Старообрядцы в Северо-Западном крае Российской империи в XIX — начале XX века: проводники русской идеи или религиозные изгои

Abstract

The article examines the issue of the place of the Old Believer community in the Northwestern region of the Russian Empire during the process of Russification in the 19th to early 20th centuries. To achieve the research goal, the following tasks were addressed: a historical overview of the formation of the community in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was provided, a characterization of the existence of the Old Believer community in the region within the Russian Empire was given, circumstances of the settlement of the community members in the Northwestern region were discussed, and the dynamics of changes in the community’s population were outlined. The religious peculiarities of the ethno-confessional group of the Great Russian people were analyzed both regionally and in the broader imperial context. The development and spread of “legal Old Belief” or “Edinoverie” and the social specifics of the Old Believer community in the Northwestern region were examined. Special attention was given to the complex relations between the state authorities and the official church with the Old Believers in the Northwestern region. The interest in this topic is linked to the study of the role and place of the Old Believer community in the system of ethnic and religious relations that developed in the Northwestern region during its incorporation into the Russian Empire. The role of the community in the process of Russification of the Northwestern region after the suppression of the Polish uprising of 1863—1864 was also explored. The cross-border relations between the Old Believers of the Northwestern region and their coreligionists from the Woinowo community in East Prussia are of regional historical interest.