Jesuit State in Paraguay

(1610-1768) - was formed by missionaries of the Jesuit order (see Jesuits), who arrived from Europe in Paraguay in con. 16th century with the aim of exploiting the Indians under the pretext of their conversion to Christianity. With the knowledge of the Spanish At the crown, the Jesuits subjugated the Indians not only by force, like secular conquerors, but also by deceit, bribing the tribal elite, hypocritical sermons about creating a paradise on earth. The first settlements of the Indians, led by the Jesuits - reductions (from lat. reduco - I bring back (to Christianity the Indians who allegedly lost their faith)) - were created in 1609-10 in the southeast. areas of Paraguay Guair, but were driven back by the Portuguese. conquerors in the southwest, where in the middle reaches of the river. Parany at its confluence with the river. Paraguay to ser. 17th century 30 reductions were created. The reductions were a branch of a vast feud. org-tion of the Jesuit order with elements of slavery and patriarchal-tribal relations. In the reductions, in addition to the poor huts of the Indians, many were built. workshops, leather, sawmills, brick factories, there were also arsenals, warehouses, shipyards. Having deprived the Indians of all property, the Jesuits forced them to work hard in the fields and in the workshops to create huge wealth for the order, and for the work done and obedience they gave out only meager food and clothing. Goods produced by the Indians - tea, leather, tobacco, wool, cotton, fruits, handicrafts - were sold by the Jesuits outside of Paraguay for an average of 3 million dollars annually, which went to the cashier of the order. The Indians died out from overwork, hunger, disease, overcrowding, they died in the wars of the Jesuits against the unconquered Indians, against the Portuguese. and Spanish secular colonizers. The largest number of Indians in reductions was 150,000 in the 17th century, their number decreased by 1739 to 74,000. struggle against cruel exploitation. Jesuit missionaries almost ceased to obey the Spanish. authorities and actually constituted a separate state-in, which expanded at the expense of secular Spanish. possessions. The growth of wealth and power of the Jesuits in Paraguay and in other Spanish. the colonies alarmed Spanish. authorities, by order of which the Jesuits were expelled in 1768 from the Amer. dominions of Spain.

Lit .: Lavretsky I., Shadow of the Vatican over Lat. America, M., 1961; Fassbinder M., Der "Jesuitenstaat" in Paraguay, Halle, 1926; Charles P., Les reductions du Paraguay, Louvain, 1926.

N. R. Matveeva. Kalinin.

Soviet historical encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Ed. E. M. Zhukova. 1973-1982 .

See what the "JESUITE STATE IN PARAGUAY" is in other dictionaries:

- (1610 1768) formed by the Jesuits (See Jesuits), who arrived in Paraguay at the end of the 16th century. in order to exploit the Indians under the pretext of converting them to Christianity. The first settlements of the Indians, led by the Jesuits of the reduction, arose in 1609 10. They ... ...

PARAGUAY, Republic of Paraguay (Republica del Paraguay), state in South. America. The area is 406.8 thousand km2. Population 6191.4 thousand people (2004), mostly Paraguayans. Urban population 50.5% (1992). Believers are mostly Catholics. encyclopedic Dictionary

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JESUITES- [offic. title Societas Jesu (SJ), About in Jesus], catholic. the order of monastic regular (statutory) clerics, founded in 1534 by the Catholic. St. Ignatius Loyola and approved on 27 Sept. 1540 by Pope Paul III with the bull "Regimini ... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia

I Paraguay (Paraguay) river in Brazil and Paraguay, right tributary of the river. Parana; in some areas it serves as the state border between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. The length is 2200 km (according to other sources, 2500 km), the basin area is 1150 thousand ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

The Republic of Paraguay (República del Paraguay), a state in the central part of the South. America. Area 406.7 km?. Us. 2 million people (est. 1965), b. h. Paraguayans (descendants of the Guarani Indians and Spaniards). State. lang. Spanish, but 54% of us. speaks Spanish. yaz…

I (Paraguay), a river in Brazil and Paraguay, a right tributary of the Parana. About 2500 km, the basin area is about 1.2 million km2. The average water consumption is 4000 m3/s. Navigable to the city of Concepción. II Republic of Paraguay (República del Paraguay), a state in South ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Reduction, reductions in Paraguay, Indian settlements, which were under the direct control of the Jesuit order; existed in the 17th and 18th centuries. See Jesuit state in Paraguay... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

I Reduction (from Latin reductio return, bringing back) restoration of the previous state, reduction of the complex to the simpler. Reduction in various branches of science and technology is the name of processes leading to a decrease in size ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

In Paraguay, the settlements of the Indians, which were under the direct control of the Jesuit order; existed in the 17th and 18th centuries. See Jesuit state in Paraguay... Soviet historical encyclopedia

Zueva Maria Valerievna

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Paraguay

The Guarani Indians can be called monotheists without exaggeration. Nyanderuguasý (Ñanderuguasú) - "our big father", Nyamandý (Ñamandú) - "first, source and beginning", Nyandejára (Ñandejára) - "our master" - these are the names of a deity who, according to Guarani belief, was invisible, eternal, omnipresent and omnipotent. His spiritual essence, so that a person could turn to him, condescended to a specific form of Tupa (Tupa), which in Guarani means "thunder". Tupa were many, and they manifested themselves in a variety of natural and cosmic phenomena, but never took on a visible form. Nyamandý was not a god exclusively of the Guarani people, but was considered the god and father of all people.

From the foregoing, we can conclude that the success of the Jesuits in the Christianization of the Guarani was largely due to the religious specificity and peculiarities of the life of this people. Accustomed to a semi-sedentary way of life and agriculture, albeit in a primitive form, the Guarani readily settled in reductions, and their faith in the One Father of all things, as it were, prepared them in advance for a relatively easy acceptance of Christianity.

The conquista marked the beginning of the Christianization of the Indians of all Latin America, since priests came along with the conquistadors, led by a sincere desire to bring the light of the gospel to the pagan peoples. Paraguay was no exception. The first missionaries among the Indians of this region, including among the Guarani, were monks from the Franciscan order. The systematic evangelization of the Guaraní can be traced back to 1550, when a bishopric was formed in Asuncion, whose jurisdiction extended to the entire region of La Plata.

Many Indians inhabiting the area around Asuncion converted to Christianity, but their Christianization was very superficial, since the missionary strategy itself was initially wrong. The priests worked alone; leading a wandering life, they moved from one temporary Indian settlement to another, preaching and baptizing adults. Thus, the converted Indians were left without a shepherd, without divine services and public prayers, there was no one to further instruct them in the faith. Sometimes it came to quite funny incidents. For example, seeing that in order to be called a Christian, one must be baptized (for the Indians, this sacrament looked like a simple pouring of water), many Indians declared themselves Christians on the grounds that they entered the church during the sprinkling and a few drops of water fell on them. It is not surprising that in such a situation, God in the minds of the Indians was more associated with their native, familiar myths and beliefs than with Christian teaching.

In order to successfully Christianize the Indians, they had to be gathered into permanent settlements. This was recognized by both ecclesiastical and secular authorities, in particular the governor of Asuncion, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca. He wanted not only to help the cause of evangelization of the local population, but also to protect the Guarani, especially women, from the oppression that they constantly experienced from the Spaniards. Guarani women were distinguished, according to eyewitnesses, by their extraordinary beauty, and wealthy Spaniards were not ashamed to surround themselves with whole harems of Indian women, which not only fundamentally contradicted Christian doctrine, but also undermined the confidence of the Indians in secular authorities. It was the humane attitude of Cabez de Vaca towards the Indians that displeased the colonialists and later caused his resignation, which, in turn, led to a long break in the Christianization of the Guarani.

A full-fledged and serious systematic evangelization of the Guarani outside Asuncion and adjacent territories resumed only in 1575, when the Franciscan friar Luis de Bolaños arrived in Paraguay. It was he who began to collect the Guarani in permanent settlements, creating the first reductions, which then developed under the control of the Jesuits. In the province of Guaira (which today is part of Brazil) between 1580 and 1593. he founded 18 Guarani villages. Bolaños was also the first to become fluent in the Guarani language, understanding the great importance of preaching the gospel and explaining the truths of the faith in mother tongue people. Being not only an excellent missionary, but also a brilliant scientist, Bolaños created a script for the Guarani language (based on the Latin alphabet), compiled the first textbook and dictionary, and also translated parts of the catechism into Guarani and compiled a prayer book. In writing linguistic works, the missionary was assisted by two Creole priests. The achievements of Luis de Bolanos became the starting point for all the work of the Jesuits, which they later carried out in the field of the Guarani language. It should be especially noted that the task of Bolaños included not only the simple study of the language of the Indians, but also partly the creation of a new language. After all, those words and concepts that were most needed for the translation of the catechism were strongly associated in the minds of the Indians with witchcraft and superstitions. Such words should have been discontinued in preaching and replaced by others. Bolanos did it too. Altogether, he preached among the Guarani for 54 years; Jesuits who arrived in Paraguay at the end of the 16th century. and those who continued his work owe him a great deal.

Jesuits in Latin America

In order to go directly to the consideration of the activities of the Jesuits in Paraguay, it is advisable to briefly highlight the history of the missions of the Jesuits in Latin America and the basic principles of their missionary activities.

The first Jesuits appeared in South America in 1549. They were a group of six priests who disembarked on the coast of Bahia in Brazil, where they were called by the government of Portugal. Its main task in America, as in other countries, the order, of course, considered the conversion of the local population to Christianity. However, the problem that the Jesuits had to solve was not only purely missionary, but also a serious culturological one, which, according to G. Bemer, worried the ecclesiastical and secular authorities of Latin America for several generations. The Christianization of the Indians was closely related to the so-called "Indian question", which was whether Indians could be enslaved. Despite the fact that back in 1537, Pope Paul III issued a bull declaring it a crime to enslave the Indians - both those who converted to Christianity and pagans, the secular authorities of Portugal actually ignored this document. The Jesuits, in solving the Indian question, strictly followed the principles that were once guided by Bartolome de Las Casas, a Dominican monk, a well-known defender of the Indian population, who strongly opposed the enslavement of the natives. Like him, the Jesuits immediately rejected the possibility of any forced work of the Indians for the white colonists, including in the relatively mild form of the encomienda (Spanish - encomienda), in which the Indians were, as it were, "entrusted" to the conquistador in order to collect taxes and instruct in the Christian faith.

When resolving the Indian question, the Jesuits recognized only one type of conquista - the spiritual conquista, as they called it, conquista spiritual. Its only weapon was the sermon and the word of God, and the goal was the conversion of the Indians to Christianity. It must be said that this idea also originally belonged to Las Casas, but the Jesuits were the first to make systematic (and very successful) attempts at a spiritual conquest. They were the first to give all their strength to carry out this conquest among the Guarani of Paraguay and Uruguay, among the Chiquitos and Mojos of Peru, the Araucans of Chile and a number of other tribes not only of South but also of North America.

The first steps in the Christianization of the indigenous population of America were taken by the Jesuits in Brazil. It was here that they encountered the problem of the Indian question and found ways to resolve it. At the time of the arrival of the Jesuits in Brazil, the colonization of this territory was just beginning: the Portuguese managed to occupy only a few points on the coast. That is, in this territory there was practically no even secular power, not to mention the church organization, which did not exist at all.

