Old Believers

[spiridon]

Patri-Arch Alexi III , sends letters of condolences to everyone,but congradulatory letters only go out to those he has a relationship with

[Kollyvas]

http://www.vm.ee/eng/kat_174/aken_prindi/4990.html

17 November 2004

Russian Old Believers in Estonia

Eastern Estonia is home to many Russian Old Believers. The Old Believers are Russians who fled to Estonia because of religious persecution. They found homes on the west banks of Lake Peipsi. The first Russian Old Believers appeared in Estonia on the coast of Lake Peipsi near Mustvee in the late 17th century. Today there are about 15 000 members in 11 congregations of Old Believers in Estonia.

---

History

In 1652, Patriarch Nikon of the Russian Orthodox Church introduced a number of reforms aimed at centralizing his power, and bringing the rituals and doctrines of the Russian Orthodox in line with those of the Greek Orthodox Church. Old Believers rejected Nikon's reforms. Consequently, the Old Believers were cruelly persecuted, exiled, tortured and executed all over Russia. Their churches, icons and homes were burnt. As a result they took refuge abroad.

Churche in Varnja
In Estonia, the building of Old Believer worship houses began in the early 18th century in Prichudye (the Lake Peipsi Region). In the middle of the 18th century, new worship houses were built in the villages of Varnia, Krasnye Gory (Kallaste), Kasepeli, Kolki and Chernyi Posad (Mustvee). Unfortunately, being under Tsarist rule, the Estonian authorities were forced to close the worship houses in the middle of the 1840s. On a positive note, the Old Believers avoided persecution and execution.

The 20th century considerably changed the lives of the Old Believers. Estonian independence in 1918 created an environment of acceptance and religious freedom. The Old Believers in Estonia were able to practice their religion in peace while their fellow worshippers in other countries were being discriminated against and persecuted. In the 1920-30s, new worship houses were built and old houses were reconstructed. World War II and the illegal occupation of Estonia by the Soviets once again broke the peace. The war led to worship houses in Raja and Kükita being burnt down as well as the worship house in Tartu. The end of the war signalled a time of peace in Prichudye and the restoration of the villages began.

Old Believers Today

Today there are 11 congregations of Old Believers in Estonia with a total of 15 000 members. The congregations mainly lie in areas along the banks of Lake Peipsi, but also exist in Tartu and Tallinn. At present there are 4 actively functioning chapels in the villages. The descendants of the Old Believers willingly baptise their children in the worship houses. The Old Believers of Estonia strive for a revival of old traditions.

Village in the Lake Peipsi area
A unique 7-kilometre village street, consisting of the Raja, Kükita, Tiheda and Kasepää villages, follows the shore of Lake Peipsi. All of the houses are of a peculiar architecture and are situated in a single line. Most buildings are two stories and have either balconies or small towers. Every house has an icon inside and a spade in the yard.

Raja village is well known, because the icon painter Gavrila Frolov founded his famous school of icon painting at the end of the 19th century in Raja. Icons painted by Frolov and his students can be found around the world. Raja also has one of the oldest Russian language schools in Estonia (1815).

In the summer of 1998, an Old Believers Museum was established in Kolkja where everything connected with the life of Old Believers is exhibited.

Celebrations and Food

Easter is the greatest feast for the Old Believers. It is the victory of life over death, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is celebrated for three days and the graves of relatives are visited then. Christmas is celebrated on 6 January. The Christmas religious service begins in the evening and ends at midnight. There are also local church patron feasts.

Since fasting is an important part of the Old Believer religion, the Old Believers fast weekly and on certain religious holidays their eating habits vary greatly. During the fasting period meat and milk products are not eaten. Instead, the Old Believers eat light meals such as porridge with vegetable oil, sauerkraut soup with mushrooms or Peipsi smelt, oat flummery and black radish with oil. The greatest varieties of dishes are prepared during Easter. The most famous of which is Pascha. Pascha is made of quark or cottage cheese with raisins and candied fruit.

The traditional food of the Russian Old Believers can be enjoyed at the fish-and-onion restaurant in Kolkja. The restaurant was built with funds from the PHARE programme.

State support

In 1994, the Old Believer congregations formed the Union of Old Believer Congregations whose chairman is currently Pavel Varunin. The Society of Old Believer Culture and Development was registered in Tartu in 1998. It is the first and the only non-profit organisation that aims to help Russian Old Believers living in Estonia. The society helps solve social and economic problems, and assists in the preservation of their cultural heritage.

One of the first achievements of the Society was the publishing of a leaflet, “Russian Old Believers in Estonia”, printed with the support of the Dutch MATRA-KAP Program for Estonia. This was the first printed matter dealing with the Old Believers published since 1940. The MATRA-KAP Program also sponsored the creation of the Old Believers homepage www.starover.ee

The publication of the book "Essays on History and Culture of the Old Believers of Estonia" was also carried out by the Society of Old Believers Culture and Development together with the Department of Russian languages at the University of Tartu in 2003. The Estonian Regional Development Foundation funded the publication.

The Society also organised the international conference "Russian Old Believers Abroad" in 2000. The conference was the result of a united effort by the Society and the University of Tartu Russian Language Chair.

