Old Believer book writing schools of the late 17th - early 20th centuries and their artistic features. Study

In culture cFor the Taro-believers, the book rightfully occupies a special place, since the split of the Russian Orthodox Church began precisely with the book reform.

The beginning of the split dates back to 1653, when a modified edition of the Psalter came out of the printing house of the Moscow Printing House. This was followed by a bookstore on the right - another correction of liturgical books organized by Patriarch Nikon. The release in 1655 of the corrected Missal turned out to be fatal for the fate of Russian society.

Thus, all liturgical books in the middle of the XVII century. divided into two groups - the old, pre-Nikonian, and the newly corrected, Nikonian.

The Old Believers to this day adhere to the old pre-Nikon book tradition and treat manuscripts and early printed editions of the pre-Nikon period with special respect.

The state monopoly on book printing did not allow the Old Believers to publish literature that met their spiritual needs. This led to the fact that for half a century, the Old Believers had to make do with pre-reform publications, supplementing them with handwritten compositions. The handwritten tradition of the Old Believers did not die. It successfully passed all the tests of time and, with some inevitable transformation, has survived to this day.

Old Believer handwritten book.

The Old Believer handwritten book is a very special type of handwritten book, based both on the Old Russian traditions of book writing and on the traditions of book publishing.

When rewriting books, the Old Believers tried to imitate ancient models not only in decoration, but also in the manner of writing. The main text was written semi-charter" in black ink. Titles were written in cinnabar (red ink). The names often used "ligature", and in the final part of the text an ornamental ending was placed. Richly decorated manuscripts were opened with a headband-frame - in imitation of old printed editions. The beginning of the work was decorated with initials, letters and miniatures.

Special richness and variety ornamentation differed from singing manuscripts.

In the Old Believer tradition, two main artistic styles of manuscript design developed - Pomor (among the Old Believers-bespopovtsy) and Guslitsky, as well as the Vetka style adjoining it (among the Old Believers-priests).

The traditional Pomeranian ornament is a black outline of the main pattern, the free field is filled with gold and muted tones of green and crimson. The main design also consisted of favorite elements - a characteristic baroque broad-leaved floral ornament with the obligatory "grapes" of crimson color.

The Guslitsky style is named after the historical region of Guslitsa in the Bogoroditsky district in the southeast of the modern Moscow region. They are distinguished by bright lush ornamentation, combining Russian patterning, elements of Moscow early printed ornament and European baroque; the ornament is executed in a variety of shades of blue, red, crimson, green and yellow tones or with gold, with images of birds.

In liturgical practice, the Old Believers of Estonia do not use Guslitsky singing manuscripts, since they reflect a different tradition of church singing, in contrast to the usual one in this region. Nevertheless, Guslitsky manuscripts are sometimes found in local book collections; it can be assumed that they appeared here in the 20th century, when official communication began between representatives of the Old Believers' concords at various congresses, conferences and meetings.

At present, the original Pomeranian manuscripts can be seen in almost any community of Old Believers in Estonia.

The entire handwritten heritage of the Old Believers in Estonia consists of two main parts - the Prichudsky handwritten collection of the Ancient Repository of the Pushkin House in St. Petersburg and the books preserved in prayer houses, houses of the Old Believers and their heirs in Tartu, Tartu County and Tallinn.

In the course of archeographic expeditions in the Peipsi region in 1958-1979, the employees of the Ancient Storage of the Pushkin House removed more than 200 books, which constituted the Peipsi Manuscript Collection.

Old Believer typography.

The reduction in the fund of pre-Nikonian publications due to wear and tear in the circulation process, as well as the targeted policy of the tsarist government to withdraw them and the laboriousness of reproducing books by correspondence, forced the Old Believers to look for ways to print the method of making books.

The first positive results in the activities of the Old Believers in the field of book publishing date back to the very beginning of the 18th century. After the publication of several editions, their release was interrupted and was resumed only at the end of the 60s. 18th century

The impossibility of organizing book printing in Russia forced the Old Believers to turn their attention to the neighboring Commonwealth, where most of these centers were located and where book publishing was free from state dictates.

As a result, from the late 70s to the mid-90s. 18th century in the Vilna, Pochaev, Suprasl Uniate printing houses, as well as the private printing house of P. Dufort in Warsaw and the Grodno municipal printing house, about one hundred and fifty publications for the Old Believers were printed. In Vilna, Old Believer publications were also printed later, until about 1810.

Fonts and ornaments for these books were specially made by local craftsmen on the basis of pre-Nikon editions of the Moscow Printing House.

A new rise in the Old Believer book publishing falls on the 60s. 19th century If at the origins of the Old Believer book printing, the owners, tenants of printing houses and customers of books were merchants, now they were mainly peasants and philistines.

In the last quarter of the XIXV. among the Old Believers, the production of books by the hectographic method, on the glass printer and other methods of replication became widespread.

Possibility of legal book publishing yadtsy were received only in 1905. This date became a milestone in the transition to the next stage of the Old Believer printing, which was characterized by the expansion of the geography of printing houses, the increase in the professionalism of printers, the increase in the size of the printing houses themselves and the introduction of the latest technology into production.

In the 17th century, after the church schism, adherents of the old faith tried to preserve their traditions not only in religious life, but also in everyday life. This imposed restrictions on the Old Believer cuisine - the refusal to use certain foods and the use of different utensils for friends and foes.

The cuisine of the Old Believers, as it were, was mothballed for the next centuries. In fact, with few exceptions, this is a slice of Russian cuisine of the middle of the 17th century that has come down to us without any changes. Naturally, it consists strictly of modest and lean food. The main food product is rye and wheat bread. Potatoes, cabbage and other vegetables are consumed in large quantities, especially in autumn and winter.

The meat-eaters in the communities of the Old Believers ate lamb, pork, and beef. Hunting trophies were used as food - wild goats, deer. They ate fried and stewed meat, meat soup, soup, stew, scrambled eggs in bacon, milk, butter, sour cream, cottage cheese, curdled milk, dumplings, noodle soup with meat, liver pies, jelly and other dishes. On fast days (Wednesdays and Fridays), the food was more modest: bread, flour dishes, potatoes with vegetable oil or “in their uniforms” that appeared in the 18th century, cabbage, lean cabbage soup, soup, botvinya with onions, jelly, various cereals. In Lent they baked pies with onions, mushrooms, carrots, sometimes with fish, cakes with berries and vegetable fillings.

Pavel Ivanovich Melnikov

There was, perhaps, no other writer who knew and depicted the life of the schismatics better than Melnikov-Pechersky. This is exactly the case when they say: the worst devil is a former angel. Since 1847, Pavel Ivanovich Melnikov (who later adopted the literary pseudonym Andrey Pechersky) served as an official for special assignments under the Nizhny Novgorod Governor-General, and since 1850 - in the Ministry of the Interior, mainly on matters of schism. He was unusually zealous in public service, was an "administrative donquixote", which caused dissatisfaction with his superiors and condemnation of the public.

He became famous as a cruel destroyer of sketes and even became a "hero" of schismatic folklore (songs and legends were composed about him - for example, that Melnikov made an alliance with the devil and began to see through walls). However, having thoroughly studied the split, the writer changed his attitude towards it. Whole line his works (“In the Forests”, “Grisha” and others) are a kind of encyclopedia of the manners of the Old Believers that had developed by the end of the 18th - the middle of the 19th century.

“We drank a cup of tea, poured another. Before the second, they drank and ate the fish food brought by Father Micah. And what were those meals! Only in sketes you can enjoy such. The bagged sturgeon caviar was made as if from black pearls, and it glistens with fat, and the granular triplet caviar, like cream, melts in the mouth itself, a salmon of exorbitant size, fat, juicy, such that the Don bishop himself is not often served on the table, but white salmon, sent from Yelabuga, white and glossy, like satin.

As you can see, everything is very nice. Even a grainy C grade... By the way, don't think that it means "so-so, C grade". The fact is that before the advent of railways, beluga granular caviar of the best grade was taken to Moscow and other places on postal troikas immediately after salting. That's why they called her "triple". Of course, it would be an exaggeration to consider the quoted passages as an example of the Old Believer cuisine.

The bulk of the people ate much more modestly. The same Melnikov-Pechersky, describing the village order, gives a completely different picture: “But now great post, besides, logging is nearing its end: less than two weeks remain before Plyushchikha, which is why there are not many supplies in the winter forest. Petryayka's cooking this time was not very enviable. He lit a fire in the hearth, poured peas into one cauldron, and in another began to cook soup: he crumbled gulen, dry mushrooms, onions, covered with buckwheat and pea flour, flavored with oil and put on fire. Lunch is over."

Well, in life, for sure, everything was somehow in the middle - neither the luxury that looks strange in a religious environment, nor excessive self-restraints. Jelly with horseradish, corned beef, cabbage soup with fresh meat, noodles with pork, pies with beef, lamb with porridge - in most well-to-do Old Believer houses, these dishes formed the basis of nutrition. In families, guests were treated to sbitn, later replaced by tea. This custom until the 19th century was preserved in the cities in merchant houses, where the new customs had not yet completely penetrated, in sketes, and in general among some well-to-do commoners.

For sweets, so-called snacks were offered - sweets, marshmallows, various gingerbreads, walnuts and almonds, pistachios, raisins, apricots, jam, dates, fresh and soaked apples with lingonberries. However, the Old Believers also had significant differences from the “traditional” cuisine. Fasting was observed by all Christians - both Nikonians and Old Believers. The only thing is that the Old Believers guarded them more strictly and on certain days they did not eat not only butter, but even boiled food - dry eating was practiced.

How exactly did the schismatic diet differ from the all-Russian one? Separate Old Believer consents adhered to almost Old Testament concepts of "clean - unclean." Arthropods, mollusks, rabbits, and beavers were not included in the diet of especially zealous Christians. (Rabbit - “there are no hooves and does not chew gum.”) Some, like the Jews, did not use and do not use mackerel, burbot, lamprey, eel and sturgeon, since these are scaleless fish forbidden in the Old Testament.

Also, until now, some consenters (bespopovtsy, non-okrugniks) do not eat potatoes, do not drink tea and coffee (bespopovtsy). In general, tea did not take root well in the Old Believer environment, but the merchants nevertheless strengthened the tea custom. And now, in the Old Believer world, “modern” food will never be served on religious holidays and commemorations: fried potatoes, sandwiches, Russian salad, grilled chicken. There will be noodles, pies, pancakes, cabbage soup, porridge, casseroles, fried fish, mushrooms, honey on the table. If this is a commemoration, then most likely there will be no meat. But they will definitely offer “full” - strong semolina pudding, cut into pieces according to the number of guests and eaten at the end of the meal, when everyone gets up and sings “Peace with the saints” (namely “peace”, not “rest”). "Eat your fill" - perhaps this meant "eat until you are full." Which symbolized the manna from heaven and the future life.

Traditions and life of the Old Believers. Vygo-Leksinsky hostel

In 1694, desert fugitives who settled on the Vyg River in the Olonets district (Zaonezhye) formed a community headed by a former church deacon from the Shungsky churchyard, Daniil Vikulov. (According to his name, the hostel was often called Danilov, and the Pomeranian Old Believers were sometimes called Danilov). The combined efforts quickly bore fruit. Four years later, Vyg had a diversified economy: significant areas of land were plowed for arable land, vegetable gardens were established, cattle were bred in large numbers, trade, animal trades on the White Sea, and handicraft production were organized.

