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Abstract
The focus of this study is the concept of "apostasy", which the author identifies as a powerful rhetorical, legal and administrative tool for the Orthodox Church and the Russian imperial state to ensure the integrity of the Orthodox Empire and the weakly integrated non-Russian periphery. The author considers the transformation of this concept using the case of baptized Tatars. This analysis considers the process by which bureaucratic imperatives and traditional conceptions of confessional belonging continued to frame the religious identities of the empire’s subjects. The article reveals the significant contradictions between ascriptive identity imposed by the state authorities, on the one hand, and self-determination reflecting subjective views, aspirations and beliefs of individual subjects, on the other.
The author concludes that the imperial authorities felt the need to accept a social reality that was in contradiction with official indications and to recognize the fact that religious convictions constitute a core component of the confessional identity. However, resisting this view were many officials with more conservative views, according to which confessional status represented a matter of community affiliation rather than one of personal belief.
In conclusion, the author notes that the tensions and contradictions inherent in this unfinished transition continued to inhabit the new "liberal" laws adopted in 1905. Most of the empire's officials were unable to accept the idea that individual conviction should become the basis of public life.
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