In Europe assorted national conceptions appeared in the course of the nineteenth century, while in Russia they were associated with the Slavophile movement. the difference lies in the fact that European romanticism opposed old religious forms, and aimed at a revival of religion and the creation of a new synthesis. the Slavophiles deprived romanticism of all anti-Christian features and inscribed it into the Christian vision of the world. By considering the Slavophiles not so much from a European perspective but that of European history, we are entitled to speak not about the birth but about the renascence of the idea of the nation. although the Slavophiles made use of the methodology of German philosophy, the ideas which they applied were actually those of the old believers. as a rule, they perceived the orthodox church and the obshchina as different, each calling for a separate interpretation. by taking into account the impact of the old believers, it becomes possible to conduct a new interpretation - the commune is no longer merely an intellectual construction but an actual historical fact. in the obshchina the Slavophiles discovered the realisation of the ideals of old rus', with the axis of national life being the organic unity of the obshchina, the sobor, and the church.
First Old Believer settlements in Poland were founded in the 17th century, after the schism in the Russian Orthodox Church. The migrants preserved their religion, language (Russian dialect from Pskov-Novgorod-Velikiye Luki region) and culture through ages in foreign surroundings. Simultaneously they achieved Polish language, but up till the beginning of the 20th century and the revival of Polish statehood, not all of them were biligual. It was the time of creating the state of diglossia in the Old Believers' language situation, i.e. hierarchical relation between the languages being used by them, with certain domains of for each language. After the Second World War serious language changes were underway, and the dialect was under strong influence of Polish language. There are all kinds of interference in the Old Believers' dialect, especially lexical, phonetic and syntactic. Contemporaneously we can observe the phenomenon of code-switching in their speech. Although scholar's interest to code-switching is as old as the theory of language contact, the universal methodological approach has not been discovered yet. This article is basing on P. Muysken's typology, differentiating insertional code-switching, alternational code-switching and congruent lexicalization. The examples of each type are analysed and compared with other typologies. There are a lot of doubtful cases of code-switching in bilingualism of the group of our interest, which do not suit precisely any of the types or can be classified as more than one of them, what is typical for structurally related systems. However, the questionable situations can not be omitted in the analysis, while they constitute inseparable phenomena of the speech of Polish Old Believers.
Icon painting in Latvia is a not much explored theme in Latvian art history. Nevertheless, the heritage of Orthodox culture has a notable history in Latvia. Since the schism of Russian Orthodox Church in Russia in 1653 one can speak about the Orthodox culture systematically taking roots in Latvia. Old Believers' icon painting is a specific trend in icon painting featuring in Latvian churches as well. The particular character of Old Believers' icon painting is conditioned by the adherence to the ancient Russian traditions, maintaining the church dogmas and formal means. The most important church dogmas are as follows: the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, the 43rd paragraph 'On Icon Painting' of the Hundred Chapter Synod Code of 1551, treatises of the Protopop Avvakum (written in the 2nd part of the 17th century), the Pomorian Answers, the 5th part (compiled in 1723). The formal traits of Old Believers' icon paintings include: the denial of chiaroscuro, flattened images and prolonged proportions, non-realistic colouring, spatial solutions using inverted perspective, the successive method in thematic solutions, etc. The iconographic specificity of Old Believers: close adherence to the iconographic programme of the Orthodox Church; Jesus Christ, the Mother of God and St. Nicholas as the most popular images; two-finger sign of the cross typical of Old Believers and the Pomorian School; eight-knobbed cross, etc. One can speak about the Baltic school of icon painting since the late 19th-early 20th century, flourishing in the 1920s and 1930s. It is difficult to indicate the end of the school, as some activities went on during the Soviet occupation as well, even if icon painting was a kind of unwelcome enterprise.
