«Half-believers» Parishes of Pskov Eparchy: From History of Seto Folk Parishes

Kalinina Ol'ga Vladimirovna Researcher, Russian Museum of Ethnography 191186, Russia, g. Saint Petersburg, ul. Inzhenernaya, 4/1 kalinina_ol@mail.ru

Introduction

Research in the field of ethno- confessional culture of Russia gained great popularity in the early XXI century. Particular attention is paid to the ethnic specifics of parish life and the anthropology of specific church communities ^[1-3]. The focus of this study is on the Orthodox parishes of the Pskov diocese, which are historically associated with the Seto people.

Seto are representatives of the Finno–Ugric language community living in the modern Pechora district of the Pskov region and the southeastern volosts of Estonia. Their language belongs to the South Estonian dialects and is the easternmost branch of the South Estonian dialect ^[4]. Seto profess Orthodoxy. In the Estonian historiographical tradition, the term "setu" is applied to them (in accordance with the spelling rules of the literary Estonian language). Currently, in the scientific literature, along with the ethnonym "setu", the endoethnonym "seto" is widely used. The Seto themselves call the territory of their residence "Setomaa" – "land of seto".

The history and ethnography of Seto are most closely connected with the church culture of the Pskov land and the missionary activity of the Holy Dormition Pskov-Pechersk Monastery, founded on the border with Livonia in 1473. According to popular legend, the Seto were baptized into Orthodoxy by the abbot of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery, Cornelius (1501-1570) ^{[5, p. 564]}. Being parishioners of Orthodox churches, they spoke their own language and preserved ancient customs, for which they received the name "half-believers" from the local Russian population ^{[6, p. 35; 7, p. 8]}. The exoticism (otherness) of the Seto culture in comparison with both Russian and Estonian for many years determined priority research directions in relation to this ethno–confessional community - folklore, costume, folk rituals, pre-Christian beliefs. The church side of their life dissolved into other research topics and became the object of special study only at the beginning of the XXI century . To date, studies on the traditional culture and ethnic history of Seto make up a very extensive bibliography in Russian and Estonian. It is presented in the collective monograph of authors from Russia, Estonia and France "Expeditions of the Museum of Man to Estonia. Boris Vilde and Leonid Zurov in Setomaa (1937-1938)", published in three languages in 2017-2022 ^{[8, pp. 816-869]}. The studies of Patriarch Alexy II (Ridiger), historians S. Rimeshtada, M. V. Shkarovsky, I. V. Petrov, V. I. Musaev are devoted to church-state relations and problems of the Orthodox Church in the Baltic States and in the North-West of Russia in the twentieth century ^[9-13]. Thanks to their works, a large array of archival documents has been introduced into scientific circulation, a number of which are directly related to the history of the Seto people and the complex parish situation that developed on the Pskov-Estonian border in the twentieth century. "Semi-catholic parishes" are a bright and little-studied (especially at the stage of modernity) page in the history of the Pskov region. Meanwhile, it was the inclusion of Seto in the local parish system that significantly influenced the culture of the population of the Pechora-Estonian borderland and served as an argument for building various political discourses. The author of the article sets himself the task of tracing the key changes in the church life of the Seto Pechora district from the end of the nineteenth century to the present in the conditions of changing state affiliation and political regimes. The parish history of Seto is revealed through the prism of their perception by local officials, church leaders, as well as visiting researchers. In addition, interviews with Seto and Russians of the Pechora region, which were made during ethnographic expeditions in 2007-2017, were used as a source.

The end of the X I X – the beginning of the XX century .

