scholarly journals Russian Church Schism and the Formation of “Two Russias”

2014 ◽  
pp. 130-138
Author(s):  
Kirill M. Tovbin
Keyword(s):  
17Th Century ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Old Believers ◽  
Church Schism ◽  
Spiritual Movement ◽  
Negative Identity ◽  
Postmodern Spirituality

Describes the course and nature of Raskol (splitting of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th century). The author considers the effects of the split on Old Believers, which led to the enforced adaptation of ideological modernism that combined with their original traditionalism. While proceeding from participants of traditional spiritual movement to religious adepts, Old Believers have developed their own ideology and negative identity (which are the main points of the modern type of religiosity). Though Old Believers confronted Modernity both ideologically and mentally, they used veiled postmodern mechanisms, which are actively run today for shaping stylistics and imitationalism of the postmodern spirituality.

scholarly journals The Cult of Old Believers’ Domestic Icons and the Beginning of Old Belief in Russia in the 17th-18th Centuries

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 574
Author(s):  
Sulikowska-Bełczowska
Keyword(s):  
Religious Life ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
Religious Conflict ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Old Believers ◽  
Private Devotion

The aim of this paper is to present the cult of icons in the Old Believer communities from the perspective of private devotion. For the Old Believers, from the beginning of the movement, in the middle of the 17th century, icons were at the center of their religious life. They were also at the center of religious conflict between Muscovite Patriarch Nikon, who initiated the reforms of the Russian Orthodox Church, and the Old Believers and their proponent, archpriest Avvakum Petrov. Some sources and documents from the 16th and 18th centuries make it possible to analyze the reasons for the popularity of small-sized icons among priested (popovtsy) and priestless (bespopovtsy) Old Believers, not only in their private houses but also in their prayer houses (molennas). The article also shows the role of domestic icons from the middle of the 17th century as a material foundation of the identity of the Old Believers movement.

scholarly journals The Yedinoverie Church in the Dnipro Ukraine in the structure of the Russian Orthodox Church (the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries)

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 105
Author(s):  
Natalia Dianova
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Article ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Soviet Power ◽  
Russian Government ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Old Believers ◽  
The Common ◽  
Definition Of

In the presented scientific article, an attempt was made to study the origins of the origin of the Yedinoverie Church in the Dnipro Ukraine, the main stages of its development in the 19th and early 20th centuries and the definition of a place of common faith in the structure of the Russian Orthodox Church. Historical conditions and peculiarities of the emergence of uniformity are analyzed as a form of compromise between the Old Believers and the official Orthodox Church. The role of the Slavonic and Kherson Archbishop Nikifor (Feotoki) in the origin of the common religion and the reaction of the Holy Synod to its actions is examined. The process of creating Yedinoverie Church and the dynamics of its development in different regions of the Dnipro Ukraine is studied. In the context of the topic under consideration, scientific and interest documents are published and archived, which give an opportunity to consider certain aspects of the activities of the clergymen of the faith Edinoverie Church. The attitude of soviet power and the official Orthodox Church to the unity of faith at various stages of the period under investigation is considered. The main criteria of pressure on the Old Believers to join them in the Yedinoverie Church are clarified. It is noted that the activities of the Russian government did not bring the desired results and the number of co-religionists did not increase significantly. The reasons were the unwillingness of the Old Believers to change their spiritual priorities and the disappointment in the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church. With time, already in the first half of the XX century, the Yedinoverie Church, fulfilling its mission of associating schismatics with official Orthodoxy, became an integral part of the Russian Orthodox Church. Its church temples and monasteries gradually changed their status to Orthodox.

scholarly journals Splits and sects in the Azov region and the authorities of the Russian Empire: Failed compromise in the nineteenth century

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 480-489
Author(s):  
Tamara S. Olenich ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Russian Empire ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Old Believers ◽  
Interfaith Relations ◽  
Azov Region ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The 19Th Century

The article discusses the features of the emergence and spread of sectarian organizations and Old Believer communities in the Azov region in the 19th century. It is shown that the processes of the spread of sectarian organizations century were very active, which is explained by the fact that sectarian organizations had a broad social base and expanded dynamically, despite restrictions from the official government. The laws in force at that time limited the activities carried out by the Russian Orthodox Church in counteracting the process of promoting sectarian teachings at that time. The article illustrates that some of the representatives of sectarianism disguised themselves as Orthodox and compactly lived within the boundaries of church parishes. Proselytizing sectarianism was especially active in the territory of the Yekaterinoslav province by organizations such as the Molokans, Khlysts, Skoptsy, Old Believers, and others. This article characterizes the prevailing political and legal conditions for the spread of the sects, as well as the features of the system of religious relations that have developed in the region. On the basis of archival data, the number of such sects as the Molokans, the Whips, the Old Believers and the Evangelists, etc., was studied. The specificity of religious relations between representatives of different religious groups in the Azov region is analyzed within the framework of a unique phenomenon — a polymodel system of the interfaith relations.

