Old Believers in a Changing World: Polish Narratives of World War ll

Ten—The Cultural Worlds of Andrei Borisov

Ten The Cultural Worlds of Andrei Borisov In recent years, scholars have increasingly questioned the stereotypical view that Old Believer cultures were and are self-sustaining islands of traditionalism, isolated from the changing intellectual and cultural currents of Russian educated society.1 Like most truisms, the perception that the cultural world of the Old Believers has resisted change and remained closed to the outside world has some merit. Since the origin of the movement in the church schism of the seventeenth century, most Old Believers themselves have been convinced that they preserve pre-Nikonian Orthodoxy and its way of life, uncorrupted in all essential details. Moreover, wherever they live, the rituals, customs, and taboos of the Old Believers continually emphasize their distinctness from the surrounding society. Scholars seeking authentic survivals of medieval Russian culture often take the Old Believers’ self-perception at face value. A great deal of evidence suggests, however, that while striving to preserve pre-Nikonian Orthodox worship and associated practices such as fasting, Old Believers have cautiously adjusted to the new ideas, technologies, and habits of the world around them. The endless debates and frequent schisms within Old Belief testify to this process of adjustment as well as to the liturgical and canonical difficulties of preserving historical Eastern Orthodoxy without an indisputably legitimate episcopate and priesthood. Both the spiritual and the intellectual leaders of the movement and their followers participated in this process of cautious adjustment to the outside world. The Cultural Worlds of Andrei Borisov 137 Interaction with the rest of society took at least two forms. In everyday life, Old Believers who did not live as hermits had to find ways of dealing with non–Old Believer neighbors and governmental institutions. Individuals and communities have solved this problem in a bewildering variety of ways. The second form of adjustment is much rarer and even more challenging. From time to time, individuals or groups within Old Belief have attempted to bridge the intellectual and cultural gap between their tradition and the educated society of their day by using its vocabulary and concepts to defend the Old Faith. This study examines a figure who, in my view, made such an attempt— Andrei Borisov, head of the Vyg community from 1780 to 1791. Borisov lived in two cultural worlds. As the heir to the rich cultural heritage of Vyg, Borisov’s primary role was inevitably that of guardian of the legacy of the first generation of Old Believer leaders and writers and the early leaders of Vyg itself. At the same time, in writings and in conversations with outsiders to the community, he attempted to defend the position of Vyg or Old Belief in general with rhetoric and concepts drawn from contemporary philosophical and scientific discourse. Borisov’s own writings are the primary source of evidence about his convictions and rhetorical strategies. V. G. Druzhinin’s catalogue of Old Believerliteratureattributesnineworkstohim,allofwhichsurviveinanumber of copies. These include a composition on the split between the Pomortsy and Fedoseevtsy (“O nachale polagaemom v razdelenie”); “In Praise of Chastity”; theLifeofAndreiDenisov;thecompositiononprayerfortherulersometimes known as “O imenekh prilagatel’nykh”; a sermon on the same subject; three sermonsonthededicationofbuildingsinVygorLeksa,rebuiltafterthefiresof 1787; and a tale (povest’) on the same theme.2 Druzhinin also lists the sermon on Pentecost previously mentioned in Pavel Liubopytnyi’s catalogue of Old Believer writings. In other instances, it is difficult to reconcile Druzhinin’s list withLiubopytnyi’s.3 Withoutquestion,severalofthecompositionsmentioned by Liubopytnyi are not known to contemporary scholars. Finally, nine works of Borisov have come to light that are not listed by either Liubopytnyi or Druzhinin. In 1915 V. Belolikov published a letter to U. S. Potapov.4 The others are the “Priskorbnoe povedanie”;5 an Easter sermon for the sisters at Leksa (“Chestneishim sviatochestneishiia kinovii postnitsam”);6 an untitled composition on moral philosophy (“Iskusnyi zhe vo uchenie moral’nom mozhet gradusy”);7 two short philosophical dialogues;8 an untitled work that begins “Bogoliubiveishii ottsy i bratiia, izvestvuiusia vam”;9 and letters to Daniil Matveev and Paraskoviia Feoktistovna.10 There is every likelihood that still more of Borisov’s shorter works will come to light. 138 O l d B e l i e v e r s i n a C h a n g i n g W o r l d Borisov’s writings must be read in the context of his life experience, above allhisresponsibilitiesasleaderoftheVygcommunity.Yet,eventhoughhewas its last well-known leader and major writer, information about...