"RELIGIOUS FREEDOM" IN INTERPRETATIONAND PRACTICESOF ALTAI OLD BELIEVERCOMMUNITIES (1900-1910)

Abstract

The article presents interpretation of religious legislation of 1950-1960s by Altai Old Believers in compliance with their interests and expediency of its usage.At first sight liberalization of Old Believers’laws was directed only to their benefit giving them an opportunity to modernize religious and social life. However, liberalization posed a threat which resulted from inevitable widening relations between state and society. Old Believers could face with secularization, loss of religious identity and their traditions.