scholarly journals Bishop Apollos (Belyaev) and Development of Vyatka Diocese in 1866—1885

2021 ◽  
pp. 396-412
Author(s):  
M. Yu. Polovnikova
Keyword(s):  
Local Population ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Old Believers ◽  
Missionary Work ◽  
Historical Comparative ◽  
First Time ◽  
Positive Results

Using mainly historical-comparative and historical-genetic methods, the issue of the development of the Vyatka and Slobodsk dioceses, which coincides within the borders with the Vyatka province, under Bishop Apollos (Belyaev), is considered in the article. The author pays special attention to the process of organizing religious, educational and missionary activities, and up to the appointment of Bishop Apollos, the results of this work were insignificant. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time it comprehensively examines the activities of the Vyatka Bishop Apollos in terms of the implementation of a nationwide religious course, which included active educational and missionary work of the local clergy. Under Bishop Apollos, to increase the influence of the clergy on the local population, including the Old Believers and non-Orthodox, important transformations were carried out: a separate vicariate was allocated in the diocese, the Vyatka Committee of the Orthodox Missionary Society and the Vyatka Brotherhood of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker were opened, and the work of the local clergy was also generally reorganized. This gave the first positive results in strengthening the position of the Russian Orthodox Church among the local population of the Vyatka diocese.

scholarly journals Fates of priests of Russian Orthodox Church of Old-Believers in the ancient centres of Starodub and Vietka in 1920s-1960s

2019 ◽  
pp. 38-43
Author(s):  
Marina V. Kochergina
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Spiritual Life ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Postwar Period ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
World War ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Old Believers ◽  
The World ◽  
The Church

The article is devoted to the difficult fate of the old believers' priests of the Russian Orthodox Church of Old Believers in the period of Stalin's repression, the events on the World War II East Front and the postwar period, associated with a new oppression against the Church. The author restores the fate of old believers' priests from the ancient centres of Starodub and Vietka, who managed to preserve, despite the repression by the Soviet authorities, the faith of their ancestors, to show selflessness in relation to their flock, love for the Motherland, patriotism. The analysis of published biographies of old believers' priests of the Russian Orthodox Church of Old Believers, the memories of old believers themselves, recorded by the author, allow tracing the difficult way of restoring the spiritual life of old believer communities of Starodub and Vietka in this period, to show the regional aspects of the activity of old believers' priests in the field of state-confessional relations, their interaction with members of communities.

scholarly journals Archival sources of the Russian Orthodox Church missionary activity history among the old believers of the Orenburg diocese of the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 249-253
Author(s):  
Alina Dzhanarovna Kamzina
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Development ◽  
Source Analysis ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Old Believers ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Russian State ◽  
Archival Documents

The historical period considered in this paper is one of the important periods for the economic, political and spiritual development of the Russian state. The Orenburg Region at this stage was a multi-confessional region, where, despite the leading role of the Russian Orthodox Church, both non-Christian and Christian denominations, including a variety of old believers consent and sectarianism, were spread. In this regard, the anti-sectarian missionary activity of the official Orthodoxy aimed at both the old believers and sectarians became particularly relevant. Archival documents in the collections of Federal and regional archives form the basis of this problem study. The paper presents an overview of unpublished sources and their source analysis. The author analyses such groups of archival sources as statistical materials, records of management sources, among which a special place is occupied by the Governors and diocesan reports, documents of personal origin, legislative materials. Among these groups of sources, the most valuable ones are records of civil and spiritual departments. The review allows to conclude about the variety of types of archival documents and their various informative features. The presented classification is not final and can be supplemented.

‘You Have Judged It Opportune to Adjust the Dioceses Division according to the New Civil Division ...’ The Report of Bishop of Omsk Arcadius to Metropolitan of Nizhny Novgorod Sergius and the Holy Synod in 1929

2018 ◽  
pp. 387-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexey V. Sushko ◽  
◽  
Dmitrii I. Petin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Church Administration ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Genetic Method ◽  
Traditional Church ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
History Of ◽  
Church Schism

