The Procurator (, tr. ''prokuror'') was an office initially established in 1722 by

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

, the first

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, as part of the ecclesiastical reforms to bring the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

more directly under his control. The Russian word also has the meaning of

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

but in this case the right translation is Delegate (having the

procuration Procuration () is the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency. The word is applied to the authority or power delegated to a Procurator (disambiguation), procurator, or agent, as well as to the exercise of such authority expr ...

for religious affairs). The Chief Procurator (also Over-Procurator; обер-прокурор, tr. ''ober-prokuror'') was the official title of the Crown official who oversaw the validity of the acts of the

Most Holy Synod The Most Holy Governing Synod (, pre-reform orthography: ) was the highest governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church between 1721 and 1917. It was abolished following the February Revolution of 1917 and replaced with a restored patriar ...

(he wasn't a member of the Most Holy Synod but effectively he was the most important lay in the administration of the Russian Orthodox Church, not to be confused with the ''Primus'' or "Prime member", the legal chairman of the Most Holy Synod, always a Metropolitan or an Archbishop), and a member of the Tsar's cabinet. Konstantin Pobedonostsev, a former tutor both of Alexander III and of

Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married ...

, was one of the most powerful men to hold the post, from 1880 to 1905. The General Procurator (Procurator General) and the Chief Procurator were major supervisory positions in the Russian

Governing Senate From 1711 to 1917, the Governing Senate was the highest legislative, judicial, and executive body subordinate to the Russian emperors. The senate was instituted by Peter the Great to replace the Boyar Duma and lasted until the very end of the R ...

, which functioned from 1711 to 1917, with their meaning changing over time. Eventually Chief Procurator became the title of the head of a department of the Senate.

List of Most Holy Synod Ober-Procurators

* 1722–1725 Ivan Boltin * 1725–1730 Aleksei Baskakov * 1730–1740 ''no appointments'' * 1740–1741 Nikita Krechetnikov * 1741–1753 Yakov Shakhovskoy * 1753–1758 Afanasiy Lvov * 1758–1763 Aleksei Kozlovskiy * 1763–1768 Ivan Melissino * 1768–1774 Pyotr Chebyshyov * 1774–1786 Sergei Akchurin * 1786–1791 Apollos Naumov * 1791–1797 Count Aleksei Musin-Pushkin * 1797–1799 Prince Vasiliy Khovanskiy * 1799–1802 Count Dmitry Khvostov * 1802–1803 Aleksandr Yakovlev * 1803–1817 Prince Aleksandr Golitsyn * 1817-1833 Prince Pyotr MeshcherskiyBetween 1817 and 1824 the Procurator was a dependant of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and National Education headed by the previous Procurator, Prince Alexander Nikolaevich Golitsyn * 1833–1836

Stepan Nechayev Stepan Dmitriyevich Nechayev (; 18 July 1792–5 September 1860) was a Procurator of the Most Holy Synod and a senator. Nechayev was the first one to study the materials about the Kulikovo Field. He picked up some findings on the place of the B ...

* 1836–1855 Count Nikolay Protasov * 1855–1856 Aleksandr Karasevskiy * 1856–1862 Count Aleksandr Tolstoy * 1862–1865 Aleksei Akhmatov * 1865–1880 Count Dmitry Tolstoy * 1880–1905 Konstantin Pobedonostsev * 1905–1906 Prince Aleksei Obolenskiy * 1906–1906 Prince Aleksei Shirinskiy-Shikhmatov * 1906–1909 Pyotr Izvolskiy * 1909–1911 Sergei Lukianov * 1911–1915 Vladimir Sabler * 1915–1915 Aleksandr Samarin * 1915–1916 Alexander Volzhin * 1916–1917 Nikolai Raev * 1917–1917 Vladimir Lvov * 1917–1917 Anton Kartashev

List of Most Holy Synod Ober-Procurators

References

See also