From the first days of the schism, the Nizhny Novgorod region became one of the strongholds of "ancient piety." This is not surprising if we take into account the fact that the key figures of the schism - the initiator of church "innovations" Patriarch Nikon and his fierce antagonist Archpriest Avvakum - both came from the Nizhny Novgorod land.

Finding themselves outside the sphere of influence of the official Orthodox Church, the adherents of the "old faith" quickly disintegrated into different directions and trends ("talk", as they said at the time). The most important difference was between "priestly" and "bespopovskoy" sense. The difference lay in the fact that the former recognized the rite of priesthood and monasticism, the latter did not, and in their communities it was not the priests but the elected persons from among the laity that were in charge. In turn, other trends and sects spun off from these rumors. As for the Nizhny Novgorod Territory, the Nizhny Novgorod Old Believers for the most part belonged to the "priesthood" and recognized priests and monks. It is about these Old Believers that we will mainly talk about.

At the end of the 17th century, fleeing persecution, the Nizhny Novgorod schismatics went into deep forests, beyond the Volga, where they set up their sketes (a union of several Old Believer monasteries). Especially many of them settled on the banks of the Kerzhenets River.

Since then, the Old Believers in the Nizhny Novgorod Territory began to be called "kerzhaks", and the word "kerzhachit" began to mean "adhere to the old faith." Kerzhaks lived in different ways: relatively peaceful times were replaced by periods of brutal repression. The persecution was especially strong at the time when Pitirim was appointed Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod. Under him, the famous "dispersal" of Kerzhenets began.

Old Believers of the Nizhny Novgorod Territory

From the very beginning of the split of Russian Orthodoxy, the Nizhny Novgorod region was one of the most important centers of Russian Old Believers. In support of this, we will cite several facts: The outstanding ideologists of the "opposing sides" - Patriarch Nikon, Archpriest Avvakum, Bishop Pavel Kolomensky, Sergiy Nizhegorodets, Alexander the Deacon, were born in the Nizhny Novgorod Territory. The very first Old Believer skete was founded precisely in the Nizhny Novgorod limits on the Kerzhenets river - the Smolyany skete (1656).

In terms of the number of Old Believers, the region occupied and occupies a leading place in Russia. In the Nizhny Novgorod province in the 18th - 19th centuries, there were spiritual and organizational centers of six of the fifteen largest accords (directions) of the Old Believers.

The adherents of the old faith were persecuted by the government. They had to either abandon it, or leave their homes. And the Old Believers went to the north, to the Nizhny Novgorod forests, to the Urals and Siberia, settled in Altai and the Far East. In the dense forests in the basins of the Kerzhenets and Vetluga rivers, by the end of the 17th century, there were already about a hundred Old Believer monasteries - male and female. They were called sketes. The most famous were: Olenevsky, Komarovsky, Sharpansky, Smolyany, Matveevsky, Chernushinsky.

Under Peter I, the persecution of the Old Believers was resumed again. When, at the end of the first decade of the 18th century, the emperor paid special attention to the schismatics in Nizhny Novgorod, he chose Pitirim as the executor of his intentions. Pitirim - Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod (about 1665 - 1738). Pitirim came from a common rank and was at first a schismatic; He accepted Orthodoxy when he was already in adulthood. Pitirim's activity was initially purely missionary; to convert schismatics to Orthodoxy, he used exclusively means of exhortation. The result of such activities of Pitirim was his answers to 240 schismatic questions. However, seeing the failure of his missionary work, Pitirim gradually turned to coercion and persecution. The famous Old Believer deacon Alexander was executed, the sketes were ruined, the stubborn monks were exiled to eternal imprisonment in monasteries, and the laity were punished with a whip and sent to hard labor. As a result, the Old Believers fled to the Urals, Siberia, Starodubye, Vetka and other places.

From the very beginning of the split in the middle of the 17th century, the Nizhny Novgorod province was one of the most important centers of the Russian Old Believers. In support of this, we will cite several facts. The very first Old Believer skete was founded precisely in the Nizhny Novgorod limits, on the Kerzhenets river, the Smolyany skete (according to legend, in 1656). In terms of the number of Old Believers, the province (together with the two districts of the Kostroma province that later became part of it) occupied the third place in 1912 among the Great Russian provinces and regions. And, finally, in the Nizhny Novgorod province were the spiritual and organizational centers of six of the fifteen largest accords in Russia.

