DEANERY COUNCIL IN THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20<sup>TH</sup> CENTURY (MATERIALS FROM YAROSLAVL DIOCESE)
The article studies the deanery councils in Yaroslavl diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church at the beginning of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. It reveales the date of establishment of deanery councils (October 19, 1903) and analyses the Rules for Deanery Councils in Yaroslavl Diocese. Special attention is paid to the changes in the regulatory framework of deanery councils and deanery meetings in the period from 1903 to 1916. The article also describes the main directions of activity of deanery councils. The deanery council was a church governing body created to help the dean. As a rule, the council consisted of a dean appointed by the diocesan leadership, and two members. The members of the council were elected at deanery meetings. On the scale of the entire Russian Church, deanery councils were established by the Local Council of 1917-1918, but in a number of dioceses they were created earlier. The clerical documents of the deanery councils of Yaroslavl diocese have not been studied before. Together with reports of the deans, the journals of the meetings of Yaroslavl general diocesan congresses of the clergy, materials from periodicals, these documents allow us to characterise the deanery councils as self-governing bodies of the clergy, which played a prominent role in the system of administration of the diocese. Essentially, deanery councils were the magistrates’ courts for the clergy. They dealt with minor disciplinary o enses of clergy members, as well as civil disputes. The surviving documents make it possible to make a picture of the most frequent o enses and disputes in the church environment. The documents also make it possible to draw a conclusion about di cult relationship between priests and the lower clergy, i.e. psalm-readers and deacons. In 1903-1916, the role of the lower clergy was increased in the activities of deanery councils and meetings. Since 1910, readers and deacons had the voting right at deanery meetings. Archbishop Tikhon (Bellavin) agreed in 1912 with the decision of the general diocesan congress of clergy to include deacons and readers in deanery councils.