Russian - Moscow: Spring 2010 Updates from the Field

On Sunday we took the Metro out to Rimskaya station (the “Roman” station, adorned with reliefs depicting the infants Romulus and Remus and their motherly wolf) and rode a “marshrutka,” a cross between a taxi and a city bus, out to Rogozhskoye cemetery. When this cemetery was established during the 17th-century plague epidemic – so explained the ever-informative praktikantki – it was on the outskirts of the city, but since that time, housing developments and shopping centers have sprung up in the neighborhood, and apartment towers crowd around the cemetery walls. The cemetery itself was crowded with gravesites. Each family had their own plot, marked off by low iron fences. On the day we visited, exactly a week after Easter Sunday, the cemetery was bustling with visitors who came to pay their respects to their deceased relatives. They cleaned the gravesites, arranged flowers and wreaths, and left offerings of Easter cakes, colored eggs, and candy. We came to the cemetery to learn more about the Old Believers, a sect that broke away from the mainstream Russian Orthodox Church in the middle of the 17th century. On Friday we visited the former home of the Ryabushinsky family – a mansion that Shekhtel designed for the wealthy merchants at the turn of the twentieth century. They were Old Believers, and many of their family members were buried at the Rogozhskoye cemetery. Although we were unable to find their family gravesite, we did learn a lot about the origins of the Old Believers. Orthodoxy was originally brought into Russia from Greece, and developed into an autonomous church, while still remaining a part of the Orthodox Church as a whole—part of this process involved the texts being translated into Russian. In the 17th century, however, a Russian Patriarch noticed that due to translating and copying errors, Russian Orthodoxy summoned a council to implement a series of reforms. Some members of the church resented these changes, and viewed them as radical betrayals of Orthodox belief, leading to a church-wide schism in 1666. Those who disagreed with the changes became known the Old Believers, and were quickly scorned by both the Church and the state, suffering persecution and exile until 1905, when Nicholas II endorsed religious freedom. From an outsider’s perspective, it might seem strange that such small changes in rituals could provoke such a schism. The main differences include how you make the sign of the cross, the spelling of Jesus, and whether you say Alleluia twice or thrice. However, ritual is very central to Orthodoxy, so these changes were likely more severe than they may seem. In any case, this schism has played a significant role in Russian history, and its effects have been very interesting for us to observe throughout the city, in different churches, monasteries, and even cemeteries. On a different note, we enjoyed being part of a flash mob on the old Arbat yesterday—it started just as everyone blowing bubbles (the start time was 2:30), but quickly turned into…well, we’re not entirely sure what, but there were lots of interesting people. Men on stilts, women with green hair, musicians, dancers… and bubbles. Lots of bubbles. The Arbat, by the way, is a well-preserved slice of historic Moscow. An ancient street whose name is derived either from the Arabic for “suburbs” or the Turkic for “carriage,” the Arbat was Moscow’s first pedestrian-only zone and today is a major tourist draw. Amidst the plethora of people and bubbles, we didn’t have much time to appreciate the historic architecture, but we’re definitely planning on a return visit some time soon.