The Old Believers receive support from the state budget through municipal, regional and social support programmes. They also receive funds to help preserve their heritage and culture.

The Society of Old Believer Culture and Development receives funding from the Foundation "Enterprise Estonia", the Culture Foundation of Estonia, the local governments of Tartu town and Tartu County, the Non-Estonians Integration Foundation in Estonia, the Estonian Ministry of Culture, the Council of Estonian Churches, the Estonian State Development Program of, Estonian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Netherlands MATRA-KAP Programme for Estonia and the SOROS Foundation, Open Estonian Foundation.

---

PDF 16 KB

[Kollyvas]

http://www.starover.ee/history.html

RUSSIAN OLD BELIEVERS IN ESTONIA
Ponomariova.G.
Translator: Grishakova.M.

The western coast of Lake Chudskoe was settled in the late 16th century, although Russian fishermen came to fish there already in the 13th-14th centuries. In the 16th-17th centuries the population was mostly Estonian. Russian fishermen made 20 % of the north-western coastline population. According to A.Moor, a researcher of Prichudie (the coastline of Lake Chudskoe), fishing was of minor importance for Estonians: they preferred agriculture.

First Russian Old Believers (starovery) appeared on the coast near Mustvee in the late 17th century. The end of the 18th century was marked by growing resettlement of Old Believers from provinces of Vitebsk, Novgorod and even Tver. Russian population was increasing mostly in the villages engaged in fishing. As before, Estonians lived in the places suitable for agriculture.

Before speaking of the history of Old Believers in Estonia, one should turn to the history of the Russian church. Having adopted the Christian Orthodox faith from Byzantine Greeks under the rule of the Grand Prince Vladimir in 988, Russians held it sacred until the middle of the 16th century: they considered it their own inviolable national sacred possession. Russians adopted Greek forms of divine service, rites and customs, and also forms of churchdom.

After Patriarch Nikon had came to power in 1653, reformation of the Russian Orthodox church began (mainly for political reasons and because of patriarch-s personal ambitions). The reforms included textual correction of the liturgical books, changes in several rites, abolition of down-to-earth bows, a change in the manner of crossing oneself with three instead of two fingers. The government supported persecution of the disobedients by laws and military power. The clergy that resisted reforms was exterminated. Thus adherents of Old Belief remained without guidance. In 1665 the bishop Pavel Kolomenskii was killed. In 1668 governmental troops besieged Solovetskii monastery: it was seized in 1677. Those who remained alive were thrown into prisons. In November of 1675 boyarynia Morozova died in an earthen prison from starvation. In April the archpriest Avvakum was burnt alive after four years of confinement. Old Believers were cruelly persecuted, exiled, tortured, executed over whole Russia. Their churches, icons and homes were burnt. They took refuge abroad, in the Baltic and even in America. After the schism Old Believers split up into several branches. Pomortsy and fedoseevtsy found shelter in Estonia. Enemies of Old Believers called them raskolniki, whereas Old Believers called themselves starovery.

After the Tsar-s edict of toleration (April 17, 1905) the status of Old Believers and the name Old Believers (for the first time in the Catherine the Great-s edict of August 13, 1785) were established.
It is little known about the Old Believers who fled to Estonia in the late 17th century. There is more information on the Old Believer monastery in Riapino. Adepts of Feodosii Vasiliev, the founder of the fedoseevtsy sect, settled there. In 1710 they founded the monastery.

They built a mill, a forge and a number of buildings and were engaged in agriculture and fishing. In 1718 the prior Konstantin Fedorov left the monastery and became an enemy of Old Believers. He was appointed to be the priest in Iamburg (now Kingisepp) and acquired the right to dispose of the Old Believers- matters. Fedorov wrote letters to Riapino monastery and threatened to send soldiers for reprisals. The threat was soon put into effect. A false report by the soldier Petr Tiuhov served as a pretext: he reported about the fugitive soldiers hiding in Riapino manor. The Old Believers had heard about the danger not long before the soldiers arrived. Some of them took horses and gallopped away, others fled. The soldiers pursued and arrested the Old Believers. The latter were brought to Iuriev (Tartu), tortured, brought to Petersburg and tortured again. Quite soon it turned out that the report was false. Persecutions, nevertheless, continued and Riapino monastery was destroyed in 1719.

Building of Old Believer houses of worship started in Prichudye in the early 18th century. Thus the worship house in Kikita village was built by the Novgorod merchant Nikitin and one of the Moscow boyars Morozovs in 1740. They also brought liturgical books, four bells and necessary utensils there.

If in the middle and the second half of the 18th century new worship houses appeared in villages Varnia, Krasnye Gory (Kallaste), Kasepeli, Kolki and Chernyi Posad (Mustvee), then in the first half of the 19th century worship houses were being closed. Under the rule of the Tzar Nicolas the First (1825-1855) repressions against Old Believers intensified. The order to close all Old Believer churches came from Riga (the center of Livland province to which also Dorpat uezd belonged). In 1837 the Kikita worship house was sealed. On March 5, 1846, the Old Believers of this village appealed Ministry for Internal Affairs to get back all their personal icons with "parental blessing". In December they received the answer from St.-Petersburg: ?To dismantle the worship house, to hand over the icons and liturgical books to the Edinovertsy church of Chernaia (Mustvee) village (the Edinovertsy were an arm of the state-sponsored Russian Orthodox Church, dedicated to attracting Old Believers back to the church organization). On February 28, 1847, the Kikita worship house was dismantled.

