ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITIES 18{)2-1812 59ful. 1 The idea was to restore to the Church its traditional monopoly of
the sale of wax candles. This privilege had lapsed some time in the 18th
century, probably as a result of Peter the Great's fiscal needs.
Speransky's scheme, approved by the Emperor and embodied in the
decree of June 26, 1808, provided that part of the revenue from this
monopoly be set aside and allowed to earn interest (by being "placed"
with the government). At the conclusion of a six year period, the
accumulated interest and the original capital were to form a reserve
fund for expanding the Church's school system, while the regular yearly
revenue from the monopoly was to be used for the current expenditures
of operation. The new budget was estimated at 1.7 million rubles, a
far cry from the 180,000 or 338,000 previously doled out by the state!
The scheme worked very well, and soon the Church had a sizeable
surplus for the needs of its schools and other institutions.
Not the least important aim of this reform was to provide the
Church with a body of servants, priests, and hierarchs, capable of, and
worthy of, ministering to the religious and spiritual needs of th~
people. As in so many other domains, the requirements of the country
had outstripped the means of the institutions to satisfy them, and the
Church was no exception to this. Especially pressing was the need for
well trained and educated members of the upper ranks of the ecclesiastic
hierarchy.2 The establishment of four theological academies had been
in response to this need, and as a former student of a higher theological
school Speransky was asked to write the detailed statutes for the
academies. Speransky consented to take on this task, but pointed out
that regulations written in abstracto were of but little value if they
could not be corrected and amended in the light of experience. He
therefore advised - and his suggestion was accepted by both the
Commission and the Emperor - that as a first step, a set of regulations
be drafted for the Aleksandro-Nevskii Academy only. After a short test
period, the rules could be revised if necessary and extended to the other
theological academies. This was a novel approach in the history of
Russian administration, for until then, statutes had been issued for
immediate execution, and any inconveniences revealed by experience
were corrected - if at all - much too late, by new laws which
1 The idea, it is true, had been suggested earlier by Anastas Bratanevskii in his
comments on the reform project of Eugene, vicar to Metropolitan Ambrosius.
However, Speransky was the first to formulate it clearly and implement it; and,
therefore, deserves almost full credit for it. Titlinov, Dukhovnye shkoly v XIXm
stotelii, p. 26.
2 The ground had been prepared in PSZ 23,122 which provided for preferential
treatment and promotion in the ecclesiastic hierarchy for holders of the degree of
doctor of theology (PSZ, 23,122 - page 376 of vol. 30).