The rules of all-female Leksa community of the early period

The article studies the all-female Old Believers’ community existing between 1706 and 1727 on the Leksa River. The purpose of the study is to identify the fundamental rules of the community taking into account the ideological features of the Old Believers’ worldview. The author conducts a comprehensive analysis of official documents and the Old Believers’ sources as an attempt to penetrate into the inner world of the community closed to the uninitiated, in order to explore it from the inside, i.e., from the perspective of the Old Believers themselves. Obligatory rules for women of the Leksa community founded in 1706 should be distinguished from the rules established for the female unit of the Vyg Old Believers’ community. Typologically, the Leksa settlement is defined as an all-female monastery, which differed from a traditional convent in that both nuns and laywomen could participate in its management. The study of the leadership of the settlement and identification of the range of its activities suggested that the leaders of the Leksa monastery mainly focused on ensuring the compliance with the rules of the community charter.