"Russian Amish": Who Are Old Believers in Orthodox Church?
Editor's Note: The Amish have
been capturing the imagination of Americans for decades, challenging the status
quo with their utter rejection of the 'goods' of modern life.
The Russians have their own version of the Amish
phenomenon in the face of the Old Believers, also called Edinovertsi
(One-Faithers), who disdainfully turn down a sparkling, crude materialism in
exchange for a strict, simple life.
Old Believers are Russian Christians who did not
accept the reforms of the Official Russian Church in the 1600s. Since then, they have maintained a strict,
vividly separate culture and identity, settling in separate communities and
farming the land.
Old
Believers usually have large families and dress traditionally; phones and washing
machines are forbidden. Children do not attend school and are taught to read
religious books in Old Slavonic, an old, complex language used in Russian
Church services.
Throughout the 20th century, religious persecution
forced the Russian Old Believers to wander through countries and continents. Today, however, with the support of the
Russian government, they have been slowly returning and settling in
conservative communities throughout Russia.
This is a series of mini-interviews with adherents
talking about their lifestyle. This
particular one explains how the Old Believers maintain a very strict,
semi-monastic rule and tradition of prayer and piety.
From the time of Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Alexey
Mikhailovich’s liturgical “reforms,” daily life and even the worldview of the
Orthodox person has changed considerably.
We routinely hear from our pastors, and then
from the laity echoing them: “What’s the difference, if at least there is love,
and your conscience doesn’t reprove you…” and other variations on the theme of
fulfilling this or that Church rule.
Indeed, the two
main commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ were put in these words: Love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart (Mt. 22:37) and Love thy neighbour as thyself (Mt.
22:39). Without
that, all of our labors on religious soil turn into legalism, hypocrisy, and
phariseeism.
However, our pious
ancestors—and before them no less than the pious Byzantines, heirs to the works
of the holy hierarchs Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, and Gregory the
Theologian—tried to baptize their entire lives and everything around them.
It is no accident
that the highest works of art, the most significant monuments of ancient Rus’,
surviving until this day, have a clearly expressed religious character and are
directly related with Church culture.
Architecture,
painting, literature… It’s as if Russia was one continuous church. Let’s
not idealize it: There are times in the history of our country when many events
happened that are quite bitter to remember today, but the presence of the
Christian ideal as the orientation of the life of the state and society cannot
be denied.
It seems those
pious times have sunk into oblivion, and we live in that world and those
conditions in which we live…
There are no longer
long services and plangent, angelic singing in our city parishes, and icons of
the Rublev school are found far from everywhere.
But grains of these
olden times, of this semi-monastic life have been preserved, by the will of
God, and survived to our day in the Edinoverie (United Faith, Old Rite)
parishes of the Russian Church.
Let the reader not
be scared of the words “Edinoverie”, “Old Rite parishes”, “Orthodox Old
Believers”, and simply “Old Believers”. We’re not talking about representatives
of some Christian confession or, God forbid, about schismatics, but about the
same ecclesial fullness.
The Edinoverie
arose as a movement of unity between the old and new rites already in the end
of the eighteenth century.
Since that time,
two rites with unity of faith have been active in the Russian Orthodox Church
on equal footing. As Edinovertsi can freely visit new rite parishes and
participate in their Sacraments, so the parishioners of regular Orthodox
churches can freely come to our “ancient” services and even become members of
our communities if desired.
Edinovertsi
approach the Divine services very tremulously. Having decided to go to such a
church, already from the outskirts you will see parishioners hurrying to the
service, like the heroes from some film on ancient Rus’.
The men have
unshaven and untrimmed beards, dressed in traditional untucked side-button high
collar shirts, girded with a belt, and in pants and boots! Inside the church
many wear black kaftans down to the floor.
The woman wear
sarafans and opaque head coverings, held together in a specific way with a pin,
and which cover the chest and back. Married women wear a povoinik under their
head covering—knitted bonnets, testifying to the wearer’s marriage.
