Moscow Roman Catholic comm unity in the late 17th century: the form ation, composition and religious life

Abstract

The Moscow Catholics’ Church organization that emerged in the late 17-th century is considered
in this article as a religious community, but not a mission agency. On the basis of clearly defined
criteria, the author clarifies the exact time of community’s formation, examines the processes of its
creation and development in the context of Russian political life. On the basis of various sources
the article reveals a number of believers, considers the social, national and personal composition of
the community. The paper presents an analysis of the parameters of community’s religious life. This
analysis allows asserting the existence in the community of stable inner core which was very active
in religious rites. Special attention in the research is paid to the organizational work of the Scottishborn
General Patrick Gordon, as well as some other Church activists. The author concludes that their
work on creating of Catholic community stimulated the Russian authorities’ abandonment of conflict
model in the practice of interfaith relation