The article draws a comparison of sources on Kryashen selfidentification from the early twentieth and early twenty-first century. I use R. Jenkins’ theory on self-identification and categorization as inside and outside descriptions of groups to understand the specificity of Kryashen self-perception. While there is a variety of works on the topic of Kryashen identity, the factor of an “external gaze” at their community is less studied. Drawing upon a thematic analysis of texts by Kryashen activist intellectuals D.G. Grigoryev (1906) and N.V. Mamakov (2018), I make it clear that these authors consider Kryashens to be a separate Orthodox Christian people that faces institutional imposition of “Tatar-ness”, so they appeal to the state and the Russian Church in defense of their own identity. They also highlight the role of intelligentsia in consolidation of Kryashen identity and point that Kryashens are not a well-known people in Russia. Existent differences between the texts are generally explained as historical and genre particularities. Expressions of Kryashen social activity on the topic of their identity represent a unique field of research for today’s Russia, a detailed study of which facilitates deepening of theoretical comprehension of self-identification vs. categorization clashes, the role of rejection of expected social roles in identity.