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A.V. Kostrov and Yu.V. Elokhina
THE RESISTANCE OF OLD BELIEVERS IN EASTERN SIBERIA TO OFFICIAL ATTEMPTS TO MONITOR THEIR NUMBERS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
А.В. Костров, Ю.В. Елохина
Сопротивление старообрядцев Восточной Сибири попыткам властей контролировать их численность в начале XX века*
Перевод Ю.В. Елохиной
Uncertainty over the actual number of Old Believers, as representatives of an ecclesiastical opposition movement, constantly troubled responsible officials in the Russian Empire. Administrative and managerial measures to rectify the situation were occasionally advanced, but neither officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, nor members of the Russian Orthodox clergy concerned with the matter, possessed accurate data. This was due both to the wariness of the Old Believers in dealing with the state, and to the lack of effective tools for determining their number. In the early twentieth century, therefore, following the legalization of their movement, Old Believers were granted the right to keep church registry books (metric books). On the one hand, this concession provided the Old Believers with new opportunities while, on the other, as a compulsory measure, it supplied provincial officialdom with the means to more accurately monitor the size of the population.
The Old Believer movement in the Baikal region of Siberia had its distinctive historical and cultural features.1 In addition, unlike Old Believers located in other regions of the empire, Eastern Siberian Old Believers were never notable for their radicalism or propensity to rebel against authority.2 For their part, local officials, who tended to lack higher education and a developed political consciousness, considered the Old Believers mere exiles and treated them accordingly.
Pursuant to the Act of 1906, legally registered Old Believer commu-
* Исследование выполнено при финансовой поддержке Российского фонда фундаментальных исследований (РФФИ) в рамках научного проекта «"Енисейский меридиан" старообрядчества: сохранение и развитие традиции в условиях таежных скитов и деревень» (проект № 18-09-00723 А). = Research for this article was supported by a grant from the Russian Foundation of Basic Research (Project "Enisey Meridian" on the Old Belief: The Conservation and Development of Tradition in the Context of the Monasteries and Villages of the Taiga" no. 18-09-00723 А).
nities were to keep church registries for the purpose of recording baptisms, marriages, and burials in their community. Leaders of officially registered rural communities were provided registers from the provincial or regional administrative offices, while urban communities obtained them from town councils. The public administration in the cities and local administrative offices in rural areas maintained the registries for Old Believers who did not live as communities. Each particular act - baptism, marriage, or burial - was to be registered in a book specific to that act. The book was to be kept for one year. If, at the end of that time, however, the book remained unfilled, it could be used into the following year. Otherwise, the community was supplied with a new book.
The issuing of registry books often involved delays and even serious irregularities. For example, one Irkutsk Old Believer community that held services in its own church where it also conducted baptisms, marriages, and funerals had registered with the authorities on February 25, 1908, but did not receive its registry books until June 21, 1908.3 Consequently, the registry books only included entries from that time on (i.e. a death record in August, a marriage record in October etc.). Since marriages, unlike deaths, had to be recorded, marriages conducted before the summer of 1908 were entered and backdated in the marriage registry for 1911.
Entries in baptism registries provided the child's date of birth, gender, parents' and godfathers' names, and the child's name according to the church calendar.4 Burial registers included data on the deceased person's death date, rank and title, full name, place of residence, age, and marital status, as well as data on the person "filing the death statement," and place of internment. If funeral services were held in absentia, that fact also had to be recorded.5
Marriage registration books are the most informative and, therefore, the most interesting. They stated the marriage date, full data on the bride and groom (rank and title, name, patronymic, family name, religion, place of residence, age, and "which marriage it was for them"). They also contain data on the best men, "must number no fewer than two," and "where and when the announcement was made." As a rule, the banns column stated, "In church before the community in accordance with the Pilot (Kormchaya) Book." The full name of the church was sometimes indicated, for example, "In the Church of the Mantle of Our Lady."6 The last column was intended for the signatures of the betrothed, the best men, and the priest officiating at the marriage ceremony.
