A WORK OF AN UNKNOWN BELOKRINITSKY POLEMICIST, MONK AUGUSTINE (LATE 1890S)
N.A. Starukhin
Institute of History SB RAS, 8, Nikolaev Str., Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation
Keywords: Siberia, Old Believers, Belokrinitskaya religious grouping, Belokrinitskaya hierarchy, Old Believers, chapels, old men, polemical literature, apologetics
Abstract
The article analyzes a polemic Siberian writing of the late 1890s by an unknown Belokrinitsky (“Austrian”) writer, monk Augustine, which is kept in the Centre of Books and Manuscripts Storage. It reveals sources of the epistle, reasons for its creation, mainly due to the struggle for spiritual and intellectual leadership among the Old Believer communities. The author investigates main issues and directions of sharp discussions between the two Old Believers’ branches (“Chasovennye” and the “Austrians”) with the originally common historical fate. The research restores reasons for their ideological discrepancies at a particular poorly-studied Old Believer center, which were determined both by changes in government policy related to Old Belief throughout the XIX century, and by the Beglopopovtsy’s own evolution. The paper shows that the studied topics are the next stage in perennial disputes periodically bursting with one of the Old Believers’ main opponents - the Belokrinitsky hierarchy.
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