Discussing the history and iconography of depictions of the Kazan and Korsun Madonnas, as well as the contexts in which they functioned, the article demonstrates the difficulties in determining whether Russian icons are of the Old Rite or 'Niconian' origin. The authoress proposes a re-examination of methods used to this end by scholars (e.g. the style of icons, inscriptions which identify the figures, the arrangement of fingers in the sign of the cross). She draws attention to the fact that, contrary to a common belief, Old Rite icons during centuries of their existence did actually undergo changes. An analysis of late Russian icons reveals that usually Old Believers' icons from various artistic centres partially acquired features typical for dominant art of the region. This is especially visible on the example of the Kazan depiction, which was very popular among the Old Believers, and which is simultaneously regarded to be a symbol of Russia after the reforms of Peter the Great. Another research problem is the participation of Old Believers in developing a rich collection of appellations denoting Marian icons. These appellations appeared on a larger scale in the 18th, and especially the 19th c., and the process was probably connected with the fact that at that time a large number of new types of Marian iconography came into being. However, the phenomenon could also be connected with the specific features of the Old Rite cult, especially with the fact that icons showing a largest-possible number of saints or Marian depictions were very popular in this community. Old Believers were among the first to introduce 'catalogues of Marian icons' into their writings. This is especially important since it necessitates a re-examination of the Romantic stereotype of Old Believers as a community which was totally closed against all contacts with the outside world and which did not take part in the processes of Occidentalisation of Russian culture, and which at the same time was internally consolidated and used a common, homogenous cultural code. Similarly, it does not appear entirely accurate to treat the 18th- and 19th-c. painting of the official Russian Orthodox Church as one which totally rejected the Orthodox tradition and which was transformed according to the patterns of Western-European art.
The Old Believers settled down in North-Eastern Poland in the second half of the 18th century. They were living in hermetic, homogenous communities. This protected their culture from strong exterior influence. Nowadays, after a number of civilizing transformations, the isolation practically disappeared making the Old Believers' culture defenceless against influence of dominant Polish culture. Together with all that changes the Old Believers' anthroponymy has been transformed. Nicknames used to be were very popular in Old Believers' community. Giving nicknames is still a living only in villages Gabowe Grady and Bór. The most numerous group are nicknames motivated by appellatives that define external inner features, temperament and habits. These names reflect the objective knowledge of the nickname makers and they are expressed by concrete vocabulary.
The article presents the most important facts from the history of the male (from 1847 to the 1884 ) and the female (from the end of the 1880s to 2006) monastery of the Old Believers in Wojnowo. The history of liturgical and ritualistic objects from the monastery has been described. The main aim of the author was to describe 5 manuscripts and 7 prints from the monastery collection, which hare not been previously described. These are as follows: 1. 'Nachalo pravilo svoe v kelii' and 'Sluzhba pred gospodom nashim Isusom Christom, tvorenie Feoktista inoka, obiteli studijskija' (XIX/XX); 2. Kanon utrenii 'Vo svjatuju i velikuju nedelju paschi' and ipakoj 'Predovarisha utrostichra Ashche i vogrobo siide' and 'ikos Izhe prezhde solneca' (kriuki, at first 20th century); 3. 'Stichi duchovnyje' (11) and 'Kanon 'chjudotvorcem' Bezsrebrennikom Kozme i Damianu' (1929); 4. 'Slovo nadgrobnoe'; 5. 'Rech' Ioana semionovicha' (XIX/XX). Among the books described there are 3 prinnts ('Sviattsy', 1797; 'Synodyk', 1812 and 'Sviattsy i Tropari i Kondaki' 1815) from the Old Believers, Fiodora and Akima Kartashevych printing house in Klince in Ukraine; 1 prints (Kanon Uaru,1909) from the Old Believers, Andrei Simakov printing hous in Uralsk and 1 print 'Psaltir' s dopolneniem dvuch kanonov za boljashchago i na ischod' dushi', 1909) in Kazan of Russia; 'Prisiaga chotjashchim vzyti na stepien' svjashchenstva' (1863) priting press in Pisz (Jansbork) in East Prussia, fouded by the head of the Wojnowo monastery, and which operated from to Konstantin Efimovich Golubov - ward of monastery; 1 prints ('Kanon za jednoumershago i obshchij za umershych', 1909 ) from Khristienskaia tipografija pri Preobrazhenskom bogadel'nom dome. The preserved books are an important source of research on the culture of the Old Believers.
