From the history of relations between the Ust-Tsilma old believers and the orthodox clergy in the second half of the XVIII - mid XIX centuries

On the basis of archival sources the resettlement of Old Believers from the central and northwest areas to the European northeast is considered. In the early XVIII century the Velikopozhensky small secluded monastery on the river Pizhma and Omelinsky on the river Tsilma were founded. Further resettlement of the Old Believers to this region occurred in the late XVIII - early XIX centuries which dynamics had promptly increased during the reign of Nikolay I who had toughened the persecution of the Old Believers. From 1816 to the 1850-s the population of the Ust-Tsilma volost has doubled. Special attention is given to consideration of religious situation in the Ust-Tsilma volost and the relationships of Ust-Tsilma Old Believers with the Orthodox clergy. Until the 1840-s the oppression of Old Believers on the Pechora was not fixed in the archival documents. Orthodox priests were loyal to the Old Believers and did not aspire to eradicate them that promoted preservation of the Old Believers in the region. In the period of toughening the Ust-Tsilma Old Believers expressed the desire to adopt common faith and after long correspondence with representatives of the Arkhangelsk eparchy the common-faith parish was opened in the village of Ust- Tsilma. The Old Believers considered the common faith as the form of cover of their religious activities. In practice the Old Believers continued to serve as congregational praying in private meetinghouses and in the homes of the peasants. And for the priests who were putting into practice decrees of a sovereign on eradication of schism, possibly, fixing of transition of the Old Believers in common faith was quite enough. After opening of the common-faith parish services in the common-faith churches were conducted under old printing books and old ceremonies - this all distinguished the Ust-Tsilma coreligionists from others. The common-faith parish was closed in 1926. Wedding ceremony of the Old Believers in the Orthodox and common-faith churches was conducted exclusively owing to everyday needs - for the property inheritance, later some girls considered it as family "strengthening".