First, I want to explain why I was interested in the Old Believers, or, as they are also called, Old Believers or schismatics. Things, as they say, are long overdue days gone by, which are loosely connected with turbulent modernity. There are few Old Believers left in Russia. Wikipedia says - about 2 million out of more than 143 million Russians. Most of them live in remote Siberian corners. A certain number are outside Russia: in Romania, Bulgaria, America, Canada, Latin America and even Australia. They live in closed communities and communicate with the outside world to a minimum. For the average Russian, the Old Believers are of the same interest as the Amish are for the average American: read the article, be surprised, groan and forget. The Old Believers themselves do not want to participate in heated political and social discussions, and seem to prefer to be left alone.
But the more I read about the schismatics, the more I realized that the Old Believers are not at all like the Amish. The interest in them is not only zoological - to gaze at them as if at a strange animal in a cage and continue to live as usual. They write about the Old Believers with a feeling of nostalgia and regret. For many, the Old Believers are a miraculously preserved type of Russian peasant, economical, sober, prudent, strong and family-oriented. Old Believer is the embodiment present man, as he is described by authors nostalgic for Tsarist Russia, the master of the land and his own destiny. This is the bearer of those very traditional values that the media shout about and which the government strives with all its might to instill and protect.
In modern Russia, this type has died out like a mammoth, being driven out by the authorities due to ideological differences. And in general, the Old Believers were too independent and stubborn for any authority, as we will see later. I noticed another curious thing that makes the history of the Old Believers relevant. The Old Believers resisted to the last the imposition of Western ideas and the Western way of life. They were preserved, as it were, and brought to us in almost unchanged form. cultural code Russians of the 17th century. In modern times, when there is a McDonald's on every corner, TV shows about the machinations of the State Department mixed with American blockbusters, a law on foreign agents is being passed and people are boasting about new iPhones, the history of the Old Believers can be instructive.
Wrong Orthodox and fiery oppositionists
It all started in the 17th century. On the Russian throne sat Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, nicknamed the Quietest. Together with the seventh Moscow Patriarch Nikon, the Tsar held church reform 1650-1660 The purpose of the reform was, in general, good: to bring the ritual tradition of the Russian Church in line with the Greek one, which was considered more advanced. Some historians believe that Nikon thus wanted to make Russia the “Third Rome”, elevate Alexei Mikhailovich to the throne of the Byzantine emperors, and himself become the Ecumenical Patriarch. Externally, the reform looked like this: one had to cross oneself with three fingers, not two, write the name of Christ with two “Is” at the beginning, perform the religious procession against the sun, and during the service, three times, and not twice, proclaim “halelujah” (a three-part hallelujah instead of a special one). Minor changes were made to the sacred texts and bowing ritual. In the opinion of a modern person, far from ecclesiastical quarrels, the harmless reform was essentially an attempt to impose a Western model in Russia. As the priests themselves say, an attempt to forcefully Westernize Russia. The people perceived this as an encroachment on traditional, naturally established values and refused to accept the new liturgical tradition. There was a split. This is how they appeared in Russia right and wrong Orthodox. Since dissent, especially mass dissent, undermines the foundations of the state, the fight against the schismatic opposition began.
(Patriarch Nikon)
The laws at that time were harsh, unlike modern liberal ones. In general, there were problems with tolerance in Russia at that time. First, any deviation from correct Nikonian Orthodoxy was punished death penalty with confiscation of property, in some cases, eternal imprisonment in an earthen prison, and then a prison term, hard labor or exile. As a sign of protest, the schismatics, unlike modern oppositionists, did not hold rallies or write long articles on the Internet. They protested on a grand scale, radically: despite the harshest condemnation of suicide by the church, schismatics voluntarily went to martyrdom and burned themselves. Whole families, with children and old people, mind you. The Old Believers especially suffered in the times of Peter the Great, when Westernization was carried out super-actively. Oppositionists were banned from wearing traditional clothing, growing beards, and were ordered to smoke tobacco and drink coffee. To this day, Old Believers remember the great sovereign-transformer with an unkind word. In the 17th and 18th centuries, more than 20 thousand Old Believers voluntarily burned themselves. Many more were burned involuntarily.
Despite severe repression, the Old Believers continued to persist. In the 19th century, according to some estimates, up to a third of Russians were Old Believers. At the same time, significant relaxations occurred in the attitude of the authorities and the official church towards the Old Believers. A modern liberal law was adopted: direct persecution was abolished, but any propaganda was prohibited. It was forbidden to build churches, publish books, and hold leadership positions. Also, the state did not recognize the marriage of Old Believers, and until 1874 all children of Old Believers were considered illegitimate. In 1905, the government went even further in its tolerance and issued the Highest Decree “On strengthening the principles of religious tolerance.” The decree allowed the organization of communities and religious processions.
During the respite, the Old Believers became something like Russian Protestants. The Old Believers are related to the latter by the cult of labor and modesty in everyday life. These were, as I said above, strong and sober business executives. In the 19th century, Old Believers formed the backbone of the wealthy merchants and peasantry. 60% of all bank accounts in the country belonged to Old Believers merchants.
The Bolsheviks did not delve into the subtleties of faith. Old Believers were persecuted in the same way as ordinary Orthodox Christians. Many Old Believers suffered during dispossession and collectivization, because the Old Believers were wealthy and did not want to join collective farms. During Stalin's time, thousands of Old Believers received prison sentences for anti-Soviet agitation. The accusation is at least strange, because the Old Believers have always strived to live in closed communities, on their own.
Some Old Believers, instead of martyrdom, the royal fire and the Soviet camp, chose voluntary exile and emigration. They fled to Siberia, where the long tentacles of the Tsarist secret police and the NKVD could hardly reach. She fled to China, and from there to Latin America. This is how Old Believer communities were formed outside of Russia.