According to the Provincial Statistical Committee, the reports of the deans and information from confessional murals, the number of seto (half-believers) in the 1880s–1890s was about 12,000-15,000 people ^{[14, pp. 291-296]}. They lived in four north-western volosts of Pskov County and were parishioners of 11 churches: in the suburbs of Pechora and the villages of Tailovo, Zalesye, Panikovichi, Kolpino, Izborsk, Maly, Kulye, Verkhoustye, Zacherenye, Avinchishche. The Seto lived apart from the Russians, but in church-administrative terms they were one with them. Half-Believers could always be recognized among Russian parishioners by their costume and non-Russian speech. In particular, the Seto women stood out in long white caftans and specific towel hats. "It was an extraordinary sight when I saw these hundreds of figures in white robes," wrote Estonian researcher Oskar Kallas, who observed the Easter service in the village of Tailovo near Pechora in 1894 ^[15]. The pride of the Seto women, their difference from the Russian parishioners, was the so–called "silver outfit" - an abundance of silver chains and necklaces that were worn over a large hemispherical fibula "syl". Researchers and publicists noted the religious activity of Seto women, their desire to attend festive divine services and religious processions: "If a procession is held anywhere, there you will definitely see a large crowd of original half-women clothes bleaching from afar. Nothing deters them from participating in religious processions, neither the distance of the distance, nor the time spent" (Muraveysky V. Pechersk semi-religious Region // Pskov Diocesan Vedomosti. 1910. No. 10. p. 118). At the same time, the external, ceremonial nature of this religiosity, the love of pageantry and theatricality of church events were noted. In the church space , the half -believers paid great attention to concrete actions: setting candles in front of icons, making the sign of the cross, donating money to the temple, giving alms to the poor. The fact is that the Seto could not take meaningful part in church worship – they practically did not speak Russian and did not understand the words of the Church Slavonic service. In turn, the Russian priests of the Pechora Region did not know either the Estonian language or, moreover, the Seto dialect. The language barrier between the clergy and the flock made it difficult to fulfill church requirements and sacraments, sometimes forcing them to turn to the services of an interpreter even in confession ^{[16, p. 167]}. Pastors could judge the spiritual life of their flock only by certain signs: the frequency of visiting the temple and ordering food, the strictness of fasting, etc. For example, the dean of the Pechora district Mikhail Mutovozov noted in 1903 that he was not familiar with the inner world of half-believers due to ignorance of their language, but emphasized the conscientiousness of the seto in the performance of all church rules ^{[17, p. 93]}.

The actualization of the "semi-religious question" in the second half of the nineteenth century was associated with the process of resettlement of Estonians and Latvians from the Baltic Region to the Pskov province. Attention to these foreigners led to an interest in the culture of the local "long-time inhabitants of the Peipsi tribe" (Lebedev E.The foreign question in the Pskov province in connection with the religious and political significance of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery. Pskov, 1891. p. 7). In 1885, the positions of "foreign missionaries" were established in the Pskov diocese, who were to perform divine services in Estonian and Latvian for migrants from Livonia who had converted from Lutheranism to Orthodoxy. Here it is necessary to note the activities of the "Estonian missionary" Karp (Karl) Charter, an Estonian by nationality and a native of Yuriev (Tartu) county. From 1892 to 1917, he served in the Pskov diocese in Slavic and Estonian, taught in local schools, was actively engaged in public and journalistic activities, published pamphlets "Spiritual Conversations" and "Pskov Estonians" in Estonian. (Ustav K.Waimulikud k?ned, Jurjev, 1897–1898. Ustav K.Pihkwa eestlased. Tartu: Postimees, 1908). In 1905 The charter was appointed priest of St. Nicholas Church with . Tylovo, most of whose parishioners were seto. Father Karp took the most ardent part in the life of his half-Believers parishioners and insisted on the introduction of schooling and church sermons in Estonian that they understood (The Charter of K. Tailovsky parish // Pskov Diocesan Vedomosti. 1913. No. 11. p. 261). It is characteristic that it was Karp Charter, who had the opportunity to delve into the spiritual world of his parishioners, wrote about the problem of external piety and the neighborhood of Orthodoxy with paganism in their culture. (The Charter of K. More about the half-believers // Pskov diocesan Vedomosti. 1910. No. 18. p. 277; GAPO F. 39. Op. 1. d. 7764. L. 23-27). In this matter, the priest relied not only on his own experience, but also on the research of scientists who spoke Estonian and studied the customs and beliefs of Seto – Ya. Hurta, Yu. Trusman, O. Kallas, etc. The "traces of paganism" of Seto were associated by them with the veneration of natural objects (stones, springs, trees), literalism in the perception of iconographic images, offering products to icons, etc. The constant interest of researchers was caused by the mysterious cult of the Seto god Peko, information about which was fragmentary and unclear. This cult was recorded at the end of the XIX century. in the westernmost part of the Seto's residence – on the border with the Livonia province in the bush of the villages of the town (corner) Mokrolug ^[18]. The sculpture of the god Peko was made of wood or represented a candle. It was kept in the bins and was taken out twice a year in connection with sowing and harvesting. Peko's collective prayers took place in secret. The participants of the prayers were parishioners of the church in Tailovo, but did not open to the priest in confession ^{[6, p. 39]}. It should be said that the western Setu region near the village of Avincishche (now the village of Obinitsa, Estonia) was a kind of protected corner. Its population was exclusively Seto, Orthodox priests rarely visited this area, so it was here in 1897 that a special school-church in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord for half-believers was built (School-church for half-Believers // Pskov Diocesan Vedomosti. 1895. No. 19. pp. 325-330). The construction of a unique school-church was part of the diocesan education program of the Seto, which involved the organization of services in a language they understood, the establishment of auxiliary departments with teachers from half-believers at Russian schools, the training of teachers and priests from the most capable young men of the Seto (Lebedev A. Half-believers of the Pskov-Pechersk Region and measures of their education // Pskov Diocesan Vedomosti. 1901. No. 5. pp. 124-131, No. 6. pp. 147-153). Russian Russian language training and their rapprochement with the Russian population were the main objectives of the program. The parish was opened in 1904 and consisted exclusively of half-believers. The Russian priest Polycarp Muraveisky, who spoke Estonian, was appointed rector. Interestingly, in a report to the dean in 1907, he denied the spread of idolatry in his parish, while the priest of the Tailovo Karp temple, the Charter, claimed, following ethnographers, that there was an idol of Peko in the district of D. Avinchishche ^{[16, pp. 167-168]}.

Thus, at the beginning of the twentieth century in the Pechora semi-Catholic region there were only two parishes in which priests conducted services in Church Slavonic and Estonian. The schooling of half-Faith children took place in Russian, and for the first two years the teachers were put in the position of foreign language teachers. The most successful was the assimilation of the Russian language in the school-church in Avinchishche, but in general the world of half-believers remained quite closed and conservative. The "semi-religious program" was carried out within the framework of the policy of Russification of the national outskirts of the Russian Empire, conducted by Alexander III and Nicholas II. In relation to the half-Believers, "enlightenment" meant "Russification", and the half-Believers themselves were treated as "lesser and almost forgotten brothers" of Orthodox Russians.  (Lebedev A. Half-believers of the Pskov-Pechersk Region and measures of their enlightenment // Pskov diocesan Vedomosti. 1901. № 5. C. 129)

1917 – 1945

The political events of 1917-1920 dramatically changed the life of the population of the Pskov-Pechora Region. During the Civil War and the German intervention of the Baltic States, the Pechora turned out to be in the sphere of political interests of Estonian independence fighters who advocated the unification of territories with the Estonian population into a single independent state. It was the fact of the Seto's residence in this territory that was their decisive argument about the need to annex the four parishes of Pskov County to Estonia. Among the 73 persons who applied to the Estonian County Council on July 1, 1917 with a request for the annexation of the Pechora, Izborskaya, Panikovskaya and Sloboda volosts to Estonia, there was also a priest Karp Charter. On February 24, 1918, the Republic of Estonia was established. The Pechora Region was in the zone of its control. In 1920, the Tartu Peace Treaty was signed between the RSFSR and Estonia, under the terms of which the Pechora Region, along with 16 Orthodox parishes and the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery, was transferred to the Republic of Estonia. The Pechora County – Petserimaa (from the Estonian name Pechor – Petseri) was formed.

It should be said that the Russian-speaking population of Petserimaa exceeded the number of Seto by two times. In 1928 there were 36933 Russians, 15033 Seto and 3699 Estonians (Setumaa: maadeteauduslik, tulunduslik ja ajalooline kirjeldus / Eesti III. Tartu: Eesti Kirjanduse Selts, 1928. P. 42). Russians and Seto professed Orthodoxy and were still strongly influenced by the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery.

The transition of the Pechora Region under the rule of Estonia saved local churches and monasteries from the fate of destruction that befell the temples of Soviet Russia. At the same time, the parish life of the Pechora region has undergone strong changes. They were connected with the construction of a new identity based on the national idea, the separation from the Moscow Patriarchate and the transition of the Estonian Orthodox Church to the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople (1923). A conflict broke out between supporters of the "Russian" and "Estonian" versions of the Orthodox Church in Estonia ^[11]. In this situation, the Seto were caught between two fires – they were used to joint worship services with the Russian population, did not consider themselves to be part of the community of Orthodox ethnic Estonians, but were glad to have services in Estonian that they understood. From the position of the Estonian Government, the Seto were part of the Estonian people and had to integrate into Estonian society as soon as possible. Petserimaa County was assessed by the Estonian authorities as a culturally and economically backward area that required enhanced modernization measures ^[19].

Seto's conservatism, their adherence to folk costume and customs (church holidays, fasts) were perceived by Estonian society as archaic and exotic ^[20]. Seto aroused great interest among the Estonian intelligentsia in the young republic – during this period Seto folklore was actively recorded and ethnographic collections were collected. In 1933, the staff of the Estonian National Museum (Tartu) managed to acquire an authentic sculpture of the Seto god – the "material" Peko ^[21], which stirred up a new wave of interest in the religious consciousness of the "half-believers". In 1926, through the efforts of the Academic Society of the Native Language (Tartu), a Four-Gospel in the Seto language was published (Mii’ Iss?nd? Jeesus? Kristus? p?h? Evangelium. Matteus?, Markus?, Luukas? ja Johann?s? kirot?t / E. Puusepp, P. Voolaine. Tartu, 1926.). According to the testimony of some modern informants, this book could be purchased in the shop of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery. However, it has remained an academic delicacy that has not had an impact on the religious culture of the population. The Seto perceived their language exclusively at the level of oral speech, and the "authentic" church books for them were publications in Russian / Church Slavonic and Estonian.

Since the Estonian Government set as its task the creation of "national" church parishes, the process of dividing communities along ethnic lines took place. Parishes with a purely Russian population became part of the Narva Diocese of the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church, and mixed and Seto (i.e., those with the status of "Estonian") – in the Pechora Vicariate of the Tallinn diocese formed in 1924 ^{[13, pp. 254-255]}. 5 parishes were Russian in composition: Senno, Pechki, Lisye, Lavra (churchyard of Shchemeritsa) and the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Izborsk. Mixed (Russian-Seto) were: the parish of the Church of the Forty Martyrs of Pechora, the parish of the Nikolsky church in Izborsk and the parishes of the rural churches of Kolpino, Kulye, Maly, Panikovichi, Zalesye, Zacherenye (Saatse), Tailovo, Vyarsk. The parish of the church in the village of Avinchishche (est. Obinitsa) was, as before, seto ^{[22, pp. 32-33]}. It was assumed that the Seto would receive church care in Estonian. However, at first there were not enough Estonian-speaking priests in the Pechora district, and in mixed parishes services continued to be performed in Church Slavonic. To remedy this situation, in 1933 a seminary with Russian and Estonian branches was opened in the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery. During the short period of functioning of this educational institution (in 1940, the seminary was closed by the Soviet government), a generation of priests was trained, whose ministry was later connected with the Pechora Region and with the Seto – Leonid Pospelov, Vasily Velikotny, Mikhail Dubravin, Viktor Herberg, John Kuldmye, etc. (Field materials of the author – hereinafter PMA, 2013 – 2017).

In 1935, the global reorganization of the Orthodox parishes of Petserimaa began – each national community was to receive a separate staff of priests and clergymen, and ideally – a separate room. It was a painful issue related to the division of church property and the organization of life of parishes according to new principles. Russian Russian Orthodox churches built partitions inside the church premises, services began to be held simultaneously in Church Slavonic and Estonian for two communities. In the village of Panikovichi, the main church was given to Seto, and the refectory of the church was redone for the Russian community, in the village of Maly Seto received a warm chapel, and the Russians prayed in the main church ^{[23, p. 97]}. In some localities (Panikovichi, Zacherenye) it was supposed to build new temples, but these plans were not allowed to come to fruition. A significant event was the division of the church parish of Pechora. The Pechora parish church had two rooms – the stone church of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste and the wooden church of St. Barbara, where services were held in winter. As a result of the partition, the Seto community received a warm Varvarinsky temple, and the Russians remained in a large stone temple. Modern old-timers do not mention discord or disputes during the implementation of the partition. However, from the above list it can be seen that the Seto received warm church premises, and the Russians had to install stoves to heat cold stone churches in winter. Subsequently, Soviet officials "from religion" accused the Estonian authorities of nationalism and infringement of the rights of Russians. "In the days of bourgeois Estonia, Estonian parishes were in a privileged position and received a monetary subsidy from the state… Russian Russian parish built a nice house in which their priest lived, and the rector of the Russian parish lived in a private apartment," A. Luzin, the Commissioner for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Pskov region, reported in 1950 about the parish in the village of Maly. (GAPO F.R.-1776. Op. 1. d. 35. L. 22). It should be mentioned that the Seto and the Russians of the Malsky parish changed places several times inside the church (1940, 1945).

The Estonian priest Nikolai Raag, who compiled a description of the Pechora parishes of the "Estonian period", explained the tasks of the church transformations of the 1930s as "the creation of national parishes" taking into account all local conditions and the general interests of the state ^{[22, p. 33]}. However, not all changes were recognized by the population. For example, Seto and the Russians unanimously refused to switch to worship according to the new (Gregorian) calendar, which was adhered to by all civil and religious institutions of Estonia. "Dad told me, the equestrians went, that "you are introducing a new style." And the people shouted: “Old, old!”. And drove these. As a result, it turned out that the people did not want to serve in the new way, but they were forbidden in the old way," says Valentina Lastova, the wife of the rector of the church in the village of Kulya (PMA, 2017). In the chronicle of the church of S. Lisieux, a local psalmist wrote about the constant "confusion" and "a lot of troubles" in churches due to the introduction of a new style in the 1930s. - people sought to get to festive services on their usual dates, and the abbots were forced to decide at their own risk whether to obey the civil authorities or give in to the parishioners. (Church Chronicle of the Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God in the village of Lisye 1927 – 1941, pp. 107-109).

The reform of the division of parishes has not been completed. In 1939, World War II began, Estonia was incorporated into the USSR, and in 1941 it was occupied by Germany. The parishes functioned in conditions of confrontation between supporters of the Constantinople and Moscow Patriarchies, since both jurisdictions received official registration from the German authorities. During the offensive operation of the Soviet troops in August 1944, the church in the village of Panikovichi burned down. Divine services began to be performed in the church gatehouse, and the Russians and the Seto of the Panikovo parish again united into one community. In general, the brief period of separate existence of the Seto and Russian rural church communities of the Pechora Region in 1935-1940 was poorly preserved in the national memory of the Pechorians. However, it was during the period of the Republic of Estonia that the Estonian language became the language of the Seto religion – the prayer "Meie isa palvet" ("Our Father") was read in it before the start of school lessons and church services were held. In the memories of local residents, it is the "Estonian period" that is associated with the religious literacy of the population – in the established Estonian schools, priests or local teachers taught the "Law of God", once a year the whole class of children were taken to confession and communion. Thus, the religious and social life of Seto developed within the framework of Estonian culture. The Seto language was preserved in families and in everyday communication.

1945 – 1991

After the capture of Estonia by Soviet troops (1944) Petserimaa County was liquidated and divided between the RSFSR and the Estonian SSR. The border was drawn according to the ethnic principle – three–quarters of the territory with a predominant Russian population were assigned to the Pechora district of the Pskov region, and 1/3 - with a predominant Seto – to Estonia. On the territory of the Estonian SSR there are three Seto church parishes – Obinitsa (former. Avincishche), Saatse (ex. Blackening) and Vyarska (ex. Verkhoustye). From that moment on, the parish life of Seto on different sides of the border began to develop according to different scenarios within the framework of different union republics, and then - states.

In the post-war period, the general political course of the Soviet state towards the Russian Orthodox Church softened somewhat and was no longer aimed at total destruction. Therefore, the traditional parish network continued to be preserved in the Pechora district. All Orthodox church parishes were under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. In 1945-1946, a record was made of all existing churches and church communities. 16 Orthodox parishes were registered in the Pechora district. Two of them received the official status of "Estonian" – the parish of the Varvarinsky church in Pechory and the parish of the Christ-Nativity Church in the village of Maly. (GAPO F. R–1776. Op. 1. D. 6. L. 7; GAPO F. R-1776. Op. 1. D. 97. L. 103). The ethnic status of the Seto in the Soviet period remained the same – they were listed as Estonians in official papers. Schools with instruction in Estonian were maintained in the Pechora district.

In the middle of the twentieth century, the Pechora Church of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara was already perceived by the local population as the main "Seto" religious center of the Pskov-Pechora Region. Russians practically did not enter this church, they prayed in the neighboring church of the Forty Martyrs. The services in the Varvarinsky Church were held in Estonian. The abbots of the temple were Estonians who came from Estonia and did not speak the Seto language. Psalmists, choristers and parishioners were local setos. The Russians testify that in the 1950s and 1960s, elderly women often wore a full outfit with jewelry to festive services, which gave the event a special solemnity and unusual. Before the prohibition of religious processions in 1949, the Russian and Estonian communities performed festive processions together: "Together with the monastic procession, there were passages from the church of the Forty Martyrs and the Varvarinsky Church. When all three moves were connected, a truly grandiose procession turned out. The women of the Setu people were dressed in their national costumes, the beauty was rare. Easter! Spring!" (Peleshev E. With five abbots // In the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery (memoirs of the inhabitants) Moscow: Father's House, 2001. p. 49)

The stone five–domed Church of the Nativity of Christ in the village of Maly is a preserved part of the former monastery complex of the XV century. In 1902, a large chapel was added to the church, consecrated in the name of the founder of the monastery of St. Onufriy Malsky. In the post-war period, the Onufrievsky chapel belonged to the Russian community, and the seto prayed in the premises of the ancient temple. "We had our own Estonian temple, they are nearby. Only there was a partition. There were two priests, and one was entirely in Russian, and the second was entirely in Estonian" (PMA, 2013, N. H., born in 1928, Seto, D. Trintovo); "My mother took me to a small temple. My mother didn't take us here to the Russian temple. There was an Estonian service in a small church." (PMA, 2016, E. N., born in 1938, seto, D. Obutye). The rector of the Estonian community was John Kuldmae (1912-1965), seto, a native of the village of Cheremnovo, Panikovo parish. In 1939-1940 . Kuldmye attended theological courses of the Pechora Seminary as a free listener, and in 1942 he was ordained to the priesthood (GAPO F R-1776. Op. 1. D. 35. L. 22). In the context of the history of the church parishes of the Pechora Region, the fact of the formation of the priest Seto from the local environment looks extremely important. The Set-speaking flock finally had a pastor who could conduct services in literary Estonian and communicate with parishioners in their native language.

In the 1950s, clouds gathered over the Estonian parishes of the Pechora Region. Special attention was paid to Estonian-speaking communities as possible hotbeds of separatism and nationalism. Following the instructions of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church, in 1950-1953, the commissioner for the Pskov region A. Luzin personally traveled to the parishes of the Pechora district to familiarize himself with local situations – in the Varvarinsky temple, churches in Malakh, Izborsk, Panikovichi. (GAPO F. R-1776. d. 35. l. 21 vol. -23; d. 45. L. 43-44 ). In connection with the secret decree on the eviction of the "counter-revolutionary element" from the western districts annexed to the Pskov region, the deportation of people to the Krasnoyarsk Territory began ^{[24, p. 213]}. Sharing his memories of the life of the parish of D. In the 1950s, the grandson and son of the Verkhoustinsky priests, Nikolai, listed the surnames of the Seto parishioners exiled to Siberia: "Yalai, Sulk, Lypiki – they were all in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. And then in the 56th or 57th year they only returned" (PMA, 2013, N. N. V., 1944, Russian, D. Tailovo). According to the childhood memories of a resident of the village of Mitkovitskoye Zagorye, in the 1950s, neighbors gathered in their parents' house every Saturday evening for a joint church hymn (akathist performance) under the guidance of her father, a religious man. As a 4-year-old girl, she remembered well how her father was periodically taken away from home by "people in leather jackets" (PMA, 2013. V. N., born in 1948, Seto, D. Mitkovitsky Zagorye). Meetings of this kind aroused suspicion among the authorities and were regarded as anti-Soviet. Their family was saved from deportation to Siberia in 1953 by the death of I.V. Stalin.

The reports of the Commissioner for the Affairs of the ROC of the Pskov region indicate a great religious activity of the local population. The Seto, whom Luzin called "Orthodox Estonians," are presented in his reports as stubborn and "fanatical" believers. [GAPO F. R-1776. D. 45. L. 43] Coupled with potential nationalism, these qualities seemed dangerous for the Soviet government. Russian Russian parish was closed in 1951, the Estonian community was merged with the Russian one under the leadership of the Russian priest Mikhail Bellavin, and the priest Kuldmae left for Estonia.

The Estonian community of Pechora was also under threat of liquidation. In 1950, the parishioners of the Varvarinsky Church were unexpectedly left without a rector due to the departure of Priest John Vacher to Estonia. Then he converted to Lutheranism, which caused a wide resonance among the Pskov clergy. (GAPO. F. R-1776. Op. 1. D. 35. L. 10). The Estonian community of St. Barbara was invited to unite with the Russian parish of the Forty Martyrs, but the parishioners of Seto categorically rejected this idea. (GAPO. F. R-1776. D. 45. L. 43). Services in Church Slavonic, poorly understood by Seto, began in the church. "The Russian churches. Still, you won't understand everything, how they all sing" (PMA, 2013, O. P., born in 1936, seto, D. Bereznyuk); "Little by little. We didn't know much Russian. Only we went to the collective farm together, the bosses are all Russian..." (PMA, 2013, M. P., born in 1921, seto, D. Maly). Under the circumstances, the community was active and independently engaged in the search for a suitable priest in the Pskov and Estonian dioceses. (GAPO. F. R-1776. D. 45. L. 43-44). First of all, this position was offered to the priest John Lillemyagi, who served in the Izborsk St. Nicholas Cathedral. Just like Kuldmae, Lillemyagi was a local seto ordained during the German occupation in 1942. However, at that moment he did not change his predominantly Russian parish to Estonian and refused the abbacy in the Varvarinsky church. As a result, in 1953, a priest from Estonia Peeter Vainola came to Pechory, who served here until his death in 1975.  

The next stage in the history of the parish is associated with the name of the priest Evgeny Peleshev (1930-2021). A native of the Estonian Priory, a former novice of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery, who studied at the Leningrad Seminary, in 1955 he became one of the youngest priests of the Pechora region and quickly won the respect of his flock. Before his appointment to the Varvarinsky parish, he served for 20 years in the Trinity Church of the village of Zalesye, whose parishioners were Russians and Seto. Father Yevgeny spoke Estonian and performed bilingual services in Zalesye (PMA, 2013). After becoming the rector of the Varvarinsky Temple, for the first few years he served only in Estonian. The church was very popular, and on big holidays seto from all over the neighborhood came to it. According to the data on the state of religious communities of the Pskov region for 1975, about 800 people attended the Varvarinsky Church on holidays, and 400 people attended the neighboring Forty–Martyr (Russian) Church, that is, half as many (GAPO F. R-1776. Op. 1. D. 250. L. 3, 7). Such an impressive number of those present at the festive divine services in the Varvarinsky Church is also explained by the arrival of Seto from Estonia. They maintained close ties with their Pechora relatives and invariably visited cemeteries on memorial days established by the Orthodox calendar.

