire: the second priest of the Church, Grigory Petrovich Vysheslavtsev, who compiled a "Historical sketch of the Church of the Presentation of the Lord, which is attached to the Courier Corps" ^[2], published in 1896 in the Bulletin of the Military and Naval Clergy, published according to the program approved by the Holy Synod (hereinafter — the Bulletin) dated November 1, 1896 No. 21 and in the book by Colonel Nikolay Gennadyevich Nikolaev "The Centenary of the Courier Corps. 1796-1896: historical essay" ^[3], the deacon of the Church of Chuzhbovsky Dmitry Andreevich, who published in 1897 his work entitled "Celebration of the centenary of the Courier Corps on December 17, 1896" ^[4], and the priest of His Majesty's 84th Infantry Shirvan regiment Tsitovich Grigory Alexandrovich, who published his work in 1913 "Temples of the Army and Navy" ^[5];

- in the Russian Federation: historians such as Mikhail Vasilyevich Shkarovsky and Nadezhda Yurievna Cherepenina, who published their work "Handbook on the History of Orthodox Churches in St. Petersburg (1917-1945)" in 1999 ^[6], Valery Viktorovich Klaving, who published the work "Military Temples of Russia" in 2002 ^[7], Antonov Viktor Vasilyevich and Kobak Alexander Valeryevich, who published their work "The Shrines of St. Petersburg in 2003. Christian Historical and Church Encyclopedia" ^[8].

In the above-mentioned works of the mentioned authors-researchers of the Church, the history of the emergence and development of the Church in the period from 1863 (the year of the Church's foundation) to 1923 (the year of the Church's liquidation) is presented very informatively.

Thus, the above—mentioned authors provide information about the process of founding the Church by the ranks of the Corps in the period from December 17, 1863 to February 2, 1865, when this Church was consecrated, as well as that the date of February 2 was chosen by them not by chance - on this feast day of the Presentation of the Lord, the 2nd staff of the Corps was approved. Thus, from this information it can be understood that the Church was founded initially not as a parish, but as a departmental one.

In addition, the mentioned authors-researchers of the history of the Church provide information that initially, from February 2, 1865, and until September 6, 1894, the Church was administered by the St. Petersburg Diocese, from the same date, the Church was transferred to the office of the protopresbyter of the military and naval clergy, from March 4 In 1918, the church became a parish, but it did not exist as such for very long — the Church was closed on January 15, 1921, at the same time, already in the same year it was resumed at a different address: Petrograd, Komissarovskaya str., 57, however, in February 1923 the Church was liquidated again, on This time, her property was finally taken to the Church of the Savior on Senna. Also in the above-mentioned works of the authors-researchers of the Church, information is provided about the location, external and internal appearance of the Church, royal contributions and attractions of the Church, benefactors of the Church, Church capital and the Church Library, about the clergy (clergy and clergy) of the Church.

Thus, a lot of work has been done by the authors-researchers of the Church, which makes it possible to uncover many issues related to the history of the Church. At the same time, in the opinion of the author of this article, the history of the Church still provides freedom to search for new information about the Church and its role in the life of the Corps for the following reasons.

Firstly, the time frame of the Historical Essay on the Church, written by Grigory Petrovich Vysheslavtsev, is limited to 1896, and the history of the Church lasted from 1896 until its liquidation, in 1923. The works of the other aforementioned authors-researchers of the Church almost verbatim contain the information set out in the Historical Essay on the Church, with the exception of the following details: by the priest Tsitovich G. A. the history of the Church was supplemented with information that in 1899 a dome was built over the Church, and in the works of Antonov V. V., Kobak A.V., Shkarovsky M. V. and Cherepenina N. Yu. information is provided that the Church was closed in 1921, in the same year it was resumed by to another address: Petrograd, 57 Komissarovskaya str., however, it was liquidated in 1923. As a justification, these authors-researchers of the history of the Church mentioned the case of the proposal of the chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod for permission to resume the church in the barracks of the Rifle battalion, agreements on the transfer of the Church to believers, certificates of the "twenty", certificates of the Church's capital, inventories of Church property, acts of liquidation contained in some archival files of the Central State Administration of St. Petersburg ^{[9, 10, 11, 12, 13]} and RGIA ^[14], as well as a reference to some periodical literature from the time of the Church's existence (for example, "Bulletin of the military and Naval clergy" ^{[15, 16, 17]}, " Historical and statistical information about the St. Petersburg Diocese" ^[18]). At the same time, the cited archival documents and periodical literature mentioned in the works of Antonov V. V., Kobak A.V., Shkarovsky M. V. and Cherepenina N. Yu., in the opinion of the author of this article, are not given a fully adequate historical and legal assessment, since most of the cited sources are simply mentioned, their contents are not disclosed for the national historical science.

