Instructions to the Consul General of Russia in Jerusalem S.V. Arsenyev on the tasks of activitiesin Palestine (1891)

In the framework of studying of the history of the Russian diplomatic presence in the Middle East, the Instruction of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire N.K. Girs to the Consul General of Russia in Jerusalem S.V. Arsenyev on the tasks and specifics of the activities of the Russian representative in Palestine dated September 9, 1891 and stored in the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, is published for the first time. The document describes the situation in the Holy Places of Jerusalem on the cusp of the 19th and 20th centuries and reflects the main areas of work of the Russian consulate in the Holy Land, which received the status of General in 1891. The source also allows one to get an idea of the situation in the not always simple churchdiplomatic interaction between the Russian Consulate General, the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society and the Jerusalem Patriarchate (the Jerusalem Greek Orthodox Church). 

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