In 1911 it became mandatory to indicate religious affiliation in the registry books, especially in regard to marriages. This was a response to the common practice of leaving the "confession" column in the marriage record books blank, a tactic which served to conceal marriages between Old Believers and converts from official Orthodoxy. The authorities, who sought to keep conversions from one confession to another within certain bounds, therefore, introduced the new requirement.7
In issuing registers and supplying information necessary for other
documents, local officials frequently displayed the bureaucratic inertia that had marked the previous policy toward the Old Believers. Although the term "raskolnik" (schismatic) in reference to Old Believers had been outlawed, in one particular registry the phrase "on the birth of people belonging to the raskol from birth" can be found.8 While this might appear to be an unintentional slip of the pen, given that the Russian Orthodox Church had been a part of the state apparatus, and that it continued to view the Old Belief as a major rival even after the reforms of 1905-1906, then it is clear that this expresses the attitude of officials (both secular and religious) toward the Old Believers.
While the churchmen's attitude can be accounted for by their fierce theological polemics with the Old Believers, the secular bureaucracy had its own motives. First, the attitude expressed by the Russian Orthodox Church carried influence since Ministry of Internal Affairs' officials, themselves, were followers of Orthodoxy. Second, representatives of local government had a pecuniary incentive in preserving the old state of affairs. This entailed depriving the "schismatic" of all rights and opportunities. He would then find it necessary, either from fear of the state (its laws and especially its representatives), or to settle his own problems and those of the community, to slip "his honor the official" a bribe. This financial interest in the continued existence of a disenfranchised "schismatic" resulted in a conscious and unconscious opposition to the emergence of an "Old Believer" who possessed civil rights and held a conciliatory attitude toward the state. This opposition manifested itself in practice and sometimes found expression in official documents.
The various Old Believer groups in the Baikal region had different opinions on registering communities and keeping registry books. Old Believer denominations located in the economic centers of the region (primarily settlers from the western part of the country) willingly accepted the requirement to register their communities (in order to facilitate the resolution of economic and other matters) and keep registry books (to simplify marriage registration and property inheritance). Those located in rural areas, however, (especially the Transbaikal "Semeiskie" denomination, descendents from the Old Believersthwho had been exiled to the region en masse in the second half of the 18t century, and who occupied the territory of Verkhneudinsky Uyezd (District) of Transbaikalia, where they lived as an enclave) for the most part responded to the innovations with hostility. Thus, in Irkutsk where two communities (Belokrinitskaya and Pomorskaya) did register and obtained their registry books within a short period of time, in Transbaikalia out of the four communities that had initially registered only one remained (Beglopopovtsy in Tarbagatai settlement). The others, after numerous and vigorous debates among the membership, refused to keep registry books or to register their spiritual mentor. Interestingly, among the "Semeiskie" group, even supporters of the liberal Belokrinitskoe concord refused to register their communities or keep registry books. Moreover, attempts by the authorities to introduce
registry books for the Semeiskie group in late 1909 - early 1910 encountered serious difficulties.
In November 1909, the Transbaikal Regional Military Governor's office sent two telegrams to district authorities (Verkhneudinsky uyezd (district) received the telegrams first due to the presence there of a large number of Old Believers of the Semeiskie group.).9 One telegram proposed supplying the regional office with figures specifying the number of: 1) Old Believer communities in the area; 2) community membership; 3) mentors and priests; 4) open skits and monasteries; 5) monks; and 6) Old Believer schools. The second telegram demanded additional information on the number of births, marriages, and burials in 1907, 1908, and 1909 (each year taken separately) in all the registered communities and in those not registered. In order to evaluate the quality and quantity of the figures on the local Old Believers, the authorities required that the source of this information also be provided, i.e. registry books kept by communities, registration records kept by regional governing offices, or family lists.
