Church schism - 1650s - 1660s split in the Russian Orthodox Church, due to the reform of Patriarch Nikon, which consisted in liturgical and ritual innovations, which were aimed at making changes in liturgical books and rituals in order to unify them with modern Greek ones.
Background
One of the most profound sociocultural upheavals in the state was the church split. In the early 50s of the 17th century in Moscow, a circle of "devotees of piety" formed among the higher clergy, whose members wanted to eliminate various church disorders and unify worship throughout the vast territory of the state. The first step has already been taken: the Church Council of 1651, under pressure from the sovereign, introduced unanimous church singing. Now it was necessary to make a choice of what to follow in church transformations: one's own Russian tradition or someone else's.
Such a choice was made in the conditions of an internal church conflict already outlined in the late 1640s, caused by the struggle of Patriarch Joseph with the increasing Ukrainian and Greek borrowings initiated by the sovereign's entourage.
Church schism - causes, consequences
The Church, which strengthened its position after the Time of Troubles, tried to occupy a dominant position in the political system of the state. The desire of Patriarch Nikon to strengthen his positions of power, to concentrate in his hands not only ecclesiastical, but also secular power. But in the conditions of the strengthening of the autocracy, this caused a conflict between church and secular authorities. The defeat of the church in this clash paved the way for its transformation into an appendage of state power.
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The innovations in church ritual, initiated in 1652 by Patriarch Nikon, and the correction of Orthodox books on the model and likeness of the Greek, led to a split in the Russian Orthodox Church.
Key dates
The main reason for the split is the reforms of Patriarch Nikon (1633-1656).
Nikon (worldly name - Nikita Minov) enjoyed unlimited influence over Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.
1649 - Appointment of Nikon Metropolitan of Novgorod
1652 - Election of Nikon as Patriarch
1653 Church Reform
As a result of the reform:
- Correction of church books in accordance with the "Greek" canons;
- Changing the rites of the Russian Orthodox Church;
- Introduction of three fingers during the sign of the cross.
1654 - Patriarch reform approved at the church council
1656 - Excommunication of opponents of the reform
1658 - Nikon's abdication from the patriarchate
1666 - Deposition of Nikon at the church cathedral
1667-1676 - The uprising of the monks of the Solovetsky Monastery.
The refusal to accept the reforms led to a division into supporters of reforms (Nikonian) and opponents (schismatics or Old Believers), as a result - the emergence of many movements and churches.
Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Patriarch Nikon.
Election of Metropolitan Nikon to the Patriarch
1652 - after the death of Joseph, the Kremlin clergy and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov wanted the Novgorod Metropolitan Nikon to take his place: the character and views of Nikon seemed to belong to a man who was able to lead the church-ritual reform conceived by the sovereign and his confessor. But Nikon gave his consent to become patriarch only after lengthy persuasion by Alexei Mikhailovich and on the condition that there were no restrictions on his patriarchal power. And such restrictions were created by the Monastic Order.
Nikon had a great influence on the young sovereign, who considered the patriarch his closest friend and helper. Departing from the capital, the tsar transferred control not to the boyar commission, as was the case before, but to Nikon's care. He was allowed to be called not only the patriarch, but also "the sovereign of all Russia." Having taken such an extraordinary position in power, Nikon began to abuse it, seize foreign lands for his monasteries, humiliate the boyars, and harshly deal with the clergy. He was concerned not so much with the reform as with the establishment of a strong patriarchal power, for which the power of the Pope served as a model.
Nikon's reform
1653 - Nikon began to implement the reform, which he intended to carry out focusing on the Greek samples as more ancient. In fact, he reproduced contemporary Greek models and copied the Ukrainian reform of Petro Mohyla. The Church's transformations had a foreign policy implication: a new role for Russia and the Russian Church on the world stage. With a view to the annexation of the Kiev Metropolitanate, the Russian authorities thought about creating a single Church. This required similarities in church practice between Kiev and Moscow, while they had to be guided by the Greek tradition. Of course, Patriarch Nikon did not need differences, but uniformity with the Kiev Metropolitanate, which should become part of the Moscow Patriarchate. He tried in every possible way to develop the ideas of Orthodox universalism.
Church Cathedral. 1654 year. The beginning of the split. A. Kivshenko.