In 1694, desert fugitives who settled on the Vyg River in the Olonets district (Zaonezhye) formed a community headed by a former church deacon from the Shungsky churchyard, Daniil Vikulov. (According to his name, the hostel was often called Danilov, and the Pomeranian Old Believers were sometimes called Danilov). The combined efforts quickly bore fruit. Four years later, Vyg had a diversified economy: significant areas of land were plowed for arable land, vegetable gardens were established, cattle were bred in large numbers, trade, animal trades on the White Sea, and handicraft production were organized. The number of settlers in the desert reached 2,000 people, there were 14 large residential (fraternal) cells, the abbot's cells on residential basements were "like svetlitsy", with tiled stoves and wall clocks. By the beginning of the XVIII century. the architectural appearance of the hostel took shape: in the center there was a cathedral chapel with a refectory and a dining room, a bell tower, a hospital, residential cells, and household services were located along the perimeter. All this was surrounded by a high wall, behind which there was a hotel for pilgrims. A bridge was built across the river Vyg.

Everything was arranged in the likeness of a large monastery. The Vygov community is often referred to as a monastery, although there were almost no monks there, except for the initial period; the laity lived here. However, the inner life: the separation of men and women (in 1706 the women's section was transferred 20 miles to the Leksa River) and administration were organized like a monastery. (Fig. 3). The abbots were called kinoviarchs (from the Greek "kinovia" - a monastery). In sketes, scattered for 40 versts around the subordinate district - suzemka - families were allowed to live. At the end of the XVIII century. Suzemok included up to 30 villages with up to 17,000 inhabitants. (E.M. Yukhimenko. Culture).

The activity of the second and third film directors, the brothers Andrei and Semyon Denisov (1703-1741), was of an exceptionally broad organizational and educational nature. (Fig. 32). Schools were set up for children and adults, where students were brought from remote places, special schools for book scribes, singers, icon painters were trained. The richest library was collected and its own literary school arose. It is usually regarded as oriented towards the traditions of Old Russian literature. Recent studies have shown that in the Vygov literary school, traditionalism was combined with innovation, and the works created there are quite consistent with the processes that took place in Russian literature and culture XVIII V. (Gurianova). A variety of handicrafts and handicrafts flourished in the Vygo-Leksinsky Monastery. Through training in community workshops and schools, artistic traditions passed into the peasant environment. Vyg, thanks to huge incomes, supported not only the volost (Suzemok), but the entire Povenets district of the Olonets province, attracted a large number of workers and workers, and paid them well. Active activity Vygoretsii contributed to the fact that in the XVIII - XIX centuries. the population of the entire North, especially the peasantry, was strongly influenced by the Old Believer ideology. And not just the North. Representations (missions) of the hostel were in St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, the Volga cities; their chain from Verkhokamye through the Urals (Tavatuy, Nevyansk plant), the Kossuth desert on the Tavda river, Tobolsk, the Ishim steppes stretched to Siberia, up to Altai. Until the second half of the XVIII century. The Danilovsky Monastery in many respects served as the ideological and organizational center of the entire non-priestry. But even after he lost it, the Vygoleksin literary and artistic traditions remained decisive for the non-priestly movements of the Old Believers.

The question of the artistic heritage of the Vygo-Leksinskaya Old Believer desert was raised in 1926 by VG Druzhinin, the first collector and researcher of fine art monuments created here.

One of the first, as V.G. Druzhinin noted, was the need for books and icons in the monastery. During the correspondence of books, special techniques of calligraphy, semi-statutory writing (known as the Pomeranian semi-statute), tie, and initials were developed. developed and characteristic style ornament, called Pomeranian.

The decor of the Vygoleksin books took shape gradually, through the collective work of scribes and artists of the first generation of Vyg residents. At the initial stage of the development of the Vygoleksin book culture, the aesthetics of the "Donikon" printed book, especially the editions of the Moscow Printing House, had a great influence on the Pomortsy. Late 10s - early 20s. 18th century - the time of the formation of their own scribal school and ornamentation of the type that is called Pomeranian. In the future, Vygov book artists begin to focus more and more on bright applied art, freeing itself from the direct influence of typographic samples (Pliguz). This period is characterized by a special plasticity of almost voluminous, embossed relief, elegant patterns of headpieces, endings, frontispieces. A large leafy baroque pattern of scrolls, flowerpots, vines, bird motifs predominates, often there are lush frames on the title pages and capital letters, decorated with fantastic interlacing of free strokes with flowers and leaves. Despite some monotony in the construction of the ornament, the imagination of the artists found more and more new solutions. On the frontispieces there are portraits of Vygov film archbishops and writers, on the title pages and headpieces - motifs borrowed from other areas of art, for example, from architecture: columns entwined with grape vines with clusters from the architecture of the 17th century. and etc.

Throughout the XVIII - first half of the XIX century. Vygoleksin masters develop and improve their style. The correspondence of books for one's own needs and for sale becomes the most important branch of the Pomeranian "industry", and the design of books, based on the division of operations, resembles the activities of typical centers of folk crafts. In the first quarter of the XIX century. in the Leksinsky workshop alone, several hundred "literate women" were employed in copying manuscripts. The annual income of the Vygoleksinsky hostel from the sale of handwritten books was estimated at that time by the authorities at 10,000 rubles. The copying of books in Karelian Pomorie did not stop after the closure of the hostel by the government in the 1950s. 19th century It continued in sketes, Old Believer villages and villages by people from Vyg and Leksa in the schools organized by them, which lasted until the beginning of the 20th century. In 1941, V.I. Malyshev wrote down in the village of Nyukhcha the story of A.D. Nosova, who had been engaged in the correspondence of manuscripts in the skete school for more than twenty years. This is a unique piece of evidence that sheds light on the life of scribes and the technique of book-writing. (Malyshev, 1949).

After checking the text, the manuscript was bound. The binding crusts were almost always made of wood and covered with calfskin, sometimes with velvet or cloth, on less important books they were made of cardboard and even paper.

Book bindings were decorated with ornaments made using hot stamping, which sometimes used sheet "gold" (bronze and potal) and silver. On leather, usually dyed black or Brown color, sheets of "gold" or silver were applied, copper ornamented plates heated on coals, called "verbal" (with the inscription "book verb"), "middle" and "squares", were placed on them, and then the skin, along with sheets and hot plates, was placed under the press For embossing frame decorations, there was a "road worker" (a copper semicircle) and "chasing" - a copper wheel on a long handle. A similar method of making a handwritten book was recorded by Novosibirsk archeographers in Altai in the 60s. our century. (Pokrovsky, 1988, pp. 24-30).

The Pomeranian ornament also covered other areas of artistic creativity of the Vygovtsy. Along with manuscripts, they began to decorate hand-drawn lubok (wall pictures), icons, copper-cast plastic. The ornament also spread in painting on household wooden products, which were produced in the hostel in the 18th and 19th centuries. They painted spinning wheels, cupboards for dishes, countertops, sledges and other everyday household utensils. Outside the monastery, the art of the Vygovtsy was taken over by entire villages of peasants and fed on this. Wood painting by Danilov artists and craftsmen from the surrounding area is attributed to the Olonets school. The classification of wood painting centers in northern Russia has many small gradations and inconsistencies among different researchers. E.P. Vinokurova believes that Kargopol, Pudozh and Medvezhyegorsk (Povenets, Zaonezh - according to different definitions) centers are distinctly close to Olonets. All of them gravitate towards Vyg stylistically, and geographically they are actually located on the lands of the former Vygovsky suzemka. The masters of these centers were influenced by Vygov artists, and sometimes even studied with them. An example is the father and son of M.I. and I.M. Abramov from Zaonezhskaya village. Space lake. Old Believer M.I. Abramov in the middle of the 19th century. studied iconography with the Danilov elder. Subsequently, he performed, in addition to icon painting, painting, carpentry and other works. Corresponding books was his favorite pastime. The son studied with his father and from the age of 12 he painted arcs, sledges, spinning wheels, platbands and pediments of houses. Sometimes the master introduces ornamental additions into his paintings, which are typical for handwritten books. (Culture, p.39).

E.I. Itkina showed that the development of painting on wood, its plots had a great influence on the drawn popular print. I.N. Ukhanova identifies book miniatures as the main factor influencing wood painting. VG Druzhinin is inclined to the same. In general, apparently, both the Pomeranian ornament, and the Vygov book miniature and the drawn popular print contributed to the development of wood painting.

The Pomeranian book miniature itself has been studied little. VG Druzhinin names only illustrations for "Apocalypses". Of great interest as an example of the "trade" nature of the book-writing activity of the Vygo-Leksinsky community, including the creation of book illustrations, is the obverse collection with the "Apocalypse with interpretations of Andrew of Caesarea" of the 1840s. from the Ancient Storage of the Ural State University, received from the Pomeranians in the Kurgan region. At Vyga, at a good professional craft level, apparently, only the basics of 71 miniatures for the "Explanatory Apocalypse" with drawings of figures were made. Then this "semi-finished product" probably ended up in Siberia (it is well known that Vyg's envoys constantly traveled around the Pomor communities of Russia to collect alms, sell books and icons), where the figures were painted, primitive landscape backgrounds and interiors were added to the miniatures, and such the same headbands and initials, the text of the manuscript is written. As a result of rough, uneven coloring and drawing, besides, poor-quality paints, the illustrations of the manuscript acquired a pronounced lubok appearance.

Vygovskaya book miniature found a peculiar embodiment in the appearance of the illustrated wall "Monthly Books". "Monthly" - annual painting Orthodox holidays and commemorations served as calendars and were in great demand. Therefore, they began to be isolated from books and painted on separate sheets, which are convenient to hang on the wall so that they are always in front of your eyes. They were decorated with initials, ornaments, miniatures, and for compactness they were made double-sided. Monthly calendars were widely used in Vyg's manuscript practice, their samples were preserved in many museum and book depositories.

At the same time, icon painting is perhaps the least studied art of the entire artistic heritage of Vyg. VG Druzhinin made some observations on the style of Vygov icons, which even today remain those signs by which it is difficult to attribute local works. He noted that at the initial stage of the formation of the Danilov school, the masters "imitated the icons of the Solovetsky painting, and then Stroganov." On the icons of the second quarter of the XVIII century. white faces, middle and second half of the 18th century. - yellow, late 18th century - red-brown. The motifs of the palatine writing are borrowed from the works of the royal iconographers of the late 17th century. The craftsmen began to greatly enliven the white of vestments with gold, at the end of the 18th century. a type of manure appears, resembling a tundra covered with moss, with low firs growing on it. In the 19th century the researcher notes the "buffy hue" of the faces, the strongly elongated proportions of the figures and the decoration of clothes with gold and patterns.

Copper-cast plastic among the entire Vygov heritage is the most common and famous. It has been developed in community life at least since the beginning of the 18th century. Vygovtsy cast various copper items: crosses, folds, scapulars, buttons, inkwells, linings and clasps for books, etc. The technology and style of Danilov's copper cast crosses and icons became widespread in other Old Believer centers of Russia, where the production of the so-called Pomeranian casting was also organized, as in Vyga it was often decorated with enamel (enamel). Copper-cast plastic in research and exhibition practice in recent years has been more fortunate than other Vygov art (bibliography - Vinokurova P.144-145; analytical review of the exhibition - Culture. P.18-30).

"The need to cast copper crosses and sashes (folding icons)," according to V.G. the need to have one's own correct icon with oneself during wanderings and travels. Let us add that the mass reproduction of copper-cast cult items not only made it possible to supply co-religionists with the "correct" images, but also provided significant income to the community. Like all Old Believers, Pomortsy recognized the eight-pointed cross, but only with the inscription King of Glory IC XC NIKA. The crosses with the "Pilate Title" I.H.Ts.I. (Jesus the Nazarene King of the Jews), they rejected. At the end of the XVIII century. at the St. Petersburg and Moscow cathedrals, the Fedoseyevites adopted the Pomor type of inscription on the cross. In the first half of the XIX century. "In the Povenets district there were entire settlements where the inhabitants were engaged in some icon painting, and others in casting copper icons. The foreman of the Danilovsky Monastery bought the image and sent it all over Russia."

