Church schism of the 17th century in Rus' and the Old Believers. Were the Old Believers traitors to Russia?

26.09.2019

Read also

Why do you dream of a jug in a dream - interpretation by day of the week

Why do you dream of mercury in the mouth of a living person?

(OLD BELIEVERS) — common name followers religious movements in Russia, which emerged as a result of church reforms carried out by Patriarch Nikon (1605-1681). S. did not accept Nikon’s “innovations” (correction of liturgical books, changes in rituals), interpreting them as Antichrist. S. themselves preferred to call themselves “Old Believers,” emphasizing the antiquity of their faith and its difference from the new faith, which they considered heretical.

S. was headed by Archpriest Avvakum (1620 or 1621 - 1682). After condemnation at the church council of 1666-1667. Avvakum was exiled to Pustozersk, where 15 years later he was burned by royal decree. S. began to be subjected to severe persecution by ecclesiastical and secular authorities. Self-immolations of Old Believers began, which often became widespread.

At the end of the 17th century. S. divided into priests And Bespopovtsy. The next step was the division into numerous agreements and rumors. In the 18th century many S. were forced to flee outside Russia to escape persecution. This situation was changed by a decree issued in 1762, which allowed the Old Believers to return to their homeland. WITH late XVIII V. two main centers emerged Old Believers communities- Moscow, wherebespopovtsylived on the territory adjacent to the Preobrazhenskoe cemetery, andpriests- to the Rogozhskoe cemetery, and St. Petersburg. At the end of the 19th century. The main Old Believer centers in Russia were Moscow, p. Guslitsy (Moscow region) and Volga region.

In the first half of the 19th century. pressure on the Old Believers increased. In 1862Belokrinitsky hierarchycondemned the ideas of the reign of the Antichrist in her “District Message”.

During the years of Soviet power, S. continued to be persecuted. Only in 1971 Local cathedral The anathema of the Old Believers was lifted from the Russian Orthodox Church. Currently, there are S. communities in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, the Baltic countries, South America, Canada, etc.

Literature:

Molzinsky V.V. Old Believer movement second half XVII V. in Russian scientific-historical literature. St. Petersburg, 1997; Ershova O. P. Old Believers and power. M, 1999; Melnikov F. E. 1) Modern requests for the Old Believers. M., 1999; 2) Short story ancient Orthodox (Old Believer) church. Barnaul, 1999.

IN last years is growing in our country interest in the Old Believers. Many both secular and ecclesiastical authors publish materials devoted to spiritual and cultural heritage, history and modern day of the Old Believers. However, he himself phenomenon of the Old Believers, his philosophy, worldview and terminology features are still poorly researched. About the semantic meaning of the term “ Old Believers"read the article" What is Old Believers?».

Dissenters or Old Believers?

This was done because the ancient Russian Old Believer church traditions, which existed in Rus' for almost 700 years, were recognized as non-Orthodox, schismatic and heretical at the New Believer councils of 1656, 1666-1667. The term itself Old Believers" arose out of necessity. The fact is that the Synodal Church, its missionaries and theologians called the supporters of pre-schism, pre-Nikon Orthodoxy nothing more than schismatics and heretics.

In fact, such the greatest Russian ascetic, Sergius of Radonezh, was recognized as non-Orthodox, which caused an obvious deep protest among believers.

The Synodal Church took this position as the main one and used it, explaining that supporters of all Old Believer agreements without exception fell away from the “true” Church because of their firm reluctance to accept the church reform that they began to put into practice Patriarch Nikon and continued to one degree or another by his followers, including the emperor Peter I.

On this basis, everyone who does not accept the reforms was called schismatics, shifting onto them responsibility for the split of the Russian Church, for the alleged separation from Orthodoxy. Until the beginning of the 20th century, in all polemical literature published by the dominant church, Christians professing pre-schism church traditions were called “schismatics,” and the very spiritual movement of the Russian people in defense of paternal church customs was called “schism.”