Secondly, as already mentioned, there is no single work devoted to the history of the Church: the information published in the works of the above-mentioned authors-researchers of the Church are scattered, and therefore the history of the Church in their works is only partially traced. In addition, the subject of the study by Antonov V. V., Kobak A.V., Shkarovsky M. V. and Cherepenina N. Yu. did not include, for example, such questions directly related to the history of the Church as: what information has survived to this day about the clergy of the Church, the clergy of the Church, the role of the Church for the ranks of the Corps, about where icons and other Church property, metric books and clerical records of the Church may now be located. In this regard, it can be said that the history of the Church in the writings of the authors-researchers of the Church is currently not fully disclosed.

Thirdly, the above-mentioned works of M. V. Shkarovsky with N. Y. Cherepenina and V. V. Antonov with A. V. Kobak were published back in 1997 and 2003. Thus, more than 20 years have passed since the publication of the latest works devoted to the study of the history of the Church. During this period, the legislation of the Russian Federation has changed, many restrictions have been lifted for the study of archival documents, many of which have become available through digitalization, and for some of them belonging to the category of "personal documents", the statute of limitations has expired, setting a limit on familiarization with them (75 years, according to part 3 of Article 25 of the Federal Law Law No. 125-FZ dated October 22, 2004 "On Archival Business in the Russian Federation"). In addition, recently libraries have been replenished with a huge amount of periodical literature of the XIX–XX centuries, which also allows historians-researchers to obtain new facts about the subject of their research.

Having familiarized with the works of some historians and archivists devoted to the issues of researching the location of documents on closed churches and house temples of the Russian Orthodox Church (hereinafter - the ROC) in the XX century, the formation and development of the persecution of the ROC in 1920-1930. (for example, with the works of S. G. Petrov "Documents of the office of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (b) as a source on the history of the Russian Church (1921-1925)" ^[19], N. N. Pokrovsky, S. G. Petrov "Politburo and the Church" ^[20], M. Y. Krapivin "Glavmuseum and seizure of church valuables in Soviet Russia (spring — summer 1922)" ^[21], "The Glavmuseum and the L. D. Trotsky Commission "On accounting and concentration of values" (November 1921 — October 1922)" ^[22], Makarova Yu. N. "Campaign for the seizure of church values in Soviet Russia (1922): causes, course, consequences" ^[23]), it can be assumed that:

- answers to the above-mentioned questions related to the history of the Church, as well as other information not mentioned by the above-mentioned historians-researchers of the Church and the author of this article, can be found in a variety of archives (for example, in the RGIA, RGVIA, CGA St. Petersburg, CGIA St. Petersburg, TsGALI St. Petersburg, etc.), periodical literature of the times of existence Churches (for example, in the Bulletin of the Military Clergy, Historical and Statistical Information about the St. Petersburg Diocese, St. Petersburg Diocesan Gazette, etc.);

- part of the Church's property may be in the vaults of museums that contain icons (for example, in the Hermitage, the Russian Museum, the Museum of Christian Culture, the Museum of the History of Religion, the Museum of the History of the St. Petersburg Diocese, the Church Archaeological Museum at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy) or in the Chapel of the Savior the Merciful - the successor of the SaviorSennovskaya Church (Assumption of the Mother of God), or in the Transfiguration Cathedral of St. Petersburg, in which, according to M. V. Shkarovsky, icons and church utensils were sometimes demolished during the persecution of the church in the 1920s and 1930s^[24].

In order to verify these assumptions and attempt to locate archival documents containing answers to the above questions about the Church, the author of this article sent letters of inquiry to most of the above archives and museums, and also made a visit to some of them. The information received in the responses from the mentioned archives and museums is currently being studied in detail, at the same time, more answers are expected to the submitted requests for the availability of archival documents and other information about the Church. The responses received from archives and museums can serve as an additional basis for the reconstruction of the Church and the transfer of the building to it.

