Secular historiography of religious sectarianism in the Kharkiv province (pre-Soviet period).

Abstract

Purpose. The article aims to examine the secular historiography of the phenomenon of religious sectarianism in the Russian Empire as a whole and in the Kharkiv province in particular. The chronological frames of this study cover the period from 1861 to 1917. This is the time of the greatest development of informal religious groups in the region.

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

Scientific novelty. The works of secular researchers are considered according to the chronological-problematic principle, which allows us to trace the political-ideological orientation of many authors. In the case of specialists from among government officials, we are also talking about professional bias. The article proposes to consider several directions that have formed in the historiography of Ukrainian sectarianism.

Conclusions. Authors belonging to the official (establishmental) direction defended the position that religious dissidence is harmful to the country and the people, the idea of foreign origin of many spiritual movements, as well as the immorality and superstition of domestic sects. It was argued that all sects without exception are politically dangerous, and their activities are illegal.

The unofficial (liberal-Narodnik) direction of historiography arose simultaneously with the official one. It was aimed at opposing the latter in the formation of public opinion regarding sectarianism. Liberals focused on the progressive significance of dissidents in Russian and Ukrainian folk life. Along with this, studies of this direction provide a detailed history of the persecution of sectarians by the authorities and the Russian Orthodox Church. Liberals saw the origins of religious dissent in the natural development of popular thought.

Populist authors were the first to try to show a direct connection between the emergence and spread of sectarianism and the social situation of the population in the Russian Empire. They recognized and emphasized the existence of government and church pressure on sectarians in the country, but, at the same time, criticized religious dissidence for its amorphous political position.

The idea of ​​​​Narodnik researchers was picked up by representatives of the Marxist direction of historiography and developed into a holistic "socio-economic" theory about the origin and development of religious sectarianism in the Russian Empire. At the same time, they involved a large number of new sources in their work. The disadvantage of the Marxist pre-Soviet school in the study of Russian and Ukrainian sectarianism was the complete ignoring of the psychological factor.