Aleksandra Vladimirovna Chistyakova,
Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Letters from the Archive of the Yekaterinburg Merchant G.F. Kazantsev as a Source on the History of Government Policy Towards the Old Believers during the Reign of Emperor Nicholas I
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2026-2-17
This study reconstructs state policy towards the Old Believers during the reign of Nicholas I, drawing on legislative and epistolary sources. While government decrees illustrate the measures undertaken by the authorities, personal letters reveal how these legal acts were perceived by representatives of the Old Belief. The analysis focuses on Edinoverie as an instrument of state pressure on the Old Believer community. By the 1840s, many Ural merchants had joined the official Church through this mechanism. Edinovertsy, who held significant social prestige, often acted as intermediaries between their religious community and the imperial authorities. An appeal addressed to the merchant Y.M. Ryazanov helps to identify the principal intentions of the Ural Old Believers, who were guided by the goal of preserving their ancient piety. The article also examines a case involving another Edinoverets, Priest Alexander Arsenyev. In a report to the authorities, he detailed the complex sentiments among the population of Chernigov Province following the establishment of the Belokrinitskaya Hierarchy by the Old Believers in Belaia Krinitsa. The publication of these sources is preceded by an archaeographic introduction, designed to highlight the meticulous analysis of the texts and to trace their provenance.
Publishing: 28/04/2026
The article has been received by the editor on 15/11/2025
How to cite: Chistyakova А.V. Letters from the Archive of the Yekaterinburg Merchant G.F. Kazantsev as a Source on the History of Government Policy Towards the Old Believers during the Reign of Emperor Nicholas I // Historical Courier, 2026, No. 2 (46), pp. 232−245. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2026/ISTKURIER-2026-2-17.pdf]
The article was prepared as part of a project supported by the Russian Science Foundation, “Confessional Variability of Russian Orthodoxy in the 19th − Early 20th Centuries” (grant No. 25-28-02317).
Links: Issue 2 2026
Keywords: Nicholas I; Old Believers; Edinoverie; priest A.I. Arseniev; merchant Ya.M. Ryazanov; G.F. Kazantsev