The article offers a source study of the report of bishop of Omsk Arkady to Metropolitan of Nizhny Novgorod Sergius and the Holy Synod made in 1929. The text analysis allows to address the problem of relationship between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Soviet authorities. The report, which is published here, allows to follow the sequence of territorial redistribution of the Omsk diocese in 1920s. The problem of its authorship is considered. Having studied a copy of the report in the archival investigative file stored in the archive of the Federal Security Service of Russia Directorate for the Omsk Region, the author establishes that the document was prepared by Archpriest V.F. Infatiev, leader of the Omsk Tikhonovtsy and rector of the Fraternal Church in Omsk. Biographical and historical–genetic methods have been of most use in the research. Biographical method allows to study the document in connection with life and activities of its authors. The historical genetic method, based on materials of the Omsk diocese, shows how the Soviet state used the administrative redistribution of dioceses to obstruct church administration. It sought to fragment and weaken large dioceses that were fighting new church schism. The article reveals the specifics of administrative and territorial reorganization in the Omsk diocese, which boundaries kept changing for a variety of reasons. First, the Soviet power had not forgotten that Omsk of the capital of White Russia, and Novonikolaevsk (Novosibirsk) was made capital of Soviet Siberia. Reconstruction of diocesan borders in accordance with new Soviet administrative–territorial division disrupted traditional church administration. Some cities still gravitated towards Omsk, but over time they were separated from the Omsk diocese. Secondly, the Bolsheviks provoked and supported the inter-church struggle for power, in which many church leaders were then actively involved. This resulted in separation of a number of territories from the Omsk diocese. Thirdly, while the Kyrgyz (Kazakh) republic was being formed and developed, some of its large cities were subordinate to Omsk. The work may be of interest to researchers studying Russian society in the pre–war period, history of the Russian Orthodox Church, and activities of the Soviet Special Services concerning religious institutions.

scholarly journals Transformation of the Orthodox Religiosity in the 1920s–1990s in the Komi Republic

2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 250-272
Author(s):  
Victoria V. Vlasova
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Komi Republic ◽  
The State ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Old Believers ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
The Church

Abstract This article analyses the influence of Soviet religious politics on society’s attitude to religion, as well as on the transformation of religious practices taking as an example the Komi Republic. I focus on the Orthodox tradition,1 as the vast majority of residents of the Komi Republic were Orthodox (Russian Orthodox Church, Old Believers). The article starts with a brief review of theoretical approaches to the study of the religious transformations during the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. The churches’ closing in the 1920s – 1930s and their partial reopening in the 1940s – 1950s are used to discuss changes in the manifestation of religiosity in public space. A correlation between gender, age and religious activity is demonstrated. The total control by the state over the church rituals led to a privatization of religious life, which significantly limited both the state and the church control over them. The article also describes how folk religious practices, unrelated to the church, influenced the believers’ resistance and adaptation to the political and ideological changes.

scholarly journals Authority and the “Canon of Sacred Texts”, Created by Opponents of Church Reform

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (8) ◽  
pp. 35-44
Author(s):  
Natalya S. Guryanova
Keyword(s):  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Church Reform ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Old Believers ◽  
Sacred Texts ◽  
Printed Books ◽  
True Meaning ◽  
Ancient Manuscripts ◽  
The Church

The article studies the conflict between secular and church authorities over the collection of extracts from ancient manuscripts and early printed books that were found by the defenders of the Old Belief in order to prove a violation of the tradition of the Russian Church as a result of the reform of the rite and liturgical practice. Quotes from the Holy Scripture, patristic tradition, and writings of church writers constituted the “canon of sacred texts” for the Old Believers, which was, in their opinion, equivalent to the Holy Scripture. Fragments of texts systematized according to the subjects were copied and distributed as manuscripts. By the importance of the problem to overcome schism secular and church authorities joined forces to solve it. This was especially evident in the activities of the Moscow Council of Russian Orthodox Church in 1681–1682. An analysis of the Council Decree allowed us to conclude that in the Proposal to the Council Feodor III Alexeyevich very precisely outlined the jeopardy of the “canon of sacred texts”. The monarch expressed worry of secular authorities about the distribution of manuscripts that increased the influence of Old Believers. In the Response of the Council, it was decided to stop the spread of “false letters” and do it together with the secular authorities. The article draws attention to the fact that the result of efforts of secular authorities was the execution of some Old Believers’ leaders. The church also did not stand aside and published Uvet Duhovnyi. The article shows, what position the author took with respect to the “canon of sacred texts” and how it reflected in his text. It is concluded that Archbishop Afanasy tried to convince readers that the Old Believer`s manuscripts, “bogomerzkie pisanye tetradki” (heretical handwritten notes), which contained extracts from the Holy Scripture and patristic tradition, had nothing in common with the true meaning of sources. Consequently, they could not argue the deviation of the reformers from the tradition of the Russian Church. The Archbishop Afanasy insisted that only “madness” could explain the doctrine of the defenders of the Old Belief.

Clerical Outsiders: The Edinoverie Priesthood in Imperial Russia, 1800–1917

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
ALEXANDER PALKIN ◽  
JAMES WHITE
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Social Characteristics ◽  
Alternative Form ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Old Believers ◽  
Imperial Russia ◽  
The Church ◽  
Successful Integration

Founded in 1800, edinoverie was a missionary mechanism that offered converts from ‘schismatic’ Old Belief the use of their anathematised rituals within the Russian Orthodox Church. However, the edinoverie clergy's distinctive social characteristics and working conditions stymied successful integration into the caste-like clerical estate. These representatives of an alternative form of Orthodoxy chiefly championed by Old Believers therefore remained on the periphery of the confession. This demonstrates the limits of intraconfessional diversity within the imperial Church: even when championed by ethnic Russians, the Church was reluctant to sponsor alternative visions of Orthodoxy in its own ranks.

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