Journal of Turkish World Studies

Abstract

The Tsarist administration launched a large-scale missionary activity in the Volga-Ural region following the occupation of the Kazan Khanate. Although coercive methods were used in the early years of this process, which was carried out as a state-church partnership, the failure to achieve the desired results led to new methods. In this context, especially the nineteenth century witnessed the emergence of new educational practices aimed at redefining the role of education within society. Under this new missionary program, two primary objectives were pursued in the Volga-Ural region. The first was to suppress the activities of Muslim communities, particularly the Tatars; the second was to prevent the Islamization of non-Russian populations by promoting their Russification and conversion to Orthodox Christianity. To achieve these goals, a variety of instruments were employed, including the establishment of missionary schools and societies, the provision of education in local languages accompanied by translation efforts, the comprehensive training of missionaries, and the publication of materials grounded in Orthodox doctrine. One of the publications that emerged within this scope was “Pravoslavnii Blagovestnik”. This article examines the struggle of the Russian missionary movement with the Muslim Tatars in the Russification and Christianization activities of the non-Russian peoples in Volga-Ural through the publication organ of the Russian Orthodox Missionary Society, “Pravoslavnii Blagovestnik” magazine. This study will demonstrate that the missionary program—implemented through the collaboration of the state and the Church—ultimately failed to achieve its intended goals. Instead, Tatar society, and by extension the Islamic faith, emerged as a formidable alternative in the Volga-Ural region. By exerting influence over the surrounding non-Russian populations in areas such as language, culture, education, the press, and the economy, the Tatars effectively facilitated the transformation of these communities into “Muslim Tatars”.