In the 19th century the authorities tried to strentghen the position of the Orthodoxy in Prichudie in every possible way. A new Orthodox church was built in Nos (Nina) village inhabited by members of the Orthodoxy. In the 1830s its priest A.Orlov repeatedly wrote reports against Old Believers. Criminal proceedings were often instituted on the grounds of these reports. The following accusations were brought against Old Believers: their children were baptized in their faith, parents were not married in the Orthodox Church, Old Believers blamed the latter and its ministers. It was prohibited not only to baptize and marry, but also to bury by Old Believer custom. So in Tartu a chief of police ordered to bury an Old Believer preceptor (nastavnik) at night. In Prichudie villages Orthodox priests took children away from their parents to be baptized into the Orthodox faith and to be brought up in Russian Orthodox families. Of course, there were also rich and influential people among Old Believers. For example, Old Believer merchants from Dorpat repeatedly bribed police. But forces were unequal. Worship houses were sealed in the middle of the 1840s. There remained only a worship house in Kasepae village.

Prichudie Russian villages repeatedly attracted attention of Russian writers. Thus Faddey Bulgarin happened to go through Chernaia village (Mustvee). He liked village architecture and wealth of village inhabitants. Chernaia village is built perfectly well; there are mostly two-storey buildings with towers and balconies here. Shops, workshops, fishing equipment are visible everywhere; prosperity and merriness show from everywhere. The inhabitants themselves seemed likable to the writer: The streets were crowded. Tall, healthy and strong men thronged in the middle; pink-cheeked beauties stood at the gates waiting for cows. Children, nice as cupids, fluttered from place to place. Talking to peasants, Bulgarin found out that they were all Old Believers and had moved here during the Swedish rule. Bulgarin was pleasantly surprised at the Russian peasants not living in Russia but still remaining Russian. They all know the Estonian language, but live in Russian way.

The woman essay-writer Ekaterina Avdeeva, who in the 1830s stayed with her relative, professor M.P.Rozberg, in Dorpat (Tartu), was also interested in Russian villages of Prichudie.

She was struck by Russianness of Prichudie inhabitants. She wrote in her book. Notes on the Russian Old and New Mode of Life: I have not seen such purely-Russian generation for a long time: they have preserved their language, customs, clothes; they are almost all tall, strong, with light-brown hair; children-s hair are as flax; all their movements are agile thanks to active life. Both Avdeeva and Bulgarin tried to inquire about the roots of Prichudie inhabitants, but the latter just answered that their fathers and grandfathers lived here. Avdeeva notes that Prichudie Russians are very honest. Stealing is unknown among them. Belongings remained in a boat for two days without surveillance and nobody touched them while the owners were at fair. Fishermen remember poor people. There is a nice custom to throw the last sein for orphans. When fishermen come back from fishing, poor people gather on shore and share their part of fish. Avdeeva-s notes, with her womanly interest in details of life, customs and language of Prichudie people, are extremely interesting.

There were Orthodox Russians, however, who sympatized with Old Believers. One of them was the famous writer Nikolai Leskov who had been to Riga on instructions from Minister of Education A.Golovin to examine the question of Old Believer schools. Leskov regarded the schism as a profound spiritual tragedy of Russians, the destruction of national unity. Leskov-s report was written mostly in defence of Old Believers.

The writer presumed that the prohibition of Old Believer schools would bar the way to elementary education for thousands of people. The writer protested also against the devastation of worship houses. Leskov gives the examples of the oppression of Old Believers. Thus eight Old Believer preceptors from Dorpat (Tartu) uezd were exiled and died as sufferers for faith. Leskov wrote with indignation: Dorpat Old Believers have neither legal preceptors nor a worship house, nor wives, nor children, nor rights, nor duties! Old Believers want to have their own schools. But they wish their own teachers to teach in these schools,Orthodox priests not to be allowed to intervene into the school actvity.

As a result secret Old Believer schools appear. It should be said that Leskov in his own works repeatedly turned to Old Believers- everyday life.

The school education of Old Believer children was one of the most painful issues in the 19th century. In the late 19th-early 20th century Old Believers themselves taught Church Slavonic reading and writing skills to their children. For example, there was a school for Old Believer children at the Tartu worship house where the education of poor children was free.

In the 1830-1840s first Russian parochial schools were opened in villages Chernaia (Mustvee), Lohusuu, Tiheda and Nos (Nina). The teachers were Orthodox priests and psalmists. Thereby the tsarist government pursued the double aim: the Ortodox children living in Dorpat (Tartu) uezd had to escape the influence of more numerous Old Believers whereas Old Believers had to rid themselves of their "heresy" through the beneficial influence of the Ortodox church. While children mostly learned by heart chasoslov (a liturgical book) and catechism in such schools, they mastered also arithmetic and secular reading and writing.

