Ukraine, Kyiv Orthodox Consistory Church Book Duplicates - FamilySearch Historical Records

Foreign Language Title
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Collection Time Period
This collection includes the years 1722 to the mid 1930s.

Record History
The Church acted as both a religious and civil agent in recording vital events and church sacraments such as baptism and burial. Peter the Great mandated the keeping of Russian Orthodox books in 1722. The format was standardized in 1724. Printed forms were introduced in 1806. In 1838 a format was introduced that prevailed until the 1930s. The priests made a transcript for the ecclesiastical court (dukhovnaia konsistoriia) having jurisdiction over the parish. This is usually the version that has been preserved. The register covers 70% for early periods, 90% after 1800. The registers are in Russian.

The orthodox parishes of the Kyyiv (Kiev) Consistory covers the area now in the districts (oblasts) of Kyyiv, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsya, and Cherkasy.

Why This Record Was Created
Church registers were kept by parish priests in order to record births/baptisms, marriages, and deaths/burials.

Record Reliability
These were considered an official record and are normally very reliable. Earlier registers may not be equally reliable. In 1825 the Holy Synod, governmental body over the Orthodox Church, ordered bishops to eradicate bribery of priests to falsify the books, suggesting that this problem existed.

Record Description
Register transcripts usually contain multiple parishes for a year, with separate sections for the baptisms, marriages, and burials of a single parish. The volumes cover a district (uezd) and often are very large. Original registers may contain multiple years for a single parish.

Record Content
Key genealogical facts found in all registers are: • Names of the person and other family members • Relationships • Residence • Dates of baptism, marriage, death, and burial • Places of baptism, marriage, death and burial • Baptisms include names of godparents • Marriages include the ages of the bride and groom • Burials include the age of the deceased and cause of death

How to Use the Record
Use the registers to uniquely identifies individuals and connect them to the parent generation. Often you can derive entire families by matching up children with the same parents.

Related Websites
GenForum

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Related Wiki Articles
Ukraine Church Records

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