The testament of the Old Believers

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

- Everything that I am telling was told to me by amazingly kind, bright, intelligent people who lived and live in the Uimon Valley.

There is no feather bed, no bed, but our beds are soft. And there, on the beds, are full of children. God gives many children, but does not send extra ones. If there is a place for a baby in the mother's belly, then in this world there will certainly be a place for him. The baby was born - he will not freeze, everything is ready for him in this world: what to drink, what to feed. The Lord God gives a baby to life. The child gives and gives him a share.

The grandmothers at the shallow spoke with children from their very birth, sang lullabies or spiritual verses. The child was getting used to affectionate speech. And a little later he was already attuned to the song and lulls himself. The child grows not from food, but from affection. Loves shanuzhka smearing, and the little head loves ironing. They stroked the head and said: the boy is very small, / the boy is very nice, / dear child, / golden twig, / quivering little hands / thrown to the head, / in two wide sides / like wings thrown up, / dear child, / golden twig.

I was very interested in the question of why the Old Believers lived for so long. I think it was because they lived with the young, they cared for the elderly, looked after them, fed them well, treated them, and most importantly, they were reckoned with, they felt their need and involvement. In the family, they were needed by everyone and everyone separately. Only a grandmother's grandfather is not a grandson.

There were women who, being left alone after the death of their husband, ceased to take care of themselves. You come to them, they ask: is it lunch, my dear, or dinner? And those grandmothers, even if they are lonely, who prepare for themselves the first, second, third, they live to the end.

The child was raised by the whole family and the community. If you want to find out about children, ask people. If suddenly the child does not behave very well in the village, then the parents will immediately be told: "Marya, your Vanyatka does not greet people." And Marya will strictly talk to Vanyatka.

If the old man was left alone, the whole community was busy with the boar. They will say: "Ivanovna, you've been following Ananyevna this week." And Ivanovna will run at a run, lead everything clean, feed, drink, look after, persuade, calm; help, bring, submit, regret, Ivanovna will do everything for Ananyevna. Prepare homemade food and then give it to the beggar. She walked around, there will be another, the third, again good Ivanovna's turn will come up, and she will say to her husband: "You Vansha, Vansha, let's take Ananyevna, why is she alone?" And they will take it. And with such a large family, they will feed and finish them. Trust me, it was. If the child was left an orphan, be it Russian or Altaian, the community would gather and decide who to give it to. He may have a family all over the bench, but he will take it and feed it, and learn it, and they will take care of the non-native more than of the family. An orphan in the house - happiness in the house. What has become of us now? Why are we so callous ?! We have plenty of everything, food and clothing. And we live well. We don't even need the old people, they even give me their portraits - they know that I will keep them.

Do not be afraid of death, be afraid of old age. Old age will come, and weakness will come. Old and small - twice stupid. This is how they say. If the old man is picky, you have to think that it is not easy for him. He wasn't always like that. The more sin there is, the more difficult it is to die.

Do not offend the old, this is your old age. We will not be in your place, you will be in ours. They said so. Yes, we'll be even worse! If you have nothing to help, say at least a kind word. And if the old man is rude to you, then forgive that too. This is not from the mind, after all, from old age and disease.

Respect for mother, father was immense. The father sat under the icons, and they said about him in the house: "As God is for people, so is a father for children." They revered their father, but: you will pray for your father, but you will pay for your mother. He offended his father, you can come to an agreement with God, but you can’t come to an agreement with God. They say: we didn’t even speak loudly in front of my mother. And if someone does not say so, she will cry all day, she will pour out all tears, and we all go, we ask for forgiveness from her.

There are many tears in the world: widows, orphans, but there are none more dear than mother's tears. Everything that you did badly for your mother does not come immediately to you, it is like life at first. But the same grievances will return to you.

The mother's palm rises high, but it does not hurt. A mother's prayer will reach from the bottom of the sea. A mother's anger is like spring snow: it falls a lot, but it soon melts. You won't be angry for bread and children for long. A wife for advice, a mother-in-law for greetings, but no dearer than a mother.

The wife cries - the dew will fall, the sister cries - the stream flows, and the mother cries - the river flows. The most holy, the warmest are mother's tears. Varvara Ignatievna said this: whoever does not honor parents and does not care for them, then, at God's judgment, they will not even be judged.

My good ones, even if the parents are not very right, you will remain silent, insult them, but do not offend them. Never. Recently I wrote it down: my son kept his mother for thirty years. He walked after her, looked after her, and just thought that now, mother, he paid off with you, as an angel appeared over his shoulders. And he says: “You have not paid any debts. That's how you fell off the bench, and your mother grabbed you and sat you back down, and you did not fall, you didn’t get mutilated, that’s only for this you paid off.”

