“Patiently Beared All The Beatings Incurred by The Soldiers”: Saratov Governor A. P. Stepanov and the Old Believers

This article, based on a wide range of sources, including documents from the Third Section of His Imperial Majesty's Chancellery and the Headquarters of the Separate Corps of Gendarmes, reconstructs the activities of Alexander Petrovich Stepanov as the Saratov civil governor. The civil servant and writer A.P. Stepanov (1781-1837) held the post of civil governor twice: in 1823-1831 of the Yenisei province and in 1835-1837 of the Saratov province. The reason for his resignation from Krasnoyarsk, contrary to the opinion established in literature, was not his friendship with the Decembrists, but numerous violations discovered by the gendarme colonel A.P. Maslov. Having restored his connections in St. Petersburg, Stepanov was appointed to Saratov, where during his short stay he managed to form new Trans-Volga districts and take a number of measures to combat crime. The criminals were captured with the help of the gendarme lieutenant colonel Bykov. According to the Emperor's orders, Stepanov was to focus his attention on the Old Believers and facilitate the peaceful transfer of the Sredne-Nikolsky Monastery to the Edinoverie Archimandrite Zosima. But neither Stepanov nor Bykov were able to resolve the disputed situation, the negotiations were fruitless, and the seizure of the monastery took on a violent character. Contrary to the opinion of Governor Stepanov’s son, Pyotr, that Lieutenant Colonel Bykov reported the rebellion to St. Petersburg and thus brought trouble upon his father’s head, the main factors that led to his resignation were the report of the gendarme officer and writer Erazm Stogov, as well as public opinion, outraged by the reprisal. Both the governor and the gendarme Bykov paid for the beating of unarmed believers with their careers and soon died.