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PREFACE
is the site of a gun-factory, founded by Peter the Great in 1714.
"The ancient faith" means that the old gunsmith belonged to "The Old Believers," also called the Raskolnki—a sect which insists that the proper, Orthodox manner of making the sign of the Cross is with the thumb and forefinger, instead of with the thumb and first two fingers; and which refused to accept the correction of typographical errors in the Church Service books ordered by the Patriarch Nikon, in the reign of Peter the Great's father. In the early days they were harshly treated, and even burned themselves alive rather than accept the "heresy" of the "State Church." Nowadays, no attention is paid to them, officially or otherwise.
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