Church split within the Orthodox Church and its consequences

In the history of Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church, great importance was played by the church schism of the 17th century. Its consequences are reflected in the riots, religious persecution, giving birth to innumerable martyrs for the faith. This religious-political movement, powerful in its scale and significance, had its own prehistory, without studying which it was impossible to understand the reasons for this great Russian drama. First of all, although this event concerned the sphere of religious rituals and, mainly, the order of the liturgy, he had other reasons. We can further highlight the role of Tsar Alexei Tishaish and Patriarch Nikon, thanks to which political prerequisites have become the driving force of the split. It should be noted that the church reasons played a secondary role in this situation.

So, with the ascent to the throne of the second in the Romanov dynasty, Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich, nicknamed Tishaishim, Moscow's imperial appetites increased. The monarch cherished ambitious plans to unite under his wing all the Orthodox peoples who lived in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. But after the seizure and annexation of the Left Bank Ukraine, a ritual problem suddenly arose. Most believers of conquered lands were baptized with three fingers, as was done in Greece and throughout the Orthodox world, and the Russians were baptized by two. The tsar's desire to found the "Third Rome" required a single rite. From this situation there were two ways out: either to impose the Russian rites on the conquered population, or to force their own believers to confess Christ in a new way. Therefore, the church schism is a consequence of the incompetent policy of the authorities to introduce a unified orthodoxy.

Since it was dangerous to impose anything on the already dissatisfied provinces, the tsar decided to take "for his own". And he did it with tough, "police" measures. In 1653, elected a year earlier to the patriarchs of all Rus, Metropolitan Nikon sent out a decree, in which he categorically prescribed to be baptized with three fingers and put four earthly obeisances instead of sixteen with the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian. He also replaced singing with a polyphonic voice and allowed the priests to proclaim the sermons of his own work. Thus, the reforms of Nikon and the church schism are inseparably linked with each other.

Since the innovations were imposed "from above," without any explanation or belief in the correctness of such measures, this decree met the most fierce rebuff, and in all segments of the population. Even some noblemen and boyars fought for non-retreat from ancient piety. Leaders of the opposition were representatives of the clergy, above all the archpriests Daniel and Avvakum. But both the tsar and the patriarch remained unshakable. Even the fact that in 1658 Nikon fell into disgrace, and in 1666 was deposed from the rank of patriarch, did not affect the ever widening church schism: in 1667 the Great Moscow Council anathematized those who refused to accept new rituals, and also continued " Blaspheme the Church, "accusing her of apostasy.

The first manifestation of discontent among the broadest masses of the population was the Solovetsky uprising (1667-1676). It ended in the massacre of the discontented. The church split widened and deepened. Many families, fleeing persecution and not wanting to betray their faith, fled to the outskirts of the Russian kingdom - to the Danube plains, to the north, to the Volga region and Siberia, spreading the doctrine of the coming of the last times and the kingdom of Antichrist, which is now served by both the tsar and the patriarch. The death of Alexei Tishayshy did not change the situation at all. Sophia Alekseevna only tightened up the persecution of recalcitrant Old Believers.

The church schism found its most terrible manifestation in mass self-immolations - the so-called "burnt-out". People driven to despair deprived themselves of life not to betray their faith. These suicides continued throughout the XVIII-XIX centuries. The end of the persecution was placed secular power: the decree of Nicholas II "On Tolerance", which guaranteed freedom of religion for the Old Believers. And in 1929 the Holy Synod adopted a resolution that "the old Russian rites are also salutary."