Personal correspondence of the Old Believers of Pizhma as an information source on the origin and existence of icons in the Lower Pechora (19th century)

The article studies the origins of the Old Believer icons on the territory of modern Ust-Tsilma district of the Republic of Komi. These territories were part of the Mezensky district of Arkhangelogorodsk Province (the Lower Pechora area). There are two main lines in the historiography of the theme. According to one of them, the center of the Old Believer icon painting in the Lower Pechora that continued the tradition of the icon painting school of Vyg was the Velikopozhensky Cell on the Pizhma River. The other view claims that the icons as well as other objects of religious worship came to the region from the Vygo-Leksinsky Monastery. During the study of this issue, analysis of written sources can be useful, namely the correspondence of Pizhma Old Believers of the Bezpopovtsy (Priestless) Danilovtsy (Pomorian Old-Orthodox Church) preserved in the funds of the Archive of the RAS Institute of Russian Literature, e.g., letters of Semen Dorofeevich from Leksa to Ivan Stakhievich Tomilov, mentor of the Velikopozhensky Monastery, of 1824, letters of peasant Kirill Kirikovich Churkin from Pizhma to an unknown master of icons (the last third of the 19th - early 20th centuries). Of particular interest is the 1824 letter of Semen Dorofeyevich from Leksa to the Velikopozhensky Cell which confirms information that in the first quarter of the 19th century monks of the Velikopozhensky Monastery ordered icons from Danilov parish icon painters in Povenets County, they also made icons for the Vygo-Leksinsky Monastery. The letter gives information about the place where the icons were painted (St. Petersburg?). It also shows some details of the economic situation of the Danilov villages in the first quarter of the 19th century. Comparison of data of the 1735-1850 census lists of Povenets County and the already published materials about the icon painters of Vyg helped to specify information about the author's (Semen Dorofeyevich from Leksa) genealogy and to identify icon painters from the Danilov villages in the first quarter of the 19th century, the possible implementers of the order from the Velikopozhensky Monastery. After the destruction of the Vygo-Leksinsky Monastery in the middle of the 19th century, the old-established relations and ways to satisfy the needs of the local Old Believer prayer needs were ruined. In the last third of the 19th century, without the cenoby with its sacral influence, the Old Believers had to trust the icon painter, whose status was traditionally equated to the status of a mentor. This is proved by the letter of peasant Kirill Churkin from Pizhma to an unknown icon painter. It says about the order of five icons of the analogion format and about their delivery to the Epiphany Fair in Vazhgort (on the Vashka River). The letter shows the peasant's respect to the unknown icon master, and his interest in his personality and work, which is common for Pomorian Priestless Old Believers. The letters contain iconographic wishes for icons, as well as information on their cost. The letters prove the idea that icons came to the Lower Pechora from other districts, at least in the first quarter of the 19th century and in the last third of the 19th - early 20th centuries.

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