The district (uyezd) heads, in their turn, "sent down" the questionnaire to township (volost) administrations with the demand that they immediately supply the information required. In response to the order, township administrations provided the necessary data. However, virtually every report stated that neither the Old Believer communities, nor township administrations kept registry books, and that all the data were taken from family lists. The Okino-Klyuchi township administration, for example, wrote that "there are no registry books for Old Believers in the township, therefore all data are recorded in family lists."10 The Klyuchi township administration wrote that "in the registry books contained in the township administration for Old Believers those not organized in a community are not recorded."11 The Bichura township administration answered that "the township administration does not keep registry books because the Old Believers are not organized into communities and the information is taken from family lists."12 The Tarbagatai township administration wrote that the Old Believers within its territory "are not recorded in either the registry books or family lists, the figures are taken from information supplied.. .by the village elders."13 Perhaps the most straightforward answer came from Kuitun township: "the data was taken partly from family lists and partly from interviewing rural residents because Old Believers do not promptly inform the township administration of births, marriages, and burials."14
Naturally, data obtained in this way were inaccurate and could not satisfy regional authorities. Hence, in late December 1909, the Transbaikal regional Office of the Military Governor dispatched an official letter to the head of Verkhneudinsky district, T.I. Gorlov. It stated that since the Old Believers residing in Verkhneudinsky district refused to legally register their communities (except for one community in Tarbagatai village), in conformity with the law the township governments should keep
their registry books. The latter were instructed to keep registry books starting from January 1, 1910, "in strict accordance with legal requirements."15 Along with the letter, Chita sent registry books (twenty-seven in number); by January 11, 1910, the Verkhneudinsky district authority had already distributed the books and the relevant instruction to all township administrations.
News of the compulsory introduction of registry books for Old Believer communities and the actions of local authorities in this regard riled the local Old Believer population. Assemblies were held in villages and settlements to discuss the issue. No small role in organizing and conducting these gatherings was played by ustavshchiki (ritualists) who were the most doctrinaire element of the local Old Believers. Representatives of the Mukhorshibir township administration complained to the district authorities that while data were being gathered in Sheroldai, Novy Za-gan, and Mukhorshibir settlements, "ustavshchiki refused to provide any information" declaring "as it has been done from time immemorial, so let it be done." Even village elders refused to supply any figures on births, marriages, and deaths "since they descended from these very same Old Believers."16
Similar events occurred in other localities. In Nikolsk township, for example, "there was an attempt to evade supplying the information required," while village clerks in Khonkholoy and Kharauz settlements "also displayed in this matter a most unjustified sluggishness." As a result, on February 20, 1910, by order of one Semyonov, the peasants leader of the third division of Barguzin district, the clerk of the Nikolsk township administration was fined 2 rubles, while the village clerks at Khonkholoy and Kharauz settlements were fined 1 ruble each.17 In this fashion, the authorities demand for information from township administrations was thwarted by Old Believer resistance. Where rural or township administrators were themselves descended from the Old Believers, they simply sabotaged any attempt to collect data. Old Believer activity was not restricted to sabotage, however.
In order to develop a common stance in the face of the imposition of registry books by the authorities, Old Believers from Kuitun, Kunalei, Bryansk, Tarbagatai, Nikolsk, Mukhorshibir, and Okino-Klyuchi townships gathered in an unsanctioned assembly on March 8, 1910 in the chapel of Sheroldai settlement, Mukhorshibir township.18 The bailiff of the third police district in the province, one Sharypov, who happened to be passing through a neighboring settlement, accidentally learned of the event being held in Sheroldai and hastily made his way there. By the time he arrived, however, most of the participants had already dispersed. The bailiff did manage to round up fifty of the deputies from the meeting, and undertook to explain to them the necessity to keep registry books. The deputies of the various communities, especially the ustavshiki, responded by "flatly refusing to keep the registers," claiming that "according to the Old Rite keeping such books is a serious sin." In addition, the
Old Believers informed the bailiff of their intention to gather the Spiritual Assembly in Kunaleiskoye settlement on March 20, 1910, where they planned to draft a resolution and "send it to His Imperial Majesty with a petition exempting them from keeping these books." To impart to this step the stamp of legitimacy, the Old Believers also informed the bailiff of their wish "that the head of the district attend the assembly."19
In fulfillment of his professional duty, the bailiff informed the head of Verkhneudinsky district of the situation. He, in turn, passed the information onto the Military Governor of the Transbaikal region. Concurrently, the district authority issued an order on "preventing" the Old Believers from conducting their assembly on March 20 and bringing to account the individuals guilty of arranging the illegal assembly of March 8, 1910.20
In the event, the measures taken by the authorities proved ineffective. Old Believers from all the settlements involved had succeeded in discussing these issues at the assembly on March 8. Respected Old Believers and ustavshchiki who had attended the assembly informed their communities of the results of this discussion and the prevailing negative attitude toward keeping registers. This enabled Old Believers from different villages to agree on the tactics to be employed and to establish a united front. As a result, whenever government representatives attempted to introduce registry books among Old Believer communities, there followed an outpouring of written statements from the villages and townships declaring their refusal to keep registers and provide data.
