Social discipline as a factor of sectarian features’ strengthening in religious groups: a case study of the old believers’ communities in Kharkiv province (the 19th – early 20 th c.)

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to explore the influence of the social discipline on
the transformation of the religious communities. It is shown that the processes of the
social discipline, which occurred in early modern Europe, took place in Russia in
the 17th c. They appeared in the activity of the �ealots of Piety. Many members of
this circle were in charge of the Old Belief and began to realize the social discipline
among the dissenters. This activity with other social factors led to the increase of
such sectarian features as rigorism and clanship in early Old Believers’ communities.
In the period from the late 18th – early 20th c. social discipline prevented dissolving
of sectarian features of Old Believers’ communities.
Keywords: Old Belief, social discipline, church-sect theory