Immigration to new colony was very small and consisted mainly of frequenters of the port dens and taverns of Lisbon. The only significant result of such immigration was the appearance of a large number of mestizos - children born from free unions (alas, the moral level of migrants left much to be desired) of white Europeans and Indian women, mainly from Guarani. Ordinary sailors, adventurers, exiled criminals - in a word, representatives of the lower strata of Portuguese society, the first migrants, due to their social affiliation, could not be educated and humane people. Therefore, the Indian question, which arose in the colony from the very beginning of the Europeans' stay there, they resolved in the highest degree rudely and simply: the white colonist could do whatever he wanted with the Indian. It was considered quite in the order of things that a European could kill a native or enslave as many redskins as he pleased.

The Jesuits thought differently. They immediately began to fight for the freedom of the Indians and without delay began to preach the gospel among the Guarani and Tupi in their own language. The Jesuits converted and baptized Indians not only on the coast, but also organized bold expeditions inland. The first missionaries were unusually brave, courageous people, filled with deep sincere faith and self-denial. They were ready to overcome any difficulties and accept the most painful death, the priests moved through the impenetrable forests of Brazil, often meeting a very hostile attitude of the local population. However, many tribes managed to be, if not Christianized, then at least reconciled (this will later happen in the Paraguayan Chaco). Secular power in the colony was strengthened largely thanks to the efforts of the missionaries.

The Jesuits were very concerned about the fact that due to the constant change of habitats, many converted Indian tribes to Christianity were leaving their spiritual authority and returning to their beliefs. The missionaries realized that all their labors would be fruitless if the new converts were not settled. From 1558, the first abbot of the province of Brazil, Manuel de Nobrega, began to gather baptized Indians and settle them in permanent settlements, where they had to be under the supervision of missionaries all the time. However, the Jesuits were well aware that it was completely useless to do this, if at the same time the local population was not isolated from the influence of the white colonists. Therefore, in the coming years, they used all their influence, which they had at the Portuguese court, in order to achieve a ban on the enslavement of the Indians. But, unfortunately, the missionaries did not find real support in Lisbon. In order to pass serious laws, the government of Portugal did not have enough money or good will; influence on their own subjects in the colony was very weak. Despite the fact that in 1574 King Sebastian issued a decree, which, in particular, stated that all Indians of permanent missionary settlements were considered free people and the crown assumed obligations to protect them, the white and mestizo population of the colony had little regard for the will of their king. This led to a long confrontation between the Jesuits and the colonists, which later even led to armed conflicts. A particular danger to the Indians living in the missions was represented by groups of slave hunters, the so-called "Paulists" (from the name of the state of St. Paul in Brazil), also known as "bandeirants" (from port. bandeira - "banner") and " mamelukos", because in their cruelty they were not inferior to the Ottoman conquerors in Europe. These units consisted of mestizos and creoles. Later, when the reductions were founded in Paraguay, which was a Spanish colony, the missionary settlements very often suffered from the raids of the "Paulists", and the conflict was already acquiring a political coloring.

It should be noted that the Spanish government treated the Indian question with great attention and respect towards the local population. Therefore, it was on the territory of the Spanish colonies that the Jesuits were able to fully undertake the conquista spiritual, not only not meeting resistance from the secular authorities, but also receiving support from them. The first Spanish colony where the Jesuits began to conduct missionary activities was Peru. It cannot be said that the Christianization of the population of Peru was very successful, since initially the Jesuits were content with the hasty conversion of the Indians and mass baptisms. This method was absolutely hopeless, and the superior general of the Society of Jesus, Claudio Acquaviva, subsequently criticized it severely. However, a large number of baptisms attracted the attention of church authorities, so the Jesuits were invited to Paraguay to further spread the Christian doctrine among the Indians.

Jesuits in Paraguay

The vast territory that Luis de Bolaños covered with his sermon was under the jurisdiction of two bishops, whose sees were located one in Tucuman and the other in Asuncion. Bishop Francis de Victoria of Tucuman was the first to invite the Jesuits to his diocese, who at that time were already in Brazil and Peru. It was from there that eight priests were sent, but only three of them, who knew one of the Tupi languages, were destined to start work among the Guarani. They were the Portuguese Manuel de Ortega, the Irishman Thomas Fields and the Catalan Juan Saloni. They were truly courageous, brave people, full of religious zeal and determination to carry the truths of the faith to peoples who had not known them before. Over the next twelve years, these priests carried on hard missionary work that required real heroism, which at that time seemed unpromising. In 1599, Ortega and Fildes were recalled to Asuncion (only eleven years later they continued to work among the Guarani). However, thanks to the merits of these first missionaries, it became clear that, firstly, the Guarani are very numerous, Secondly, they are open to the perception of Christian teaching and, thirdly, they need much more than an itinerant preacher who simply baptized Indians in one settlement and immediately moved to another.

In 1602, the fate of the missions among the Guarani suddenly hung in the balance: Claudio Acquaviva ordered a reduction in the number of missionaries. In the Jesuit province of Peru, which at that time belonged to the priests preaching in Paraguay, a conference was convened, ordering the missionaries to leave Paraguay. However, the priests protested furiously, and the discussion was continued, eventually being resolved in favor of the missions already at the synod convened in Asunción. It was at this synod, taking into account the experience of the Franciscan missionaries and the first Jesuits in the Christianization of the Guarani, that a kind of program of further action was created. First of all, it was clearly established that all instructions should be given to the Indians in their native language, so priests who were going to become missionaries were strictly prescribed to know at least Guaraní. The synod also decided that the catechism of Luis de Bolaños should be used so that the words and concepts he translated would become universal. At the synod, it was decided to gather the Indians in permanent settlements for more successful Christianization and in order to protect them from the Spanish colonialists.

At the same time, the visitor Paetz sent by Acquaviva suggested that the territory lying east of the Uruguay River and inhabited by the Guarani be united with the territory of the Brazilian Guarani into one missionary district. It was a reasonable plan, the implementation of which would greatly facilitate the work of the missionaries and help to avoid further contradictions (this region would later become the subject of fierce territorial disputes between Portugal and Spain, which turned into a bloody war with the local population). But this plan was strongly opposed by the governor of Asuncion, who understood that such a union of the two territories would inevitably lead to the loss of part of Spain's possessions in favor of Portugal. Therefore, Acquaviva solved the problem differently: in 1607 he created a new province of Paraguay on the territory of the Spanish colonies, stretching from the coast Pacific Ocean in the west to the Atlantic coast in the east and from the Paranapanema River in the north to Cape Horn in the south. Diego de Torres was appointed abbot of the province, who immediately established himself as a resolute defender of the Indians. So, in 1608, he abolished the encomienda in the territories belonging to the Jesuit order; the Indians who remained to work on these lands were paid for their labor. Meanwhile, in Madrid, the Jesuits pointed out to the Spanish throne the illegal behavior of the large encomenderos of La Plata and Parana towards the Indians and demanded that justice be restored. The Spanish government reacted in a very unexpected way: it not only granted D. de Torres broad powers to form an investigative commission to consider the situation of the Indians, but also in 1608-1609. decided to transfer spiritual and temporal authority over the Indians of La Plata to the Society of Jesus, inviting the Jesuits to group the local population into missionary districts. At the same time, under the threat of severe punishment, the Spaniards were strictly forbidden to arbitrarily enter the territories of the missions.

However, in order for such a decision not to harm the possessions of the colonists, these missions were allowed to be established not in the so-called tierra di paz (Spanish - “peaceful lands”), already owned by the colonists, but in the tierra di guerra not yet conquered and not colonized ( Spanish - "lands of war"). From that moment on, the conquista spiritual is in fact recognized as the only legal means of conquering the Indians, and this task is entirely entrusted to spiritual orders. Now the Jesuits, as well as other monastic congregations, are sent by the Spanish government to all sides of their South American possessions as the first bearers of the Christian faith and civilization in order to expand the boundaries of subject territories.

If you look at the map of the colonial possessions of Spain at that time, you can see how a whole line of missions appeared on the borders of the territories belonging to the Spanish crown, which not only repel the raids of enemy tribes, but also gradually begin the cultural assimilation of the Indians.

"State" of the Jesuits in Paraguay

It should immediately be noted that the term "state" or "republic", used in research literature in relation to 30 reductions founded by the Jesuits in Paraguay, is very arbitrary. The mission settlements were neither an independent state formation, nor even an autonomous administrative unit on the territory of the Spanish colonies in Latin America. The reductions were subordinate to the secular authorities of the Viceroyalty of Peru, namely the governor of Asuncion. The missions enjoyed a number of privileges and had a fairly wide internal autonomy, and they were located for the most part in the depths of almost impenetrable tropical forests and were so far from the main settlements that representatives of the secular authorities for the time being simply could not get there. However, this was not necessary, because from the missions the royal treasury regularly received taxes that the indigenous population of the colonies had to pay, the Indians themselves were considered loyal subjects of the Spanish crown, and the colonial government did not care about everything else. Both spiritual and secular power in reductions, thus, was concentrated in the hands of the Jesuit Fathers.

The reduction of Nuestra Señora de Loreto, which marked the beginning of a whole chain of Indian settlements, was founded in March 1610 by the Jesuits José Cataldino and Simon Maceta. The first Indians who settled there were those among whom, at the very end of the 16th century. preached by Ortega and Fildes and who had been without spiritual guides for ten years. More than 200 Guarani families expressed their desire to live in reduction: the Indians were happy to come under the protection of the missions, fleeing the Spaniards who exploited them, and from the Portuguese who enslaved them. There were so many Indians who wanted to settle in Loreto that the reduction could no longer accommodate them; therefore, in 1611, another settlement was founded - San Ignacio, which was located a little higher than Loreto along the Paranapanema River. By 1620, there were already 13 reductions, and their population, consisting exclusively of Indians, numbered about 100 thousand people. By 1630, the Jesuits already owned four missionary districts (Guaira, the right bank of the middle course of the Parana River, the country "between two waters" and the left bank of the Uruguay River) with 27 reductions located in them.

The successful activity of the missionaries was overshadowed by tragic events more than once. So, in 1618, an epidemic of plague broke out in Guaira - a disease brought to the American continent by Europeans, which claimed many lives of the Indians. Frightened, they fled from the reductions back to the forests, hoping to escape the infection there. Many returned to their tribes, and relatives urged the neophytes to renounce the new faith. Sorcerers and shamans only added fuel to the fire, blaming the missionaries and their teachings for all the troubles that befell the Guarani. When the plague passed, the Jesuits, accompanied by those Indians who courageously remained in the reductions, went in search of the lost sheep of their spiritual flock. Many were found and returned to permanent settlements.

It must be said that in the early years of the existence of reductions, baptized Indians often turned to their old beliefs and witchcraft. This happened under the influence of shamans, who traditionally had high authority among the Indians, so the Jesuits did everything possible to prevent them from being reduced. However, the sorcerers, who did not want to lose their spiritual influence, nevertheless penetrated there. For example, once in one of the settlements a sorcerer appeared with two assistants and declared himself a god in three guises. The role of "hypostases" was played by the people who accompanied him. It is very interesting to note how unusually the ideas of the Christian God were reflected in the mind of this man, which he decided to combine with traditional beliefs in order to achieve greater influence. It is not known whether the Guarani understood this reduction, but the charlatan was ignominiously expelled from the settlement by the Indians themselves.

