Tatyana Genrikhovna Kazantseva,
Candidate of Art History, State Public Scientific and Technical Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Hectographed publication of the “Stichera to the Holy Right‑Believing Princess Anna of Kashin”: Historical Context, Paleographic Features, Editing of the Service
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2026-2-19
Among the notated chant books published by Old Believers at the turn of the 20th century using the hectographic process, the service to the Holy Right-Believing Princess Anna of Kashin holds a special place. As is well known, the complicated history of her canonization made her one of the symbols of the Old Believer movement, which likely led to the publication of this service by the Old Believers in a separate brochure alongside the chant books most essential for regular divine service. This article aims to elucidate the reasons and circumstances of the hectograph’s publication, establish its attribution, and to determine the contents and distinctive features of this version of the service. We hypothesize that the hectographed edition was published by Old Believers of the Belokrinitskaya community in the workshop of the Brotherhood of the Holy and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, and that its publication was timed to coincide with the celebrations of the re-glorification of Holy Right-Believing Princess Anna of Kashin, which took place in June 1909. A delegation led by M.I. Brilliantov did not achieve the desired results at the Kashin celebrations, organized by the official Russian Orthodox Church. At the same time, independently of these celebrations, Old Believer services in honor of Holy Right-Believing Princess Anna of Kashin were held in a number of Belokrinitsky parishes. It is assumed that the publication of the hectograph was made in connection to these alternative services. The paleographic characteristics of the hectographed edition (the redaction of the hymnographic text, the design of the initials, the type of notational signs) confirm that this edition belongs to the Popovtsy (the ‘Priestly’ Old Believers) tradition, close to the Guslitskaya manuscript tradition. A textual comparison of the redaction of the service found in this edition with available manuscripts and published versions of the service revealed the independence of the former. Its most significant distinctive features include the omission of the Small Vespers, the inclusion of the 8th‑tone canon to the Theotokos in the Matins section, the relocation of the 3rd-tone canon to the Supplicatory after Liturgy, and of the 5th-tone canon to the Supplicatory Canon for the Finding of the Relics of St. Anna of Kashin, the absence of the troparia of Epiphanius Slavinetsky and Ivan Naumov, the replacement of the text of the Megalynarion, and several other features. It is concluded that the compiler was guided by the structure of a chant book, rather than a service book.
Publishing: 28/04/2026
The article has been received by the editor on 11/12/2025
How to cite: Kazantseva T.G. Hectographed publication of the “Stichera to the Holy Right‑Believing Princess Anna of Kashin”: Historical Context, Paleographic Features, Editing of the Service // Historical Courier, 2026, No. 2 (46), pp. 260−284. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2026/ISTKURIER-2026-2-19.pdf]
The article was prepared according to the research plan of the SPSL SB RAS, project No. 122040600049-8 “Depository of Book Monuments of Siberia and the Far East: Identification, Digital Storage System and Organization of Access for Research”.
Links: Issue 2 2026
Keywords: Holy Right-Believing Anna Kashinskaya; service to the saint; Old Believer hectographed publications; Brotherhood of the Holy and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord; books of Znamenny notation