At the beginning of the 20th century, more than 140 thousand Old Believers of thirteen different accords lived on the territory of the province (with the aforementioned Kostroma counties).

Belokrinitsky

According to official statistics, the Belokrinitskaya hierarchy had 30,370 supporters in the Nizhny Novgorod province in 1912. Half of them lived in the northern, trans-Volga part of the province, half in the southern, upland part. The beginning of the 20th century was marked by the rapid growth of temple building. By their number, the Belokrinitsky ones surpassed all other consents combined - more than 30 churches (and more than 40 houses of worship). The most significant trends in the depths of harmony were its centralization, the strengthening of the importance of the episcopate and the priesthood as opposed to the "trustees" of communities of merchants and wealthy peasants, as well as a stormy social and church life in the form of the organization of Old Believer unions, brotherhoods, congresses, publishing activities, and the intensification of missionary activity. among the new believers and especially bespopovtsy spasov consent (deaf netovshchina), who whole communities passed into the Belikrinitsky accord.

The overwhelming majority of the Nizhny Novgorod Belokrinitsky were okrugs and were subordinate to the Rogozh Archdiocese. Only about a thousand people were representatives of the conservative wing of the consent, which did not accept the district message that was compromised with the official Orthodoxy. Nizhny Novgorod neokruzhniki were divided into two branches: Josephites and Job's people... The Iovites lived in the southern half of the province, the Josephites lived in the Trans-Volga region and along the banks of the Volga. As is known, bishop Joseph Kerzhensky had his residence in the second half of the 19th century in a hermitage in the village Matveevka(now Borsky district). At the beginning of the 20th century, the Matveyevsky women's skete was still the spiritual center of the provincial scale. Besides him, there was another Joseph skete near Semyonov - Chernukhinsky... The number of Josephites did not exceed several hundred people, amounting to 5-6 parishes.

The conservatism of neokruzhniki manifested itself, first of all, in the denial of any compromises with the state ideology and official Orthodoxy, which was part of it, which manifested itself, in particular, in the rejection of the state registration of communities under the law of 1906 (which brought neo-district members closer to the conservative wing of no-opposition).

Runners

After the publication of the decree of 1905 on religious tolerance, the life of Beglopopov's consent revived in the Nizhny Novgorod province. Here it is called "Bugrovskaya faith", and this name quite adequately reflects the role and significance in the life of the consent of the Nizhny Novgorod merchant Nikolay Bugrov.

ON. Bugrov, at his own expense, built not only churches (at least six), but also organized Old Believer schools, built and maintained almshouses, held All-Russian congresses of his consent and, finally, organized an All-Russian brotherhood - the governing body of consent (due to the lack of hierarchy among the runaways), the chairman which he himself was.

Beglopopovtsev in 1912, according to official data, there were about fourteen thousand people in the Nizhny Novgorod province. Almost all of them lived in the Trans-Volga part of the province. In terms of the degree of conservatism, the Trans-Volga Beglopopovtsy occupied a much more right-hand position than the Belokrinitsky ones. Probably, an important role here was played by the fact that the mentality of the population of the forest Trans-Volga region is generally more conservative than that of the inhabitants of the Volga region or the southern zone of the province. In addition, the ideology of the Nizhny Novgorod Beglopopovtsy was not to a small extent influenced by the Semenov sketes - strongholds of Kerzhen's piety and keepers of ancient customs. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were three Beglopopov sketes in the vicinity of Semyonov:, and Sharpansky, which could not destroy neither the Nizhny Novgorod bishop Pitirim with detachments of Peter's soldiers, nor the government of Nicholas I with the hands of the district police under the leadership of Melnikov-Pechersky. Another spiritual center of harmony was the famous Gorodets chapel with several thousand parishioners, which had great authority and a rich historical and cultural heritage.

Unlike the Belokrinitsky, the Beglopopovites did not have their own episcopal rank, the priesthood was very small in number and, due to its origin from the New Rite Church, did not use special authority. All affairs in agreement were run by representatives of the church community: trustees, administrators, authoritative and literate old people, hence the democracy of community self-government and the decentralization of consent.

Local features include the maximum closeness of the Beglopopovites to the pop-free order, right up to the custom of “chasnichestvo”, the general spread of Skete repentance (instead of confession from the priest), distrust of the state registration of communities, etc.