In 1620, a new scourge fell upon the reduction, which the Jesuit fathers had not been able to cope with for several decades: the "Paulists", slave hunters from the Brazilian state of St. Paul, made their first foray into the mission settlements in the most prosperous district of Guaira. They attacked the reduction of Incarnacion, destroyed it almost to the ground and took several hundred Indians into slavery. Since 1635, the "Paulists" annually attacked the reductions located on the left bank of the Uruguay River (as already mentioned, Brazil claimed this territory). They destroyed and robbed settlements (although, to tell the truth, there was nothing to rob there; money and luxury goods did not exist in the reductions, so the “Paulists” cynically robbed churches without much shame, taking golden church utensils with them) and drove entire families into captivity guarani. These truly barbaric raids caused enormous harm both to the local population and to the Jesuits themselves, since they not only lost their flock physically, but also lost their spiritual influence over it. Increasingly, the Indians renounced Christianity, returning to paganism. Shamans and sorcerers turned the Indians against the priests: missionaries, they said, are deceivers who come to trusting Indians under the guise of friendliness and piety, and themselves spread diseases by the touch of their hands; Indians must flee their churches and renounce new religion, otherwise the slave hunters will attack their settlements and not a single living soul will be saved. Such mentality gave rise to a new pagan cult, which absorbed the features of Christianity, but was Indian in nature. Its basis was the worship of the remains of dead sorcerers. These remains were kept in special sanctuaries, priests (both men and women) looked after them with trepidation, who, entering a state of trance, "received messages" from the dead shamans. Even the Jesuits had a place in the hierarchy of deities! They were assigned the role of small spirits, almost without any power. Sorcerers, on the contrary, were considered the most powerful and revered as the creators of the earth and sky.

It seemed that the return to paganism (and in a non-traditional form for Guarani) was final. For a while, the Indians became simply uncontrollable. However, the new cult did not save the Guarani from slave hunters. The Jesuits quickly regained their spiritual power over the Indians. In the early 1630s missionary Antonio Ruiz de Montoya made an attempt to withdraw the Guarani from the territories encroached upon by the "Paulists". It was decided to "move" the reductions downstream of the Parana River. The hardest campaign lasted about a year: Montoya was followed by 12 thousand Indians, but only 4 thousand reached the reductions located on the middle course of the Parana River. in the forests, or died of exhaustion and hunger.

After such a deplorable experience, the missionaries clearly realized that the only way to escape the attack of the "Paulists" was through military action. In 1638-1639. order received permission from the royal government to issue to the Indians firearms and create a military organization. The army of the Jesuit missions consisted mainly of cavalry. Despite the fact that the Indians, when they saw the first conquistadors, were afraid of horses, the Guarani quickly learned to ride well and were not inferior to the Spaniards in this skill. However, on the battlefields, the Guarani were so helpless without European officers that they could not even attack without breaking formation. After all, the tactics to which generations of Indians were accustomed were simpler: issuing warlike war cries, they fell all together, not caring about maintaining the battle line. This worked well when the Guarani fought other Indians, but with the "Paulistas" the situation was much more complicated. The slave hunters were well-trained soldiers, so they could not be confused by the randomly advancing Indians, albeit outnumbered, but armed with spears, slings and bows, while the "Paulists" themselves had firearms in their hands.

So, in the late 30's. 17th century The Indians had firearms. The Indians were taught to use it, a special training course was developed: every Sunday, after a common vespers, classes were held on conducting both land and sea battles. All this worried the Spanish colonists very much: they feared that the Indians, who had recently been savages, might get out of obedience to the Jesuits and direct weapons against them, or even try to recapture their country. The Spaniards constantly sent protests to Madrid, but the permission to own firearms, granted by the King of the Reduction Indians, on the contrary, was renewed several times.

The result of lengthy training, which required great effort from both the Indians and their teachers, was the Battle of Mborore in March 1641, in which 4 thousand Guarani defeated 4 thousand Paulists and another 2700 of their Indian allies. On the Guarani side, the battle was led by Romero's father, the cacique Ignacio Abiaru (they commanded a fleet of only 60 canoes, while the Paulists had 300 boats) and Domingo de Torres, who led the land forces. After the victory at Mborora, the Indians were able to secure themselves (and at the same time the interior territories of the Spanish colonies) for a long time from major attacks by the Paulists. Small skirmishes that took place on the borders invariably ended in favor of the Guarani. Thus, as mentioned above, the reductions, whose Indians held firearms in their hands, became a kind of shield for the Spanish possessions in Latin America, protecting them from the invasion of the Portuguese.

The attention of researchers has always been attracted by the economic side of the life of reductions. In the 19th century it was widely believed among scholars that the reductions of Paraguay were ideal Christian communist communities in which everything was considered common and served the equal well-being of all members of the community. In fact, everything was almost the opposite.

The fact is that the Guarani, who were at an early stage of social development, did not have the concept of private property. There was simply no need for this, because the Guarani led a semi-nomadic lifestyle, and the forests and rivers surrounding them in sufficient quantities provided everything necessary for each member of the community. There was no point in "dividing" a forest or a river into "mine" and "alien".

The settled economy, on the other hand, implied in one way or another the ownership of land, at least in its most primitive form. Therefore, we can conclude that the concept of private property in the life of the Indians was introduced by the Jesuits. Thus, in 1618, Pedro Oñate, the second provincial abbot of Paraguay, wrote that the Indians, "being absolute barbarians, have neither house nor field at their disposal." He ordered the missionaries to see to it that both appeared in the Guarani.

The land plots of the Indians in the reductions were called "abambaè", which meant (although the translation was made with difficulty) "personal possession". The harvest that the Indian collected from his plot was wholly his own, and he could dispose of it as he pleased. But the Indian could not sell this plot or house (by the way, according to colonial laws, the Indians did not have the right to own land at all). The land, which was in public ownership, was called "tupambae", which means "the possession of God", and was cultivated collectively. In Marxist research literature, one can often find the opinion that the income from this land went into the pocket of the Jesuits, who subjected the "unfortunate" Indians to "cruel exploitation." It wasn't like that. Guarani really had to be forced to work, because this people, due to the peculiarities of the traditional way of life, were not used to the difficult monotonous, and most importantly, continuous work of the farmer. Therefore, all the Indians who could work, including little boys (naturally, they were given work according to their strength), were required to work only two days a week on public land. The harvest that was harvested from tupambaè was placed in special storage facilities. With its help, the life of those who for some reason could not feed themselves was provided: men who lost their ability to work, widows, orphans. Part of this crop was used for seeds for the next year, part was left as a reserve in case of famine and for exchange for European goods. Some of the harvest was sold to pay taxes to the Spanish crown. The Jesuits themselves received no more from the tupambae than any of the Indians.

Cattle, horses, sheep, pastures and forests were all considered public property as well. Unfortunately, it was completely useless to give Indians private ownership of working or dairy cattle: the Guarani, who had never before used animals to till the land, preferred to eat bulls instead of plowing them, or cows instead of milking them and providing milk for their families. .

Such a system of land use, however, could only exist if the number of Indians in reduction was more or less stable. When the reduction became overpopulated, part of the Indians, led by two priests, moved to another place, as a rule, not far from the former one. Usually, 3500-8000 Indians lived in reductions, depending on their size.

The Europeans, who occasionally fell into reductions (they could be visitors or representatives of secular authorities), had the impression that the reductions were very rich: majestic churches, stone houses of Indians, cobbled streets - all this looked just great compared to the capital Asuncion. The reductions were built according to a strict Greco-Roman plan: the streets intersected at right angles, in the center of the settlement there was the main square, on which the cathedral stood. On the one hand, the cemetery adjoined the cathedral, on the other, the house of priests and the building of the City Council. Behind the cemetery there was a house for widows and orphans, which existed in every reduction; Behind the Council building is a school building and storage facilities. Behind the cathedral was a garden belonging to the priests. The houses of the Indians, as already mentioned, were arranged according to a strict layout.

Made of damp brick, with smooth walls and thatched roofs, without windows, and with a very narrow door that served as the only source of light, these houses were neither beautiful nor comfortable. But do not forget that the reductions almost all the time were, as it were, under a state of siege due to the constant raids of the bandeirants, so such conditions of existence were to some extent justified. Only in early XVII 1st century the brick was replaced by stone, and thatch by roof tiles. Compared with the houses of the Indians, the houses of the priests seemed to be palaces; but in fact the missionaries lived more modestly than ordinary peasants in Europe. This is proved by the inventories of the property of the Jesuits of the reduction of San Ignacio Mini, made after their expulsion: eight mattresses, nine beds and pillows, 12 candlesticks, seven tables, seven bookshelves, 20 chairs and three which they were so viciously criticized.

There were small factories in the reductions, and this was in a country where at that time there was no industry at all. Those who came in reductions watched the work of well-trained and skilled carpenters, masons, sculptors, weavers, craftsmen who make musical instruments, engravers, copyists, gunsmiths and many more artisans and craftsmen. Every Indian from childhood learned some craft to which he had an inclination, and, becoming a master, passed on his skills and abilities to others. However, with all this apparent wealth, the reductions were not really rich at all, rather, they were prosperous. The revenues of the reductions only slightly exceeded their expenses; money existed only to pay taxes to the treasury. The Indians themselves did not need money: everything that was needed was provided by the community. After the expulsion of the Jesuits from Latin America (1767-1768), when the reductions came under the control of secular authorities, neither money nor precious things were found there. Moreover, it turned out that some reductions even owed Asuncion.

The Jesuits closely followed the education of the Indians. From an early age, Guarani children learned to read and write in their native language; boys gradually learned men's crafts, girls - women's, mainly spinning and weaving. Particular attention, of course, was given to the Law of God. It should be noted that the sources almost do not describe the religious side of the life of reductions. The fact is that the whole life of the Indians in reductions was permeated with religiosity to such an extent that this religiosity was almost “dissolved” in everyday life: in the morning a Mass was served, at which all Indians were obliged to attend (those who missed services without a good reason were punished). Then, lined up in columns, the Guarani, singing hymns, went to public works, also accompanied by music; after work, everyone returned to the church for a common evening prayer. Sunday and holidays were, of course, non-working. In general, the daily routine in reductions deserves separate consideration, especially the schedule of priests. Antonio Sepp, who served in the reduction of Japey, wrote that for the work that he does alone, seven or eight priests would be required in Europe. It was A. Sepp who left us information about the daily routine of priests, which, most likely, was almost the same in all reductions. The priest got up an hour before dawn, prayed in the church, then listened to the confessions of his flock. After that, he went to teach catechism to children and visited the sick. Since almost every day one of the inhabitants of the reduction died, the priest was obliged to perform a funeral rite. After visiting the sick, the missionary went to schools, factories, and other establishments, where he spoke with the Indians and observed educational process. A. Sepp personally supervised his small orchestra and singers. Closer to 10 o'clock in the morning, he sent food to the sick, and only after that, finally, he could dine himself. After a common prayer in the middle of the day, the priest had two hours of free time, which he could spend in his garden or reading a book. However, the missionary's rest was often interrupted: after all, at any moment one of his flock could need him. From two to four the priest again visited the sick and buried the dead. At seven - after supper and common prayer - he was free again until early in the morning. next day. There were rarely more than two priests in one reduction, so they were busy from morning to evening, working almost without rest for the benefit of the Indians entrusted to them.

