29 Mikhail S. Shapovalov Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Research Fellow, Tyumen State University 625003, Russian Federation, Tyumen, Volodarskogo Street, 6 E-mail: shapovalov_ms@mail.ru Alexander A. Valitov Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Research Fellow, Tyumen State University 625003, Russian Federation, Tyumen, Volodarskogo Street, 6 E-mail: val11@bk.ru Voices from the Deck and the Hold: Complaints, Proposals, and Polemics in Travel Notes to Palestine at the Turn of the 20th Century The aim of this study is to analyze the specific ways in which the voices of deck and hold passengers were represented in Russian pilgrimage literature at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries. Based on a systematic analysis of travel and pilgrimage accounts by G. Dyukov, A. Eliseev, A. Korovitsky, I. Bartsikhovsky, P. Bobrov, F. Grekov, and other authors, the article examines changes in the pilgrimage narrative and the mechanisms by which deck and hold passengers of the Russian Steamship and Trading Company (ROPiT) were able to express their views on the conditions of their journey to the Holy Land. Special attention is given to the analysis of the «voices from above», belonging to privileged first-class travelers, and the «voices from below», represented in texts primarily by provincial clergymen. The article also explores the activities of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IOPS), which systematically sought to improve the conditions of transportation for non-privileged passengers aboard ROPiT steamships. The response of the steamship company to public criticism of conditions on the maritime leg of the pilgrimage to Jerusalem is discussed, including conversations with ship crews and the publication of instructions and circulars on the organization of passenger transport on Russian steamships. In parallel, the printed polemics of V. Dedlov and A. Koptev are considered, reflecting an «upper-level» debate on the regulation of pilgrimage transportation. Particular attention is devoted to the evolution of the pilgrimage account as a genre. Within the framework of the article, for the first time, notes such as «On the Way to the Holy Land» by the St. Petersburg priest Ioann Labutin (1904) and «Travel Notes» by the hieromonk Theophilact of Pochaev Lavra (1914) are published. These texts combine pilgrimage narrative with observations of the everyday life of third-class passengers and serve as vivid evidence of the transformation of the «voice from below» in Russian pilgrimage literature at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries. The authors conclude that, although the «voice» of non-privileged pilgrims was most often expressed indirectly — through clergymen — it was precisely the latter who became an important channel for articulating social demands and a factor in the institutionalization of care for pilgrims. At the same time, the problems associated with the transportation of pilgrims to the Holy Land by ROPiT steamships were not only unresolved over more than half a century of the company’s activity, but also worsened due to the growing differentiation by 1914 between pilgrims, privileged passengers, and crew members. These difficulties shaped the distinctive social experience of ordinary Russian pilgrims. Keywords: Palestine, pilgrimage, Russian Steamship and Trading Company, Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, pilgrimage notes, Holy Land, Jerusalem, Israel. This research was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation № 24-28-01063 «Provincial Pilgrimage to the Holy Land: Database, Research, Bibliographic Index». ... For citation: Shapovalov M.S. , Valitov A.A. Voices from the Deck and the Hold: Complaints, Proposals, and Polemics in Travel Notes to Palestine at the Turn of the 20th Century. Christianity in the Middle East, 2025, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 29–47. DOI: 10.24412/2587- 9316-2025-0120