However, the production of cult copper casting by the Old Believers began even before Vyg. Not later than the beginning of the 1680s. the unknown author of the Epistle "about the Antichrist and his secret kingdom" from the Trans-Ural Dalmatov Monastery wrote that crosses "with doves" are poured in Tyumen, i.e. with the image in the upper part of the cross above the Crucifixion of the blessing Sabaoth, and under it the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove . This type with the inscription I.N.Ts.I. then it became generally accepted among the Old Believers-priests: the beglopopovshchina, the chapel, Austrian or Belokrinitsky consent originating from it.

The incentives for the development of another area of ​​plastic arts on Vyga: woodcarving - the traditional art of the northerners - were also originally the own needs of the hostel. The funeral rite required the installation on the grave of not a simple cross, but a miniature likeness of a chapel - a cross-hollow in the form of a carved column with pricheliki, like a gable roof. The golbtsy columns were brightly painted, and in the middle they strengthened a memorial icon - cast from copper, or painted, or carved on a tree, a grave board ("gravestone"). The cemetery with such cross-chapels resembled a dead town. Vygovtsy achieved great skill in carving burial mounds. Their art became so famous that during the XVIII - XIX centuries. they supplied their products to customers from the Old Believers throughout the North up to the Lower Pechora, in the Volga region and even in the Urals: in the cemetery of the local stronghold of the Pomeranian faith, the village of Tavatuy near Yekaterinburg in the 60s. 20th century there were grave boards of Vygov work.

In addition to copying books and drawing, the “literate women”, like other women living in the hostel, were engaged in sewing. Gold and silver sewing) - the traditional craftsmanship of ancient Russian needlewomen, was used in the manufacture of belts and gaitans (ribbons for wearing crosses), ladders (Old Believer rosaries), wallets and pouches. Leksa craftswomen also made and embroidered kits - headdresses of the Pomeranian Old Believers in the form of hats expanding upwards made of brocade, velvet and silk on a solid basis. In the description of 1816 of the convent of the Leksinsky settlement, where 720 women lived at that time, it is said: "Their exercise in winter is in yarn, weaving, and embroidery with gold and silver, which they sell things and put the money they receive into the general treasury" . Especially loved in the monastery sewing with a vestibule. At the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. In the Povenets district, there were about 500 embroiderers. About sewing in the former Vygov villages, a contemporary noted at that time that, due to the profitability of this craft, it supplants the traditional copying of manuscripts. (Vinokurov. S. 140-142).

Another profitable trade that the Vygovtsy were engaged in in the 18th-19th centuries. for the sake of subsistence - making tuesks from birch bark for sale. Tuesas were decorative items completely covered with carvings. In one of the cathedral instructions of the 1720s. it is said about the ban on the free sale of tuesas, which "are not made according to the order of the desert, but with worldly embellishments." However, the carving itself was so skillful that no additional decorations were required.

Carved wooden icons and worship crosses, engravings from portraits of mentors and founders of the monastery, oil paintings with edifying, portrait and other subjects were also created on Vyga. The Vygovsky center also became the founder of the art of the drawn popular print. Sometimes it is called watercolor popular print. Drawn lubok was made according to a light pencil drawing with liquid tempera: paints on egg emulsion or gum (sticky substances of various plants). The ideologists of the Old Believers had an urgent need to develop and popularize ideas and plots that justified adherence to the "old faith" by visual means of transmitting information. Educational tasks, the need for visual apologetics contributed to the emergence and spread among the Old Believer population, first in the North, and then in the center of Russia, the art of painted wall sheets of religious and moral content.

The drawn popular print was born in the middle of the 18th century. (Itkina E.I. S.37-39). Relying on the high culture of the handwritten book tradition, carefully preserved among the Old Believer population, the artists "melted" the finished form of printed lubok (an engraved wall picture), which by that time had a widely developed theme and was produced in large numbers, into a different, new quality. From the icon art, the painted lubok absorbed spirituality and fine culture. Developing among peasant artists or in Old Believer dormitories, where peasants also predominated, the painted lubok at the same time was an easel art, an art of illustration, and not decoration of things necessary in everyday life, which was predominantly peasant art. Therefore, the painted popular print turned out to be more dependent on urban, craft, and professional art. Hence his desire for "picture", a noticeable influence of baroque and rocaille techniques. The peasant environment added to the artistic nature of the drawn lubok folklore tradition and images of the people's collective consciousness.

E.I.Itkina in the Pomeranian school of drawn pictures distinguishes three directions that differ from each other. The first is represented by the largest number of pictures and is characterized by brightness. festivity, naive popular openness. In these drawings, always made on a white, unpainted background, a world of fantastic, fabulous beauty blossoms. The second variety of Pomeranian leaves is marked by an exquisite pearl-pink gamut. The luboks were necessarily of a large format and were made against a tinted background and were distinguished by their craftsmanship. In the pictures of the third category, a peculiarity is the use of the motif of a curly acanthus leaf, characteristic of the Pomeranian ornament. Acanthus leaves are combined with traditional birds. In the 1840-1850s. in connection with the repressions against the Vyhovsky and Leksinsky monasteries, the production of hand-drawn pictures decreased. But even after the closure of the hostel in the secret village schools in Pomorie until the beginning of the 20th century. the education of the children of the Old Believers, the correspondence of books and the copying of wall pictures continued.

City on the river Sozh in the Gomel region. (Belarus), the center of the Old Believers in the con. XVII-XIX centuries, created by Russian. settlers from Starodubye and Center. Russia. The Old Believer settlement of V. arose outside the Russian border, in the possessions of the Halecki and other representatives of the Polish. gentry. V. and Starodubye, as Old Believer centers, developed almost simultaneously - starting from the 70s. 17th century The settlement of V. was most active after 1685, when 12 articles by Princess Sofya Alekseevna were published, aimed at combating the followers of the "old faith". The settlement of V. appeared first on the island of the same name on the river. Sozh, in con. XVII - beginning. 18th century around the island within a radius of approx. 50 km, 16 more settlements arose: first Kosetskaya, Romanovo, Leontyevo, then Oak Log, Popsuevka, Maryino, Milichi, Krasnaya, Kostyukovichi, Buda, Krupets, Grodnya, Nivki, Grabovka, Tarasovka, Spasovka. In 1720-1721. In the Vetka settlements, there were more than 400 households.

The first leaders of the Vetka Old Believers were priest Kuzma, who moved from Moscow to Starodubye, and then to the Vetka settlement Kosetskaya, and priest Stefan from the Tula lands, who lived after Starodubye in V., but then went to the Karpovka settlement. The beginning of the construction of the first temple in V. is associated with the Don Hierarch. Joasaph, a cell-attendant and disciple of Job Lgovsky, after wandering through the deserts, came to the settlement of Vylevskaya not far from V. Vetkovtsy, at first they were wary of him, since he was ordained by the New Rite Bishop of Tver, but, having a need for a priest, they asked Joasaph to serve with them. Joasaph agreed, in 1689-1690. finally settled in V., began the construction of the Intercession Church, but could not complete it due to his death in 1695. Ioasaph managed to gather many people around him in a short time. monks and nuns; Melania, a nun from Belevo, a student of the leader of the Old Believers, Avvakum Petrov, brought an ancient antimension to V.

Ioasaph's successor was one of the well-known fugitives, the Rylsky priest. Theodosius (Vorypin). Under him, V. reached its highest peak. In 1695, Theodosius secretly served a liturgy according to the old rite in an abandoned c. Protection of the Holy Mother of God in Kaluga and consecrated many Spare Gifts. From the same church, he managed to take the ancient iconostasis (according to the Old Believer legends, from the time of Tsar Ivan the Terrible) and bring it to V. Theodosius managed for several. days to significantly expand on V. the temple, built under hierom. Joasaph. To the consecration of the temple, which took place in the autumn of 1695, and the service in it, Theodosius attracted 2 priests, ordained by the bishops of the Orthodox. Churches: the seatless Moscow priest. Gregory and his brother Alexander from Rylsk. According to some sources, he accepted them into the Old Believers with the 3rd rank - through renunciation of heresies, without Chrismation (see: Lileev. From history. S. 211); other sources claim that Theodosius received all the priests who came to V., including Gregory and Alexander, in the 2nd rank - through Chrismation (Nifont, p. 78). Since the old world was not enough, Theodosius, in violation of the canons, brewed "myrrh" (according to church rules, only a bishop can do this).

"Mentor and vain". Engraving from the book: Ioannov A. (Zhuravlev). "The news of the strigolniks and new schismatics". St. Petersburg, 1795. Part 2, incl. after 84 (RGB)

"Mentor and vain". Engraving from the book: Ioannov A. (Zhuravlev). "The news of the strigolniks and new schismatics". St. Petersburg, 1795. Part 2, incl. after 84 (RGB)

The Vetka temple had 2 chapels, over time it was richly decorated with icons and utensils. Soon, 2 monks arose under him - a husband. and women, the relics were discovered, first of all, “quiet blessed Joasaph”. V., where the only church in the entire Old Believer world operated and the relics of the leaders of the Old Believers were found, became one of the main centers of fugitive priesthood. Theodosius and the fugitive priests accepted by him into the "old faith" "corrected" the priests who came to them and sent them to the Old Believer communities in all parts of the country. Under the guise of merchants, the inhabitants of the Vetka monastery dispersed throughout Russia, carried prosphora and water consecrated in the Vetka church, made rites, and collected donations. The economic activities of the Vetka settlements were also diversified: the Old Believers cut down forests, cultivated arable land, raised cattle, built mills, and conducted extensive trade. The inhabitants of sketes and mon-ray were engaged in traditions. monastic needlework - book writing, book binding, icon painting; Vetka mon-ri were centers of literacy, repositories of ancient books and manuscripts.

Under the influence of V. in the 1st floor. 18th century there were priests of Moscow, the Volga region, the Don, Yaik, and others. Weakened by the persecution of the Nizhny Novgorod bishop. Pitirim (Potemkin) and the growing internal disputes between the Sofontievsky, Onufrievsky and Dyakonov consents, Kerzhenets submitted to V. and her active elder Theodosius. The latter actively participated in polemics, especially with the Dyakonovites, who began to actively move from the Volga to the East and to Starodubye. One of the opponents of Theodosius was the deaconite T. M. Lysenin. Their dispute is reflected in the “Description of the debate of the elder Theodosius with a certain Timofey Matveev Lysenin, and with his disciple Vasily Vlasov, and with their adherents about the Honest and Life-Giving Cross Christ's, which took place in V. in June 1709 (Lileev. Materials. S. 3-9). The subject of the dispute was as follows: Lysenin, like all the deacons, venerated the 4-pointed and 8-pointed crosses equally, while Theodosius called only the 8-pointed cross “true”. Theodosius was also strict with Sofontiy, the organizer of the skete on Kerzhenets, who did not obey V., as well as with the elder Onufry of Kerzhenets, an admirer of the dogmatic letters of Archpriest Avvakum.

About the successors of Theodosius in the management of the Vetka Intercession Mon-rem to the middle. 30s 18th century the following is known: Alexander (brother Theodosius) “also received the second rank [into the Old Believers. - E. A .] the holy monk Anthony and so on. Anthony received the monk Job, and so on. (Nifont. S. 78). Job, adding to the Old Believers several. hieromonks, in 1734 he "received for correction" the false bishop Epiphanius of Revutsky (2nd or 3rd rank, according to various Old Believer sources). Mn. The Vetkovites did not recognize the bishopric of Epiphanius, who nonetheless “ordained” 14 “priests” for the Old Believers. Previously, the Vetka Old Believers undertook several. trying to get their own bishop. In 1730, the Vetka abbot. Blasius handed over to Yassky Metropolitan. Anthony "petition sheet" for his own bishop, signed by the Vetka priests and the Starodub deacons, the petition was supported by the owner V. Pan Khaletsky and Moldavians. sovereign. Having not received an answer, the following year the Vetkovites sent a new petition, which was considered by the then K-Polish Patriarch Paisius II, who was then in Iasi, who agreed to satisfy the request, but with the condition to follow the teachings of the Orthodox Church in everything. Churches, which did not suit the Vetkovites.