Downshifters
Old Believer communities are tin cans that have preserved the traditions, way of life and thinking of the Russian peasantry of the 16th century in almost unchanged form. These people deliberately reject modern civilization. Old Believers live according to the house-building system, relationships in the community are built along the traditional vertical: children, women, then men, and above all is God. The man is the undisputed head and breadwinner of the family. A woman is a mother and keeper of the home, or, as feminists would say, the work of women is kinder, küche, kirche (children, kitchen, church). You can get married at the age of 13. Abortion and contraception are prohibited. Old Believer families usually have 6-10 children. Unconditional respect and submission to elders. Old Believers of the old school do not shave their beards, women do not wear trousers and always cover their heads with a scarf, even at night. Alcohol and tobacco are either prohibited completely, or homemade mash is allowed. Controversial achievements of civilization, such as television and the Internet, are not welcomed by Old Believers. However, there is no strict prohibition: many have cars, fields are cultivated with tractors, girls download embroidery patterns and culinary recipes from the Internet. They feed themselves mainly from their own farms; many Old Believers in the United States have become successful farmers. Old Believers prefer to encounter official medicine as rarely as possible, except in serious cases; are treated with herbs, prayers and gelstat. It is believed that most diseases come from bad thoughts and information garbage in my head.
In a word, the Old Believers lead healthy image life: instead of working in a stuffy office and relaxing with a bottle of beer in front of the TV - physical labor on fresh air, instead of semi-finished products with preservatives and imported bananas - self-grown organic products, instead of American blockbusters and watching news with murders and political quarrels - soul-saving prayers. Therefore, Old Believers are mostly very healthy people; old people over 90 look at most 60. But women fade early from frequent childbirth. It can be said that Old Believers are kind of downshifters for religious reasons. In this sense, Old Believers are in trend: fleeing the dubious blessings of civilization, top managers settle in abandoned villages, and hipsters nest en masse in Goa. Both would have something to learn from the Old Believers.
Alternative Russians
For centuries, the Old Believers unwittingly turned out to be inconvenient to any government - both tsarist and Soviet. The modern government and the modern church have finally decided to make peace with the Old Believers. In 1971, the Russian Orthodox Church abolished harsh laws in relation to the Old Believers and decided to consider the oaths of 1667 “as if they had not been”. In 2000, Russian Orthodox Church abroad brought repentance to the Old Believers. Now in Russia, along with the well-known Russian Orthodox Church, there is the Russian Orthodox Church (Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church) and the DOC (Old Orthodox Pomeranian Church). In general, the Old Believers are divided into several branches, but I will not delve into these subtleties. Relations with the official church still remain tense, mainly due to the reluctance of the Old Believers join the team.
(The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Korniliy, gives Patriarch Kirill an Old Believer rosary - a lestovka)
Started operating in 2006 government program to assist the voluntary resettlement of compatriots living abroad to the Russian Federation. In 2012, Putin made it permanent. Magadan, Sakhalin, Kamchatka, and Buryatia were declared priority areas for settlement. And stretched out from the warm Latin America and Australia to the harsh and poorly developed Siberia and the Far East, the Old Believers are bearded men in jeans and untucked shirts and women in sundresses and scarves, speaking Russian with a foreign accent. The Russian government promised to pay for the move, provide housing, provide allowances (up to 120 thousand rubles for each family member) and pay unemployment benefits for the first 6 months. True, with a condition: you can’t leave until the money allocated for resettlement has been spent. This is it serfdom in a modern way.
The blessed return of the former oppositionists did not work out.
Firstly, The Old Believers were faced with a clumsy bureaucratic machine. Good intentions good intentions, and the paperwork must be completed in accordance with all the rules. Bearers of Russian traditions found themselves equated with migrants. Of course, the Old Believers, unlike ordinary migrant workers, received concessions, but still the procedure for naturalization of descendants originally Russian turned out to be difficult and long. Some unwittingly turned into illegal immigrants and again, like centuries ago, fled deeper into the taiga, into the forests, hiding from the authorities. Again, the Old Believers found themselves in opposition against their own will, again in confrontation with the state. History repeats itself.
Secondly, Russia turned out to be completely different from the quiet country of birches and churches that grandparents told modern Old Believers about. The Russian village is on the verge of destruction: only old people and alcoholics remain in the villages, collective farms have collapsed, hired workers are working in the fields. The morals of modern Russians are strikingly different from those accepted among the Old Believers. In order to avoid being “interfered” with the laity and to preserve themselves, the Old Believers again strive to hide, to get away from people and civilization. The authorities' hopes that the Old Believers would help the spiritual revival of Russia did not materialize.Many Russians themselves do not want to be spiritually reborn , and the Old Believers were not ready to take on this a daunting task. Modern Russia Old Believers do not need it.
The phenomenon of the Old Believers is that they represent, as it were, an alternative version of the Russians. Russians who were not changed by the revolution of 17, the years of Soviet indoctrination, the apocalypse of the 90s and the capitalism of the 2000s. Which our disputes about the fate of Russia and the national Russian idea do not concern. They found their idea back in the 16th century and carried it almost untouched to this day. On the one side, an example of enviable spiritual fortitude, a famous Russian character. The “pernicious” influence of the West had almost no effect on the Old Believers. Traditional values, as the example of Old Believers families shows, work. Who knows whether there would be a demographic crisis in Russia now if the family according to the Old Believer model had survived to this day. From a state point of view, our politicians, zealously promoting traditional values, perhaps they are right.
On the other hand, such stubborn conservatism and rejection of civilization hinders development. Old Believers are undoubtedly fanatics. Progress always means going beyond the established system, breaking traditions. And I can hardly imagine how to squeeze modern man within the tight confines of a patriarchal family.
From the third side , while we are talking about the fate of Russia, the Old Believers are working silently. Without wasting time on doubts and reflections. They already have the answers.
Video: The whole truth about the life of the Old Believers:
Video: Old Believers - It’s easy to leave, it’s difficult to return:
What do you think about the Old Believers? Do Russia need them or do they exist?
Having passed through remote villages on the banks of the Small Yenisei: Erzhey, Verkhniy Shivey, Choduraalyg, Ok-Chary, I met five large families Old Believers. Always persecuted, the owners of the taiga do not immediately make contact with strangers, especially with a photographer. Two weeks of living next to them, helping in their daily hard work - harvesting hay, fishing, picking berries and mushrooms, preparing firewood and brushwood, collecting moss and helping to build a house - step by step helped to overcome the veil of mistrust. And strong and independent, good-natured and hardworking people emerged, whose happiness lies in the love of God, their children and nature.
