Ritual suicide among old believers in Russia as a display of popular religiousness

Any researcher studying the phenomenon of mass self-immolation practiced by Old Believers will unavoidably face the following issue: if they considered themselves the followers of true Orthodox Christianity undistorted by Nikon’s reforms, why would they take their own lives, thus committing a mortal sin? The purpose of this study is to analyze the practice of suicide among Old Believers as an aspect of “popular religiousness”, which explains why the rite was considered more important than doctrine. Our research is based on a sociocultural approach with the use of historicistic and deterministic principles, as well as concrete historical and historical genetic methods. The article uses materials from investigations and legal cases following episodes of self-immolation by Old Believers, and the writings of Old Believers themselves. We conclude that the contradiction between the practice of suicide widespread within the Old Believers community and the Christian attitude towards suicide dissolves if we consider the nature of popular Orthodoxy in the 17-19* centuries...