The Osaka Manuscript of Old Believer Ivan Tikhanov: To the Function of the Canonical and Apocryphal Texts

The textuality of the Old Believers' culture has many dimensions. One of them is the protective perception of the canonical and apocryphal texts. Although examples of such functionality of the printed editions are known, manuscripts are the most prime and demonstrative ones, including those made in extreme situations. During the expeditionary examination of one of the Old Believers’ home libraries from Kuytun village of the Tarbagatay Disctrict of Buryatia a manuscript compilation, written by a Russian soldier who was captured and imprisoned in 1905 in the Japanese city of Osaka, was discovered in 2011. Its contents, which include canonical prayers and known apocryphal works, tell us about an insistent need of regular religious worship, as well as an attempt at overcoming psychological instability under cramped conditions of imprisonment with the help of a text as an apotropaic mean. Comparative analysis performed on similar compilations and singular manuscripts from Zabaykalye, tells us that during oral reproduction from memory, the prisoner omitted a number of fragments from apocryphal works, but reproduced the most relevant for his situation back then "protection" blocks. Phenomenology of the reproduction of the main construction of one’s own culture during imprisonment that has, among other things, appeared as a representation of its open and concealed components, as well as an actualization of the protective function of the sacral or sacralizing text. Such building of textual borders of personal (or group) cultural space in foreign land was supposed to ensure safety and the desired return to the mainland. The authors declare no conflict of interests.

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