The liturgical reform undertaken by Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in the 17th century led to a large-scale schism in the Russian Church. The brutal persecution of the tsarist and religious authorities, who wanted to bring the people to unanimity and submission, forced millions of Russian people to leave their homes. The Old Believers who kept their faith fled to White Sea, in the Olonets region and Nizhny Novgorod forests. Time passed, the hands of power reached the Old Believers in new places, and the seekers of independence went even further, into the remote taiga of Siberia. In the 19th century, Russian people came to the inaccessible region of the Small Yenisei, the Kaa-Khemsky kozhuun of Tuva. New settlements were founded on lands suitable for farming in the river valley, higher and higher upstream. Here, in the upper reaches of the Small Yenisei, the life and traditions of Russian Old Believers have been preserved in their original form.
Small Yenisei, or in Tuvinian Kaa-Khem.
A small team of five travelers gathered for the trip, photographing them. The place is far from Moscow. By plane to Abakan, ten hours by car through Kyzyl, the capital of the Republic of Tyva, to Saryg-Sep, the regional center, there we change to a UAZ loaf and another couple of hours by forest roads to a point on the bank of the Small Yenisei. We cross to the other side of the river, to the Erzhey camp site, by boat. The owner of the base, Nikolai Siorpas, brought us in his UAZ. He will take you further, into the depths of the taiga, but you need to wait a day or two until the road at the pass, washed out by long rains, dries out.
Erzhey, next to which the base is located, is a large village of up to one and a half thousand inhabitants, with electricity and a boarding school, where Old Believers from villages higher up the Kaa-Khem, as the Small Yenisei is called in Tuvan, bring their children. In the old faith, not everyone here is a villager. Some people are close to the faith, but do not join the community; there is not enough rigor. There are those who are in the new Orthodox faith, and there are even complete non-believers.
Alone at home. Old Believers village Erzhey on the Small Yenisei.
It turned out that it was not far to go see the village and buy food, less than a kilometer from the base. Siorpas, seeing him off, joked: “You can tell the Old Believers, men with beards, there are a dozen or so kids around the yard, women in headscarves and skirts down to their toes, in a year or two with a baby bump.”
Here is the first acquaintance, Maria with a stroller, a young woman. We said hello. They asked where to buy bread and cottage cheese. At first she was wary of strangers, but did not refuse help, and even surprised her with her responsiveness. She took them all over Erzhey, showing who had the best milk, where the salted milk mushrooms were good, and so on until they found everything they wanted.
Growing up boys look for their wives in other Old Believers villages. They leave for half a year, sometimes for a year. Masha was matched in a distant village in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Erzhey.
Here, in villages remote from civilization, the harsh taiga nature imposed its conditions on the way of farming. Summer is short, and winter is severely frosty. Arable land is conquered with great difficulty from the forest, in the valleys along the banks of the river. They grow bread and plant vegetable gardens. Due to frost, perennial crops do not take root, but annuals, even small watermelons, grow. Taiga is feeding. Only ungulates are killed; the meat is eaten wild. They collect pine nuts, mushrooms, and berries for jam. The river provides fish, a lot of grayling. Taimen is often released - he is in recent years few.
Old Believers do not drink alcohol, they do not drink “breech beer” at all. And on holidays they drink a glass or two of weak homemade wine on taiga berries, blueberries or stone fruits.
Calm river washes up sandbanks, and on the stormy Kaa-Khem there are stone shallows. Over time, the shallows turn into taiga islands.
After resting at the Siorpas base for a couple of days, we waited for dry weather and moved to the first settlement of the Old Believers - Upper Shivei, forty kilometers from Erzhey, with a difficult pass over the hills.
All the way to Shivey, under the strained hum of the engine, Nikolai Siorpas convinced us to be super respectful and behave more than modestly, not to push people with our huge photo guns. He himself is not an Old Believer, but he developed good relations with the taiga residents, for which he reasonably feared. It seems that for two days at the base we not only waited for the weather, but he looked closely at us and thought whether it was possible to carry us further.
In the fields of the Old Believers they still use archaic devices, but there are also modern tractors. Upper Shivei.
The hard-working people of Upper Shivei were met long before the village, in a mowing meadow. They asked to help, throw cut hay into the tall haystacks.
We rolled up our sleeves, tried our best, and still fell behind. The science of lifting large armfuls with long three-pronged wooden forks was not easy. For working together got to know each other and struck up conversations.
Mown and dried hay is collected into seedlings. The whole of Siberia calls a haystack the germ. Laying the hay is a responsible matter; the hay must lie evenly and tightly so that it does not get scattered by the wind or become soured by the rain. Upper Shivei.
The Sasins, Peter and Ekaterina arrived at the Upper Shivey estate, then empty, about fifteen years ago. The farm was raised from scratch, and at first they lived and wintered in a shed. Year after year they built, strengthened, and raised three daughters. Other relatives came to settle, now there are several families here. The daughters grew up, moved to the city, and now their restless grandchildren - two girls and two boys - come to stay with Peter and Ekaterina for the summer.
The Sasins’ grandchildren are completely worldly; they come for the whole summer. For them, Pyotr Grigorievich keeps solar panels with a battery and a converter, from which he turns on a small TV and a disc player - to watch cartoons. Upper Shivei.
The children woke up our tent city with a cheerful noise and brought fresh milk and sour cream. The second day, throwing hay on the crops is more difficult - all the muscles of the townspeople ache because they are not used to it. But the hosts’ faces are also warmer, with smiles, laughter and approval. “Tomorrow is the Transfiguration, come! Try homemade wine,” the villagers call.
The house is simple, no frills, but clean and well built. Spacious vestibules dividing the house in half, rooms with whitewashed walls, large stoves in the middle, iron spring beds - reminded me of a Carpathian village, which has also largely preserved its way of life. “One at a time!” - says Pyotr Grigorievich, and we try the delicious drink. Blueberry juice is infused for a year, without sugar and yeast, resulting in barely noticeable alcohol content. It's easy to drink and doesn't get you drunk, but it lifts your mood and makes you talkative. Joke after joke, story after story, song after song - we had a good time. “Would you like to see my horses?” - Peter calls.
Pyotr Grigorievich Sasin and his foals. Upper Shivei.
A stable on the outskirts, two dozen horses, there are even pacers. And everyone's favorite. Pyotr Grigorievich can talk about each foal for hours.
We parted with the Sasins like old friends. And again we hit the road, by boat up the Small Yenisei.
