Cult of icons in the 19th – early 20th centuries: social aspect (on the materials of the European North of Russia)

The article considers the significance of the icon-worshiping phenomenon in the religious life of the European North of Russia. The main attention is paid to the control over the distribution of icons, carried out mainly through the police activities. Another significant problem considered in the article was the presence of miraculous images in the daily life of peasant communities. The third aspect is connected with the existence in the northern dioceses of numerous icons that do not correspond to church canons.