Religion in Peter the Great's Daily Life

Russian emperor Peter the Great is usually considered to be a monarch whose reforms were aimed against the Orthodox Church. Russian historiography of the 18th century paid attention to it but neglected the emperor's own religious beliefs. Moreover, scholars performed some attempts to reconstruct Peter the Great's everyday life but left the religious question open. Whereas the investigation of it could add some particular details to the monarch's historical portrait and extend the knowledge about Peter's and his contemporaries' daily life. The main aim of this paper is to determine the role that the Orthodox religion played in Peter the Great's life. In order to achieve the aim, the monarch's papers and letters, travel journals and notes of the foreigners will be used as the main historical sources. Meanwhile, Peter the Great's religious practices and his attitude towards religion are regarded as evidence of his religious mind.