One of the burning topics in modern Russia — Old Believers. In the difficult times for Rus' that followed the period of Troubles, the Orthodox Church was led by Patriarch Nikon. Many boyars then looked with lust at the West, which attracted them with new ways of enrichment and free morals, but still remained the soul of the people.

Residence of the Russian
Orthodox
Old Believer Church

The Patriarch, taking advantage of the enormous power granted to him by Tsar Alexei Romanov, set about reforming church rites according to the Greek model with the goal of bringing the Russian Church closer to the Byzantine Church as opposed to Western Catholicism. At the same time, the foundations of Orthodoxy were not touched upon. In 1653 – 1660 Patriarch Nikon made some changes to Russian Orthodox traditions: suggested, putting 3 fingers together (with three fingers), bowing from the waist (instead of kneeling), walking in procession against the sun (before that it was the other way around - in the direction of the sun), singing “Hallelujah” three times, not twice, and serving proskomedia at five prosphoras instead of seven, and changed other rituals. All this was not very significant for spiritual life, but the people who had no education (it practically did not exist in Rus'), and part of the priesthood, perceived the reforms as an attack on ancient Russian traditions, practically the creation of a “new faith.” Naturally, among other things, many personal and political ambitions intersected here, as a result of the combination of which a split arose in the ranks Orthodox Church, known to us as Old Believers.

Intercession Cathedral
in Zamoskvorechye
Russian Ancient Orthodox
Churches

The main problem of the intra-church split was the lack of flexibility on both sides. Those in power persecuted as heretics those who refused to perform the new ritual actions. The schismatics (as they came to be called), insisting on the importance of the ritual side, showed that for them everyday traditions are much more important than the Church itself, its spirit and unity.

Initially, he became a hostage to the situation when there was not a single bishop in his ranks who could ordain to the priesthood. Pavel Kolomensky, the only bishop who supported the schism, died back in 1654, completely beheading the Old Believers, who in their midst were also divided into 2 movements: priests and non-priests.

The Bespopovites considered the grace of God to have abandoned the Russian Orthodox Church; they fled from persecution into the wilderness, where they created different communities that had significant differences, called concords. In some ways it was reminiscent of a sect.

The priests, however, feeling the need for priests, agreed to accept any bishop or simple priest after his renunciation of “Nikonianism” (as they called the faith of the official Russian Orthodox Church). The priests, in turn, also began to be divided into agreements - the Beglopopovsky (Old Orthodox) and Belokrinitsky (actually Old Believer), and co-religionists.

Assumption Church
Ancient Orthodox
Churches of Russia
in Kursk

The Beglopopovites, who were not included in the Belokrinitsky hierarchy, back in 1923 they formed their own Church. This is how it appeared Russian Ancient Orthodox Church(RDC) led by Archbishop Nikola (Pozdnev) of Saratov. The center, accordingly, was initially located in Saratov, then in Moscow, Kuibyshev, Novozybkov. In 1990, the Intercession Cathedral in Zamoskvorechye (Novokuznetskaya St.) was transferred to the Moscow community, and in 2002, Patriarch Alexander (Kalinin) was elected in the Ancient Orthodox Church.

In 1999, the RDC also split; Old Orthodox Church of Russia And with its center in Kursk.

The church schism of the mid-17th century changed the ritual tradition of the Russian Orthodox Church based on modern Greek Orthodox rank. The reform was carried out forcibly, with severe violence. And many Russian people, from aristocratic families to common people, part of the clergy did not accept the reforms. These were not the worst, but, on the contrary, the most devout Christians. Approximately a third of the population, on which Russian Orthodoxy rested since the Baptism of Rus, went into schism. This had very disastrous consequences for the fate of Russia. The kingdom was divided into itself and, of course, could not resist. This tragedy was understood by many, including the Old Believers, because schism is not a phenomenon of church consciousness, it is from the evil one.

Prayer, fasting and beard

How do Moscow Old Believers live?
16/10/2015

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About 10 thousand Old Believers live in Moscow. At the end of October, the capital will host a cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church. Old Believer Church, where representatives of the parishes of Russia, the USA, Australia, and Eastern Europe will gather.
MOSLENTA found out how the Old Believers manage to preserve their faith and customs, what the priests live on, and whether there is any relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church. A member of Rogozhskaya spoke about this Old Believer community in Moscow, coordinator of the department for youth affairs of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church Oleg Khokhlov.

Simeon Korolev, Rogozh parishioner
There are no exact data on the number of Old Believer parishes, but scientists talk about two million Old Believers in the CIS. Real parishioners participating in church life, there are up to 100 thousand people. There are about 10 thousand Old Believers in Moscow. Over the past years, the number has remained stable, but the share of young people is growing. Half of the parishioners in the churches are new people, the other half are hereditary Old Believers. There are two main types of Old Believers - priests and non-priests. The former have their own priesthood, the latter believe that with the schism the grace of the church was lost.

The rules of the Old Believers are much stricter than those of the Russian Orthodox Church. Confession and communion are preceded by a strict week-long fast, during which a prayer rule is read every day for at least two hours. Men without a beard are not allowed to receive communion; in the event of death, under no circumstances are they given a funeral service. Only children under 6-7 years old can receive communion at each liturgy.