This and other even more offensive terms were used not only to expose or humiliate the Old Believers, but also to justify persecution and mass repressions against supporters of ancient Russian church piety. In the book “The Spiritual Sling,” published with the blessing of the New Believer Synod, it was said:

“The schismatics are not the sons of the church, but sheer heedless ones. They are worthy of being handed over to the punishment of the city court... worthy of all punishment and wounds.
And if there is no healing, there will be death.".

In Old Believer literatureXVII — in the first half of the 19th century, the term “Old Believer” was not used

And most of the Russian people, without meaning to, began to be called offensive, turning things upside down. the essence of the Old Believers, term. At the same time, internally disagreeing with this, the believers - supporters of pre-schism Orthodoxy - sincerely strived to achieve an official name that was different.

For self-identification they took the term “ Old Orthodox Christians"—hence the name of each Old Believer consensus of its Church: Ancient Orthodox. The terms "credulity" and " true Orthodoxy" In the writings of Old Believer readers of the 19th century, the term “ true orthodox church».

It is important that among believers “in the old way” the term “Old Believers” for a long time was not used because the believers themselves did not call themselves that. In church documents, correspondence, and everyday communication, they preferred to call themselves “Christians,” sometimes “Old Believers.” The term " Old Believers”, legalized by secular authors of the liberal and Slavophile movement in the second half of the 19th century, was considered not entirely correct. The meaning of the term “Old Believers” as such indicated the strict primacy of rituals, while in reality the Old Believers believed that the Old Faith was not only old rituals, but also a set of church dogmas, worldview truths, special traditions of spirituality, culture and life.

Changing attitudes towards the term “Old Believers” in society

However, to end of the 19th century century the situation in society and Russian Empire begins to change. The government began to pay great attention to the needs and demands of the Old Orthodox Christians; a certain generalizing term was needed for civilized dialogue, regulations and legislation.

For this reason, the terms " Old Believers", "Old Believers" is becoming increasingly widespread. At the same time, Old Believers of different consents mutually denied each other’s Orthodoxy and, strictly speaking, for them the term “Old Believers” united, on a secondary ritual basis, religious communities deprived of church-religious unity. For the Old Believers, the internal inconsistency of this term consisted in the fact that, using it, they united in one concept the truly Orthodox Church (i.e., their own Old Believer consent) with heretics (i.e., Old Believers of other consents).

Nevertheless, the Old Believers at the beginning of the 20th century positively perceived that in the official press the terms “schismatics” and “schismatic” began to be gradually replaced by “Old Believers” and “Old Believer.” The new terminology did not have a negative connotation, and therefore Old Believers' consent began to actively use it in the social and public sphere.

The word “Old Believers” is accepted not only by believers. Secular and Old Believer publicists and writers, public and statesmen It is increasingly used in literature and official documents. At the same time, conservative representatives of the Synodal Church in pre-revolutionary times continue to insist that the term “Old Believers” is incorrect.

"Recognizing existence" Old Believers", they said, "we will have to admit the presence of " New Believers“, that is, to admit that the official church uses not ancient, but newly invented rites and rituals.”

According to the New Believer missionaries, such self-exposure could not be allowed.

And yet, over time, the words “Old Believers” and “Old Believers” became more and more firmly rooted in literature and in everyday speech, displacing the term “schismatics” from the colloquial use of the overwhelming majority of supporters of “official” Orthodoxy.

Old Believer teachers, synodal theologians and secular scholars about the term “Old Believers”

Reflecting on the concept of “Old Believers,” writers, theologians and publicists gave different assessments. Until now, the authors cannot come to a common opinion.

It is no coincidence that even in the popular book, the dictionary “Old Believers. Persons, objects, events and symbols" (M., 1996), published by the publishing house of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church, there is no separate article "Old Believers" that would explain the essence of this phenomenon in national history. The only thing that is only noted here is that this is “a complex phenomenon that unites under one name both the true Church of Christ and the darkness of error.”

The perception of the term “Old Believers” is noticeably complicated by the presence among Old Believers of divisions into “agreements” ( Old Believer churches), who are divided into supporters of a hierarchical structure with Old Believer priests and bishops (hence the name: priests - Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church, Russian Ancient Orthodox Church) and on those who do not accept priests and bishops - non-priests ( Old Orthodox Pomeranian Church,Hourly Concord, runners (wanderer consent), Fedoseevskoe consent).

