INITIAL STAGE OF ACTIVITY OF THE KYRGYZ ECCLESIASTICAL MISSION

The initial stage of missionary activities of Russian Orthodox Church in the territory of the Kyrgyz steppe is investigated in the article. Here Russian orthodox Cossacks and nomadic Kazakh Kyrgyz lived. The research objective is consideration of missionary activities of Russian Orthodox Church in this district between 1880th years and the beginning of the XX century. Mission was officially opened in 1881 and its goals were sermon of Orthodoxy and counteraction to increasing Islamic influence. Missionaries built temples and opened schools for local population, translated into the language of the local people the Gospel, prayers and other texts of the spiritual contents, seeking the allocation for young Christian necessary for maintaining settled house of the land. Christian education of the local people promoted also to their organic entrance into structure of the Russian Empire.