Pomors

In the Nizhny Novgorod province, the Pomor accord numbered about 25 thousand of its followers, who owned more than 60 temples and prayer houses. The Pomors lived both in the upland part of the province and in the Trans-Volga region, and in terms of the degree of conservatism, the upland Pomors were close to the Belokrinitsky ones, and the Trans-Volga ones were much to the right of the Beglopopovites. If in the southern half of the province the Pomors registered more than thirty communities, in the northern half - not a single one. In addition, it was among the upland Pomors that periodically there was a movement towards reconciliation with the ruling church, accompanied by a weakening in the foundations and customs (shaving, serenity), which caused condemnation of the “forest” Pomors. Significant spiritual centers of the Trans-Volga Pomors were the area "Korela" and Gorodets, which gave the world the original icon painters and writers Zolotarevs. It was in Gorodets that the famous Grigory Tokarev launched his activity, who created his doctrine and spread it across many regions of Russia; to this day, “Tokarevites” live in Altai.

Self-baptized

The consent of self-baptized people (or self-crosses) became known in the Old Believer world of the Nizhny Novgorod region, mainly thanks to its tireless leader, fruitful writer and polemicist Alexander Mikheevich Zapyantsev from the village of Tolba (Sergach District). Over the years of his life, Zapyantsev had many conversations with representatives of rival consents, created a large number of polemical collections, organized and registered eight communities of “Pomorian marriage consent of self-crosses”. Despite the origin of self-crosses from the Pomor consent, Zapyantsev was very critical of the main ideologues of the Pomors - the Denisov brothers, calling them brakhovers, "who rejected God's dispensation - to be one husband and one wife." In his writings, he repeatedly emphasized the differences in rituals with contemporary marriage Pomors: in the rite of adopting Fedoseevites, in the baptism of infants, etc. At the beginning of the 20th century, several thousand people lived in the Nizhny Novgorod province of self-crosses.

Wanderers

At the beginning of the 20th century, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, there were several zones of the spread of wanderer consent. Wanderers living in the Balakhna-Gorodets region were associated with the main center of Russian wanderers - the Yaroslavl-Kostroma Volga region, and wanderers of the south of the province kept in touch with wandering centers of the Middle Volga region. The local wanderers (or as they called themselves - true wandering Orthodox Christians), as in all of Russia, were divided into wanderers and knowledges (otherwise, strangers, benefactors). The number of followers of this agreement did not exceed one or two thousand people in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

Staropomorians: Fedoseevites and Filippovites

The Old Pomorians of the Fedoseevsky and Filippovsky consents lived at the beginning of the 20th century in several areas of the north and west of the region. Their total number was over 20 thousand people. If the Fedoseevites of the western part were guided mainly by the spiritual center of Moscow - the Transfiguration Monastery, then the Fedoseevites of the north - in addition to Moscow, also to Vyatka and Kazan. Therefore, when the Moscow and Kazan Fedoseevites dispersed on the issue of accepting spouses for prayer, this division also affected the Fedoseevites of the northern Uren Territory, who have since been represented by three branches: Moscow, Kazan and Filimonovskaya. The Filimonovites fully identify themselves with the Moscow Fedoseevites, pointing out their attitude to the benefits of civilization as the only difference with them. So, they produce fire for lighting candles for prayer only with kretsal, considering matches an unclean matter, etc.

Spassovtsy

The Nizhny Novgorod Spassovtsy (as well as the Spassovtsy of all Russia) never reached a single agreement. Spasovtsy is the self-designation of four or five completely different directions in non-priesthood, united by one single sign - they do not re-baptize, unlike the Pomorians who are accepted into their society. All the Spassovites had their faithful brethren, that is, they separated from the "antichrist world" by preventing other believers from joining prayers, chasters, etc. The total number of Nizhny Novgorod Spassovtsy at the beginning of the 20th century was over 30 thousand people.

The consent of the spasovites of great beginners, a distinctive feature of which is the reception of neophytes by the rite of denying heresies, was widespread in the southern part of the province, where they had several monasteries that served as schools, almshouses, and spiritual centers of harmony. At the beginning of the 20th century, an all-Russian brotherhood was created in Nizhny Novgorod, and councils of great primaries gathered there to solve various doctrinal issues.

The spasovtsy were of little origin, who accepted into their brethren through simple beginnings, lived both in the south and in the west of the Trans-Volga region. Their leader at the beginning of the 20th century was Andrei Antipin from Vorsma, who wrote and published a lot of doctrinal literature. Antipin also organized an all-Russian brotherhood that united the communities of the small-originated in the center of Russia.