They respected not only their mothers, but also the parents of the husband and wife. I sit with an old grandmother - Maria Ivanovna Tyuleneva, she is 92 years old, and I ask: "Baba Manya, is it true that the night cuckoo will have a snack anyway?" She replies: “If he has a bite, he will have a bite, and it’s fair to bake. Here you are today unfairly cuckoted, tomorrow. The husband will understand. The mother-in-law was called mamma, the father-in-law was called aunt. It was impossible to offend them. And when I asked the old people why they treated my husband's parents so respectfully, they looked at me with bewilderment: why are you, dear, it’s clear that my husband will love more.”

Before going on the water, the young daughter-in-law had to go up to the mother-in-law: "Mammy, bless me to go on the water." She will say: "Go, daughter, I bless." And if without a blessing, then he will strictly ask: "Have you walked far?" We cannot say "where". If you went hunting or fishing and asked so, it’s better to come back, you won’t get anything anyway. Have you walked far? For water? Go and pour it.

The warmest relations were established between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law, they communicated with each other, loved each other, respected each other.

I talk to people a lot. One day a young man came to me, and when I was talking about my mother, he interrupted me with tears: “I have something to do, my mother and stepfather kicked me out of the house when I was only 15 years old, I achieved everything myself (and worked he is an engineer at a large plant in Novokuznetsk), my mother is now sick with oncology, she asks me for forgiveness, I said that I had forgiven, but how hard it is for me! " I said: “So you, my dear, run quickly. Yes, fall at her feet, and ask her for forgiveness. How are you going to live? " He quickly got up, either pushed me away, or hugged me, and as he ran, he hit his head hard. “Lord,” I say, “now I have also broken my head.” And he turned around and said: “For a long time I should have been hit in the head. If only I could have time."

If only we could have time to say sweet words. They cost you nothing yourself, but give a lot to the other. And if old parents do something wrong, think wrong, speak wrong, keep silent, help, do not judge.

My dear ones, my aunt used to say: "If children cared about their parents as much as parents do about children, there would never have been the end of the world."

You can't quarrel in public, and even more so in front of children. Sweep the litter out of the house. If they find out something in the village, they will say: "Oh, they've got it in their house." Suffering is worse than a gossip girl. Everything in the house was decided under one roof, and between husband and wife under the same fur coat. Even if a husband and wife scold, they fall under the same fur coat. Families were 18-20 people, 5-6 daughters-in-law in the house, it was impossible to quarrel, they said: do not light up, carcasses until it flared up. If one daughter-in-law is offended, she will never tell the other, she will not tell anyone. You will not cry at the table - you will cry at the post. Will say quietly to her husband. And a wise husband will not run to figure out who offended his little paw. Imagine: how many people, you can not find either the right or the wrong. He will say: "Well, okay, be patient, everything will get ugly (calm down)." What words they said to me: “It pinches you - but it does not kill, do not answer, do not upset yourself, time will tell who is who, let them bark - they shake themselves. Speak like this: "As King David was meek and wise, give me, Lord, meekness."

They say: a young daughter-in-law came to the house, and the older young people disliked her. As soon as it falls out to her to cook, they will throw a pinch of salt into the brew, and then everyone grumbles at the young woman. She gets upset: how is that? And so they somehow sat down at the table, grumbling again: too salty. The girl is already in tears. Then the old-old grandfather groaned, groaned on the stove but could not stand it, got down from there. He went up to the pole and poured the whole salt shaker into the iron pot and said: "They all added salt, but I really don't!" - And all the insults ended at once.

When my son was going to marry, the whole family was very worried. We looked at our relatives. They said: "You take a daughter - look at the mother." They looked up to the seventh knee. The mentor brought it together. It was impossible to divorce. If the husband insisted on this, his entire family was excommunicated, if the wife - her family. The mentor said: "I am not playing with God, it was not I who brought you together, but the Lord." Well, God forbid, a stubborn () wife was caught, then they said: how will he be with her, you will boil the iron, but you cannot persuade an evil wife. It is better to eat bread with water than to live with an evil wife. So they say. Or: you can't bake a bad dough - you can't remake a thin woman. And Zinaida Efremovna, she is also 90 years old, told me: “The first husband is from God, you can't even scold him. You can't hide from him, black and white - everything needs to be negotiated with your husband. Take care of your own husband; as you put him, so in the house, and in the village he will be reckoned with."

Nothing helps, so they will tell a parable. Once upon a time there was a husband and wife. And it would be good if they lived, but the wife pleased the cross. Everything in spite of everything. To spite my husband I’ll sit in a puddle. The man was tortured. Say: Brito. And the wife: haircut. He: cropped. She: shaved. Neither persuade nor lull. Somehow they had to go through the groove (). Do not jump over, do not cross. The man threw a perch over the groove. He crossed over and punished his wife: do not spin, do not stare, go quietly! You will fall and drown! But it is transverse. How let it spin, how let it spin! Flooded into the water … and drowned.

The man cried, sorry for his wife. I went to look for her up the river. People ask: why are you crying? Answers: the wife drowned. So why are you, they say, you go up, go down the groove, but the current has carried it along. No, the man replies, you don’t know my wife. It is transverse. She will certainly float upward.