At the same time, the information already available about the Church is the basis and evidence base for the possibility of recreating the Church as a departmental temple of the SFS of Russia and the subsequent transfer to it of the previously occupied building and previously owned religious property, if any, in accordance with the norms of Federal Law No. 327-FZ of November 30, 2010 "On the Transfer to Religious Organizations of State or Municipal-Owned Religious Property", Federal Law No. 125-FZ of September 26, 1997 "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations", Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 490 of June 30, 2001 "On the Procedure for the Transfer to Religious Organizations of Federally Owned Religious Property appointments", Resolution of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation No. 47-P dated November 17, 2020, review of judicial practice on disputes on the transfer of religious property to religious organizations, approved by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, dated November 16, 2022, according to which the federal legislator provided for the possibility of transferring buildings and structures to religious organizations (as originally created for the purpose of religious use, and subsequently adapted for this purpose), with land plots and other religious property belonging to them, which are in state and municipal ownership, free of charge.

It should also be noted that the Church building, according to the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated July 10, 2001 No. 527 "On the list of objects of historical and cultural heritage of federal (All-Russian) significance located in St. Petersburg", is classified as objects of cultural heritage of federal significance. The possibility of transferring cultural heritage objects to religious organizations, in particular Church buildings, is confirmed by item 6 of the list of documents justifying the right of a religious organization to receive state and municipal property, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 325 dated April 26, 2011, according to which the certificate of authorized bodies on the assignment of immovable property to the object Cultural heritage is classified as one of the documents justifying the right of a religious organization to receive state and municipal property for religious purposes.

In addition, the very fact that the Church is classified as an object of cultural heritage of federal significance also confirms the legally important fact of the possibility of targeted and functional use of the Church for religious purposes, since one of the components of culture, according to Article 3 of the Law of the Russian Federation of October 9, 1992 No. 3612-I, are cultural values (moral and aesthetic ideals, norms and patterns of behavior, ... national traditions and customs, ... works of culture and art ...), which are embodied in Christianity and the ROC like nowhere else, because within the framework of Christianity and the ROC, the best cultural values are laid down that are revered all over the world — love for God, neighbors, family and fatherland.

In Russia, these cultural values have been protected by the state for more than a thousand years and are strongly rooted, largely due to the Orthodox faith and the ROC.

So, since the adoption of Christianity in Russia, such sacraments have been performed in churches as the sacrament of communion of the Holy Gifts in the hope of deliverance from sins and eternal life, the sacrament of marriage, aimed at receiving grace from God in order to successfully build a family of spouses, strengthen their unanimity for a joint Christian life, birth and upbringing of children.

In churches, children born were baptized and named, here everyone congratulated each other and asked each other for forgiveness, sick in body and soul, passing through the sacraments of confession and unction, returned the lost health of souls and bodies, last farewells to loved ones and prayers for the ruling emperors took place here.

All of the above events occurred with members of the Corps in the Church, which is confirmed by the author of this article discovered in the funds of the Central State University of St. Petersburg, RGIA metric books and clerical records of the Church, as well as orders of Corps commanders and sworn promises of Corps officials found in the funds of the RGVIA.

Thus, the metric books and clerical records of the Church contain information about the social status, birth, wedding, funeral of Corps officials, as well as other information that allows them to compile their biography, as well as the biography of the clergy and clergy of the Church and allows you to study the history of the Church itself. In particular, such metric books were found in inventories No. 113 and 119 of the fund № 19 ^{[25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30]} TSGIA St. Petersburg, inventories No. 10-14 of the fund No. 806 of the RGIA ^{[31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36]} ( the list of sources contains only a few of course, in fact, there are much more of them).

The discovered orders of the Corps commanders, found in funds No. 34 and 400 of the RGVIA, contain information on the observance by the Corps ranks of the foundations of the Orthodox faith and their patriotic education, conducting socio-political work with them.

