“I am given a special task in my future ministry — it’s missionary activity, which attracted me from the days of my youth …”: Bishop Neophyte’s (Slednikov) missionary activity among the Old Believers of the Vologda province

This article is dedicated to one of the most active members of the Vologda Brotherhood in the name of the All-Merciful Savior — Nikolai Nikolaevich Slednikov, later Bishop Neophyte of Starobilsk. After graduating from the Kazan Theological Academy, which prepared students for missionary service, Nikolai Slednikov assumed the position of diocesan missionary in 1899. Fulfilling this assignment for thirteen years, he did not leave it even after being appointed to the high position of abbot at the largest monastery of the Vologda Diocese. The missionary’s activity came at a time of strengthening the principles of religious tolerance, in connection with which missionary service in the Diocese is analyzed in the context of state legislation’s liberalization on the issue of Old Believers. The article pays special attention to the role of Bishop Nikon (Rozhdestvensky) of Vologda in the formation of the missionary’s personality.