Why it was not possible to establish an accurate population count

For decades, the birth certificate in the USSR continued to be called in everyday life, as in pre-revolutionary times, “metrics”; the format of the records that served as the basis for these metric extracts was approved 300 years ago, on February 20, 1724, which was another attempt to introduce more or less accurate records of births, marriages and deaths in Russia; however, it took many times longer to get used to the need to properly maintain registers of parishes than it took to get used to the previous names.

From the “Acts, or resolution of the Moscow Council, on the correction of church deanery and on matters relating to the schism,” 1666–1667.

…Order all priests to keep four notebooks in all churches, and order to write down who gets married to whom and who is who and whose successor in baptism…

A book about marriage, about married people, is being written in the cathedral church…

The book of living parishioners write the names of men, women, and children, of all ages, both slaves and aliens, read their names in the holy divine service and in other prayers; Likewise, deceased Orthodox Christians, of every rank, rich and poor, should be written and commemorated according to the rite of the church…

From the personal decree of Tsar Peter Alekseevich on keeping records of births and deaths in Moscow, April 14, 1702.

The Great Sovereign indicated: in Moscow, in all parish churches, so that from the above date, from now on, those parish priests throughout the week, who in the parish of all ranks of the male and female sex will have babies born and be baptized, will also have male and female people of all ranks of people, the dead of all ages are buried at the parish churches, and the dead bodies will be brought to the poor houses, about which every week the priests will submit a statement in writing to the Patriarchal Spiritual Order, and from the Patriarchal Spiritual Order that statement according to the deadlines, with genuine clearing with lists, send to the Monastic Order…

From the 29th paragraph of the duties of priests, “Addition to the Spiritual Regulations,” May 1722.

…Have books that are usually called metrics, that is, notebooks in which to record the birth of your baby and baptism, with the year and day, and with the names of the parents and recipients. Likewise, those infants who did not receive baptism died, with the attribution of guilt, for which the infant was deprived of holy baptism. Yes, in the same books, those who are married, who are also dying, are recorded in their parish, with the attribution of the Christian office in repentance, and those who were buried, and if someone is not buried, write down the guilt, for which reason he did not receive a Christian burial, with the designation of the year and day . And such books should be declared to the bishop’s orders every day, and how many will be born and die, reported to the bishop’s orders every 4 months, and from the bishop’s orders notified in writing to the Synod.

From the decree of the Synod with a reminder of the need to establish notebooks about those born, getting married and about the dead, November 13, 1723.

The Most Holy Governing Synod, demanding to know about the number of people in the entire Russian state who are born, and who copulate in marriage, and who die, about which, although His Imperial Majesty’s previous decree ordered priests to have notebooks and send them to the spiritual government, but sending them to the Synod is not visible from anywhere, they unanimously sentenced: to send from the Synod, both to the synodal members, and to the Spiritual Dicastery, and to all dioceses, to bishops, and to others, to whom they are especially sent, to spiritual persons, such decrees so that the registered books of these people in the dioceses according to the parishes were maintained in detail by the clergy, and from those books, list extracts would be sent to the bishops from the ordering agents every year, and from those extracts the diocesan tables would be prepared, which, especially for the last year 722, having been prepared, would be sent from all dioceses to the Synod immediately, and from now on, sending such reports, after a year, in the month of Genvar is not postponed…

From the decree of the Synod on the absence of sending data and the form of maintaining metric books, February 20, 1724.

The Holy Synod, demanding to know about the number of the entire Russian State of people who are born and who copulate and die in marriage, about which, although by His Majesty’s previous decree, priests should have notebooks everywhere and were ordered to send them to the proper Government, but the sending is not visible from anywhere in the Synod… but how to contain these books and send reports, forms were composed in the Synod.

From the decree of the Synod on the proposal of the Senate on the faulty maintenance of metric books, November 23, 1779.

…The Governing Senate determined: from the cases in which the Little Russians who were convicted of various crimes called themselves minors, it was noted that according to the metric records of the places in which they were born, there was no note in the registration books about the time of their birth; why the Little Russian courts are forced to confirm this on the testimony of the judges and other witnesses, and sometimes, just by appearance alone, it is guessable to conclude about the age of such criminals, and from this it can happen that the criminal, under the guise of a minor, has avoided following the laws of strict punishment, will turn back to atrocities, and for this purpose, will not the Holy Governing Synod decide to make a confirmation so that the registers of birth in all of Little Russia are kept in proper order.