And surely the daughter-in-law, who values her authority, will think about it.

One grandmother told me. Grandpa Anfilofiy punished my brother: if the bride does not look at you at least one thing, do not take her. And so he came to marry, the bride really liked, everyone is good. And how I pinched the chips - I didn’t like it. And he did not take it and never regretted it.

All the proverbs, sayings, fairy tales, legends that I write down, mainly about women and for them. There are men, but not enough. Because the world in the family is kept by the wife.

They say: teach children without people. Will not make a comment when people are around. If they see that the son is not quite kind to his wife, they will squeeze him near the barn - a grandpa, a grandpa, a grandma right there with a little friend: he says, I'll help you. And they will ask: why did Aksinya cry? Look, Wansha, what a bad husband's wife is always a fool! This is how they say. The wife is not a servant to her husband, but a friend; parents take care of their daughter until the crown, and the husband - to the end. Not the one happy with her father, but the one with her husband. The old lady will say: look at me! And not because he is afraid of a woman's crutch, but because he respects her and his authority is dear to the guy, he will think whether it is worth behaving this way.

In general, it is better to stumble with a foot than with a tongue. Save your tongue in conversation and your heart in anger. It is not that it is strange that it was negotiated, but that it is not agreed. This is how one should live. All I know, my dears, is not me, it is they who told me. I come to them, it happens that the hut is completely overwhelmed. I think: Lord, even if my grandmother is not crushed, but she: “I, my dear, live well, the hut, though thin, is my own. It doesn’t wet me with rain, it doesn’t burn me with fire”. I say: "How is your health?" Today, he replies, is worse than it was yesterday, because it’s better than it will be tomorrow. I say: "You live alone, go hard." She: "I am not alone, I live with God."

I never tire of being surprised at the wisdom and poetry of this people. I come to my grandmother, quite old, gray. He says: “Look, I have neighbors, I swore with them, scolded, they offended me, I complained about them. And now I understood, I remembered what my mother told me: “Don't fight with your neighbor, you’ll go to him not for flour, but for ash”. And I began to welcome them: I’ll give a pie, then I’ll talk. Look, my dear, what good people are! They fixed the fence for me, they piled a woodpile for me, they split the wood for me."

They are not spiteful people, simple-minded, they know how to make fun of each other. On an unsuccessful joke, they will say: go to the barn, but joke there alone. Here's another reprimand: they drank at Fili's, but Filia was beaten. And she sewed, and washed, knitted and rolled, but all with her tongue. I know I’m lying, but I can’t stop it. If there is no baushka - I would buy, if there is a baushka - I would kill. To the question: why don't you recognize me? - will shake his head and say: why didn't I recognize you? I wouldn't recognize you, I barked like that.

Pacify your pride, pacify, do not be higher than others, respect people, respect yourself, so people will respect you. You can't be proud of anything. He did good and became proud - that is no good. When you serve, it must be served in such a way that it is not visible in your hands what you are serving, and so that your left hand does not know what your right hand has given.

If someone quarreled with whom, the sin is on the one who did not forgive.

Where a person is condemned - get up and leave. And don't listen to anyone. To judge, to stipulate is a sin. Be careful with the person. God is the main judge. They hurt you, and you do good. Mom kept saying: "You have been offended - they are evil to you, and you are good for them." I was still young, then I thought: but why is this? And she herself, as she matured, I realized: he offends you, and then he reaches out to you.

They spit at you, but you smile, know your enemies in the face, and repay them with good. Pray to the east and wish them good health, gold and silver. When their boxes are full, they will forget about you, and you will live in peace and health. The Lord God and the apostles are walking on earth. They have a lot of work: to whom to help, to whom to advise. The peasant regrets them: you are my dear, no rest with you, no holiday. Apostles: no, we have a holiday. When an innocent person asks forgiveness from a guilty person, that is the apostolic holiday.

Varvara Gerasimovna Chernova said: the proud will not be saved. Even if you did not acquire wealth by your own labor, do good to others, and the Lord will save your soul. After all, wealth is from God, and if people do not have any help from you, God will leave you. Liars, sworn oaths will not be saved. Vain against a person is a great sin. And on whom the falsehood is being raised, it must be adequately transferred. A man sins, you see, but tomorrow you forget his sins. Think about your sins. If you are offended, you need to reduce () and remember: an extra word brings annoyance. The more you get angry, the more you want.

You need to pray for people and for yourself. I want to do good to everyone, but being young was not a gift either. Good. What is it? Yes, Victor made a bridge across the river for people, this is good.

The time will come when neither mother, nor father, nor brother, nor sister will intercede for you, only good deeds will intercede.

We must work ourselves, and the children to work. Mamkin is still holding onto the hem, and already to pull the cow's tit. To put a boy on a horse from a young age and not be afraid that he will kill. A man to make you feel.

How good it is to live when there is something to give to someone. Here are my good ones.