REFORM OF LEGISLATION ON RELIGIONS IN LATE IMPERIAL RUSSIA: WAS RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY ACHIEVED? THE VIEWS OF SECULAR PUBLICIST SERGEI MELGUNOV

Abstract

The authors focus on the views of a secular publicist, Sergey Melgunov, on the reform of the management of religious confessions carried out in early twentieth-century Russia. The reform marked a significant revision of traditional religious policy, moving away from the system of coercion in matters of faith and introducing the freedom of religion. Sergey Melgunov, an influential Moscow publicist of the liberal wing, played a prominent role in public intellectual discussions of the time. His position formed the mainstream in the public discourse about state-church relations, yet it did not become so far the object of an independent study. During the period of the deep transformation of the imperial civil order and the transition to a new system that allowed religious diversity, Melgunov defended the ideas of freedom of conscience and the separation of Church from State. Melgunov's views are compared with approaches of other intellectuals and experts - lawyers S. A. Kotlyarevsky, M. A. Reisner, V. D. Nabokov, A. F. Koni etc. The article is based on a wide range of sources, including Melgunov's published works, as well as his memoirs and documents from his collection at the Department of Manuscripts of the Russian State Library (Moscow).