Abstract
The article analyzes the views of the famous religious trends researcher and publicist A. S. Prugavin on the Old Believers in the European North of Russia (Olonets, Vologda and Arkhangelsk provinces) at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. The researcher studied, including the Old Believers’ relationship with the outside world, cooperation with the local government in particular. Research works of A. Prugavin reflect the desire to understand Old Believers, to evaluate them not only in terms of threats, but also in terms of the benefits that this religious group could bring to the state. The publicist emphasized that the Old Believers were excluded by the authorities from the legal field due to the duality of state policy. The townsfolk were also opposed to this group of believers. A. S. Prugavin considered Old Believers to be not just a significant part of the Russian people. Old Believers was a power that concentrated in itself the mechanism for the development of spiritual and intellectual forces for Russian societies.
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