The Old Believer Church is a purely Russian phenomenon that arose as a result of a split in the Orthodox Church that occurred in the second half of the 17th century. It can serve as a visual aid to reasoning on the topic “Personality and History”, when, by the will of one ambitious person, he would now be called a “Westerner”, bloody strife is introduced into the faith of the country for centuries. Many years later, it was recognized that there was no special progressive component, as well as need, in Nikon's reforms, and a lot of harm was done.
Cause of occurrence
The Old Believer Church itself, everything connected with it, belongs to the tragic, "black" pages of Russian history. It is difficult for a modern person to understand why, due to some changes in rituals, villages were burned, people were starved and martyred.of death. The Orthodox killed each other with particular cruelty. Until Nikon became patriarch, he rather pretended to be like-minded members of the "Circle of Zealots of Piety", headed by the tsar's confessor Stefan Vonifatiev. In this organization, the ideas of the originality of Russian Orthodoxy were preached. It included Avvakum Petrov and Ivan Neronov, whom Nikon later sent into exile, where they were martyred.
Convinced of being right
As a result of the reforms, initially adopted by the new patriarch on his own, the society split into two parts, one of which actively opposed Nikon (for example, the Solovetsky Monastery was besieged by the Tsar's army for 8 years). This rejection of the patriarch did not stop him; he legitimized his reforms by convening the Moscow Council in 1954, which approved and approved them. Disagreement was shown by a single bishop - Pavel Koloiensky. The Old Believer Church (one of the names of the opponents of the reforms) was outlawed. Nikon went further - he turned to the Patriarch of Tsaregrad for help, from whom he also received approval in 1655. Despite all the persecution, resistance in society was growing, and already in 1685, at the state level, Tsarina Sophia issued decrees outlawing the Old Believers. Bloody persecution began, which continued into the reign of Nicholas I.
Smart King Liberator
And only under Alexander II did the ardent oppression stop. Thanks to the "Rules" issued by the kingthe Old Believer Church was legalized. Her followers were given the opportunity not only to hold worship services, but also to open schools, travel abroad and hold high government positions. But only in 1971 did the official church of Russia recognize the wrongness of the Councils of 1656 and 1667, at which the Old Believers were anathematized. The main idea that Nikon was guided by was to make the Russian church in line with the spirit of the times, that is, to bring it into full compliance with the Greek one. He thought that, in this way, Russia would fit more organically into the developed countries of Europe. Such people have always been in Russia. They have done and are doing a lot of harm to our Motherland, drawing in its Western world.
Faith adherents
As a result of centuries of persecution, the Russian Old Believer Church is territorially located in the European north of Russia, where even now its influence is quite significant. There are up to 2 million Old Believers in our country. This is a very impressive number, exceeding the representatives of some other faiths inhabiting Russia. It is true that tolerance is necessary in matters of faith. In the faith of representatives of this religious trend, the essence is not in a maniacal adherence to rituals, but in the fact that the Orthodox Old Believer Church considers itself the only true successor of the Russian Church that existed before the introduction of "Nikon's novelties". Therefore, its supporters for centuries, despite terrible persecution, defended their faith, thanks to which they survived and survived to this day.such invaluable elements of ancient Russian culture as utensils, old handwritten books, icons, rituals, singing, spiritual verses and speech tradition. A whole layer of Russian culture.
Era of relaxation
In both capitals of Russia, after indulgence, religious institutions of the Old Believers were opened. It should be noted that the movement itself has many varieties - priests and bespopovtsy, which in turn are further subdivided into some types. However, the cherished dream of most Old Believers was the desire to have their own bishop. It became possible only after 1846, from the moment of the ordination of bishops for the Old Believers by the Greek Metropolitan Ambrose. It all happened in Belaya Krinitsa. By the name of the settlement, the emerging Belokrinitskaya hierarchy is named, which is the modern Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church.
Main Temple
On the territory of Russia, the main temple of this denomination (type of religion or religious organization) is the Intercession Cathedral (Rogozhsky lane, 29). This is the main Old Believer church in Moscow. The history of its origin dates back to the time of the plague epidemic (1771), when the cemeteries were moved outside the city limits. An Old Believer cemetery was formed behind Kamer-Kollezhsky Val, later a settlement arose, and 20 years later a fairly we althy community in need of its own church ordered the building project to Matvey Kazakov himself.
The Old Believers swung wide, but as a result of the opposing actions of Metropolitan Gabriel, instead of a hugefive-domed temple was allowed to build a single-domed, decreased and the height of the building. But the Russian Old Believer Orthodox Church received its temple only in 1905, in the month of April, since in 1856, at the denunciation of Metropolitan Filaret, the doors of the church at the Rogozhsky cemetery were sealed. The opening of the temple in 1905 is celebrated by the Old Believers as a special holiday.
New times
There are a lot of religious buildings of this denomination in Russia. So, only in the Moscow region there are up to 40 of them, the same number in the capital itself. The Russian Old Believer Orthodox Church has its prayer houses and chapels in almost all districts of Moscow. Their lists are publicly available. The current Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Korniliy very subtly builds his relations both with the official church and with the authorities, as a result of which he met with the President of the country. V. V. Putin. The main Old Believer church in Moscow, the Church of the Intercession, is the cathedral and residence of Patriarch Cornelius. Another name for this church is the Summer Temple in the name of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos. A lot of churches and cathedrals of the Old Believers are named after the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, because she is considered their main intercessor and patroness. The design of the temple provided for dimensions exceeding the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. By order of Catherine II, they were changed. The Rogozhskaya Old Believer Church is located in the historical district of Moscow of the same name, known as
emRogozhskaya Sloboda, which arose on the left bank of the Yauza River, near the village of Androkhina in the 16th century. The first wooden temple arose here in the 17th century, and in 1776 it was the Old Believer merchants who erected their first church in Moscow (St. Nicholas the Wonderworker), and then M. Kazakov built the Intercession Church.
Churches of the Old Believers in St. Petersburg
Old Orthodoxy and St. Petersburg have their own places of worship. The Old Believer Church, the oldest in the northern capital of the Ligovsky community, is located on Transportny Lane. The temple, built according to a special design by the architect P. P. Pavlov, was erected in just two years, but open to parishioners immediately after the revolution, it was immediately closed. Revived and registered by the Ministry of Justice in 2004, the Ligovskaya Old Believer community received its church back in 2005. In addition to it, 7 more religious institutions of the Old Orthodox Church of Christ operate in St. Petersburg.
