The article is devoted to the analysis of missionary work as a form of religious migration. The settlement of Siberia by Russians was the most important geopolitical and economic task of the Russian government. In this process the Christianization of the native population of Siberia was very important. From the 17th to the 20th century the state policy in point of Siberia changed and the forms and methods of the dissemination of Orthodoxy among the native Siberian people changed too. The article describes in details six stages in the state policy of Christianization, from the first acquaintance with the Orthodoxy to the policy of Russification.

The authors make it clear that the annexation of each Siberian region to Russia was divided into several stages: actual accession, gradual incorporation, assimilation. These processes had regional features and passed asynchronously. Two centuries missionaries worked in Siberia, during this period violent Christianization methods have been replaced by tactics of tolerance and education. But the monopoly of the Russian Orthodox Church remained. In conclusion the authors give a warning that the modern concept of the eparchial missionary shows that the Russian Orthodox Church has not taken into consideration the historical experience of the missionaries.