In 1733 and 1734 imp. Anna Ioannovna issued 2 decrees, by which the Vetkovites were invited to return to the places of their former settlements. Since there was no response to the decrees, in 1735, by order of the Empress, 5 regiments under the command of Colonel Ya. G. Sytin surrounded V., all her inhabitants were sent to the monasteries, settled in the places of their former residence and in Ingermanland. Hierom, who was then in charge of V. Job was exiled to Valdai in honor of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God Mon-ry and died there; Epiphanius was sent to Kyiv, where he died in communion with the Orthodox. Church. Pokrovskaya c. they dismantled it, made rafts of logs and tried to deliver it to Starodubye with water, but the logs sank at the mouth of the Sozh. 682 books were taken from the Vetka monks, “and especially various small books and commemorations, one and a half bags.”

A year later, the Old Believers began to gather again in the V., a majestic chapel was built, and bells were arranged. In 1758 a new temple was erected, consecrated with the antimension left from the old temple. The Intercession Monastery was also revived, where up to 1200 inhabitants lived. However, V.'s rise was short-lived this time as well. In 1764, at the behest of the imp. Catherine II Alekseevna, who was striving to return the Russians to their homeland, Major General Maslov with 2 regiments suddenly surrounded V. and after 2 months. more than 20 thousand of its inhabitants were brought to Russia, mostly to Siberia, some to Irgiz, which turned into the main center of the Old Believers-priests. In present For a time, immigrants from V. live in Buryatia (they are called Semey Transbaikalia) and in Altai, where they are called Poles.

According to the testimonies of the Old Believers, V. was finally empty in 1772. But the debate continued for a long time about what rite “to receive priests and laity coming from the Great Russian Church” (Melnikov-Pechersky, p. 337). On V., they adhered to the reception of the 2nd rank, with “smearing” with the world, which gave the name to the Vetkovites - the Peremazants, in contrast to the deacon's consent, which received the 3rd rank. From the Vetkovites, Mikhail Kalmyk finally switched to the deacon's practice, in 1772 he moved to Starodubye.

In the 2nd floor. XVIII-XIX centuries The Old Believers lived in the East, but this center had no former significance. The most famous was the Lavrentiev Monastery (after 1735-1844; not preserved, at the present time the recreation area of ​​Gomel), where Pavel (Velikodvorsky) began his monastic journey in 1834. In 1832-1839. the rector of the monastery was Arkady (Shaposhnikov, later an Old Believer bishop), many others are associated with this monastery. prominent figures of the Belokrinitsky hierarchy: Arkady (Dorofeev, later Bishop Slavsky), Onufry (Sails, later Bishop Brailovsky), Alimpiy (Veprintsev), I. G. Kabanov (Xenos) - the author of "The History and Customs of the Vetka Church" and District message. Other Old Believer monasteries also acted in V.: Makariev Terlovsky, founded ca. 1750, 32 versts from the Lavrentiev Monastery, monk Macarius from Vereya, Pahomiev, created ca. 1760 another native of Russia - monk Pakhomiy, Asakhov (Cholnsky or Chonsky) skete, arranged at the same time near Gomel in the tract Cholnsky precipice by the elder Joasaph from Gzhatsk, wives. monastery in Spasovaya Sloboda on the territory of modern. Gomel. These monks, especially Lavrentiev, in con. XVIII - beginning. 19th century patronized by Field Marshal P. A. Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky and his son gr. N. P. Rumyantsev, on the lands of which the cloisters were located. In the beginning. nineteenth century in Makariev Mon-re, a council was held by agreement of the “Peremazants” with the deacons, at which representatives of the Rogozhsky cemetery, V., Starodubye, Orel and Moldavia were present. The “Pemazants” prevailed at the cathedral, but no agreement was reached, the Vetka elders evaded the dispute ( Melnikov-Pechersky. S. 346).

In con. 20s 20th century the Vetka Old Believer settlements were quite crowded: in 1929, 434 parishioners were registered in the Kosetskaya community, 342 in Popsuevskaya, and 521 parishioners in the parish of the Leontief Prayer House. In 1988, the territories of the Vetka settlements were in the zone of infection after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which led to the disappearance of many. historically significant settlements, the death of a large number of monuments of the Old Believer culture. In present while a small population of Old Believers lives in Tarasovka, Maryina, St. Krupze, Bude.

In 1897, the Museum of folk art, more than 400 exhibits from the Shklyarov collection laid the foundation for museum funds. The museum presents icons, products of local masters of weaving, beadwork, there is also a collection of ancient books and manuscripts; Most of the exhibits are monuments of the material and spiritual culture of the Old Believers. Feb 27-28 In 2003, an international conference “Old Believers as a historical and cultural phenomenon” was held in Gomel, the main topic of which was the preservation and study of the unique historical heritage of V.

Source: [Xenos I. G.] History and customs of the Vetka church. B. m., b. G.; The same // Old Believer Church. calendar for 1994. M., 1993. S. 66-104; O. Nifont: Genealogy // Spiritual literature of the Old Believers of the East of Russia in the 18th-20th centuries. Novosib., 1999. S. 65-91.

Lit.: Lileev M . AND . Materials for the history of the split on Vetka and Starodubye in the 17th-18th centuries. K., 1893; he is. From the history of the split on Vetka and Starodubye in the 17th-18th centuries. K., 1895. Issue. 1; Melnikov P . AND . (Andrey Pechersky). Essays on priesthood // Collection. op. M., 1976. T. 7. S. 243-275, 343-345, 510-555; Vorontsova A . IN . On the controversy between the “Vetkovites” and the Dyakonovites: Little-studied polemics. op. representatives of the "Vetka" consent // World of the Old Believers. M.; SPb., 1992. Issue. 1: Personality. Book. Traditions. pp. 117-126; Garbacki A . A . Staraabradnitsva in Belarus ў cantsy XVII - patchwork XX cent. Brest, 1999; Zelenkova A . AND . Old Believers of the village of Krupets, Dobrush district, Gomel region. (on materials of oral history) // Old Believers as an historical and cultural phenomenon: Materials of the Intern. scientific-practical. conf. Feb 27-28 2003, Gomel, 2003. S. 85-87; Kishtymov A . L . Rumyantsev and the Old Believers of the Gomel estate // Ibid. pp. 111-118; Kuzmich A . IN . From the history of the Lavrentiev Monastery // Ibid. pp. 139-142; Savinskaya M . P ., Aleinikova, M . A . The attitude of the authorities to the Old Believer communities in the Gomel region in the 20s. 20th century // There. pp. 250-254.

E. A. Ageeva

Vetka chant

In V., which is the spiritual adm. the center of the Old Believers-priests, for the first time their singers began to take shape. traditions. In the manuscripts, to-rye corresponded here, it was laid down that in the last. became a feature of the Old Believer priestly singers. books - true speech edition of texts, znamenny notation with notes and signs.

The Vetka craftsmen created a peculiar style of manuscript design, which was formed under the influence of Moscow manuscripts of the 17th century. (Vetkauska Museum of Folk Art. Minsk, 2001. P. 119; Guseva K. Old Believer Art in the Bryansk and Gomel Regions // From the History of the Funds of the National Library of Moscow State University. M., 1978. P. 130-135). Most famous place where the manuscripts were copied was the Vetka Intercession Monastery; the inhabitants of the settlements were also engaged in this (Lileev. S. 221; Sat. Nizhny Novgorod academician. arch. commission. N. Novg., 1910. T. 9. Part 2. S. 313; Pozdeeva S. 56-58). In the Vetka Center, ancient books were collected not only from Central Russian. areas, but also from adjacent orthodox. lands (Smilyanskaya. S. 205-210).

The Vetka masters created their own style of writing and designing manuscripts. Ornament of Vetka singers. manuscripts are original and strict, do not contain gold. It contains features of grass style, baroque elements, shades of red, green, blue, yellow colors predominate. The initials are multi-coloured, cinnabar or similar in tone paint is used. There are highly artistic adaptations of early printed ornaments. A number of manuscripts indicate the names of the masters who created them (Bobkov E ., Bobkov A . S. 451). The Vetka ornamentation reached its peak in the manuscripts of Elder Evdokim Nosov (1777). The tradition of copying manuscripts was preserved in V. until the 1960s. 20th century The Vetka ornament and handwriting of the hooks served as the basis, on which the style of the Guslitsky manuscripts was formed (it is especially difficult to distinguish Guslitsky manuscripts from the Vetka ones from the end of the 18th century - see: Manuscripts of the Old Believers of Bessarabia and Belaya Krinitsa: From the collection of the National Library of Moscow State University: Cat. Ch. 2: Singing Manuscripts of the Bessarabian Collection of Moscow State University / Compiled by N. G. Denisov, E. B. Smilyanskaya, Moscow, 2000. No. 1608, 1733, 1738, 1838, 1845, 2206, etc.

Vetkovtsy sang individual chants in a special chant, designated in the manuscripts as "Vetkovskiy chant". In one of the manuscripts, which was found and introduced into scientific circulation by E. A. and A. E. Bobkov, this chant recorded the chant “May my prayer correct me” (Bobkov E., Bobkov A. S. 450; rkp. Donated by the Bobkovs as a gift to IRLI, where it is stored (Drevlekhranishchee. Belorus. collection, No. 93. L. 30v.)). Indications of the Vetka chant are found in the manuscript of the chanter. collections of the Perm State. galleries (RKP. No. 1405r. Oktoikh and Obikhodnik are hooked. XIX century. L. 125. “Vetkavsky melody”: “Like Neide for advice” (Parfentiev N. P. Traditions and monuments of ancient Russian musical and written culture in the Urals (XVI -XX centuries.) Chelyabinsk, 1994. S. 178-179)) and others. its musical and stylistic features have not been studied. In the Vetka-Starodubsky collection of singers. there are no manuscripts of the scientific library of Moscow State University indicating this chant (Bogomolova, Kobyak).

Lit.: Lileev M . AND . From the history of the split on Vetka and Starodubye in the 17th-18th centuries. K., 1895; Pozdeeva, I . IN . Archaeographic works of Moscow. university in the district of ancient Vetka and Starodubye (1970-1972) // PKNO, 1975. M., 1976. S. 56-58; Bogomolova M . V ., Kobyak, N . A . Description of the singer manuscripts of the 17th-20th centuries. Vetkovsko-Starodubskogo collection. Moscow State University // Rus. written and oral traditions. M., 1982. S. 162-227; Bobkov E . A ., Bobkov A . E . Pevch. manuscripts from Vetka and Starodubye // TODRL. 1989. T. 42. S. 448-452; Smilyanskaya E. B . To the study of the historical and cultural significance of the Vetka-Starodub Old Believer Center in the 18th-20th centuries. // History of the Church: study and teaching: Mat-ly nauch. conf. Ekaterinburg, 1999. S. 205-210.

N. G. Denisov

Iconography B.

(end of the 17th century - 2nd half of the 18th century), reflecting the continuity of Orthodoxy. the tradition preserved among the Old Believers in following the decisions of the Stoglavy Cathedral of 1551 and the monuments of spiritual culture of the XVI - 1st half. XVII century, little studied. Its origins were art centers in Romanov-Borisoglebsk (now Tutaev), Kostroma, Yaroslavl, whose best masters worked in the Armory of the Moscow Kremlin. However, new artistic trends could not help but influence the pre-Nikon icon painting. Combination of tradition. letters with "living likeness" testifies to the duality of the style, which nevertheless remained in the Old Believer icon within the boundaries of the ancient canon. Confessional isolation and location outside of Russia contributed to the consolidation of local features in the artistic practice of V., preserved due to the dynastic succession of craftsmanship. The originality of iconography in V. was also manifested in the creation of new iconographies.

