News of the Taurida and Odessa Karaite Religious Consistory: Self-Identification of the Karaites
News of the Taurida and Odessa Karaite Religious Consistory: Self-Identification of the Karaites

Summary/Abstract: The article examines a little known fact from the history of the Karaite community in Russia, namely, the publication of a Russian-language official bulletin, the News of the Taurida and Odessa Religious Consistory, which continued for several years. The Bulletin was printed in the Crimea in the years 1917-1919, in the period immediately after the October Revolution. The Bulletin is an important testament of those times, a record of the debates taking place and resolutions passed by the Karaite organizations active at the time: the General Assembly of Members of the Karaite Community, the Congress of Karaite Clergy and the National Karaite Congress. The author of the article puts emphasis on issues related to the discussion of the new national definition of the identity of the Karaite community, promoted by S. Shapshal, which exerted and influence on the social and religious evolution of Karaites taking place in Eastern Europe in the 20th century.

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