Icon Painting in Cross-Cultural Persrectives: Lipovan Craftswoman in the Romanian Environment

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2023-2/210-218

Abstract

This article continues the author’s study of the icon heritage of the Old Believer Lipovan family Rogachevsky-­Nikita. The material was collected during field research in Romania. The article considers a paradoxical case when a woman born and baptized as an Old Believer-­Lipovan actively works in icon painting. This gender situation is worthy of description and study: in a fairly conservative Old Believer’s environment, women were rarely blessed to create “holy images”. This environment, at the same time, brought traditional forms and iconography to the present (at least a dozen male masters paint icons in Romania). This is a continuous practice that can be called “living antiquity”. Under these circumstances, adherence to Orthodoxy creates an individual elevator — the respondent of Old Believer roots considers herself Romanian and paints icons for Romanians. This is a direct transformation of traditions and their adaptation to modern globalization. From a family of hereditary Old Believers, where iconographic traditions were strong, the practice of creating holy images goes away under the influence of personal and external circumstances. Lipovan culture penetrates into local practices. The traditions in the family disappear and modify under different conditions where interest is not maintained or, conversely, the opinions are revised. This case allows us to trace more general trends in the ethno-­confessional group. Under the influence of external circumstances, we observe not secularization, but rather a transition to other variants of religiosity.