Numerical structure and classification of the old believers of the Tomsk province in the last quarter of the 19th — beginning of the 20th centuries in the context of the state-confessional policy of the Russian empire

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of two main issues in the history of the Old Believers in the Tomsk province — its numerical composition and classification by agreements and sects in the last quarter of the 19^th — early 20^th centuries. The source base of the work is the materials of the State Archives of the Altai Territory (Barnaul) and the State Archives of the Tomsk Region (Tomsk), as well as some published sources. In the course of the study, various statistical data were analyzed and the reasons for their discrepancies were identified. In addition, the geography of the settlement of Old Believers within the Tomsk province was studied. The process of resettlement of the Old Believers was a consequence of the stateconfessional policy pursued in the Tomsk province and the Russian Empire as a whole. The reasons for the discrepancy between the actual number of Old Believers and the official statistics are established. The author provides a description of the main agreements and sects of the Old Believers. An important conclusion is made that in its content, the Old Believers of the Tomsk province did not differ fundamentally; the agreements and sects here were the same as in Central Russia. This was a consequence of the active forced and voluntary migration process of Old Believers to the territory of Western Siberia, including Tomsk province. In quantitative terms, in the Tomsk province in the last quarter of the 19^th — early 20^th centuries, representatives of the Starikovshchina, Pomorskoye consent and Popovshchina predominated.