On the question of the authority of Old Believer Pomor mentors in the Southern Urals in the 19th and early 20th centuries

The article examines the problem of the spiritual authority of priestless mentors among Old Believers in the Southern Urals in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The subject of the study is the Old Believers of the Pomor Confession in the Southern Urals. Based on hectographic and handwritten works of Old Believers, as well as archival and investigative files from the Chelyabinsk and Russian State Historical Archives, the article examines the nuances of the conclusion and dissolution of non-sacramental marriages, the religious framework of taboos, and types of disciplinary punishments for members of Old Believer communities as direct manifestations of the spiritual authority of mentors. The methodological toolkit is based on the concept of a formational-staged approach, on the basis of which the stages of transformation of the spiritual authority of mentors are identified in the study. In addition, the historical-genetic method was used, the essence of which is the sequential disclosure of the properties and functions in the subject area we are analyzing in the process of its historical development. As a result of the study, the following stages of transformation of the spiritual authority of mentors were identified: 1) the stage of mentors-prosteci, 2) the transitional period, 3) the time of the “prostech priesthood.” It can be stated that by 1909, the spiritual leaders of the Bespopovtsy had transformed into a new, special type of clergy – “unordained spiritual fathers.” These mentors possessed many attributes and spiritual authority comparable to that of Orthodox priests. Meanwhile, the present study is of an applied nature, as it allows us to establish the historical continuity of the views and practices of the Old Believers of the Pomor Agreement in the Southern Urals.

Mentors, Old Believers, spiritual authority, Pomorians, Bespovtsy, power relations, marriage, baptism, penance, Christianity