Thus, in the order of the Corps commander dated February 6, 1866, No. 11, it was said that by virtue of Article 501 of volume V of the Code of Military Regulations, each of the Corps soldiers, in the image of his faith, must be in confession at Holy Communion, although once a year on the Great and other of the posts, as a result of which all ranks of the Corps were It is entrusted to speak, confess and receive communion and to present priestly testimonies in fulfillment of this rite ^[37]. The order of the Corps commander dated February 22, 1894 No. 53 stated that on the occasion of the Highly Honorable birthday of the Emperor on February 26, 1894, a prayer service of thanks to the Lord God will be performed in the Corps Church after the Divine Liturgy, which will begin at 10 a.m., in connection with which, all ranks of the Corps, free from duty, were They were ordered to gather in the Church of the Corps at the designated time in full dress ^[38]. In the order of the Corps commander dated February 26, 1894, No. 57, all ranks of the Corps who were free from service were ordered on Tuesday, March 1, 1894, on the day of the death of the deceased Emperor Alexander II, to gather at 11.30 a.m. in ordinary mourning at the Church and serve a memorial service in his honor ^[39]. In the order of the Corps commander dated March 3, 1894, No. 62, all ranks of the Corps were ordered on Sunday, March 6, 1894, on the occasion of the celebration of the ascension to the All-Russian throne of Emperor Alexander Alexandrovich, to serve in full dress in the Church a prayer service after the Divine Liturgy, which was scheduled for 10 a.m. ^[40].

In the RGVIA, the author found many other orders from Corps commanders affecting the religious life of Corps officials, as well as containing information about the history of the Church, which was even news to the employees of this archive themselves, since a negative response was given to a request for information about the Church. Based on these orders of the Corps commanders, it is even possible to draw up, if not a complete, then a fairly detailed schedule of Church services.

In the oath promises of the Corps ranks that have survived to our time, you can read about the oaths of the Corps ranks in the Church ^{[41, 42, 43, 44, 45]}, and also in other churches used by the ranks before its foundation ^[46], before God and His Holy Gospel of loyalty to the Emperors and the Fatherland.

The author of this article also found out that the priests of the Church — G. P. Vysheslavtsev and M. S. Popov participated together with the ranks of the Corps in the Russian-Japanese and World War I, sharing with them all the horrors and difficulties of these wars, for their merits they were awarded state awards (for example, G. P. Vysheslavtsev was awarded a badge and a medal The Red Cross, the Order of St. Anna, 3rd degree, medal "For his efforts in the excellent implementation of the general mobilization of 1914", M. A. Popov was awarded the Order of St. Anna of the 3rd degree) ^{[47, 48]}.

The above information about the religious life of the ranks of the Corps and the clergy of the Church is also relevant for modern paramedics — persons in charge of the federal courier service, who are seconded employees of the internal affairs bodies serving in the federal courier service (SFS of Russia and its territorial bodies) in the order of secondment in accordance with the legislation on service in the internal affairs bodies of the Orthodox religious beliefs ^[49] (hereinafter referred to as employees of the SFS of Russia), since they, like their predecessors, observe the same foundations of the Orthodox faith and also take the oath of allegiance to the Fatherland (according to Article 28 of Federal Law No. 342-FZ of 11/30/2011 "On Service in the Internal Affairs Bodies of the Russian Federation and Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts acts of the Russian Federation") and are ready to give their lives "for their friends."

However, unlike their predecessors, the employees of the SFS of Russia do not have a departmental temple and do not have military priests capable of meeting their spiritual needs. In addition, in addition to employees of the SFS of Russia, other categories of personnel of the SFS of Russia — federal civil servants and employees of the SFS of Russia - are interested in creating a departmental temple and meeting their spiritual needs.

The SFS of Russia should also be interested in recreating the Church as a departmental temple of the SFS of Russia, since this would expand the program of patriotic education of employees of the SFS of Russia, federal civil servants and employees of the SFS of Russia of the Orthodox faith (hereinafter collectively referred to as the staff of the SFS of Russia, the personnel of the SFS of Russia) and deepen the program of historical and ethical education of employees of the SFS As part of their course training when entering the service of the federal courier service through practical interaction between representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church and the staff of the SFS of Russia, which, as a result, would ensure that they receive new knowledge, as well as their compliance with ethical norms, rules and requirements for official behavior, the development of their sense of patriotism, awareness of that the protection of life and health, rights, freedoms, honor and personal dignity, the legitimate interests of the Russian Federation, citizens and legal entities is the highest moral goal of their official activities.