All temples are divided into female and male halves. It is always easy to assess the gender composition of parishioners. The approximate ratio of women and men is 60 to 40. At the same time, there are approximately equal numbers of young people, and there are many married couples.

The [Russian Orthodox] Old Believer Church in Moscow has three [operating] churches [Before the revolution there were more than 40 in Moscow Old Believer churches and prayer houses, many of their surviving remains were privatized in the 1990s by the former owners and are being used for other purposes as offices, etc.]. In Rogozhskaya Sloboda, services are held in the Intercession Church (pictured), and there is a bell tower. In 2012, the restoration of the neighboring church was completed, but it has not been consecrated; exhibitions of icons are held there.
The second existing temple is well known to Muscovites - the White Church near the Belorussky Station on Tverskaya Zastava Square. The third temple is located on Ostozhenka next to the Chaika swimming pool. Services are also held in the church in Lefortovo, but it has not been fully restored. Bespopovites have two parishes in Moscow. One is located in Tokmakov Lane, the other is at the Preobrazhenskoye Cemetery.

Most Old Believers in Moscow work in secular jobs. Many people are involved in construction finishing works. Mutual support is very welcome when issues are resolved through friends. The horizontal structure of the Old Believers saved them from persecution in all centuries. All other things being equal, people prefer to give money for some services to their own people.

Among the Old Believers, contraception and all types of unnatural fertilization are prohibited. There are many large families, three children is the norm. You can often find five or seven children in a family. People with many children often go to the countryside, to distant farmsteads. They manage their households, [some] live on money from renting out apartments. It is difficult to support such families in Moscow.

It is known that many among the government and successful entrepreneurs have Old Believer roots. For example, Yeltsin's security chief Alexander Korzhakov was born into a family of Old Believers. He built a temple in his parent village of Molokovo in the Orekhovo-Zuevsky district. But there are no noticeable philanthropists who would help the Moscow community.

The Old Believers are proud that they have preserved the conciliarity of the church. The Holy Council meets annually; all parishes delegate to it one priest and one layman, who is elected independently of the will of the priest at a community meeting. Delegates come from all over Russia, from Australia, America, Romania. The next council will be held in Moscow on October 21. Church-wide issues will be resolved there; decisions are binding on all believers.

Priests perform the role of prayer books and shepherds, and entrust all financial and economic affairs to secular people. The priest's salary is determined by the community meeting. In Moscow, priests receive about 15 thousand rubles. Another source of income is demands. This is the consecration of objects, movables, real estate, food. There are no fixed tariffs, no one demands money. Believers simply thank the priest for this. Some people pay nothing, while others can give a thousand euros for the consecration of an apartment.

Official contacts with the Russian Orthodox Church are carried out at the level of the Presidential Council for Religious Affairs. The head of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church (ROC), Metropolitan Korniliy, is included there; the head of the Russian Orthodox Church [Patriarch] Kirill is also a member of the council. The Russian Orthodox Church still considers the Old Believers to be heretics, and they respond symmetrically. Congregational prayer is excluded.

The Bespopovites have the strictest rules in everyday life. They believe that one can become defiled by heresy through a common meal or communication. Bespopovtsy do not eat from the same [ware] with the New Orthodox, do not take pictures, do not use the Internet. The priests have softer rules. In total, only 15 percent of Old Believers use the Internet more or less regularly.

Oleg Khokhlov, editor of the site “Old Believer Thought” Baptism among Old Believers is carried out only by immersion. Dousing is considered heresy. At baptism, Old Believers wear a pectoral cross and a belt, which symbolizes the border between the top and bottom of a person.
Diminutive forms of names are not used even for children. It is believed that this humiliates the guardian angel. It is customary to address people by name, often adding a patronymic.

http://starove.ru/

It is sometimes difficult for a person with little church knowledge or little knowledge of the history of Orthodoxy to distinguish an Old Believer church from a New Believer (Nikonian) church and vice versa.

Sometimes a passerby will see Orthodox church and enters it to light candles, give notes or perform other religious actions. For example, in accordance with the traditions of the Nikonian Church, now called the Russian Orthodox Church MP, a parishioner rushes to the icons and wants to kiss them all, or at least kiss each forehead, reach out with his hand, if otherwise it is impossible, and then suddenly it turns out that he is not allowed to do this, so how he ended up in an Old Believer church, where such customs are not approved. The priests do not bless, the temple servants ask to move away from the icons. A person who is accustomed to the fact that kissing icons in a church is his religious right begins to argue and prove that his rights are being infringed upon, sometimes angrily demanding: “Go away, everyone, I came to God, not to you!”

Meanwhile, when entering a temple for the first time about which you know nothing, it is always better to ask the gatekeeper or candle maker about the affiliation of the temple. Here we will look at some signs that will help you distinguish an Old Believer church from a church of the Russian Orthodox Church MP.
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External architecture of the Old Believer temple

Bezpopovsky churches

External image of the temple

External architecture Old Believer Church in the overwhelming majority of cases it does not differ in any way from the architecture of New Believer, Uniate and other churches. This could be a building built in the Novgorod or New Russian styles using elements of classicism, or maybe even small house or even an impromptu temple in a wooden trailer.

The exceptions are Old Believers priestless churches. Some of them ( mainly in the Baltic states, Belarus and Ukraine) there is no altar apse, since there is no altar itself.