Dragging huge hay buds in winter without a tractor is difficult. An old DT-75 was bought together in the regional center. They drove on their own, and to cross the stormy Shivey they built a temporary bridge, which was washed away by the first flood. Upper Shivei.
It's a half-hour motorboat ride up the river to the next stop. We found Choduraalyg on a fairly high bank with a spacious, cornice-like valley, the outermost houses standing directly above the river. The opposite shore is an almost vertical mountain covered with taiga.
The place is convenient for farming, growing bread, keeping livestock. Fields for arable land. River, nurse and transport artery. In winter it’s possible to travel on ice to Kyzyl. And the taiga - here it is, begins with hills on the edge of the village.
We sailed, threw our backpacks ashore and went to look for a convenient place to pitch tents so as not to disturb anyone, and at the same time have a good view of everything around. We met Grandfather Eliferiy, who treated him to freshly baked delicious bread and advised him to go to Baba Marfa: “Marfutka will accept and help.”
From the nearby hill there is a wonderful view of the Bolshoi Choduraalyg village.
Marfa Sergeevna, thin, small and agile, about seventy years old, allocated us a place for tents next to her small house, with beautiful view both to the river and to the village. Allowed me to use the stove and kitchen utensils. The Old Believers have this difficult question- it is a sin to use utensils that were taken by worldly people. Marfa Sergeevna took care of us all the time. We also helped her - picking berries, carrying brushwood, chopping wood.
The youngest son, Dmitry, was in the taiga on business. Eldest daughter, Ekaterina, got married and lives in Germany, sometimes her mother comes to visit.
Grandfather Elifery and Marfa Sergeevna. Choduraalyg.
I had a satellite phone and suggested that Marfa Sergeevna call my daughter. “All this is demonic,” Grandma Martha refused. A couple of days later Dmitry returned, and we dialed his sister’s number, turning up the volume. Hearing her daughter’s voice, forgetting about the demons and throwing away her bow, Marfa Sergeevna ran across the clearing to Dima and me. It’s a pity, she didn’t allow herself to be photographed then, otherwise it would have turned out to be an interesting photo: a cute little village grandmother, in ancient clothes, standing against the backdrop of the taiga, beaming with a smile, talking to her daughter in distant Germany on a satellite phone.
With character. Petenev family, Big Choduraalyg.
Next to the Old Believers' settlements there are sites of Tuvan shepherds.
Next door to Marfa Sergeevna, further from the coast, lives the large family of Panfil Petenev. The eldest of twelve children, Grigory, 23 years old, called the children to the place where they played - a clearing in the forest outside the village. On Sundays, children, dressed up, come running and coming on horses, bicycles and motorcycles from all nearby villages to chat and play together. The guys were not shy for long, and ten minutes later we were playing ball with them, answering a sea of curious questions and listening to stories about life in the villages, pampering bears these days, and a strict grandfather who drives all children away for being naughty. We laughed with stories, were interested in technology, and even tried to take pictures with our cameras, posing tensely for each other. And we ourselves enjoyed listening to the Russian speech, clear as a stream, and enjoyed photographing the bright Slavic faces.
For the children of the Old Believers, a horse is not a problem. By helping with housework, they early learn to communicate with domestic animals.
It turns out that Choduraalyg, where we stayed, is called Big, and not far away, on the road past the playground, there is also Small Choduraalyg. The children volunteered to show this second one, out of several courtyards deep in the forest. They drove us joyfully, on two motorcycles, along paths and paths, through puddles and bridges. The escort was dashingly accompanied by teenage girls on fine horses.
For a teenager in an Old Believers village, a motorcycle is a source of pride, passion and necessity. As befits boys, the visiting photographer, with the dexterity of circus performers, was shown all the skill of controlling a two-wheeled motor miracle. Choduraalyg.
In order to get to know each other better, start communicating and gain the necessary level of trust that allows us to photograph people, we boldly became involved in the daily work of Old Believer families. They have no time to chat idly on a weekday, but in business, talking is more fun. So they simply came to the Petenevs in the morning and offered Panfil help. My son Gregory is planning to get married, he is building a house, and now the work is caulking the ceiling. Nothing complicated, but painstaking. First, go to the other side of the river, along the mountains between the thickets, collect moss, put it in bags and throw it down the steep slope. Then we take it by boat to the construction site. Now go upstairs, and here you also need to bring the clay in buckets, and drive the moss into the cracks between the logs, covering it with clay on top. We work briskly, the team is large: five eldest Petenev children and three of us travelers. And younger kids are around, watching and trying to help and participate. We communicate at work, we recognize them, they recognize us. Children are curious and want to know everything. And how they grow potatoes in big cities, where we get milk at home, whether all the children study in boarding schools, how far away we live. Question after question, some find it difficult to answer clearly - our worlds are so different. After all, for children Saryg-Sep, the regional center, is another planet. And for us, city people, the taiga is an unknown land with its subtleties of nature hidden from the unknowing eye.
The hard-working Grigory Petenev returns for another batch of bags of moss to build a house. Big Choduraalyg.
We met Pavel Bzhitskikh, who invited us to visit, in Maly Choduraalyg, where we went with the children on Sunday. The path to the Ok-Chara settlement is not close, nine kilometers along the rocky, forested bank of the Small Yenisei. The estate of two courtyards impresses with its strength and thriftiness. The high rise from the river did not create any difficulties with water - here and there there are many springs right in the courtyards, and clear water is supplied to the gardens through wooden gutters. The water is cold and tasty.
Pavel Bzhitskikh. Small Choduraalyg.
There was a surprise in the house: two rooms, a prayer room and a kitchenette, retained the appearance and decoration of the monastic community that was once here. Whitewashed walls, wicker rugs, linen curtains, homemade furniture, pottery. The nuns’ entire economy was subsistence; they did not communicate with the world and did not take anything from outside. Pavel collected and preserved household items from the community and now shows them to the guests. Extreme tourists raft along Kaa-Khem, sometimes they stop by, Pavel even built a separate house and bathhouse so that people could stay with him and relax along the route.
Pavel spoke about the life and rules of the Old Believers monks. About prohibitions and sins. About envy and anger. Anger is an insidious sin, anger multiplies and accumulates in the soul of a sinner, and it is difficult to fight, because even slight annoyance is also anger. Envy is not a simple sin; envy breeds pride, anger, and deception. How important it is to pray and repent. And take upon yourself fasting, whether calendar fasting or secretly self-imposed, so that it does not in any way hinder the soul from praying and realizing its sin more deeply.
