The Communion of the Apostles and the Spiritual Eucharist in the Religious Thought and Art of the Old Believers

The division that occurred in the Patriarchate of Muscovy in the middle of the 17th century resulted in a large part of the believers being alienated from the clergy; in consequence, many communities of the Old Believers, who had come to terms with this loss, renounced most of the sacraments, including the Eucharist. This situation impacted the art of the Old Believers, especially in the Priestless Old Believer communities, for instance, in the interiors of their houses of prayer, where the presbytery area disappeared, and the iconostasis changed its function. This article contains an analysis of how one of the old iconographic themes connected with the Eucharist, namely the Communion of the Apostles, functioned in the Old Believer setting. Sources originating from those circles, especially the 18th-century Pomorian Answers (Pomorskie otvety), indicate that the Old Believers saw the Eucharist as a spiritual experience—the only one that was available to the faithful who lived in communities that lacked a clergy. This is most probably the context in which, for instance, Old Believer versions of the Communion of the Apostles should be understood. The view of the Old Believer identity, and Old Believer art, as proposed in this article takes under consideration not only the tradition but also the change, which was an unavoidable part of their communities’ experience, and which may also constitute an essential key to our reading of the contents and meaning of Old Believer icons.

Profesor Iryda Grek-Pabisowa (1932–2021)

Professor Iryda Grek-Pabisowa (1932–2021)This article presents the profile of Iryda Grek-Pabisowa, a renowned linguist, associated with the Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences for sixty years. She was a long-serving head of North Borderland Polish, and the deputy director of the Institute for two terms (1996–2003). She was a pioneer of research on the language and culture of Old Believers in Poland, and the language of Poles in Belarus and Lithuania. The most important research areas on which she focused were dialectology and lexicography: the study and description of the subdialects of Old Believers living in Poland (e.g. A Dictionary of the Dialect of Old Believers Living in Poland), the Russian language (e.g. The Great Russian-Polish Dictionary) and North Borderland Polish (7 monographs and A Dictionary of the Spoken Polish of the North-Eastern Borderland). She is the author or co-author of about 160 articles, 11 monographs and 7 dictionaries. In 1974–2003 she was associated with the journal Acta Baltico-Slavica, initially as its secretary and then editor-in-chief. Profesor Iryda Grek-Pabisowa (1932–2021) Opracowanie przedstawia sylwetkę Irydy Grek-Pabisowej, znanej językoznawczyni przez 60 lat związanej z Instytutem Slawistyki Polskiej Akademii Nauk. Przez wiele lat kierowała Pracownią Polszczyzny Północnokresowej. Przez dwie kadencje pełniła funkcję wicedyrektorki ds. naukowych w IS PAN (1996–2003). Była prekursorką badań języka i kultury staroobrzędowców w Polsce oraz języka Polaków na Białorusi i Litwie. Do najważniejszych kierunków badawczych należały dialektologia i leksykografia: badanie i opis gwar staroobrzędowców mieszkających w Polsce (m.in. Słownik gwary starowierców mieszkających w Polsce), język rosyjski (m.in. Wielki słownik rosyjsko-polski) oraz polszczyzna północnokresowa (7 monografii oraz Słownik mówionej polszczyzny północnokresowej). Jest autorką lub współautorką około 160 artykułów, 11 monografii i 7 słowników. W latach 1974–2003 była związana z rocznikiem „Acta Baltico-Slavica”, początkowo jako sekretarz, a następnie jako redaktor naczelna.

Traditions of the Old Believers and the Fate of the Russian World in the XXI Century: Cultural and Philosophical Aspect

Introduction. Questions of continuity and cultural conservatism of the Russian society of the Modern era are one of the problems of the research in this article. The author suggests that the Old Russian religious and moral heritage was not completely destroyed by the Nikon church reforms in the Moscow state. The purpose of the article is to consider the diversity of forms of Russian religiosity in the context of the development of traditions of Russian society. Materials and Methods. In modern conditions, interest in religion and Old Believers continues to grow, as a rich cultural heritage of Russian society. Therefore, the appeal to the texts of the past in the philosophical method of dialogicality, hermeneutics, and a comprehensive analysis of the works of the Old Believers allows us to identify all the features of the heritage of the past of Russia. Results. The positions of the ethical and aesthetic consciousness of the schism teachers worried many Russian philosophers of the “Silver Age” era. The dramatic nature of the situation was that there was no complete reconciliation between the parties to the split in Russian spiritual thought. Discussion and Conclusion. Many of the ideas of Protopop Avvakum, one of the leaders of the Old Believers in Russia, continue to be relevant to the present day. The questions of the moral and socio-cultural identity of the Russians as the “last Orthodox kingdom” are of an eschatological nature. Many aspects of ritualism and rite-believing are preserved among the Russian people and among many Russian and foreign communities of believers. The confessional culture of the Old Russian epoch remains a mystery for many modern researchers and is of an actual nature, since many aspects of this problem remain poorly studied. The subject of the analysis of the influence of Old-Belief traditions on the fate of the spirituality of the Russian people is important.