And by decree of Her Imperial Majesty, the Most Holy Governing Synod Ordered… If in the future these books are not found, or some omission appears in them; then all those who are guilty will be severely fined.

From the decree of the Synod on the maintenance of metric books in the prescribed order, May 17, 1802.

The Holy Governing Synod had the reasoning that, according to the Spiritual Regulations and the decrees sent to all Dioceses in 1779, there must certainly be metric books at parish churches to record births, marriages and deaths, which were ordered to be distributed from the Spiritual Boards… But on the contrary, how many It became known to the Holy Synod and it is revealed by deeds that these instructions are not always observed with the commanded accuracy, and some of them are omitted, especially regarding distribution and storage, which can serve as a reason for the most abuses, as has already been discovered in the Ryazan and Vladimir Dioceses , where the case was carried out about the marriage of the deceased Collegiate Assessor Batashev, not recognized by the Holy Synod as valid, and the girl Matryona Egorova, who was released by him; that the metric book in which this marriage was supposedly recorded, and another similar to it the following year, at the discretion of the Holy Synod and from the visible circumstances of the case, turned out to be not real, but variables instead of genuine; these same and other notebooks were given to churches that had two clergy or more, separately for each Priest, and not for the whole church, as was prescribed… and in general in these Dioceses, as it was discovered in the course of this matter, inaccurate information was found in this part fulfillment of the instructions made regarding this…

From the personal decree of Emperor Alexander I on checking the data of metric books, August 25, 1802.

…From the cases that reach us about the illegality of marriages and babies born in them, doubts are seen in the metric books. In disgust of these, and for the most accurate calculation of the people from now on, we command: at the same time as the parish priests submit to their superiors information about those married, newly born and dead, the same should be delivered to the city and rural police where appropriate; and at the end of each year, check them with the Consistory…

From the decree of the Synod on the correct maintenance of metric books, May 15, 1824.

…The Minister of Finance informed the G. Minister of Spiritual Affairs and People’s Education about the report he received from the Saratov Civil Governor that, on the occasion of an audit being carried out, the local Provincial Administration was encountering difficulties in this matter due to the incorrectness of the metric books, in which both births and deaths were recorded not on the day of birth and death, but in memory or from the testimony of families; and that such inaccuracy of these books has already been revealed more than once in cases of the Ministry of Finance and in other Provinces. That is why he asks for confirmation from the Diocesan Authorities, so that henceforth there will be strict supervision over the maintenance of parish registers with all accuracy, as required by the relevant rules…

From the decree of the Senate on the most accurate maintenance of metric books, adopted by order of Emperor Nicholas I, February 7, 1838.

…The Synodal Chief Prosecutor announced for proper execution the Highest Decree that the Sovereign Emperor, according to his most submissive report… He deigned to approve with the Highest the additional rules drawn up by the Holy Synod for guidance in the most accurate maintenance of metric books…

1) To instruct the Most Reverend Diocesan Bishops to exercise the strictest supervision so that metric books, as the most important acts of all states, are kept in good order…

2) Be sure to keep parish books in a timely manner, and faithfully witness them every month to the local clergy and sign them, just as economic books are certified monthly, indicating the number of births, deaths and marriages during the month, first in terms of numbers, and then in numbers.

3) To make it an indispensable duty for the dean to strictly review all articles of the metrical books for each half of the year during semi-annual reviews of churches and testify to their accuracy and correctness with their own signature…

5) Parents and adopters of baptized infants, as well as those married to guarantors, must, if they wish, personally testify in churches to the correctness of the metric testimony relating to them and approve it with their own signature…

6) For the most accurate identification, provide those who wish to receive metric certificates from the Priests with the clergy immediately after the registration is made. These certificates must be signed by all members of the clergy present and approved by the church seal…

8) Any erasures in metric documents are strictly prohibited…

9) The diocesan authorities should relentlessly monitor the faithful execution of these rules, and violators of them should be relentlessly corrected with decent penalties…

From the article “Metric certificate”, “Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron”, 1896.

…In countries with church registration of acts of state, at least in the situation that exists in Russia, acts of birth or death that are made at a moment more or less distant from the event itself can be most contested…

Publication by Evgeny Zhirnov