The eastern part of such Old Believer churches does not have an altar ledge and ends an ordinary wall. However, this is not always visible. Whether there is an altar or not - you can definitely tell only once you are inside the temple. In Russia and some other places, Bezpopovites continue to build churches with apses, maintaining the tradition of antiquity.

Internal image of the temple

Concerning internal view, then in non-priestly Temples, without exception, lack an altar. The iconostasis covers the wall, but not the altar; the altar is placed on the solea. In some non-priest churches, a large altar cross is installed in the center of the solea, opposite the royal doors.

The doors to the altar have decorative function and do not open. However, in most non-priest churches there are no royal or deacon doors at all. There are several non-priest churches, the buildings of which were built in ancient times; such altars are present, but are used as additional premises: baptisms, small prayer houses, storage rooms for icons and books.

Eight-pointed cross

All Old Believer churches have eight-pointed crosses without all kinds of decorations. If there is a cross of some other shape on the temple, incl. and with the “crescent”, “anchor”, then this temple is definitely not Old Believer. And the point here is not that the Old Believers do not recognize four-pointed or other forms of crosses, but that due to the persecution of the eight-pointed cross, it was he who received preferential veneration in the Old Believers.

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. Candles and chandeliers

Once inside an unfamiliar temple, you need to look around. For example, in Old Believer churches, electric light is not used during services. (an exception is made only for the choir) . Lamps in candlesticks and chandeliers burn using natural vegetable oil.

Candles for use in Old Believer churches are made from pure wax natural color. The use of colored candles - red, white, green, etc. - is not allowed.

Icons in temples

An important feature of an Old Believer church is its special icons: copper-cast or handwritten, written in the so-called. "canonical style".

Images in Italian style or the Renaissance style, which are easily found in churches of the Moscow Patriarchate or Uniate churches, are simply unacceptable in Old Believer churches. Therefore, if you see icons of a new style in a church, you can be sure that you are anywhere but in an Old Believer church, and here you will not be forbidden to venerate all the available icons after the service.

If the temple has icons of Tsar Nicholas II, St. Seraphim of Sarov. blzh. Matrons, the temple definitely cannot be an Old Believers church, since the Old Believers did not glorify these saints and did not paint icons for them.

You should also take a closer look at the headdresses of the saints and saints depicted on the icons. If they are crowned with black or white hoods in the shape of cylinders, then you most likely entered the church of the Russian Orthodox Church MP, because such hoods came into fashion after the reforms of Patriarch Nikon, while in the ancient Russian church monks and saints wore completely different headdresses.

Cowls in the Old Believer Church on the icon of the saint and on the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Cornelius

On the icon of Saint Luke in a hood cylindrical– iconography of the Nikonian church (new letter)

Helpers

In many Old Believer churches you can find hand tools- special mats for prostrations. Handicrafts, as a rule, are folded into neat piles on the benches of an Old Believer church.

Prostrations for prostration

Contrary to popular belief, Old Believer churches never have benches or other seating (like Catholics or Uniates) , in fact, such seats are available in a number of Old Believers non-priestly churches of the Baltic countries.

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Church hymn

If Divine services are performed in a church, then an Old Believer church can be easily distinguished by its characteristic unison singing of singers. Polyphonic znamenny chant characteristic of the modern Nikonian church, and other chords, triads, and indeed any harmonic modes in the Old Believer Divine Service are prohibited.

For comparison, the Cherubic Song of the Znamenny Chant. The singers of the Russian Orthodox Church MP sing:

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Of course the chant is very beautiful, but church hymn It should not turn into a concert, bewitch, enchant with beautiful voices and harmonies, for this is prayer and nothing should interfere with the prayerful spirit at the Liturgy, during which God performs great sacraments.

Clothes of believers at the service

In the churches of the Moscow Patriarchate, the clothing of parishioners is of a free nature, this is especially noticeable when looking at the women standing in the service. They can be dressed in clothes of any style, stylish or casual, wear a skirt or trousers, and have a scarf on their heads, a carelessly thrown scarf that exposes their neck, or a lace cap that barely covers the back of their head, from under which strands of hair coquettishly fall out.

Confession in the Church of the Russian Orthodox Church MP. The girls' headscarves are casually thrown on; on the left, one of the girls is without a headscarf at all.

Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill blesses children - girls with their heads uncovered - at a service in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

Such freedom in clothing is unacceptable in an Old Believer church, for the Old Believers adhere to a special, one might say cultic, strictness in clothing.

Women of the Old Believer Church know that they must come to church for the festive service at long skirt, in a white scarf and without makeup On weekdays, any other plain scarf (not bright), and clothes should not be colorful or immodest.

Taganka (more precisely Rogozhskaya Sloboda) was in the past the center of Russian Old Believers. I would like to tell you a little about the surviving former Old Believer churches. There are four of them on Taganka alone today, and there is little that reminds us of their past. After reconstruction and redevelopment, they were disfigured inside and outside beyond recognition.

The most famous building on Taganka today, which used to be an Old Believer temple, is probably the “Children’s Theater” in the Tagansky Children’s Park named after Pryamikov. Beautiful building peach color today it delights not only children, but also park visitors with its architectural elegance. And few people know that this is the former Church of the Intercession of the Old Believer Karinkinsky community, the trustees of which were the wealthy Old Believers Ryabushinsky. The church was built in the name of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the 1900s, and was closed by order of the Presidium of the Moscow Soviet in 1935, transferring the building “at the request of the People's Commissariat of the USSR for All-Union correspondence courses.” The building has a complicated history, which does not seem to end with the Children's Theatre.

