TO THE QUESTION OF RELIGIOUS POLICY OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE AT THE TURN OF XIX – XX CENTURIES (on the example of Siberia)

Abstract

The paper attempts to examine the reasons for the growth of sectarianism in Siberia due to resettlement of Protestant population from the Central provinces of Russia. The research disclosed the methods and forms of the Russian Orthodox Church struggle against non-Orthodox confessions in Siberian during the mass peasant movement of the late 19th – early 20th centuries, the paper presents the percentage of Orthodox population and that of the followers of non-Orthodox confessions in Siberia during the studied period. The authors substantiate the idea that the relations that existed between ethnicity and religious affiliation influenced the emergence of the confrontation between the Siberian Orthodox clergy and believers of other faiths. Of particular interest is the conclusion that the religious factor had a special role in the process of formation of the ethnic identity of Russians in Siberia. The paper proves that in the studied period the practice of enforcing the norms of religious tolerance in Siberian was predominantly influenced by the political factor

Keywords

• sectarianism, russian orthodox church, religious policies, resettlement policy