Old Believers—bearers of the old faith

Some Old Believer authors They believe that it is not only the difference in rituals that separates the Old Believers from the New Believers and other faiths. There are, for example, some dogmatic differences with regard to church sacraments, deep cultural differences in relation to church singing, icon painting, church-canonical differences in church administration, holding councils, in relation to church rules. Such authors argue that the Old Believers contain not only old rituals, but also Old Faith.

Consequently, such authors argue, it is more convenient and correct from the point of view of common sense to use the term “Old Belief", unspokenly implying everything that is the only true thing for those who accepted pre-schism Orthodoxy. It is noteworthy that initially the term “Old Belief” was actively used by supporters of priestless Old Believer agreements. Over time, it took root in other agreements.

Today, representatives of New Believers churches very rarely call Old Believers schismatics; the term “Old Believers” has taken root both in official documents and church journalism. However, New Believer authors insist that the meaning of the Old Believers lies in the exclusive adherence to the old rituals. Unlike pre-revolutionary synodal authors, current theologians of the Russian Orthodox Church and other New Believer churches do not see any danger in using the terms “Old Believers” and “New Believers.” In their opinion, the age or truth of the origin of a particular ritual does not matter.

Russian Cathedral Orthodox Church 1971 recognized old and new rituals absolutely equal, equally honest and equally saving. Thus, in the Russian Orthodox Church the form of ritual is now given secondary importance. At the same time, New Believer authors continue to instruct that Old Believers, Old Believers are part of the believers, seceded from the Russian Orthodox Church, and therefore from all Orthodoxy, after the reforms of Patriarch Nikon.

What is the Old Believers?

So what is the interpretation of the term “ Old Believers» is most acceptable today both for the Old Believers themselves and for secular society, including scientists studying the history and culture of the Old Believers and the life of modern Old Believers churches?

So, firstly, since at the time of the church schism of the 17th century, the Old Believers did not introduce any innovations, but remained faithful to the ancient Orthodox church tradition, then they cannot be called “separated” from Orthodoxy. They never left. On the contrary, they defended Orthodox traditions in their unchanged form and abandoned reforms and innovations.

Secondly, the Old Believers were a significant group of believers of the Old Russian Church, consisting of both laity and clergy.

And thirdly, despite the divisions within the Old Believers, which occurred due to severe persecution and the inability to organize a full-fledged church life over the centuries, the Old Believers retained common tribal church and social characteristics.

With this in mind, we can propose the following definition:

OLD BELIEF (or OLD BELIEF) is the common name for Russian Orthodox clergy and laity seeking to preserve the church institutions and traditions of the ancient Russian Orthodox Church andthose who refusedaccept the reform undertaken inXVIIcentury by Patriarch Nikon and continued by his followers, right up to PeterIinclusive.

Material taken here: http://ruvera.ru/staroobryadchestvo

Initially, all those convicted by the council were sent into severe exile. But some - Ivan Neronov, Theoklist - repented and were forgiven. The anathematized and defrocked archpriest Avvakum was sent to the Pustozersky prison in the lower reaches of the Pechora River. Deacon Fyodor was also exiled there, who at first repented, but then returned to the Old Belief, for which he had his tongue cut out and also ended up in captivity. Pustozersky fort became the center of Old Believer thought. Despite the difficult living conditions, intense polemics with the official church were carried out from here, and the dogmas of the separated society were developed. The messages of Avvakum served as support for the sufferers for the old faith - the boyar Feodosia Morozova and Princess Evdokia Urusova.

The head of the champions of ancient piety, convinced of his rightness, Avvakum justified his views as follows: “The Church is Orthodox, and the dogmas of the church from Nikon the heretic are distorted by newly published books, which are contrary to the first books in everything, and are not consistent in the entire divine service. And our sovereign is the king and Grand Duke Alexey Mikhailovich is Orthodox, but it was only with his simple soul that he accepted harmful books from Nikon, thinking that they were Orthodox.” And even from the Pustozersky dungeon, where he served 15 years, Avvakum wrote to the king: “The more you torment us, the more we love you.”

