Change of religious affiliation in the Russian Empire on the example of Western Siberia: potential, regulation, practice

Abstract

The research is devoted to the study of the state and confessional policy of the Russian Empire at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries in the sphere of regulation of "religious transitions". The purpose of the article is to identify both the main trends at the level of the country and the region, and the features of the implementation of religious policy in relation to the main religions represented in Siberia. The chronological framework of the work includes the nineteenth century, the period of mass migrations of representatives of different faiths from West to East within the Empire, as well as the beginning of the twentieth, excluding revolutionary events and related changes in state and religious policy.

The source base of the research consists of archival materials from the funds of the Russian state historical archive, the state archive of the Tomsk region, the state archive of the Krasnoyarsk territory. The change of religious affiliation within the borders of the Empire was regulated consistently by a whole series of regulations: the relevant articles in the Code of laws of the Russian Empire of different years of publication, the Statute on correctional and criminal penalties, laws and by-laws of local authorities.

Research methodology includes historical and genetic approach in conjunction with the methods of content analysis, synthesis, generalization.