In this regard, the SFS of Russia should study the experience of other law enforcement agencies in cooperation with the ROC, aimed at preserving and multiplying the spiritual and cultural values of Russia, patriotic education and historical enlightenment of their personnel, and the creation of departmental churches.

Thus, the origins of the above—mentioned interaction can be attributed, for example, to the decision of the Holy Synod of July 16, 1995 on the creation of the Synodal Department for Interaction with the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies ^[50] (hereinafter - the Synodal Department). Thanks to the appearance of this body of the ROC, for the first time after the liquidation of the Office of the Protopresbyter of the Military and Naval Clergy in connection with the publication of the order of the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs dated January 16, 1918 "On the disbandment of all departments of the spiritual department", she was able to conduct missionary activities and catechetical work in various law enforcement agencies of Russia, as well as work on the construction of departmental Orthodox churches. In addition, relatively recently, on June 7, 2022, by the decision of the Holy Synod, the position of protopresbyter of the military and naval clergy of the ROC was established in the ROC, to which the Chairman of the Synodal Department, Priest Oleg Ovcharov, was appointed ^[51], thanks to which the work on interaction between law enforcement agencies and the ROC reached a new level.

The results of the above—described work of law enforcement agencies and the ROC are evidenced by the fact that within the framework of their interaction, departmental temples have now been created, for example, by the Ministry of Defense of Russia (the Main Temple of the Armed Forces of Russia - the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ) ^[52], the Russian Navy (Stavropol St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral of the city of Kronstadt) ^[53], the Russian Airborne Forces (the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Sokolniki) ^[54], the Russian Armed Forces (the Church of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara with the chapel of St. Elijah Muromets) ^[55], the Russian Aerospace Forces (the Church of the Ascension of the Lord behind the Serpukhov Gate) ^[56], the Russian Ground Forces (the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord on Preobrazhenskaya Square) ^[57], the FSB of Russia (the Church of Sophia of the Wisdom of God on Lubyanka) ^{[58, 59]}, the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia (in honor of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God in Fili-Davydkovo in Moscow) ^[60], Rosgvardiya (church in honor of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir) ^[61], the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Moscow (church of the Sign of the Icon of the Mother of God for Peter's Gate of the mountains. Moscow) ^[62], the Special Purpose Center of the FSB of Russia (the church of the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George ^[63]), the Academy of the FSB of Russia (the temple in honor of the Iver Icon of the Mother of God ^[64]), the Cathedral "Lynx" of the Central Committee of the SR Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia (the temple in honor of the blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky) ^[65].

Based on the above, it can be concluded that the ROC and the state, represented by law enforcement agencies, are currently going hand in hand in the development of spiritual and cultural values, listening to the increased demand from law enforcement officers from year to year for the exercise of their Constitutional rights to freedom of conscience and religion (according to Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation).

The interaction of law enforcement agencies and the ROC aimed at preserving and multiplying the spiritual and cultural values of Russia, patriotic education and historical education of their personnel is carried out on the basis of cooperation agreements concluded by law enforcement agencies and the ROC. As an example of such an agreement, one can consider, for example, the Agreement on Cooperation between the ROC and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, signed by the Minister of Internal Affairs of Russia Nurgaliev R. G. and Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexei II on November 17, 2004 ^[66], the Agreement on Cooperation between the ROC and Rosgvardiya, signed on March 14, 2024 by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill and the director of the Russian Guard, Army General Zolotov V. V. ^[67].

In this regard, it would be advisable to conclude a cooperation agreement to resolve such an issue as the restoration of the Church in the form of a departmental temple of the SFS of Russia, the SFS of Russia and the ROC. In addition, it can be assumed that in this agreement it would also be important to reflect, in addition to issues related to the restoration of the Church, some issues of the future spiritual, cultural, patriotic education and historical education of employees of the SFS of Russia, federal civil servants and employees of the SFS of Russia, taking some of their foundations, for example, from the mentioned Cooperation Agreements between the ROC and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, the ROC and Rosgvardiya.

