From the History of Old Believer Communities in the Ryazan Region in the 20th century

The Old Believers in the Ryazan region existed since the split of the Russian Church in the 17th century; however, the scientific study of the Ryazan phenomenon began only at the end of the 20th century. At present, the life of the Egorievsk zealots of ancient piety has been fully examined for the entire period of their existence. The history of the Old Believers in other places in the Ryazan Territory is just beginning to be investigated. A significant gap in historiography is the scientific study of the life of Old Believer communities during the Soviet period. This gap is partly intended to be filled in this article. The material for this article has mainly been archival documents from the State Archive of the Ryazan Region. At present, not all aspects of this issue have been studied, however, and according to available data, a certain picture of the life of the Old Believer communities in the Ryazan region in the 20th century can be made. The article describes the history of the communities of Priested and Priestless Old Believers. Whenever possible, the names of priests and elders of the communities are given completely. The article is the first scholarly experience of a systematic description of the history of the Old Believers of the Ryazan Region in the 20th century.