In the Russian Empire, government agencies exerted varying levels of control over the content and dissemination of books, periodicals, music, theatrical productions, works of art, and motion pictures. The agency in charge of censorship in the Russian Empire changed over time. In the early eighteenth century, the Russian emperor had direct control, but by the end of the eighteenth century, censorship was delegated to the Synod, the Senate, and the Academy of Sciences. Beginning in the nineteenth century, it fell under the charge of the Ministry of Education and finally the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The history of censorship in the Russia began long before the emergence of the empire. The first book containing an index of prohibited works dates to the year 1073, in Kievan Rus. For several centuries these were mere translations of censorship lists from other languages; the first authentic old Russian censorship index was created only in the fourteenth century. The number of indices (as well as illegal publications) increased steadily until the beginning of the sixteenth century. Censorship first attained a kind of official status in the period of the Tsardom (1547–1721): it was encoded in law in the Stoglav and was directed against heresies, schisms, and other alleged deviations from religious dogmas and sacred texts.Bol'shaia Sovetskaia Entsiklopediia, s.v. "", retrieved on 25 August 2011.
Significant changes in censorship policy occurred over the course of the imperial period. The reforms of Peter I marked the beginning of the separation between ecclesiastical and secular censorship. A greater delineation of the responsibilities of censorship organizations took place in the reign of Empress Elizabeth. The period of Elizabeth's reign is also notable for the appearance of the first private journals, which greatly promoted the development of journalism in the Russian Empire.Zhirkov, "XVIII vek: period perekhoda ot dukhovnoi k svetskoi tsenzure" (2001) One of the most important events in the history of Russian censorship occurred in the course of Catherine II's reforms: the establishment of a censorship institute and the creation of the position of professional censor. Paul I, Catherine's son, continued the business of his predecessor, by expanding the areas that were subject to state control. Alexander I, however, reversed some of these policies and weakened the censorship. In the second half of the nineteenth century, under Alexander III, freedom of the press was once again significantly restricted.
Many classics of Russian literature were affected by censorship, and the censor was regularly represented as a grotesque figure and made the target of satire. Imperial censorship was followed by Soviet censorship, which adopted many of its features and continued until 1990.
Historical background
Kievan Rus and the Grand Duchy of Moscow
Censorship in Russia dates back to long before the codified legal censorship of the Russian Empire. The first known list of banned books is found in the Izbornik of 1073, when much of what is now European Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus was governed by a polity known as Rus', centered in Kiev. The Izbornik, which also contained a large selection of Byzantine biblical, theological, and homiletic writings, was copied from a Bulgarian original that was probably created on the initiative of the Bulgarian tsar Simeon I. Most historians agree that the Russian version was made by order of Grand Duke Izyaslav Yaroslavich, though it was later reattributed to the prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich. The list of banned books in the Izbornik did not necessarily indicate that the banned books had previously been available: N. A. Kobyak notes that out of the twenty-three apocryphal writings listed, only nine were available in Old Church Slavonic and Old East Slavic translations or adaptations.
The second translated work containing an index of prohibited books was the Taktikon by the monk Nikon Chernogorets. The historian D. Bulanin M. notes that this work was so popular in Rus' that "rarely did a book or original medieval composition not contain excerpts from the Pandects or the Taktikon". Nikon's articles were at an early date included in Slavic legal codes. They became especially popular in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries: the writers of the time (Joseph Volotsky, Vassian Patrikeyev, Maximus the Greek, Zinovy Otensky, etc.) constantly refer to Nikon and include excerpts from his works.
The first native Slavic list of banned books is thought to be the index included in the Pogodinsky Nomokanon, dated to the fourteenth century. This was the first list to include works by a Slavic author, the Bulgarian priest Jeremiah, including his Story about a Red Tree and some other works. The index also prohibited religious texts that were later popular among the so-called Judaizers: Shestokryl, Logic, and Cosmography. Up until the early sixteenth century the number of indices of prohibited books steadily increased, but they were not able to hold back a massive influx of literature from Byzantium and the south Slavic countries. Kobyak argues that the expansion of the lists of books reflected the same sentiments found in the teachings of Joseph Volotsky against "unwholesome stories" and of Nilus of Sora against "ungodly" writings. But similarly to these teachings, the lists did not fully achieve their objectives.
Tsardom of Russia
According to G. V. Zhirkov, "official" censorship of book publishers began in the Tsardom of Russia in the mid-sixteenth century, when the Stoglavy Sobor was convened to strengthen the position of the church against heretical movements. The collection of decisions taken by the council, called the Stoglav, consisted mainly of questions posed by the tsar and detailed answers given by the church officials. A section titled "On Scribes" gave the church authorities the right to confiscate unrectified manuscripts. Thus a system of prior censorship of all publications prior to sale was established. Among other changes, the council proposed a retroactive revision of the books already in circulation.
