The emergence and proliferation of the shaloput sect in the Pavlograd district of the Yekaterinoslav province (second half of the 19th century)

Abstract

Purpose. The article aims to highlight the history of the emergence and spread of the shaloput sect in the Pavlograd district of the Yekaterinoslav province.

Research methodology. The methodological basis of the article is formed by the principles of historicism and objectivity, implemented using several methods: general logical (analysis and synthesis), as well as classification, comparative, and periodization methods.

Scientific novelty. For the first time in Russian historiography, the subject of a special scientific study was the sect of pranksters and its activities in the Yekaterinoslav province. Based on missionary and police reports, the role of Grigory Shevchenko in the creation of the sect is considered, the area of ​​its distribution within the region is highlighted, the national and social composition of its members is determined.

Conclusions. It has been established that Grigory Shevchenko brought in the Pavlograd district of the Yekaterinoslav province the shaloput doctrine from the southern Ukrainian regions, probably from the Tauride province. The sect he created was by its nature Christover or Khlyst. Its dogmas and ceremonial were of a pronounced mystical coloring. Grigory Shevchenko remained a completely independent leader of a group of his fellow believers, he did not belong to any more ramified community, and his community throughout its existence remained an autonomous unit. The attitude of the dignitaries of the Russian Orthodox Church and representatives of the secular authorities to the new religious organization was extremely negative. Various means of pressure were used against the sectarians: from forced interviews to sentences of the rural community and outright repression by punitive bodies.