Izhevsk
Religion
Alexander Nefsky Church in Izhevsk
December 4, 2003
I was asked to buy some Santa Claus statues by my mom, but I can’t find one anywhere
because there aren’t any… no one here celebrates Christmas, they just aren’t religious
at all. I’ve heard so much about this religious revival, but I guess I just haven’t
found it yet… or maybe the people here haven’t commercialized Christmas like the
United States; if that’s the case, it’s a good thing.
December 5, 2003
There seems to be a lot of talk about a religious revival and the importance of
Russian Orthodoxy on the culture and traditions of the people today, however I have
only found the opposite. My night class said only grandmothers go to church and
about half the population is atheist, the others half mostly Christian. No one in
this class was a practicing Christian, nor were any of their families or friends.
I’d like to go to a service sometime to see what it's like, but I can’t find
anyone who’s willing… and I’m in the mist of a so-called “religious revival.”
December 7, 2003
I was picked up early this morning by a red-headed Udmurt who spoke no English and
even less Udmurtian; he works for an American in town, Johnny. Johnny’s assistant,
Kathryn and he are the only people I could find willing to go to church (they go
every Sunday).
We talked on the drive, more formalities than anything else, but nice to talk to
a couple of Americans none-the-less. We sat at a long red light and I glanced at
my watch, trying to comprehend the awkwardness of entering the church about a half
hour later. The red light was joined by a flashing yellow (that’s the signal to
go if there’s no cross traffic, who has a yellow at this point) and we zipped down
the next block to the church.
We arrived at Kazansky Church (named after its most famous icon, that of Mary by
a painter from Kazan), a very beautiful and modestly elaborate building dominated
by red brick. As we approached the church we had to sign the cross three times,
the cross was slightly different from the Catholic cross; the sign starts at the
head to stomach and then right shoulder to left; after this we bowed… three times.
We began up the stairs, crossed and bowed another three times at the front door,
finally three more times after we entered. We entered near the front of the church
and moved even closer to the front, there are no pews, but only people: a crowd
or horde.
We stood very near a candle structure; it had three “rings” the outside held 16
candles and the two inside rings held 8 each. The candles were very skinny and tall,
but burned quickly. One babushka remained there the entire service, just replacing
the candles and rotating them in no particular order from what I could tell. This
structure stood on an elaborate gold stand about four and a half or five feet high.
The stand had gold leaf figures circling it.
The church was littered with numerous icons highlighted in ancient Slavonic. Nearly
all icons in modern Russia have been mass produced by a factory owned by the church
but still produced with prayer and faith, making them icons. The icons are typically
pictures of saints, most modern, but a few obviously survived communism.
The first part of the service was in ancient Slavonic, the father and his two assistants
were facing the alter, not us at this point. This rhythmic Slavonic went on for
awhile and I have no idea what they were saying. The father and his assistants faced
a very ornate façade of three doors, at first they came out of the left door (from
our point of view).
After a lengthy segment of the service, the father and his assistants turned to
face us. The whole church spoke in a rhythmic unison accompanied by the instrument-less
choir that vocalized more of a chant than a song, quite in sync to the preaching
for the remainder of the mass. There was much signing and bowing throughout the
service.
Communion was very strange because only the children and those who confessed their
sins during the past week receive communion. First they came to the front and from
a spoon received something as the two assistants held a cloth under the receivers’
face and then wiped his or her mouth. After this each recipient moved to the left
side of the church and received the actual bread and a cup of water. After a person
drinks the water, it is dipped into another bowl to be cleansed, then filled with
water and passed to the next person (there are five or six cups in this rotation).
After the worshipping body finished communion and spoke in unison two times the
priest gave a sermon about Ekaterina, because it's her name day. Soon after
this the service ended, everyone kissed the cross and priest’s hand as they flowed
in a counter clockwise motion and exited.
I was introduced to… it seemed everyone and Katherine received gifts because it
was her name day. Father Victor also gave Johnny the extra bread from the mass.
It was at this point that they explained to me that Catholicism and Russian Orthodoxy
are so similar in beliefs that the seven sacraments are equivalent and transferable
between the two churches.
Among the people I met with was the priest’s daughter, a girl of about 18; so long
as a man entering the ministry has no intention of becoming a bishop he can marry
and have children.
After this, Johnny and Kathryn showed me the church and told me of its history.
In the 1930’s this church was destroyed, but the archbishop refused to leave: he
died that day along with religion in Izhevsk. Recently, plans to expand this church
caused a dig of the old foundation; they found some bodies, all of which had bullet
holes in their heads, their identities are unknown, but that archbishop is suspected
of being one of them.
Ironically, on this same plot of land are the tombs of the communist leaders who
were responsible for the destruction of the original church. Many felt their bodies
should be removed, but father Victor insisted they stay because in their last years
they repented… plus father Victor believes they are now a part of the church’s history
and should not be forgotten.
Prior to the destruction of religion a cathedral (any church that an archbishop
presides over is a cathedral, whereas any church with a “father” are churches) stood
here which towered well above any other in Udmurtia.
Nearly all the churches in Udmurtia were destroyed; the ones that were not leveled
were turned into theaters, or other such things, but in nearly all the alter was
replaced by a toilet. Religion was non-existent and most of the people who kept
it alive were the children of that last generation of the monarchy in the 1910’s
and their children, who were given hope by a slight religious revival in the early
40’s.
About 80% of the population in this church is elderly and typically all women. The
great religious revival I’ve read about is but a figment for the remaining 20% consists
of all ages, but mostly the youth attending with their grandmothers, none over the
age of five.
My tour took me to the grounds outside the red bricked church along with a detailed
tour of the building itself. Entering from the front, you pass under a tall golden
steeple topped with a cross of two horizontal bars and a third at about a 45 degree
angle. The first step I took on the building’s marble floors echoed off the high,
partially painted ceiling. The cross-shaped church is covered with framed icons,
but only a couple older than communism itself.
Religion here confuses me in the sense that the only people that follow are babushkas
and they are very ignorant to theology (I guess in a way we are all ignorant to
theology), for example sometime during the Soviet period in Izhevsk it was taught
and believed that you cannot show your teeth, it’s a sin and so these women have
not smiled in their lives until only recently, if even then, yet they are still
hesitant and follow very strange traditions that are, most likely, very untrue but
thought to be true for years and only now trying to change it.
December 14, 2003
I got a few hours of sleep then went to church again today… we were about 45 minutes
late. I learned more about Russian Orthodoxy today; if a priest does marry, immediately
after the ceremony the new couple has to live in a secluded village to prove they
can live without possessions.
In my sleep deprived state I seemed to zone out of the proceedings and just began
to look around the church like a child in awe. All the women had their heads covered
in this half painted church. I’m still struggling to see the symbolism behind the
icons, but I’m beginning to understand their importance. The second floor is home
to the choir and the front of the church is dominated by a large wall in gold and
some silver covered with icons. It has three doors and directly behind the middle
door is the altar.
At communion the little old women were still, by my limited knowledge "rude"
and "pushy." There’s nothing like being elbowed and pushed around by a
group of four or five foot tall women trying to get communion. It makes you think
perhaps they aren’t rude, just misunderstood; I sure do misunderstand them.
The interior seems to steal the illusion of my imagination. I like to pretend these
churches are extremely old and historic, but only two churches in this town stood
before communism arrived. Their destruction is now a part of their history, that’s
hard to come to terms with.