The Vetka craftsmen made icon boards without an ark from softwood, aspen and poplar, which were strongly exposed to the grinder bug. Linen was used for the canvas, later cotton industrial production fabrics. The count was always present; the drawing was scratched, minted on gesso and then the surface was gilded. A characteristic feature of the Vetka icons was the simultaneous combination of most common techniques and techniques of writing (quotation, gold blooming, niello painting, scraping). when gilding nimbuses, glazing was often used, they were made in the form of a dotted ornament, as well as by the method of quoting, color (red and thin white lines), sometimes according to app. type - a combination of straight and zigzag rays. In the dressing of clothes made with gold leaf, a pattern was used (in a pen, in a zigzag, in a matting, etc., as well as free-form) in the technique of gold-space writing (the inakopi technique was not used); only on the Vetka icons is found the cutting of clothes with ocher or whitewash on gold, inherited from the masters of the Armory. The influence of these masters was also reflected in the simultaneous use of gold and silver when writing ornaments on clothes over folds, including in “shadow” places. A feature of the icons of such a letter is the high quality of the drying oil.

Nativity of the Virgin. Mother of God Feodorovskaya. "Be thy womb, holy table." Great Martyrs Catherine and Barbara. Four-part icon. 40s 19th century (VMNT)

Nativity of the Virgin. Mother of God Feodorovskaya. "Be thy womb, holy table." Great Martyrs Catherine and Barbara. Four-part icon. 40s 19th century (VMNT)

In the Vetka icon, the characteristic of traditions was preserved. iconography treats light as Tabor, but both light and color partially changed their qualities, as more and more attention was paid to the beauty of the visible world. Life within Little Russia left its mark on the tastes of the Vetkovites. Bright multicolor south. they perceived color as an image of the Garden of Eden, hence the increased decorativeness, an abundance of floral ornaments (daffodils, branches with leaves and flowers of apple trees, imitation of acanthus leaves, vines, garlands, a cornucopia, shells). roofs architectural structures decorated with decor in the form of semicircles, fish scales, tiles, plowshares, diagonal mesh with an ornament inside. The ornamentation of clothes was influenced by the patterns of the app. and east. imported fabrics. From the masters of Yaroslavl and Kostroma, an interest in complicated compositions was inherited, a love for patterns and ornaments, in particular, the Kostroma ornamental frames were perceived and developed, separating the middle of the icon from the fields, often with squares of other colors and ornaments.

In the Old Believer icon painting, the semantic meaning of the main components of the icon and the symbolism of its colors have been preserved: the edge on the fields (the border of the earthly and heavenly firmaments) was painted with red and blue paint; the frame separating the ark (the region of eternity) from the fields (the firmament) is a red and thin white line (the colors of the heavenly world). The pigment composition of the palette in V. is represented by primary colors and is distinguished by an abundance of cormorant. Open, pure, often not mixed, local colors are characteristic. In continuation of the tradition of tonal writing, it is possible to mix colors with different content of white. The background and fields were covered with gold, rarely silver with tinted drying oil. Unlike other icon-painting centers in V., a colored background was not used. On the spread of "architectural" backgrounds in the icons of the XVIII-XIX centuries. European influence. baroque. Another peculiar feature is the abundance of inscriptions in the margins. The eclectic style of the tsarist masters became a source of combination in the Vetka icons of the “beautiful” dolichny and traditions. personal letter.

The technique of personal writing goes back to the Byzantines. techniques (float, filling, selection) and is known in 3 main "poshib" (options). In the first - Byzantium. and Russian the pre-Mongolian tradition was continued by the so-called. Korsun letters, where the tones of sankir and ocher are as close as possible, the rouge of bleached cinnabar and the interlip (or the description of the lower lip) highlighted by vermilion create an image of spiritual burning. These "dark-faced images" preserved the Old Believers' special vision of the divine nature of the transfigured flesh. In another variant, “contrasting writing”, olive-brown sankiri with abundant highlights do not match each other in tone; blush was not always applied. In the 3rd - the writing system is the same, but the personal letter is sustained in warm colors: orange-brown colors of ocher applied on ocher-brown sankirs. hallmark The letters of the faces are 3 light spots in the form of active highlights around the mouth and chin, as well as the shape of the upper lip, hanging over the swollen bifurcated lower one. These directions existed both in monastic and suburban workshops and in the works of rural icon painters.

The ability of Vetka masters to embody principles in the icon monumental art is a legacy artistic culture wealthy Volga cities. Icon painters along with traditional. the form of hagiographic icons, the series of events in which is presented in stamps, adopted, following the masters of the Upper Volga region, a new compositional form of plot development in one plane. The skills of spatial thinking were reflected in the wide distribution of many-part icons that were relevant for the home chapels of the Old Believers who were "on the run".

"The apostles are bound by the union of love." 19th century (Chelyabinsk Regional Art Gallery)

"The apostles are bound by the union of love." 19th century (Chelyabinsk Regional Art Gallery)

The isolation of the Vetkovites did not stop creative searches in the field of iconography. Orthodox self-consciousness and aspirations of Heavenly Jerusalem by the Old Believers, expressed by the words of St. Paul: “We have no permanent city here, but we are looking for the future” (Heb 13:14), reflect the essence of many others. iconographies created in their environment. The favorite was the image of the Holy Trinity (the so-called New Testament) - the “Tri-hypostatic Deity”. The assimilation and complication of this iconography by the Old Believers, whose appearance they did not associate with the West, is due to the eschatological moods that are important for them and the idea of ​​Christians about the fate of sinners and the righteous. Among the numerous aspects, the idea of ​​the way of the cross of the faithful, who are able within the Church and with the help of the Eucharist to overcome division and become co-heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, is singled out. ", voice 4) reveals spiritual meaning image: the mystical union of the Earthly and Heavenly Church with its Head. The sacrificial path of this connection is expressed through a cross-centered composition, where the Cross is a means of salvation on the path to God. In the center of the composition, as a rule, Christ the High Priest is represented in the form of an Angel of the Great Council with an eight-pointed nimbus, in a priestly robe, in cuffs and with arms crossed on his chest; there are images of the Lord Almighty, “Saved Good Silence”, the Crucifixion, the Holy Trinity (Old Testament), as well as the Mother of God “Look for humility” in the image of the Bride-Church, bound by bonds of unity and love with the Bridegroom-Christ crowning Her. By artistic means, this image is revealed through the luminous structure of color and light, the gold of the fields and the background. The emergence of this iconography in the 1st half - ser. 19th century in Belaya Krinitsa, it is no coincidence that it was there that in 1846 the Bosno-Saraevsky Metropolitan joined the Old Believers. Ambrose (Pappa-Georgopoli), and the Old Believers received their own hierarchy.

in the 18th century The appearance in V. of the iconography of the Mother of God “Fiery” is connected with the comprehension of Her image as the fullness of the Church. This idea is connected with the theme of divine fire and is expressed in the icon through the symbolism of the red color of the face and clothes of the Virgin. The color of the Resurrection of Christ for the image of the Mother of God is the most adequate embodiment of the deified incorruptible flesh, which connected the earthly and heavenly and became the “Throne of Fire”. This iconography is associated with the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, celebrated in the Catholic. Churches like the Mother of God (Purification of Mary) and famous in Poland and the South-West. Rus' under the names "Fiery Mary", "Tomb" (see: About You rejoices: Russian icons of the Mother of God of the XVI - beginning of the XX century. M., 1996. Cat. 60). Bespopovtsy does not have the image of the Mother of God “Fire-like”; in the Russian Orthodox Church is known only in the Code of miraculous icons of the Mother of God.

Wooden icon cases made in V. inherited the traditions of Belarusian, the so-called. flemskoy, slotted, multi-layer carving, having a Western European. origin. Application new technology and tools made it possible to create a sculptural-volumetric high-relief and at the same time openwork carving. The elements of wooden carving were influenced, and sometimes “cited”, by the ornaments of headpieces, initial letters of early printed and handwritten books of the 16th century.

Lit .: Sobolev N . AND . Russian folk. woodcarving. M; L., 1934; Abetsedarsky L . WITH . Belarusians in Moscow in the 17th century Minsk, 1957; NKS. T. 4. S. 8, 19, 25, 122-123, 126-127; Bryusova V. G . Russian painting of the 17th century. M., 1984. S. 94, 113-114. Il. 82, 83; Zonova O. IN . On the early altar frescoes of the Assumption Cathedral // Assumption Cathedral Mosk. Kremlin: Materials and Research. M., 1985. S. 116-117. Il. 26; Nevyansk icon. Yekaterinburg, 1997. Ill. 147; Vetka Museum creativity. Minsk, 1994; Raphael (Karelin), archim. About the language of the Orthodox icons. SPb., 1997; Grebenyuk T . E . Artistic originality of Vetka icons: Techno-technol. aspect // World of Old Believers. M., 1998. Issue. 4. S. 387-390; Sarabyanov V . D . Symbolic and allegorical icons of the Cathedral of the Annunciation and their influence on the art of the 16th century. Moscow Kremlin // Annunciation Cathedral Mosk. Kremlin: Materials and Research. M., 1999. S. 200, 202; Florovsky G. Faith and culture. SPb., 2002. S. 240-241.

T. E. Grebenyuk

And Patap Maksimych loved to read soul-saving books in his spare time, and where, as it pleased, his parent's heart was to re-read "Golden Jets" and other legends, copied with gold and vermilion by the hands of craftswomen daughters. What “screensavers” Nastya painted at the beginning of the “Flower Gardens”, what “dates” she painted with gold on the sides - it's a pleasure to see!

P. I. Melnikov. In forests.

From the end of the 17th century The main centers of correspondence and design of Cyrillic manuscripts are the places of compact residence of the Old Believers: Vyg (Vygovskaya Pomorskaya hermitage), Vetka, Guslitsy near Moscow, villages and sketes in the basins of the Pechora (especially Ust-Tsilma) and Northern Dvina rivers, the Volga region (Nizhny Novgorod, Samara and Saratov provinces ), Verkhokamye, the Baltic States (mainly Latgale and the Western Peipus), the mining Urals, Siberia, Belaya Krinitsa, etc. Many of these places have developed their own original school of handwritten books with fonts, miniatures and ornaments characteristic of each region. The famous Russian writer P. I. Melnikov (1818 - 1883), the author of the epic dilogy about the life of the Kerzhen sketes "In the Forests" and "On the Mountains", being an official on special assignments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs "to eradicate the split", in 1854 compiled a "Report on the current state of the split in the Nizhny Novgorod province”, where, in particular, he noted: “The Pomeranians, that is, those living in sketes and villages of the Olonets province (1), are considered the best scribes. Pomeranian writing is notable for both correct spelling and calligraphic art. The Pomeranian are followed by Sloboda manuscripts, i.e., written in the Chernigov province; V Lately they are distributed incomparably less. Along with the Sloboda manuscripts are Moscow and Irgiz, i.e., written in formerly Saratov schismatic hermitages. Finally, in the last category of manuscripts are Siberian and riding, that is, written in the provinces of Nizhny Novgorod, Vladimir, Kostroma and Yaroslavl. In addition, manuscripts are written without much pretension to the beauty of handwriting in almost all areas where there are schismatics” (2).

1. Vyg

In October 1694, in the upper reaches of the Vyg River (now the Medvezhyegorsk District of the Republic of Karelia), the deacon of the village of Shunga Daniil Vikulin (1653 - 1733) and the townsman of the village of Ponevets from the family of princes Myshetsky Andrey Denisov (1674 - 1730) founded the Vygovsky Pomeranian hermitage (also the Vygoleksinsky community) or Vygoretsia) is one of the first in appearance and subsequently the largest in terms of size and number of inhabitants, the center of the Bespopov Old Believers. As for the cultural significance of the Vygoleksinsky community (the Vygov school of icon painting and book writing), it goes far beyond the bespopov sense: the influence of the Vygov art, which was a kind of standard of artistic skill, fresh in terms of style and at the same time not going beyond the "statutory limits ”, extended both to the fine art of the peasants of the Olonets Territory, and to all, without exception, the places of compact residence of the Old Believers.

