137 Wcrkzeug des Staatcs zu machcn. Die Bindung zu Russland durch Annahmc dcr Orthodoxie vcrliert in der Petrinischen Zeit an Bedeutung. Sie wird verdrängt durch die Forderung eines Bekenntnisses zum russischen Staat durch Leistung des Untertaneneides. Die konfessionellen Bindungen fallen. As pointed out above, the Senate ordered in 1719 that all foreign officials in the service of the Russian colleges were to swear an “eternal oath" {vcchnaia prisiaga) to the tsar. The aim of this was clear; by swearing such an oath, all these foreigners were to acquire the legal status of Russian subjects, after which they could be forced to remain in Russia “forever.” The foreign personnel were given the same oath as that stipulated by the General Regulation, which in its turn was modeled upon the oath of office introduced into the Swedish administrative instructions during the reign of Charles XI.Amongother things, this oath stipulated that the official was to remain “in eternal (vechnyi) service as a native (prirodnyi), true, loyal, good, and obedient slave (rah) and subject (poddannyi)." But the foreigners refused to take the oath in this form, wishing to exclude the terms “eternal” and “native” and to replace the terms “slave” and “subject” with “servant” (slHzhiteV)P^ Heinrich Tick explained that he could not fulfill “the heavy commitment demanded of me always to remain in Russia . . . not for money or any other wealth will I relinquish the freedomwith which I was born. In view of the protests of the foreigners, the Senate failed to put its decision into effect. Only one tenth of the foreigners in the colleges swore an oath which made them Russian subjects, while the remaining ninety percent took an oath involving no change in their constitutional status and reserving to themthe right to leave Russia upon the expiration of their contracts. When, after a time, it became apparent that the foreign personnel were not fulfilling the expectations of the Russian leadership, the decision was made to reduce their numbers. However, we do not know how these reductions were made, if indeed they ever were. Vockerodt tells us that ” 400 401 See above, p. 121; the formula of the oath is published in D. Polenov, “O prisiage inozemtsev priniatykh v Russkuiu sluzhbu pri Petre Velikom,” Russkii arkhiv (1869), columns 1—2. Ibid., column 5. Ibid., column 10. WoLTNER, 59. In another context, Pick pointed out that it was necessary to be careful with the eternal oath of office “damit Ihro Maijtt: sich dadurch keine unniitze Leute auff ewig auffburden; Dahingegen und wann die Tiichtige Bediente ausgesuchet und feste gesetzet syn, so ist doch notig dasz Sie den gewöhnlichen Ambts- und Treuheits-Eyd ablegen.” See Cederberg, Beilage 4, 94. 4(10 401
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