Astaviev Vladimir; Krestyaninov Artem

"Exhortations to the old believers" by the parish priest V. Ya. Smelov

Abstract

This article publishes several reports on the exhortations of the parish priest of the village of Gryaznukha of Kazan Diocese, Vasily Yakovlevich Smelov, to his parishioners, who are accused of deviating from the Old Belief (Spasovo denomination). Texts of exhortations date to 1857 and 1858. In conditions when the transfer of Orthodox believers to other faiths was prohibited, the responsibility for the return of those who refused to go back to Orthodoxy was associated with parish priests and pious people, who were to exhort the accused. In this situation was V. Ya. Smelov. The spiritual consistory required from him regular reports on the results of exhortations. The logic of the parish priest’s exhortations with Old Believers is quite typical for polemic conversations. However, their content is unique, as V. Ya. Smelov, guided by the book tradition of Old Believers, tried to formulate polemic arguments of his own. In addition, the exhortation reports also refl ect certain religious views on the Orthodox parish and the Church of the Old Believers of Spasovo denomination, which is still poorly studied in historiography.

Keywords

Old Believers, Spasovo denomination, V. Y. Smelov, Orthodox parish, polemics, apostasy, Kazan Diocese, exhortations, parish priests

References

1. Ageeva Elena A., Robson R. R., Smilianskaia Elena B. (1997) “Staroobriadtsy spasovtsy puti narodnogo bogosloviia i formy samosokhraneniia traditsionnykh-obshchestv v Rossii XX stoletiia” [Old Believers-spasovtsy: Ways of folk theology and forms of self-preservation of traditional societies in Russia in the 20th century]. Revue des Études Slaves, 69–1–2, p. 101–117 (in Russian).
2. Ageeva Elena A. (2011) “Staroobriadcheskii polemicheskii sbornik XIX v.: k voprosu o brake u staroobriadtsev vestnik” [Old Believers’ polemic collection of the XIX century: to the question of marriage of Old Believers]. Vestnik tserkovnoi istorii, 3–4 (23–24), pp. 191–218 (in Russian).
3. Firsov S. L. (2009) “ Pravoslavnoe gosudarstvo i russkie staroobryadtsy-popovtsy v epohu imperatora Nikolaya I” [Orthodox state and Russian Old Believers in the era of Emperor Nicholas I]. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta, Ser. 6, 1, pp. 6 — 15 (in Russian). Gusarov Iu. Vasilii Iakovlevich Smelov, available at http://enc.cap.ru/?t=prsn&lnk=2665 (07.12.2019) (in Russian).
4. Kuzoro K. ( 2009) “Napravleniya issledovaniya staroobryadchestva v Sinodal’noj (cerkovnoj) istoriografi i poslednej treti XIX — nachala XX v.” [The directions of research of Old Believers in the Synodal (Church) historiography of the last third of XIX — beginning of XX centuries]. Vestnik Tomskogo universiteta, 320, p. 115–118 (in Russian).
5. Maltsev A. (2006) Staroobriadcheskie bespopovskie soglasiia v XVIII — nachale XIX: problemy vzaimootnoshenii [Old Believers’ Bespopovsky denominations in the 18th — early 19th centuries: problems of relations]. Novosibirsk (in Russian).
6. Marsden T. (2015) The crisis of Religious toleration in imperial Russia: Bibikov’s system for the Old Believers, 1841–1855. Oxford.
7. Nikanorov I. (2012) “Polemika v fedoseevskom soglasii v nachale XIX vekapo povodu sbornika «Otecheskoe zaveshchanie»” [A polemic in Fedoseyev’s denomination at the beginning ofthe 19th century about the collection “Otecheskoe zaveshchanie”]. Istoricheskii ezhegodnik, p. 56–63.
8. Tsapina O. (2014) «Smekha dostojnoe pozorishche»? Diskussiya o veroterpimosti i obraz staroobryadcev v Rossii epohi Prosvshcheniya [“A pitiful view that deserves laughter”? Discussion about tolerance and the image of Old Believers in Enlightenment Russia], in O vere i sueveriyah. Sbornik statej v chest’ E. B. Smilyanskoj. Moscow, pp. 207–256 (in Russian).

Information about the author

Astaviev Vladimir

Academic Degree: Candidate of Sciences* in History;
Academic Rank: Associate Professor;
Place of work: Kazan Federal University; 44 Levo-Bulachnaya, 420111, Kazan, Russian Federation;
Post: associate professor;
ORCID: 0000-0002-2996-903X;
Email: emich06@gmail.com.

*According to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011, the degree of Candidate of Sciences (Cand.Sc.) belongs to ISCED level 8 — "doctoral or equivalent", together with PhD, DPhil, D.Lit, D.Sc, LL.D, Doctorate or similar.

Krestyaninov Artem

Academic Degree: Candidate of Sciences* in History;
Place of work: Kazan Federal university; 44 Levo-Bulachnaya, 420111, Kazan, Russian Federation;
Post: Lecturer;
ORCID: 0000-0001-9833-1817;
Email: artkres@mail.ru.

*According to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011, the degree of Candidate of Sciences (Cand.Sc.) belongs to ISCED level 8 — "doctoral or equivalent", together with PhD, DPhil, D.Lit, D.Sc, LL.D, Doctorate or similar.