Secular power in reductions was formally exercised by the Indians themselves (of course, nothing was done without the permission of the priests). At the head of the reduction was the corregidor (corregidor) with his deputy (teniente); they were assisted by three overseers (alcaldes), four councillors (regidores), the prefect of police, the housekeeper, the secretary, and the king's standard-bearer. All of them were Cabildo (Cabildo) - city council.

Concluding the description of the missionary settlements of the Guarani, let us say a few words about the art of reduction. Even the missionaries Ortega, Fields and Saloni noticed that the Guarani Indians are unusually musical, and their sense of tone is more developed than that of other Indians of Latin America. “Give me an orchestra,” said one of the missionaries, “and I will instantly win the souls of these Indians for Christ.” The priests often could not make their way on foot through the wild rainforests: there were very few missionaries, and the Indians were very distrustful of them. But the priests noticed that when they sailed in their boats past the temporary settlements of the Guarani, hummed or played melodies, the Indians approached the banks and listened to them. This determined the further approach of the missionaries: when they went to preach, they invariably took musical instruments with them and played as well as they could.

As for the reductions, the Indian orchestras and choirs were the real pride of the Jesuit fathers. In orchestras, European violins, double basses, flutes and oboes sounded great together with Indian reed and clay pipes, whistles and drums. Each church had an organ, a most complex instrument, on which talented Guarani learned to play beautifully. By the end of the 20s. 17th century The Indians were such skilled musicians and singers that they even gave a concert in Buenos Aires dedicated to the appointment of Francisco de Cespedes to the post of governor. The Spanish listeners were delighted. Usually there were 30-40 musicians in each reduction. Music, as already mentioned, accompanied the Indians throughout the working day. The traditional Guaraní dances were skillfully transformed by the Jesuits into religious performances, mysteries and processions, which were especially magnificent during Holy Week and the feast of Corpus Christi.

The decline of the Society of Jesus in Latin America

In 1750, Spain and Portugal concluded an agreement under which Portuguese Brazil was given lands along the left bank of the Uruguay River with seven reductions located on them. Based on this agreement, the Spanish government ordered the Jesuits to leave these reductions, along with 30 thousand Indians who inhabited them, and found new settlements on the right bank of Uruguay. Such an order became clear evidence that the Jesuits were gradually losing their influence in the Spanish and Portuguese courts. The result of this order was quite predictable: the priests of Parana and Uruguay spoke out in defense of the rights of the Indian population and resisted the commission that arrived in order to settle the issue of borders. But, bound by a vow of obedience, the priests were soon forced to leave their flock. When in 1756 the troops of Spain and Portugal were introduced into the disputed territory, the Guarani opposed them with weapons in their hands, trying to protect the land that they considered their homeland. A battle took place, in which, of course, the Europeans won. However, the Indians did not give up and began such a brutal guerrilla war that by 1760 the Portuguese army was exhausted, demoralized and drained of blood and was forced to retreat. Since both powers were, for a number of other reasons, dissatisfied with the decision on the border issue, it was decided to annul the agreement, and the Uruguayan missions remained with Spain.

Meanwhile, in Portugal, Minister Sebastian José de Carvallo, better known as the Marquis de Pombal, published " Short message on the Republic of the Jesuits”, a work not based on facts, but in time coinciding with anti-Jesuit sentiments in Europe. His campaign against the Jesuits was supported by an avalanche of books and pamphlets sent to European monarchs and the Pope. The Jesuits were accused of inciting rebellions, of starting wars, and even of wanting to take over all of Europe. Pombal himself, catching on to the unpleasant for the colonial authorities permission for the reduction Indians to carry firearms, wrote that, instead of instructing the Indians in Christianity, the Jesuits teach them to build military structures and shoot a gun. “Their unfortunate families,” he added, “live in the strictest obedience and in harsher conditions than the Negroes working in the mines.” Pombal had long resented the influence of the Jesuits on the Portuguese court and government, and he decided to get rid of them. This emu succeeded: back in 1756, he ordered the expulsion of all the Jesuits who were at court, and in 1759, on his orders, the Jesuits were expelled from all Portuguese possessions, including from the colonies in Latin America. Soon the example of Pombal was followed by the Spanish king Charles III, who brought down the persecution of the Jesuits in Spain in 1767, and in 1768 ordered the representatives of the Society of Jesus to leave all territories belonging to the Spanish monarchy. The world, which courageous and selfless missionaries built for 150 years, collapsed overnight.

The reductions came under the control of the secular authorities. But the settlements did not last long: the Jesuits did create a new beautiful and prosperous civilization, but it was artificial, and therefore short-lived. The Indians tend to leave the missions and move to larger cities such as Asuncion or Buenos Aires. The reductions quickly emptied and fell into disrepair. Subsequent wars completely destroyed architectural monuments, and only ruins now remind of the former greatness of the "state" of the Jesuits in Paraguay.

However, let's not forget that thanks to the missionary policy of the Jesuits, namely the long-term isolation of the reductions, the Guarani retained their ethnic identity, their language and culture. The Indians understand this and still speak with warmth and gratitude of the existence of 30 Jesuit missions in the very heart of Latin America.

Bibliographic list

Bemer G. Jesuits. St. Petersburg: Polygon, 1999.

Caraman P. The Lost Paradise. The Jesuit Republic in South America. New York, 1973.

Zueva M.V.

The Jesuit “State” in Paraguay

Zueva Maria Valerievna – Student of Moscow State University. [email protected]

The article deals with a phenomenon of so called Jesuit “state” in Paraguay (1610–1678) – a territory, which was subject to Viceroyalty of Peru, formed by the Indian settlements, created by the Jesuit missionaries.

The author of the article pays special attention to the culture and traditions of the Guaraní Indians and highlights the history of the creation of the missionary settlements. Also there is a brief sketch of the Jesuits themselves, for the reader could learn more about the history and ideology of this unusual religious order.

Key words: Jesuit “state”, Jesuit “republic”, Paraguay, the Guaraní, Society of Christ, catholic missions in Latin America.

Source - Zueva M.V."State" of the Jesuits in Paraguay // Scientific journal "ANTRO". Permian. 2012. No. 2 (11). P.123 - 151.

Cit. Quoted from: Caraman P. The lost paradise. The Jesuit Republic in South America. New York, 1973.

The term "reduction", which will be used frequently in this work, is a transliteration Spanish word"reduccion" and, perhaps, is best translated into Russian as "community", "settlement". In turn, "reduccion" comes from the verb "reducir", which in the period under study meant "to collect in the settlement of missions."

McNaspy C. J., Blanch J. M. Lost cities of Paraguay. Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1982.

Caraman P. Op cit. P. 22.

Cit. by: Caraman P. Op. cit. P. 22.

Caraman P. Op. cit. P. 40.

Franciscans (lat. Ordo Fratrum Minorum) - a Catholic mendicant monastic order, founded by St. Francis of Assisi in 1208 with the aim of preaching apostolic poverty, asceticism, and love of neighbor among the people. During the modern period, the Franciscans were actively engaged in missionary and research activities, working in the Spanish possessions in the New World and in the countries of the East.

Sprinkling (lat. asperges) is the initial penitential rite of the Catholic Mass, during which the priest sprinkles parishioners with holy water and the penitential psalm "Have mercy on me, God." (lat. “Miserere mei Deus...”).

Caraman P. Op. cit. P. 26.

Bemer G. Jesuits. St. Petersburg: Polygon, 1999, p. 314.

A diocese (lat. diocesis) is a church-administrative unit in the Catholic Church, headed by a bishop (bishop or archbishop). For the Russian reader, a similar concept of the diocese is more familiar.

Cit. by: Caraman P. Op. cit. P. 274.

State created by the Jesuits among the Guarani Indian tribe, did not leave indifferent many thinkers. Until now, Catholics do not know how to evaluate the "Paraguayan experiment" - how great victory Catholicism, or as a heretical attempt to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, about which it is better to keep quiet.

Of course, the sources describing the order in the state are clearly not enough: the Jesuits did not particularly spread about the order in this state, and the guests were allowed in with great scrutiny. And yet, the "experiment" received sufficient fame.

At the same time, it is interesting that such haters of the church as Voltaire and Montesquieu treated him positively. Voltaire called the state " in some respects a triumph of mankind and Montessier wrote:

“In Paraguay, we see an example of those rare institutions that are created to educate peoples in the spirit of virtue and piety. The Jesuits were blamed for their system of government, but they became famous for being the first to inspire the inhabitants distant countries religious and human concepts.

Representatives of the communist movement have a negative attitude towards him. Paul Lafargue, concluding the book "The Jesuit Republics", writes that the Republic of the Jesuits "was by no means a communist society, where all members take an equal part in the production of agricultural and industrial products and have equal rights to the wealth produced. It was rather a capitalist state, where men, women and children, sentenced to forced labor and corporal punishment, deprived of all rights, vegetated in equal poverty and equal ignorance, no matter how brilliantly agriculture and industry flourished in the country, no matter how great was the abundance of wealth, produced by them."

One way or another, it was impossible to completely silence the phenomenon of the Jesuit state: it was an out of the ordinary case. Imagine: while Russia is going through a huge and difficult period of its history - from the Time of Troubles to the Empress Elizabeth- on the other side of the world, in South America, there is a "living utopia", Christian state, strictly communist in its social order.

Guarani - a large tribe of Indians, engaged in primitive agriculture, hunting, fishing, raising poultry and pigs. A feature of the Guarani is cannibalism, and they ate human flesh almost raw. And at the same time, all eyewitnesses noted the amazing benevolence, meekness and even "childishness" of this people.

Pargavai is a colonial province subordinate to Spain. However, in fact, this territory was on the border of Spanish and Portuguese possessions (Brazil was a Portuguese colony), and the Portuguese also claimed this territory. Both the Spaniards and the Portuguese treated the local population extremely cruelly.. In a big move were the raids of the "Paulists" - slave hunters. As a result, by the end of the XVI century. Guarani population dropped from a million people to 5,000.

Formation of the "state"

Everything began to change when the Jesuits arrived in Paraguay (1585). They actively fought against the conversion of the local population into slavery. than actively endearing him to himself. It is noted that the natives were not conquered by violence, but only by persuasion and good attitude. The Guarani were willingly baptized and accepted the foundations of the Christian faith.
Masterfully balancing between the Spaniards and the Portuguese, the Jesuits managed to strengthen their position so much that in 1611 they received from the Spanish crown a monopoly right to establish a mission in Paraguay, and the Indians were exempted from paying taxes for 10 years. Thus, the beginning of the "state" of the Jesuits was laid, which is located in the triangle of the current cities of Asuncion, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo - a total of 200 thousand square meters. km. Interestingly, the respective regions of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, where the "state" was located, are still called Misiones - mission area.

The idea to create a Christian-communist state in Paraguay is attributed to the Jesuits oo. Simon Maceta and Cataldino. According to some reports, they developed a project for such a state using the "City of the Sun" T. Campanella(the book was published in 1623). According to the founders, the state was created to organize the correct religious life of believers in the spirit of the first Christians. His goal was to save the soul. The state was based on a communist economy, property equality and isolation from the rest of the world. The ideological fathers also lived in the forests with the Guarani. But nevertheless, the main direct work "in the field" was carried out by the NGOs. Jesuits Diego de Torres and Montohi. The first of them became in 1607 the rector of the newly formed "province" of the Jesuits in Paraguay.

