Religious Sects as Deviant Communities – the Khlysts in Russia until 1905

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to look at a specific denomination of the Russian sect of khlysty that emerged in the 1830s and spread its communities all over Russia until 1905. The perspective of longue duree allows to touch on the following three questions: How did the khlysty express religious protest? How far can khlysty as a sect be understood as a community? What elements of their history can shed light on Russian inakomyslie in general? Methodically, the research does not follow the common deprivation approach. The deprivation approach emphasizes the connection of social inequality and religion, stating that religion has a compensating function. Instead, we put emphasis on religious experience as a strategy to cope with social inequality. This research builds on William James’s concept of religious experience, on research on the history of sects and religious dissidents / religious deviance in Europe and on Ferdinand Tonnies’ concept of Gemeinschaft. Religious experience and feelings are regarded as main contributors to build and maintain sectarian communities. Collective cohesion of religious deviant community life is shown to be driven by the deep and religiously motivated feeling of unease and appears as a form of liberation from it.