we're old believe us we're not supposed to be public people we'd rather not be filmed or shown on television we're supposed to live a quiet life and keep distant from worldly masses that's what we need if we're to keep our traditions we be glad not to be disturbed too much. with little bit of shade. in the world with. little we will give you. this. is a. yes . this is a small community of orthodox traditionalists returned to russia just over a year ago their ancestors emigrated to let in america in the one nine hundred

forty s. coming back to their homeland has been their cherished dream ever since. i was like. this. could have been a morning class sent down. but this year we've been joined by children from believe yeah year. list trace the long journey that these students undertook to get to their new homeland. came to cream or year. but thanks to my children going to school because some of the school children.

smoke. in fact. they're raised by the school and by their own parents. if we. are into that school. we wouldn't last long. is the community's head the forty seven year old man has nine children. he was born in latin america. he. leads the community because he is the. children should be educated. people. always teach our children how to read.

children. learn. the. language. the children. first.

take a simple view. and. they have for the present. and instead. for the past. three hundred years they have taken pains to protect their traditions by staying as distant from the outside world possible to resist the impact of civilization throughout their history they have the globe in search of the most secluded retreats. family lives in a prefabricated apartment house which stands in the midst of a field. he has seven children. was the only community member to send his children to

a state school and yes. before he left for. school. if you don't send your kids to school you're welcome to go with us. we haven't reached an agreement. i grew up with well there are so many people with education who live in russia and a lot of them well they don't even have jobs we have always tried to live and work in rural areas and we would just as comfortable as those learned people. we never went hungry or. come back to a nice. thing that should be around here somewhere. rocky soil makes a farming difficult income for t.n.t.

no longer grows crops his cow helps his family make ends meet she is free to graze together with the cattle belonging to local people the trouble though is that she tends to street towards evening. to come out. now that the community has left for t.n.t. is toying with the idea of going to russia's western part he believes the soil there is suited for farming but due to the resettlement program he is forced to stay in the far east for another year. i invited my brother to join us we even set aside a farmstead for him anyway it's up to him to decide. they can flats are all that is left of the community of.

my we prayed in this flat. it's almost been emptied but there are a few things still that's why there's a look on the door. this was my brother's it's. his family left before easter. can't tell you exactly how many people lived here eleven. son is still here in this block he is going to collect some of the longings left behind i live here. i am planning to leave on friday evening because i don't like this place. is

a better place. from the hustle and bustle few secular people live. says he will not be missing his uncle too much. he wanted to come here when he was in brazil so i bought tickets for his family but he now has me around twenty thousand dollars that's almost six hundred thousand rubles but when he did come here he began to look for excuses not to give the money back. to the n.t. and family appeared to be stuck in this five story building. coming in welcome. this is all flat. this is a bedroom. yes it is for the girls.

one of them is older than the other. and this is our bedroom. we sleep there and two little girls sleep here. the two boys are in another flat. we've packed up to go to the kaluga region but we still can't bring ourselves to leave this place. this is for a kitchen and my wife she's cooking. our community scolded us for sending them to school for a whole year. if we kept on living with them we have gone on suffering long now.

i feel hurt by what early on has done. to taurus away from our cozy nest and abandoned. i can't bear it. has seven or eight children. they'll find work at a place to live with but all believers lead a normal life outside their community along with the family breaks away secular ways after sime but they'll no longer live in a way that befits all believe us. only two options are open to to the n.t. either he comes to terms with the community and pays his debt or waits for permission to go to rushes west.

meets his son here friend who has arrived by ferry boat the river separates the village of dear sue from the rest of the world. your friend has brought all kinds of things in his truck but the boat is too small the settlers will have to shuttle between the banks fifteen times in order to get the. cargo back to their village. they would like the authorities to organize a better ferry service but the problem is that there are only two villages on the far bank right it's the price that people have to pay if they want to live far away from civilization.

when their own country can't offer them a living even loving mothers sometimes have to leave their children behind. i don't like to work just to bed longer. is the dream of millions of migrants that their children might choose their motherland. i was. stunned. oh my room is. i want my children to win over moscow. russia has become this stepmother land. to find a way home. from the. intrigue.

visit. mission free. free. free. free. free. free. free. free.

alexander. ministration. tired. good relations with russia. a doctor has arrived. if medics come to them then it's fine but if they go to a doctor themselves it's problematic. most diseases are treated with traditional methods like medicinal herbs. we use a medical her. drink tea with dry helps

a winter as well as roots because there are a lot of good herb's and. do however allow some exceptions medication is allowed for severe pain while women go to hospital to give birth however there have been instances of expectant mothers escaping from hospital just before they were due to deliver general. have few health concerns. me examined her skin is clean how are your legs. let's listen to your heart. there is nothing to worry about. it's not scary. our children are not as healthy as they are they are healthy from life in such an environmentally purer place. the old believe. after their arrival in russia but it felt too close to modern

civilization. managed to find an uninhabited village in the country's far east rolling hills and a river separate the village from the rest of the world. is in the communities a spiritual leader to years old can talk about his family for hours on end. i have three daughters and. one daughter lives in australia another daughter and two sons are in europe. i think i have fifty three grandchildren and twenty five great grandchildren i don't know the exact figure. a reform of liturgical practices in the seventeenth century triggered within the russian orthodox church. because they never accepted the new rules. were subjected to continuous persecution by church officials and. throughout those

