The missionary activity of the Russian Orthodox Church was of great importance for the socio-cultural development of the outskirts of the Russian Empire. The purpose of the work is to consider the educational and educational activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in Siberia on the example of the Altai Ecclesiastical Mission, which operated on the territory of modern Mounting Altai and Mounting Shoria. The article discusses the process of creating mission schools, the specifics of their activities. The basis of the mission's educational activities was the understanding that schools are the most effective way to spread Christian teaching and education. Because of this, large financial resources were allocated for the development of schools. It was common practice to attract merchants to finance the construction and equipment of school buildings. The opening of schools and the education of aboriginal children in them sometimes met with resistance from the local population. Altai missionaries contributed to the formation of the national culture of the inhabitants of Altai and Mounting Shoria. The activities of the Altai Ecclesiastical Mission influenced the formation of the Altai intelligentsia. The first representatives of the national intelligentsia of the Altai Mountains (teachers, writers, artists, doctors) were almost all either students of mission schools, children of foreign missionaries, or employees of the mission. The missionary and educational activities of the Altai Ecclesiastical Mission consistently achieved its main goal – the rebirth of the pagan way of thinking of foreigners, the formation as individuals of entire generations in the bosom of the Orthodox Church. The educational nature of the activities of the Altai Spiritual Mission contributed to the birth of a new culture: the spread of sedentary life, literacy of the local population.

Goncharov Yuri Mikhailovich, Doctor of Sciences (History), Professor,Department of Russian History, Altai State University, 61, Lenin st., Barnaul, 656049, Russian Federation e-mail: yuriig@yandex.ru

Dmitrieva Lidiya Mikhailovna, Doctor of Sciences (Philology), Professor, Head, Department of Russian as a Foreign Language, Altai State University, 61, Lenin St., Barnaul, 656049, Russian Federation, e-mail: dmitrlm@mail.ru

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