Orlov Maxim Alexandrovich

The article is devoted to the issue of the management of missionary activity during the existence of the Novokrestenskaya office. The aim is to consider the Novokrestenskaya Office as a unique church institution created to manage missionary activities and religious diversity in the Volga-Ural region. This was the first experience in the history of Russia of organizing an Orthodox mission within a special institution. The creation of the Novokrestenskaya office should be considered in the context of the formation of a regular state in Russia. Simultaneously with the transformation of public administration in  the first half of the 18th century, the government in the Volga-Ural region carried out reforms in relation to local peoples. The Novokrestenskaya office had a permanent staff and a developed plan of missionary activity, which included a set of missionary and administrative measures aimed at Christianizing the population of the Volga-Ural region. The experience of the Novokrestenskaya office shows a fairly high level of organization of missionary activities, the ability of church authorities to regulate ethnic and religious diversity within the greater Volga-Ural region.