Политика российского правительства в отношении зарубежных старообрядческих общин в 20-60-х гг. XVIII в.

С. 183–194.

Akelev E.

In the first half of the 18th century Old Believers were fleeing Russia in great numbers. To prevent further escalation of this drain of its own population to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1720-1730 the Russian authorities put great efforts into fortification of its borders. In 1732-1734 four manifestos were issued on behalf of Anna of Russia, appealing to the Old Believers who had already fled to come back to Russia. Even though the manifestos guaranteed security and no punishment for those who’d return, they proved to be of little effect. As for the notorious event of forcing the Old Believers out of Vetka in 1733-1735, it only strengthened the communities in their hostility, putting under a serious doubt the efficiency of measures taken by the Anna’s government. That was mostly why the Elisabeth’s government had to revise the policy on the Old Believers’s communities. The article is based on the archive material and covers the negotiations of the Old Believers refugees with the Russian Government in 1749-1760. There were two main conditions under which the Old Believers’s communities were ready to come back to Russia, the conditions that the Elizabeth’s government were so reluctant to accept: 1) they wished to be provided with lands for living as a commune; 2) the government had to guarantee their religious freedom. These were the conditions that provided the basis for the well-known Peter III’s ukase of January 29th, 1762.

Keywords: веротерпимость, старообрядческие общины, старообрядцы, старообрядцы за границей

Publication based on the results of: Social Mobility, Social Relations and Social Identity in Russian Empire (2014)

In book

Staroobrzędowcy za granicą II. Historia, religia, język, kultura

Торунь: Pracownia Wydawnicza EIKON, 2014.