Religious Mass Suicide before Jonestown: The Russian Old Believers Author(s): Thomas Robbins Source: Sociological Analysis, Vol. 47, No. 1 (Spring, 1986), pp. 1-20 Published by: Oxford University Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3711273 Accessed: 26-05-2020 23:39 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms Oxford University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Sociological Analysis This content downloaded from 146.244.101.138 on Tue, 26 May 2020 23:39:38 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms RELIGIOUS MASS SUICIDE BEFORE JONESTOWN: THE RUSSIAN OLD BELIEVERS Thomas Robbins Rochester, MN Over a period of several decades in late seventeenth and early eighteenth century Russia, tens of thousands of "Old Believers" committed suicide, generally by self-immolation. Most of the suicides were not individual acts but transpired in the context of catastrophic collective events at hermitages or monasteries. In several instances the number of persons who perished at a burned-out settlement far ex- ceeded the number of deaths at Jonestown. Convergences with the People 's Temple holocaust include: a general climate of apocalyptic excitation; a sectarian mani- chean outlook which perceived absolute evil triumphant in the world, and in which political" themes became more prominent over time; and a conviction of imminent armed assault by hostile forces.