Судебно-следственная документация из фондов Центрального государственного архива Кировской области как источник изучения государственно-старообрядческих отношений второй четверти XIX века

Abstract

The article analyzes the investigatory documentation from the fonds of the Central State Archive of the Kirov Region, containing important information on the history of state – Old Believers relations of the second quarter of the 19th century. The choice of sources comes from the fact that at that period, a very hard line was taken with Old Believers, numerous restrictions and prohibitions regulating all aspects of their religious and cultural life. In particular, the law imposed a ban on construction of new religious buildings, as well as on repair of dilapidated chapels; these were denied all external attributes of Orthodox churches. The law did not allow ordination of Old Believers ministers and limited their movement while performing spiritual rites. Finally, the legislation prohibited spreading of Old Faith and “seduction into the Raskol.” In case of violation of these laws and regulations, the Old Believers were subjected to various punishments. The study is based on investigatory documentation which testifies of repressive policies towards Old Believers. These records tell of the Old Believers’ reaction to the confessional policy and characterize the system of punishments. Among punishments used against Old Believers physical punishment (lashing), imprisonment (term of which was determined by the gravity of deed), and exile to the Transcaucasian (which included military service in the army) were prevalent. Most informative of all used sources are reports of bailiffs and uezd police officers, which contain important data on the progress of investigation, as well as property inventories compiled when searching Old Believers dwellings and chapels. On the whole, the studied investigatory records allow to trace the implementation of confessional policy in one region in the specified period of time and to determine its ultimate goal, that is, elimination of Old Believers.