The contribution of orthodox missionaries to the study of the ethnoreligious characteristics of the indigenous peoples of the south of Western Siberia (the second third of the XIX - early XX centuries)

The paper deals with a set of missionaries' written messages as historical sources on the state and dynamics of ethnoreligious processes among the indigenous population of the south of Western Siberia in the second third of the XIX - early XX centuries. The author characterizes the specifics of recording and the completeness of historical information in missionaries' notes, official reports, and reports to the congress, using the messages of the priests of the Altai Spiritual Mission as an example. Based on the data from archival documents and prerevolutionary Orthodox periodicals, examples of descriptions of beliefs about cosmogony and theogony, shamanic beliefs and practices, as well as their perception by followers are given. Particular emphasis is placed on the missionaries' reflection of the circumstances of the Burkhanist movement in Altai in the early XX century. The conclusion is made about the high information content of missionaries' written messages and their importance for a detailed scientific understanding of the religious situation in the region.