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The Popovtsy, or Popovschina (Поповцы, Поповщина in Russian; the name could translated as "those who stand for the institution of priesthood"), one of the two principal varieties (along with the Bespopovtsy) of the Old Believers, which was formed by the end of the 17th century in Russia.
As opposed to the Bespopovtsy, the Popovtsy recognized priesthood and created their own ecclesiastic organization, which would later break into a number of sects (e.g., Beglopopovtsy, who accepted the priesthood of the Belokrinitskaya hierarchy, Belovodskaya hierarchy etc.). The Popovtsy sought confrontation with the Russian Orthodox Church on a less frequent basis than the Bespopovtsy, because they had close ties with the ruling elites. However, the Popovtsy had their own internal controversies, which would lead to splits within the movement.
In the 18th - 19th centuries, the Popovtsy mainly used to live on the Vetka Island on the Sozh River, in Starodub, along the Irgiz River, in monasteries of the province of Nizhny Novgorod. In the late 18th - early 19th century their spiritual center was located in Moscow at the Rogozhskoye cemetery. In the beginning of the 19th century, many of the Popovtsy, or the so called yedinovertsy (those against any splits), acknowledged the leadership of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Popovtsy were hostile towards the October Revolution of the 1917. In the Soviet Union, the number of its members was very insignificant.
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