Religion is clearly central to the Old Believer society and world view. It permeates virtually every major portion of their social and inner lives. They base their interpretations of the Word of God on a number of books which tell them in considerable detail how to live for virtually each day of the year. An adult Old Believer is above all conscious of the immense number of rules which must be observed in every waking moment. Some of the more prominent among these rules will be referred to in conjunction with work, eating and dress. In order to understand the books, the Old Believer must be able to read Church Slavonic, the dialect in which the Bible was translated by Cyril and Methodius for their missionary work in Moravia in the mid-800's. Included in these books are such comprehensive rule-systems as the Canonical Laws formulated in the Seven Ecumenical Councils from 325 to 787 in Nicea. Among these laws are those which regulate the observance of the Holy Days and the four Lents which are to be observed each year. The Old Believers use the Julian calendar for the reckoning of their dates, so that, for example, their Christmas and Easter are always out of phase with our own (by thirteen days). Holy days are usually marked by special services which begin late at night and continue on through the eary hours of the morning. Ordinarily, there is an evening service each weekday beginning at 5:00 and and ending at about 9:00, and then a longer service on Sundays which may run from about 1:00 A.M. until 8:00-10:00 in the morning. Since there are some thirty-eight Holy Days which may be celebrated thus, the Old Believers spend many days out of the year in church for at least a few hours each day. Churches in Oregon have often consisted of the elder's home (or that of a relative) which is large enough to be used for the purpose. Only two of the six operable church districts in Oregon have church buildings as such. Apparently, this was also often the case back in Brazil and China. Although the buildings are typically unadorned on the outside, they are heavily decorated on the interiors. In addition to embroidered hangings on the walls, there are various icons, some of which reputedly date as far back as the Seventeenth Century. Most of them are cast from bronze and then enameled according to strict rules of iconography, while others are painted in an egg-tempera-based paint on specially gessoed board. The churches usually have a simple layout, consisting of a large standing area in the center of the floor for the worshippers, who must stand through most of the services. At the front is an altar and repository for the service books and other necessities for the conducting of services. The altar and the shelves above it which house the icons also are laden with beeswax candles made by qualified older community members. These are kept burning throughout the service. Near the front of the room is a stand which can be moved to the center of the floor when necessary, and which holds the book of hymns and chants used by the Old Believers. The service itself features four individuals: the nastayatyel, the ustavnik, the naspevnik and the pomoshnik. The nastayatyel is the elder of the church districts, which is the primary governmental unit above that of the family in Old Believer society. There is no higher authority than this position, although it does not include with it much in the way of power over others' affairs. The nastayatyel is primarily the presiding head over church services, and he also has the additional function of an ad hoc canonical lawyer. The ustavnik is also a law keeper of sorts, as it is his job to keep track of the forms which the service must take according to the books. The naspevnik is the cantor, and leads the hymnal singing and chants. The pomoshnik is an assistant to the elder. In recent years, the nastayatyel has been increasingly called on to administer punishments and other forms of discipline to miscreant young people. These punishments usually consist of a public announcement of the individual's sins to the congregation at the end of the service, whereupon the transgressors may be compelled to perform several prostrations before the congregation, or some other act of contrition and penance. There are several aspects of the services which should be particularly noted. First, the congregation stands during the entire service, except for certain times when they are to prostrate themselves on the floor. Children are expected to do this along with the adults, although the very young may be excused to go to the bathroom or to step outside. Babies are usually laid to rest in a back room, and mothers may leave periodically to check in on them. The men stand as a group in front of the women, and they participate much more actively in the services than do the women. Most of the service consists of readings aloud from appropriate texts for the hour, with the readings being done by men as appointed during the service by the nastayatyel. Often, a young man who is just getting the hang of the Slavonic will suddenly find the finger pointed at him, and with a shove from his father or an uncle, he is belly-up against a prayer book and has to begin reading, lest the continuity of the service be broken. Readers who err are usually quietly prompted or corrected by knowledgeable members of the congregation. The chanting or hymns of the Staroveri are sung only by the men during the services. They have their historical and musical roots firmly embedded in the Byzantine chant of Tenth Century vintage. The pitch is relative rather than absolute, but the scale consists of 12 notes lying roughly in the tenor register. The hymns often contain two closely harmonized parts, with intervals consisting mostly of major and minor thirds and fifths. Church-related ceremonies and sacraments mark various important parts of the individual's life cycle, in addition to the variety of Holy Days and fasts. At birth, the primary event is the christening. First, the baby is to be delivered by an individual who is among the faithful, which makes many Old Believers understandably resistant to the idea of having their babies delivered in hospitals. There are several Old Believer midwives who were educated by older female relatives, and they usually perform this service for the expectant mothers. Another reason given for the home deliveries is that, in the event of complications with the birth, the baby can be christened then and there, for it is believed that an unchristened baby will not see the face of God. If there are no complications, the baby is usually christened within eight days after its birth. The ceremony is usually performed on a Holy Day or Sunday, whichever appears within the eight-day limit and is the most convenient. A name is chosen for the baby from a list of Saints' days, and there is a Saint for nearly every day of the year. The parents choose the most suitable name from within the eight-day period. In the baptismal ceremony, the nastayatyel dips the head of the infant in a large container of water and prays over it, names it and then hands the baby to a waiting godparent, who then dresses it with the nastayatyel. The two items of clothing which are crucial in this instance are the woven belt and a cross on a chain or thong, which is placed around the baby's neck. The belt is not to come off except for bathing, and the cross is not to come of at all except perhaps in the event a longer chain is needed when the individual grows up. The acquisition of godparents is an important event also. Godparents are enjoined to teach the child right and wrong and to consider themselves responsible for the child on the same level as the child's biological parents. The godfather in particular is to serve as a father-confessor to the godchild, and the child is instructed later in life to confess all his sins to the godfather at least during each Lenten period. Many of the Old Believers refer to their godparents as "relatives," or even state that they were "related" to those families containing the godparents of siblings. Further, there is a marriage taboo which forbids the child to marry a member of the godparents' families. The day of the Saint for whom the child is named becomes the name-day of the child, and this is used for the yearly celebration of that individual's birth, much as the American-European birthday is observed. On the morning of or the evening before the name-day, the family of the child (or adult) gives out treats to their friends in honor of the individual. These friends then say a special prayer for that person along with the rest of their day's prayers. If a name-day falls on a Sunday or major Holy Day, then the person may take a beeswax candle to church, and the congregation will say a prayer for her. In the home, every meal and even the preparation of various foods and other household tasks must be blessed. In a prominent corner of the front room of each Old Believer home stands a small altar with the family icon sitting in a small shelter, curtained with an embroidered covering. Whenever a visiting Old Believer enters the home, he is ordinarily to bow three times from the waist before the icon (which is usually at about eye-level) and say a prayer which translates approximately: "O God be merciful to me, a sinner. You, O Lord who created me, have mercy on me. I have sinned without number, O Lord, have mercy on me and forgive me, a sinner." The entering person usually does this before even greeting the individuals whom he has come to visit. This obeisance is also the first act performed upon entering a church.