Anna Vladimirovna Mangileva,
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Yekaterinburg Theological Seminary, Yekaterinburg, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Review: Singh S.S. The Cross and the St. Andrew’s Banner. Ship Priests of the Russian Empire at the Turn of the 19th−20th Centuries. Moscow: Publishing House “Tissot”, 2025. 286 p.
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2026-2-20
The review examines the main provisions of S.S. Singh’s monograph, which is devoted to a numerically small group of clergy − naval priests. The author examines the social origin and level of education of the ship’s priests, their financial situation, and their status in the naval hierarchy. The article analyzes the changes that occurred in the position of ship priests in the early 20th century due to political events in the country and in the navy. The second part of the monograph is devoted to the activities of the naval clergy. Here we consider the organization of worship services and extracurricular work, which the author divides into catechetical and educational. A separate paragraph is devoted to the participation of the ship’s priests in the fighting. The author notes that the activities of the ship’s priests were negatively affected by the secularization of public consciousness, but it becomes clear from the text of the work that significant pressure on the clergy from secular and ecclesiastical authorities was another problem. From the reviewer’s point of view, the main interest is that the study in question proves that the ship was a mini-model of Russian society at the turn of the century, and the position of the ship’s priest clearly reflected all the problems characteristic of the position of the Orthodox Church in the country at that time. The book helps to understand why the Church was unable to prevent the revolutionary events in the country. The richness of the monograph with contemporary testimonies and vivid quotations makes it interesting not only for specialists, but also for a wide range of readers.
Publishing: 28/04/2026
The article has been received by the editor on 10/01/2026
How to cite: Mangileva A.V. Review: Singh S.S. The Cross and the St. Andrew’s Banner. Ship Priests of the Russian Empire at the Turn of the 19th−20th Centuries. Moscow: Publishing House “Tissot”, 2025. 286 p. // Historical Courier, 2026, No. 2 (46), pp. 285−290. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2026/ISTKURIER-2026-2-20.pdf]
Links: Issue 2 2026
Keywords: ship priests; Orthodox Church; Russian Empire