Bishop Apollos (Belyaev) and Development of Vyatka Diocese in 1866—1885

Using mainly historical-comparative and historical-genetic methods, the issue of the development of the Vyatka and Slobodsk dioceses, which coincides within the borders with the Vyatka province, under Bishop Apollos (Belyaev), is considered in the article. The author pays special attention to the process of organizing religious, educational and missionary activities, and up to the appointment of Bishop Apollos, the results of this work were insignificant. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time it comprehensively examines the activities of the Vyatka Bishop Apollos in terms of the implementation of a nationwide religious course, which included active educational and missionary work of the local clergy. Under Bishop Apollos, to increase the influence of the clergy on the local population, including the Old Believers and non-Orthodox, important transformations were carried out: a separate vicariate was allocated in the diocese, the Vyatka Committee of the Orthodox Missionary Society and the Vyatka Brotherhood of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker were opened, and the work of the local clergy was also generally reorganized. This gave the first positive results in strengthening the position of the Russian Orthodox Church among the local population of the Vyatka diocese.

HOSPITALITY IN THE PICTURE OF THE WORLD OF STAROVERS OF UST-TSILM

В статье рассматривается религиозно-нравственный феномен гостеприимства в картине мира у русских староверов-беспоповцев Усть-Цильмы, проживающих в нижнем течении р. Печоры в Республике Коми. Источником к написанию работы послужили этнографические полевые материалы, собранные автором в Усть-Цилемском районе Республики Коми и корпус усть-цилемских фразеологизмов, пословиц, присловий, выявленный из словарей. Как концепт культуры гостеприимство широко представлено в паремиях, где аллегорически раскрываются ситуации, связанные с гостеприимством, осмысляются нормы, установки и предписания в поведении контактирующих сторон, раскрывается значение гостевых контактов в установлении и поддержании социальных связей. По заявленной теме представлены и проанализированы термины, выражения, характеризующие хозяев и гостей в зависимости от различных ситуаций (гостеприимность — негостеприимность, встреча — прощание и др.). В статье раскрывается, что гостеприимство имело большое воспитательное значение, ознакомление детей с нормами гостеприимства строилось не только на личных наблюдениях и примерах, но и с привлечением устойчивых выражений и текстов. Исследование показало, что гостевое общение сплачивало не только родственников, но и представителей общины в целом. Выявлено, что несмотря на известную закрытость староверов-беспоповцев, они проявляли дружелюбие и взаимопонимание к представителям других конфессий, предоставляли им кров и еду. В картине мира русских староверов-беспоповцев Усть-Цильмы гостеприимство имело важное значение в сохранении и развитии непреходящей ценности их бытия. The article examines the religious and moral phenomenon of hospitality in the picture of the world among the Russian Old Believers-bespopovtsy Ust-Tsilma, living in the lower reaches of the river. Pechory in the Komi Republic. The source for the writing of the work was the ethnographic field materials collected by the author in the Ust-Tsilemsky region of the Komi Republic and the corpus of Ust-Tsilma phraseological units, proverbs, and sayings identified from dictionaries. As a concept of culture, hospitality is widely represented in paremias, where situations related to hospitality are revealed allegorically, norms, attitudes and prescriptions in the behavior of contacting parties are comprehended, and the value of guest contacts in establishing and maintaining social ties is revealed. On the stated topic, terms and expressions are presented and analyzed that characterize the hosts and guests, depending on various situations (hospitality — inhospitable, meeting — farewell, etc.). The article reveals that hospitality was of great educational value, familiarizing children with the norms of hospitality was based not only on personal observations and examples, but also with the use of stable expressions and texts. The study showed that guest communication brought together not only relatives, but also representatives of the community as a whole. It was revealed that despite the well-known closeness of the Old Believers-bespopovtsy, they showed friendliness and mutual understanding to the representatives of other confessions, provided them with shelter and food. In the picture of the world of Russian Old Believers-bespopovtsy Ust-Tsilma, hospitality was of great importance in the preservation and development of the enduring value of their existence.