Government troops were besieging the monastery, and only a defector opened the way to the impregnable stronghold. The uprising was suppressed.

The more merciless and severe the executions that began, the greater the persistence they caused. They began to look at death for the old faith as a martyrdom. And they even looked for him. Raising his hand high with two fingers sign of the cross, the condemned earnestly said to the people who surrounded the reprisals: “For this piety I suffer, for the ancient church Orthodoxy I die, and you, pious ones, I pray to you to stand strong in ancient piety.” And they themselves stood strong.... It was “for the great blasphemies against the royal house” that he was burned in wooden log house with his fellow prisoners and Archpriest Avvakum.

The cruelest 12 articles of the state decree of 1685, which ordered the burning of Old Believers in log houses, the execution of those who rebaptized into the old faith, the whipping and exile of secret supporters of ancient rituals, as well as their concealers, definitively showed the state’s attitude towards the Old Believers. They could not obey, there was only one way out - to leave.

The main refuge of the zealots of ancient piety became northern regions Russia, then still completely deserted. Here, in the wilds of the Olonets forests, in the Arkhangelsk icy deserts, the first schismatic monasteries appeared, established by immigrants from Moscow and Solovetsky fugitives who escaped after the capture of the monastery by the tsarist troops. In 1694 it settled on the Vyg River Pomeranian community, where the Denisov brothers, Andrei and Semyon, known throughout the Old Believer world, played a prominent role. Later, a women's monastery appeared in these places on the Leksne reek. This is how the famous center of ancient piety, the Vygoleksinsky community, was formed.

Another place of refuge for the Old Believers was the Novgorod-Seversk land. Back in the 70s of the 17th century. priest Kuzma and his 20 followers fled to these places from Moscow, saving their old faith. Here, near Starodub, they founded a small monastery. But less than two decades had passed before 17 settlements grew out of this monastery. When the waves of state persecutors reached the Starodub fugitives, many of them went beyond the Polish border and settled on the island of Vetka, formed by a branch of the Sozha River. The settlement began to quickly rise and grow: more than 14 populous settlements also appeared around it.

Kerzhenets, named after the river of the same name, was also a famous place of Old Believers at the end of the 17th century. Many hermitages were built in the Chernoramen forests. Here there was a debate on dogmatic issues, to which the entire Old Believer world was attached. The Don and Ural Cossacks also turned out to be consistent supporters of ancient piety.

TO end of XVII V. The main directions in the Old Believers were outlined. Subsequently, each of them will have its own traditions and rich history.

According to some sources, the order of Peter the Great “On the destruction of 300-year-old elders” was in order to introduce a deceptive story with the help of foreigners.

But there is no evidence of this decree preserved in our time, and we must take into account that History was written for us not as it really was, and that now they are also trying to influence the people with the help of all sorts of “fairy tales” of historical meaning modern writing... There are many versions about this issue There is an assumption as to what caused this.

Zakharchenko removed many heads of administrations of the “DPR”: for abuse of office and theft of humanitarian aid (Document)

Peter's personality still evokes mixed reactions. For example, in his work “Antichrist,” Dmitry Merezhkovsky noted a complete change in the appearance, character and psyche of Tsar Peter the Great after his return from the “German lands,” where he went for two weeks and returned two years later. Russian embassy, who accompanied the king, consisted of 20 people, And it was headed by A. D. Menshikov. After returning to Russia, this embassy consisted only of Dutchmen(including the notorious Lefort), the only one from the old lineup only Menshikov remained.

This “embassy” brought a completely different tsar, who spoke Russian poorly and did not recognize his friends and relatives, which immediately indicated a substitution. This forced Queen Sophia, sister of the real Tsar Peter I, to raise the archers against the impostor. As is known, Streltsy riot was brutally suppressed, Sophia was hanged on the Spassky Gate of the Kremlin, The impostor exiled the wife of Peter the Great to a monastery, where she never reached, and called mine from Holland. False Peter killed “his” brother Ivan the Fifth and “his” little children: Alexander, Natalya and Lavrenty immediately, although the official history tells us about this in a completely different way. And the youngest son Alexei was executed as soon as he tried to free his real father from the Bastille.