It is worth noting that back in 1998, an attempt was made between the ROC and the departments of the SFS of Russia located in the Ural Federal Region (hereinafter referred to as Departments) to establish cooperation, which resulted in an Agreement on cooperation between the Perm, Chelyabinsk, Izhevsk, Tobolsk, Vyatka, Kurgan, Yekaterinburg dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church Churches and departments of the State Courier Service of the Ural region dated July 5, 1998 (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement), which, in particular, provided that the heads of Departments would facilitate, as far as possible, the allocation of rooms in the premises of the Departments entrusted to them for Orthodox worship, sacraments and rituals, conducting conversations with Orthodox employees of Departments and, in particular if necessary, with their family members, and the rectors of the parishes, with the blessing of the ruling bishop, will assist the heads of Departments in equipping the premises allocated for Orthodox worship, in maintaining high combat readiness and statutory discipline in the Department teams, as well as in creating an atmosphere of genuine camaraderie, mutual assistance, and readiness to unconditionally fulfill their official duty to To contribute in every possible way to strengthening the families of Department employees, solving the problems of raising children, and conducting church sacraments and rituals free of charge with Department employees and their family members.

The specified Agreement also noted the historical fact of the Church's existence and its role in the spiritual and moral formation of the Corps personnel of the foundations of patriotism, loyalty to military duty, oath, readiness for self-sacrifice, however, the Agreement in question did not mention the idea of recreating the Church, besides, this idea was not in the competence of Departments and the head of the Regional Department of the SFS of Russia in the Ural Federal region.

Despite the fact that more than twenty years have passed since the conclusion of the Agreement, the issues raised in the Agreement remain relevant today, in connection with which it is worth assuming that the main provisions of the Agreement could be taken as a basis for concluding the cooperation agreement proposed by the author of this article between the SFS of Russia and the ROC, because they are based on the mutual interest of the parties.

In addition, the proposed agreement between the SFS of Russia and the ROC could also reflect a number of issues related to mutual assistance in the delivery of ROC correspondence by employees of the SFS of Russia (for example, issues related to transportation, emergency assistance in case of emergencies), in the case of contracts between the SFS of Russia and the ROC for the provision of federal courier services for the delivery of ROC correspondence.

Based on the above, we can say that the issue of concluding an agreement between the ROC and the SFS of Russia is very relevant. A solution to this issue would quite possibly solve the problem of recreating the Church as a departmental church of the SFS of Russia and would shift it from the category of "theoretical" to the category of "practical".

However, in addition to concluding an agreement between the ROC and the SFS of Russia, in order to ensure its implementation, it would be advisable to establish positions in the SFS of Russia for organizing interaction with religious associations and working with believers, similar to the existing positions in the Russian Ministry of Defense in the bodies for working with religious servicemen (given, for example, in the order The Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation No. 545 dated September 18, 2019), taking into account the specifics of the organizational and staff component of the SFS of Russia, and to consider approving the appropriate instructions for organizing interaction in the bodies of federal courier communication with traditional religious associations of the Russian Federation and working with believers employees of the SFS of Russia, as well as federal state civil servants and employees of the SFS Russia, taking some basics from the order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation dated January 30, 2020 No. 30.

In addition to all of the above, speaking about the issue of the restoration of the Church, it cannot be said that the restoration of the Church is not only a matter of restoring historical justice, it is a matter of recreating the "house of God", from this point of view, the ROC should be interested in recreating the Church no less than Orthodox employees of the SFS of Russia, as well as federal civil servants and employees The SFS of Russia. As a confirmation of this, we can cite the words of Archimandrite John Krestyankin, who said that the temple itself is "a place of God's special presence on earth. This is Heaven on earth..." ^[68]. In addition, according to church Tradition, "the throne of each temple has its own Guardian Angel who consecrates this place even when the temple has been gone for a long time. The angel will not depart from him until the time of the Last Judgment of God. If a new church is not being built on the site of dilapidated or destroyed churches, then a monument is erected over the former throne. This is how the land consecrated by the temple is designated" ^[69]. This church Tradition is still relevant today. In particular, it is expressed in the rite of consecration of the new church: "About the hedgehog to assign to this work and the doer of his guardian angel, to invisibly reflect all the resistances of visible and invisible enemies and in all good help, to build wisdom and to accomplish the power by the power, action and grace of the Most Holy Spirit of taxation" ^[70].

Based on all the above, it can be concluded that the issue of the restoration of the Church should be considered both from an ecclesiological and practical point of view, which are closely interrelated, since "faith without works is dead" ^[71].