Prayer. Pavel Bzhitskikh. Zaimka Ok-Chara on the banks of the Small Yenisei.
Not only severity reigns in the souls of Old Believers. Paul spoke about forgiveness, about peacefulness towards other religions, about freedom of choice for his children and grandchildren. “When they grow up, they go to study, whoever wants to. They will go out into the world. God willing, our ancient Orthodox faith will not be forgotten. Someone will come back, with age they think more often about the soul.”
Among ordinary community members, not monks, outside world not prohibited, they take the Old Believers and the achievements of civilization that help in work. They use motors and guns. I saw a tractor, even solar panels. To buy, they earn money by selling the products of their labor to the laity.
Read to us selected chapters John Chrysostom, translated from Old Church Slavonic. So you chose that you listen with bated breath. I remembered the seal of the Antichrist. Pavel explained in his own way that, for example, all official documents registering a person are his seal. This is how the Antichrist wants to take control of us all. “Look, in America they are already going to sew some kind of electrical chips under the skin of every person so that they cannot hide from the Antichrist anywhere.”
Bathhouse over the Small Yenisei. Choduraalyg.
From the “museum” he took me to the summer kitchen, treated me to honey mushrooms, smoked taimen, fresh bread and a special homemade wine made with birch sap instead of water. When leaving, they bought a young turkey from Pavel and plucked it until late at night, laughing at their ineptitude.
We met the Popov children from Maly Choduraalyg on the day of their arrival at the playground. Curiosity led the children to the tents every morning. They chirped merrily and asked questions non-stop. Communication with these smiling guys gave a charge of warmth and joy for the whole day. And one morning the children came running and their parents invited us to visit.
On the way to the Popovs there is fun - the younger three have found the blackest puddle with liquid mud and are enthusiastically jumping in it and looking for something. A laughing mother, Anna, greets us: “Have you seen such grimy ones? It’s okay, I’ve heated up the water, we’ll wash it off!”
Dima Popov. Small Choduraalyg.
The younger Popovs found a wonderful puddle with black mud. Small Choduraalyg.
The Popovs not only love their children, now seven, they understand them. The house is bright with smiles, and Afanasy began to build a new one - more space for the children. They teach the children themselves, they don’t want to send them to a distant boarding school where there will be no parental warmth.
During the meal we quickly started talking, as if some invisible wave began to play in harmony and gave birth to lightness and trust between us.
The Popovs work a lot, the older children help. The economy is strong. They themselves carry food to sell in the region. We used the money we earned to buy a tractor and a Japanese outboard motor. A good engine is important here - on the Small Yenisei there are dangerous rapids, if an unreliable old one stalls, you can die. And the river feeds and gives water, it is also a route of communication with other villages. In the summer they go by boat, and in the winter they drive on the ice in tractors and UAZs.
The Petenevs' daughter, Praskovya. A playing field in the taiga between Small and Big Choduraalygi.
Granddaughter of Pavel Bzhitsky in the monastery hut. Zaimka Ok-Chara on the banks of the Small Yenisei.
Here, in a distant village, people are not alone, they communicate and correspond with Old Believers throughout Russia, a newspaper of the old faith from Nizhny Novgorod receive.
But they try to minimize communication with the state; they refused pensions, benefits and benefits. But contact with the authorities cannot be completely avoided - you need a license for a boat and a tractor, all sorts of technical inspections, permits for guns. At least once a year, you have to go get the papers.
The Popovs treat everything responsibly. Afanasy had an incident in his youth. He served in the army in the early 80s, in Afghanistan, as an armored personnel carrier driver. Suddenly there was trouble, the brakes of a heavy vehicle failed, and an officer died. At first it was determined to be an accident, but the situation was exaggerated by high officials, the guy was given three years in prison general regime. The commanders, regimental and battalion, trusted Afanasy and sent him to Tashkent without an escort. Imagine the situation: a young guy comes to the prison gate, knocks and asks to be let in, to serve his sentence. Later, the same commanders achieved the transfer of Afanasy to a colony in Tuva, closer to home.
We talked with Anna and Afanasy. About life here and in the world. About the connection between Old Believer communities in Russia. About relations with the world and the state. About the future of children. Left late, with good light in the shower.
The next morning we headed home - short term the trip was ending. We said a warm farewell to Marfa Sergeevna. “Come, next time I’ll settle in the house, I’ll make room, because we’ve become like family.”
For many hours on the way home, in boats, cars, planes, I thought, trying to comprehend what I saw and heard, which did not coincide with initial expectations. Once upon a time, in the 80s, I read in “ Komsomolskaya Pravda” fascinating stories by Vasily Peskov from the “Taiga Dead End” series. About an amazing family of Old Believers who left people deep in the Siberian taiga. The articles are good, as are other stories by Vasily Mikhailovich. But the impression left of the taiga hermits was that they were poorly educated and wild people, who shunned modern man and were afraid of any manifestations of civilization.
Fences are made from whole logs and fastened without nails. Big Choduraalyg.
The novel “Hop” by Alexei Cherkasov, read recently, increased fears that it would be difficult to get acquainted and communicate. And it may be impossible to take photographs at all. But there was hope, and I decided to go.
That’s why it was so unexpected to see simple people with inner dignity. Carefully preserving their traditions and history, living in harmony with themselves and nature. Hardworking and rational. Peace-loving and independent. They gave me warmth and joy of communication.
I accepted something from them, learned something, thought about something.
Oleg Smoliy, 2013
All photos of the album " Old Believers" (click on any photo below to launch slideshow).
Behind strong fences, under the snowdrifts, beds and bushes can be discerned. There are no roads, communications, or televisions here. And they are not needed, the Old Believers believe. They live here during childbirth - and even those who went abroad return.
Administrative anomaly
Getting to Burnoye is not easy: first to the village of Kirsantyevo, where the Old Believers and laymen are 50/50, then along Taseyeva. In summer, 20 km by motorboat, in winter by “Khivus”. The hovercraft goes well on clean ice or open water. But we arrived at the wrong time: after a snowfall and a sudden December thaw, the water on the river began to flow on top of the ice. As a result, the loaded Khivus sits down exactly halfway on the road; the engine does not pull through loose snow and water. The head of Kirsantyevo, Nikolai Kozyr, who sits at the helm, doesn’t even lead the way: what is a transport disaster for us is the norm of life for the residents of the Motyginsky district - we haven’t seen anything like that here. He immediately makes a decision - to leave the women in “Khivus”; they will return for the men who remained on the river later.