Life in the "state"

In 1645, the Jesuits received from King Philip III the privilege of non-interference of secular authorities in their colonial activities. Since that time, the state of the Jesuits enters its heyday. Some researchers believe that the word "state" as applied to this phenomenon is conditional. If this is true in relation to the early stage of the mission of the Jesuits, then later you can see all the main features of the state: the central and local government, army, police, prisons, etc.
Already by 1610, the idea arose to settle both baptized and awaiting baptism Indians in special settlements - "reductions" (from Spanish reducir - convert, convert, lead to faith), which were led by the priests of the order. In the end, the Jesuits formed 31 reductions, with a population of 250 to 8 thousand people. Their association under the leadership of the head of the province was called the "state of the Jesuits."

Reductions were fortified settlements, in each of which there were only two Jesuit fathers - an administrator and a confessor. In addition, there was an administration of natives - "korrekhids", headed by a cacique, i.e. elder. Elections were scheduled for all public positions once a year, in which the entire population of the reduction took part. Frequent raids by the Spanish “Paulists” forced the Jesuits to create their own army from the Indians by 1639, well trained, armed with guns and led by Indian officers.

Father Antonio Sepp, who visited one of the largest reductions - Japea - found there magnificent buildings made of stone and wood, factories, shops, an arsenal, a prison, a spinning mill for old women, a pharmacy, a hospital, a hotel, brick factories, lime kilns, mills, dye houses, foundries (for bells).. Around the Guarani huts there were many gardens and fields of rice, tobacco, wheat, beans and peas.. However, the dwellings of the natives were simple - one-room huts made of reed (later - made of stone) without hinged doors, windows and chimneys .

The social organization of reductions is amazing. There was no private property (this was in accordance with the traditions of the Guarani, who did not know property). True, each family was given a small personal plot, on which, however, it was possible to work no more than three days a week. The rest of the time - work on the public economy. Everything worked out was placed in public warehouses, from where everyone was given equally. Money was used only at the wedding ceremony: the groom "gave" the bride a coin, but after the crown the coin was returned.

Although there was no trade within the reduction, however, there was a state foreign trade: products Agriculture and factory products were floated along the Parana to the ocean and there they were exchanged for things necessary for the state. Indians on such journeys were always accompanied by a priest. During the existence of the state, the Jesuits introduced progressive agricultural technologies, as a result, the Guarani managed to fully provide themselves with products. began to flourish different kinds crafts, including jewelry, watchmaking, sewing, shipbuilding: the Guarani built ships larger than those built in London shipyards. Crafts flourished - weaving, wood and stone carving, pottery.

The entire life of the reductions was subordinated to church institutions. Majestic, richly decorated temples were erected. Attendance at worship services was mandatory. Everyone took communion a fixed number of times. In other words, all the inhabitants of the reduction made up one parish, and an amazing obedience to the spiritual fathers was observed. Even Lafargue points out that in the morning and in the evening - before and after work - everyone went to church. According to the testimony Charlevoix- the Jesuit who wrote the "History of Paraguay" - " Churches are never empty. There is always a large number of people in them, spending all free time in prayers”- just a paradise from the point of view of the priests.

The Indians turned out to be surprisingly talented, especially musically, and soon wonderful musicians, composers, and singers grew up among this people. However, art was exclusively ecclesiastical. The natives did not know Spanish literature: they studied their native language (the Jesuits created the alphabet of the Guarani language). In the reduction of Cordova there was a printing house. The published literature is entirely ecclesiastical, mostly hagiographies.

However, these opinions about the total ecclesiastical culture can be questioned, since it is known that musical instruments made by the Guarani were famous throughout the continent. There is information about orchestras and dance ensembles, which, as you know, were not used in worship.

The crime rate was extremely low. In the overwhelming majority of cases, punishments were limited to penance (prayer and fasting), reprimands, or public censure. True, sometimes it was necessary to apply more serious measures: punishment with a cane (no more than 25 strokes) or imprisonment, the term of which did not exceed 10 years. There was no death penalty, although there were murders. Morally, the Guarani made an enormous leap. Cannibalism has been completely eliminated. The fathers achieved the transition mainly to plant foods. But they also gave plenty of meat, although only boiled. It should be noted that it was forbidden to go out at night, and going beyond the limits of reduction was possible only with the blessing of the Jesuit father.

Marriage in the state - at the choice of fathers, girls at 14 years old, boys - at 16. Demographic measures were original. One traveler writes:

“The Jesuits encouraged early marriages, did not allow adult men to remain single, and all widowers, with the exception of a very old age, were persuaded to a new marriage ... The wake-up signal was usually given half an hour before the moment when you really had to get up.”

Whether these measures, or high social security, gave a surprising increase in population: in better times the number of the "state" was at least 150 thousand people. (they even talk about 300 thousand people). However, not everything went smoothly. There is a known case when young men and women, dissatisfied with the marriage order, fled from the reduction to the mountains. It cost the fathers a lot of effort to return them, and their marriage unions were legalized.

Sunset

However, the "kingdom of happiness and prosperity" was not destined to live forever. The secular authorities more than once wrote denunciations and slanders against the leaders of the Jesuit state; once it even came to a papal inquiry. In general, the Jesuits everywhere were extremely dissatisfied. Back in the 17th century. the Jesuits were removed from all Portuguese possessions in South America. And in 1743 they were officially accused of disloyalty and the Spanish crown. Yes, and Rome did not favor them - in the same year, he banned the Jesuits from trading.

In 1750, an agreement was signed between Spain and Portugal, according to which The "state" of the Jesuits was divided into the Spanish and Portuguese zones with the subsequent evacuation of the Portuguese reductions to the Spanish possessions. This is 30 thousand people and 1 million heads of livestock, so resettlement was in fact unrealistic. In fact, these reductions were given to the Portuguese, who would quickly destroy them. The Jesuits began to oppose this treaty and the orders of the Spanish authorities. A Jesuit was sent from Spain to fulfill the treaty Altamirano who were given broad powers.

In 1753 the population of the four Portuguese reductions from which the Jesuits had left armed themselves and refused to evacuate. Altamirano writes that they were incited by local Jesuits who disobeyed orders. The Spaniards sent troops but the Indians fought back. In 1756, during the second campaign of the combined Spanish and Portuguese troops, the Indians were defeated. True, in 1761 the agreement between Spain and Portugal was annulled and the Indians began to return to their former place of residence. But the collapse of the "state" could not be prevented - both Madrid and Lisbon were against the Jesuits.

Former Jesuit Bernardo Ibanez(expelled from the order for taking the side of the authorities in Buenos Aires) wrote the book "The Jesuit Kingdom in Paraguay", where he exposed the subversive activities of the Jesuits. These materials were handed over to the government. As a result, in 1767 the Jesuits were banned from Spain and its possessions. They raised a rebellion, for the suppression of which 5 thousand soldiers were sent. 85 people were hanged, 664 were sentenced to hard labor (these are the Jesuits and their supporters). 2260 Jesuits were expelled, incl. 437 are from Paraguay. By that time, there were 113,000 Indians under their care in Paraguay.

For some time the natives resisted and tried to protect their fathers, but then they began to scatter. The "state" was destroyed, the reductions were empty. Papa has dealt the final blow. Clement XIV, who in 1773 banned the Jesuit order.

By 1835, 5 thousand Guarani lived on the lands of the "state". However, this people, by the providence of God, still exists. And the ruins of huge temples with superbly executed bas-reliefs still stand.

Conclusion

Polish journalist Jan Fiyor explains the decline of the "state" of the Jesuits in that the natives atrophied interest in material goods, possessive instincts and the idea of ​​entrepreneurship. The conclusion is based on nothing. The ideological nature of this conclusion strikes the eye, but let's not be too strict - after all, the true Catholic causes of death must be deduced from the Catholic social doctrine, in which private property is regarded as a "natural law" and the whole new world order based on the pursuit of profit is blessed.

It seems that it is necessary to look for the causes of death elsewhere. It is all too clear that in our fallen world such a thing as a "welfare state" cannot but arouse wild rage and hatred. No, not internal reasons, but the aggression of "this world" led to his death. And there is nothing surprising in this. On the contrary, it is truly a miracle that such a “realized utopia” lived and developed for more than 150 years.

____________________
Literature:

1. Svyatlovsky - Svyatlovsky V.V. The communist state of the Jesuits in Paraguay in the 17th and 18th centuries. - Petrograd, Path to Knowledge, 1924. - p.85.
2. Grigulevich - I.R. Grigulevich. Cross and sword. Catholic Church in Spanish America, XVI-XVIII centuries. M .: Science, - p.295.
3. Fiyor - Fiyor Jan M. Utopia or earthly paradise? The world's first communist society.// Truth and Life. No. 4, 2001. - 32-39 p.
4. Bemer - Heinrich Bemer. History of the Jesuit Order. - Smolensk: Rusich, 2002. - 464 p.
5. Andreev - Andreev A.R. History of the Jesuit Order. Jesuits in Russian Empire. XVI- early XIX century. - M .: Russian panorama, 1998, - 256 p.
6. Lafargue - Lafargue Paul. Jesuit republics. - St. Petersburg. 1904, - 41 p.

Notes:

Cit. by Bemer. S. 353.
cit. according to Andreev A.R. History of the Jesuit Order. S. 78.
Lafargue.
There. S. 41.
Svyatlovsky. S. 41.
Grigulevich. S. 168.
Svyatlovsky. S. 30.
Fiyor. S. 34.
Svyatlovsky. pp. 26-27.
Fiyor. S. 36.
There. S. 38.
cited by Lafargue. S. 31.
Svyatlovsky. S. 35.
Fiyor. S. 38.
There. S. 36.
There.
Svyatlovsky. S. 45.
Grigulevich. pp. 170-175.
Fiyor. S. 39.

Today the lecture will be devoted to the state of the Jesuits of Paraguay. This is one of the most amazing episodes. human history. The fact is that while our Russia was going through its very difficult period of history, starting from the Time of Troubles and until the beginning of the reign of Mother Catherine II, on the other side of the ball there was an amazing communist state, which was organized by the Jesuits. But everything is in order.

Jesuits. Of course, you have heard a lot about Jesuit morality, that it is a kind of morality that "the end justifies the means." The Jesuits, in general, used different methods, indeed often incorrect. But in this case, in this episode, the Jesuits look completely different. In a wonderful way, I would say. The Jesuits are an order that was formed in the first half of the 16th century. And their goal was to fight against the Reformation, and the second goal was missions, missionary work.

South America was conquered at the end of the 15th century, and somewhere in 1538 the pope organized such a very representative meeting at which the question was decided: “are the inhabitants of this continent - the Indians - people, or are they special kind monkeys?" There were very long disputes, different opinions were expressed. But in the end, dad decided that they were people. And since people, it means that they must be enlightened by the light of Christ. And now the missionaries are going to South America. The Jesuits were somewhat late to the start, and the first missionaries were the Franciscans. The Jesuits appeared somewhere in the middle of the 16th century. The mission was, in general, all over the mainland: such a powerful program. But the most famous, most remarkable results were in Paraguay.