False Peter began to act like an ordinary conqueror:

- defeated Russian self-government- “zemstvo” and replaced it bureaucratic apparatus foreigners who brought theft, debauchery and drunkenness to Russia and vigorously propagated it here;

- transferred the ownership of the peasants to the nobles, which turned them into slaves (to whiten the image of the impostor, this “event” falls on Ivan the Fourth);

- defeated the merchants and began to plant industrialists, which led to the destruction of the former universality of people;

- defeated the clergy - carriers of Russian culture and destroyed Orthodoxy, bringing him closer to Catholicism, which inevitably gave rise to atheism;

— introduced smoking, drinking alcohol and coffee;

- destroyed the ancient Russian calendar, rejuvenating our Culture by 5503 years;

- ordered all Russian chronicles to be brought to St. Petersburg, and then, like Filaret, ordered them to be burned b. Called in German “professors”; write a completely different Russian history;

- under the guise of fighting the old Faith, he destroyed all the elders who had lived for more than three hundred years;

- prohibited the cultivation of amaranth and the consumption of amaranth bread, which was the main food of Russian people, thereby destroying longevity on Earth, which then remained in Russia;

- abolished the natural measures: fathom, finger, elbow, vershok, present in clothing, utensils and architecture, making them fixed in the Western style. This led to the destruction of ancient Russian architecture and art, to the disappearance of the beauty of everyday life. As a result, people ceased to be beautiful, since Divine and vital proportions disappeared in their structure;

— replaced the Russian title system with the European one, which turned the peasants into an estate. Although “peasant” is a title higher than the king, of which there is more than one evidence;

- destroyed Russian writing, which consisted of 151 characters, and introduced 43 characters of the writing of Cyril and Methodius;

- disarmed the Russian army, exterminating the Streltsy as a caste, and in the European manner introduced primitive firearms and piercing weapon, dressing the army first as French and then as German uniform, Although Russian military uniform was herself a weapon. The people called the new regiments “amusing” .

If everything was carefully hidden and burned (although “Manuscripts do not burn”) where does the knowledge and, especially, the details come from?

The knowledge was preserved through the Old Believers and other Guardians, who, due to repression, were forced to disperse to different countries and hinterlands of Russia. As soon as the danger passes and the situation changes for the better, we will not know yet!!!

http://nashaplaneta.su/

Who are the Old Believers?

What do Old Believers believe and where did they come from? Historical reference

In recent years everything large quantity our fellow citizens are interested in issues healthy image life, environmentally friendly methods of management, survival in extreme conditions, the ability to live in harmony with nature, spiritual improvement. In this regard, many turn to the thousand-year experience of our ancestors, who managed to develop the vast territories of present-day Russia and created agricultural, trade and military outposts in all remote corners of our Motherland.

Not least in this case we're talking about about the Old Believers - people who at one time settled not only the territories of the Russian Empire, but also brought the Russian language, Russian culture and Russian faith to the banks of the Nile, to the jungles of Bolivia, the wastelands of Australia and to the snowy hills of Alaska. The experience of the Old Believers is truly unique: they were able to preserve their religious and cultural identity in the most difficult natural and political conditions and not lose their language and customs. It is no coincidence that the famous hermit Agafya Lykova from the Lykov family of Old Believers is so well known all over the world.

However not much is known about the Old Believers themselves. Some people think that Old Believers are people with a primitive education who adhere to outdated methods of farming. Others think that the Old Believers are people who profess paganism and worship the ancient Russian gods - Perun, Veles, Dazhdbog and others. Still others wonder: if there are Old Believers, then must there be some old faith? Read the answer to these and other questions regarding Old Believers in our article.