We are greeted by a solid village with strong fences and caps of snow on the houses. Stormy - named after a rapid not far from the village. The threshold is strong and difficult; they say that people often die on it during rafting. Once upon a time, on the site of the village there was a rafting site; millions of cubic meters of timber were rafted here during the season. The site was closed, and Old Believers began to settle here.
– WITH Far East they came from Manchuria,” the village head Perfiliy Bayanov smiles slyly into his beard. - There are people from the Urals here, from Kaluga region. Uruguay, Canada, both Americas...
But how exactly they appeared in this village does not directly say. The Old Believers welcome us, strangers, hospitably, setting a sumptuous table: pilaf with red fish - it’s Nativity fast, fish pies, “kompotovka” - a weak intoxicating drink. But they don’t invite you into your home, and when answering questions, they don’t say much directly, and it’s inconvenient to ask again. Their ancestors did not leave the world so that they could then tell everyone they met about themselves.
The village of Burny is an administrative anomaly: in the Soviet passports of old-timers, the “village of Burny” is listed, in modern ones everyone is registered on one of the streets of Kirsantyevo, which remains 20 km from us. (This is a big difficulty for the district authorities, which they are trying with all their might to solve: if there is no village, you cannot supply fuel to get to it.) Yes, the Old Believers have passports, they also receive birth certificates for their children. The TIN is no longer “by faith.” It is not according to faith to cut hair or wear short skirts. You can’t put on makeup and dance, but you can sing. But not everything in a row either. In addition to spiritual songs, the girls of Burnoy sing folk songs - and Kadysheva, she can. Drinking and smoking are sins. TV, radio and telephone are sins. But the Old Believers still have it - it lies in the garage so that they can go to the city with it. Everyone has equipment, you can’t go anywhere without it: a boat, a snowmobile - that’s the bare minimum. Even 10-year-old boys can deftly handle them. And although there is no TV or Internet in the village, the residents of Burnoy know all the news - and almost better than the townspeople. They will subscribe to the newspaper and everyone will read it together, then people will come along the river and travel there themselves, and they will know for sure everything about the area.
Agreed - live
In all Old Believer villages, of which there are many in Motyginsky and in neighboring areas, there is only one problem - finding a wife. This society lives separately, and therefore it is difficult to create a family without closely related ties. They check connections up to the eighth generation. Most often, they look for brides in nearby villages: they send a guy to get married. And then at get-togethers he looks to see whether he likes the girl or not. According to faith, you can get married at the age of 15, but that was before - now there are few such cases. And it’s not at all about the Criminal Code - most couples simply don’t make it to the registry office, the world doesn’t know about them.
– According to our faith, we don’t have divorces: we got together, passed the law - live,” says smiling Antonina, the elder’s daughter-in-law. She is something like a midwife in the village: if the birth is difficult, women in labor are sent to the Motyginskaya Central District Hospital, but if not, they are treated on the spot. - We have a wedding. But no white dress and veils that you are. Sundress and scarf. Someone goes to the registry office, but my husband and I are not registered - we’ve just been living for 18 years and that’s all. The children are registered with their father.
34-year-old Antonina has four children. In Old Believer villages there are always children - here is Burnovskaya primary school, above the porch of which the sign “RSFSR” is still nailed. The Ministry of Education has been working continuously for about 70 years, old-timers say. There are 4–6 children in a single class. The school is literally three rooms: a stove on which ski boots are dried, a classroom with teaching materials, on the walls there are drawings and schedules. Everything is like in an ordinary city school: mathematics, Russian, English, drawing. Olga is in charge of everything now. She is a rare example of a newcomer who previously had nothing to do with the Old Believers. Olga was baptized and, following her husband, moved from Khakassia to the Motyginsky district. Now she is a teacher, but only for the first four grades. Full high school There is only one in Kirsantyevo - this is where children are sent to study after the fourth grade. And even that is not all - Kirsantyevo is only half of its own, there are many temptations there, which, according to the Old Believers, can harm children. They often go further to study – to the city, but almost everyone returns home after studying. Exceptions are very rare.
They love fairy tales and Barbie
For children, the arrival of strangers is a real attraction. They stand in groups, smiling and looking attentively. You don’t immediately understand what’s unusual about this look, and only after some time it becomes clear: the girls look directly eye to eye, like adults, on equal terms. And you can immediately see who is whose child, as in our old villages, people live here by birth; on this bank of the Taseyeva River, all the residents literally have two surnames. It is clear who is Bayanov and who is Simushin. Children willingly tell us how much they love school, but not all lessons, because the teacher is strict and demands it. What they like most the world around us, because “there’s a little bit of everything there.” They love to read, but mostly Russians folk tales. And also play with dolls, sew for them, there is also Barbie, everyone plays together. And - the usual village entertainment: a slide in winter, a river in summer. Parents, no, they’re not strict, they don’t argue, if only I could go to Kirsantyevo without my dad and buy everything in the store. This is how you can buy, but dad must first “edit” everything. How to “rule” like this - the girls are embarrassed, they don’t tell us: from this one detail it becomes clear: Old Believer settlements are a complex society in which for many centuries they live according to laws incomprehensible to us laymen. But, as head Nikolai Kozyr says, they don’t know exactly what the police are here - there are no crimes in Burnoye.
You can safely travel outside the village - you need to go to the city either on business or to the hospital.
– But it just seems like it’s very noisy there, and I want to get home quickly,” says Antonina, straightening her scarf. She was born 40 km from Burny, in the Balakhtinsky district, and her husband went there to woo her. – For me there is nothing harsh in such a life, I’m used to it – it seems to me that I’m a happy person.
At five in the evening it already gets dark: in the Motyginsky district, daylight ends an hour earlier than in Krasnoyarsk. At 6–7 o'clock, wolves, of which there are many in these places, will go hunting. At 10 pm the electricity in Burnoe will go out - diesel only works until this time: the head of the district proposed to extend it, but “why do we need it,” the Old Believers say. The village will fall asleep so that the next day the women will wake up at 6 am and begin their daily work that maintains this village.
