“They Always Kept That Very Icon”: Memories of Old Believers about the Practices of Interaction with Icons in Soviet and Post-Soviet times

Abstract

The article deals with the practices of venerating icons among Old Believers in the context of anti‑religious policy in the USSR and their transformation after the end of religious persecution. The data comes from ethnographic observations and memories recorded from 2008 to 2023 among the Old Believers of the North‑Western Black Sea region as well as migrants from this region to other parts of Russia. Since the narrativization of personal experience occurs with the support of material objects, ethno‑confessional symbols play an important role in autobiographical memories of manifesting everyday religiosity. The article shows the role of icons in the perception of religious experience, transmitting ideas about one’s faith as well as rules of interaction with an icon in different contexts. During anti‑religious campaigns, the veneration of icons was transferred to a safe space hidden from the external environment, and the most significant thing for a believer, judging by the interview materials, was the very fact of the presence of the sacred objects in the home space. After the end of religious persecutions, new rules were formulated that allow for a freer arrangement of icons in the house, with less rigid regulating rules. Still there are prohibitions on placing a bed under the icon, or placing a mirror or mobile phones next to it, or placing a TV set at the sacred corner / under the icon / opposite the icon, etc. An important function of home icons is to preserve memory about the past. The choice of the most revered images is determined by events significant for family history, often associated with overcoming a difficult past, which is clearly manifested in the tradition of “serving a holiday” / “taking a holiday into the house,” thus establishing a votive holiday, which is then passed on from generation to generation.