Day 10: Raja church, female priest, Bettina exploration

After breakfast, we went to a village called Raja in order to meet Osip Jotkin, who is involved with the Old Believer church in this village. The church is famous for the very special icons it has, painted by a master icon painter called Frolov. We want to meet Osip so he can tell us about the particularities of the Raja church, the icons, the history of their community.

We meet Osip at the side of the road, as agreed, in front of his house, where he sells onions and tomatoes. Osip is a cheerful and charismatic person, a picture of the "nice grandfather" with a big white beard and a face that tells of a colorful and active life. We buy some tomatoes from him and start talking about his family, his daughters, and life in general, as well as about the police who had just parked across the street to do speed checks of passing cars, and whom Osip of course knows, too.

He tells us about Frolov, the church which Frolov paid for with his own money, about the school of icon painting and how young people were taught to read and write Church Slavonic, and about the history of the Old Believer community in Raja. He then takes us to the church, and we're allowed to have a look at the main hall which is full of amazingly crafted icons; he explains us some of the icons, their history, and some of the rituals of the Old Believers which we had witnesses before, but never were explained. We also see the room where Frolov lived with a collection of memorabilia, and the former study rooms. Indeed the icons in Raja church are impressive works of art, and Osip is one more great and fascinating person to speak with, who possesses a huge knowledge of his region and religion, and is happily sharing it.

Later on, Bettina and Katerina planned to talk with one priest (respectively a ceremony leader) of the Kolkja Old Believer church, who happens to be a woman - interview will take place tomorrow And Mairi is back from Tallinn - while we pick her up from Tartu railway station, Bettina explores the lakeside villages by herself with the camera.