The Republican border did not interfere with the free movement of the population, people continued to visit their parish churches belonging to both the Pskov and Estonian dioceses. However, the difference in living standards between Pskov region and subsidized Estonia eventually led to global changes in the settlement of Seto. The able-bodied population left Russia for Estonia. Soviet population censuses invariably stated a decrease in the "Estonian population" of the Pechora district. "Estonians" here should be understood as Estonians themselves, together with Seto, who were considered part of the Estonian nation. According to the calculations of modern researchers, the approximate number of seto was in 1959 – 4,500 people, in 1979 – 1,630, in 1989 – 950 people ^{[25, from 296]}. Migration processes, interethnic marriages and natural decline have led to a catastrophic reduction in the number of Pechora Setos. The Soviet generation of Seto, who received education in schools of the Pskov-Pechora region, equally speaks Russian and Estonian. In mixed and some Seto families, parents did not use the Seto language when communicating with children, because its prestige in society was quite low. In the late Soviet period, the number of Estonian schools in the district decreased significantly. The constant presence in the Russian-speaking environment had a great influence on the culture of Seto. In the late 1970s, Father Eugene began to conduct services in two languages in the Varvarinsky church and gradually almost completely switched to a "Russian-speaking" service interspersed with texts and prayers in Estonian. The decrease in the number of Setos in the parish was compensated by an increase in the number of Russian parishioners. Both of them considered Father Eugene "their father."

Bilingual services were also held from time to time in rural mixed parishes of the Soviet period. This was the case, for example, in Tailovo (before 1978), Zalesye (1955-1980), Panikovichi (1970-1974; 1980s) (PMA, 2016). This situation is practically not reflected in written sources, but is witnessed orally. At the official level, mixed parishes were listed as "Russian", and bilingual services were explained by the tradition and initiatives of the parish clergy. The priests conducted the service, alternately reading in Slavic and Estonian, without duplicating the same phrases: "Everyone was waiting for the priest, he also spoke when. Local priests, they are both… He will say one thing in Russian, the other in Estonian (PMA, 2016. L. L., born in 1937, Seto, D. Panikovichi). Among the abbots of churches who knew the Estonian language were representatives of different generations and cultural strata: a graduate of the Riga Theological Seminary of the tsarist era, Eliy Verkhoustinsky (Tailovo); priests whose spiritual formation fell on the "Estonian period" – Nikolai Verkhoustinsky (Tailovo) and John Lillemyagi (Izborsk, Panikovichi), a graduate of the Leningrad Seminary of the post-war period Evgeny Peleshev (Zalesye, Pechory). The older generation of priests tried to preserve the tradition and passed on their skills to the youth. Evgeny Peleshev's son Alexey served in the 1980s- early 1990s in Panikovichi in two languages, following the example of his father. Due to the early death of Alexei in 1992, the Peleshev priestly dynasty in the Pechora district was interrupted. 

In the 1980s, there was a generational change – many new priests arrived from other dioceses. For example, in 1985, a visiting priest Vasily Shvedik became the rector of the church in Malakh. According to the testimony of local residents, he voluntarily began to learn the language of his network-speaking parishioners: "And Father, he respects people who walk. Half-Believers, Estonians come a lot. He just respects them!.. I thought he just memorized the prayers in Estonian, according to the breviaries. But there was a case, he went out on the street, he was caught, and he "turli-turli" in their language!" (PMA, 2013, LP, born in 1962, Russian, D. Maly). The Seto of the Malsky parish themselves claimed that they could confess to Father Basil in their own (Seto) language. Thus, during the Soviet period, the language specifics of Seto and mixed Russian-Seto parishes were preserved in the Pechora Region. According to archival data and the testimonies of informants, the parishioners of Seto were distinguished by zealous fulfillment of church regulations, they treated services very thoroughly, did not approve of cuts, innovations, haste of the clergy, made sure that everything was "according to the law". (F. R.-1776. Op. 1. D. 45. L. 43; PMA, 2016).

Post - Soviet period

After the collapse of the USSR and the recognition of Estonia's independence, the Seto were separated by a state border. The economic crisis of the 1990s was aggravated for them by the introduction of foreign passports, visas and the destruction of all the usual infrastructure. Seto faced the fact that they could no longer freely cross the border to visit temples and cemeteries. The new conditions hurt the elderly the most – the most active representatives of the church community. Complaints about bureaucratic red tape, separation from relatives and the inability to get to "your" temple on the other side of the border became an indispensable component of Seto narratives of the 1991-2000's. The Estonian Government has provided an opportunity for all descendants of Estonian citizens of 1920-1940 to obtain Estonian citizenship. At the end of XX – beginning . The XXI century. there was a mass migration of Pechorians (Seto and Russians) to Estonia.

