The charity system in Russia began to take shape with the advent of Christianity and the opening of monasteries. Charity is a purposeful activity towards people who cannot provide themselves with normal living conditions.
In the pre-Petrine era
The first charitable institutions open at monasteries. By the Charter of 996, Prince Vladimir ordered the clergy to engage in public charity, defining tithing (deducting a tenth of the proceeds) for the construction and maintenance of hospitals and monasteries. Ivan IV (Grozny) began the policy of conducting state charity and the publication of relevant laws. The development of the system can be traced in the Council Code of 1649 and Stoglava in 1551, published under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.
Fedor Alekseevich continued the tradition. A decree issued by him in 1682 proposed specific forms of combating poverty, for example, the creation of shelters for street children. Wealthy people made contributions, land or money, to the construction of charitable institutions, distributed alms, arranged dinners for the sick and the poor.
The House of Charity is an institution that has provided shelter for orphans, widows, children, the wretched, the elderly, the insane.
State Charity System
Depriving the church of finances for charity work, Peter I began to withdraw the charity system and houses of public charity from the church department to the control of secular structures: the financial department, city and provincial magistrates. The reform of Catherine II (1775) provided for the creation of Provincial orders of public contempt. Charity houses should not only provide help to those in need, but also hide the unsettled members of society, a source of social anxiety. During the reforms of local self-government (1864-1870), the burden of social protection was shifted to city and zemstvo institutions.
The system of private charity in imperial Russia is being formed simultaneously with the state system of charity. In pre-revolutionary Russia, 80% of charity houses are state institutions, and only 20% are public and charitable organizations. The largest benefactors were the princes Naryshkin and Golitsyna, the industrialists Demidov.
The contribution of Empress Maria Feodorovna, the wife of Paul I, to the development of Russian charity is invaluable. She has created the largest network of institutions engaged in helping socially disordered sections of the population. Alexander I and his wife Elizaveta Alekseevna continued the work of Maria Fedorovna.
Structure of Charity Houses
In a class society, such as Imperial Russia, social institutions are class ones. There were such structures:
- House of charity workers.
- House of charity for the poor nobles.
- House of charity for terminally ill patients.
- Nikolaev house of charity for merchants and philistines.
- House of charity of poor damsels of noble rank.
- House of charity for those with a spiritual title, etc.
Some institutions included cheap canteens, in which food was given free to patients.
Some of the structures opened vocational schools that provide craft education, and schools similar to the first courses of urban schools, as well as educational institutions involving education for girls. The House of Charity is an institution providing both shelter and education.
After the revolution
The system of public charity was destroyed, among other state systems, by the October Revolution of 1917. The buildings were confiscated and given to various offices. Charity has been replaced by state social protection. In post-revolutionary Russia, charity houses are social institutions: orphanages, boarding schools for the elderly, boarding schools for psychiatric patients. Funding for charity homes has become stable, but inadequate.
Currently, along with the revival of the Russian Orthodox Church, the traditions of Russian charity and philanthropy are being renewed.