Odessa

A few days with the Old Believers, Ukraine.

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The village of Stara Nekrasivka in Odessa region, Ukraine. Easter 2014.

Old Believers have lived in Stara Nekrasivka since the schism of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1653, caused by the reforms of Patriarch Nikon. Choosing not to adhere to the reforms, the 'Old Believers' were often persecuted by religious and state authorities, and many fled to the most remote corners of the Russian Empire.

Home to a community of the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church, Stara Nekrasivka is a peaceful, rural village on the Danube, less than a mile from the Romanian border.

The church tent in the pro-Russian camp, Odessa.

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The picture below was taken inside the tent used for worship in the pro-Russian (or at least anti-maidan) protest camp in Odessa, Ukraine, in April 2014. The camp was destroyed in a wave of violence which erupted on 2 May 2014. The Trade Union House adjacent to the camp was set on fire, resulting in the deaths of 40 people.

The icon in the centre depicts the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II. See more pictures from Ukraine here, here and from Kiev's maidan here.