The attitude of church authorities to the сave diggers in the 18th- 19th centuries

The article analyzes official authorities’ attitude to the cave digging tradition that existed in the frame of folk Orthodoxy in the Synodical period of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). Creating catacombs the cave diggers made a peculiar spatial and temporal transfer of revered sacred underground loci of medieval times to the village area of the peasants’ day. It is emphasized in the article that this type of people’s religious commitment, not conforming with the new shaping up European culture, was rejected by the establishment. Synodal files kept in Russian State Historical Archive are used as information sources in the research. The legal arrangements of authorities to implement a system of sanctions against representatives of underground living ascetic practices, developing among peasants, are indicated upon studying the sources. Relying on the working legislation the Synodal structures typically blamed the cave diggers for superstition, illegal candles selling, alms collection, suspected them of sectarianism, of secreting criminals...