A separate agreement was made by the Trans-Volga Spasovites, leading their genealogy from the Solovetsky monk Arseny, who came to Kerzhenets in 1677. The Arsenievites, having customs and statutes similar to those of the early beginnings, took more conservative positions, in particular, they were anti-communalists.

Two more consents of the Spasovites - deaf and strict non-conspiracy (the southern half of the region) - denied, in contrast to the above-mentioned consent, the possibility of sacraments and statutory divine services by the laity; the former were baptized and married in the official church, the latter did not receive water baptism at all. These accords were distinguished by their radicalism in relation to "peace." Distributed in the southern half of the region.

Current state of consent

The tendencies are obvious: the few and conservative consents of no-priestness are slowly but surely disappearing along with the world of the Russian countryside that gave birth to them. There are fewer and fewer carriers of peasant ideology. Self-baptized, neo-circle and wanderers have completely disappeared, merging with kindred consent. There are extremely few Filippovites left (5-6 communities) - Tonkinsky, Shakhunsky districts, Zavolzhsky Spassovites-Arsentievites (about two dozen small parishes) - Semenovsky, Borsky, Urensky, Gorodetsky districts. Deaf and strict netovism lost their distinctive features, having received water baptism from their mentors (the total number of communities is 4-5) - Arzamas, Vorotynsky districts. The brethren of small-scale and large-scale Spasovites are becoming smaller in number and are left almost without abbots (the total number of parishes is no more than 20 with an average number of parishioners of 10-20 people) - Nizhny Novgorod, Arzamassky, Gaginsky, Kstovsky districts. In all the mentioned agreements, there are few young people and, accordingly, there is no transfer of the richest oral tradition to the younger generation.

The situation is somewhat better among the Pomors, some of the Fedoseevites and the priest's consents.

The Pomors managed to create their powerful center in Nizhny Novgorod, where today the largest community in the region (up to a thousand people) is concentrated. In addition, there are about 30 Pomor communities of 30-100 people in the region - Koverninsky, Semenovsky, Gorodetsky, Borsky, Kstovsky, Arzamassky, Buturlinsky, Lyskovsky and other districts.

As for the Fedoseevites, everywhere their communities have become extremely small (here we must take into account their rejection of marriages, which prevents young people from joining the “fraternity”). An exception is the north of the region (Tonkin District), where the situation is not as hopeless. The communities of Moscow Fedoseevites, numbering about thirty, are closely related to each other; at least 10-15 Fedoseevites from neighboring settlements come to the village for the patronal feast day. The communities are replenished with retired representatives of the rural intelligentsia. Prayer houses are kept in order. Interestingly, women often play the role of spiritual fathers.

With all this, the Fedoseevites do not deviate from their strict rules in relation to marriage, do not "make peace", observe all the prescriptions laid down in the statutes (the spiritual fathers are closely watching this).

As for the Kazan Fedoseevites (krepkoverov) and Filimonovites, there are now no more than fifty of them combined. Nevertheless, they have their own prayer, spiritual fathers, and are not going to merge with the Moscow ones - they are all sure that they will die in their faith.

In addition to the Old Believers, who live compactly and are united in parishes, in the region, in numerous villages, there are Old Believers who do not attend this or that parish and pray at home, either alone or with their household members. Often they, recognizing themselves as Old Believers, do not identify themselves with any agreement. The number of these Old Believers (in the overwhelming number of bespopovtsy) is difficult to establish.

Beglopop's consent, like the bespopovtsy, based on the peasant environment, also lost much of its traditions and historical and cultural heritage. In particular, the traditions of hook singing have been almost lost, the spiritual and cultural center in Gorodets has ceased to exist, the Trans-Volga skete and cell traditions have been destroyed. However, in the past ten years, thanks to the energetic activity of the Novozybkov-Moscow episcopate, the social and church life of harmony has revived somewhat: ten parishes have been registered and operate - N. Novgorod, Semyonov, Gorodets, Tonkino, Urensky District, two new churches are being built, one of the Trans-Volga sketes is being revived. in urban communities there is an influx of young people, albeit a small one. The episcopal see was restored in Nizhny Novgorod (the ruling bishop is Vasily Verkhnevolzhsky).

The Belokrinitsa Consent in the Nizhny Novgorod Region has the most powerful potential today. First of all, this is the most numerous (after Moscow) parish in Nizhny Novgorod (up to 10 thousand parishioners), where there is a transfer of traditions to the younger generation (in particular, the tradition of hook singing).