Not far from the Intercession Church on M. Andronevskaya Street, 15, there is the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of the Nikolsko-Rogozh Old Believer Community, built according to the design of the architect I. Bondarenko in 1912. The temple was taken away from believers in the mid-30s. and was given over to the sewing association club. Today at former temple behind a guarded green fence is the office of the Union of Right Forces party.

In Chertovoy (later Durny Lane, now Tovarishchesky) in the depths of house No. 6 there was a Moscow center of Old Believers of the Filippov Consent, founded in the 1780s. immigrants from the city of Kimry At the end of the 18th century, the community numbered up to 300 people. The surrounding houses were bought up by Filippov merchants - these courtyards formed a labyrinth that made it possible to hide from the police. After 1905, a bell tower was added to the prayer building sunk into the ground (broken in 1926). The prayer house was closed around 1930 (the building was demolished in 1982, empty place became part of the Tagansky Children's Park. Two stone residential outbuildings with an almshouse opened into the alley, which have been preserved in their rebuilt form and today look so gray and inconspicuous.

The most cruel fate befell perhaps the largest and most beautiful Old Believer Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Apukhtinka (Novoselensky lane, 6 - in the courtyards near the Pobeda cinema). This is how they wrote about the new temple at the beginning of the twentieth century: “This is the only temple in the capital where a complete ensemble of ancient paintings and object decorations has been patiently selected. The church at the Intercession Gate is full of precious and beautiful icons, shining with their authentic colors against the backdrop of the old basma of the iconostasis, next to strictly found ancient utensils. The interior splendor of the temple was created by icons that were collected throughout Russia. The five-tiered iconostasis is entirely covered with ancient gilded basma. On the western external wall the cathedral church is located above the western doors large sizes image of the Dormition of the Mother of God with the Moscow high priests standing below: Metropolitan Peter and Metropolitan Alexy.” The most beautiful Old Believer church built in 1907, after closing in 1932, was transferred to a hostel at the Stankolit plant, and today has turned into a dubious-looking, half-collapsed “den” for guest workers and marginalized people, whom I mainly observe there.

Some Old Believer churches in Moscow were even less fortunate. For example, in the Assumption-Pokrovsky Church in the Bassmanny district there is the Spartak sports hall, and on Serpukhovsky Val, 16 (Khavskaya St.) in the Church of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir and the Tikhvin Icon Mother of God until recently it housed an entertainment grill bar. I think there are more sad examples.
The result of the barbaric policy of destroying churches during the Soviet period, in addition to the four listed above, in Taganka alone, was the disappearance of at least five more Old Believer churches, such as the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the courtyard of the Moscow archbishop (Nikolo-Yamskaya impasse), St. Apostle Peter and Paul (Shelaputinsky lane, 1 ); Holy Martyr Sergius and Bacchus (Gzhel lane); Holy Trinity in the house of Sveshnikov (Samokatny lane, 2); St. Sergius Radonezhsky (in Fedorov’s house, on the corner of B. and M. Fakelnye on Taganka).

Thus, in the 30s. In the 20th century, all Old Believer churches on Taganka were closed, refurbished for peaceful purposes (gyms, pubs and canteens) or simply destroyed, with the exception of the Intercession Cathedral of the Old Believer Rogozhsky community at the Rogozhsky cemetery, which continues to operate today. Only one out of ten Old Believer churches on Taganka was preserved! Sad statistics, but this is the story of the area, the story of the loss of faith.

But all foreign Old Believers in comparison with total number those remaining in Russia itself make up a very small percentage. No prohibitions, no persecutions could destroy them: they hid in cities and villages, hid in forests and deserts, but remained Old Orthodox Christians. And as such, they had to somehow create their spiritual life, be organized, united, have their own shepherds, leaders, receive the sacraments of the church, be spiritually nourished and grow, according to the Apostle, “to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” The persecuted Church needed spiritual centers. And such were created in the very first years of her flight. Its spiritual centers were such Old Believer settlements, where the spiritual forces of the Church were concentrated and where there was an opportunity to perform spiritual deeds. These were mainly monasteries and monasteries. Distinctive feature The fleeing Old Believers were the creation of monasteries and monasteries; they became the source and guide of spiritual life. From here came the leadership of the Church, from monasteries priests were sent to parishes, from here St. Myrrh, all kinds of epistles to Christians were compiled here, essays were written in defense of the Church, and the very defenders and preachers of the ancient fatherly faith were brought up here. In some places, several hermitages and monasteries were concentrated - several dozen each, with many hundreds of monastic ascetics and ascetics. They united under the leadership of the most prominent and honored monastery. From these concentrated places, something like holy cathedrals was created. There were several such spiritual centers in the history of the Old Believers. The most famous for their church activities were Kerzhenets, Starodubye, Vetka, Irgiz and the Rogozhskoye cemetery in Moscow.

