| Summary: | The article analyzes the views of the religiosity researcher - A. S. Prugavin on the Old Believers as part of society in the Russian Empire at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. Data from the works of a religious scholar are given, unpublished materials identified by the author in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts (RSALA) in Prugavin's personal fund are analyzed. A comprehensive analysis of the researcher's materials allows us to note that Prugavin set himself broad tasks and used an integrated approach for research. He sought not only to understand the religious life of the Old Believers from within, but also to systematize the ways of studying this phenomenon in Russian society, classify the rumors in this social group, and determine the significance of the Old Believers for the country. Prugavin polemicized both with representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), whose view of the Old Believers remained sharply negative, and with representatives of the authorities who perceived the Old Believers as an element heterogeneous and dangerous to society. The author concludes that, as a researcher of the religious issue in Russia, Prugavin, thanks to the global approach to work, was able to make as deep as possible an analysis of the Old Believer issue of interest to him. The religious scholar came to the conclusion that, despite the propaganda of the Russian Orthodox Church and the official authorities, the Old Believers should not be included in the category of ―dangerous, alien element‖ for Russian society. Despite all the dissimilarity of the Old Believers to the traditional Orthodox population of Russia and the difficulty in their relations with the state, the Old Believers were one of the most educated and thinking sections of the country's population.
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