KOMI OLD BELIEVER’S COMMUNITIES AT THE TURN OF THE XXth - XXIst CENTURIES: TRANSFORMATION OF RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

The history of the spread of Old Belief among Finno-Ugric peoples, its role in the formation of local ethno-confessional groups had drew attention of researchers for several decades. Special attention is paid to studying of the mechanisms of self-preservation of Old Believer’s communities, in particular such institutions as the Old Believer community and religious leadership ( nastavnichestvo ). The Old Belief, which became widespread among the Komi-Zyryans at the end of the XVIIIth century, significantly influenced their culture and way of life. By the end of the XIX century three ethno-confessional groups of Komi Old Believers were formed: Udora, Upper Vychegda and Upper Pechora. Socio-political and economic transformations of the Soviet period had a strong influence on their development. The purpose of the article is to present and analyze the changes that occurred in the late 1990s - early 2000s with the most important institutions of the Old Belief: the religious community and religious leadership. The study is based on field materials collected during ethnographic expeditions in 1999-2014. The collected materials allow us to talk about significant changes in the socio-religious life of the Komi-Zyryan’s Old-Believer communities. The author shows several variants of changes of studied religious institutions: their preservation (with a simplification of the structure); disappearance; gradual secularization (blurring of intra- and inter-confessional borders). The main problems of all Komi Old-Believer communities of this period are: small numbers, predominance of older women and the absence of youth. The author demonstrates the role of Old-Believers leaders in determining of the religious communities future fate.