Kerzhenets. This is the name of the river flowing through Semenovsky district Nizhny Novgorod province, and flowing into the Volga. The entire area covered by the flow of the river is named after it. In the 17th century A dense, almost impenetrable forest grew here. It provided an opportunity for persecuted Christians to take refuge from their merciless enemies. By the end of the 17th century. on Kerzhenets there were up to a hundred monasteries - male and female, in them more than seven hundred monks and about two thousand nuns were saved and labored. The entire vicinity of the Kerzhenets River was exclusively Old Believers, since here, as in almost everything Nizhny Novgorod region, Old Orthodox Christians did not accept Nikon’s reform. Numerous Old Believer councils took place in the Kerzhen monasteries; priests who left the Nikonian church were received here, from here they were sent throughout Russia to correct church requirements, and essays in defense of old faith, its apologists and preachers were raised, icons, books, notebooks, etc. were written.

Under Peter I, the destruction of this spiritual center of the Old Believer Church began. The main persecutor of Old Orthodox Christians in this area, as well as in the entire Nizhny Novgorod province, was Nizhny Novgorod Archbishop Pitirim. It was he who incited the tsar against the Old Believers. Many Kerzhen Old Believers at this time were sent to hard labor, tortured, and others were executed. In Nizhny Novgorod, the famous Old Believer deacon Alexander, who compiled a wonderful book of Answers to Pitirim's questions, was publicly executed: his head was cut off, his body was burned and the ashes were thrown into the Volga. For his diligent work, Archbishop Pitirim received the title of “equal to the apostles” from Peter himself. As a result of such persecution, huge crowds of Old Believers fled from here to the Perm region, to Siberia, to Starodubye, to Vetka and other places.

Starodubye is located in the northern part of Little Russia (in Starodubsky, Novozybkovsky and Surazhsky districts of the Chernigov province). And in our time, Old Believer settlements are known here: Klintsy, Svyatsk, Klimove, Mitskovka, Eleonka, Voronok, Luzhki, Zybkaya (which became the city of Novozybkov) and other settlements inhabited almost exclusively by Old Believers. These settlements were founded by Old Believers in the 17th and 18th centuries. Starodubye is distinguished by an abundance of rivers, swamps and previously impenetrable forests. It then bordered Poland and Lithuania. This made Starodubye a convenient place for refuge from persecution and persecution. Local authorities treated newcomer Christians with toleration and condescension, and sometimes even patronizingly. But the Moscow government did not leave the Old Believers alone here either. Already during Sophia’s reign they began to be squeezed out. The above-mentioned settlements had not yet been founded. At first, Fr. Kozma, a Moscow priest who fled here immediately after the council of 1667, and the Belevsky priest Fr. Stephen. During their ascetic life, they enjoyed great respect among the people as righteous people and as true, exemplary shepherds. When persecution began in Starodubye, these priests, together with their flock, left the Polish border and settled on Vetka. Subsequently, however, the Old Believers firmly settled Starodubye. By the end of the 18th century there were three monasteries here, the main one being Pokrovsky, and one female monastery - Kazansky; in the suburbs there are 17 churches, 16 open chapels and many home “prayer” and hermitage cells.

The branch is located in Gomel district, Mogilev province. Now under this name a place is known, located opposite the island, washed by a small strait that looks like a branch (which is where the name of the settlement itself came from) and flows into the Sozh River. Within Polish borders, the Old Believers enjoyed freedom; no one persecuted them here. Old Believers fled here, except for Starodub, and from other places in Russia. Soon, in the vicinity of this first settlement of Old Believers in Poland (in an area of ​​30-40 versts), about twenty new settlements were established, each with its own name. But this entire area, inhabited by Old Believers, received a common name - Vetka. For a long time it served as the guiding center of the spiritual life of the Old Believers. The rise and strengthening of Vetka was greatly facilitated by the priestly monk Theodosia, a very active, well-read and intelligent shepherd, who lived a pious and ascetic life. The Moscow government drew attention to this spiritual-hierarchical nursery of the Old Believers, but could not do anything with it, since it was located abroad - in Poland. However, as soon as the Kingdom of Poland weakened, the Russian government hastened to defeat Vetka.

In 1734, the Vetka Old Believers received them under the second rank, i.e. under confirmation from Nikonian Bishop Epiphanius. But he stayed with them less than a year, having managed to install only fourteen priests. The Russian government, having learned about this, hastened to send to Vetka in the summer next year an army of five regiments, under the command of Colonel Sytin, which suddenly surrounded all Vetkovo settlements. The Old Believers were taken by surprise; no one could escape. A general search of monasteries, monasteries, houses, and cells was carried out. Everything that was found was arrested and taken away. All houses, cells and other buildings were burned to the ground. Immediately neither the bishop nor Vetka herself disappeared. Epiphany was imprisoned in Kyiv in the Pechersk fortress, where he soon died. About 300 monks and more than 800 nuns were captured in the hermitages and monasteries of Vetka. They were sent to numerous monasteries of the New Believers Church under strict supervision: here they were forcibly taken to churches for church services, exhorted them to accept “Orthodoxy,” kept them chained, and sent them to do backbreaking work. All the inhabitants of Vetka were captured forty thousand people - men, women and children. They were exiled to the Transbaikal region, in Eastern Siberia, seven thousand kilometers from Vetka. They took with them the incorruptible relics of their first four priests. But when the authorities found out about this, they burned these bodies. Despite the fact that the government did not give these exiles any help, but simply abandoned them on a bare field - settle as you wish - they soon settled well in their new place, thanks to their hard work, and lived quite prosperously.