To get acquainted with the life of modern Old Believers and their worldview, we go to the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos of the Ancient Orthodox Pomeranian Church, which opened in Belgorod in 2006. The Old Believers are divided into two main directions: priesthood and non-priesthood, which in turn include several agreements. The Pomeranian consensus among the Bespopovites is now the largest.
The Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary is located in the Park of Memory (Gagarin). While you walk along the park path, you have time to admire the beauty of nature and listen to the quiet murmur of water. And when you step onto the clean, well-groomed territory of the temple, the atmosphere of peace even intensifies.
Here I am met by the spiritual mentor of the community Alexander Tarasov. Together with him we enter the temple. To the left is the staircase to the bell tower, and to the right is the entrance to the church shop. A copy hangs above it famous painting Vasily Surikov“Boyarina Morozova”: a noblewoman chained in chains is being driven along a snow-covered street, her hand folded into a double-finger - she was an opponent of Nikon’s church reform. Four years later Feodosia Morozova will die in the earthen prison of Borovsk, starved to death.
“We only recognize icons handwritten, copper-cast and made of wood,” says Alexander Egorovich. - And here are the pectoral crosses. On the reverse side is not the inscription “Save and preserve,” but the prayer “May God rise again.”
These crosses also differ in their shape. On the shelves in the shop are books of chapels, canons, Gospels, and brochures for teaching. There is a book “Church History” written by an Old Believer Ivan Zavoloko.
The temple amazes with its beauty. Painted it Alexander Voronov, Anna Bocharnikova (Tarasova) And Andrey Tarasov. From the frescoes you can trace the history of the Old Believers. On one of them is the Solovetsky Monastery, which did not accept the church reform Nikon and resisted for eight years and held the siege. In the end, he was taken because of the betrayal of one of the monks. In history this event is known as the “Solovetsky Sitting”.
The successor to the Solovetsky Monastery was the Vygovsky hostel. His image in the temple is on the opposite wall. This largest center of Old Believers marked the beginning of the Pomeranian consent. The fresco depicting the irreconcilable opponent of Nikon's reform, Archpriest Avvakum, recalls his martyrdom. Avvakum was exiled to Pustozersk on the Pechora River and there he was burned in a log house. There are many images of saints here, common to the Old Believers and the Moscow Patriarchate: Nicholas the Wonderworker, Sergius of Radonezh, St. George the Victorious, Dmitry Solunsky.
The main fresco is dedicated to the Feast of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in honor of which the temple was consecrated.
- Why are there benches in the temple?
Our services are quite long. And when the sermon is read, you are allowed to sit. But the main purpose of these benches is that handcuffs (small square rugs) are placed on them and prostrations are made,” Tarasov explained.
Icons depicting the 12 holidays are written contemporary artist to the tenth anniversary of the temple, but all the rest are ancient. People kept them in their homes during the persecution of the church.
The singing that can be heard in the Old Orthodox Church is also different from the singing in the churches of the Moscow Patriarchate. It is unison, borrowed from Byzantium. In liturgical books, sound intervals are marked with special signs, they are called “banners” (or “hooks”).
Hence the Znamenny singing.
“Here the mentor has come!”
We go down to the ground floor.
“We have a refectory here. But look, the first fresco that my son painted - “ Last Supper" We also have Sunday school classes here. And then there’s a museum,” shows Alexander Egorovich.
His son Andrei, who has art education, participated in the painting of the temple. He is a military man, and Alexander Yegorovich’s daughter and wife work in the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
The museum contains handwritten and ancient printed books, photographs, church utensils, traditional clothes and ancient household items. In one of the showcases there is a photograph Afanasia Tarasova, in memory of which his grandchildren Alexander, Anatoly And Fedor built this temple. Afanasy Mikhailovich was born in the Shebekin Old Believer village of Koshlakovo. His father was a teacher in the church. Before the revolution, the family had a strong farm, but by 1921 it fell into disrepair.
Having given a cow and a horse to the newly formed collective farm, Afanasy Mikhailovich went to work in Kharkov, from where he sent money to the family. He often came to visit his family. On one of these visits, in 1937, he was arrested and accused of “slandering the Soviet regime.” He spent 14 years in the camps, but did not become embittered, but remained a kind and fair man, to whom in his native village, when they met, they bowed to the waist as a sign of respect.
Koshlakovo was founded in the 17th century by Pomors from the Olonets region.
“Here are the creators of Koshlakovo, then their children. And here comes my line,” Alexander Yegorovich shows a sheet of paper on which the family tree is depicted.
This is how I find out that almost all the residents of the village bear the surname Tarasov.
Behind the museum are the confessional and the baptismal sanctuary. Old Believers baptize children and adults with mandatory three-time immersion in water.
- Does it happen that a person does not have Old Believers ancestors, but he himself wanted to become an Old Believer?
Yes. And often. Sometimes people come to us, look, and something appears inside them. Like. But it is not so easy for us to be baptized. We must first read about the Old Believers, about their history. Understand why the Old Believers still remained and did not accept the changes. Young people in mixed marriages often want to be baptized. I say: “ Go to the temple, read first. There may be some questions. Let's talk. I will not forcefully baptize. Just to get to this point myself" And I warn other Old Believers: do not give ultimatums, only voluntarily.
Near the temple there is a small hotel where visitors from other cities and villages stay. In the same building is the cell of Alexander Tarasov. IN free time he restores ancient icons. And on the walls in the corridor there is an exhibition of his paintings.
Alexander Egorovich served most of his life in the missile forces in the Urals. After demobilization, the art education he received at the time came in handy. While waiting for housing required by law (and instead of 2 years it dragged on for as many as 12), Alexander Egorovich taught art. When he finally got an apartment in Severny, he moved to his native land and had absolutely no idea that he would soon become a mentor in the Old Believer community.
“I had to remember my mother. I think: where to turn? And my aunt lives here. He says: “We are meeting at Maria Ivanovna’s apartment, come.” And so I go there, and the grannies, looking at me, began to smile: “Here the mentor has come!” - recalls Tarasov.
After the war, many Old Believers moved to Belgorod from the villages. Their house of prayer was an ordinary apartment Maria Tkachenko. At first she and her two spiritual sisters prayed there. But gradually the community grew. The question arose about the temple. This is where the Tarasov brothers helped. The history of allocating a place for the temple and its construction was also difficult. Governor provided support Evgeniy Savchenko.