Innovations
But many of Nikon's supporters, being not against the reform as such, gave preference to its other development - based on Old Russian rather than Greek and Ukrainian church traditions. As a result of the reform, the traditional Russian two-finger consecration of oneself with the cross was replaced with a three-finger one, the spelling "Jesus" was changed to "Jesus", the exclamation "Hallelujah!" was proclaimed three times, not twice. Other words and phrases of speech were introduced in prayers, psalms and Articles of Faith, some changes were made in the order of worship. The correction of the liturgical books was carried out by reference workers at the Printing House using Greek and Ukrainian books. The church council in 1656 decided to publish the revised Trebnik and Service Book - the most important liturgical books for every priest.
Among various strata of the population there were those who refused to recognize the reform: it could mean that the Russian Orthodox custom, which their ancestors adhered to since ancient times, was flawed. With the great adherence of the Orthodox to the ritual side of the faith, it was precisely its change that was perceived very painfully. After all, as contemporaries believed, only the exact execution of the rite made it possible to create contact with the sacred forces. "I will die for a single" az "! (that is, for changing at least one letter in the sacred texts), - exclaimed the ideological leader of the adherents of the old order, Old Believers, and a former member of the circle of "devotees of piety" Archpriest Avvakum.
Old Believers
The Old Believers initially fiercely resisted the reform. The boyar wives F. Morozov and E. Urusova spoke out in defense of the old faith. For more than 8 years (1668 - 1676), the Solovetsky Monastery, which did not recognize the reform, opposed the tsarist troops besieging it and was taken only as a result of betrayal. Because of the innovations, a split appeared not only in the Church, but also in society, it was accompanied by strife, executions and suicides, an acute polemic struggle. The Old Believers have formed a special type of religious culture with a sacred attitude to the written word, with loyalty to antiquity and an unfriendly attitude towards everything worldly, with faith in the imminent end of the world and with a hostile attitude towards power, both secular and ecclesiastical.
At the end of the 17th century, the Old Believers split into two main streams - the Bespopovtsy and the Popovtsy. The non-popovtsy, not finding as a result the possibility of establishing their own bishopric, could not supply priests. As a result, based on the ancient canonical rules on the permissibility of the sacraments by the laity in extreme situations, they began to reject the need for priests and the entire church hierarchy and began to choose spiritual mentors from among their midst. Over time, a lot of Old Believer denominations (movements) were formed. Some of whom, in anticipation of the imminent end of the world, subjected themselves to "fiery baptism", that is, self-immolation. They realized that if their community was captured by the sovereign's troops, they would be burned at the stake as heretics. In the event of the approach of troops, they preferred to burn out in advance, not deviating from their faith in anything, and thereby save the soul.
The break between Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.
Deprivation of Patriarchal Nikon
1658 - Patriarch Nikon, as a result of a quarrel with the sovereign, announced that he would no longer act as the church head, took off his patriarchal vestments and retired to his beloved New Jerusalem monastery. He believed that requests from the palace for his early return would not be long in coming. However, this did not happen: even if the conscientious tsar regretted what had happened, his entourage no longer wanted to put up with such an all-encompassing and aggressive patriarchal power, which, in Nikon's words, was higher than the tsar's, "like heaven is higher than earth." Whose power turned out to be more significant in reality was demonstrated by subsequent events.
Alexei Mikhailovich, who accepted the ideas of Orthodox universalism, could no longer deprive the patriarch of his dignity (as was done in the Russian Local Church all the time). The reference to Greek rules made him face the necessity of convening an Ecumenical Council of the Church. Proceeding from the stable recognition of the falling away from the true faith of the Roman See, the ecumenical council was to consist of Orthodox patriarchs. All of them took part in the cathedral in one way or another. 1666 - such a council condemned Nikon and deprived him of his patriarchal dignity. Nikon was exiled to the Ferapontov Monastery, and later transferred to harsher conditions on Solovki.
At the same time, the council approved the church reform and ordered the persecution of the Old Believers. Protopop Avvakum was stripped of the priesthood, cursed and sent to Siberia, where his tongue was cut off. There he wrote many works, from here he sent messages throughout the state. 1682 - executed.
But Nikon's aspirations to make the clergy outside the jurisdiction of the secular authorities found sympathy among many hierarchs. At the Church Council in 1667, they managed to achieve the destruction of the Monastic Order.