I will try to draw a map South America to be clear. Here is a very large bay - this is La Plata. Buenos Aires is now the capital of Argentina. Well, then it was the main city of the colony, which was subordinate to the Spanish Empire, and was also called Argentina. Rivers flow into La Plata. The Parana is a large river, the second largest river after the Amazon in South America. Its tributaries are Paraguay and Uruguay. The big city is Sao Paulo. It was founded by the Jesuits, it was built on such a large plateau, 800 meters above sea level. Now it is one of the most big cities in the world: with all the outskirts something about 20 million Rio de Janeiro. And the Paraguay area is the mission area.

The Jesuits, when they appeared in South America, immediately decided that they would not act by force. And the concept was developed - "conquista e spiritual", that is, spiritual conquest. Only a peaceful mission, establishing good relations with the Indians: in no case break them through the knee, but rather respect their traditions. And this strategy has paid off.

In South America, there were numerous tribes of Indians. The largest was the Guar tribe. a neither. It is actually more correct to pronounce guran and. But in our country and in Europe, for some reason, the pronunciation of guar is accepted a no, and I'll say the same.

These are tribes consisting of numerous clans that lived somewhere in this area (circled in red). This area is a selva, that is, there is a jungle here, such tropical forests, but which are periodically interspersed with some kind of meadows.

The Guarani were at a low stage of development: they were mainly engaged in hunting, gradually moving to primitive agriculture. But hunting was their main occupation. There were darts, there were bows, huge - as historians write - six feet in size. So they stuck one end into the ground.

The tribe is very low - two heads below the Europeans - but very mobile. They were excellent hunters. They had such badogs. They were small clay balls that they fired and which they threw beautifully. So on the fly they shot down birds with these badogs. Here, try to knock down a bird with a stone - it is unlikely to succeed.

The tribe was moderately warlike. But they had such a "wonderful" feature: they were cannibals. And they really liked meat. Meat was their main food. And they were engaged in cannibalism not only for the sake of meat, but for the most part because of ritual purposes. Well, they thought that if you kill a brave warrior and eat him, you will also become as brave as he is. And so that these vitamins of courage did not deteriorate, they ate meat almost raw: so they led it a little over the fire and ate it. Nevertheless, both missionaries and many others note some amazing benevolence of this people, gaiety and even childishness. They have smiles all the time, fun, some kind of dancing all the time.

The Jesuits were a little late: the first missionaries on the southern continent were the Franciscans. But after the Jesuits made up their own and began to play the first violin. A great many Indians were baptized, but they quickly noticed that simply baptizing was ineffective. They wandered, quickly moved from one place to another. The tribe was baptized - everything is fine, and after they once - they left somewhere, and this catechization quickly disappeared. Therefore, they decided that it was necessary to somehow organize these Indians, collect them in settlements, which they began to call reductions. From the word "reductor", that is, "I turn."

Reductions are settlements that were organized by white people, missionaries for the sake of Christianization of the Indians. The first reduction was organized by the Franciscans, but after a large number of reductions, the Jesuits began to organize. Moreover, the mission was especially successful in two areas - as I said, in Paraguay, and a nearby area, which was called Guair (marked in red). Quite a lot, dozens of reductions, have been organized here.

But a very cruel enemy appeared, which bore a very characteristic name - they were called bandeiros. Bandeiros or Paulista. It was the whites who hunted the slaves. But the fact is that its own white civilization was formed on the coast. Coffee plantations and all sorts of others. Slaves were needed. And here please - as many people as you like. So there was such a craft or something. On the one hand, it was a very profitable business: very decent money was paid for slaves. And secondly, it is interesting, so to speak, extreme. Not very safe, but, you see, these banderants were armed with muskets. And those Indians with darts and bows. In general, the forces were unequal, and Indians began to be caught in large numbers.

When reductions appeared, the bandeiros generally became expanse. It was not even necessary to run through the forests, but it was enough to break into the reduction, and just there to catch all the Indians like chickens. It was a whip. Bandeiros began to destroy reductions. Especially in the province of Guair, since the bandeiros were concentrated in the province of São Paulo, that's why they were called paulists.

What to do? The Jesuits decided to go deep into the forests. And there was an exodus from Guaira to Paraguay, to the valley of Parana. And in the valley of the Parana, the reductions that were here migrated.

However, bandeirants also climbed there, and the matter took a very serious turn. Then the Jesuits, using their skill to achieve what they want. Firstly, they got the order of the pope: the pope forbade the enslavement of Christian Indians. And secondly, they achieved in Spain, in Madrid, permission for the Indians to carry firearms. The Jesuits managed to organize an army out of the Indians: they armed the Indians with muskets, put at the head of experienced military leaders - former military Jesuits. And one day, when a large bandeira, that is, an expedition deep into Paraguay, began to raft along the rivers and was already in the Parana region, an ambush awaited them. The blow was so unexpected and strong that the bandeirants suffered heavy losses, retreated, and dug in in the camp. Indian troops surrounded them. They did not try to take the camp by storm, because they knew that there were no food supplies there: they would not stay there for a long time. And indeed, the next day, the bandeirants, again with huge losses, broke through the encirclement and retreated to Sao Paulo. Since then, the raids of these bandeirants have continued, but still on a much smaller scale.

Another subtlety I forgot to mention. There was also a third actor in addition to the Jesuits and Indians, this is a white administration. The fact is that South America at that time was divided between two empires - Spain and Portugal. Argentina was a Spanish colony and Brazil was a Portuguese colony. And the border went something like this (marked in red). Moreover, the Portuguese also claimed Paraguay, which still belonged to Spain. In Portugal, slavery was allowed, so the bandeirants acted quite legally. Basically a joke. The fact is that these bandeiros in Brazil are considered national heroes. These are almost the people who formed Brazil, and in any case, they conquered the territory of Brazil that big. There in Brazil there are monuments to these bandeirants, in the same São Paulo there are several monuments. And when the Jesuits came across the bandeirants, they explained to them that in general you act strangely. Because we are the Jesuits, and the Indians, and you are actually subjects of one king - the king of Spain. And at that time Portugal, it was for some period subject to Spain. To this, the bandeiros replied: "This is our land, and not at all the king of Spain." And since then, this answer has entered the Brazilian history textbooks. And in general, their names are honored there just like we have Yermak, or Semyon Dezhnev - our explorers.

The Jesuits managed to ensure that Paraguay ceased to obey the secular colonial administration, which was located in Buenos Aires. There, the Jesuits began to completely control everything. This was around 1611, and since then the Jesuit state has flourished. The number of Indians is constantly growing: somewhere around 150-200 thousand of them were counted at the best of times. And some historians mention the figure of 300 thousand people. And that's where the communist state is formed. The word "state", of course, must be put in quotation marks here. The fact is that in fact there was no strong central administration. There were reductions. These were settlements surrounded by a strong fence, in which the Indians lived together with the Jesuits. There were few Jesuits. An amazing thing: in all this state there were 120-150 people. Total. And in each reduction (and there were about 30-31 reductions - was there such a classical number that for a long time, literally centuries, was kept in the state of the Jesuits) there were only two Jesuits. One was the spiritual head of the reduction and the other was the administrative head. Of course, in addition to the Jesuits, there was also a local administration: there was a corregidor -. a local Indian who was, as it were, a transmission link between the Jesuits and the Indians.

Here's the moment. In general, there are quite a few historical sources about the life of the state of the Jesuits. The fact is that this area was poorly accessible. In the middle course of the Parana, the rapids were very difficult to pass, so it was difficult to climb here. There was the Iguazu River, and there was a powerful Iguazu Falls, the largest in the world - an amazing natural phenomenon, but which also prevented you from getting here.

By the way, a movie has been made. You must have watched it. The movie is called Mission. Seems to be English. The film is about the mission of the Jesuits in Paraguay. He won the main prize in Cannes, some stars play there (Robert de Niro). The movie is kind of primitive, but not bad. There, the entire history of the mission of one and a half centuries is compressed into one year. And there main character- it was the slave hunter who caught the Indians, and then reforged - became a Jesuit and began to protect them on the contrary.

So, there are quite a few memories of what was done in this state. The Jesuits were full masters there and were not at all interested in seeing these places visited by various white travelers and the white administration. Therefore, there are several memoirs, several reports of the Jesuits about their activities. I will now tell about one of them. But I want to tell a little about communism, which they began to organize there.

Some historians believed and still believe that the Jesuits read More's "Utopia" and Campanella's "City of the Sun" and decided to do it as in books. Moreover, it was at the beginning of the 17th century that the book “City of the Sun” by Campanella appeared. But this version is doubtful, because it is purely speculative, not based on any facts. And many historians believe that the Jesuits did not even read these books.

You probably understand that only outstanding people could organize such an enterprise - a whole Christian state of Indians. History has brought us the names of these people: the Jesuits Simon Maceta and Cataldino. This is the first couple that was engaged in the state of the Jesuits. They were replaced, it seems, by Diego de Torres and Ruiz de Montohi (Montoya). Montohi is generally a wonderful person. Himself a local native, a Creole from Lima, he became a Jesuit and spent 25 years among the Indians. It was he who was the head of this great migration from Guaira to Paraguay, when about 15 thousand Indians moved through the jungle with all their belongings, with all their cattle to new habitats. By the way, a university in Lima is named after Montoja. They honor him there, but no one here knows him. So, it was Montohi who came up with this communism of the Jesuit state. He thought this: white people are terribly depraved, depraved and golden calf, depraved just morally; they have slavery. If the Indians communicate with white people, they will also become corrupted very quickly. And he saw: although they are cannibals, on the other hand, they are surprisingly pure people. So he instituted a policy of maximum isolation, keeping all Indians away from the white people. And this meant that the Indians had to serve themselves in the economic sense, to produce all the things they needed for a normal life. This is the first. And secondly, he said that these Indians have some kind of natural laziness. They did not have private property: everything was in tribal use. And only some higher layer began to form among them, the authorities, caciques. And it was precisely these properties that he decided to use.

At the very end of the 17th century - somewhere in 1695, one of the Jesuits, Antonio Sepp, visited the Jesuit state. And he left a very interesting memory, a vivid description of the whole life of the Jesuits.

The standard reduction was a rectangle surrounded by a very good high fence. In the middle was big square, a huge area surrounded by trees. It was a center, so to speak, a social center of reduction, where all social life took place. There was a large temple on the square - a huge temple - a cathedral - a church built of very good brick. On the opposite side there were Indian houses, sometimes made of wood with thatched roofs, sometimes of stone. On the other side were workshops. The fact is that the Jesuits taught the Indians various crafts. Generally speaking, each of the Jesuits received an excellent education - both theological and education in the sense of mastering some profession. In addition, the Jesuits did not take anyone into the order, but there was a careful selection of people. Therefore, each Jesuit was a person: both a specialist in his field, and a theologian, a person who ardently believes in Christ. And the Jesuits, without attracting, as they say now, specialists from outside, managed to teach the Indians many crafts: pottery, foundry, carpentry, and others. There were even attempts to smelt iron from ore. True, they were not successful. Including taught and construction business. All buildings were built by the Indians themselves. There was another large house nearby, which was called cotiguazu. It was a house where widows lived and at the same time were engaged in some kind of spinning, craft. Some women and girls lived there, on whom penance was imposed. There was also a garden and a very good house where two Jesuit bosses lived. There was a house of the corregidor, that is, the head of the administration. And this structure was repeated from reduction to reduction.

