| Annotation |
The article is devoted to the logic of folding and implementing the principles of managing a religious community, substantiating a leadership position and making managerial decisions. An object of the study is a closed religious community in the territory of the Western Urals. Its characteristic features are curtailed recruitment of new members, inaccessibility for an external observer, complicated entry procedure with elements of initiation, locally concentrated residence of followers, and a ban on external communication. The most important actor in the community is the leader of the group and related management entities. A subject of the study is the evolution of the managerial structure of the community over the period of existence. The study is based on semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, participant observations, an analysis of the sacred literature, information on the social network, and the community’s statutory documents. The community analyzed is considered as combining the features of “historical sects” and new religious movements. The main stages of developing a leadership position for the founder of the group and the expansion of his authority are highlighted. The doctrinal evolution of the doctrine is tracked as providing support for the authority of the leader, as well as methods of consolidating the community and methods for cleaning it from undesirable elements. Particular attention is paid to the specifics of the structural organization of the church (home groups, Young Brotherhoods, Brotherhoods), as well as to the phenomenon of heavenly messages as tools for influencing followers. It describes the procedures for establishing the “spiritual inheritance” of the founder of the community, its transmission options and the factors of final decision making. At the present stage, the community is described through the prism of the formal, doctrinal and organizational changes that have taken place, taking into account the set of traditional and new methods of working with group members. |
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