Peasants from Nadeinskoye settlement in Kuitun township, for example, wrote, "we wish to live the way our ancestors did, and not report on those who were born, married, or buried, and we do not now consent to keep such records."21 The statement of the Old Believer community in Nizhnetaletskoye settlement, Bryansk township, dated March 11, 1910, contained similar sentiments. It noted that having held consultations, representatives of the community "do not agree to enter in registry books those who were born, married, or have died," and that instead they wish "in the manner of our forbearers" to live "without metric records."22
Attempting to resolve the complex situation, I.T. Gorlov reported to V. I. Kosov, Military Governor of the Transbaikal region, that "township governments under pressure... from spiritual mentors and ustavshchiki who have convened Old Believer assemblies, have yet to begin keeping registry books." For that reason, he requested clarification on "whether it is necessary against those guilty of not keeping.these books, the township elders and clerks, to institute criminal proceedings."23 In short, district officials sought permission to apply repressive measures in order to overcome Old Believer resistance. Entirely unexpected, then, was the Military Governor's clarification, to the effect that making entries in registry books depends on the wishes of the Old Believers, themselves, and "does not constitute any obligation on them." In light of this, the authorities should not resort to any "coercive measures" regarding the Old Believers refusal to keep records in these books.24
The Military Governor's change of heart in this matter might, at first glance, appear strange. It was, after all, his office that had called for prompt delivery of data on Old Believers residing in the region, and the immediate imposition of order in regard to registry books in Old Believer communities. Now, however, his instruction was not to employ "any coercive measures" in the matter. The cause of the change, evidently, lay in the Old Believers sharp reaction to the introduction of registry books in most settlements. The refusal to provide data, the convoking of assemblies, the plans to petition "His Imperial Majesty," and the formation of a united front heightened the tensions between the authorities and the Old Believers, and threatened to disrupt public tranquility, the preservation of which was a priority for both the regional and district administrations.
Moreover, administrative pressure that had initially sought to introduce registry books in Old Believer communities by any means had clearly stimulated the migration of Old Believers not only from Verkh-neudinsky district, but from Transbaikalia as a whole. A case in point, due to the obligation to keep registry books nineteen Old Believer families resolved to migrate to South Ussuri.25 Their decision alarmed the regional administration. Relocation due to land scarcity was one thing, and was a fairly common occurrence at this time. Flight to escape "the servants of Antichrist" in order to find "uncontaminated land" was another matter entirely. This sort of relocation, driven by growing religiosity in response to heightened persecutions (especially during a period of "increased religious tolerance"!) placed in doubt the success of the reforms being implemented in the region. If events should take an unfortunate turn, the result could be a mass exodus of Old Believers from the territory.