Adopted in 1551, the Stoglav was the first official censorship document in Russia. It was a reaction to the development of literacy and the emergence of an increasing number of literary works, the content of which did not always fit with church and state doctrine. In the period from 1551 to 1560 at least twelve documents and deeds were published establishing new measures and regulations in accordance with the Stoglav. The church in its new censorship capacity focused mainly on the fight against deviations from church doctrines and sacred texts, heresy, and schism. The majority of the "apostates" fled abroad, particularly to Lithuania. The pioneering printers Ivan Fyodorov and Pyotr Mstislavets also fled to Lithuania, fearing persecution by the Josephite-dominated church leadership. With the invention of the printing press, the priest-scribes who had previously dominated the book industry saw their incomes decline and erupted in protest, and as a result, Fyodorov and Mstislavets were accused of heresy. After a fire in their printing house in 1566, the publishers finally decided to leave Moscow. Fyodorov later commented, "Envy and hatred drove us from our country, fatherland, and kin to other lands, hitherto unknown.": "Зависть и ненависть нас от земли и отечества и от рода нашего изгнали и в иные страны, неведомые доселе."
The seventeenth century repeatedly saw bans of books created in the territory of modern Ukraine and Belarus. For example, in 1626, Lavrenty Zizany's Catechism was published in Moscow on the recommendation of the Kiev Metropolitan Job Boretsky. Many Russian clergymen believed that the Catechism contained heretical statements and in February 1627 Zizany publicly debated the matter with the editors in the Moscow Print Yard. Following the discussion, the copies of the Catechism was destroyed. In 1628, the importation of all books from the "Lithuanian press" was banned, and such books that already existed in Russian churches were withdrawn. Patriarch Nikon, who instituted significant reforms in the Russian church, presided over a massive confiscation of books published under his predecessors, as well as books written by Old Believers, who separated from the main church following his reforms. Censorship also extended to icons: in October 1667 a decree was passed that banned the amateur painting of icons and forbade the buying of such icons in shops and marketplaces.
Lubki—popular decorative prints—were also subjected to censorship because of their drawings of religious subjects, which caused outrage among the clergy. Patriarch Joachim strictly forbade their dissemination (after 1674), and confiscated lubki were burned. In 1679 Tsar Feodor III ordered the creation of a palace printing house, which was intended for the publication of the works of Symeon of Polotsk, who had taught the tsar and his brothers. The printing house was allowed to circumvent church censorship in order to support the royal favorite. In 1683, however, Patriarch Joachim managed to close the uncontrolled printing house, and after the fall of the regent Sophia Alekseyevna, the printer Sylvester Medvedev was put to death. Even before the execution, his works were banned by the Council in 1690 in Moscow and burned.Богданов А. П. От летописания к исследованию: русские историки последней четверти XVII века. М.: RISC, 1995. С. 215—301.; Панченко А. М. Сильвестр //Словарь книжников и книжности Древней Руси. СПб. 1998. Вып. 3. Ч. 3. С. 354—359. Another act of censorship punishment occurred in October 1689 in Moscow, when German mystic Quirinus Kuhlmann and his successor Conrad Norderman, who were burnt alive and whose writings were labelled heretical and confiscated.Богданов А. П. Русские патриархи (1589—1700): В 2 т. Т. 1. — М. 1999. С. 225—231. Peter I's reforms
The history of censorship took a new turn in response to the development of secular publishing. In 1700, Peter I gave the Amsterdam merchant Jan ThesinghAlternate spellings: Jan/ Yan Tessing/ Tesing, Jogann Tising, Johanne Thesing. a monopoly over the printing of books for Russia for fifteen years—the books were printed in Amsterdam, then imported and sold in Russia. At the same time the Petrine government set penalties for trafficking in printed materials from other foreign printers and introduced the requirement that the books had to be published "for the glory of the great sovereign" and were not to include any "abasement of our Imperial Majesty [...] and our state". In 1701 Thesingh died and his master-printer moved the operation to Russia. In 1707, Tsar Peter I bought a fully equipped printing house in Holland, including staff.Verblijf van tsaar Peter de Grote en tsarina Catharina 1 op hofstede Hout en Duynzigt/Vredenhof – Petersburg in Nederhorst
The only censor at this time was the Emperor himself, and the whole printing industry was in the hands of the state. As part of Peter's ecclesiastical reforms, he introduced legislative changes that limited the power of the church in the field of book censorship. This included a provision that forbade monks to own personal writing instruments: Peter decreed in 1701 that "Monks in cells do not have the right to write any writings; there should be no ink or paper in the cells, but in the refectory there will be a specified place for writing, with the permission of the head of the monastery". During the administration of Peter the Great, the Police Department was placed in the Amusement Palace.