This defeat of Vetka is known in history as the “first expulsion”. In the incinerated place, new populations soon appeared again, settlements and monasteries arose again. Within five years, Vetka clearly rose from the ashes. There were already 1,200 monks in it, and up to 1,000 nuns. The total population numbered more than 40,000 souls. During the reign of Empress Catherine II, who received the title of humane, Vetka’s “second expulsion” followed. Later there was a third “forcing”. But every time Vetka was populated again. It exists to this day.

The Irgiz is a large tributary of the Volga, flowing in the southeastern half of the Saratov and Samara provinces. During the reign of Catherine II, Old Believers settled this region in large quantities and founded many hermitages and monasteries here. Of these, three men's monasteries were especially famous: Avraamiev, Pakhomiev and Isaac's and two women's monasteries: Margaritin and Anfisin. All of them were united by one common name - Irgiz. Both the monasteries and their surroundings were inhabited by Old Believers, summoned by the Empress from abroad.

Having ascended the throne, Empress Catherine II issued a manifesto in which she called on foreign Old Believers to return to Russia and promised them “motherly bounty” and a calm and prosperous life. The Old Believers responded to this call very joyfully and poured into home country, which was so yearned for abroad. The government allocated them a place within Irgiz. Irgiz monasteries quickly acquired extreme importance in the church life of the Old Believers. The strict ascetic life of the Irgiz monks and nuns attracted the attention of the entire Old Believer Russia, for stories and rumors about the holiness of the hermits reached the very last corners great country. Irgiz became the leader of the Old Believer parishes. Hundreds of priests who served in numerous Old Believer parishes depended on him. There were periods in the history of Irgiz when more than two hundred priests were under its jurisdiction. The fame and importance of Irgiz surpassed Kerzhenets, Vetka, and Starodubye. The churches built on Irgiz were distinguished by their splendor and richness of internal decoration. For the Irgiz St. Nicholas Church, Empress Catherine sent a gift of a brocade priestly robe, on which she personally embroidered her name. During the reign of Emperor Nicholas I, all Irgiz monasteries were destroyed and taken away from the Old Believers.

The Rogozhskoye Cemetery in Moscow was founded during the reign of the same empress, Catherine the Great. In 1771, a terrible plague epidemic raged in the capital of Russia. The Moscow Old Believers were given a place behind the Rogozhskaya outpost for the burial of the plague dead. A large spiritual refuge with cells, almshouses and churches gradually arose here. First, a temple was erected in the name of St. Nicholas. Then they began to build a huge temple in the name of the Intercession Holy Mother of God. In terms of the vastness of this temple, there is no equal to it in Moscow (with the exception of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, erected later than Rogozhsky). But it was not allowed to be completed according to the plan drawn up by the famous architect M. Kazakov. Petrograd Metropolitan Gabriel reported to the Empress about the construction of the temple. He claimed in a denunciation that the Old Believers were a dangerous people and that by building their big temple humiliate the mainstream church. An investigation followed - and as a result, the temple was completed in a disfigured form: instead of five chapters, only one small one was installed, the ledges for the altars were broken off, and for them, already in the temple itself, the front part was fenced off; the entire body of the church was humiliated. Temple with outside Although it turned out to be huge, it looked like a simple house. But inside the temple shines with wonderful decoration and icons of rare antiquity and all other splendor. The third Rogozhsky temple (winter) was erected already in 1804, consecrated in the name of the Birth of Christ.

During Napoleon's invasion of Moscow, the French also visited the Rogozhskoye cemetery. But the Rogozh residents managed to leave the cemetery in advance and remove all the shrines of the temples. After the expulsion of Napoleon, the capital was occupied by the Don Cossacks, consisting mainly of Old Believers, and their commander, the famous hero of the Patriotic War, Count Platov (from the Don Cossacks), was also an Old Believers. He donated his camp church to the Rogozhsky cemetery.

Rogozh churches were often attacked by the secular and even more so by the spiritual authorities of the ruling church. At the end of the reign of Emperor Alexander I, all the churches of the Rogozhsky cemetery were closed. But soon, however, they were opened again. During the reign of Emperor Nicholas I, when the persecution of the Old Believers was raging everywhere, the St. Nicholas Church with all its shrines was taken away from the Rogozh Old Believers, at the insistence of the famous Moscow Metropolitan Philaret. This happened in 1854, and two years later, already during the reign of Emperor Alexander II, under the personal petition of the same Philaret, the altars of the Lord in the remaining two churches were sealed. From the surviving correspondence of M. Philaret it is clear how angrily he rejoiced at this event: he recognized the cessation of the Divine Liturgy among the Old Believers in the very center of their spiritual life as the greatest triumph of Orthodoxy. This “triumph” lasted for almost half a century, during which the Rogozhskoe cemetery experienced many other disasters. Only during the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, precisely on April 16, 1905, on the eve of Easter Matins, were the altars of the Rogozhskoe cemetery finally unsealed. It was truly an Easter celebration - the victory of Christ Himself, risen from the dead.

Throughout its existence, the Rogozhskoe cemetery was the leading center of the Old Believers. It remains so today.

