Annotation

The article examines the formation and development of legislation on religious tolerance in Russia during the first quarter of the eighteenth century. It analyzes the main directions of state confessional policy under the reign of Peter the Great, shaped by the objectives of modernization, the expansion of international relations, and Russia’s integration into the European political and cultural sphere. Special attention is given to the legal status of foreign subjects and non-Orthodox believers, as well as to the differentiated approach of the state toward various confessional groups, including Catholics, Protestants, Eastern Christians, Muslims, and Old Believers. The study concludes that religious tolerance in this period had a pragmatic character: while it did not imply equality of confessions, it became an important instrument of state policy and laid the foundations for the further development of church–state relations in the Russian Empire.