The emergence and spread of Shtundism in the Kharkiv province (late 19th century).

Abstract

Goal. The article aims to examine the features of the activities of Protestant sects (primarily Shtundists) in the territory of the Kharkiv province at the end of the 19th century. The chronological framework of this research covers the term from 1880 to 1900. This is the time of the formation and spread of these religious groups in Sloboda Ukraine. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the reasons for the success of Shtundist agitation, the personal characteristics of the most famous preachers and the conditions of their work.

Research methodology. The methodological basis of the article consists of the principles of historicism and objectivity, implemented using a number of methods of general logic (analysis and synthesis), as well as classification, comparative and periodization methods.

Scientific novelty. The subject of a special scientific study was the organizational and propaganda work of religious dissidents in the conditions of the emergence of capitalist relations in the countryside and tough pressure from the state and the official church.

Conclusions. The sects of Shtundists and Baptists (the so-called "rationalists"), which appeared in the Kharkiv region in the 1880s, noticeably changed the situation in the local dissident movement. These sects relatively quickly managed to gain broad social support. By the beginning of the 20th century they significantly increased the number of their supporters, which was almost equal to the number of adherents of the Old Believers and Khlyst communities in the province.

More than 20 years passed since the imperial manifesto on the abolition of serfdom, and a generation grew up that did not remember the old days. New, free by birth, people sought spiritual salvation in new religious teachings. Under conditions of free movement and entrepreneurship, peasants often took an active position of a preacher-evangelist instead of the tendency to self-isolation, inherent in mystics. The emergence of large sectarian capitals, both corporate and personal, and material and ideological assistance from foreigners played their role.

Of particular importance was the development of enterprises, both agricultural and industrial, whose workers, torn from their peasant communities, sought a replacement for them in religious "brotherhoods".

The spread of the practice of earning money among Ukrainians in German colonies led to the fact that in conditions of remoteness from Orthodox churches, without observing mandatory rituals, the hired workers often paid attention to the "convenient" faith of their masters. Especially since the Germans encouraged such curiosity in every way.

The expansion of the railway network allowed sectarians to travel faster and communicate more closely with their "brothers" in different parts of the country, and also led to the arrival of many professional sectarian missionaries to the Kharkiv province.