Modern schismatics. On the significance of the appeal of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church to the schismatics

As in Catholicism, in Orthodoxy there is such a thing as talk. In Orthodoxy, these are, of course, schismatic sects.

The beginning of the schism of the church is considered to be the revision of church books in the first quarter of the 16th century. Maxim Grek was entrusted with the correction of books according to the existing old Greek models. But due to insufficient knowledge of the Church Slavonic language, according to Metropolitan Daniel, he made new mistakes, for which he was removed from this occupation. At this point, the correction of the books has stopped for the time being.

In the middle of the century, in 1550, a Council was convened, which decided to use not the originals of old books in Greek, but “good translations” when correcting books.

Many clergymen of the white clergy were attracted to this work. But the errors became even more numerous, since in the corrections there appeared in the form of dogmas what had not previously been considered dogmas. Archpriest of Chernigov Mikhail Rogov and Archimandrite Sylvester elevated the following to dogmas:

• - pronounce the name Jesus, not Jesus
• - double sign
• - the use of prosphora in worship
• - salting walking
• - about reading in the "Creed" about the son of God like this: "... his kingdom has no end"
• - about reading about the holy spirit in the "Creed" as "the true Lord"
• - about not shaving beards and mustaches
• - about a special hallelujah

Very acute questions arose about church deanery, about church singing, icon painting, and church preaching.

Once again, the correction of the books was suspended. And during divine services they began to use both the corrected books and the old, unaltered ones.

Talk about correcting the books resumed only in 1648. It was decided to invite Greek theologians. The correction of the main service has begun. Finally, on April 23, 1656, a new Council was convened to discuss a new service book.

At the council, a demarcation was revealed on the following issues:

• - double sign
• - the immutability of the "Creed"

By the decision of the Council, a curse was imposed on the two-fingered sign and its adherents, and a service book was allowed to be published.

Those clergy were anathematized, who later also divided among themselves into several parties. The core of the split was Pavel Kolomensky, Ioan Neronov, Avvakum Povolsky, Daniil Kostroma. Of these, three remained true to the old days, and Pavel Kolomensky, after the removal of Nikon from the post of patriarch, returned to Moscow again and accepted the innovations.

Already in the ranks of the dissenters, various frictions appeared on the following issues:

• How to live outside the church
• - priestly hierarchy
• - which books to use
• - whether to change rites or not

Since that time, two layers in the culture of Orthodoxy have developed in Russia, and they have developed independently of each other. Among the Old Believers there are also confessional tensions; they do not have a single "old" church. There are only groups or rumors that were called by the name of the founder. In 1842, the following rumors were known and described in a report to the Holy Synod:

Fedoseevshchina, Filippovshchina, Aristovshchina, Wanderers, Ryabinovshchina.

According to the type of confession and opposition, the “most harmful”

and least harmful. Here are the most "harmful" in the words of Bishop Alexy of Vladimir:

• - Judaizers
• - Molokans
• - Dukhobors
• - Khlystovism
• - eunuchs
• - bezpopovschina

Apparently, Alexy was confusing individual sects, rumors and churches of the Old Believers, since the Judaizers and Doukhobors are clearly not Old Believers. one

Many books have been written about Orthodoxy, both by the clergy themselves and by philosophers and historians... The topic remains relevant to this day, since there are many written sources about Orthodoxy itself, since the minutes of Councils were kept and treatises were written from antiquity. Many talented historians and philosophers of Russia's past were talented theologians. Maybe that's why our culture is so rich and vibrant. But there is another negative side Orthodoxy - it never contributed to progress. That is, for the true Orthodox, progress or the achievement of wealth has never been the meaning of life. And this is the Eastern peculiarity of Orthodoxy: Eastern religions have never set the goal of achieving wealth. Yes, however, initially, and Christianity did not strive for this. Even Catholicism did not contribute to this. Maybe that's why Christian culture in its naked form was so unacceptable to Russians? After all, Orthodoxy is not Christianity with the peculiarities of Russian color, but the sum of cultural components, in which a special role is not allocated to serving God, church rites.

Metropolitan of Boryspil and Brovarsky Anthony

What is main reason the emergence of schisms, what are the risks for people who have fallen away from the canonical Church? Why do splits occur?

To understand what church schisms are and why they arise, it is best to turn to the canonical rules of the Orthodox Church.