In their hands
parishioners carry a long leather (as a rule) chotki—lestovka, or “ladder”
prayer rope—with triangles sewn on the end.
If you’re planning
to go to a Edinoverie parish and you don’t have special liturgical clothing,
it’s no problem. Just remember the most important rule: Clothing should be
discreet and tidy, like in a regular Orthodox parish. Sleeves should be long
and opaque, and women must be dressed in a skirt, and headscarves are better
held together with a safety pin.
Before the entrance
of the church, and entering into it, Edinovertsi make the Sign of the Cross
with three bows from the waist, silently praying, “O God, be merciful to me, a
sinner!” (bow). “Thou hast created me, O Lord, have mercy upon me!” (bow).
“Countless times have I sinned, O Lord, have mercy and forgive me, a sinner!”
(bow). They take a special embroidered prayer mat — podruchnik — from a stack
usually piled up inside the entrance. Later they lay their heads and hands on
it, prostrating to the ground, to preserve them in cleanliness. Men and women
stand strictly on their own sides, on the right and left respectively. Extra
walking around the church is best avoided. If there is enough time before the
start of the service, you can sit on a bench by the wall.
They don’t use
electric lighting during the services in Edinoverie churches. The space of the
church is illuminated by lampadas and candles. Such dimness better disposes a
man to prayer, not distracting his gaze. Vegetable oil is used in the lampadas,
and the candles are necessarily of wax. If they want to light candles, it’s
better to do so before the start of the service. In some Edinoverie churches,
before lighting a candle, they make three bows with the above-mentioned prayer
“O God, be merciful…”, and also pray to the saint depicted on the icon.
Before the
beginning of the service the priest leaves the altar and stands before the
Royal Doors and reads the Seven Bow Beginning. This is a special “preparatory”
prayer. It attunes us internally, calling us to gather ourselves. Preserved
custom has this prayer read before leaving home and after returning from common
prayer, and in the most extreme cases it replaces the morning and evening rule.
It goes:
O God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. (bow)
Thou hast created
me, O Lord, have mercy upon me! (bow)
Countless times
have I sinned, O Lord, have mercy and forgive me, a sinner! (bow)
It is truly meet to
bless thee, O Theotokos, ever blessed and most pure and the Mother of our God;
more honorable than the Cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the
Seraphim, without corruption thou gavest birth to God the Word; true Theotokos,
thee do we magnify. (prostration, always)
Glory to the Father
and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit! (bow)
Both now and ever
and unto the ages of ages, amen! (bow)
Lord have mercy,
Lord have mercy, Lord bless. (bow)
Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of God, for the sake of the prayers of Thy Most Pure Mother, by the power
of the precious and life-giving Cross, and my holy guardian angel, and for the
sake of all the saints, have mercy and save me, a sinner, for Thou art good and
lovest mankind. Amen. (Prostration, without the Sign of the Cross).
After the dismissal
“Lord Jesus Christ…” there are three more bows with the prayer “O God, be
merciful…”
If you arrive at an
Edinoverie church after the beginning of the service, say the “Beginning”
yourself, and then carefully stand in a free place and join the common prayer.
Here note that parishioners stand in church with their arms folded over their
chest. According to patristic interpretation, such a stance symbolizes the
folding of angels’ wings, standing before the throne of God. And you will note,
to your great surprise, that it’s much easier to endure the long services in
this position.
Don’t be confused
by the differences in some words and endings of the prayers. This is how they
were everywhere in ancient Rus’ until the middle of the seventeenth century.
For example, you might hear the unfamiliar “… i vo veki vekom” or “And in the
Holy Spirit, True Lord, the Giver of
Life…” in the Nicene Creed.
If you wind up at
the All-Night Vigil, you will note that the people sit in Matins at the
Kathismas, rising only during the “Glory” to make the Sign of the Cross. There
are opportunities to sit during the reading of the instructions, if they are
given. The All-Night Vigil is long in Edinoverie churches; it can take from
four to six hours. However, many newcomers have noticed an inexplicable ease
and even an invisible “help” in standing.
