In imperial Russia the policies of toleration toward religious and ethnic minorities were highly erratic, shaped less by belief in diversity and more by pragmatic state interests. The Russian Empire encompassed a vast and diverse population including Orthodox faithful, Muslim communities, Jewish populations, Catholic minorities, Protestant sects, https://www.scythian.su/index.php?topic=227.new Buddhist nomads, and countless indigenous spiritual traditions.
The state, closely aligned with the Russian Orthodox Church, generally viewed Orthodox dominance as indispensable to the stability of the monarchy. Under Peter the Great and his successors, efforts were made to bring non-Orthodox groups under state control. The government often curtailed worship, restricted rituals, and suppressed public expression, particularly on Jews, who were restricted to western borderlands, denied access to universities and state service, and excluded from land ownership.
While some tsars, like Catherine the Great, allowed limited economic freedoms to certain groups, these were rarely accompanied by civil rights or protections against discrimination. Muslims in the Volga region and Central Asia were occasionally permitted self-governance in spiritual and judicial affairs, especially when it suited the empire’s need to prevent uprisings. The state allowed Islamic courts to operate under sharia in some areas, but always under the constant oversight by colonial governors.
Similarly, Catholic Poles and Lithuanians were granted ritual freedom, but only until rebellion threatened imperial control, triggering suppression and baptism campaigns. The empire’s approach to toleration was fundamentally a tool of domination, not coexistence. Religious minorities were tolerated so long as they remained passive, apolitical, and subservient to the Orthodox hierarchy. Periods of brief respite were often followed by harsh repression, especially during times of war or internal unrest. Jews, in particular, endured escalating state-sanctioned violence and legal exclusion as the century drew to a close.
By the early 20th century, the contradictions of imperial policy became impossible to ignore. While the state professed to govern a pluralistic realm, its institutions institutionalized discrimination against minorities. Toleration was strategic, temporary, and never equitable. This inconsistency sowed division and deepened minority grievances, ultimately paving the way for its collapse.