Journal of the Faculty of Divinity of Ankara University

Abstract

Tsarist Russia, from the middle of the 16th to
the early in 20 th century, applied policies of Russification and Christianization to the non-Russian
nations living in the area of Volga-Ural region. Due to this policies, beside Finno-Ugrians (Mari,
Mordvins, and Udmurts), some groups of Chuvashes and Tatars converted to Christianity and
Russified. To the present day, the evaluations about the Kryashens showed that they converted to
Christianity by the result of this policies. Therefore, they have been considered “Christianized
Tatars”. The present paper aims to deal with the relations of Kryashens with Tatars, and their
situations among Tatars according to researchs and observations made by the author in July and
August of 2008 in Tatarstan. Furthermore, this paper gives place to the evaluations of some
Kryashens’ intellectuals about themself from ethnic and cultural point of view.