The spiritual and legal activities of the bodies of Karaite confessional self-government in the Russian Empire (the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century)

The relevance of the work lies in a comprehensive analysis of the historical trajectory of the diverse ethnic and religious communities inhabiting the multifaceted and multicultural region known as the Crimean peninsula.

The purpose of the research is to analysis of the spiritual and legal activities of Karaite confessional selfgoverning bodies in the Russian Empire during the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Objectives: The study of the process of formation of Karaite confessional self-government bodies after the annexation of Crimea to Russia, as well as their hierarchy and subordination; analysis of the main aspects of the activities of the Taurida and Odessa Karaite Spiritual Board and the Troky (aka Trakai) Karaite Spiritual board, related to the spiritual and legal sphere; and characterization of the functional duties of staff in these institutions.

Methods. During the process of working with archival materials, the author employed a variety of methods, including heuristics, hermeneutics, correlation, actualization, comparative historical analysis, and chronological and retrospective approaches. Results. The article analyzes the spiritual and legal activities of Karaite confessional self-government bodies in the Russian Empire during the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century. Based on identified archival documents, it considers the most characteristic aspects of this work, such as registration of civil status documents, making decisions on marriage between Karaites and members of other faiths or proselytes, cases of divorce, and spiritual wills. It also collects statistical information about Karaite population.

Conclusions. The primary objective of the Taurida and Odessa Karaite Religious Boards, as well as the Troki Karaite Religious Board, was to orchestrate and oversee the internal operations of Karaite communities within the Russian Empire. Their responsibilities encompassed the administration of religious ceremonies, the compilation of vital statistics pertaining to births, marriages, and deaths among the Karaite populace, as well as maintaining communication channels with higher-level administrative authorities with the aim of consolidating Russia’s presence in these regions. Of paramount importance in their operations was their engagement in spiritual and legal activities.

1. Akhiezer G. The Crimean Karaite communities: History, culture, and leadership through the early twentieth century. Daly City: The Karaite Press; 2021. 204 p. https://doi.org/ 10.1556/062.2024.00450.

2. Gammal M.I. On the formation of Avraham Lutsk’s Community career in the 1930s. In: Culture of Slavs and culture of Jews: dialogue, similarities, differences. Moscow: Izd-vo Tsentra nauchnykh rabotnikov i prepodavatelei iudaiki v vuzakh “Sefer”, 2022. P. 29–51. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31168/2658-3356.2022.3.

3. El’jashevich V.A. Accounting books of the Sons of Scripture: on the traditional sources of income of the Crimean Karaite community. In: Etnografiya Kryma i sopredel'nykh territorii: materialy I Krymskikh etnograficheskikh chtenii = Ethnography of Crimea and adjacent territories: materials of the First Crimean Ethnographic Readings. Simferopol: Antiqva; 2024. P. 52– 61. (In Russ.)

4. Miller P. Karaite separatism in nineteenth-century Russia. Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press; 1993. 252 p.

5. Prokhorov D.A. The Karaites of the Russian Empire in the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries. Simferopol: Antiqva; 2019. 632 p. (In Russ.)

6. Fel’dman D.Z. S.A. Beim – head of the Karaite community of Crimea (according to archival materials). Vostok. Afro-Aziatskie obshhestva: istoriya i sovremennost’ = East. Afro-Asian Societies: History and modernity. 2000;(3):53-63. (In Russ.)

7. Shapira D. Avraham Firkowicz in Istanbul (1830–1832): paving the way for Turkic nationalism. Ankara: KaraM; 2003. 120 p.

8. RGADA (Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts). F. 1239. Op. 3. D. 55069. (In Russ.)

9. GARC (The State Archive of the Republic of Crimea). F. 241. Op. 1. D. 1789. (In Russ.)

10. GARK. F. 241. Op. 1. D. 1789-b. (In Russ.)

11. GARK. F. 241. Op. 1. D. 1666. (In Russ.)

12. GARK. F. 241. Op. 1. D. 1556. (In Russ.)

13. GARK. F. 241. Op. 1. D. 1725. (In Russ.)

14. GARK. F. 241. Op. 1. D. 1704. (In Russ.)

15. GARK. F. 241. Op. 1. D. 1781. (In Russ.)

16. GARK. F. 241. Op. 1. D. 1572. (In Russ.)

17. Vitsin A. (ed.) Russian civil law. Readings by D.I. Meyer. 3rd ed. St. Petersburg: Tip. Tiblena i K; 1864. 789 p. (In Russ.)

18. Prokhorova A.V. Spiritual wills of representatives of the Crimean Karaite communities as a source on the history of charity development in the Taurida province in the middle of the 19th – early 20th centuries. In: Social’no-politicheskie i kul’turnye problemy sovremennosti: materialy III Mezhdunarodnoj nauchno-teoreticheskoj konferencii = Socio-political and cultural problems of modernity: proceedings of the 3rd International scientific and theoretical conference. Simferopol: DIAIPI; 2010. P. 590–594. (In Russ.)

19. RGIA (Russian State Historical Archive). F. 1102. Op. 3. D. 116. (In Russ.)

20. GARK. F. 241. Op. 1. D. 1342. (In Russ.)

21. N. N. [Kazas I.I.] General notes on the Karaites. Karaimskaja zhizn’ = Karaite life. 1911;(3-4):37-72. (In Russ.)