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

Title in the Language of the Records
Україна, Дублікати метричних книг Київської Православної консисторії

Image Visibility
Whenever possible, FamilySearch makes images available for all users. However, ultimate rights to view images on our website are granted by the record custodians. The Ukraine, Kyiv Orthodox Consistory Church Book Duplicates collection is available to the Family History Library, FamilySearch Centers, and to members of the supporting organization, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The images can be viewed at a FamilySearch Center near you. All rights reserved. Neither this image nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, electronic or otherwise, without written permission of the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine.

Record Description
This collection includes the years 1734-1920.

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 Kyiv (Kiev) Consistory covers the area now in the districts (oblasts) of Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsya, and Cherkasy.

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

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.

The collection consists of an index entries of baptisms/births, marriages, and burials/deaths for Orthodox parishes in Diocese of Kiev. The records are duplicates created by priests for civil authorities. The records are preserved in the Central Historical Archive of Ukraine in Kyiv. The place names reflect the jurisdiction when the records were created.

For a list of records by localities, document type and dates currently published in this collection, select the Browse.

Record Content
Birth registers usually contain the following information:


 * Child's given name and gender
 * Date and place of birth
 * Date and place of baptism
 * Names of parents, including maiden name of mother
 * Legitimacy is stated

Marriage registers usually contain the following information:


 * Date and place of marriage
 * Name and age of groom
 * Name and age of bride
 * Sometimes, parents names are given

Death registers usually contain the following information:


 * Given name, age and gender of deceased
 * Date and place of death
 * Date and place of burial
 * Father's name and his place of residence

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.

To search this collection, it would be helpful to know the following information: To begin your search, it is helpful to know the name and some other identifying information such as the birth place or birth date.

Search the Collection
Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:

To search the collection image by image, select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒Select the "Province" category ⇒Select the "District" category ⇒Select the "Place, church name" category ⇒Select the "Year, events, volume" category which takes you to the images

The first level of searching is divided into the following districts:


 * Бердичев - Berdichev
 * Богодухов (Харьков) - Bogodukhov ( Khar'kov )
 * Борзна (Чернигов) - Borzna ( Chernigov )
 * Брянск (Орел) - Bryansk ( Orel )
 * Васильков - Vasil'kov
 * Дмитровск (Орел) - Dmitrovsk ( Orel )
 * Жиздра (Калуга) - Zhizdra ( Kaluga )
 * Звенигородка - Zvenigorodka
 * Змиев (Харьков) - Zmiyev ( Khar'kov )

Search the collection by image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine which one is your ancestor. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to make this determination.

As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’s given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.

For Help Reading These Records
These records are in Russian. For help reading the records, see the following wiki articles:


 * Russian Genealogical Word List
 * Russia Languages

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached Wiki article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Related Websites

 * Religion in Ukraine
 * Ukrainian Genealogical Society
 * Ukraine GenWeb

Related Wiki Articles

 * Ukraine Church Records
 * Ukraine Genealogy
 * Ukraine Websites

Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Records collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher, and archive for the original records.

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation: