The Old Believer Cross: features
The Orthodox Old Orthodox Cross hassomewhat different form from the widespread in our time four-pointed. He has two crosshairs at an angle of ninety degrees, where the top crossbar means a sign attached to Christ with the inscription "Jesus is the Nazarite king of the Jews" and an oblique lower crossbar that symbolizes the "yardstick" that assesses the good and bad deeds of all people. Its inclination to the left means that the repentant robber was the first to enter paradise.
What feature has such a cross? The Old Believer pattern is sometimes included in the four-pointed cross of a larger size and never has the figure of a crucified Jesus. This is interpreted as the fact that this symbol should mean the Crucifixion, but not to depict it. If there was a figure of Christ on the cross, the cross would become an icon that is not meant for wearing, but for prayer. Wearing the same icon in a hidden form (the Old Believers never carry a cross in sight) means for this group of believers the use of it for other purposes (like an amulet, which is an unacceptable action).
The Old Believer Cross is different in formfor wearing by men and women. For members of the stronger sex, he has clear quadrangular boundaries, while the believing ladies wear this symbol, surrounded by an additional space shaped like a petal of smooth shapes. On the reverse side of the cross there is a prayer, "May God arise, and his enemies ..." or troparion of the Cross.
When did this cross appear? The Old Believers' variant in Russia existed from time immemorial. But during the reforms of Patriarch Nikon in the 1650s he was condemned, along with other symbols of those who refused to accept church innovations. In particular, many people did not accept the three-fingered cross instead of the two-fingered banner, and also the triple proclamation of "Hallelujah" instead of the double. The Old Believers believed that the triple kathism contradicted the will of the Mother of God.
Why split in Russia, one of the symbolswhich was exactly the cross? The Old Believer people in the middle of the seventeenth century were forced to flee from the central regions of the country to the outskirts where communities and sects were formed. The latter had many wonderful customs. For example, Ryabinovsky's use only worshiped a cross made of mountain ash. The adherents of the old ecclesiastical traditions united the closedness of existence and exceptional strictness in observing ancestral, in their opinion, ceremonies. In some cases, when trying to convert a settlement into a new faith, people resorted to mass self-immolation. The accounts of the victims in individual years went by tens of thousands.
Where today can you see the Old Believer crosses? Photos of settlements where such believers live are widespread enough. Such settlements can be found in the center of Russia and in the Altai. There are even excursions for acquaintance with life and life of this cultural layer. However, you do not really see the crosses themselves when you visit the village, because Old Believers still wear them strictly under their clothes.