However, Old Believer schools were strictly banned by the government in 1832. Secret auntie-s schools were organized in the second half of the 19th century. The teachers were mostly women with good knowledge of liturgical books. There was also an additional training in kriukovoe chant to prepare new worship house choristers. Girls from Prichudie were sent to Old Believer centres in Petersburg and Pskov to learn chant. In Pskov they were taught chant and reading in rich man Hmelnitskii-s house and needlework in merchant Batov-s house. Being back at home, they could sing in worship houses, teach children in secret schools and embroider icons. Old Believers spent large sums of money buying ancient manuscript books in Moscow and Petersburg. The books were copied out in Prichudie.

There were a lot of people experienced in the 17th century script among Old Believers. One may draw a conclusion that Old Believers were not inimical to education, but wanted to give their children the education which strenghtened the foundations of their faith.

Let-s talk a little of Old Believers- religious life. Since public worship buildings were officially banned, rich Old Believer merchants built worship houses as though for their families. Hence the name worship house. The Old Believer hierarchy was destroyed by Nikon.

Therefore until now a parish chooses spiritual leaders (preceptors) from within the parish itself, among the most competent in the issues of divine service, most respected and worthy men over 40 years. Old Believers have special worship clothes. It is an azyam, long men-s wear with narrow sleeves, made of dark fabric. Not all parishioners had azyams, but a preceptor had it necessarily. Women-choristers of the krylos wore and still wear sarafans made of black material. They can not enter worship house bare-headed and therefore wear a large kerchief,often tasselled. The kerchief is pinned up under the chin. It was prohibited to enter a worship house in a knotted kerchief. Old Believers always use lestovki (ladders) and a podruchnik (a cloth for under the hands) at worship. A lestovka was already used in the first centuries of Christianity, but only Old Believers have preserved it. It is a sort of beads: a wicker leather ribbon sewed in the form of a loop. Four piped triangular lopastok-s (small blades) decorated with beads and embroidery are sewed to the place of connection of the ribbon-s ends: they signify four evangelists. A lestovka is used to facilitate counting of prayers and bows and allows to focus attention on prayers. A podruchnik is a rather small (40x40) rug which is put on the floor to keep hands clean while accomplishing down-to-earth bows or prostrations. Girls from Old Believer families competed with one another embroidering lestovki and podruchniki. As a rule men stand on the right and women on the left side in worship houses. Children always stand in front. The service is strict and solemn.

Easter is the greatest feast for Old Believers. It is the life-s victory over death, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is celebrated for three days. The most festive board is prepared for Easter. At Pentecost houses are decorated with birch-leaves, eggs are painted yellow. It is the time to visit the graves of relatives. After the Christmas service the preceptor and the krylos (choir) go all round the village glorifying Christ in every house.

There were also local patronial feasts of the church. Thus the day of apostles Peter and Paul was celebrated on Mezha (Piirisaar) island. All Prichudie inhabitants came there by boats and celebrated for several days. The day of Saint Nikolas the Wonderworker was important for fishermen: the saint was considered to be the fishermen-s patron.

Family holidays like weddings, baptisms were also celebrated in Prichudie. Usually Old Believers married in the same or neighbouring village and certainly in the same faith. Usually one went to propose to a girl late in the evening to avoid a bad eye. Youth-s closest relatives (mother, brothers) were sent to propose. A wedding was within several days after a proposal.

Old Believer families were large because the interruption of pregnancy was forbidden. Birth was given at home. Village old women were at help. If a baby was weak and ill it was baptized as soon as possible. A healthy child could be baptized even in two month after birth. A name was taken from the church calendar. There are a lot of archaic men-s and women-s names in Prichudie: Feofan, Filaret, Ielikanida, Hionia, etc. A godmother and godfather were chosen by baby-s mother. She herself was considered unclean and could not be present at the baptism. A godmother, godfather (called kum and kuma) and mother-s relatives brought a baby to a worship house.

A burial was the most significant of rites. Before a burial three or four men read in turn psalms beside the deceased. Usually all village inhabitants and acquaintances of the deceased from neighbouring villages came to a burial. An icon was brought in front of a coffin, the coffin was covered by cloth, the preceptor with a censer followed the coffin.There was a commemorative feast for the preceptor, relatives and neighbours after a burial. There was a custom to worship, to hold commemorative services in the third, ninth and fortieth day after a death.

The Old Believer habit to use different dishes for own and alien people was the most amazing for the representatives of other confessions who came into contact with Old Believers. Having visited Prichudie in 1930, the young scholar, the future academician Paul Ariste wrote: There are special dishes for people of other faith in every decent house since politeness demands hospitality. There was also a separate cup for a newly-made mother in Old Believer families. A man who returned home from other places used separate dishes until he was cleansed with prayer. Sharing the same dishes with Orthodox people was regarded as a sin, but it sometimes happened while being away from home.

Besides the separate dishes, a samovar is a typical feature of an Old Believer home. Prichudie people drink a lot of tea. Water was taken only from the lake, off shore. It was usual to drink tea from a saucer with small pieces of sugar. A family used about 100 grammes of tea per two days. Guests were always treated to tea. Love of samovar tea is usual for Russians in general, but the point is that tea is prohibited among Old Believers. This prohibition is broken everywhere in Prichudie. Local inhabitants explain the need for tea by the abundance of fish meals that causes thirst. The usage of tobacco is also banned among Old Believers. This ban is connected with spreading of tobacco under the rule of Peter the Great whom Old Believers considered to be Antichrist.

