OLD-BELIEVERS SETTLEMENTS OF PODILLYA PROVINCE AS AN ELEMENT OF CULTURAL LIFE OF EASTERN PODILLYA IN THE LAST QUARTER XVII – THE BEGINNING OF THE ХХ CENTURY

Eastern Podillya is a multi-religious land, various ethnic groups lives here side by side for many centuries. They were obeyed to common laws and made a joint contribution to the development of their cities and villages. Simultaneously, different communities tried to preserve their own cultural identity, therefore they were creating separate settlements with unique architecture, traditions and specification.This multicultural palette was not stable due to constant changes in historical and political terms. Some nations received support, while others were oppressed. Because of this, the community of Old-Believers has been severely affected. But despite the permanent persecution and assimilation policy of the USSR, the Old-Believers communities of Eastern Podillya still retain their history, religion and cultural traditions.The appearance of the Old-Believers in Ukraine is connected with persecution of them in Russia in the late XVII century. Many of them settled in the Podillya lands, since the then Polish authorities were interested in new settlements and gave them religious and economic privileges.In view of the constant harassment of the Old-Believers faith on the part of the Russian Empire, the Old-Believers communities were mostly closed and settled far from the rest of the people, often in the forests, which affected their place names. Even in mixed settlements, the Old-Believers lived separately, preserving their specific social and cultural features: language, national costumes, architecture and type of activity.The modern Zhmerynka district is one of the most famous multicultural centers of the Eastern Podillya. At least four ethno-religious communities live here for centuries. The Old-Believers had a significant influence on the formation of the administrative-territorial structure of this region.The first Old-Believers settlement – the village of Chernyatin – emerge here in the XVII century on the land of the Polish prince Lyubomyrsky. Subsequently, a new landowner evicted them to the south, and they founded a new settlement in the forest, which was called Sloboda Cherniatynska. At the new place, they immediately built a wooden church in a log house, which was later named after St. Philip. They had an unconventional specification – they were engaged in gardening and growing fruit and berry crops. The people from Sloboda Cherniatynska founded two more villages – Martynivka and Oleksandrivka, where Ukrainians and Russians lived together.The village of Zhukivtsi from the beginning was multi-religious: Orthodox, Old-Believers, Catholics and Jews lived here together. The Old-Believers of Zhukivtsi were strongly united and organized for defending of their own property and religious interests. For example, they managed to rebuild a burnt church in a time, when it was forbidden by Nicholas I. To get around the ban, the building of a new temple was made secretly in the woods, after that it was transported and assembled overnight. In accordance with the Old-Believer tradition, this church is assembled from a log without any nail and has two domes.The village of Ludavka is also multi-ethnic. It is as divided into two parts: the western parts of the village occupy Ukrainians, and in the east live Old-Believers from Russia. Both ethnic groups were mostly engaged in agriculture, and most of the Old-Believers also rented gardens and worked on stone and joinery work. Well-known the Old-Believers family of the Bahins, who manufactured and sold wheels for the wagons. In Ludavka was an Old-Believer church, which had one dome and a three-tiered iconostasis. It was exposed to fires twice and was rebuilt both times, but in the 1960’s the Soviet authorities shut her down and transformed into a village club.The Old-Believers of Ukraine are a distinct ethnic group that differs both from the indigenous population and from the Russian Orthodox who live here. Living in a foreign country, even in the multi-ethnic settlements, they tried not to assimilate with the local population and retain their traditions. At the same time, the Old-Believers of the Zhmerynka district partially accepted the tradition of gardening of the Ukrainians, adapting it to their own needs.

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