After careful consideration, Alexander Egorovich agreed to accept the choice of the parishioners and exchanged the prospect of a quiet retirement pastime for the responsible service of a mentor, requiring constant self-education, solving spiritual and everyday issues.
Shaving a beard is a sin
- Old Believer communities seem to be very closed...
This happened before, when there were persecutions and people hid their faith. And now freedom of conscience. Old Believers stopped being persecuted in 1905, when Nicholas II issued a manifesto “On strengthening the principles of religious tolerance.” Interestingly, my Old Believer grandfather served as a guard for the emperor in the Winter Palace. Back in 1927, the All-Russian Council of Pomeranian Old Believers took place in Koshlakovo. But in the 30s, when believers were arrested, they no longer made any difference whether you were an Old Believer or not. But our faith is strong, tempered in the old days. Many men did not return from the front, and even our community, in Koshlakovo, was led by a woman for more than 20 years. Then the youth grew up, and men began to choose mentors. So the women kept the faith, for which we thank them. We still have communities led by women.
In the villages the way of life remained strict. Especially in remote places in Siberia. But in the cities they have become more loyal to all the temptations that they previously shunned. For television, for example. It is not TV and the Internet that are dangerous, but what is shown on them.
But in St. Petersburg, for example, electric lighting is not used. They pray and read by candlelight. And we allowed ourselves electricity. Previously, people had no idea where it came from or why the light bulb glowed. But the plane and locomotive were not recognized at all. Old Believers are very conservative. And then they started flying on planes and traveling on trains.
- Do all male Old Believers wear beards?
Shaving a beard is a sin. This is a violation of the image of God. They repent of it. And they receive penance. Cutting women's hair is also a sin. But, of course, wearing a beard will not atone for other sins.
- How is the relationship between the Old Believers and the Moscow Patriarchate?
In 1971, the Synod lifted the “oaths” imposed on the Old Believers during the schism. This indicates an improving attitude. And the latest events - the meeting Vladimir Putin with the Metropolitan Cornelius- also indicates this. Currently, Metropolitan Cornelius is a member of the Council for Relations with religious organizations under the president, representing there the interests of all Old Believers.
The Orthodox Church Abroad sent us a letter and asked for forgiveness. They repented of the persecution inflicted on the Old Believers. And at the end they wrote that 1917 was a reckoning for the 17th century. For me this is definitely true. After the split, faith weakened. And if faith had been strong, then the revolutions of 1917 would not have happened. The people were for the faith, and for the Tsar, and for the Fatherland. And so he went against both faith and the king. And they tried to tear the Fatherland apart from all sides. They wouldn't destroy temples. But this ordinary people did, who previously went to a parochial school, studied the Law of God, - Alexander Egorovich shares his opinion.
At the present time, the Old Believers live peacefully with the Moscow Patriarchate. They have respectful and friendly relations with the Belgorod Metropolitanate. Both sides prefer to adhere to the golden rule: “They don’t go to someone else’s monastery with their own rules.”
Anna Kushchenko
Sergei Dolya writes: The liturgical reform of Patriarch Nikon in the 17th century led to a split in the Church and persecution of dissidents. The bulk of the Old Believers came to Tuva at the end of the 19th century. Then this land belonged to China, which protected the Old Believers from repression. They sought to settle in deserted and inaccessible corners, where no one would oppress them for their faith.
Before leaving their old places, the Old Believers sent scouts. They were sent light, providing only the most necessary: horses, provisions, clothing. Then the settlers set out in large families, usually along the Yenisei in winter, with all the livestock, household scrubs and children. People often died when they fell into ice holes. Those who were lucky enough to arrive alive and healthy carefully chose a place to settle so that they could engage in farming, arable farming, start a vegetable garden, etc.
Old Believers still live in Tuva. For example, Erzhey is the largest Old Believer village in the Kaa-Khem region with a population of more than 200 residents. Read more about it in today's post...
It takes a long time to get to the village. At first we sawed 200 km from Kyzyl. Along the road there are a lot of banners reminiscent of high-ranking fellow countryman Sergei Shoigu:
3. 
We passed small villages. Almost all of them lack such things as cafes or convenience stores, but there is Lenin:
4. 
Village football stadium. Apparently cows are used to “cut” the grass on the field:
5. 
We crossed the river. The cars were sent by ferry and we boarded the boats ourselves. We walked upstream for half an hour:
6. 
A river with a very fast current:
7. 
The views are very picturesque. Mountains, greenery, rare clouds:
8. 
9. 
Our team:
10. 
11. 
Fisherman on the shore:
12. 
13. 
Finally, they arrived:
14. 
At first glance, the Old Believer village was no different from thousands of ordinary villages in Russia:
15. 
At second glance, nothing special was noticed either. Village and village.
The only thing that reminded us of a special place was the strict rules. You are not allowed to film inside the house. You cannot record speech on a voice recorder. For some reason, Old Believers are catastrophically afraid of the word “interview” and everything connected with mass information:
16. 
Katerina, housewife, 24 years old. By the way, they don’t mind being photographed on the street at all. Her family came from the Urals after the war. There was a terrible famine then, and there were legends that this was almost the promised land, where there was complete prosperity:
17. 
Son. Old Believers do not really want their children to receive an education, since no one returns home after studying at the institute. It’s better without a profession, but at least close to your family. To avoid incest, wives are taken from neighboring villages. Divorces are not accepted, the principle “endure and fall in love” is practiced:
18. 
We were invited into the house, fed with okroshka made with local kvass, which tastes more like water, and with fish pie. The pie was unique: seven centimeters high, made from thin dough, completely filled with lenka. I took a bite and realized I had made a mistake. The fish didn’t just have bones, it had a backbone. I washed down the fish bones with lemon balm.
Nevertheless, the reception left a warm impression. We were allowed to rent the garden. They grow everything themselves, including watermelons and melons:
19. 
Homestead farming with cans:
20. 
The baby’s little car, with which he drives around the yard:
21. 
Dad’s big car, which he drives to Kyzyl once a week. Delivers milk, sour cream and cottage cheese for sale. With the money raised, the father of the family buys flour and food. Still, despite the remoteness, the hermitage of the Old Believers is very conditional - their life is already woven into the neighboring society:
22. 