Description

In the second half of the 19th century, Russian Orthodox missionaries in Siberia focused their efforts on converting groups of Old Believers who had settled in the area around Tomsk. Old Believers are Russian Orthodox Christians who rejected the church reforms carried out by Patriarch Nikon (1605–81) in the mid-17th century. They were severely persecuted, and many of them fled to Siberia. The book presented here describes one year in the official church’s efforts directed against the Old Believers, who are referred to as “schismatics.” The book includes ...