Barvery Uspinski missions and their impact on supporting the Russian presence In the Levant (1843-1860)

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant Professor of Modern and Contemporary History, Faculty of Education, Alexandria University.

Abstract

Since the 1830s, Russia showed a clear interest in the Levant, and it was keen to support its presence in these areas by showing interest in improving the conditions of Orthodox, and in taking care of their churches; especially that the Russian Church’ policy was a part of St. Petersburg’s diplomacy to promote Russian political influence in the Arab East. Hence, in 1838, Russia sent some members of the Holy Russian Synod to the Levant to suggest that Russia should protect the Orthodox holy sites in Palestine, and send a religious mission to the Levant to investigate the conditions of the Orthodox there, so the missions of Barvery Uspinski were the response to these suggestions.
In November 1842, The Russian Foreign Ministry and the Holy Russian Synod chose Barvery Uspinski to travel to the Levant. They chose him because he was knowledgeable, and he had an interest in the affairs of the Near East and its Orthodox Christians. The Russian Foreign Ministry informed him of the secrecy of his mission, and specified the required tasks in great details. During the period of his first mission (1843-1844), Uspinski was keen to visit various Levantine cities and villages, meet their residents and clerics, and inspect the conditions of the churches and monasteries of the desert. In his reports, he provided the Russian government with detailed information stemming from a real experience of the situation in the Levant. The Russian Foreign Ministry appreciated his reports that it decided to send him for the second time to the Levant in 1847 and he stayed there until 1854. During this period, Uspinski was keen to provide a helping hand to Orthodox Christians, especially Arabs, and to stand in the way of Protestant and Catholic evangelization, while pay attention to educational aspects. However, Uspinski had to return to Russia because of the outbreak of the Crimean War (1853-1856). His views and observations about the situation in the Levant formed a basis for the planning of the Russian Foreign Ministry to send a public religious mission in order to restore the lost Russian influence in the Ottoman Empire after the defeat of Crimea, and to lay the foundations of the Russian presence in the Levant during the second half of the nineteenth century.

Keywords

References

 
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