Now about the social organization of the state of the Jesuits. The most important. Almost the entire economy was in common ownership, all tools, all buildings, even residential buildings, all workshops. Gardens were located around each reduction: these were mostly orange groves. Beyond the gardens were the fields. The fields were of two types: abamba and tupamba. Abamba are the private fields of the Indians. And tupamba is God's fields, that is, public fields. Antonio Sepp is surprised to note that the abambas were very poorly processed, and in general, nothing really grew on them. But the tupamba were kept in exemplary order. He was very surprised at this and could not even understand how it could be at all. The Indians had to work part of the time (two days) on the tupamba. And the rest of the time he could work on his fields.

In all reductions there was a strictly seven-hour working day. The daily routine was as follows: getting up, half an hour to get ready, after all the Indians, young and old - and in the reductions there were several hundred Indians, in large several thousand - everyone went to the cathedral on morning prayer, literally everything. Therefore, these cathedrals were huge - so that thousands could fit there. And until now, it must be said, there are ruins of these cathedrals in the jungle. There are several places there - former reductions, there is jungle, jungle, everything is overgrown. And suddenly a colossal ruin of red brick, very impressive. Now these places have become a place of pilgrimage for tourists, money is paid for entry, even museums have been formed. Although these ruins are almost not restored. But in any case, the structure of the reduction is visible.

Beyond the fields were meadows where flocks grazed. Herds were also completely public: herds of cows and bulls. In general, cattle. It seems that there were also villages and, generally speaking, each reduction was a kind of district, a mini-state.

But I repeat, only two Jesuits ruled this state. And, it would seem, to kill these hundred people is not difficult, just literally, a ten-minute matter. However, there were simply no cases of an Indian killing a Jesuit. There was an amazing confidence of the Indians in these missionaries, and their orders were always unquestioningly, well, of course, through the corregidor and the local administration, they were carried out. After all, when the reductions were connected by roads, good enough roads, there was a post office. There were no horses. As you know, in South America, the mail was on foot, but it was efficient, it worked. All Indians were given provisions from public funds. Well, of course, according to the Jesuits, the Indians had to grow plant food for themselves on abamba, and meat food, which the Indians still loved very much, was always given out from public funds. Clothing, fabrics, which were produced by the Indians themselves, were also issued centrally.

Yes, I didn't tell you the daily routine. After the prayer, breakfast, after everyone gathered in the square, a portable icon of the Mother of God was brought out. And with songs, with psalms, the people went to work in the fields. Well, the artisans went to work in the workshops. The children went to schools. In each reduction there was a school where Indian children studied. True, not all, but enough big number children were taught. By the way, the Jesuits created a dictionary, alphabet and grammar of the Guarani language, and all teaching was in the Guarani language, as well as communication between the Jesuits and the Indians. After that there was lunch somewhere in the fields. And then, about four o'clock in the evening, the Indians, again with songs, returned to the reduction, the gates were locked. And the people went back to the cathedral, already for the evening prayer. Well, and somewhere at nine o'clock in the evening - lights out.

On holidays and Sundays, of course, there was no work, but there was The cultural program. This is quite an interesting point. The fact is that the Guarani turned out to be a very artistic people, especially a musical people. Music, European music, had a truly bewitching, magical effect on them. Therefore, in each reduction there was a choir, an adult choir and a boys' choir that sang in the church. In many reductions, production was organized musical instruments, European violins, cellos, whole orchestras were formed. In one of the reductions, a musical conservatory was organized, where Indians were taught musical literacy. Interestingly, special church music was written for Guarani, and famous musicians wrote it. So, the famous composer Domenico Zippoli, the author of the plays that are played in our music schools, at the end of his life became a Jesuit, went to Paraguay to the Indians and wrote music there.

Theatrical performances were staged by the Guarani forces. Books were printed in Guaranian. By virtue of this concept of protecting the Indians from white culture, the Spanish language was not taught at all in reductions and in schools. And the books were published mainly spiritual content. The catechism, the New Testament, the lives of the saints were translated. Now that was the reading of the Indians. In general, they became very pious people. They performed various Christian ascetic feats. Many of them became prayer books. In general, in this sense, it’s just such a paradise, from the point of view of our priests.

Indians, upon reaching a certain age, a small, I must say, boys of 16 years old, and girls of 14 years old, were married. Well, it is believed that couples were chosen somehow for love, but rather strictly, no one stayed in the girls there, in order to avoid various prodigal sins. The Indians, although they continued to love meat food, but, of course, ceased to be cannibals and ate only boiled meat food, although in sufficient quantities. large quantities, observing, however, fasts. The number of crimes was very small, and the punishments were mostly of a moral nature. These were mostly church penances. Although there was a prison. You see, there are always such inveterate people who cannot be corrected by anything, but the maximum term of imprisonment is only 10 years. Punishment with sticks, 24 strokes, was popular. The Indians perfectly understood this kind of punishment and accepted such punishments without being offended. But the most terrible punishment was expulsion from the reduction: “That's it, go away” - that was the worst thing. Although, it would seem, the Indians are such a free people, the inhabitants of the forests, the inhabitants of the jungle - this is what they were most afraid of.

Economically, the reductions lived on foreign trade. There was no internal trade within the reduction. You see, there is no market (in the reduction scheme). And in general, there was no money in this state. The only time the Indians saw money was at a wedding. According to an old Spanish custom, the groom gave the bride a coin. Well, this coin was previously given to the groom by the priest, and after the marriage, this coin was taken away from the bride as unnecessary. But foreign trade was centralized. Trade in agricultural products, trade in various handicrafts, it was with the white population, organized rafting along the Parana down to Buenos Aires. And there appeared such a delegation of Indians in numerous canoes, always accompanied by a Jesuit. She came in such identical clothes to Buenos Aires. And, as they say, the Jesuits always drew the attention of the Indians, how disgusting, how badly white people live, they are so subject to money-grubbing and the golden calf.

Such a fairy tale, such an idyll lasted for a hundred and fifty years. But every fairy tale comes to an end. The fact is that both in the Spanish administration and in the Portuguese one, many legends about untold riches have accumulated, which are supposedly in reduction. That is why, they say, the Jesuits do not let anyone in there and do not favor tourists. Well, one day, it was in 1750, the Spanish and Portuguese kings agreed once again on the border between Brazil and Argentina. And it passed in such a way that the reduction, the so-called Eastern Mission, to the east of the Uruguay River - and the Jesuits returned there again over time - it passed to the Portuguese, to Brazil. And since these were Spanish subjects, they were ordered to evacuate the reduction to Argentine territory, and this had to be done literally in six months. The Jesuits objected that, they say, it is simply technically impossible to do this in such a time. Secondly, it is simply unfair, because the Indians consider this land theirs, and they do not want to leave from there. They consider the reductions to be theirs, and the land to be theirs, all of this is theirs. The administration began to insist. The troops were gathered, the combined Spanish-Portuguese. Since the Jesuits and the Guarani had their own army, and, in the end, there were infantry with muskets and cavalry, the Indians beat off the first blow of the combined Spanish-Portuguese army. But after that a second army was assembled, much more powerful, and the Indians were defeated. Then the Jesuits came with a confession, they said: yes, we will do this evacuation, but relations were already completely ruined, so, you see, it came to hostilities. And secondly, in both European capitals, and in Lisbon, and in Madrid, the Jesuits began to be treated extremely negatively. And somewhere in 1757, the Jesuits were banned in Portugal, and therefore in the Portuguese colony, that is, in Brazil. Since there was an iron discipline in the order, all the Jesuits were simply evacuated from there. The order of the general of the order, it was not discussed among the Jesuits, there any orders were carried out without fail, it was even impossible for the authorities to file some kind of appeal, this was completely ruled out.

And then the same thing happened in the Spanish part of South America. The Jesuits were in Spain and, accordingly, banned in Argentina. All the Jesuits were also, well, most of them, just evacuated. True, they say that some Jesuits did not obey, they remained with their wards. But, their fate, of course, was unenviable. So, very quickly, the new administration came into reduction. The Jesuits were replaced by ordinary priests. This entire system of public property has been abolished. Every Indian, every Indian family, to be exact, was given a field of some kind, and every family was directly taxed. And before that, the whole reduction, the whole community, paid the tax in its entirety. Some Indians remained in reductions, many went into the forests and again became such a wild people who hunt game. Artisans, they, for the most part, moved to the cities, on the coast of South America, to Buenos Aires, and started their workshops there. And without the Jesuits, the entire administration quickly crumbled, the Indians themselves could not organize themselves.

About life itself, as I said, the evidence is not enough. But, quite a lot of different interpretations and opinions existed in European literature regarding this phenomenon. And now, the Catholics themselves simply do not understand how to relate to this. To treat it as a brilliant victory of Catholicism, such a wonderful fact of the mission, or vice versa, to hush up the whole story, because some kind of communism was organized there, which the Catholics have absolutely no honor, and no communism entered the Catholic doctrine, God forbid? Opinions are completely different.

French enlighteners, despite the fact that they catholic church treated quite coolly, however, they welcomed this state, somewhere they admired it. In socialist literature, for example, by Paul Lafargue, on the contrary, the state of the Jesuits was sharply criticized. It was said that no communism was created there, even more so, but a totalitarian state was created with powerful exploitation of the Indians. All sorts of modern liberal historians and sociologists stress that this state was so theocratic, and therefore totalitarian. The Indians were deprived of their freedom, then they were free people, they ran through the forests, but then they were imprisoned in reduction, surrounded by a fence and lived, as it were, in segregation. The most varied opinions.

We still have to draw some conclusions from this amazing phenomenon. In my opinion, two conclusions can be drawn.

Firstly. Remember, I drew you a diagram of social formations, and there was an arrow from the Soteriological Society to Christian Socialism. Of course, the state of the Jesuits is Christian Socialism, in its most, or something, full implementation. But, the fact is that the Jesuits did not implement this arrow at all. Because originally the Jesuits did not have private property. And the transition to socialism and to Christian Socialism in particular, is necessarily a transition to public property, to which in Europe, naturally, meant a transition from private property. It was easy for the Jesuits to do this because that was the tradition of the Guarani. And now we can appreciate how great the event was October Revolution. So she made this unique economic revolution, the transition from private property to public property. The October Revolution is a unique event in world history, which, I am afraid, will not happen again.

And the second conclusion. The conclusion is—I keep repeating it—that only religious socialism, Christian socialism, is stable. And the state of the Jesuits, which existed for a century and a half, is a vivid example of this. And it was not destroyed because of internal troubles. They simply, most surprisingly, were not there. And it was destroyed external forces. Why is only religious socialism stable at all? The point is that socialism relies on the best qualities of human nature, on the most remarkable qualities of man: on solidarity, on mutual assistance, on a sense of justice, on the hunger for truth, finally. And, by the way, capitalism - on the contrary, was based on the basest properties of a person: on greed, on cruelty - in general, completely opposite things. Socialism exploits love, while capitalism exploits the opposite, selfishness.

