Старообрядчество как оппозиция имперскости и проводник русской традиционной культуры на восточных территориях России

Old Believers as opposition to the imperial spirit and a conductor of Russian traditional culture on the eastern outskirts of Russia

The article analyzes the problems of the political opposition the Old Believers movement, whose followers were not only against the church reforms of Patriarch Nikon, but also against the centralization of the Russian state that developed significantly during the rule of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and his descendants. The middle of the XVII century was a landmark moment for the Russian state and society. The military and political domination of the maritime colonial countries of Europe challenged Moskovia in foreign policy issues. Understanding this, the Russian political elite were headed for all-round modernization of the country. This was reflected in the whole complex of state and church reforms aimed at the centralization of imperial power and the carrying out of cultural, social and economic modernization from the above. Along with the internal conversion the annexation of Ukraine took place(1654) as an important step towards the creation of a powerful empire. This integration involved not only serious costs, but also some steps towards the unification of the Russian, Ukrainian and other Orthodox cultures. The creation of unified supranational imperial orthodoxy conflicted with the Great Russian church ethnocentrism. The pressure of the centralizing state on the society and the unification reform of the Russian Orthodox Church led to the development of the popular opposition movement of Old Believers. The inevitable persecution of representatives of the opposition forced them to leave their areas of residence and move to the outskirts of the country, where the administrative control of the authorities was smaller. At the same time, the government exiled the caught Old Believers to develop the uninhabited areas. Thus, in different regions of Russia the Old Believers formed enclaves. They still opposed the imperial principles in their ideology and everyday practices. At the same time, these communities became centers of Russian national culture in the different remote lands, including the eastern outskirts of the country.