For example, St. Basil the Great speaks about this in detail in his famous canonical letter to Bishop Amphilochius of Iconium. Saint Basil distinguishes three categories of persons who have fallen away from church communion. These are: heretics, schismatics and "composing unauthorized gatherings."

Who are the schismatics, heretics and people "composing unauthorized gatherings"

By heretics, he understands those who distorted any church dogmas, that is, those who deviated from the purity of faith.

He calls schismatics (Greek, “schismatics”) “those who are divided in their opinions on certain ecclesiastical subjects and on issues that allow healing.” That is, at the heart of the schism, according to St. Basil, are disagreements about minor issues of church teaching or church organization, and not about fundamental dogmas.

The third category of those who have fallen away from church communion are the so-called "unauthorized assemblies" (in Greek, "parasynagogue"). By this term he means "assemblies composed of rebellious presbyters or bishops and unlearned people."

Next, St. Basil explains what he means: “For example, if someone, being convicted of sin, is removed from the priesthood, did not submit to the rules, but himself retained the office and the priesthood, and some others retreated with him, leaving the Catholic Church, - this there is a self-made gathering." That is, in this case we are talking exclusively about disciplinary conflicts.

In the history of the Church, we, alas, know many examples of heresies, and schisms, and unauthorized gatherings

For example, Arianism or Monophysitism are, of course, heresies that distorted the fundamental Christian dogmas. Speaking of splits, ancient church they arose, first of all, because of disagreements in questions of penitential discipline.

For example, the split of the Donatists arose because of a dispute about the procedure for admitting to the Church those who had fallen away from it during the years of persecution. As a result, the Donatists, while retaining the fundamental Christian dogmas, nevertheless developed a specific ecclesiology. Already in the twentieth century. the so-called "old calendar schism" arose, connected with the problem of introducing a new calendar into church life. In the 17th century in Russia, an Old Believer schism arose, which was the result of disagreements in the sphere of worship. In all these cases, the schisms were based on dissenting opinions on issues that do not form the very basis of the Christian faith.

As for the current situation in Ukraine, the schism appeared as a result of the fact that the former Metropolitan Filaret, not obeying the decision to remove himself from the administration of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, created a structure that is out of communion with world Orthodoxy

As can be seen from the words of St. Basil the Great, unauthorized assemblies are usually associated with violations of church discipline by individual priests or hierarchs who oppose themselves to church fullness.

No individual person can say that he "owns" the truth.

Christ says that He Himself is the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). Therefore, it would be correct to say that we do not own the truth, but the Truth (Christ) takes possession of a person's heart. The Lord reveals the truth to us to the extent that we can contain it. The keeper of the truth is the Church, which the apostle Paul calls the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim 3:15). As St. Irenaeus of Lyon wrote, “The Apostles have completely invested in the Church, as in a treasury, everything that relates to the truth, so that everyone who wishes takes the drink of life from it.”

History shows that long stay outside communion with the Universal Church, it can also lead to distortions in the sphere of dogma

If we talk about those who are in a church schism or create "unauthorized gatherings", then these people do not renounce the fundamental revealed truths. They believe in the Holy Trinity and in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who came in the flesh. Nevertheless, history testifies that a long stay out of communion with the Universal Church can also lead to distortions in the sphere of dogma. For example, in the Old Believer environment gradually began to appear currents that rejected church hierarchy(the so-called "bespopovtsy"). The renovationist schism that arose in the Russian Church in the 1920s began with a group of priests who disobeyed Patriarch Tikhon. But gradually, in Renovationism, a departure from the traditional church structure began: a married episcopate was introduced, calls were made for the complete destruction of the institution of monasticism, and so on.

It is impossible to abide in the truth, relying only on human strength. In order not to fall away from the truth, a person needs the grace-filled help that he receives in the Church. If a person falls away from church fellowship, then he runs the risk of not standing in the truth.

The religious and political movement of the 17th century, which resulted in a separation from the Russian Orthodox Church part of the believers who did not accept the reforms of Patriarch Nikon, was called a schism.

Also at the divine service, instead of singing "Alleluia" twice, it was ordered to sing three times. Instead of circumambulating the temple during baptism and weddings in the sun, circumambulation against the sun was introduced. Instead of seven prosphora, five prosphora were served at the liturgy. Instead of an eight-pointed cross, they began to use four-pointed and six-pointed. By analogy with the Greek texts, instead of the name of Christ, Jesus, the patriarch ordered Jesus to be written in newly printed books. In the eighth member of the Creed ("In the Holy Spirit of the true Lord") removed the word "true".

