Russian Diplomats on the Consecration of Two Cathedrals in the Bosnian Vilayet in the 1870s: Documents

Abstract

Readers are presented with the publication of two archival documents from the collections of the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire (AVPRI, F. 161/1. and F. 181) in Moscow. These are reports from two Russian diplomatic agents, A. N. Kudriavtsev, consul in Sarajevo (1868–1877), and Ya. P. Slavoliubov, vice consul in Mostar (1872–-1875). The diplomats focused on important events in the life of the Orthodox population of the Bosnian Vilayet. They described in detail the procedures for the consecration of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokos in Sarajevo in 1872 (The Metropolitanate of Dabar-Bosnia) and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Mostar in 1873 (The Metropolitanate of Herzegovina). The construction of new large temples became possible thanks to the hatti-i Humayun issued by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire in 1856. In 1863 the Orthodox communities of Sarajevo and Mostar began construction work, which lasted almost 10 years. Russia provided great assistance in the implementation of these projects. The reports by A. N. Kudriavtsev and Ya. P. Slavoliubov contain information about the procedures for the consecration of churches, the problems faced by the Orthodox communities of Sarajevo and Mostar, and the measures taken by the Ottoman authorities to ensure the safety of participants in the events. The documents are being published for the first time and may be of interest to researchers of Russian diplomacy and church policy in the Balkans and conductive to the study of the history of the of Bosnia and Herzegovina and their metropolitanates in the last years of Ottoman rule.

Funding

The work was carried out in accordance with the state assignment of the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences within the framework of the Program of fundamental scientific research in the direction “Russia and the Middle East: historical, political and cultural contacts and interrelations” of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and the The Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society in 2025.

Received 10 March 2025

Revised 31 March 2025

Accepted 5 April 2025

For citation: Melchakova, K. V., 2025. Russian Diplomats on the Consecration of Two Cathedrals in the Bosnian Vilayet in the 1870s: Documents. Slavic World in the Third Millennium, 20 (1–2), pp. 204–219. https://doi.org/10.31168/2412-6446.2025.20.1-2.11