“Sectarianism” in Russian religious legislation of the early 20th century

Abstract

Sociology of Religion as an independent religious study discipline has always regarded its the typology of religious organizations as its central and core themes. Considering pejorative connotations of the term of “sect”, a lot of sociologists of religion tend to avoid it, especially when it is referred to describe the modern religious diversity. However, some sociologists continue to use it as a sociological concept, i.e. as the term was adopted to refer to one of the possible ways of social existence of religious group. We can’t avoid this term when dealing with history of the Russian Religious Legislation of the early 20th century, which had to fi nd eff ective means to regulate such phenomenon in the Russian society`s life in the early 20th century as a Russian sectarianism. While the modern Russian Legislation does not use the term “sect” and “sectarianism”, the Russian Empire Religious Legislation used this term and actively pursued it. Th is article deals with the term “sect” and “sectarianism” within the framework of the Russian Religious Legislation and its development in the early 20th century.

Keywords:

sectarianism, sociology of religion, religious legislation