The modern Russian-Estonian border is the subject of constant acute discussions at the interstate level. The Estonian side calls the border a temporary control line and has territorial claims against Russia, which are based on the provisions of the Tartu Peace Treaty of 1920 and the idea of continuity of the rights of the first independent Republic of Estonia of 1920-1940. The cultural area of Seto is the trump card of this rhetoric. The post-Soviet period was marked by Seto's national activism both in Russia and in Estonia.

The current population of the Seto of the Republic of Estonia is, according to various estimates, from 3,000 to 12,000 people ^{[26, p. 349]}. In post-Soviet Estonia, two Orthodox churches of the Moscow and Constantinople Patriarchates operate in parallel. In rural Seto parishes in Estonia, services are held in Estonian. Seto living in Tartu and Tallinn have the opportunity to choose between "Russian" and "Estonian" churches. The church activists of Seto Estonia are looking for their way, balancing their commitment to antiquity (Orthodoxy from the synodal period), the desire to preserve their ethno-confessional identity and the need to adapt to the realities of modernity in the conditions of confrontation between the "Moscow" and "Estonian" Orthodox churches. In 2013, activists of the Seto National Movement republished the Fourth Gospel in the Seto language. The new version of the translation is partially used during divine services in the church in Obinitsa (ex. Avinchishche).

In Russia , the Seto were recognized as an indigenous small - numbered people by the Russian Federation in 2010 . However, this measure did not save them from a demographic catastrophe. According to the results of an ethnodemographic study of employees of Pskov State University in 2016, 247 people who called themselves seto lived in the Pechora district ^[27]. There are practically no young people left, in 2009 the only remaining Pechora school with an Estonian language of instruction was transformed into a linguistic gymnasium with the teaching of Estonian as a foreign language. In 2013, Father Eugene complained that the most frequent service in the Varvarinsky church was the funeral service in Estonian (PMA, 2013). From all corners of the Pechora Region, relatives took the deceased seto to their church. Father Eugene witnessed the extinction of the Set-speaking flock. According to him, 5-7 people attended the usual Sunday services in the Varvarinsky church in the 2000s, all the rest were Russians. At the same time, the temple continued to be an important center of Seto culture. It was a mandatory point of visit for seto delegations from Estonia (cultural activists, folklore groups, etc.). For visiting guests, Father Eugene uttered some exclamations and prayers in Estonian. He did not know the Seto language and had never used it. Yevgeny Peleshev was the last priest of the Pskov diocese who could conduct services entirely in both Church Slavonic and Estonian.

The present period of the history of the Seto (semi-catholic) parishes of the Pskov-Pechora Region can be defined as a memorial. Active church rectors (Dmitry Golovnev, Yevgeny Peleshev's receiver in Pechory, Innokenty Seleznev in Panikovichi) take initiatives to preserve the "Seto heritage" – they ask Russian singers to learn some texts in Estonian, they themselves pronounce Estonian exclamations. However, this is dictated by tradition rather than necessity. Modern parishioners of the Seto Pechora region speak Russian and understand Church Slavonic services. Varvarinsky Temple is an important cultural center and a "Seto" landmark of Pechora. Along with museum complexes, it is an important evidence of the existence of an original Seto church culture and as such it necessarily appears in the excursion rhetoric.

Conclusion

The parish history of Setu is a clear demonstration of the process of constructing an ethno-confessional identity in the public interest. Throughout their history, Seto have been balancing between Russification and Estonization. They were assigned the role of "lesser Orthodox brothers" (the Russian Empire), carriers of the "Estonian" Orthodox tradition as opposed to the "Moscow" (the policy of the independent Republic of Estonia), "stubborn believers" whose activities should be controlled and limited (the policy of the USSR period). Currently, both in Russia and in Estonia, there are active processes of searching for national identity, with which the issue of religion is closely linked. The few remaining modern residents of the Pechora district (and these are mostly elderly people) are active parishioners of local churches and live in a Russian-speaking environment. The Seto church life in Estonia develops within the framework of the Estonian-speaking culture. The connection of the Orthodox Seto parishes of Estonia with the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery and the churches of the Pechora district is becoming less tangible. The Seto language has never been used in liturgical practice on the territory of the Pechora district of the Pskov region, however, attempts have been made by some priests to communicate with the flock in the Seto language (for example, during confession). The local parish clergy played an important role in the history of the formation of the Seto church parishes, which at the moment supports the memory of the Seto church culture of the Pskov-Pechora Region.