In addition, there are 11 parishes and about twenty unregistered communities in the region, many of which continue to maintain religious and cultural traditions characteristic of this local group of Old Believers - Bor, Arzamas, Lyskovo, B. Murashkino, Urensky, Tonkinsky, Chkalovsky, Arzamassky and others. areas. Construction of two new churches has begun in Nizhny Novgorod.

Thus, despite the fact that the palette of the Nizhny Novgorod Old Believers has lost some of its bright colors, and others have faded significantly, the rest continues to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of our ancestors, attracting the attention of both specialists in various branches of the humanities and all people. interested in and reaching out to their roots, to their ancestral memory.

In total, about 80 thousand Old Believers of nine consents lived in the Nizhny Novgorod Region at the beginning of the 21st century (those who, having Old Believer baptism, attend parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church and identify themselves with official Orthodoxy are not taken into account).

Nizhny Novgorod Region and Nizhny Novgorod historically they are the second center of the Russian Old Believers after Moscow. At present, about 50 Old Believer buildings and places revered by Old Believers are known in the region.

The Nizhny Novgorod land played an important role in the historical drama - the split of the Russian Church. Notable schismatics such as Archpriest Avvakum, Bishop Pavel Kolomensky, Sergiy Nizhegorodets, Alexander the Deacon, - all of them were born within the boundaries of the Nizhny Novgorod land. On the Nizhny Novgorod land was also born Patriarch Nikon, who became one of the founders of the schism in the church.

The Nizhny Novgorod Region still port continues to be one of the centers of the Russian Old Believers.

The real value of the architecture of the early twentieth century is the Nikolskaya Church, which is located in the city of Semyonov, as well as the village of Grigorovo in the Bolshemurashkinsky District, is on the list of historical places: in this force the Archpriest Avvakum was born and grew up.

Exploration of Old Believer places and monuments

Many scientists studied the details of the life and culture of the Old Believers in the Nizhny Novgorod lands, however, the researchers did not manage to get into the immovable places that were directly connected with the Old Believers movement (sketes, graveyards, spiritual places).

So, in the early 90s, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, there were more than 1200 historical monuments, but only one of them was under state protection, since only those monuments of the cultural and spiritual life of the people that were deprived of their root essence and spiritual filling. And the places of mass pilgrimage, the graves of saints, pious ascetics, as well as religious shrines were completely ignored.

Since the 90s, Nizhny Novgorod scientists have been keeping records of the monuments of the Nizhny Novgorod Old Believers and Old Believers cultural and spiritual places: sketes, cemeteries, revered graves, which are located in Semenovsky, Borsky and other districts.

Nizhny Novgorod split

Monument to Patriarch Nikon in Saransk, although he was born into a Mordovian peasant family in the village of Veldemanovo near Nizhny Novgorod (currently - Perevozsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region). That is, a monument to him was erected according to ethnicity, and not according to the place of birth.

Nikon (in the world Nikita Minov) was born on June 3, 1605 in the village of Veldemanovo (now the Perevozsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region). Patriarch, political and church leader.

Already at the age of 19 he became a priest in a neighboring village. He got married, but after the death of all his children, there were three of them, he finally left the world. In 1635 he found peace within the walls of the Solovetsky Monastery, where he was tonsured. In 1643 he became the hegemene of the Kozheozero monastery.

In 1646 Nikon was introduced to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, and won his favorable attention. After that he was appointed archimandrite of the Moscow Novospassky monastery. Using the unrestricted confidence of the sovereign, he found the maximum opportunities for the embodiment of his ideas, both religious and political. In 1648, becoming Metropolitan of Novgorod, he helped to suppress the revolt in 1652. In the same year he was elected a new All-Russian saint.

In the spring of 1653, Patriarch Nikon began reforms, his cruel and irreconcilable position led to a split in the church, and then to a confrontation with the king.

Nikon announced that he was leaving the patriarchate and in 1658 withdrew to New Jerusalem. In 1664 Nikon made an attempt to return to Moscow, but he was sent back.

The council of 1667-1668 confirmed Nikon's reforms, at the same time removed the patriarchal dignity from Nikon. Nikon was exiled under supervision to the Ferapontov Monastery, then transferred to Kirillo-Belozersky.

The former patriarch was allowed to return to Moscow only in 1681, under the new Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, and there were also talks about the restoration of dignity.

