Recently, being carried away by the study of Russian culture, different ways of spiritual and physical development, many people have become interested in the Old Believers. Indeed, the Old Believers - who are they? There are many opinions and views on this matter. Some believe that these are Orthodox Christians who profess the faith that existed before the church schism during Nikon's reform. Others think that these are people who have chosen for themselves a faith that Orthodox priests call pagan. The old faith, which was spread before the Baptism of Russia by order of Prince Vladimir.
Old Believers - who are they
The first associations that come to mind are people living in the taiga, who have rejected all the benefits of civilization, follow the old way of life, do everything themselves, without using any equipment. Medicine is also not common, all diseases are cured by the prayers of the Old Believers and fasting.
How true is this? It is difficult to say, because the Old Believers do not talk about their life, do not sit in social networks, do not write about it in blogs. The life of the Old Believers is secretive, proceeds inclosed communities, they try not to contact people once again. One gets the feeling that they can only be seen by accidentally getting lost in the taiga, wandering for more than one day.
Where the Old Believers live
For example, the Old Believers live in Siberia. In a harsh and cold climate, it was thanks to them that new unexplored and hard-to-reach corners of the country were mastered. There are villages of Old Believers in Altai, there are several of them - Upper Uimon, Maralnik, Multa, Zamulta. It was in such places that they hid from persecution by the state and the official church.
In the village of Upper Uimon, you can visit the Museum of Old Believers and learn in detail about their way of life and faith. Despite the fact that the attitude towards them has changed for the better with the course of history, the Old Believers prefer to choose remote corners of the country for life.
To clarify the questions that unwittingly arise when studying them, it is worth first understanding where they came from and what is the difference between them. Old Believers and Old Believers - who are they?
Where did they come from
To find out the answer to the question of who they are, the Old Believers, you first have to plunge into history.
One of the significant and tragic events in Russia was the split of the Russian Church. He divided believers into two camps: followers of the "old faith" who did not want to accept any innovations, and those who humbly accepted the innovations that arose due to Nikon's reforms. This is the patriarch appointed by Tsar Alexei, who wished to change the Russian Church. By the way, the concept of "Orthodoxy" appeared along with Nikon's reform. That's whythe phrase "Orthodox Old Believers" is somewhat incorrect. But in modern times, this term is quite relevant. Because at the moment the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church officially exists, in other words, the Church of the Old Believers.
So, changes in religion took place and led to many events. It can be said that at that time in the 17th century the first Old Believers appeared in Russia, whose followers exist to this day. They protested against the Nikon reforms, which, in their opinion, changed not only the features of some rites, but also the faith itself. These innovations were carried out with the aim of making Orthodox rites in Russia as similar as possible to Greek and global ones. They were justified by the fact that church books, which were copied by hand, since the time of Baptism in Russia had some distortions and typos, according to supporters of innovations.
Why did people resist Nikon's reforms
Why did people protest against the new reforms? Perhaps the personality of Patriarch Nikon himself played a role here. Tsar Alexei appointed him to the important post of patriarch, gave him the opportunity to radically change the rules and rituals of the Russian church. But this choice was a little strange and not very justified. Patriarch Nikon did not have sufficient experience in creating and implementing reforms. He grew up in a simple peasant family, eventually became a priest in his village. Soon he moved to the Moscow Novospassky Monastery, where he met the Russian Tsar.
Their views on religion largely coincided, and soon Nikon becamepatriarch. The latter not only did not have sufficient experience for this role, but, according to many historians, he was domineering and cruel. He wanted power that had no boundaries, and in this regard he envied Patriarch Filaret. Trying in every possible way to show his significance, he was active everywhere and not only as a religious figure. For example, he personally participated in the suppression of the uprising in 1650, it was he who wanted a brutal reprisal against the rebels.
What has changed
Nikon's reform brought significant changes to the Russian Christian faith. That is why opponents of these innovations and followers of the old faith appeared, who later began to be called Old Believers. They were persecuted for many years, were cursed by the church, and only under Catherine II did the attitude towards them change for the better.
In the same period, two concepts appeared: "Old Believer" and "Old Believer". What is the difference and who they stand for, today, many no longer know. In fact, both of these concepts are essentially the same thing.
Despite the fact that Nikon's reforms brought the country only a split and uprisings, for some reason there are opinions that they have changed almost nothing. Most often, only two or three changes are indicated in history books, in fact there are more. So, what has changed and what innovations have occurred? You need to know this in order to understand how the Old Believers differ from Orthodox believers belonging to the official church.
