Local space building as state building?

The Russo-Swedish border of 1743 was incoherent in practice and vague even on paper. The process of attempting to divide the congregations that were crossing the border reveals the spatiality of the state building process. Continuing communal practices, despite the new state border in the middle of the community, alone exposes the contradiction between state territory and local space. The clergy held a central position in the local community, and the priests had a visible role in arranging the local circumstances on the borderland. The chapter focuses on the clergy&s;s agency via the parson Zacharias Cygnaeus of the Mantyharju Congregation. The Mantyharju congregation remained under the jurisdiction of the Borga Chapter, although the church and the parsonage stood on the Russian side. The Borga Chapter appointed the priests from the Swedish side, but the Consistory of Fredrikshamn still had influence on the Russian side of the parish.