Metacultural constants and the connections of the Old Believers of Tuva (from the travel records of the 1967 Archeographic expedition led by N. N. Pokrovsky) [Метакультурные константы и связи старообрядцев Тувы (на материале путевых записей археографической экспедиции Н. Н. Покровского 1967 г.)]

The article analyzes the metacultural constants of the Old Believers of the Republic of Tuva as seen in the materials of the archeographic expedition of led by N. N. Pokrovsky (1967). The authors consider field records left by researchers an original monument of written culture of the time. It is also a source of personalized information about the number, composition, education, religious rites and spiritual values, everyday customs and speech and behavioral tactics of the Old Believer population in the region. The documents under research characterize the relations between the inhabitants of the sketes and “people of the world”. The article focuses on the manifestation of the historical and cultural duality of the Old Believers in their contacts with the Soviet government and its institutions. A special accent is made on the complexity and ambiguity of the binary opposition of “own” v. “alien” in the everyday philosophy and language consciousness of this group. The binary is seen as a crucially important marker for the conservation of their culture. The authors also note the survival of the Church Slavonic tradition in the field of bookmaking, with a special comment on the skete library collections. The authors clarify some details in the speech of the Old Believers. It is stated that their language acts as a marker of confessional culture which makes it a permanent feature for the local dwellers which sets them apart from the “people of the world”, i.e. secular population. It is proved that the words skete people use in communication are part of a special sociolect, which contains both traditional Church Slavonic vocabulary and specific phrases making use of the local dialect. Finally, the authors evaluate the philological uniqueness of the presented texts in the aspect of the dialogue between cultures and the source study tradition of the 20th century. © 2021 New Reaearch of Tuva. All rights reserved.