The main goal of a Christian is the salvation of his own immortal soul; it cannot be achieved without the development of spiritual and moral guidelines (spiritual and cultural values) and good deeds.

Thanks to the restoration of the Church, Orthodox employees of the SFS of Russia, federal civil servants and employees of the SFS of Russia would have an additional opportunity to develop not only such spiritual and cultural values as love for God, Homeland, family, friendship, loyalty to the oath and military duty, responsibility in performing official tasks, readiness for self-sacrifice in their performance, but also self-realization in good deeds (for example, by engaging in charitable and social activities mentioned in Article 2 of Federal Law No. 135-FZ of August 11, 1995 "On Charitable Activities and Volunteerism (Volunteerism)", as well as commemorating the health or repose of former or current employees of the Corps and the SFS of Russia, conducting genealogical research research based on the metrical books and clerical records of the Church).

Thus, in the case of the restoration of the Church as a departmental temple of the SFS of Russia, everyone would benefit: The Russian Federation, the SFS of Russia, the ROC and the faithful Orthodox employees of the SFS of Russia, federal civil servants and employees of the SFS of Russia, since its restoration would contribute to strengthening their common interests, which can be expressed in the triad of Sergey Semenovich Uvarov "Orthodoxy-Autocracy-Nationality" ^[72], developed by N. E. Danilevsky in his work "Russia and Europe. A look at the cultural and political relations of the Slavic world to the German-Roman world" ^[73], however, of course, taking into account the foundations of the Constitutional system of modern Russia, which provide that, in accordance with Article 1 of the Constitution, Russia is currently a Presidential Republic and a Federation.

As an argument for the above, in addition to the above facts testifying to the appropriateness of the restoration of the Church in order to realize the interests of the Russian Federation, the SFS of Russia, employees of the SFS of Russia and the ROC, one can note, for example, the following.

Firstly, in accordance with the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation, approved by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 400 of July 2, 2021, the Fundamentals of State Policy for the Preservation and Strengthening of Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values, approved by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 809 of November 9, 2022, the Fundamentals of State Policy of the Russian Federation in the field of approved by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 314 dated May 8, 2024, "the self-consciousness of Russian society is based on traditional spiritual, moral, cultural and historical values that have been formed and developed throughout the history of Russia, the preservation and protection of which are a prerequisite for the harmonious development of the Russian Federation and its multinational people, an integral component of sovereignty In this regard, the state policy of the Russian Federation should be aimed at the formation of an all-Russian civil identity and strengthening the Russian world on the basis of traditional Russian spiritual, moral, cultural and historical values, the implementation of a state policy to preserve and strengthen traditional values will contribute to the preservation and multiplication of the people of Russia, the preservation of the all-Russian civil identity, and the development of human potential to maintain civil peace and harmony in the country, strengthen law and order, form a secure information space, protect Russian society from the spread of destructive ideology, achieve national development goals, increase competitiveness and international prestige of the Russian Federation."

Thus, for the Russian Federation, the recreated Church could become a mechanism for implementing state policy in the field of traditional spiritual and moral values.

 Secondly, on February 24, 2022, the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, announced in his address to the citizens of the Russian Federation the holding of a special military operation ^[74], which is still ongoing. The activities of the SFS of Russia are managed by the President of the Russian Federation, employees of the SFS of Russia perform special tasks for the delivery of secret and other correspondence, technical documentation and samples of industrial products of the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian Federation, other persons and authorities defined by Article 2 of Federal Law No. 67-FZ dated December 17, 1994 "On Federal Courier communications" on the territory of the Russian Federation and beyond its borders, including on the territory of a special military operation. 

 In this regard, for those employees of the SFS of Russia who go to the special operation area, the Church could serve as an additional support in the performance of their official tasks, which would lead to an increase in their efficiency and guaranteed safety of the correspondence they deliver, as well as reduce the risk of its loss, which, as a result, increased to ensure the information security of the Russian Federation.