Fishing, the main trade of Russian population of the western coast of Lake Chudskoe, has also its impact on local Russian speech. According to N.Burdakova calculations, there is about one thousand names of fish in Prichudie Russian dialects.

The 20th century considerably changed Old Believers- life. The first Russian revolution not only evoked a wave of Russian peasants- political activity, but softened the treatment of Old Believers by the tzarist government. In 1917 some local Russian newspapers reported on the wish of Prichudie inhabitants to join democratic Russia. Germans and Estonians, the Red and White Army passed through Prichudie during the civil war. A lot of blood was shed.

After the conclusion of the Tartu peace treaty the problem of the frontier became the most important and painful for Prichudie population.
Western and eastern shore inhabitants constantly communicated before the revolution. There were acquaintances and relatives on both sides. The border which passed along the lake was marked with fir-twigs in winter and with buoys in summer. Sometimes Prichudie fishermen, being lost in mist, were caught by Soviet border-guards who took away their boats, fishing-tackles and fish. Unlucky fishermen had to be under arrest in Gdov-s prison. The situation got worse in the second half of the 1930s when the fishermen from Estonia were accepted as spies. In the 1920-30s only a narrow strip remained for fishing although before they came to fish not only in Lake Chudskoe, but also in Ladozhskoe.

The second very painful problem was the lost of market. The major part of catch was sent to Petersburg, Pskov and Moscow. Now the whole catch had to be sold in the Baltic. In the 1920-30s a part of Prichudie inhabitants was more and more engaged in building as well as market-gardening: they cultivated onion, chicory, cucumbers. But due to the loss of market the level of life was lower between the two world wars than it was before the revolution, although Prichudie people certainly lived better than fishermen in Soviet Russia. At this time Old Belivers of Estonia had close contacts with the spiritual center of Baltic Old Believers, Grebenshchikov community in Riga. The historian, writer, scholar and public activist Ivan Nikiforovich Zavoloko (1897-1984) founded the Starover circle of zealots of Russian old times whose task was to study and propagate Russian history and the history of Old Believers. From 1927 to 1933 the magazine The Native Past (Rodnaia Starina) was published in Riga on Zavoloko-s personal means and on donations. It was devoted to issues of religious-moral and national education. Considerable attention was given to Old Believers-life in Estonia: Zavoloko himself regularly visited Prichudie. And what is a testimony of its significance, the magazine was completely re-printed in the Moscow publishing-house The Third Rome in 1997.

In the late 1920s the articles of the Prichudie icon-painter Gavriil Iefimovich Frolov were published in The Native Past. Frolov worked in icon-painting workshops in Rezhitsa (Rezekne), at the Preobrazhenskoe cemetry in Moscow. G.Frolov was a fedoseevets and therefore his mode of life was severe, monasterial. He wore azyam from youth, never missed a divine service, had meals twice a day as it was ordered in the Old Believer regulations. Only having worshipped, he started to paint an icon and then consecrated it himself. He spent earned money on the needs of the community and on the purchase of religious books. G.Frolov gave much attention to children. He taught old ?kriukovoe¦ chant to several generations. He founded the school to teach Church Slavonic reading and writing. There were G.Frolov-s icons in every Prichudie house. He did not give up painting while being very ill. G.Frolov found the means to build the Old Believer church in Raiushi (Raia) and decorated it himself. Icons were in old Russian icon-painting style. Multilevel iconostasis included about two hundreds images of saints and Bible stories. Unfortunately, the church was burnt down during the war. In 1990 the parish restored the 50 meters- high church tower.

Two Frolov-s pupils are well-known Pimen Sofronov (1898-1973) and Mark Solntsev (died in 1958). Pimen Sofronov worked in an icon-painting workshop in Riga in the late 1920s. Then he moved to Europe and headed icon-painting schools and colleges in Paris, Prague, Belgrade. In 1939 he was invited to work in Vatican. After the war Sofronov moved to the USA where he painted churches and supervised painting courses. In 1968, not long before his death, he visited his native land Prichudie. He spent most of his life abroad, but always dreamt to return home. The Sofronov centennary was celebrated in Estonia and Latvia in 1998. The memorial table was installed on his former house in Prichudie.

In the 1930-40s Evdokia Efimovna Dolgosheva from Kallaste was concerned with artistic embroidery. She skilfully embroidered icons in silk. Having embroidered an icon, she consecrated it in church. She presented the embroidered icons to Old Believer worship houses in Tallinn, Tartu, Mustvee, Kallaste. A.Ulanova from Kallaste recalled how Moscow art-critics from the Tretyakov Gallery came to Dolgosheva to ask her to sell an icon to Moscow. She queried: Don-t they smoke there? Having found out that it could not be guaranteed, she refused to give them her work.

There were 10 thousands Old Believers, unified in 12 communities in Estonia. The Old Believer congresses were conducted regularly in Tallinn, Tartu, Kallaste, on Piirissaare. The charter of the Old Believer church was passed, reports on topical questions were presented, the problems of organization were discussed at congresses. The congress elected the management board - the Central Council - for a period of three years. If the Council was concerned with issues of organization and management, then the Ecclesiastical Committee discussed the problems of Old Believers- religious life. Guests from Latvia, Lithuania and Poland came to congresses. The question of celebrating of Old Believer feasts Old Style was the most painful since schoolchildren-s parents were fined for children-s absence in school during the holidays.