On March 24, 1910, Military Governor Kosov directed the Verkh-neudinsky district head to conduct an "immediate and detailed" investigation into the relocation, and to report on it immediately.26 The district chief visited Kuitun, Kunalei, Mukhorshibir, and Sheroldai settlements as ordered, where he "personally explained the matter and reassured the Old Believers." Based on the results of the investigation, including a recounting of his own guilt in the escalation of the conflict, he reported that the Old Believers were relocating to South Ussuri "entirely due to land scarcity and other factors of an economic nature."27 A no less significant reason related to intensifying persecution despite the proclamation of "religious freedom." Given the severe economic conditions, such a situation might serve as a final stimulus to relocation, lending it a mass character and the tinge of a "religious exodus."28
In the aftermath of this incident, the authorities displayed more restraint in gathering and refining information on Old Believers in the region. In 1912, for example, regional authorities asked local officials "not to refuse" to verify and provide data "which are already available." At this time, the following information was of interest: 1) the Old Believers' concord, and their numbers in registered and unregistered communities;
2) meetinghouses, temples, skits, monasteries, schools, charitable institutions; 3) conversions from Orthodoxy to the Old Belief.29 Figures were gathered locally using every source available short of applying pressure on the Old Believers.
It should be noted that keeping registry books also presented a problem among the local Old Ritualists (edinovertsy), as seen in the file, "On the Correction of Birth Records in the Registry Book of the Doninskaya Old Ritualist Church," which is preserved in the State Archives of the Transbaikal Region.30 The development of this confessional group had a complex character that frequently produced "distortions" in the metric records of its representatives. The problematical relationship with the official Church (of which the edinovertsy were formally a part) and conversions to the Old Belief31
Authors, Abstract, Key words
Alexander V. Kostrov - Doctor of History, Professor, Irkutsk State University (Irkutsk, Russia)
Yulia V. Elokhina - Candidate of History, Senor Lecturer, Irkutsk State University (Irkutsk, Russia)
This article examines the attempt by local secular and religious officials to establish the size of the Old Believer population in Eastern Siberia at the beginning of the twentieth century, and the resistance the Old Believers mounted in response. The research is based on unique documents housed in several regional state archives. The authors - well-known Irkutsk historians - focus on the actions taken by local officials following the Revolution of 1905 when the autocracy found it necessary to undertake social reform to survive. As part of the religious reform, local officials attempted to introduce church registry books into Old Believer communities in 1906 in order to monitor population size and to collect data on births, marriages, and deaths. The authors thoroughly analyze the Old Believers' reasons for rejecting the introduction of these books as part of their everyday practice. Old Believer resistance was peaceful, yet stubborn, and, as the authors show, was in keeping with the traditional Old Believer principle that accommodation with the state constituted sinful behavior. The authors clearly demonstrate that in this confrontation with state authority, the Old Believers emerged the victors.
Old Belief, Old Believer, Old Believers community, population, population census, birth rate, mortality, metrical book, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Russian Orthodox Church, social reform, Siberia, Eastern Siberia, historical demography.
Примечания Notes
1 Бураева С.В., Батурин С.А. Будни довоенной Бурятии: Особенности визуальной репрезентации повседневности (1920 - 1930-е гг.) // Вестник Бурятского научного центра Сибирского отделения Российской академии наук. 2013. № 3 (11). С. 59-77.
2 KostrovA.V., PrigarinA.A. Photography as a Source for Comparative Research of History and Culture of Local Old Believer Groups in the First Third of the 20th Century (Through the Example of the Old Believers of Bessarabia, Buryatia and Tuva) // Журнал Сибирского федерального университета. Серия: Гуманитарные науки. 2016. Т. 9. № 12. С. 2947-2963.
3 State Archive of Irkutsk Region (GAIO). F. 279. Op. 1. D. 1. L. 13 (back side).
4 GAIO. F. 279. Op. 1. D. 3.
5 GAIO. F. 279. Op. 1. D. 1.
6 GAIO. F. 279. Op. 1. D. 2. L. 2-5.
7 GAIO. F. 279. Op. 1. D. 5.
8 GAIO. F. 279. Op. 1. D. 3.
9 State Archive of Republic of Buryatia (GARB). F. 337. Op. 2. D. 1564. L. 74-76.
10 Ibidem. L. 82 (back side).
11 Ibidem. L. 62.
12 Ibidem. L. 39.
13 Ibidem. L. 53 (back side).
14 Ibidem. L. 49-50.
15 Ibidem. L. 15, 15 (back side).
16 Ibidem. L. 16.
17 Ibidem. L. 25, 25 (back side).
18 Ibidem. L. 41, 41 (back side).
19 Ibidem. L. 40-41 (back side).
20 Ibidem. L. 41, 41 (back side).
21 Ibidem. L. 10.
22 Ibidem. L. 33, 33 (back side).
23 Ibidem. L. 41 (back side).
24 Ibidem. L. 42.
25 Ibidem. L. 44-45 (back side).
26 Ibidem. L. 45.
27 Ibidem. L. 83, 83 (back side).
28 Костров А.В. Старообрядчество Байкальской Сибири в «переходный» период отечественной истории (1905 - 1930-е гг.). Иркутск, 2010.