Innovations were approved by church councils of 1654-1655. During 1653-1656, corrected or newly translated liturgical books were published at the Printing Yard.

The dissatisfaction of the population was caused by violent measures, with the help of which Patriarch Nikon introduced new books and rituals into use. Some members of the Circle of Zealots of Piety were the first to speak out for the "old faith", against the reforms and actions of the patriarch. Archpriests Avvakum and Daniil submitted a note to the tsar in defense of double-fingering and about prostrations during divine services and prayers. Then they began to argue that the introduction of corrections according to Greek models defiles the true faith, since the Greek Church has departed from the "ancient piety", and its books are printed in Catholic printing houses. Ivan Neronov spoke out against the strengthening of the power of the patriarch and for the democratization of church administration. The clash between Nikon and the defenders of the "old faith" took on sharp forms. Avvakum, Ivan Neronov and other opponents of the reforms were severely persecuted. The speeches of the defenders of the "old faith" received support in various strata of Russian society, ranging from individual representatives of the highest secular nobility to the peasants. Among the masses, a lively response was found by the sermons of the schismatics about the advent of the "end time", about the accession of the Antichrist, to whom the tsar, the patriarch and all authorities allegedly already bowed down and carry out his will.

The Great Moscow Cathedral of 1667 anathematized (excommunicated) those who, after repeated exhortations, refused to accept new rites and newly printed books, and also continued to scold the church, accusing it of heresy. The cathedral also deprived Nikon of his patriarchal rank. The deposed patriarch was sent to prison - first to Ferapontov, and then to Kirillo Belozersky Monastery.

Carried away by the preaching of schismatics, many townspeople, especially peasants, fled to the dense forests of the Volga region and the North, to the southern outskirts of the Russian state and abroad, founded their communities there.

From 1667 to 1676, the country was engulfed in riots in the capital and on the outskirts. Then, in 1682, the Streltsy riots began, in which the schismatics played an important role. The schismatics attacked monasteries, robbed monks, and seized churches.

A terrible consequence of the split was burning - mass self-immolation. The earliest report of them dates back to 1672, when 2,700 people set themselves on fire in the Paleostrovsky Monastery. From 1676 to 1685, according to documented information, about 20,000 people died. Self-immolations continued into the 18th century, and in some cases at the end of the 19th century.

The main result of the split was a church division with the formation of a special branch of Orthodoxy - the Old Believers. By the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries, there were various currents of the Old Believers, which received the names of "talks" and "consent". The Old Believers were divided into clergy and non-priests. Popovtsy recognized the need for the clergy and all church sacraments, they were settled in the Kerzhensky forests (now the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod region), the regions of Starodubye (now the Chernihiv region, Ukraine), Kuban ( Krasnodar region), the Don River.

Bespopovtsy lived in the north of the state. After the death of the priests of the pre-schism ordination, they rejected the priests of the new appointment, therefore they began to be called priestless. Sacraments of baptism and repentance and all church services, except for the liturgy, were performed by selected laity.

Patriarch Nikon had nothing to do with the persecution of the Old Believers - from 1658 until his death in 1681, he was first in voluntary, and then in forced exile.

At the end of the 18th century, the schismatics themselves began to make attempts to get closer to the church. On October 27, 1800, Edinoverie was established in Russia by decree of Emperor Paul as a form of reunification of the Old Believers with the Orthodox Church.

The Old Believers were allowed to serve according to the old books and observe the old rites, among which highest value it was given to two-fingered, but the service and the service were performed by Orthodox clergy.

In July 1856, by decree of Emperor Alexander II, the police sealed the altars of the Pokrovsky and Nativity Cathedrals of the Old Believer Rogozhsky cemetery in Moscow. The reason was denunciations that liturgies were solemnly celebrated in churches, "tempting" the faithful of the synodal church. Divine services were held in private prayer houses, in the houses of the capital's merchants and manufacturers.

On April 16, 1905, on the eve of Easter, a telegram from Nicholas II arrived in Moscow, allowing "to print the altars of the Old Believer chapels of the Rogozhsky cemetery." The next day, April 17, the imperial "Decree on Religious Tolerance" was promulgated, which guaranteed freedom of religion to the Old Believers.