This is the hunger for truth, this is a very important thing. Our Soviet socialism, I may say a little unexpected thing, although I think for many it is completely understandable: it was also religious socialism, if we understand religion in a broader sense. That is, religion is what moves the souls of people and for the fact that people can give their souls, give their lives. You can give your life for the truth. And that's why our Soviet ideology acquired such properties of religion. People believed it, really believed it. And not only our people, but the whole world believed. But this truth itself was dressed in some kind of rather vague images of communism. And what is communism - it was, in general, not very clear, and somewhere it was in a fog. All in all, a bright future. Therefore, such a kind of religion - it was quickly blown away. She has ceased to be effective. But religion, in the sense of faith in God, is another matter. Here is the truth and the truth, it is very concrete, it is personified in God. It's clear what the truth is. Truth is God, and all truth is from Him, all love is from Him. God is absolute, God is eternal. Therefore, such a religion of truth is constantly renewed. And therefore, socialism based on Christianity or religion in general will be constantly renewed and, thus, have internal stability.

And what did we get? Here is our Soviet fairy tale, it, in general, in fact, ended with the death of Stalin. With the advent of Khrushchev, other goals, other ideals appeared: to catch up and overtake America in per capita production, meat, milk: purely material goals, not spiritual goals. You see, one can give one's life for the truth, but one cannot give one's life for luxury sausage. Money can be given, but not life. And so it all began to fall apart. The entire Brezhnev period is a period of actual death, the decline of socialism, although the economy was moving forward, and there were many victories. But you see to what, to what logical end this period has come.

Nikolai Somin

The history of the USSR measured out only 69 years. The communist state of the Jesuits in Paraguay lasted almost twice as long - from the beginning of the XVII century to the second half of XVIII century, when interest in the communist structure of society also embraced the Old World.

In 1516 spanish conquistador Don Juan Diaz de Solis discovered the mouth of the large Parana River in the north of La Plata and conquered the fertile territories lying around, called Paraguay. However, the local Indians soon ate the conqueror. But the beginning of European colonization was laid. During the 16th century, Paraguay was gradually settled by the Spaniards. In 1536, Assunsion was built - the capital of the new province.

The population of Paraguay was made up of Guarani Indians, most of them cannibals. They not only ate their enemies who fell in battle, but even fattened their women for gastronomic purposes. The ability to civilize these tribes in that era was generally strongly doubted. One bishop argued before the Spanish court that the Indians were "stupid creatures, incapable of understanding the Christian doctrine and following its precepts."

But at the beginning of the 17th century, the Jesuit Fathers energetically set about converting the South American natives to Catholicism. In order to gain confidence in the Indians, they acted as their defenders from the paulists - slave hunters from the state of São Paulo, then the center of the slave trade. The struggle between the Jesuits and the Spanish colonists was carried on during the 17th century with great bitterness.

The Jesuits managed to obtain from the king the right to arm the red-skinned Christians with guns and created their own army from them.

The Jesuit army fought several victorious wars. In 1653, she liberated Assuncion, in 1667 and 1671 - Buenos Aires, blockaded by the British. When the governor of Paraguay, Don José Antequerra, entered the war with them, he was defeated by a 12,000-strong army of natives led by Jesuits and European officers.

In the end, the Jesuits were able to defend their power over the plains of the middle reaches of the Parana and Uruguay rivers. In this country, which occupied about 200 thousand square meters. kilometers, and the world's first and only Jesuit state arose, with a population of 150-200 thousand people who lived in large villages called reductions. Until now, these areas of modern Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay are called Misiones - mission area.

In the 40s of the 17th century, the Jesuits Simon Masheta and Cataldino developed and implemented in the Paraguayan missions of the Order of Jesus the project of a theocratic state based on communist principles. Nominally, it was under the rule of the Spanish crown, but from 1645 it was ruled independently of secular power, for which there was a special privilege received from King Philip III.

The state of the Jesuits, of course, was a utopia. But its founding fathers were not admirers of Plato, Thomas More or Campanella. The models for them were the life of early Christian communities and monastic orders with their ideas of egalitarian communism.

The main condition for the existence of the state of the Jesuits, as any utopia should be, was complete external isolation. This was facilitated by its geographical isolation. It was necessary to sail about four weeks from the mouth of the Parana to reach the first habitation. The Jesuits obtained a law from the Spanish government, according to which no European could enter the territory of reductions without their permission, and the period of his stay there was limited to three days. The Indians could leave the reduction only accompanied by the fathers. Despite the decree of Philip V (1743), which required the compulsory education of the natives Spanish, the Jesuits refused to do this, explaining their stubbornness by the desire to save their flock from the corruption of their Spaniard neighbors. The Spaniards were portrayed by the Pateri as tools of the devil. In each of the white colonists, according to the fathers, there was an evil spirit that aspired only to the golden calf - an allegory often understood by naive natives in the literal sense of the word. By the way, the Jesuits themselves, who led the reductions, were mostly Germans, Italians and Scots.

In 1691, the Tyrolean Fr. Antonio Sepp visited this state and gave a description of it, which was published in French in 1757, and somewhat later (1768) in German, as an appendix to Pierre Charlevoix's three-volume book on the history of Paraguay.

At the head of the Jesuit state was the Cordoba provincial and his four advisers. The number of members of the order employed in Paraguay was not large, no more than 100-120 for all thirty districts, or "doctrines", into which the state was divided.

Trinidad is one of the largest Jesuit reductions in Paraguay.

The usual reduction could accommodate from two to seven thousand Indians. There were also small settlements with 500 inhabitants; in the largest mission of St. Xavier, there were 30 thousand people. All reductions were well fortified. There were no villages in the Jesuit state. Father Antonio Sepp, who visited one of the largest reductions - Japea, found there magnificent buildings made of stone and wood, factories, shops, an arsenal, a prison, a spinning mill, a pharmacy, a hospital, a hotel, brick factories, mills, dye houses, foundries. In the vicinity there were many orchards and fields planted with rice, tobacco, wheat, beans and peas. The lakes and rivers teemed with fish, the forests with deer, goats, wild boars, wild horses and cattle. Quail and hazel grouse were found in such abundance that they were killed with sticks.

Each reduction was headed by two Jesuit priests. The eldest of them, the "confessor", devoted himself to the cult, the youngest was considered his assistant and managed the economic affairs. Both tried to lead the mysterious life of earthly demigods, keeping away from their flock. The priests were usually shown to the Indians only during worship. At other times, they communicated with them through officials from the local population - corregidores (katsiks) and alcades. Elections were scheduled for all public positions once a year, in which the entire population of the reduction took part.

The whole life of the natives in reductions was strictly regulated. Attendance at worship was compulsory for all. Money, money circulation and any trade were forbidden. During settlements, conditional funds were transferred from account to account without cash payment. All property in the country was declared the property of God - nothing could be alienated, acquired, exchanged, or bequeathed. Each worked for himself in the field for no more than three days - the rest of the time was a continuous subbotnik dedicated to the state. The personal allotment of land also belonged not to the worker, but to the mission.

In addition to rural labor in the state of the Jesuits, developed handicraft production was established. In general, the state of the Jesuits, lost in the wilds, was the only industrial state in South America. Various types of handicrafts flourished in it - jewelry, watchmaking, sewing, weaving, wood and stone carving, pottery, shipbuilding. Under the leadership of the Jesuits, the Guarani built ships larger than those built in the London shipyards. The population used the services of blacksmiths, carpenters, tailors, weavers for free.

The surplus labor of the Indians was taken "into a common pool", into the possession of the state power, which alone conducted foreign export trade. The main export points were the port cities of Buenos Aires and Santa Fe. This trade gave the Jesuit fathers up to 2 million francs annually, a respectable annuity for that time.

The material well-being of the subjects of the Jesuits was very modest. The dwellings of the natives were built of reed covered with clay, without windows and a chimney. Clothing was poor and scanty. Even those who worked in shoe shops were not allowed to wear shoes.

Family relations were also under the control of the Jesuit fathers. There were two terms per year for marriages. Single life for all natives without fail stopped between 14 and 16 years. It was then that the Indians held real money in their hands for the only time in their lives. The custom demanded that the groom give the bride a hard coin. Before the wedding, the native was given coins; he handed them over to his betrothed, and after the crown, the money was again returned to the Jesuit clergyman. For a long time, the mutual consent of the young was not required - they crowned all those who had matured en masse, breaking them into random pairs. At night, the ringing of a bell was heard, which was supposed to remind the spouses of their marital duties.

After a certain evening hour, no one could walk along the street - the implementation of this rule was strictly monitored by night patrols from "persons worthy of trust."

There were no written laws in the state of the Jesuits. In the overwhelming majority of cases, punishments were limited to penance (prayer and fasting), reprimands, or public censure. For more serious crimes, they resorted to caning (no more than 25 strokes) or imprisonment, the term of which did not exceed 10 years, although initially the murderers were also given life imprisonment. The death penalty did not exist.

Education was reduced to the assimilation of religion, to the ability to read and write in their native language, in which there were catechisms and stories from the life of saints (the writing for Guarani was created by the Jesuits). Those more capable were partakers of the firstfruits Latin. The natives did not know European languages, literature and history, customs and laws.

positive and negative sides such mass influence and education were evident: morals undoubtedly became softer, behavior more modest, but hypocrisy and hypocrisy naturally made a strong nest for themselves here. In the reductions there was no poverty, no wealth, no poverty, no luxury, no disasters and injustice associated with them. But in their place were the monotony and barracks monotony of life.

One of the Madrid auditors sent to Paraguay assured the king that "the settlements of worthy fathers are a Christian republic where the most sublime innocence reigns and, perhaps, not a single mortal sin is committed for a whole year."

The historic clock of the “Most Christian Republic” struck midnight in the 1860s and 70s, when the Order of Jesus was subjected to a papal ban and the Jesuits were expelled from Spain and Portugal. The Indians revolted, trying to protect their fathers, but after it was suppressed, they began to scatter. By the end of the Enlightenment century, the reductions were empty.

In 1835 on the lands former state Jesuits lived 5 thousand Guarani. Now there you can see only the ruins of huge temples with superbly executed bas-reliefs.

The Paraguayan experience has played a major role in the history of public institutions Western Europe, which in that era was already anxiously looking for new socio-political paths.

Thus, the always sarcastic Voltaire was extremely indulgent towards the Paraguayan Jesuits. In one of his writings (“Essai sur les moeurs”), he wrote, referring to the struggle of the Paters against slavery and social injustice: “The spread of Christianity in Paraguay by the forces of the Jesuits alone is in some respects a triumph of humanity.”

Montesquieu, in The Spirit of the Laws (book 4, chapter 6), says: “The society of Jesus had the honor of proclaiming for the first time in this country the idea of ​​religion in conjunction with the idea of ​​humanity ... it attracted the tribes scattered in the forests, gave them a secure means of subsistence and clothed them in clothes. It will always be great to manage people in order to make them happy.”

Abbé Reynal, Buffon, Lessing, Wieland and other romantic writers spoke in the same spirit, proceeding from the theory of natural virtue and the need to approach nature. Only Denis Diderot did not join this laudatory chorus. The famous encyclopedist considered the Jesuit system "erroneous and demoralizing." Theorists of socialism and communism of the XIX-XX centuries, in general, share his opinion.

Literature:
N.V. Somin. State of the Jesuits in Paraguay.
I. R. Shafarevich. Socialism as a phenomenon of world history
Svyatlovsky V.V. The communist state of the Jesuits in Paraguay in the 17th and 18th centuries. — Pg.: Path to knowledge, 1924.