29 GAIO. F. 337. Op. 2. D. 1959. L. 3.
30 State Archive of Transbaikal Region (GAZK). F. 8. Op. 1. D. 1824. L. 1-90.
31 GAZK. F. 8. Op. 1. D. 1240. L. 1-25.
References (Articles from Scientific Journals)
1. Buraeva, S.V.; Baturin, S.A. Budni dovoyennoy Buryatii: Osobennosti vizualnoy reprezentatsii povsednevnosti (1920 - 1930-e gg.) [Ordinary Days in Pre-War Buryatia: Characteristics of the Visual Representation of Daily Life (1920s - 1930s).]. Vestnik Buryatskogo nauchnogo tsentra Sibirskogo otdele-niya Rossiyskoy akademii nauk, 2013, no. 3 (11), pp. 59-77. (In Russian).
2. Kostrov, A.V.; Prigarin, A.A. Photography as a Source for Comparative Research of History and Culture of Local Old Believer Groups in the First Third of the 20th Century (Through the Example of the Old Believers of Bessarabia, Buryatia and Tuva). Zhurnal Sibirskogo federalnogo universiteta. Seriya: Gu-manitarnyye nauki, 2016, vol. 9, no. 12, pp. 2947-2963. (In English).
(Monographs)
3. Kostrov, A.V. Staroobryadchestvo Baykalskoy Sibiri v "perekhodnyy" period otechestvennoy istorii (1905 - 1930-e gg.) [The Old Believers of Baikal Siberia during the "Transitional" Period of Russian History, 1905 - 1930.]. Irkutsk, 2010, 443 p. (In Russian).
Авторы, аннотация, ключевые слова
Костров Александр Валерьевич - докт. ист. наук, профессор, Иркутский государственный университет (Иркутск)
a_kostrov@mail. ru
Елохина Юлия Валерьевна - канд. ист. наук, доцент, Иркутский государственный университет (Иркутск)
В статье рассматриваются попытки местных светских и духовных властей Восточной Сибири установить контроль над численностью старообрядческого населения в начале XX в., а также сопротивление старообрядцев этим попыткам. Источниками для этого исследования послужили уникальные документы нескольких государственных региональных архивов. Основное внимание авторы - известные иркутские историки - уделили действиям местных властей Восточной Сибири после Русской революции 1905 г., когда российское самодержавие вынуждено было провести некоторые социальные реформы. Одной из таких реформ стало введение в 1906 г. метрических книг в старообрядческих общинах. Действия местных властей по введению метрических книг в старообрядческих общинах были направлены на установление контроля за численностью их членов, а также за рождаемостью и смертностью в этих общинах. Авторы обстоятельно анализирует причины отрицательного отношения старообрядцев к по-
пыткам местных властей установить и зафиксировать в документах число членов общины, ввести в повседневную практику запись родившихся и умерших в метрические книги. Сопротивление старообрядцев местным властям носило исключительно мирный характер, но отличалось столь же исключительным упорством. Главной причиной упорного сопротивления старообрядцев авторы считают то, что в старообрядцы в начале XX в., как и в прежние времена, считали участие в подобном государственном мероприятии грехом. В результате, как считают авторы, в Восточной Сибири старообрядцы взяли верх в напряженном противостоянии с местной властью.
Старообрядчество, старообрядец, старообрядческая община, численность населения, перепись населения, рождаемость, смертность, метрическая книга, Министерство внутренних дел, Русская православная церковь, социальная реформа, Сибирь, Восточная Сибирь, историческая демография.