In 1929, the Patriarchal Holy Synod formulated three resolutions:

- "On the recognition of the old Russian rites as saving, like the new rites, and equal to them";

- "On the rejection and imputation, as if not the former, of reprehensible expressions relating to the old rites, and especially to the two-finger";

- "On the abolition of the oaths of the Moscow Cathedral of 1656 and the Great Moscow Council of 1667, imposed by them on the old Russian rites and on Orthodox Christians who adhere to them, and to consider these oaths as if they had not been."

The Local Council of 1971 approved three resolutions of the Synod of 1929.

January 12, 2013 in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin with the blessing holy patriarch Cyril, the first liturgy after the schism according to the ancient rite was performed.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources in

In the middle of the 17th century in Russia, during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov, Patriarch Nikon proclaimed the beginning of a church reform, which caused a split in Russian Orthodoxy. Ancient Orthodoxy, Old Believers, Old Believers, as various currents of the Russian religious tradition, appeared as a reaction to the church reform, which was supposed to bring Russian worship into line with the Greek Church, Constantinople. Followers of the Old Believers were called schismatics until April 17, 1905, when the Moscow Patriarchate lifted the ban on old Russian rites and oaths. The removal of disgrace did not mean the merger of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Old Believers. The latter consider themselves Orthodox Christians, and the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate as non-Orthodox.

The Old Believers are divided into priests and bespopovtsy. So, the priests, considering the New Believers as heretics of the second level, allow the possibility of prayerful communion with the preservation of spiritual dignity through chrismation, while the non-priests allow such a possibility only through baptism. Ancient Orthodox non-priest Christians consider their faith to be the most right, coming from Jesus Christ and the Apostles. What caused the split? The reform of 1653 introduced the following changes: firstly, numerous amendments were made to the liturgical books. The current canonical texts, which were repeatedly copied by semi-literate monks, contained great amount errors and inaccuracies. Amendments have been made to the most important church concepts, titles on icons have been changed, instead of two-fingered sign of the cross triplet was introduced. The changes extended to rituals and paraphernalia.

Popovtsy, like the New Christians, recognize 7 sacraments, the obligatory participation of clergy in the administration of worship and the conduct of rites. They do not exclude the participation of the laity in church life. The number of priests of the Old Believers is more than 1.5 million people, they lived in Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov region, in Chernihiv, Starodubye. The owners of manufactories created in the 19th century largest center clergy in the community of the Rogozhsky cemetery in Moscow. Those priests who left the Russian Orthodox Church and found shelter with the priests were called Beglopopovtsy. The dogma of the priests is no different from the New Believers. Popovtsy, in turn, are divided into the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church and the Old Orthodox Church, which in our time coexist peacefully.

According to canonical rules, a church cannot exist without a bishop, since only he has the right to consecrate a priest or deacon. During the church reform, many parishioners, faithful to their ancient faith, did not accept new priests. Many priests of the pre-Nikon time have died. Therefore, many ancient Orthodox Christians found themselves without clergy and began to be called priestless. Bespopovtsy, pursued by the authorities, were forced to leave their habitable places and go to hard-to-reach, wild uninhabited territories. This is how the Olonets Territory (Karelia) and the remote outskirts of the Nizhny Novgorod lands arose. And the bulk of the Bespopovites found refuge on the coast White Sea and became known as Pomors.

The Old Believers live in compact communities, modestly and strictly, they have preserved their own education system, including memorizing many prayers, learning to read and the beginnings of arithmetic. Children study the Book of Hours and the Psalter much attention is paid to labor education. A lot of Old Believer communities are scattered all over the world from Japan to Argentina. Starting from the reign of Queen Sophia after the Council of 1667, the flight of the Old Believers reached global proportions and their numbers were noticeably reduced. By 1905, according to the report of the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod for 1903-1904 total strength Old Believers in the Russian Empire is estimated at 1,984,182 people.

Despite many years of persecution and persecution, the Old Believers defended their spiritual values ​​and remained faithful to the ancient Orthodox religion, lifestyle and upbringing. Among the Old Believers there are many very famous people who made a significant contribution to the development of their fatherland. Manufacturers and manufacturers from the Guchkovs to the Morozovs, cultural figures from the Tretyakovs to D.S. Likhachev, philanthropist Savva Morozov, etc.