years old believers had to either hide or flee the country today there is no hostility but they still want to. believe as don't accept from lay people because they've been gussets for their they clean the whole fish themselves their plates and. different from those used by lay people. they need to be clean even the need to be clean of. their communities and worst fear is the prospect of mingling with modern civilization. to live eat or pray together with people for example they can't buy meat sausages milk or bread from the shops whatever food

is needed they make themselves. yeast is the main ingredient of bread made in accordance with russian traditions. you add water and salt and mix the stuff with flour. that takes half an hour. then you leave the mixture to sour for about five hours after that you bake it in a russian stove. which when we always do it this way. is teaching the girls the art of making bread she came to do. in two thousand and eight although she is thirty eight years old she already has six grandchildren. i don't know exactly the secret of the russian stove but i do know that the bread baked in it tastes good we had

a russian stove spec in europe why having a russian stove in the household was considered a must. feel younger daughter living together with her sons are still in my. life. to decide whether they want to come here. this. is very beautiful here. we decided to stay and are not planning on moving anywhere. when we came here an old woman by the name of or yama lived in this house she was an old believer. after she died one and half years ago women have been to her house . and were happy to live here. ok now it's time to place the day when the stove the village of received a new lease of life with the arrival of believe. in the morning they go to church

to pray. after that it's time to get down to work children are given an early introduction to adult life. to begin with when the boys are allowed to handle the simplest of jobs. married women here are obliged to cover their head. of guff ia is split from her husband because she wears a scarf none the less there has been no formal to force the people out when it's not ready yet it has to be baked for another fifteen minutes or so. when i was still going with. my husband is about forty three years old now so life was normal for us until once he went to brazil where he shaved off his beard. he said he had lost it because of stress. truly he was going crazy with the

approach of old age. he had feeling towards the community he found everything about it and real grind. he's liked it into from gaza for. getting. old believer couples have difficulty getting divorced as a rule their wedlock is not officially registered. don't think that official papers apply to them they can be divorced but only in the country where they got married. it takes forty minutes for to bake in a russian stove that's the way we did it in brazil and uruguay this tradition is held up by recipe handed down from generation to generation i just i can't even remember how i learned the scale but that's how bread was made all over russia in the old days. the girls are doing in broidery not all of the patterns are

traditional given that they spend most of their young lives in latin america some of the patterns that reflect on why in the motifs however most of them are based on russian folklore. but because these black tropical birds call to counseling even brazil. watching them fly is a sheer delight. they have very beautiful beaks to the trouble those dead they play dirty tricks by stealing people's fruit. some traces of their previous life in latin america can be found in the households of the old believers this colombian machete is made of very good steel you can see a dove pictured on it others bear pictures of monkeys such for saudis are no good at all. machete is the weapon of south american tribes they have no gums a native picks up

a machete. is that here and goes. on you know what i call the machete especially came in handy when they were being deprived of their land they used in a very effective way. of rolling as they locked them all for their machetes intakes of chickens head off and one girl. clothing sends a readily identifiable social signal to community members. they instantly know who's who is a person is from their midst or an outsider. the length of their dresses trousers and shirt sleeves is strictly regimented they should cover most of the body facial hair is another sensitive point no all the believer is supposed to be beardless old believers consider that any deviation from canon is indicative of spiritual weakness they maintain that anyone's appearance should conform to god's

instructions. first milk is still warm try it. in actual fact however this rule doesn't cover those who are not members of the community alexander has allowed a family of young old believers to live in one of his two small houses in exchange for organic food. what you want to sunday's the old believe is stay at home. anything even go fishing in the river because they don't want to kill fish or any other living creatures. congratulations to everyone i wish you all good health and the spirit of god. in spite of various restrictions festive occasions and noisy merry making among the community is not affected. is not frowned upon on such occasions but only if it's homemade and.

you're already drinking it's not very strong it's only been brewing for two weeks. that overheard everybody. drink with us it's a holiday. as the villagers move from house to house the celebrations go and told us. that why. he's my son in law. and she is my daughter. three children two sons and one daughter three were born in russia she is a russian woman she's not a woman girl shall be a woman one day. as well as splits occur in the communities of old believers.

some twenty years ago my mother fell in love with an argentinean needless to say no one in the community liked it my mother and my father then decided to leave that was a terrible sin they spent the whole in here outside the community my mother taught russian to my father and eventually converted him to our faith that shows it was all from her since my father's name was my dose a set of bottle now he's called moses. the old movers know that they don't keep up with the times but that's the only way for them to preserve their way of life yet despite their conservative views they are in fact committed to freedom of choice. anyone is allowed to leave the community to join secular society and anyone can rejoin the community these people have voluntarily undertaken to live by their own rules. don't express disapproval of worldly life but they

sincerely feel sorry for all those who don't follow their lifestyle. settlers who came from bolivia or in latin america. but decided to come back to russia traditionally. the russian federation to help us to put down roots here building homes. possible we like to pass on a message to the president of the russian federation himself.