Pay special
attention to the kliros. There can be two klirosi—right and left, but usually
there’s one. The kliros is led by a cantor, holding a pointer in his hands,
with which he sets the singing, and points to important points in the hymns in
the books, including when he hears if someone has slipped up. The cantor stands
in the very center of the singers, and they align around him in “battle
formation.” In Edinoverie churches, Znamenny singing, the main type of ancient
Russian singing, coming to Rus’ from Byzantium, is used in the Divine services.
The choir sings in one voice; instead of notes, hooked notation, peculiar for
modern man, is used to indicate voice intervals. Even just looking at them,
there inevitably arises a feeling of contact with something ancient, and at the
same time eternal. Precisely such angelic singing was once heard by the
ambassadors of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir in the church in
Constantinople. Znamenny “chant” is quite extended, ascetical, unemotional, and
collected. Of course, if you compare Byzantine and Russian Znamenny singing,
there are clear differences. The sound of our equivalent is free and loud, and
the performance is quite strict—manifesting the national, northern color. Such
singing helps the faithful to focus on prayer.
The prayers are
read in a special way, as well as the liturgical readings from the Gospel and
Epistle and the Six Psalms. This reading style is called poglasitsi—it is a
kind of word pronunciation in plain chant. Poglasitsi is used for the Psalms,
the Old Testament readings, the Epistle readings, the Gospel readings, the
instructions, and so on. Reprints of seventeenth century books are used in
reading and singing. Sometimes you can see ancient books of past centuries in
leather bindings on the analogion, with yellowed pages, and ancient
ornamentation and illustrations. Before the beginning of a reading, every
reader, as a rule, does a prostration on a podruchnik, and, receiving a blessing
from the priest, starts to pray.
The services end
the same way they began—with the Seven Bow Beginning. Then the priest reads the
homily from the ambo. Then the community follows into the trapeza. In some
parishes, they have preserved the wonderful tradition of processing to the
trapeza accompanied by the singing of the troparion of the day or feast. Before
eating, all ceremoniously pray together. During trapeza you can read from a
soul-profiting book, and on feasts it is customary to sing ancient Russian
spiritual verses. Singing, as you know, is the soul of the people. It expresses
its national character through its contents, which make you relive the events
reflected in it. That is why it’s very important for Edinovertsi to sing
Christian, and not worldly songs, in times of rest. This is another echo of a
bygone era, and the desire to “draw near to the Kingdom of God,” Christianizing
all the space around you.
During Edinoverie
gatherings they read the Sacred Scripture with commentaries, the lives of the
saints, the works of the holy fathers, and other edifying literature.
Because of the
small number of parishioners, Old Rite churches are in close communication with
one another, with active inter-parish cooperation. Edinovertsi of neighboring
dioceses often visit one another; it can happen that faithful from various
corners of the country, and even the world, come together for patronal feasts.
Those treasures of
the liturgical and parish life that from the time of ancient Rus’ until our day
have been borne by the Old Ritualists (Edinovertsi), are common to the entire
Russian Church. Today they receive individual elements of Church piety in
completely different churches and monasteries. Some use Znamenny singing on the
kliros, somewhere they paint the churches according to the canons, others do
not use electric light in the services. All these tools contribute to a better
perception of God, deeper contact with Him for all those desiring of it, and
for private prayer.
Interest in the Old
Rite in the Church is growing with every year, attracting more and more
supporters of a life according to the laws of ancient Rus’. May God grant that
this interest not fade, but only increase, and most importantly—that it
unswervingly help us all to move towards the salvation of our souls.
Vladimir Basenkov
Translated by Jesse Dominick
Originally appeared at: Pravoslavie.ru (http://orthochristian.com/104149.html)
Source: https://russian-faith.com/people/russian-amish-old-believers-guardians-ancient-russian-discipline-prayer-n1300