AT last years growing in our country interest in antiquity. Many both secular and church authors publish materials on the spiritual and cultural heritage, history and modern day of the Old Believers. However, the phenomenon of the Old Believers, his philosophy, worldview and peculiarities of terminology are still poorly studied. On the semantic meaning of the term " old believers"read in the article" What is Old Believers?».

Schismatics or Old Believers?

By itself, the term old believers” arose out of necessity. The fact is that the Synodal Church, its missionaries and theologians called the supporters of pre-schism, pre-Nikonian Orthodoxy nothing more than schismatics and heretics. This was done because the Old Russian Old Believer church traditions, which had existed in Russia for almost 700 years, were recognized as non-Orthodox, schismatic and heretical at the New Believer councils of 1656, 1666-1667.

In fact, such a great Russian ascetic as Sergius of Radonezh was recognized as non-Orthodox, which caused a clear deep believers protest..

The Synodal Church took this position as the main one and used it, explaining that the supporters of all Old Believer accords without exception fell away from the “true” Church because of their firm unwillingness to accept the church reform, which he began to put into practice. Patriarch Nikon and continued to varying degrees by his followers, including the emperor Peter I.

On this basis, all those who do not accept the reforms were called schismatics, shifting on them the responsibility for the split of the Russian Church, for the alleged separation from Orthodoxy. Until the beginning of the 20th century, in all the polemical literature published by the dominant church, Christians professing pre-schism church traditions were called "schismatics", and the very spiritual movement of the Russian people in defense of paternal church customs was called a "schism".

This and other even more offensive terms were used not only to denounce or humiliate the Old Believers, but also to justify persecution, mass repressions against supporters of ancient Russian church piety. In the book " Spiritual sling”, published with the blessing of the New Believer Synod, it was said:

“The schismatics are not the sons of the Church, but the real prostitutes. They are worthy of the tradition of life to the punishment of the city court ... worthy of any punishment and wounds.
And for not healing, and mortal murder ".

In Old Believer literatureXVII - the first half of the 19th century, the term "Old Believer" was not used

And most of of the Russian people, unwittingly, began to be called insulting, turning upside down the essence of the Old Believers, term. At the same time, internally disagreeing with this, believers - supporters of pre-schism Orthodoxy - sincerely sought to achieve that they were officially called differently. For self-identification, they took the term " Old Orthodox Christians”- hence the naming of each Old Believer consent of their Church: Old Orthodox. The terms "orthodoxy" and "true Orthodoxy" were also used. In the writings of the Old Believers of the 19th century, the term " true orthodox church».

It is important that among believers "in the old way" the term "Old Believers" for a long time was not used because the believers themselves did not call themselves that. In church documents, correspondence, everyday communication, they preferred to call themselves "Christians", sometimes "". The term " old believers”, legalized by secular liberal and Slavophile authors in the second half of the 19th century, was considered not quite correct. The meaning of the term "Old Believers" as such indicated the purely primacy of rituals, while in reality the Old Believers believed that the Old Faith was not only old rites, but also a set of church dogmas, worldview truths, special traditions of spirituality, culture and life.

Changing attitudes towards the term "Old Believers" in society

However, to late XIX century the situation in society and Russian Empire starts to change. The government began to pay more attention to the needs and demands of the ancient Orthodox Christians, and a certain general term was needed for a civilized dialogue, regulations and legislation. For this reason, the terms old believers”, “Old Believers” is becoming more widespread. At the same time, the Old Believers of various accords mutually denied each other's Orthodoxy and, strictly speaking, for them the term "Old Believers" united religious communities, devoid of church and religious unity, on a secondary ritual basis. For the Old Believers, the internal inconsistency of this term consisted in the fact that, using it, they united in one concept the truly Orthodox Church (i.e., their own Old Believer agreement) with heretics (i.e., Old Believers of other agreements).

Nevertheless, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Old Believers positively perceived that in the official press the terms “schismatics” and “schismatic” began to be gradually replaced by “Old Believers” and “Old Believers”. The new terminology did not have a negative connotation, and therefore Old Believer consents began to actively use it in public and public sphere. Word " old believers is accepted not only by believers. Secular and Old Believer publicists and writers, public and statesmen increasingly used in the literature and official documents. At the same time, conservative representatives of the synodal church in pre-revolutionary times continue to insist that the term "Old Believers" is incorrect.