The Vygoleksinsky hostel consisted of Vygovsky (male) and Leksinsky Krestovozdvizhensky (female). The latter was founded in 1706, 20 versts from Vygovsky, by transferring the convent to the banks of the Leksna River. By the end of the 17th century, Vygoretsia already had a vast economy, which was constantly growing: arable land, mills, livestock, sea crafts, etc. Thanks to Peter's decree on religious tolerance of 1702 and the political talent of the Denisov brothers, Andrei and Semyon (1682 - 1740) , Vygovtsy secured the patronage of both local authorities and a number of influential people in St. Petersburg, which served as a guarantee for the further prosperity of the desert, which experienced in the 18th century. its flourishing.

Andrey Denisov became the organizer of the book-writing school on Vygu. A somewhat unusual circumstance for that time was that the majority of the Vygov book writers were women - residents of the Leksinsky community (in 1838 there were about 200 of them). The importance of the local “literate hut” is evidenced by the fact that in Pomorie it was known as the “Leksinsky Academy”, whose “graduates”, literate women-trainers, were sent all over Russia.

The Vygovskaya school of calligraphy and miniature took shape by the 1920s. XVIII century. “On Vygu,” writes E. M. Yukhimenko, “an exceptionally skillful and exquisite design of the book was achieved.<…>high professionalism of Vygov scribes<…>is confirmed not only by the closeness of the handwriting within the same school, but also by the exceptional quality of the correspondence” (3). The Pomeranian semi-ustav was formed on the basis of a handwritten semi-ustav of the last quarter of the 17th century, the source for which, in turn, was the early printed font of the 16th century. An early variety of the Pomeranian semi-ustav (translated from the middle of the 18th century) retains a pronounced genetic connection with its prototype: the letters are compressed from the sides and elongated vertically, “earth” is written with a small lower and a broken upper loop. Finally, their own style of writing developed in the local "literate cells" (book writing workshops) by the 60s. XVIII century - by this time, the above features of the early Vygov handwriting give way to a more square style of letters (4).

The Vygov book-writing school is distinguished by the subtlety and elegance of lines, the accuracy of details, the richness of colors, the variety of initials, stylistic unity and magnificent ornamentation, dating back to the metropolitan court art of the last quarter of the 17th century. The design of Vygov books combines plant and architectural-geometric forms: various flowers, leaves, berries, headpieces with lush entablature, etc. In the works of local scribes, there are also numerous decorations of the early printed style, referring to the manuscripts of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra of 1520 - 1560 1990s, whose decor, in turn, was created on the basis of engravings by the Dutch-German artist Israel van Mekenem (1440/45 - 1503). The titles of the books were decorated with luxurious elaborate ornamental compositions, going back mainly to the engraved sheets of the work. famous masters Vasily Andreev (XVII century) and Leonty Bunin (died after 1714) of the Armory Chamber – Vygov calligraphers actively used both their exact drawings and their own processing based on copies (5). The miniatures of the Vygov manuscripts, as well as other Old Believer books, are of an essay nature, thus continuing the late medieval pictorial tradition. In terms of beauty, quality of materials and craftsmanship, it is the Vygov manuscripts that rightfully occupy the first place among the majority of ever created post-split manuscripts of the Slavic-Russian tradition.

We also note the fact that Vyg's book-writing art was devoid of any peasant-folk naivete and pagan reminiscences. - In this respect, it was the direct heir and successor of the high Byzantine and Old Russian traditions, to which elements of the Baroque style were added.

Local scribes rarely indicated their authorship. Most often, it was expressed only in the placement of discreet initials - and not necessarily at the end, but in various parts of the manuscript. Apparently, this fact is explained by the purely monolithic nature of the Vygov school: the members of the book-writing artel did not feel like individual masters, but only parts of a single communal organism.

Two noteworthy documents have survived to this day that regulate the work of the Vygoleksinsk scriptorium: “Instructions to the matron of the “competent cell” Naumovna” (translated half of the 18th century) (6) and “The ceremonial regulation on letters, which all clerks must observe with danger” (beginning of the 19th century) (7). These works clearly illustrate the fact of how important part of the life of the monastery was the activity of correspondence, decoration and restoration of books. The content of both texts refers us to the penances "On the Calligrapher" by St. Theodore Studite, demonstrating the continuity and continuity of the Eastern Christian book-writing culture from the early medieval Mediterranean to the Olonets forests of the 18th-19th centuries.

In the second quarter of the 19th century, with the accession of Nikolai Pavlovich (1825 - 1855), the political and ideological atmosphere around Vygoretsia began to heat up rapidly, and its economic situation worsened. Among the series of government decrees aimed at "eradicating the schism" was a decree of 1838 that forbade the correspondence and distribution of books to Vygovites. The final extinction of the Vygoleksinsky community took place already under the next emperor, in 1856-1857, when the local chapels were sealed and their property was described. Those manuscripts that were not taken out by the Old Believers themselves even before the closure of the prayer houses, over the years have been distributed to museums, libraries and private collections.

2. Branch

Since the second half of the 60s. In the 17th century, in connection with the beginning of repressions, a significant number of opponents of liturgical reforms moved to the lands of the Starodubsky regiment of Little Russia (Starodubye, today the western part of the Bryansk region of the Russian Federation), founding numerous settlements here: Ponurovka, Zlynka, Klintsy, etc. After the failed Streltsy rebellion of 1682 and the subsequent suppression of the royal decree on the return of the Starodub refugees to the places of their former settlements, part of the Old Believers, immigrants from Starodubye, crosses the border of the Commonwealth and, out of reach for the Russian authorities, establishes the settlement of the same name on the island of Vetka of the Sozh River (now in the Gomel region of Belarus). The first leaders of the Vetka Old Believers were two priests - Moscow Fr. Kuzma and Tula Island Stephen. As the persecution from the government of Princess Sophia (1682 - 1689) intensified, more and more people flocked here who disagreed with Nikon's reform. At the end of the XVII - beginning of the XVIII century. within a radius of several tens of kilometers from Vetka, 16 more settlements arose: Kosetskaya, Romanovo, Leontevo, Oak Log, Popsuevka, etc. The settlers brought handwritten and old printed books with them, rewrote and designed them. Thus, by the beginning of the 18th century, Vetka became the largest center of the priestly Old Believers and one of the main enclaves of Slavic-Russian book writing. Despite the “forcings” of 1735 and 1764, the branch was revived each time, although by the end of the 18th century. it has already lost its former meaning. Thanks to repeated migrations from Starodubye to Vetka and back, these two regions have never lost a deep historical and cultural connection between themselves, which was embodied, among other things, in a single artistic style of the works of the local scribes, icon painters, engravers and wood carvers.

By the second half of the 18th century, Vetka and Starodubye developed their own style of correspondence and decoration of manuscripts. The main place for the creation and design of manuscripts was the Vetka Intercession Monastery, during the XVIII century. which was the largest Old Believer monastery with the richest book collection. The nature of the style of local masters, including book writers, with its limitless variety of plant patterns, referring the viewer to the image of the Garden of Eden, brightness and richness of colors, is reflected in the old Vetka proverb that has survived to this day: “Our Vetka, like candy, is all on tricks worth "(8).

The extremely saturated floral ornaments of the Vetka manuscripts are dynamic, characterized by open, open forms. Luxuriously decorated initials and headpieces with a lot of small details, often decorated with figurines of various birds. Screensavers, as a rule, have a colored or black background. In the design of initials, a chiseled ornament is often found. Elements of the early printed ornament, although very frequent, are not as common as they are in the Vygov and Guslitsky manuscripts. The works of Vetka calligraphers are characterized by the predominant use of cinnabar, terracotta, orange, various shades of ocher, blue and light green in initials, headpieces and ornaments. Local masters did not use gold at all, which, in particular, distinguishes the Vetka book-writing tradition from the Vygov one.

At the end of the 18th century, Vetka's book-writing art gradually moved from monasteries to peasant houses, as a result of which the artistic quality of the design of the manuscripts deteriorated: the decor became more popular, and its style more diverse.

The former glory of Vetka went down in the 70s. XVIII century, but the book-manuscript tradition continued to live here until the 60s. century XX. The last of its known representatives was Feoktist Petrovich Bobrov from the village of Ogorodnya. The final death of Vetka as a cultural and historical center occurred after 1986, when, as a result of the Chernobyl disaster, most of the settlements surrounding Vetka ended up in the exclusion zone: the settlements were evicted, and all their buildings were destroyed.

3. Guslitsa (Goose)

In the Middle Ages, the population of this region, which now occupies the south of the Orekhovo-Zuevsky and the north of the Yegoryevsky districts of the Moscow region, was very small, which was explained not only by its periphery and inaccessibility (due to dense forests and numerous swamps), but also by the infertility of local soils. At the end of the 17th century, numerous zealots of "ancient piety" rush to these places, as well as to a number of other remote corners of the Russian kingdom; and Guslitsy become one of the main enclaves of the priestly Old Believers, "Old Believer Palestine", which was reflected, in particular, in the belief that Fr. Nikita Dobrynina ("Pustosvyate"), who knocked over "the whole basket" here.

In addition to hop growing, trade, textile production, various folk crafts, icon painting and criminal activities (counterfeiting, horse stealing, professional begging (“collection”), etc.), local residents were actively engaged in the correspondence of sacred books, by the end of the 18th century. turning Guslitsy into the second most important (after Vyg) center of Old Believer book writing, which supplied many Old Orthodox communities of the priestly direction both in Russia and abroad with its products.

Of all the schools of Old Believer book writing, the style of the Guslitsky scribes is perhaps the most recognizable and stylistically monolithic: it is difficult to confuse the Guslitsky manuscript with any other. Having experienced a certain influence of the Vetka art, local calligraphers gradually developed their own style, which took shape around the end of the 18th century - the earliest Guslitsky manuscripts that have survived to this day also belong to this time. In the 19th century it is no longer the Vetka school that influences the Guslitsky school, but the Guslitsky school influences the Vetka school: the decline of Vetka also led to the decline of local book writing, which led to an influx of Guslitsky manuscripts to Vetka - some of them began to be copied by Vetka masters.

The Guslitsky semi-ustav is characterized by a barely noticeable slope of the letters, their thickness and some elongation; and in the design art of the local book scribes, the early printed ornament, elements of Russian baroque and folk herbal patterns are intertwined. “The main motif of the Guslitsky ornament,” writes E. A. Podturkina, “is large herbs with stylized flowers and berries. In addition to plant elements, the pages of manuscripts often contain images of various birds, all this creates an image of the Garden of Eden” (9).

In addition to the peculiarities of the font and decor (more concise compared to the Vetka tradition), the Guslitsky manuscripts differ from the Vetka manuscripts in less richness of colors, but in greater brightness, richness, contrast, and in later samples even some poisonous alternating colors - green, blue, crimson - red and yellow, - often presented in the form of a kind of shading, which is the most noticeable of the characteristic features of the Guslitsky book-writing school. Gold in the design of Guslitsky manuscripts appears only from the second half of the 19th century, but it was used infrequently.

At the beginning of the 20th century, due to the beginning of mass printing of singing books and, as a result, a decrease in demand for more expensive manuscripts, the scale of Guslitsky book writing was noticeably reduced. However, many Old Believers still continued to give preference to handwritten books, and a certain demand for the work of local masters remained - thanks to the printed matter market, tradition weeded out random book writers, leaving only the best. “After 1917,” writes Fr. Evgeny Bobkov, - the publication of singing books has ceased. But their correspondence could no longer be adjusted. Only a few manuscripts written in the 1920s are known. natives of Guslitsky at the Rogozhsky cemetery in Moscow" (10).