Died on the way to Moscow in Yaroslavl on July 17 (27), 1681, Nikon was buried in New Jerusalem according to the patriarchal rank.

Monument to the Old Believer Hieromartyr Archpriest Avvakum, unveiled on June 5, 1991 in his homeland in the village of Grigorovo, Bolshemurashkinsky District, Nizhny Novgorod Region. July 30, 2009. (Photo. Borisova L.K.)

Avvakum, Archpriest (1605 - 1681) - the famous teacher of the Russian schism of the 17th century, participated in the correction of church books undertaken by Patriarch Joseph under Alexei Mikhailovich. However, when Joseph's successor, Nikon, recognizing all the previous corrections as erroneous, undertook to correct the Orthodox liturgical books based on Greek originals, Avvakum declared himself an implacable enemy of all innovations and became the head of the schism.

In his writings, Habakkuk considers the Nikonian innovations as a desecration of the church, predicts the imminent coming of the Antichrist, preaches flight from the world and self-immolation. Habakkuk was subjected to severe persecution, exile, imprisonment, torture and, finally, was stripped of his hair, cursed by the church cathedral and burned at the stake.

From the very beginning of the split of Russian Orthodoxy, the Nizhny Novgorod region was one of the most important centers of Russian Old Believers. In support of this, we will cite several facts: 1. Outstanding ideologists of the "opposing sides" - Patriarch Nikon, Archpriest Avvakum, Bishop Pavel Kolomensky, Sergiy Nizhegorodets, Alexander the Deacon, were born in the Nizhny Novgorod Territory. 2. The very first Old Believer skete was founded precisely in the Nizhny Novgorod limits on the Kerzhenets river - the Smolyany skete (1656).

The adherents of the old faith were persecuted by the government. They had to either abandon it, or leave their homes. And the Old Believers went to the north, to the Nizhny Novgorod forests, to the Urals and Siberia, settled in Altai and the Far East. In the dense forests in the basins of the Kerzhenets and Vetluga rivers, by the end of the 17th century, there were already about a hundred Old Believer monasteries for men and women. They were called sketes. The most famous were: Olenevsky, Komarovsky, Sharpansky, Smolyany, Matveevsky, Chernushinsky.

Under Peter I, the persecution of the Old Believers was resumed again. When, at the end of the first decade of the 18th century, the emperor paid special attention to the schismatics in Nizhny Novgorod, he chose Pitirim as the executor of his intentions. Pitirim - Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod (about). Pitirim came from a common rank and was at first a schismatic; He accepted Orthodoxy when he was already in adulthood. Pitirim's activity was initially purely missionary; to convert schismatics to Orthodoxy, he used exclusively means of exhortation. The result of such activities of Pitirim was his answers to 240 schismatic questions. However, seeing the failure of his missionary work, Pitirim gradually turned to coercion and persecution. The famous Old Believer deacon Alexander was executed, the sketes were ruined, the stubborn monks were exiled to eternal imprisonment in monasteries, and the laity were punished with a whip and sent to hard labor. As a result, the Old Believers fled to the Urals, Siberia, Starodubye, Vetka and other places.

Belokrinitsky (Austrian) consent. Okruzhniki: the most significant features of this direction of the Old Believers were: the presence of the clergy and the bishop, the stormy social and church life in the form of the organization of Old Believer unions, brotherhoods, congresses, publishing activities, the intensification of missionary activity among the Nikonians. The difference between neokruzhniki is, first of all, in the denial of any compromises with the state power and, which was a part of it, Nikonianism: insubordination to the government, restriction of communication with Nikonians, adherence to Domostroi

Bespopovtsy do not have their own episcopal rank, the clergy was very small in number and did not use, due to their origin from the Nikonian Church, special authority. All affairs in agreement were run by representatives of the church community: trustees, instructors, authoritative and literate old people. For this reason, they live in self-governing communities. They do not build churches, all the rituals are performed in a prayer house.

Beglopopovskoe (novozybkovskoe) consent. His followers firmly stood on the conviction that without the priesthood, the true church could not exist. Due to the absence of Old Believer bishops, it was decided to accept priests from the Nikonian church who would agree to serve according to the old rituals. For this they resorted to various tricks: the priests were lured away and secretly taken to Kerzhenets, smeared with "peace" (Miro - oil with red wine and incense, fragrant oil, which is used in Christian church rituals. , ears, chest, arms, legs as a sign of communion with divine grace), consecrated even under Patriarch Joseph.