A lot of attention was given to the work with young people. There was an Old Believer youth circle supervised by Lavrentii Iefremovich Grishakov (1914-1991) in Tartu in the 1930s. One of its main tasks was to evoke religious feelings among Old Believer youth. Under supervision of Ivan Savelievich Kulev young people learned famous kriukovoe chant.

Church educational courses directed by L.Murnikov were opened in Posad Chernyi in 1933. The Old Believer L.Murnikov attached great importance to learning of kriukovoe chant. In his book ?Youth-s Spiritual Rest. A practical Manual for Learning of Znamennoe (Solevoe) Chant¦ he wrote: Church znamennoe chant is our sacred past, our precious symbol of antiquity, our living connection with the remote past. It is the chant of those days when boyarynia Morozova was in chains, and people rose at the appeal of the greats for the liberation of the native land and holy Christian faith¦ (znamennyi raspev, chant by the signs¦, is an ancient form of Russian chant) .

In the 1920-30s new worship houses were built and rebuilt. Thus in 1930 the Old Believer church in Mustvee (Posad Chernyi) was consecrated. In 1931 the stone belltower projected by the architect Pochekaiev was built in Tartu on donations of the parish and Old Believer communities.

Iuriev (Tartu) church itself was built on the land, presented by A.Korabliova, in 1863. The Tallinn Old Believer community was in the most difficult situation: it had not its own house up to 1930 and was compelled to rent a room. It was a rich and big community at one time.

At the time of persecutions and absence of legal rights it lost people, church property and fell apart. According to parishioner Stefanida Miaeberg-s will, the church was raised. Following her will, her husband, a Lutheran, allotted a plot, built a worship house there and gifted it to the Old Believer community. The consecrating of it took place on December 26, 1930.

There were active culture-educational societies in Prichudie in the 1920-30s. Usually a local teacher was at the head of the society. An insctructor from the Union of Russian Educational and Philantropic Societies helped them. There were People-s Houses, mixed choirs and folk music orchestras in many villages.

Firemen were also of great importance for Prichudie life. There were mostly wooden houses standing close to each other in Prichudie: fires happened quite often. Almost all men were members of voluntary fire-societies. Firemen had their own People-s House in Kallaste.

Performances and dancing parties were organized there.
In the second half of the 1930s Stalin-s power strenghtens in the USSR: it tells also on Prichudie life. Propaganda increases: it aims at the Russians living in neighbouring countries and extols paradisal Soviet life. At this time radio was popular in Estonia. The families which had crystal receivers listened to the Soviet broadcasting. Several scores of teenagers tempted with the broadcasts fled to the USSR. At first they were returned to parents, but later some of them got into prison being condemned to ten years of imprisonment on suspicion of espionage in favour of Estonia.

There was a great turn in quiet Prichudie life in 1940-41. The Soviet Army entered Estonia in summer of 1940. Local people have not seen such amount of tanks yet. There were several meetings and demonstrations supporting the new power. First fishing collective farms (kolkhozes) were organized in Prichudie.

The hopes to see relatives and to visit Russia (some of them had not seen it for 20 years) did not come true. A special permission was required to visit Russia. Russian newspapers in Estonia were closed and Soviet Estonia and The Soviet village appeared instead. Old Believers were unpleasantly struck by open antireligious propaganda. The connections with Grebenshikov community ceased almost completely. I.N.Zavoloko, a prominent Old Believer figure, had been reported arrested. All local culture-educational societies were abolished. Most part of local Russian leaders were subjected to repressions. At these troubled times Prichudie people lost their spiritual leaders.

In a week after mass deportations of June 14, 1941, the war began. A part of men were mobilized into the Soviet Army. Since Tartu was very soon occupied by Germans, not many Prichudie inhabitants were mobilized. But they were mobilized into the German army after Estonia had been occupied by Germans. Provisions and kerosene were issued in exchange for cards. Germans forbade to sell fish: it had to be exchanged for butter.

In turn fishermen were compelled to exchange butter for necessary provisions and things. Old Believers were not persecuted by Germans. Sometimes curious German soldiers and officers stopped by worship houses. German soldiers were allocated in Prichudie houses. Sometimes Germans mistook bearded Old Believers for partisans, but then having understood the mistake, let them go. It is interesting that during the German occupation Russian villages and streets of Prichudie received back their names of the tzarist time.

The war destroyed many houses in Mustvee and Raia. The worship houses in Raya and Kikita were burnt down as well as the worship house in Tartu - together with an icon by Andrei Rublev (as tradition tells) brought here from Piirissaar.

After the war the restoration of Prichudie began. Old Believers themselves restored their worship houses. Bricks and logs were brought by horses. There were a lot of skilful stone-masons in villages who did the work of reconstruction. Icons by local masters were brought from homes. Thus the worship house in Kikita was reconstructed and consecrated in 1949. In the end of the 1940s collective farms were either organized or restored. The period of creating of kolkhozes coincided with the deportation in March 1949. A lot of people were deported from Prichudie Russian villages. Some of them died in Siberia, some returned home in the second half of the 1950s.

