New Europe College Yearbook 2001-2002 AXINIA CRASOVSCHI ANCA CRIVÃÞ CONSTANÞA GHIÞULESCU LUMINIÞA MUNTEANU NONA-DANIELA PALINCAª LAURA PAMFIL COSIMA RUGHINIª DIANA STANCIU LEVENTE SZABÓ BOGDAN TÃTARU-CAZABAN MIRCEA VASILESCU Editor: Irina Vainovski-Mihai Copyright © 2005 – New Europe College ISSN 1584-0298 NEW EUROPE COLLEGE Str. Plantelor 21 023971 Bucharest Romania Tel. (+40-21) 327.00.35, Fax (+40-21) 327.07.74 E-mail:
[email protected] AXINIA CRASOVSCHI Born in 1967, in Jurilovca Ph.D. candidate, University of Bucharest Dissertation: Similes in Marina Tsvetaeva’s Poetry Assistant Professor, University of Bucharest Editor of Zorile, journal of the Community of Russian Lipovans in Romania IREX grant, Oregon, U.S.A., 1996 Fulbright Scholarship, University of Oregon, Eugene U.S.A., 2002-2003 Participation in international conferences, symposia, seminars, etc., in Romania, Russia, Italy, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, U.S.A. Several studies and articles on Stylistics, Literature, and Cultural Anthropology (Old Believerism) Cultural counselor in three movie projects about Russian Lipovans in Romania: Cocorii, 1998 (special prize of the DaKino Film Festival); Pink Dreams (Euroart project), 2000; The Old Believers, 2001 RUSSIAN OLD BELIEVERS (LIPOVANS) IN ROMANIA: CULTURAL VALUES AND SYMBOLS Foreword Russian Old Believers, known in Romania as ‘Lipovans’, are descendants of the people who disputed the religious reforms initiated by Patriarch Nikon of Russia in 1653-1667. These reforms of the Church Ritual and Holy Books of the Russian Orthodox Church were supported by the then Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov (1645-1676) and were the cause of social upheaval and unrest. Strong opposition to the introduction of these innovations resulted in a powerful movement to retain the pre-Reform rite.