Friend and Foe: Religious Toleration in Northern Caucasia in the Age of Catherine the Great SEAN POLLOCK Historians trace the origins of a policy of religious toleration in the Russian Empire to the reign of Catherine II (1762–96). In framing discussion of the policy, they have tended to emphasize the Enlightenment, the power of ideas, and the role of the empress herself in bringing an end to state- sponsored religious persecution and in instituting a policy of religious tol- eration throughout the empire. Catherine has been depicted as a “student of the Enlightenment,” an advocate of “the individual’s right of religious liberty,” and an “enlightened despot” who pursued “a program of religious toleration in the spirit of the ‘well-ordered police state’ imagined by the jurists of Central Europe.” 1 In the case of Islam and its adherents, the em- press has been credited with applying “‘enlightened’ principles of govern- ment to the pressing problem of Russia’s Muslims,” and with using “persuasion and political measures to gain their voluntary acceptance of Russian sovereignty.” 2 Interestingly, having underscored Catherine’s intel- lectual indebtedness to the Enlightenment, these same historians conclude that her approach to religious toleration was “ultimately pragmatic.” Con- cerning Islam, Catherine’s policy of religious toleration has been explained as “a response both to changing situations and to an increased appreciation and understanding of the problems and possibilities of [Russia’s southern] frontier,” an example of “accommodation” meant to “win over Muslim in- termediaries who might assist the regime in securing this frontier and 25