The problem of preserving the singing tradition of the Old Believers of the Saratov Region

Abstract

he article is devoted to the problem of the unity of the Old Believers’ tradition on the example of communities of different branches that existed in the territory of Saratov region in the 18th – early 21st cent. The work is based on the study of documentary archival sources and field materials, collected in 2001–2022. The paper focuses on the specificity of the Old Believer tradition, aimed at the concervative tendency, at the same time allowing the introduction of specific local features. The main forms of the Saratov Old Believer tradition – monastic and parish; the main forms of existence of the Saratov Old Believer tradition are considered – monastic and parish; the dynamics of development of these forms of existence are analyzed; the reduction of the Old Believer tradition of all agreements in the 20th – early 21st cent. is noted. Comparative analysis demonstrated the relationship between the concepts of „center” and „periphery” in the Saratov regional Old Believer tradition. It is shown that the long development of the tradition under study, along with the protective mechanism, also gave rise to an adaptive mechanism reflecting the complex social processes occurring in society. However, as the contemporary singing practice of Saratov Old Believers demonstrates, these adaptive mechanisms were primarily aimed at preserving the tradition, which does not preclude the development of latent, but irrelevant, specific features.