The Soviet period was in many respects destructive for Old Believers, especially Khrushev-s rule with its frantic antireligious propaganda and demolition of individual agriculture. Youth left for towns, schools became empty. The prominent researcher of Prichudie Russian dialects,

Old Believer and Old Believer preceptor-s wife Tatiana Filaretovna Murnikova (1908-1985) was almost dismissed, but thanks to professor Y.Lotman, finally transferred to another department.

The religious life of Old Believers was also different under the Soviet rule. Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, was the main religious center.

Preceptors had to present the lists of parishioners to the authorities. Old Believers tried not to advertise their religion: it could be harmful for men-s careers. Houses of worship were attended mostly by women and old people, often with children.

The Old Believer revival in Estonia began in the 1995s. The Union of Old Believer Parishes of Estonia was restored. Now there are almost 15 thousands Old Believers by birth in Estonia. Old Believers- descendants willingly baptize their children in worship houses. Churches are crowded at Easter. There are 11 registred Old Believer parishes in Estonia: 9 in Prichudye, 1 in Tartu and 1 in Tallinn. The Old Believers of Estonia strive for revival of old traditions.

For example, they started to celebrate patronial feasts of the church together. The feast of the Dormition of the Mother of Lord was celebrated in Kallaste on August 29, 1998. Old Believers from all 11 parishes came together. The feast of apostles Paul and Peter was celebrated on Piirissaar island on July 22, 1999. The tradition of christoslavy (glorifying of Christ) is being revived. After the Christmas night service choristers (the krylos) go all round a village glorifying Christ. In Kolki Old Believer children have religion classes at school. It is planned to extend the work with Old Believer children. One of the most painful problems is robbery in worship houses.

Churches in Voronye, Kikita were repeatedly robbed. There is empty space in inconostases where the stolen icons have been.

Prichudie population is mostly Russian. Only in Mustvee it is half Russian and half Estonian. There are only about 6% Estonians in other villages. Mixed marriages are rare. There are families in which either the wife or the husband is from Russia. Local Russians are closely connected with each other. They are almost all relatives, neighbours, acquiantances. E.Berg and H.Kulu in their article Prichudie Russians point out how Prichudie Russians distinguish between the own and the "alien". Not only Estonians, but the Russians who came from afar, the Ortodox Russians, atheists are alien.

The question arises: how could several thousands of Old Believers preserve their identiy living in the Estonian environment for 300 years

Will Old Believers remain in Prichudie? It seems that their local roots are deep and strong. Worship houses burnt, were closed and sealed repeatedly. But they were restored again. The worship houses in Kallaste and Piirisaar are 200 years old. And Old Believer youth more and more strives for the roots, traditions, worship houses.

Lake Chudskoe is connected with three cultures - Russian, Estonian and German. For Estonians it is Lake Peipsi which the hero of the Estonian national epic Kalevipoeg swam while setting off for Pskov. For Russians Lake Chudskoe is connected with Aleksandr Nevskii-s victory over the German knights on April 5, 1242. Prichudie is connected not only with the appearing and disappearing state frontier, but with the two neighbouring cultures. Estonians and Russians, with their different languages, customs, faiths, live there side by side for 300 years, not merging and peacefully getting on with each another.

[Kollyvas]

http://www.sras.org/news2.phtml?m=445&popup=1#Staroveri

The Staroveri (Old Believers) back to table of contents

In 1443, the Tsar declared the Russian Church independent of the Byzantine Orthodoxy in Constantinople, and shortly thereafter a long era of reform among the clergy was initiated. By 1589, the patriarch in Constantinople acknowledged the Russian separation and the Archbishop of Novgorod, Nikon, began implementing the reforms. In 1653, Nikon sent a memorandum to the churches across the Russian State, which instructed them in various revisions of the services and the books. Among the major points contested were: (1) how many fingers would be used to make the sign of the cross; (2) the spelling of Jesus' name; (3) whether "Alleluia" should be sung two or three times; (4) the retention of certain words and phrases in the Creed; (5) the number of hosts to be used in the liturgy; and (6) whether the priests should walk around the altar with or against the passage of the sun. These reforms met with opposition from many of the clergy, which lead to the raskol (split) of the Russian church on many branches. However, common attitudes and practices united the scattered branches of Old Belief, who rejected the reformed service books introduced by Patriarch Nikon. The disputes might have been settled in the course of a few councils, had not Nikon pressed his hand too early and forcefully. He had his opponents flogged, exiled, and even burned at the stake. Among the exiles was the Arch-priest Avvakum, who continued to serve as a spiritual leader for many of the dissenters and was eventually burned at the stake in 1682. For Old Believers, the defense of the old liturgy and traditional culture was a matter of primary importance; for all, the old ritual was at least a badge of identification and a unifying slogan.

Many Old Believers had to flee their homes into Siberia and abroad, with the largest groups settling in China, North and South America. Some of the dissenters believed that the age of the Anti-Christ had come and that the end of the world was near. In the years 1666-1668, numerous fields throughout Western Russia were neglected while the faithful adorned themselves in burial clothes and awaited the end of the world in their cemeteries at night, singing hymns and sitting in wooden coffins. Others set buildings afire where they waited inside to be cleansed and to perish in the flames so that they might join Christ before Judgment Day. Between these and the others who were burned to death by persecutors, it has been estimated that more than 20,000 Old Believers died between 1672 and 1691 alone.