This article analyses the influence of Soviet religious politics on society’s attitude to religion, as well as on the transformation of religious practices taking as an example the Komi Republic. I focus on the Orthodox tradition, as the vast majority of residents of the Komi Republic were Orthodox (Russian Orthodox Church, Old Believers). The article starts with a brief review of theoretical approaches to the study of the religious transformations during the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. The churches’ closing in the 1920s – 1930s and their partial reopening in the 1940s – 1950s are used to discuss changes in the manifestation of religiosity in public space. A correlation between gender, age and religious activity is demonstrated. The total control by the state over the church rituals led to a privatization of religious life, which significantly limited both the state and the church control over them. The article also describes how folk religious practices, unrelated to the church, influenced the believers’ resistance and adaptation to the political and ideological changes.
Old Believers' prayer houses are an indispensable part of Latvia's cultural environment, especially in the eastern part of the country. Although the Old Believers community has participated in the shaping of the region's specific cultural and social environment for more than three hundred years, its sacred architecture in Eastern Latvia has been little examined so far and attention has mainly been paid to the sacred items found in their prayer houses - icons and books. In the world-wide cultural context, Old Believers are known as preservers of the unique ancient culture of the Russian Orthodox Church. Their origins date back to the mid-17th century reforms introduced by Patriarch Nikon which resulted in the schism between the ruling Russian Orthodox Church and dissident Old Believers. Opponents of these revisions endured wide-scale punitive actions and persecutions. The first organized groups of Old Believers appeared in eastern Latvia soon after the church reform began; they had come mostly from Novgorod, Pskov and other territories west of Moscow. From eastern Latvia Old Believers gradually reached other parts of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Eleven towns in Latvia became noted centres of Old Believer culture and religion, featuring the most significant communities of Old Believers in eastern Latvia. Each of these towns has one prayer house, except Daugavpils which has six Old Believers' prayer houses. The prayer house has always been and still is the centre of every community of Old Believers. It performs not just sacred but also secular functions. The premises are used for active educational work and gatherings and conferences of the Old Believers community. The Old Believers of eastern Latvia belong to the so-called Bezpopovtsy ('priestless') branch without clergy and liturgy in their services. The lack of an altar emerges as the most distinctive element of Old Believers sacred architecture.
When the last nuns from the Old Beliviers' monastery in Wojnowo (Eckerdorf) died, there appered an opportunity to inspect the objects remainig there. Particular attention should be paid to volumes, which are systematically photografed and analyzed by the lecturers from the University of Warmia and Mazury. Amongst them we can find 'Sinodik'. This article constitutes an attempt to define the place and approximate time of its publication. On the basis of the volume, the authoress established that the volume was published in the illegal Grebnev's printing house in Dziergacze (Dergachi), probably between 1900 and 1905.
Ethnic and religious structure in Polish Kingdom was largely shaped by the situation before Poland was partitioned. In the first decades of XIX century Orthodox population was not numerous. It consisted of Greek and Moldavian traders as well as Russian Old Believers, who settled in northeastern Poland in the XVIII century. After Polish November Insurrection collapsed the autonomy of Polish Kingdom was liquidated and essential changes were introduced, for example Orthodox Church became a predominant religion. Russian garrisons were placed in newly built citadels, e.g. in Modlin. Around Modlin (which was renamed as Novogeorgievsk) several villages where settled with Russian immigrants. Some of the settlers were brought directly from Russia, while others recruited from retired Russian soldiers and Old Believers. The immigrants received the farming lands, houses built in 'genuine, Russian style' and farming equipment and tools. After January Insurrection, forced Russification was introduced and new Russian colonies around Modlin appeared. Russian colonization has been introduced to other parts of Mazovia as well, but the principles were different - the settlers were mainly Old Believers, who were Orthodox Church subordinates. Even though, there were Russian settlements in many parts of Mazovia by the end of XIX century, Russian colonization was a small-scale activity. Even Russian authors agreed that Russian colonization in Poland was a failure. In 1832-1914 there were only a dozen or so thousand immigrants, and in Mazovia this number was much smaller. Russian settlers quickly assimilated to Polish language, culture and the ways of farming; the only distinguishing elements were their native tongue and Orthodox religion. Russian colonization in Mazovia absorbed a lot of financial resources and didn't give back any significant results - nowadays there is only one small Orthodox Parish in Slanislavov (around Modlin).
