Dmitry Karanov Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Emergence of Ethnic Identity of the Ingrian Finns in the Nineteenth Century Dmitry Karanov - Senior Lecturer, Department of Conflicts Studies, St. Petersburg University of the Humanities and Social Sciences (Russia), karanov@inbox.ru The article, drawing partly on unpublished archival documents, considers causes and directions of the impact of the Evangelical Lutheran Church on the formation of the Ingrian Finnish ethnic identity in the St. Petersburg province of the Russian Empire in the nineteenth century. The 1832 Charter of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia became the basic legal document defining its particular goals and responsibilities before the secular authorities. One of the main ideas was to strengthen the role of Lutheranism in the life of the Finnish peasants. The church, willingly or not, created conditions for the consolidation and promotion of the Ingrian identity of the Finns. It also led to the emergence of the Ingrian intelligentsia who elaborated the meaning of Ingrian identity. Keywords: Lutheran, Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Ingrian Finns, the Finns of St. Petersburg, the construction of ethnic identity, Ingrian identity. page 198THE problem of the formation of ethnic and national groups in different historical periods requires a thorough study of both objective and subjective factors. The field of view of researchers includes individuals, groups and institutions that directly or indirectly participated in the emergence and sustainable preservation of the grounds for ethnic self-identification of the members of the community under study. The subject of research in this case is the national policy of the state, national periodicals, the school system, national educational literature (primarily history textbooks), folk festive events, "nation - creating" activities of the intelligentsia, etc.This work is devoted to the role of the church in the formation of the identity of Ingermanlan ... Read more