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Dronova T. Death in the Worldview of the “Priestless” Old Believers in Ust-Tsilma

T. Dronova
Institute of Language, Literature, History Federal Research Center Komi Scientific Center Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Syktyvkar, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0002-6982-9699
E-mail: t_i_dronova@mail.ru

 

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ABSTRACT. The article examines the popular understanding of death by members of an ethno-confessional group, Russian Old Believers of the “priestless” (bespopovtsy) persuasion living in the Ust-Tsilemsky region of the Komi Republic. The article draws on the author’s field materials collected during several expeditions to the Ust-Tsilemsky region. The author had recourse to the manuscripts that were kept in the families of informants who wished not to disclose their names. The work also used the texts of funeral laments discovered in the archive of the Komi Scientific Center at the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The author used in-depth interviews and participant observation during the days of the funeral and the period when the deceased was in the house. The paper focuses on the analysis of funeral phraseology and paremiology. We studied ritual phraseologisms and proverbs from the cognitive linguistics perspective to identify the contextual use of terms about death. Death has many nominations that are actively used today by culture bearers, revealing an understanding of death from a moral perspective (righteous or unrighteous death). Identifying terms and common phrases about death allowed the author to describe the concept of death in Ust-Tsilma Old Believers’ minds that underlie their burial and commemorating practices. As the study showed, the Ust-Tsilma Old Believers attached particular importance to the preparation for death, of which the most essential part was repentance. The religious worldview of the Old Believers is rooted in the church scriptures, which is evidenced by their knowledge of the texts about the foundations of a righteous life and a person’s preparation for the eternal life of the soul.

 

KEYWORDS: Old Believers, Ust-Tsilma, death, text, phraseology, paremiology, funeral rite

 

DOI 10.31250/2618-8600-2024-1(23)-189-209
UDC 393

 

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