This article* deals with the concept of tradition and the interpretation of the Vedic past in Russian intentional communities. The movement is based on the book series The Ringing Cedars of Russia (Zvenyashchiye kedry Rossii) by Vladimir Megre published in the 1990s. The main heroine of these books is Anastasia, who shares with the author her knowledge of the ancient ancestors. Some readers take her advice and build a new kind of intentional community – ‘kin domain’ settlements (rodovyye pomestiya). The Anastasians tend to restore lost traditions, which are usually associated with Russia’s pre-Christian past. Traditional culture is understood as a conservative and utopian lifestyle that existed in the Vedic Age during the time of the Vedrus people. The commodification of local culture and tradition is one of the resources that ecovillagers try to use. The ‘traditional’ and ‘organic’ labels increase the price of many of their goods and services. One of the most popular products made by intentional communities is Ivan-chay (‘Ivan tea’), declared an indigenous and authentic beverage of the Russian people.
The religious group of the Russian Molokans (along with the Dukhobors and Subbotniks) was exiled from Russia to Transcaucasia in the 19th century and today constitutes an insignificant but noticeable minority in mono-ethnic Armenia. These “cultists” found themselves in an ambiguous position in Transcaucasia. On the one hand, they served the Russian Empire, on the other – they were considered heretics and enemies of the Russian statehood. The Molokan religion is neither homogenous nor a static phenomenon; it is a collective term, which can be associated with both groups and single individuals. The article is based on the author’s field material, collected during the expedition to the Molokans in Armenia in 2018-2019. The study aims to reveal how such an isolated, static, inflexible religious community deals with the challenges of the modern world in a democratic state. Strict norms, an abundance of prohibitions and isolation were well maintained in the era of persecution, but how much is it possible to preserve them in today’s Armenia? The main subject of the paper is the interaction of ethno-religious minorities with the secular world. The boundaries between the secular and the religious are conditional, and are meaningful, first of all, for the believers themselves. Today they quite easily maintain their religiosity in a society where the majority follows the national religion – the Armenian Apostolic Church. When describing themselves, the Molokans turn to enumerate prohibitions that are important today but are no longer observed with such care as before, especially among the younger generation. The main fears of the elders are related to the risks of “mixing” and losing their religious identity. Living in a foreign ethnic environment gives you more opportunities to preserve your own customs and not giving up on religion.
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