Old Believers in Belarus and neighboring countries: historical stage of research and methodological approaches

The article focuses on the historical stages of the study of the Old Believers in Belarus, Russia, Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine and main methodological strategies. The article notes the experience of creating interdisciplinary centers for the study of Old Believers (Lithuania, Russia, Poland) which is useful for Belarus in connection with the existence of its own tradition of security. The author makes a conclusion about the necessity of comprehensive interdisciplinary studies of Old Believers, as well as about development of regional dimension in the Belarusian religious studies.