From those days on to the Revolution of 1917, the Old Believer sects suffered varying degrees of persecution at the hands of henchmen either of the Orthodoxy or various Tsars. Under Catherine II, Paul and Alexander I, they were tolerated and thrived in some areas, but under Peter the Great and Nicholas I, they often had to continue fleeing to outer regions of Russia and other countries to avoid death or imprisonment. During the last half of the 19th century, the position of the Orthodox Church softened with regard to the Old Believer question, and the 1909 Council made the first official conciliations by restoring a few of the decanonized saints which were favorites among the Old Believers. However, another potent socio-political force came in the Revolution of 1919 and later, in Stalin's measures against religious adherents of all stripes.

Religion is clearly central to the Old Believer society. It affects virtually every major portion of their social and inner lives. They base their interpretations of the Word of God on a number of books, which tell them in considerable detail how to live virtually each day of the year.

In the many general histories of Russia, the Old Believers, like a river in the desert, appear at their source, the great church schism of the Seventeenth century, then go underground and thereafter appear only intermittently on the surface of national events. Their numerical strength makes the Old Believers a significant element in the history of Russian society and culture.

The spirit world of the Old Believer is an active one, populated with angels and demons, which constantly engage themselves in an every-day tug-of-war for the souls of people on earth. Demons are said to be particularly sneaky and insidious; they can turn up anywhere. There are specific practices, which the individual is supposed to use for his/her protection against invasion or temptation at the hands of demons. For example, all open dishes should be covered so that a demon cannot hide there and be eaten by the next person to take a meal from that dish.

In the home, every meal and even the preparation of various foods and other household tasks must be blessed. In a prominent corner of the front room of each Old Believer home stands a small altar with the family icon sitting in a small shelter, curtained with an embroidered covering. Whenever a visiting Old Believer enters the home, he is ordinarily to bow three times from the waist before the icon (which is usually at about eye-level) and say a prayer which translates approximately: "O God be merciful to me, a sinner. You, O Lord who created me, have mercy on me. I have sinned without number, O Lord, have mercy on me and forgive me, a sinner." The entering person usually does this before even greeting the individuals whom he has come to visit. This obeisance is also the first act performed upon entering a church.

The chanting or hymns of the Staroveri are sung only by the men during the services. They have their historical and musical roots firmly embedded in the Byzantine chant of Tenth Century vintage. The pitch is relative rather than absolute, but the scale consists of 12 notes lying roughly in the tenor register. The hymns often contain two closely harmonized parts, with intervals consisting mostly of major and minor thirds and fifths.

Upon the death of an individual, the body is washed and prepared for burial by an older man or woman, usually a close relative of the deceased. A few male relatives then build a coffin and cross out of wood, if this has not been done already (some people build the coffins for their parents when they see that their parents have few years left to live). In the meantime, a dinner is prepared and relatives and friends are summoned to the house of the deceased for evening services there. There is then a processional with the coffin to the cemetery, where more prayers are said as the coffin is lowered into the ground. Everyone present has to pitch some dirt over the grave.

[Грешник]

Here is a smal (not really) list of links (mostly in Slavonic) for Old Believer Resources. I am eating this stuff like food, just wish there was more in English...

An Explanation on "The Ladder" or Lestovka

Library of Eastern Orthodox Resources

On the Russian Old Rite

This site has a wealth of info. Enjoy. I know I am!

[drewmeister2]

I have never fully understood the Old Believers (particularly the "priestless" ones I hear of). How can there be priestless O.B.'s, as you can't even become Orthodox without a priest? Or do these priestless OBs I hear of have bishops still? I am a bit confused.

Could anyone explain this to me?

Thanks.

P.S. Are there any OB bishops in Russia that aren't ecumenical?

[spiridon]

The Priestless ones dont have Priests and they dont receive the sacrament of Communion and I believe one other sacrament is left out too...
They instead use the elders of the Family or group,as the Leader and would conduct services as a normal home chapel with out a Priest,
The Old Believers here in erie are descendants of the Priestless ones and in the 1970s petitioned the Rocor Bishops to recognise them and ordain a Priest, by which they did and Chrismated many,many Old Believers back into Priested Orthodox w/Holy Communion...They arent any different then me and you, they just have held on to a tradition that has died out after Patriarch Nikons reforms in service books and signing ones selves...one thing that was eye opening to me was the Alleluia, Alleluia, Glory to Thee o` God ....this prayer in the Pre-Nikon books uses Alleluia 2 times only as above and the third Praise is Glory To Thee O God...the difference is , if you say 3 alleluias and then Glory to Thee o God, as all service Books read today you are Praising God in a Quadruple sequence and not the original Trinity as before, also by praising quarduple ,you have falling into praising God a 4th time as the latins do... We all know God, and these things shouldnt confuse us, they all mean the same thing, just Humans have always made some practices more important and dominating, the KEY is to Belong to an honorable and Apostolic Bishop..........