The article attempts to analyze the problem of identifying subbotniks through the prism of regional refraction, using the example of Saratov province as one of the sectarian centres of residence in the period under consideration. Subbotniks strove for the reception of Old Testament texts, religious traditions and ritual practices, under the influence of which the sectarians’ identity had been developing. The author also examined the origins of subbotniks in the region, their numbers, settlement areas and the building of contacts with normative Judaism supporters.