4. Ust-Tsilma and the Pechora basin

The Pechora Territory, rich in deposits of silver and copper, fur-bearing animals and valuable fish, has long attracted the attention of Russian princes and merchants, but the regular development of these places by Russian settlers began only in the middle of the 16th century: in 1542, Novgorodian Ivashka Dmitriev Lastka received the Grand Duke a letter of grant for the use of lands along the Pechora River. At the mouth of the Tsilma River on the left bank of the Pechora, several Novgorod families, led by Lastka, founded Tsilemskaya Slobidka, a settlement that soon received the name Ust-Tsilma. After some time, the settlement was transferred to the right bank, and in 1547 a church was built in Ust-Tsilma in the name of St. Nikola. In 1667 Archpriest Avvakum stopped in Ust-Tsilma on his way to Pustozersk. Many participants were also exiled here. Solovetsky uprising and movements led by Stepan Razin. The development of the region gained a second wind at the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries, when masses of people who did not accept the church reforms of Patriarch Nikon reached out to this remote, harsh and underdeveloped region.

Manuscript books, as a rule, were brought to Ust-Tsilma by service people - Novgorodians, Muscovites, Ustyuzhans, as well as Ust-Tsilma themselves, who traveled on trade business. At the turn of the XVII - XVIII centuries. a significant number of manuscripts and early printed books were brought to Pechora by Old Believers who fled to these places from persecution by the authorities. In the XVIII - XIX centuries. they founded many sketes here - the largest of them were Velikopozhensky and Omelinsky. Many sketes had schools grammers, libraries- scribes and book workshops.

The Vyg tradition was a model for the Great Pozhensky and Omelinsky scribes. On the basis of the Pomeranian semi-charter, their own type of font was formed here - the Pechora semi-charter. The books copied by the local scribes differ from the Vygov ones in less slenderness of type, greater freedom of lines, less careful drawing of details, and some simplification.

From the second half of the 19th century, after the “forcing out” of large Old Believer sketes, the Pechora book-writing tradition passed into the huts of local peasants trained in sketes, the most talented of whom, undoubtedly, was Ivan Stepanovich Myandin (1823 - 1894). However, on the lower Pechora, numerous small sketes of hidden people continued to exist, in which book-writing was also carried out.

After 1905, when the Old Believers were allowed to freely print pre-reform books and a significant amount of printing products poured into Pechora, the number of local scribes decreased somewhat, but the work of the scribe did not disappear at all, but organically supplemented the work of the typographer - individual creativity did not lose its value at all.

Until the Soviet era, almost every family in Ust-Tsilma and its environs owned handwritten books, and in some houses there were entire collections of manuscripts and early printed books, which were the object of touching love and care. The owners, simple peasants and fishermen, tried to record the history of literally each of their books, dressing the owner's notes in the traditional form of medieval marginal. At the same time, it should be emphasized that books were not at all dead weight - reading medieval, especially church liturgical, literature was an important part of people's daily lives, the source from which they drew spiritual strength and found answers to almost all their questions, like metaphysical, and everyday character.

In addition to strong peasant houses, by the end of the second decade of the 20th century. The handwritten tradition of the Ust-Tsilma region was concentrated around the church of the same faith in Ust-Tsilma (closed in 1925), as well as the prayer houses of the village of Zamezhnoye, the villages of Borovskoy, Skitskaya and Omelino (the first three were closed in the early 1920s, the fourth - in the early 30s) (11).

Book writing acquired an unexpected and very acute relevance after 1917, when, over the next few years, the publication of spiritual literature was almost completely stopped. However, the new times did not spare either scribes or books: in the 1930s. many of the Pechora scribes were repressed by the OGPU-NKVD (mainly under article 58-10 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR - calls to undermine Soviet power; production, storage and distribution of literature of the corresponding content), but the lists of victims still need to be clarified, since in the Soviet for a while, the defendants themselves, for obvious reasons, did not talk about this; books, both handwritten and printed, were confiscated and destroyed - when they were burned, and when they were simply drowned in the river. All this, coupled with the establishment of collective farms, the closure of sketes and prayer houses, as well as the intensified preaching of secret people, caused a surge of eschatological sentiments in the Pechora: whole families went to the forests (“desert”), there they created caches in which books were hidden; many tried to the last not to send their children to Soviet schools and evaded conscription into the Red Army; someone even committed suicide... Nevertheless, the Pechora book-writing tradition turned out to be one of the most tenacious and at the very least held on until the early 1980s.

5. Dvina and Mezen basin

By the middle of the 18th century, the valley of the Northern Dvina, overgrown with impenetrable taiga wilds, was covered with a network of numerous Old Believer monasteries. In addition to sketes, the main centers of Severodvinsk calligraphy and book miniatures were villages and villages located on the territory of the present Verkhnetoemsky, Vinogradovsky and Krasnoborsky districts of the Arkhangelsk region. People came here to learn the book-writing craft not only from all over Pomorye, but also from neighboring provinces - mainly from Vologda. Severodvinsk masters maintained contacts with representatives of other, sometimes very remote, Old Believer book-writing centers; and their products were in consistently high demand and even reached the Romanian kingdom and the Ottoman Empire.

An intensive book-manuscript tradition also existed in the Mezen River basin. Already in the last third of the XVII century. Okladnikova Sloboda, located in the lower reaches of the Mezen, where Avvakum's wife and children were in exile, became the center of correspondence and distribution of the works of both the archpriest himself and his like-minded people. In the second quarter of the 18th century, due to the destruction of the Kerzhensky sketes by Bishop Pitirim, a significant number of Old Believers from the Nizhny Novgorod province moved to these places and founded a number of monasteries here. At the end of the XVIII century. Together with the Old Believers, the art of copying books came to the Udora region (the upper reaches of the Mezen and Vashka rivers).

In terms of style and color scheme, the book writing of this region was closely intertwined with the famous tradition of Severodvinsk white-background painting, which adorned spinning wheels, chests, tueskas, and other objects of decorative and applied art. Sometimes the same person was engaged both in painting spinning wheels and in the manufacture of manuscripts and icons. The nature of the work of local calligraphers and miniaturists was also influenced by the proximity of such centers of artistic craft as Veliky Ustyug, Solvychegodsk and Kholmogory. Pinega manuscripts stand apart, they are extremely scarce in terms of design.

In the years civil war and the ruin of the sketes that followed it, in parallel with the collectivization of peasant farms, the Severodvinsk book-writing tradition is gradually fading away; and today in these parts there is little that reminds of local sketes, scriptoria and skilled craftsmen who once lived here, whose fame extended to the Black Sea coast: the builders of the “bright future” left only ruined buildings, crippled destinies and a rapidly declining population as a legacy to their compatriots.

6. Volga region

In the Volga region from the last third of the XVII century. The main centers for the correspondence of books were Old Believer sketes located along the Kerzhenets River, later also along the Irgiz and Cheremshan Rivers. However, scribes were found in all places of compact residence of local Old Believers: the cities of Gorodets and Semenov in the Nizhny Novgorod province, Balakovo in the Samara province (now the Saratov region), Khvalynsk in the Saratov province, and in a number of others.

Kerzhensky sketes (today in the Semenovsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region) were one of major centers pop style. By the end of the 18th century, along the Kerzhenets River, there were 54 Old Believer (mostly priestly) sketes with a population of about 8,000 people. The heyday of Kerzhenets is associated with the Supreme Manifesto of Catherine the Great of December 4, 1762, which called on all subjects of the Empress who had once fled outside Russia to return to their homeland, promising the monarch's "generosity" and "prosperity". After the publication of the Manifesto, a significant number of Old Believers, who had previously settled in the Commonwealth, moved to Kerzhenets. It was here that the main events of P. I. Melnikov’s dilogy “In the Forests” and “On the Mountains” unfolded. Late 40s - early 50s. XIX century, under Nicholas I, many of the Kerzhensky sketes were closed, but in fact the sketes functioned until the end of the 20s. XX century, when they were settled by the communists: in the 90s. there were still old women who studied in the Kerzhen sketes the basics of books and singing. Today, only skete cemeteries, from time to time visited by pilgrims, remain from the Kerzhensky sketes.

Another major center of Volga book writing was founded in the 60s - 70s. 18th century settlers from Vetka sketes along the Irgiz River (now in the Saratov region). The enterprise of the inhabitants, the economic benefits provided by the Catherine's Manifesto, as well as the patronage of the subsequent sovereigns, Pavel Petrovich and Alexander Pavlovich, turned Irgiz into the main and richest center of the priestly Old Believers, whose condition could only be compared with the largest synodal monasteries. “On the Irgiz,” writes I.V. Polozova, “at the end of the 18th - first half of the 19th centuries. there is a process of formation of its own manuscript school, which not only supplied the monasteries and surrounding villages with singing books, but also taught monks and students the skill of creating books. The latter, having left the monasteries, continued to copy books, preserving the Irghiz traditions of book writing” (12).

Since 1826, the autocratic policy towards the Old Believers has changed, and in 1828-1841. Irgiz sketes were partly closed, and partly converted into co-religious ones. Although the tradition of skete book-writing continued to exist even in the conditions of common faith, the quality of the Irgiz manuscripts declined significantly.

By the middle of the 19th century, the emergence of the Cheremshan sketes, founded near the city of Khvolynsk and becoming the new center of the Volga handwritten tradition, dates back. It was here that many inhabitants of the previously closed Irgiz sketes moved. Since the 80s 19th century The Verkhne-Uspensky monastery became the center of Cheremshan, which grew significantly and changed after the Manifesto “On strengthening the principles of religious tolerance” of April 17, 1905. In 1918, the monastery was devastated by the Chekists. By the beginning of the 30s. the Vvedensky convent, which was gradually fading away, also ceased to exist.

In addition to the skete inhabitants, a significant part of the laity was engaged in the correspondence of books, many of whom went through skete schools, studied with local clergy or received the basics of literacy directly from their parents (13).

The literary tradition of the Irgiz and Cheremshan sketes was of an eclectic nature, but on the whole relied on the Vyg and Guslits schools, with the latter predominating. Irgiz manuscripts are characterized by brightness and richness of colors, light coloring. They are distinguished from their Guslitsky counterparts by a greater variety of colors, including gold and silver. The initials of singing manuscripts at the beginning of sections are usually polychrome, they are drawn in full sheet, combining elements of floral and geometric ornaments. There are also simpler cinnabar initials, however, they also contain all kinds of artistic elements: climbing stems, herbs, fantastic flowers ... The character of writing the Irgiz initials develops the traditions of Vetka. The type of writing is most reminiscent of late Vygov. Sometimes the letters are decorated with vignettes. As for ornamentation, in some works it is even more complex and solemn than on Vygu. Not inferior to Vygovsky and the subtlety of the execution of miniatures, the thoroughness of drawing small details. The works of Irgiz scribes are generally distinguished by their extremely high quality, which is typical both for the material (thick paper and almost non-fading ink) and for calligraphy. In addition, Irgiz books have a solid, durable binding. However, there are also very mediocre manuscripts, but, as a rule, these are not monastic, but peasant products. The Cheremshan manuscripts are inferior to the Irgiz ones both in terms of the quality of the material and the craftsmanship of execution. As a rule, they are written on white paper with a yellowish tinge (the Irgiz ones are usually written on gray-blue paper). Their letter is larger and more sweeping than that of the Irgiz, the design is much more modest. - We find all these signs in the Irgiz books of the co-religious period. The Cheremshan tradition departs from the Irgiz one and comes close to the Guslitskaya one (14).

In general, the level of professionalism and quality of work has been gradually declining since the middle of the 19th century, the era when the Skete book-writing tradition passed into the hands of peasants. Decorations begin to take on a more primitive character, slovenliness of writing and negligence of design increase, and color palette sometimes it is limited only to ink and cinnabar - moreover, quite often ink with vermilion began to be completely replaced with blue (also purple or brown) and pink ink, respectively. However, despite the general decline, given time not without some creative finds: for example, in the village of Samodurovka, an original style of decorating initials with purple dots is taking shape (15).

