AUDIT REPORTS ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS AS A HISTORICAL SOURCE AND THEIR ROLE IN UNDERSTANDING SEMINARY STUDENTSʼ MEMOIRS
The article treats audit reports on religious educational establishments as a historical source. The article analyzes audit reports, which were regularly written by members of the Holy Synod, and memoirs written by former seminary students. An audit report was an unattainable part of an audit of a religious educational establishment. The analysis of audit reports reveals the structure of these documents, their peculiar features, their information density and information value, information processing procedures. The author maintains that audit reports analysis enables a researcher to better understand seminary studentsʼ memoirs. A comparative analysis of audit reports and seminary studentsʼ memoirs eliminates subjectivity, elucidates details and facts, and secures a better understanding of motives which prompted seminary students to write their memoirs. The article uncovers problems of religious educational institutions which were registered in audit reports and were discussed in former seminary studentsʼ memoirs. The author maintains that former seminary students depicted the most acute issues and problems of their seminary life. The analysis of seminary studentsʼ memoirs shows that many students were critical of seminary laws, which overshadowed their impression of religious education in general.