Sign of the Cross
Christians after the innovation crossed themselves by adding threefinger (or finger) - thumb, index and middle. Three fingers or "pinch" means the Holy Trinity - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Although earlier, before the reform, only two fingers were used for this. That is, two fingers - the index and middle fingers were left straight or slightly curved, and the rest were folded together.
It should depict the main two creeds - the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of Christ. It was the two-fingered that was depicted on many icons and came from Greek sources. Old Believers or Old Believers still use two-fingered, overshadowing themselves with the sign of the cross.
Bows during services
Before the reforms, several types of bows were made in the service, there were four in total. The first - to the fingers or to the navel, was called ordinary. The second - in the belt, was considered average. The third was called "throwing" and was made almost to the ground (small prostration). Well, the fourth - to the very earth (great prostration or proskineza). This whole system of bows is still in effect during Old Believer services.
After the Nikon reform, it was allowed to bow only to the waist.
Changes in books and icons
In the new faith and the old one, the name of Christ was written differently. They used to write Jesus, as in Greek sources. After the reforms, it was necessary to stretch out his name - Jesus. In fact, it’s hard to say which spelling is closer to the original, since in Greek there is a special symbol for stretching the letter “and”, in Russian it is not.
Therefore, in order for the spelling to match the sound, the letter “and” was added to the name of God. The old spelling of the name of Christ has been preserved in the prayers of the Old Believers, and not only among them, but also in Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian, Croatian, Belarusian and Ukrainian.
Cross
The cross of the Old Believers and followers of innovations is significantly different. The followers of ancient Orthodoxy recognized only the eight-pointed version. The Old Believer symbol of the crucifixion is represented by an eight-pointed cross located inside a larger four-pointed one. On the most ancient crosses there are also no images of the crucified Jesus. For its creators, the form itself was more important than the image. The pectoral cross of the Old Believer also has the same appearance without the image of the crucifix.
Among Nikon's innovations regarding the cross, Pilatov's inscription can also be distinguished. These are the letters that are visible on the uppermost small crossbar of an ordinary cross, which is now sold in church shops - I N Ц I. This is an inscription left by Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator who ordered the execution of Jesus. It means "Jesus of Nazareth, King of Judah." She appeared on new Nikon icons and crosses, the old versions were destroyed.
At the very beginning of the split, fierce disputes began about whether it is permissible to depict this inscription. Archdeacon Ignatius from the Solovetsky Monastery wrote a petition to Tsar Alexei on this occasion, rejecting the new inscription in it and demanding the return of the old I X C C denoting "Jesus Christ the King of Glory." According to him, the old inscriptionspeaks of Christ as God and Creator, who took his place in heaven after the Ascension. And the new one speaks of him as of an ordinary person who is on earth. But Theodosius Vasiliev, deacon of the Red Pit Church, and his followers for a long time, on the contrary, defended the “Pilate inscription”. They were called Fedoseevtsy - a special offshoot of the Old Believers. All other Old Believers still use the older inscription in making their crosses.
Baptism and procession
The Old Believers can only be completely immersed in water, carried out three times. But after Nikon's reforms, either partial immersion during baptism, or even just dousing became possible.
The religious procession used to be made according to the sun, clockwise or s alting. After the reform, during the rites, it is performed counterclockwise. This caused strong discontent at one time, people began to consider the new faith a religion of darkness.
Criticism of the Old Believers
Old Believers are often criticized for their indispensable observance of all dogmas and rituals. When the symbolism and some features of the old rituals were changed, this caused strong discontent, riots and uprisings. The followers of the old faith might even have preferred martyrdom rather than accept the new rules. Who are the Old Believers? Fanatics or selfless people who defend their faith? This is difficult for a modern person to understand.
How can one doom oneself to death because of one letter that was changed or thrown out or, on the contrary, added? Many authors of articles write that the symbolism and all these minor, in their opinion, changesafter the Nikon reform, they are only external in nature. But is it right to think so? Of course, the main thing is faith, and not just blind observance of all the rules and customs. But where is the limit of these acceptable changes?
If you follow this logic, then why do you need these symbols at all, why call yourself Orthodox, why do you need baptism and other rituals, if they can be easily changed just by gaining power, killing hundreds of people who do not agree. Why is such an Orthodox faith needed if it does not differ at all from Protestant or Catholic? After all, all these customs and rituals exist for a reason, for the sake of their blind execution. It was not in vain that people kept the knowledge of these rituals for so many years, passed from mouth to mouth, rewrote books by hand, because this is a huge work. Perhaps they saw something more behind these rites, something that modern man is not able to understand and sees in this unnecessary external paraphernalia.
