Experience of participation of the Russian Orthodox Church in development of credit co-operation is of practical interest for those who are concerned with the welfare of people. This is not a matter of blind copying, but of creative search for new forms, adequate to modern conditions.

By the end of the XIXth century credit cooperatives walked through a long way of development, but the goal sought by enthusiasts of cooperative movement (brothers Luginin, prince A.I. Vasilchikov, E.V. De Roberti and many others), as well as by the government — to protect peasants from money-lenders and to provide them with affordable loans — was never achieved.