Old and new faith
Old Believers or Old Believers?
What do Old Believers believe?
Old Believers-Priests
Old Believers without priests
Old Believers and Pagans
Old and new faith

One of the most tragic events in history Russia XVII century there was a schism in the Russian Church. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov and his closest spiritual associate, Patriarch Nikon (Minin), decided to carry out a global church reform. Starting with minor, at first glance, changes - changes in the folding of fingers during the sign of the cross from two fingers to three fingers and the abolition bows to the ground, the reform soon affected all aspects of the Divine Service and the Charter. Continuing and developing to one degree or another until the reign of Emperor Peter I, this reform changed many canonical rules, spiritual institutions, and customs. church administration, written and unwritten traditions. Almost all aspects of the religious, and then cultural and everyday life of the Russian people underwent changes.

Painting by V. G. Perov “Nikita Pustosvyat. Dispute about faith"

However, with the beginning of the reforms, it became clear that a significant number of Russian Christians saw in them an attempt to betray the doctrine itself, to destroy the religious and cultural structure that had developed for centuries in Rus' after its Baptism. Many priests, monks and laity spoke out against the plans of the tsar and the patriarch. They wrote petitions, letters and appeals, denouncing innovations and defending the faith that had been preserved for hundreds of years. In their writings, apologists pointed out that the reforms not only forcibly reshape traditions and legends, under pain of execution and persecution, but also affected the most important thing - they destroyed and changed the Christian faith itself. Almost all defenders of the ancient church tradition wrote that Nikon’s reform was apostate and changed the faith itself. Yes, holy martyr Archpriest Avvakum indicated:

They went astray and apostatized from the true faith with Nikon, an apostate, a malicious, pernicious heretic. They want to establish faith with fire, the whip, and the gallows!

He also called not to be afraid of tormentors and to suffer for the “old Christian Faith" Expressed in the same spirit famous writer of that time, defender of Orthodoxy Spiridon Potemkin:

Striving for the true faith will be damaged by heretical pretexts (additions), so that faithful Christians will not understand, but may be seduced into deception.

Potemkin condemned the Divine services and rituals performed according to the new books and new orders, which he called “evil faith”:

Heretics are those who baptize into their evil faith; they baptize blaspheming God into the Holy Trinity alone.

The confessor and martyr wrote about the need to defend the fatherly tradition and the old Russian faith Deacon Theodore, citing numerous examples from Church history:

The heretic starved the pious people who suffered from him for the old faith in exile... And if God vindicates the old faith with a single priest before the whole kingdom, all the authorities will receive shame and reproach from the whole world.

Monks-confessors of the Solovetsky Monastery who refused to accept the reform Patriarch Nikon, wrote to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in their fourth petition:

Commanded, sir, that we should be in our same Old Faith, in which your father the sovereign and all the noble kings and great princes and our fathers died, and the venerable fathers Zosima and Savatius, and Herman, and Metropolitan Philip and all the holy fathers pleased God.

So gradually it began to be said that before the reforms of Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, before the church schism there was one faith, and after the schism there was a different faith. Doraskolnoe confession began to be called the old faith, A post-schism reformed confession new faith.

This opinion was not denied by the supporters of Patriarch Nikon’s reforms themselves. Thus, Patriarch Joachim, at a famous debate in the Faceted Chamber, said:

First a new faith was established; with the advice and blessing of the most holy ecumenical patriarchs.

While still an archimandrite, he stated:

I don't know either the old faith or new faith, but I do whatever the bosses tell me to do.

This is how the concept of “old faith” gradually appeared, and people professing it began to be called “Old Believers”, “Old Believers”. Thus, Old Believers began to be called people who refused to accept the church reforms of Patriarch Nikon and adhered to church institutions ancient Rus', that is, the old faith. Those who accepted the reform began to be called “new believers” or “new lovers.” However, the term “New Believers” did not take root for long, and the term “Old Believers” still exists today.

Old Believers or Old Believers?

For a long time, in government and church documents, Orthodox Christians who preserved ancient liturgical rites, early printed books and customs were called “schismatics.” They were accused of being faithful to church tradition, which allegedly entailed church schism. Long years schismatics were subjected to repression, persecution, and infringement of civil rights.

