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The Russian Church parish libraries of the late XIX century were centers of population spiritual education through carrying on moral-spiritual people readings. It requires that the libraries obtained well-stocked collections. The article describes a set of documents to regulate the collection composition: St. Synod decrees, School Board orders, parochial schools’ rules. Based on previously unpublished archival documents the paper examines spiritual-moral reading subjects in Orel province in the late XIX century and their organization features, in particular, lecturers, events place and time, reading programs. The author assumes that editions of the parish library collections have been used to prepare readings, and reconstructs the parish library stocks composition. It includes a thematic, linguistic and geographical range, species and typological aspects, chronological depth and the reader's purpose. The revealed facts make it possible to fill gaps in the church librarianship history.