Book collection of the Old Believers monastery in Wojnów

Abstract

The Old Believers (Filippians) are the people of Russian background, Orthodox christians, who opposed the reforms in the Russian Orthodox church introduced of the 17^th century. In 1825 they were allowed to settle in Prussia. They established a dozen villages in Masuria, Wojnów included. The Orthodox monastery of the Holy Trinity and the Saviour (Спасо-Троицкий монастырь) established in Wojnów in 1847 became a centre of the Old Believers’ religious life in Masuria. It fulfilled a number of functions, including a center of a polemical fight and education, requiring adequate base of a rich and well-organised library. Brief history of the monastery and its library is followed by a description of a preserved part of this collection – the author found in the monastery only 31 printed books and 2 manuscripts from the liturgical and moralistic collections. Moreover, only 2 printings bore monastery sealings, and most of them were the Old Believers’ gifts. The article is annexed with The list of the books from the Holy Trinity and the Saviour Monastery in Wojnów, including bibliographic descriptions, information on printed ornaments, and bibliographic citations.