Old Believers in Modern Russia (NIU Series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies)

Old Believers in Russia were (and are) a Christian sect created when the patriarch Nikon initiated reforms to the Russian Orthodox Church (c. 1650) and further reinforced during Peter I's campaign of transforming the Russian Orthodox Church to an extension of his imperial government (c. 1700), in keeping with European models at the time. Old Believers opposed changes to rituals and practices, as well as the influence of secular authority on the church (this threat to their ancient ways caused Peter I to be perceived as the Antichrist by the Old Believers).Although this text includes a chapter on 'Profile of the Old Belief' that presents a brief summary of the sect's seventeenth century origins, the content largely focuses upon the period of 1905 to 1917, commencing when Nicholas II granted full toleration of all religious groups, which was in force through the Revolution. This period of toleration provided Old Believers with the opportunity to build temples and publish a variety of books and journals that, in turn, document the richness and variety of tenets within the community.The author, who has a pleasant writing style, does a fine job of surveying the range of beliefs as reflected in the liturgy, architecture, iconography and the level of sanctioned cooperation or interaction with "non-believers" evidenced in the span of tolerance. As one might imagine of a group willing to turn their back on modernity for the sake of their religion, the Old Believers appear to be an independent and opinionated lot with plenty of disagreement within the larger umbrella of their faith. As one also might imagine, Old Believers living in Moscow hold different ideas about their faith than those living in Siberia.This is a completely satisfactory book (nay, it is an edifying book!), but it is focused upon a limited amount of temporal territory for someone (like myself) who was looking for more background and a broader history of the Old Believers.Addendum June 21, 2012: I recently acquired and read Robert O. Crummey's  Old Believers in a Changing World  and it provided significantly more history of the Old Believers, as well as covering the "movement" forward through the twentieth century. Crummey's book is a collection of essays, most of which have been published separately over the years. It therefore provides broader coverage, but together 'Old Believers in Modern Russia' and 'Old Believers in a Changing World' make a nice complimentary pair. Both are written by authors with a nuanced and expert perspective on the subject.