In our review, we touched only on those of the Old Believer book-writing centers that either developed their own styles of correspondence and book design, with artistic features characteristic of each of them, or those whose products, despite the absence of a single pronounced style, still have some common features. generic features that allow it to be attributed to the tradition of the corresponding region. It was the above centers that during the 18th - early 20th centuries. produced the bulk of the Slavic-Russian handwritten books. The writing traditions of Latgale and Peipsi, which copied the manuscripts of Vyg, remained outside the scope of the essay; Verkhokamye, whose scribes were guided by the pre-Nikon editions of the Moscow Printing House; Urals and Siberia, distinguished by extreme eclecticism and design asceticism. As for the small book-writing workshops, which had the character of a skete or family scriptorium, they existed in almost every small Old Believer settlement.

Notes

1. The administrative unit of the Russian Empire that existed from 1801 to 1922 and included most of the territories of the modern Republic of Karelia, Arkhangelsk, Vologda and Leningrad regions. provincial city was Petrozavodsk.

2. Quoted. By: Bobkov E. A., Bobkov A. E. Singing manuscripts from Vetka and Starodubye // TODRL. T. 42. L., 1989. S. 449.

3. Yukhimenko E. M. About the book basis of Vyga culture // World of Old Believers. Issue. 4. Living Traditions: Results and Prospects of Comprehensive Research. Materials of the international scientific conference. M., 1998. S. 161–162.

4. Ibid. S. 161.

5. Engravings by Vasily Andreev and Leonty Bunin were found not only on Vyga, but also on Vetka and in Guslitsy, on the book-writing tradition of which they had no less influence.

6. Instructions to the overseer of the “competent cell” Naumovna // Writings of the Vygovtsy: Writings of the Pomeranian Old Believers in the Ancient Storage of the Pushkin House. Catalog-incipitary / comp. G. V. Markelov. SPb., 2004. S. 374–377.

7. A ceremonial regulation on letters, which all scribes must observe with caution // Yukhimenko E. M. Literary heritage of the Vygovsky Old Believer community. In 2 vols. T. 1. S. 391–392.

9. Podturkina E. A. Artistic design of the Old Believer handwritten book of the Guslitsky letter of the 18th - 20th centuries. Abstract of diss. ... candidate of art history. M.: MGUP, 2013. [S. 19–20].

10. Bobkov E. A. Singing manuscripts of the Guslitsky letter // TODRL. T. 32. L., 1977. S. 391.

11. Malyshev V.I. Ust-Tsilma manuscript collections of the 16th – 20th centuries. Syktyvkar, 1960, pp. 23–24.

12. Polozova I.V. Church singing culture of the Saratov Old Believers: forms of existence in a historical perspective. Saratov, 2009, pp. 59–60.

13. So, for example, in the second half of the 19th century, the Irgiz book-writing tradition was continued by Terenty Ivanovich Puchkov from the city of Nikolaevsk. In the XX century. the handwritten works of Anna Nikolaevna Putina were distinguished by originality of design (for more about her and her work, see: Novikova L. N. Epistolary heritage of the Old Believer A. N. Putina. To the question of the Old Believer symbolism of the XX century. // World of Old Believers. Issue. 4. Living Traditions: Results and Prospects of Comprehensive Research. Materials of the international scientific conference. M., 1998. S. 206–215).

15. Ibid. pp. 165–167.

Russian culture originated many centuries ago. Even in pagan times, the Russians decorated themselves and their living space (house, yard, household items) with original patterns. If the pattern repeats and alternates individual details, it is called an ornament.

Folk ornament necessarily uses traditional motifs. They are in every nation. Russian ornaments are no exception. When we hear this phrase, embroidered shirts and towels immediately appear in our imagination. They have horses, ducks, roosters and geometric shapes.

Traditional Russian ornament

Excursion into history

The primary unit of society is the family. And it is to families that we owe the first folk patterns. In ancient times, animals and plants had a totemic meaning. Each family believed that it had one or another patron. For generations, family members used items with the symbols of their kind, considering them protection and help.

Gradually, the family drawing went beyond the family and became the property of relatives. Several genera exchanged their patterns. Thus, already the whole tribe used symbols originally belonging to certain families.

Over time, there were more patterns, the circle of their users expanded. This is how Russian folk ornaments appeared in Russia.

Even in the exterior of the houses, symbolism was traced

You can see that in different areas different colors were used for needlework. There is a simple explanation for this. In the old days, only natural dyes were used. They were made in a handicraft way. So, the availability of raw materials for paints often determined the entire palette of works.

Different regions had their favorite "decorations". It is no coincidence that "paisley" is one of the motifs for the ornaments of the eastern regions. Homeland "Indian cucumber" Persia in the east.

Meaning and Meaning

A creative fusion of nature and religion. So briefly you can describe national, including Russian ornaments. In other words, an ornament is a symbolic description of the world.

Ornamental elements were not only decoration. They carried a semantic and ritual load. They can not only be viewed, but also read. Very often these are conspiracies and amulets.

Each character has a specific meaning:

• Alatyr is perhaps the main of the Russian and Slavic signs. It is a symbol of the infinite universe, the dual unity of the world and its balance. The source of life, consisting of male and female principles. Often the eight-pointed Star Alatyr and the Alatyr Stone were used in patterns. They were expected to help in various life situations.

Holy Alatyr

• Another symbol that was very revered and often used in patterns was the World Tree of Life (or Kingship Tree). It was believed that it grows on the Alatyr Stone and the gods rest under its crown. So people tried to protect themselves and their family under the branches of the Tree of Life and with the help of celestials.

One of the variants of the image of the Kingdom Tree

• Various swastikas are also a popular motif in Russian and Slavic needlework. Of the swastikas, Kolovrat can be found more often than others. An ancient symbol of the sun, happiness and goodness.

Variants of the image of the symbol of the sun among the Slavs

• Orepey or Arepey is a rhombus with combs on the sides. His other names: Comb rhombus, Oak, Well, Burdock. It was considered a symbol of happiness, wealth, self-confidence. When located on different parts of clothing, it had a different interpretation.

Orepei symbol

• Animals and plants that surrounded people and were deified by them, this is a constant theme of patterns.

Slavic symbolism is very diverse

Of particular importance was the number of alternations of elements in the ornament. Each number carried an additional semantic load.

Beauty and protection

The aesthetic value of the ornaments was combined with the totemic one. Magi and shamans put symbols on ritual clothes and utensils. Ordinary people also put a special meaning into traditional drawings. They tried to protect themselves with talisman embroidery, applying it to certain parts of clothing (to protect the body). Table linen, household items, furniture, parts of buildings were also decorated with appropriate patterns (to protect the family and home).

The simplicity and beauty of ancient ornaments make them popular today.

Charm dolls were decorated with traditional ornaments.

Trades and crafts

Gradually, with the development of civilization, ancient patterns were transformed, some of them became identification marks of individual folk crafts. Separated into independent crafts. Usually crafts have a name corresponding to the area where they are produced.

The most popular are:

• Porcelain and ceramics "Gzhel". Her style is a distinctive drawing of blue paint on a white background. It is named after the Gzhel settlement of the Moscow Region, where the production is located.

Gzhel painting - an old craft

• “Zhostovo painting” can be recognized by flower bouquets on a black (rarely green, blue, red) metal tray covered with varnish. The fishing center is located in Zhostovo (Moscow region). The beginning of this craft was laid in Nizhny Tagil, where the production of Nizhny Tagil trays still exists.

Luxurious Zhostovo painting

• "Khokhloma" is a decorative painting on wood. It is characterized by black, red, sometimes green patterns on a golden background. Her homeland and place of residence is the Nizhny Novgorod region.

Khokhloma is still popular today

• Sloboda Dymkovo is the birthplace of Dymkovskaya, and the city of Kargopol, respectively, Kargopolskaya, the village of Filimonovo, Filimonovskaya, Stary Oskol, Starooskolskaya clay toys. All of them have a characteristic pattern and color.

Stary Oskol clay toys

• Pavlovsky Posad woolen shawls are the visiting card of Pavlovsky Posad. They are characterized by a voluminous printed floral pattern. Red and black are their traditional colors.

The traditional Pavloposad shawl is a truly luxurious accessory

The continuation can be very long: Fedoskino and Palekh miniatures, Gorodets painting, Orenburg downy shawl, Vologda, Yelets, Mtsensk lace. And so on. It is very difficult to list everything.

Draw in folk style

Today, many wear clothes and use things in folklore style. Many craftswomen want to create something unique themselves. They can take the rapport of the finished product as a basis or create their own sketch.

To successfully complete this idea, you first need:

1. Decide whether it will be a separate pattern or ornament.
2. Break the drawing down into simple pieces.
3. Take graph paper, make markings, marking each fragment and its middle.
4. We draw the first elementary detail in the center.
5. Gradually, step by step, we add the following fragments.

And now a unique pattern is ready.

Everyone can draw a similar pattern

About Russian embroidery

Patterns, techniques, colors of Russian embroidery are very diverse. The art of embroidery has a long history. It is closely connected with the way of life, customs and rituals.

Color is an important component of needlework.

People endowed it with sacred properties:

• Red is the color of life, fire and sun. Of course, it was often used in embroidery. After all, it is also beauty. As a talisman, he was called upon to protect life.
• The white color of pure snow. Symbol of freedom and purity. It was considered a protector from dark forces.
• Blue color of water and clear sky. Symbolized courage and strength.
• Black in the ornament meant the earth. Zigzag and wave, respectively, not plowed and plowed field.
• Green is grass, forest and their help to man.

Traditional Russian embroidery

The thread was also endowed with certain qualities:

• Flax is a symbol of masculinity.
• Wool is protection, patronage.

In combination with patterns, special-purpose products were created.

For example:

• Roosters and red horses were supposed to protect the baby.
• For the successful completion of the work, they embroidered with green and blue linen.
• From diseases and against bad influences they embroidered with wool.
• For women, things were more often embroidered in black to protect motherhood.
• The men were protected by a green and blue pattern.

Of course, a special set of symbols and drawings was developed for each case and person.

This embroidery will look elegant on any fabric.

Folk costume

Folk costume embodies and reflects traditions. For centuries, craftswomen have turned plain fabric into a unique work of art. WITH early age girls comprehended the secrets of needlework. By the age of fifteen, they had to prepare for themselves everyday and festive clothes and a set of towels, tablecloths and valances for several years.

The cut of the suit itself is simple, rectangular. Linen or woolen fabric of various quality. Women pulled the fabric (removed part of the threads) and received a new fabric. Hemstitches and other embroideries were made on it.

Russian folk costume is diverse

Of course, clothing differed in characteristic patterns depending on the area. It can be divided into two groups:

1. Central Russian. Differs in multicolor. Of the techniques, counting smoothness, a cross, pigtails, and hemstitches are often found. In the southern regions, lace, ribbons or strips of fabric are also used to decorate clothes. The pattern is often geometric. Orepey was especially loved in different versions.
2. Northern. For her, the characteristic techniques are smooth surface (colored and white), cross, painting, white stitching and cutouts. Artistic motifs were used more often than geometric ones. The compositions were performed mainly in one color.

Russian embroidery is unique. It is distinguished by stylized images of animals and plants, as well as a wide variety of geometric patterns.

Keeping traditions

Exploring national traditions and handicraft techniques on the basis of preserved products, modern craftsmen adapt them to modern requirements. On their basis, fashionable original things are created. These are clothes, shoes, underwear.

One of the recognized fashion designers who includes folk motifs in each of his collections is Valentin Yudashkin. Foreign couturiers, such as Yves Saint Laurent, are also inspired by the Russian heritage.

Russian collection of Yves Saint Laurent

In addition, folk crafts continue traditions and improve craftsmanship in accordance with modern requirements. You can add enthusiasts who are not indifferent to traditional art. They independently study, collect and create in folk style.

Russian patterns continue to bring beauty and joy to people, and also preserve historical information.