Reflectarea informațiilor despre lipoveni în revista «Кишиневские епархиальные ведомости»

Abstract

The magazine “Chisinau Eparchial Vedomosti”, which was published for fifty years (1867– 1917), contains a lot of articles that deal with Lipovans / Old Believers. If the magazine contains rather rich and varied information about such carriers of traditional culture in Bessarabia as Bulgarians, Gagauz, etc. (including customs, traditions, peculiarities of life and everyday life, national character, etc.), then the Lipovans are in a special position. Based on the profile of this magazine and the struggle of the clergy for the purity of the official Orthodox religion, they primarily provide information related to confessional aspects. So, the so-called anti-sectarian missionary activity is covered. Although, according to the authors of the publications, the religiosity of the Old Believers is based on assigning the main importance to the rituals, they could not fail to note the deep commitment of the Old Believers to public worship. Despite the general negative official attitude towards representatives of the Lipovans, some articles also reveal their positive aspects: they talk about teaching children literacy in home schools, about charity, help in the community (the socalled “secret alms”), about preventing them from begging in their environment etc.