Dynamics of the number and localization of co-religionist parishes of the Samara province in the pre-revolutionary period

Abstract

The article examines the demographic aspect of the formation and development of the same faith in the Samara province of the second half of the XIX early XX century. The main attention is paid to the analysis of changes in the number of the co-religionist population. Demographic data combined with information about the geographical localization of parishes make it possible to determine the extent of the spread of the same faith in the region. The dynamics of the numerical and share ratio of co-religionists in relation to the total number of Old Believers of the Samara province is presented in the study as one of the key criteria for the effectiveness of the Orthodox mission in countering local schism. Statistical data on the number of co-religionists are given in the article both separately by parishes and by the province as a whole. Counting the parishioners of the co-religionist communities allowed us to establish that the co-religionists, being in the middle of the XIX century an insignificant religious group within the Russian Orthodox Church, by 1917 in terms of the number of its adherents, it became one of the largest Old Believer concordances of the province. In the preparation the method of analysis of historical documents, historical-system, historical-comparative and statistical methods were used. The source base of the study was based on data from the clerical lists of co-religionist parishes stored in the funds of the Central State Archive of the Samara region, as well as materials from reports of diocesan missionaries and official church publications.

Keywords

• coreligionists
• old believers
• samara province
• pre-revolutionary period
• history of the russian orthodox church