The Petition of the Balakovo Orthodox Old Believers to the Samara Bishop Gerasim (Dobroserdov) for the Appointment of a Priest

The paper presents the publication of an archival document — the petition of the Orthodox Old Believers of the village of Balakovo, Nykolayevsk district, for the appointment of a priest to them. The published document is an example of how one of the key provisions of the rules of unity of the Moscow Metropolitan Platon (Levshin) was implemented at the regional level. In this case, it means the possibility of Orthodox Old Believers to elect a candidate for ordination to the priesthood. The petition of the Balakovo Orthodox Old Believers reveals to some extent the nature of the relationship between the diocesan authorities and Orthodox Old Believers, the peculiarities of their worldview and the electability of the priesthood as the identity of parish life. The analysis of the published source is carried out on the basis of research and other archival sources that contain additional factual material on the local history of the edinoveriye in pre-revolutionary Russia.