As an example of the support that the Church could provide, we can cite the already mentioned participation of the priests of the Church, G. P. Vysheslavtsev and M. S. Popov in the Russian-Japanese and World War I. The range of their support can be assessed, for example, by familiarizing oneself with the works of priests participating in these events at different levels: the priest of the 51st Dragoon Chernigov of Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fedorovna of the Mitrofan Vasilyevich Srebryansky regiment "Diary of a regimental priest" ^[75], dedicated to his personal experience of participation in the Russian-Japanese War of 1905-1907, and protopresbyter Russian Russian Army military and naval clergy George Ivanovich Shavelsky "Memoirs of the last protopresbyter of the Russian army and Navy" ^[76], dedicated to the issue of his personal participation, as well as the participation of the entire military priesthood of the Russian army in World War I, as well as with various works of historians and priests-researchers of the history of the Institute of military clergy, for example Barsov Timofey Vladimirovich" ^[77], Kotkov Vyacheslav Mikhailovich "Materials of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg) on the participation of the military clergy of the Russian Empire in the First World War" ^[78], Kapkov Konstantin Gennadievich "Essays on the history of the military and naval clergy of the Russian Empire of the XVIII — early XX centuries: results by 1917" ^[79] and the "Commemorative Book of the military and Naval clergy of the XIX — early XX centuries: reference materials" ^[80], Archpriest Georgy Polyakov's "Military Clergy of Russia" ^[81], which mention documents regulating the duties of military clergy both in peacetime and in wartime.

Based on the above sources, it can be assumed that G. P. Vysheslavtsev and M. S. Popov during their stay in the Corps during the Russian-Japanese and First World Wars performed the following duties: in addition to performing Orthodox sacraments and rituals, this is preaching the word of God to the ranks of the Corps, aimed at establishing the foundations of Orthodoxy in them, strengthening faith in God, instilling love for the emperor, the Fatherland, friendship, obedience to the authorities, assistance in mobilization work to authorized mobilization bodies, assistance to the wounded (through personal participation or assistance in organizing participation in carrying the wounded from the battlefield or assisting a doctor in dressing wounds), edification in perseverance, courage, valor and honor of the combatants Corps ranks, consolation of the wounded and sick, participation in notifying relatives of the death of Corps ranks, assistance in collecting information about the exploits of Corps ranks, organization of maintaining graves and cemeteries of Corps ranks in proper form, participation in organizing societies that help families of killed and wounded Corps ranks, arrangement of camp churches and libraries and much more. The above-mentioned duties are still performed by all military priests who are on the territory of a special military operation, thanks to the above-described cooperation agreements concluded between the law enforcement agencies and the ROC. 

In this regard, the re-establishment of the Church and the approval of a staff of military priests in it after the conclusion of an appropriate agreement on cooperation between the SFS of Russia and the ROC (and perhaps earlier than this event) would allow solving some of the identified issues that may also arise during the service of active employees of the SFS of Russia in the territory of a special military operation (taking into account the specifics of the tasks they perform).

Thirdly, on October 4, 2013, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, when performing the rite of consecration of the foundation stone of the new temple in honor of the Introduction of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the temple in Veshnyaki, under construction as part of the program "construction of 200 temples of the city of Moscow" ^[82], uttered the following words: "It is time to gradually get rid of the most severe consequences of the God—fighting era, when hundreds of churches were destroyed in Moscow and when people were deprived of the most important thing - the opportunity to come, pray, stand before God and offer heartfelt sighs for loved ones, for relatives and for themselves. It is quite obvious that the construction of new churches has only one goal — to change the spiritual life of our people for the better. And if life is arranged according to the law of God, then it becomes better both spiritually and materially, and social relations change, and human relations are filled with the truth of God" ^[83].

Summing up all the above, it can be noted that the issue of recreating the Church as a departmental temple of the SFS of Russia is relevant not only for the SFS of Russia, its personnel and the ROC, but also for the Russian Federation itself, since the restoration of the Church will contribute to the realization of its national interests in the form of preserving and strengthening traditional Russian spiritual and moral values, historical education and patriotic education of the personnel of the SFS of Russia and their family members; at the moment, all the prerequisites (historical, legal, spiritual and cultural) have developed for the possibility of its restoration.

In this regard, we can wish the leadership of the SFS of Russia and the ROC, employees of the SFS of Russia, federal civil servants and employees of the SFS of Russia decisive actions aimed at the speedy restoration of the Church in order to achieve their common interests, which will also lead to the realization of the national interests of the Russian Federation and the glory of God, for it is said: "Not to us, Lord, not to to us, but give glory to Your name, for the sake of Your mercy, for the sake of Your truth."^[84]