Irina Paert has published extensively on the history of Old Believers and the Russian Orthodox Church. She is a researcher and a lecturer at Tallinn University in Estonia.

A well-researched, well-organized, well-written, and delightful-to-read book.(H-Russia) In all, Paert's well-written study not only fills a notable caesura in the existing scholarship but also provides a masterly historical account of an institution often understood only through the distorting lens of literary depiction. Conceptually rigorous and analytically acute, she has provided a must-read monograph for all students of Russian Orthodoxy and nineteenth-century European religion.(European History Quarterly) This monograph, well-written and impressively researched, provides a pioneering account of the elders—their origins, development in the nineteenth century, and role in the final decades of the old regime. It offers a fresh new perspective on Russian religious life and suggests a number of important findings.- Gregory Freeze, Brandeis University Paert's book is certainly essential reading for anyone who wants to understand Orthodoxy, and even Christianity more broadly, in the modern world.(The Journal of Ecclesiastical History)

Irina Paert has published extensively on the history of Old Believers and the Russian Orthodox Church. She is a researcher and a lecturer at Tallinn University in Estonia.

A well-researched, well-organized, well-written, and delightful-to-read book.(H-Russia) In all, Paert's well-written study not only fills a notable caesura in the existing scholarship but also provides a masterly historical account of an institution often understood only through the distorting lens of literary depiction. Conceptually rigorous and analytically acute, she has provided a must-read monograph for all students of Russian Orthodoxy and nineteenth-century European religion.(European History Quarterly) This monograph, well-written and impressively researched, provides a pioneering account of the elders—their origins, development in the nineteenth century, and role in the final decades of the old regime. It offers a fresh new perspective on Russian religious life and suggests a number of important findings.- Gregory Freeze, Brandeis University Paert's book is certainly essential reading for anyone who wants to understand Orthodoxy, and even Christianity more broadly, in the modern world.(The Journal of Ecclesiastical History)

Irina Paert has published extensively on the history of Old Believers and the Russian Orthodox Church. She is a researcher and a lecturer at Tallinn University in Estonia.

A well-researched, well-organized, well-written, and delightful-to-read book.(H-Russia) In all, Paert's well-written study not only fills a notable caesura in the existing scholarship but also provides a masterly historical account of an institution often understood only through the distorting lens of literary depiction. Conceptually rigorous and analytically acute, she has provided a must-read monograph for all students of Russian Orthodoxy and nineteenth-century European religion.(European History Quarterly) This monograph, well-written and impressively researched, provides a pioneering account of the elders—their origins, development in the nineteenth century, and role in the final decades of the old regime. It offers a fresh new perspective on Russian religious life and suggests a number of important findings.- Gregory Freeze, Brandeis University Paert's book is certainly essential reading for anyone who wants to understand Orthodoxy, and even Christianity more broadly, in the modern world.(The Journal of Ecclesiastical History)