Abstract:

The Russian Tsardom which traveled through the rivers to reach the Middle Lena, recognized the riches of the region, after coming into initial contact with the Saha tribes. Russian interest in the area and the advancement of the reconnaissance soldiers both increased since the turn of the seventeenth century. Initially moving from north to south, the occupying forces gradually changed course to encompass the whole Yakut region. The earliest Russian fortifications were erected by the Cossack detachments that invaded the area and took control of its key sites. By 1632 when the Yakut fortress was built, governmental and ecclesiastical organization in the region was completed. The Yakut Governorate was founded in 1641, and the first official Orthodox clergy (Filaret) were dispatched along with the first governors Golovin and Glebov. As a result, the area received its first Orthodox missionary visitors. Inside the fortifications that the soldiers had constructed were the first religious structures. With the development of the first religious institutions, the region's conditions for missionary activity started to take shape. Churches and monasteries built between or near Saha tribes were the main factors contributing to the region's Russification and Christianization. It is exceedingly difficult to discuss the existence of individuals with intellectual backgrounds other than the missionaries and clergy in the area that the Russians have taken over. Thus, even though the occupation was carried out by Kazakh detachments acting as representatives of the Russian state, missionaries and clergy served as the area's permanent common denominator.

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