Orthodox Parish Education in the Baltic Provinces: the Case of Vormsi in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

The following article considers the history of Orthodox parish schooling in terms of the parish of Vormsi, an island off the western coast of Estland province populated by Swedish speakers. Its novelty lies in the fact that no scholars have previously attempted to consider the history of the Orthodox parish of Vormsi, a highly unique case due to the conversion of Swedish speakers. The materials on which the article is based are documents (previously unintroduced into academic circulation) from the Russian State Historical Archive and the Estonian State Historical Archive, including the fonds of the imperial Russian Orthodox diocese of Riga, the Vormsi Orthodox parish fond, and the fonds of some of the individual schools concerned. Drawing on the approach of microhistory, the article demonstrates that Orthodox parish schooling on Vorsmi was hampered by several problems, including the language barrier, inadequate funding, and heavily flawed teaching personnel.