"Recognizing Existence" old believers", - they said, - we will have to admit the presence of" New Believers", that is, to admit that the official church uses not ancient, but newly invented rites and rites."

According to the New Believer missionaries, such self-disclosure could not be allowed in any way. And yet, the words "Old Believers", "Old Believers" over time became more and more firmly rooted in literature and in everyday speech, displacing the term "schismatics" from the colloquial circulation of the overwhelming majority of supporters of "official" Orthodoxy.

Old Believers, Synodal Theologians and Secular Scholars on the Term "Old Believers"

Reflecting on the concept of "Old Believers", writers, theologians and publicists gave different assessments. Until now, the authors cannot come to a single opinion.

It is no coincidence that even in the popular book, the dictionary “Old Believers. Persons, Objects, Events and Symbols” (M., 1996), published by the publishing house of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church, there is no separate article “Old Believers” that would explain the essence of this phenomenon in national history. The only thing that is only noted here is that this is “a complex phenomenon that unites under one name both the true Church of Christ and the darkness of delusions.”

The perception of the term “Old Believers” is significantly complicated by the presence among the Old Believers of divisions into “consent” ( Old Believer churches), which are divided into supporters of a hierarchical structure with Old Believer priests and bishops (hence the naming: priests - Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church, Russian Old Orthodox Church) and on those who do not accept priests and bishops - priestless ( Old Orthodox Pomeranian Church, chapel consent, runners (wanderer's consent), Fedoseev's consent).

Old Believers-bearers of the old faith

Some Old Believer authors believe that not only the difference in rituals separates the Old Believers from the New Believers and other faiths. There are, for example, some dogmatic differences in relation to church sacraments, deep cultural differences in relation to church singing, icon painting, church canonical differences in church administration, holding councils, and in relation to church rules. Such authors argue that the Old Believers contain not only old rites, but also Old Faith.

Therefore, such authors argue, it is more convenient and correct from the point of view of common sense, use the term " old belief”, which implicitly implies everything that is the only true one for those who accepted pre-schism Orthodoxy. It is noteworthy that initially the term "Old Belief" was actively used by supporters of the non-priest Old Believer concords. Over time, he took root in other accords.

Today, representatives of New Believer churches very rarely call Old Believers schismatics, the term "Old Believer" has taken root both in official documents and church journalism. However, the New Believer authors insist that the meaning of the Old Believers lies in the exclusive adherence to the old rites. Unlike pre-revolutionary Synodal authors, the theologians of the Russian Orthodox Church and other New Believer churches do not see any danger in using the terms "Old Believers" and "New Believers". In their opinion, the age or the truth of the origin of this or that rite does not matter.

The Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1971 recognized old and new rites absolutely equal, equal and equal. Thus, in the ROC, the form of the rite is now given secondary importance. At the same time, the New Believer authors continue to instruct that the Old Believers, the Old Believers, are part of the believers, seceded from the Russian Orthodox Church, and therefore from all Orthodoxy, after the reforms of Patriarch Nikon.

What is Russian Old Believers?

So what is the meaning of the term old believers» is most acceptable today both for the Old Believers themselves and for secular society, including scientists who study the history and culture of the Old Believers and the life of modern Old Believer churches?

So, firstly, since at the time of the church schism of the 17th century, the Old Believers did not introduce any innovations, but remained faithful to the ancient Orthodox church tradition, they cannot be called “separated” from Orthodoxy. They didn't go anywhere. On the contrary, they advocated Orthodox traditions in their unchanged form and abandoned reforms and innovations.

Secondly, the Old Believers were a significant group of believers of the Old Russian Church, consisting of both laity and clergy.

And, thirdly, despite the divisions within the Old Believers, which occurred due to severe persecution and the impossibility for centuries to organize a full-fledged church life, the Old Believers retained common tribal church and social characteristics.

With this in mind, the following definition can be proposed:

OLD RITE (or OLD BELIEF)- this is common name Russian Orthodox clergy and laity striving to preserve the church institutions and traditions of the ancient Russian Orthodox Church andrefusedaccept the reform undertaken inXVIIcentury by Patriarch Nikon and continued by his followers, up to PeterI inclusive.