Cathedral 1666-1667

In 1666, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich convened a council to try opponents of the reform. Initially, only Russian saints arrived, but then they were joined by two Eastern patriarchs, Paisius of Alexandria and Macarius of Antioch, who arrived in Moscow. With its decisions, the council almost completely supported the actions of the tsar. Patriarch Nikon was convicted and exiled to a remote monastery. At the same time, all book corrections were approved. The Council reaffirmed the previous decisions: to say hallelujah three times, to make the sign of the cross with the first three fingers right hand, crusades should be carried out against the sun.

The church council declared everyone who did not recognize these codes to be schismatics and heretics. All supporters of the old faith were condemned under civil laws. And according to the law in force at that time, the death penalty was imposed for a crime against faith: “Whoever blasphemes the Lord God, or Christ the Savior, or the Mother of God, or the Honest Cross, or the holy saints of God shall be burned,” said the Code of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich . “Those who would not allow the liturgy to be performed or would start a riot in the church” were also subject to death.

Persecution of Old Believers

Old Believers culture Christianity

The head of the champions of ancient piety, convinced of his rightness, Avvakum justified his views as follows: “The Church is Orthodox, and the dogmas of the church from Nikon the heretic are distorted by newly published books, which are contrary to the first books in everything, and are not consistent in the entire divine service. And our sovereign, Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich, is Orthodox, but only with his simple soul did he accept harmful books from Nikon, thinking that they were Orthodox.” And even from the Pustozersky dungeon, where he served 15 years, Avvakum wrote to the king: “The more you torment us, the more we love you.”

But in the Solovetsky Monastery they were already thinking about the question: is it worth praying for such a king? Murmurs began to rise among the people, anti-government rumors began... Neither the tsar nor the church could ignore them. The authorities responded to those dissatisfied with decrees on the search for Old Believers and on the burning of unrepentant ones in log houses, if, after repeating the question three times at the place of execution, they did not renounce their views. An open revolt of Old Believers began on Solovki. The protest movement was led, in the words of S.M. Solovyov, “heroic archpriest” Avvakum. The fact that the conflict between the reformers and their opponents from the very beginning took on such an acute and harsh character is explained in addition to the above common reasons the personal character of the leaders of the two fighting parties: Nikon and Avvakum were both people with strong character, with indomitable energy, with unshakable confidence in their own rightness, with reluctance and inability to make concessions and compromises. Very important source for the history of the schism and for the Russian church history In general, there is the autobiography of Archpriest Avvakum: “The Life of Archpriest Avvakum, written by himself.” This is not only an important monument of church history, but also a wonderful literary work, written in lively and expressive folk language, Avvakum was subjected to severe persecution, exile, imprisonment, torture and, finally, was stripped of his hair, cursed by a church council and burned at the stake.

Government troops were besieging the monastery, and only a defector opened the way to the impregnable stronghold. The uprising was suppressed.

The more merciless and severe the executions that began, the greater the persistence they caused. They began to look at death for the old faith as a martyrdom. And they even looked for him. Raising their hands high with the double-fingered sign of the cross, the condemned passionately said to the people who surrounded the reprisals: “For this piety I suffer, for the ancient Orthodoxy of the Church I die, and you, pious ones, I pray to you to stand strong in ancient piety.” blasphemy” Archpriest Avvakum was burned in a wooden frame with his fellow prisoners.

The main refuge of the zealots of ancient piety became the northern regions of Russia, then still completely deserted. Here, in the wilds of the Olonets forests, in the Arkhangelsk icy deserts, the first schismatic monasteries appeared, established by immigrants from Moscow and Solovetsky fugitives who escaped after the capture of the monastery by the tsarist troops. In 1694, a Pomeranian community settled on the Vyg River, where the Denisov brothers Andrei and Semyon, known throughout the Old Believer world, played a prominent role. Later, a women's monastery appeared in these places on the Leksne reek. This is how the famous center of ancient piety came into being - the Vygoleksinsky hostel.

By the end of the 17th century. The main directions in the Old Believers were outlined. Subsequently, each of them will have its own traditions and rich history.