Vygovskaya desert

In the history of the Old Believers there was great value the so-called Vygovskaya Hermitage, based on the Vyg River, which flows into Vygozero (Olonets province). The glory of this monastery first, and then a cenobitic monastery, was created by the famous Denisov brothers, Andrei and Semeon, from the family of the Myshetsky princes. They were the main creators and leaders of the Vygovskaya Hermitage. It began in 1694. It quickly grew and subsequently turned into the leading center of priestlessness.

The Vygovskaya Hermitage had large arable lands, was engaged in cattle breeding and fishing; had mills, factories: brick, tannery, sawmill; conducted extensive trade with many cities, even had its own merchant fleet on the White Sea. Peter I treated the Vygovites leniently and even allowed them to freely and openly conduct divine services using old printed books. Such a merciful attitude of Peter is explained by the fact that the Vygovites agreed to work at the Povenets factories that he built. The Vygovites endeared themselves to royal power by sending various gifts to the palace: the best deer, factory horses, bulls, various birds, etc.

The internal life of the Vygov monastery was conducted according to the monastic rules and order: services were held there every day, all the property of the brethren was considered common, everyone had one common meal. At first, the Vygovites preached a celibate life for everyone, and then they turned into marriage lovers. In the first years of its existence, the Vygovskaya Hermitage had a priesthood and communion: the Solovetsky priest Paphnutius lived and served here; The last monk on Vyga died at the beginning of the 18th century. And even after the end of the priesthood on Vyg, the Vygites for a long time received communion with the spare Lamb. The leaders of the Vygovskaya Hermitage, the Denisov brothers themselves, resolutely professed faith in the eternity of Christ’s bloodless sacrifice. In their famous “Responses” to the synodal missionary Neophytos, written in 1723, called “Pomeranians,” they declare: “We believe in the holy Apostle Paul, we believe in the holy teachers of the church, who proclaim that the sacrifice of the mystery should be offered in remembrance of the Lord even to the end of the age” (response 99th). And with the sacrifice there must be an eternal priesthood, for the former cannot exist without the latter. Therefore, the Vygovites lived for a long time in the belief that somewhere the Lord preserved a pious priesthood. They made more than once attempts to acquire a bishop for themselves and thus restore the sacred hierarchy in their midst. Of these attempts, the three most famous are:

a) the Vetkovo Old Believers, long before Bishop Epiphanius joined them, were in active contact with the Yassy Old Believers about acquiring a bishop for themselves from the Yassy Metropolitan. They approached the Vygov Old Believers with a proposal to take part in this matter with them. On this occasion, the Vygovites convened a council to discuss this issue with special care. The Council unanimously and very sympathetically reacted to the proposal to acquire a bishop. Andrei Denisovich himself wanted to go with the Vetkovites to Iasi on this matter. The Vygovites, however, did not let him go, since they had an “imminent need” for him on the spot. Instead, one “zealous zealot Leonty Fedoseev” was authorized to conduct the matter of acquiring a bishop together with the Vetkovites. Andrei himself wrote to Leonty instructions on what conditions it would be possible to accept a newly ordained bishop from the Iasi Metropolitan: the one to be ordained must be baptized and tonsured by the old Vetkovo priests - Dosifei, Theodosius or others; when performing the rite of ordination, the blessing and sign of the cross should be with two fingers; the rite itself must be performed according to “ancient Slavic-Russian books”; the person being ordained in his confession must not make promises to agree with eastern patriarchs, but only “I agree to be a Catholic Eastern Church or an ancient holy Eastern teacher.” For the “best work,” Andrei Denisov advises to ordain “more decently than an archbishop, rather than a bishop”: then he would independently ordain his successors - other bishops. Andrei concluded his instructions and instructions to Leonty Fedoseev with a zealous request: “And you, for the sake of the Lord and the peace of the Church, try to go to them (i.e., to the Vetkovites) and promptly advise and make peace about everything useful, in everything according to the old church order and out of fear correctly and in necessary cases with penitential cleansing." Denisov added about all his elders and brothers that they all “beg God to give us what is useful, saving, and undeniable to receive.” So great was the thirst of the Vygovites to acquire a bishop for themselves, to have a legitimate sacred hierarchy. Andrei Denisov's message is dated, as it says, 7238, i.e. 1730

Nikon's innovations began in 1653, from that time 77 years passed until the fact described. The Vygovites understood perfectly well that the Metropolitan of Yassy, ​​whose ordination they were ready to accept on the above conditions, was, of course, a heretic, therefore Andrei Denisov considered it necessary to talk about “penitential cleansing.” The "Pomeranian" answers prove that the Eastern Church retreated from true Orthodoxy much earlier. Nevertheless, the Vygovites were glad to receive a bishop from her. It is clear that at that time they lived in the priestly spirit. Due to the fact that in Iasi they demanded that the Old Believer candidate give a confession to “keep the new dogmas,” the ordination of a bishop for the Old Believers did not take place.

