Authors

Fedor Maksimishin ¹;  ¹ University of Michigan, United States

Discussion

This presentation seeks to reexamine the eschatological worldview of the stranniki (Wanderers), one of the most radical Old Believer sects, and their interpretation of Russian bureaucracy from Catherine II's reforms of 1775 through the Nicholaevan era. The stranniki viewed the Russian state as the kingdom of the Antichrist, with its officials as demonic corpses and its administrative offices as satanic shrines. Drawing on texts such as Ivan Ipatov’s Discourses of the Tiumen Wanderer and earlier stranniki manuscripts, the article traces how their theology adapted the chiliastic promises of Catherine's reforms, which celebrated bureaucracy as the harbinger of a Golden Age. The stranniki incorporated state propaganda, allegorical prints, and official rhetoric into their apocalyptic critique, blending Enlightenment ideals with eschatological imagery. Despite its apparent eccentricity, this mystical vision of bureaucracy echoed broader cultural currents, influencing not only sectarian dissenters like Ipatov but also high-culture figures such as writer Nikolai Gogol. By focusing on the stranniki’s engagement with official culture, I highlight the persistence of religious undercurrents in the seemingly secular administration of pre-reform Russia.