THE NEW WAY OF LIFE OF THE OLD BELIEVERS IN BURYATIA: “LIFE HAS IMPROVED, LIFE HAS BECOME MORE JOYOUS”? (1930s)

Establishment of the Soviet power in Buryatia was another and the most painful factor in the decline of the lifestyle of one of the communities living here – the Old Believers. Having appeared in the region in the second half of the XVIII century, they managed to preserve their religious identity and cultural specifics, although already at the beginning of the XX century researchers noted trends of breaking with the most orthodox traditions and discontinuity of generational ties. In the 1920s, the Bolsheviks skillfully supported the protest wave of young people against the power of their parents, the desire to change their lives by leaving the confines of a closed community, as well as the idea of Old Believers about everyday life (built around the basis of their identity, the Old-Orthodox religion) as about the dark and hopelessly outdated. Already in the 1930s, the messages of the main newspaper of the republic – “Buryat-Mongol Pravda” – reported on the new happy life of not only young, but also elderly Old Believers who had abandoned religious prejudices and were in the forefront of building the Soviet society in the villages of Buryat-Mongolia. The article considers the issue on what caused such a change in people’s mentality: the ideological victory of the Soviet propaganda or a socially approved behavior (including cases of active and continued general passive resistance to a new life)? Hence, taking into account the desire of the current Old Believers to return and develop old traditions, the tasks of analyzing the external (everyday) changes of the 1930s in working life and searching for attempts to preserve (for further continuity) the identity of the social group are set. The object of the study is the Old Believers’ community of a part of the former Verkhneudinsky uyezd (since the 1930s – Tarbagataisky and Mukhorshibirsky aimaks of the Buryat-Mongolian ASSR), the subject is the ideological, cultural and religious processes that took place in their environment during the indicated period. As a brief conclusion, it follows that the ideological campaign in Buryat-Mongolia, which continued in the 1930s, had a formal character in the Old Believer districts, which took place in the adoption of changes in the way of life while preserving the foundations of religious identity.

The Liturgical Singing Tradition of the Old Believers Priests of the Village of Koida (Based on the Materials of the Pushkin House Expedition in 1975 and 1976)

В 1975 и 1976 годах состоялись фольклорные экспедиции Института русской литературы в с.Койда Мезенского р-на Архангельской области, в ходе которых были записаны разнообразные в стилевом и историческом отношении духовные стихи, а также богослужебные песнопения. До настоящего времени коллекция звукозаписей, хранящаяся в Фонограммархиве ИРЛИ, не становилась предметом специального изучения. В ходе исследования удалось атрибутировать гимнографические тексты, выделить особенности распевов и духовных стихов, выявить их источники, частично реконструировать условия звукозаписи. На основе материалов более поздних фольклорно-археографических экспедиций ИРЛИ были восстановлены сведения о жизни старообрядческой общины, которая принадлежала к белокриницкому согласию. Коллекция богослужебных песнопений в музыкальном отношении разнообразна: она содержит пение «по напевке», «на глас», распевы письменной традиции, памятогласие. Внебогослужебная лирика представлена популярными духовными стихами позднего происхождения, за исключением эсхатологических стихов, распевы которых опираются на богослужебную традицию гласового пения. In 1975 and 1976, the Institute of Russian Literature (the Pushkin House) arranged expeditions to the village of Koida, Mezensky District, Arkhangelsk Region, during which spiritual verses and liturgical chants diverse in style and history were recorded. Until now, the collection of sound recordings (32 items) stored in the Phonogram Archive has not been a subject of special study. In the course of the research, it has become possible to attribute hymnographic texts, to highlight specifics of the chants and spiritual verses, to identify their sources, and partially reconstruct conditions of the sound recording. The materials of later folklore and archaeographic expeditions, provided the following information: facts about the life of the Old Believer’s community that belonged to the Belokrinitsky concord, the names of mentors, forms of mentoring and transmitting the singing tradition. The chants and spiritual verses were recorded from two significant performers — mentors Nadezhda Malygina and Nikandr Malygin. The collection of chants is diverse and contains oral and written versions of chants, mnemonic (pamyatoglasie). Non-liturgical music is represented by popular spiritual poetry of late origin, except for eschatological verses, the melody of which is similar to the chant.

New life of the Old Believers of Transbaikalia: towards the “Soviet person” (late 1920s)

In the 1920s, throughout the USSR, there were well-known processes of unification of a heterogeneous social structure, ultimately designed to create a unified Soviet society. The attitude of the Old Believers of Buryat-Mongol Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and Chita District of the Far Eastern Territory to what was happening during this period became one of the most problematic in terms of the introduction of Communist principles. This was recognised by almost all local Party officials and cultural workers. Formally reproducing the structures of Soviet political and economic institutions, adopting technical innovations and the specifics of the "cultural revolution" in their lives – in reality, the Semeiskie Old Believers often did not seek to change their views on the world, religious identity for the sake of forming the Soviet type of personality. The purpose of the work is to analyse the relationship between the authorities and the Old Believers, as well as the everyday perception of the Communist ideology by the latter. Hence, the main problem can be considered the identification of the reaction of the Semeiskie (including the Communists) to the intensified in their community anti-religious propaganda by the late 1920s – the main condition for changing the paradigm of the worldview. Another problem is to research the ideological (educational) aspect of the new way of life and people's attitudes towards it. As a brief conclusion it should be noted that the process of the formation of the Soviet type of personality in the Old Believers’ environment of Transbaikalia by the early 1930s had a formal character of development: the ideologisation of the population with atheistic propaganda were not tied in the minds of people as an indispensable prerequisite for their new cultural life.