b) the independent attempt of the Vygovites to find a bishop dates back to 1730. In their “Pomeranian Answers,” they stated that they did not reject the hierarchical dignity of the Russian New Believers Church: “We are afraid of joining the current Russian Church,” they wrote, “not by disdaining church meetings, not by rejecting holy orders, not by hating the sacraments of the Church, but by innovations from Nikon’s times.” We are afraid of new additions." But getting a bishop from her was unthinkable at that time. Therefore, the Vygovites and their independent search for a bishop, just like the Vetkovites, directed them to the east - to the Greek-Eastern Church. The famous Vygov figure Mikhail Ivanovich Vyshatin went there, and it was to Jerusalem. He, of course, knew Vyg’s fraternal decision regarding the acquisition of a bishop, expressed in the authorization of Andrei Denisov to Leonty Fedoseev. He did not go to Palestine immediately, but first visited Poland, where at that time Vetka was intensely concerned about acquiring a bishop for herself; and then visited the “land of Voloshskaya”, i.e. in Moldova, where the Old Believers negotiated with the Iasi Metropolitan about the ordination of a bishop for Vetka. Professor P.S. Smirnov suggests that it was Vyshatin who could have been the initiator of the conversations between the local Old Believers and the Iasi Metropolitan that began in Iasi about the ordination of a bishop for them, and that on his advice and instructions the above-mentioned communication with Vyg of the Vetkovites took place. His journey to Palestine to find the same bishopric was, it must be assumed, the result of the Yassy failure. As Vygov’s bibliographer Pavel Curious (Onufriev) testifies, Andrei Denisov wrote “approving messages” to this seeker for the episcopate, “the traveling brother Vyshatin” and his companions. Vyshatin, however, was not successful in Palestine: death, which befell him there, interrupted his work and thus deprived the Vygovites of the opportunity to acquire a bishop from the Patriarch of Jerusalem.

c) 35 years after this search for the bishopric, a council of Old Believers took place in Moscow, precisely in 1765, all on the same issue - the restoration of the episcopal rank in the Old Believers. Representatives of the “Pomeranians” also took part in this cathedral. And then they still longed to have a bishopric and, therefore, a legally ordained priesthood. However, the Moscow Council did not give positive results. The Old Believers continued to be without bishops.

Over time, the “Pomeranians” became not only actual non-priests (they became such after the death of the former priests), but also ideological ones, for they began to teach that the priesthood had ceased everywhere and there was nowhere to get it from. Nevertheless, to this day they still live by faith in the necessity of the priesthood in the church and demand that church sacraments and spiritual services be administered not by the laity, but by clergy. They recognize their mentors, who administer spiritual requests to them, not as secular persons, but as sacred hierarchical ones, although they are not ordained by anyone and do not have any rank.

The All-Russian Council of Pomorians, held in Moscow in 1909, which they even called ecumenical, decided: “Our spiritual fathers should not be considered simpletons, since they receive, upon election to the parish and with the blessing of another spiritual father, the successively transmitted grace of the Holy Spirit to govern the church "(Cathedral Code. L. 2). These are sacred persons, like elders among sectarians. They also receive their “grace” in the same way. They are either ordained by the community, like Evangelical Christians, or they are blessed by previously elected elders. The Bespopovites really call their mentors “spiritual fathers,” that is, “clergy,” “shepherds,” “abbots,” etc. names, having developed and established even the “Rank” of elevation to “spiritual fathers”. Bespopovtsy in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia do not call themselves bespopovtsy, but simply Old Believers. What kind of priestless people are they if they have clergy as the managers of their church, who receive “successive grace” to govern the church and to perform the sacraments of church and spiritual needs? And in Russia, in 1926, a council of Pomeranian mentors took place in Nizhny Novgorod, which decided to restore in their midst the real priesthood with all hierarchical titles and rights, either by borrowing it from other Christian churches, or by declaring their mentors actual priests and bishops. This decree of the Bespopov mentors gave rise to the Consecrated Council of the Ancient Orthodox Church, held in Moscow in 1927, to address all the Bespopov Old Believers with [...] a “Message,” calling them to reconciliation with the Church of Christ. Unfortunately, this “Message” could not be printed and is stored in only one copy in the archives of the Moscow Old Believer Archdiocese. In some places, Bespopovtsy-Pomeranians already call their mentors “priests” and dress them in vestments during services. Thus, lack of priesthood turns into priesthood. The sacred hierarchical spirit of the former Vygovites did not die in their descendants, but only degenerated into the form of a self-made “clergy.”

The Vygovskaya Hermitage was famous not only as spiritual center, who led numerous parishes throughout Russia, but mainly as an educational center. The Denisov brothers were learned people and had extensive knowledge in the field of church history. In the Vygov monastery there was a real academy teaching academic sciences. It produced a long line of writers, apologists for the Old Believers, preachers and other figures. The Vygovskaya Hermitage has brilliantly proven that it contains more knowledge than the capitals of St. Petersburg and Moscow of its time. The Old Believer apologetics created here still have indestructible significance. The “Pomeranian answers”, which contain the foundations of the Old Belief, remain unrefuted. In matters of Old Believers, the Vygovskaya Hermitage was followed in the 19th century by the Moscow Theological Academy, at whose departments professors Kapterev, Golubinsky, Belokurov, Dimitrievsky and others gave their lectures in the Old Believer spirit. In the Vygovskaya Hermitage, thousands of essays were compiled on various topics, mainly on Old Believer issues.

Despite the repeated and persistent demands of the spiritual authorities of the ruling church to destroy the Vygov monastery, it existed almost peacefully until the reign of Nicholas I. Under the same emperor, the persecutor of the Old Believers, it was mercilessly destroyed to the ground and all its priceless treasures were plundered and simply destroyed.