They were subjected (with the exception of Habakkuk) to another special execution: their tongues were cut out and their right hands were cut off so that they could neither speak nor write in denunciation of their persecutors. They spent more than 14 years in painful captivity - in a damp pit. But none of them wavered in the correctness of their faith. The pious people honored these confessors as invincible warriors of Christ, as wondrous passion-bearers and martyrs for the holy faith. Pustozersk became a holy place. At the insistence of the new Patriarch Joachim, the Pustozersky sufferers were burned at the stake. The execution followed on Friday, the day of the Passion of Christ, April 14, 1682. They were all taken to the square, where a log house was built for burning. They went up to the fire cheerfully and joyfully. A crowd of people, taking off their hats, silently surrounded the execution site. They set fire to the wood and the fire began to burn. Hieromartyr Avvakum addressed the people with a farewell speech. Raising his hand folded high into two fingers, he proclaimed, “If you pray with this cross, you will never perish.” When the martyrs burned, the people rushed to the fire to collect the holy bones, so that they could then spread them throughout the Russian land.

Tortures and executions were carried out in other places of the Moscow state. Six years before the burning of the Pustozersk prisoners, hundreds of reverend fathers and confessors of the glorious Solovetsky monastery were tortured to death. This monastery, together with other monasteries and monasteries of the Russian Church, refused to accept Nikon’s new books. The Solovetsky monks decided to continue the service of God according to the old books. Over the course of several years, they wrote five petitions (petitions) to the sovereign, in which they begged the king for only one thing: to allow them to remain in their former faith. “We are all crying with tears,” the monks wrote to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, “have mercy on us, the poor and orphans, command, sir, that we should be in the same old faith in which your father, sovereign, and all the noble kings and great princes died, and the venerable fathers of the Solovetsky monastery: Zosima, Savvaty, Herman and Philip Metropolitan, and all the holy fathers pleased God.” The Solovetsky monks were firmly convinced that betrayal of the old faith meant betrayal of the Church and God Himself. Therefore, they agreed to accept torture rather than deviate from the faith of their ancestors. They boldly declared to the king: “It is better for us to die a temporary death than to perish forever. And if we are given over to fire and torment or cut into pieces, even then we will not betray the apostolic tradition forever.”

In response to all the requests and entreaties of the humble monks, the tsar sent a military team to the Solovetsky Monastery to force the poor elders to accept new books. The monks did not allow the archers to come to them and locked themselves in the monastery behind the thick stone walls like in a fortress. Tsarist troops besieged the Solovetsky Monastery for eight years (from 3668 to 1676). Finally, on the night of January 22, 1676, the archers burst into the monastery, and a terrible massacre began against the inhabitants of the monastery. Up to 400 people were tortured: some were hanged, others were chopped on chopping blocks, and others were drowned in an ice hole. The entire monastery was drenched in the blood of the holy sufferers. They died calmly and firmly, asking for neither mercy nor mercy. Only 14 people accidentally survived. The bodies of the killed and hacked martyrs lay uncollected for six months, until the royal decree came to bury them in the ground. The destroyed and plundered monastery was inhabited by monks sent from Moscow, who accepted the new government faith and new Nikon books.

Shortly before the execution of the Solovetsky sufferers, two sisters from the boyar family of the Sokovnins, noblewoman Feodosia Prokopyevna Morozova and princess Evdokia Prokopyevna Urusova, were tortured in the Borovsky prison (Kaluga region). From childhood they were surrounded by honor and glory, stood close to the royal court and visited there often. But for the sake of true faith, they despised wealth, honor, and worldly glory. They were arrested and subjected to terrible torture. By decree of the tsar, they were exiled to Borovsk and put here in a gloomy and damp dungeon. The sister confessors were starved. Their strength weakened, life slowly faded away. On September 11, 1675, Evdokia died, and on November 2, 51 days later, her sister, who managed to accept monasticism with the name Theodora even before the exile.

Many confessors of the old faith were tortured at that time: some were flogged, others were starved to death in prisons, and others were burned.