Criminal Cases against Old Believers in the Ryazan Diocese in the Second Half of the 19th Century

The article analyzes the criminal cases of the Ryazan District Court against the Old Believers of the Ryazan province in the second half of the 19th century. Cases were started in relation to the Ryazan Old Believers of different accords (Priested and Priestless), who violated the current legislation, arranging illegal prayer services on their land plots, or prevented their relatives from converting to Orthodoxy. An analysis of the cases shows that a real violation of the law was not always evident. Often the ministers of the law showed excessive zeal in accusing the Old Believers. There were even cases when the Ryazan court passed an acquittal. However, if the Old Believers did not find justice in the local court, then they appealed to the Moscow court, and quite often won cases. It is necessary to continue identifying criminal cases, since the information received allows a fuller look at the state- confessional relations in the Russian Empire in relation to the Old Believers in the 19th–early 20th centuries. Materials for this article were identified in the Russian State Archives of Ancient Documents and the State Archives of the Ryazan Region. This information is being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time.