There are some 2,700 artistic monuments in Latgale, according to a list that was prepared by specialists in the field of cultural monuments. These are works of fine and applied arts which, in most cases, have survived in the region's churches and cemetery chapels and which can be dated from the 16th to the 20th century. The contacts which the region has had with various European arts phenomena over the centuries reveal a specific choice of sources of inspiration and the involvement of specific professional foreign artists in fulfilling orders from Latgale. The dominant direction in the artistic heritage created under the influence of the Catholic Church's traditions is the Southern direction' which filtered into Latgale via the experience of Central European artists. This can be seen most clearly in late-Baroque stucco sculptures in Latgale, and is connected with sculptors of the so-called Vilnius Baroque center. Further evidence of links with the artistic pursuits of Southern European Catholic countries is found in the fact that paintings by Andrea del Sarto, Guido Reni, Bartolome Esteban Murillo and others were localized or copied for altars in Latgale's churches. 19th century links with the countries of Central Europe, in turn, are evidenced in the fact that such artists as Jan Matejko, Jozef Peszka, Apolinary Horawski and Kazimierz Alchimowicz, among others, were commissioned to do work for churches in Latgale. The traditions of ancient Russian art came into Latgale along with the arrival of Old Believers from the Orthodox Church in the late 17th century. Most of these people came from deep within Russia's heartland, bringing along icons, books and items of metalwork - collections there were updated over the course of time. Many items were created on the spot, and this work continues to this very day in such towns as Daugavpils and Rezekne. The style of these artworks is dominated by influences from Northern Russia, but there are traces of other regions, too, including some echoes of Western art. In other words, the presence of both the Eastern and the Western Christian church helped to establish the colorful uniqueness of culture in Latgale.
Current adaptation approaches view religion as a system of beliefs, behaviours, social norms, taboos and collective rituals, which enforce social cohesion and intragroup solidarity that lead to group cooperation and coordination. These prosocial effects then translate into success in between-group competition. Cultural group selection is seen as the process that led to the emergence of religion as a cultural adaptation that enables the persistence of cooperative social groups. This article applies this theoretical approach to the so-called Old Believers: a diverse and fractioned branch of Russian Orthodox Christianity, whose history is marked by apocalyptic worldviews and antagonism towards state powers and the Russian Orthodox Church. Since their split with the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th century, the Old Believers evolved towards egalitarian communities, asceticism, isolationism and traditionalism. The author argues that Old Believers can be in many respects viewed as prototypic examples of how religious systems promote social cohesion, in-group solidarity, identity and commitment. Yet, contrary to what the theory assumes (or at least emphasizes), the very same collective rituals, social norms, supernatural beliefs and taboos, and their systemic interdependence, can lead to group harmful outcomes (e.g., splintering, excessive celibacy, mass suicide). In other words, high levels of in-group pro-sociality linked to religion cannot be simply viewed as exclusively mediating group benefits.
The article is devoted to the study of the traditional culture of the Old Believers residing in Bulgaria in the village Tataritsa (Southern Dobruja). The author analyses peculiarities of the folklore tradition and the Bulgarian influence on it as well as the ceremonial lexis and terminology; archaic features which remain in the ceremonies are also elucidated. Particular attention is paid to the popular cult of St. Nicholas.
The article reflects on the Old Believers' icon painting in the collection of the Church of the Grebenshchikov Community of Bezpopovian Old Believers in Riga (GCBOBR). GCBOBR is the largest Old Believer congregation and the artistic heritage of its church is an outstanding part of the world cultural heritage. GCBOBR has one of the most important icon collections in world. In Latvia icon painting has always been connected with Russian culture as it is an intrinsic characteristic of Orthodox and Old Believers' congregations. The article gives brief information about the development of Old Believers' culture in Latvia, which has its origins very soon after the Church reform in Russia in 1653. Specific icons are described from the 15th-20th century, which show definite tendencies in development of the tradition. Some biographical data and the characteristics of creative work are given for those authors whose works are included in the collection. At the end of the 19th but especially in the 20th century, the role of local icon painters grew significantly. This is a period when we can speak about the Baltic school of icon painting. Its most important artist Gavril Frolov was working in Estonia and Latvia, but there are none of his works in GCBOBR. His pupil Pimen Sofronov had a studio in the GCBOBR church; he also taught icon painting to young artists. The works show fidelity to the ancient cannons of Muscovite icons. Semyon Bikodorov and his work are mentioned for his importance in the development of the tradition.
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