Qualifying the ROC of the Moscow Patriarchate as heterodox. Popovtsy consider the new believers to be heretics of the "second order" (for admission into prayer communication from whom chrismation is sufficient, and such a reception is carried out, as a rule, with the preservation of the spiritual dignity of the person passing into the Old Believers) ^ ^; the majority of bespopovtsy (except for chapels and some of the Netovites) consider the new believers to be heretics of the "first order", for the reception of which in prayer communion those who convert to the Old Believers must be baptized.

Based on their views on church history, bespopovtsy distinguish between the concepts of "Old Orthodox Christianity" in general (right faith, in their opinion, coming from Christ and the apostles) and Old Believers in particular (opposition to Nikon's reforms, which arose in the middle of the 17th century).

The largest Old Believer organization in modern Russia --- the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church --- belongs to the priests.

Review of the history of the Old Believers

Followers of the Old Believers count their history from the Baptism of Rus by the Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, who adopted Orthodoxy from the Greeks. The Florentine Union (1439) with the Latins served as the main reason for the separation of the Russian Local Church from the Uniate Patriarch of Constantinople and the creation of an autonomous Russian Local Church in 1448, when a council of Russian bishops appointed a metropolitan for itself without the participation of the Greeks. The Local Stoglavy Cathedral of 1551 in Moscow enjoys great authority among the Old Believers. Since 1589, the Russian Church began to be headed by the patriarch.

Nikon's reforms, begun in 1653, aimed at the unification of Russian ranks and worship according to contemporary Greek standards for that time, met with strong resistance from supporters of the old rituals. In 1656, at the local council of the Russian Church, all those who were baptized with two fingers were declared heretics, excommunicated from the Trinity and condemned. In 1667 the Great Moscow Cathedral took place. The council approved the books of the new press, approved new rites and orders, and imposed oaths and anathemas on old books and rituals. The adherents of the old rites were again declared heretics. The country found itself on the brink of a religious war. The first to revolt was the Solovetsky Monastery, which was ravaged by the archers in 1676. In 1681, a local council of the Russian Church took place; the cathedral persistently asked the tsar for executions, for decisive physical reprisals against the Old Believers' books, churches, hermitages, monasteries and against the Old Believers themselves. The massacres began immediately after the cathedral. In 1682, a mass execution of the Old Believers took place - four prisoners were burnt in a log house. The ruler Sophia, at the request of the clergy, of the cathedral in 1681-1682, published in 1685 the famous "12 articles" --- state general laws, on the basis of which they were later committed to various executions: exile, prisons, torture, burning alive in log cabins thousands of Old Believers. Throughout the entire post-reform period, new believers' councils and synods used a variety of means against the old rite: slander, lies, forgeries. Especially famous are such forgeries as the Conciliar act against the heretic Armenian, against Martin and Theognostov Trebnik. To combat the old rite, the decanonization of Anna Kashinskaya was carried out in 1677.

However, the repressions of the tsarist government against the Old Believers did not destroy this trend in Russian Christianity. In the 19th century, according to some opinions, up to a third of the Russian population were Old Believers ^ ^. The Old Believer merchants grew rich and even partly became the mainstay of entrepreneurship in the 19th century. The socio-economic prosperity was the result of a change in state policy towards the Old Believers. The authorities made a compromise by introducing unanimity. In 1846, thanks to the efforts of the Greek Metropolitan Ambrose, expelled by the Turks from the Bosno-Sarajevo See, the Old Believers-Beglopopovtsy managed to restore the church hierarchy in the territory of Austria-Hungary among refugees. Belokrinitsky consent appeared. However, not all Old Believers accepted the new Metropolitan, partly because of doubts about the truth of his baptism (in Greek Orthodoxy, “douche”, and not full baptism was practiced). Ambrose raised 10 people to various degrees of the priesthood. Initially, the Belokrinitsa agreement was in effect among the emigrants. They managed to involve the Don Cossacks-Nekrasov in their ranks. In 1849, the Belokrinitsa consent extended to Russia, when the first bishop of the Belokrinitsa hierarchy in Russia, Sophrony, was elevated to the rank. In 1859 he was ordained Archbishop Anthony of Moscow and All Russia, who in 1863 became Metropolitan. At the same time, the reconstruction of the hierarchy was complicated by internal conflicts between Bishop Sophronius and Archbishop Anthony. In 1862, great discussions among the Old Believers were made by the District Epistle, which took a step towards the New Believer Orthodoxy. Oppositionists to this document have made sense of the neo-district.

Article 60 of the Charter on the prevention and suppression of crimes stated: “The schismatics are not persecuted for their opinions about the faith; but it is forbidden for them to seduce and persuade anyone to split their under any guise. " They were forbidden to build churches, start sketes, and even repair existing ones, as well as publish any books according to which their rituals were performed. Old Believers were limited to holding public office. Religious marriage of Old Believers, unlike religious marriages of other denominations, was not recognized by the state. Until 1874, all children of the Old Believers were considered illegitimate. Since 1874, civil marriage was introduced for the Old Believers: "Marriages of schismatics acquire, in a civil relation, through writing in special registers established for this, the power and consequences of legal marriage" ^ ^.

Some restrictions for Old Believers (in particular, the prohibition to hold public office) were lifted in 1883 ^ ^.

The Soviet government in the RSFSR and later in the USSR was relatively supportive of the Old Believers until the end of the 1920s, in line with their policy of supporting the opposition to Patriarch Tikhon. The Great Patriotic War was met ambiguously: most of the Old Believers called to defend the Motherland, but there were exceptions, for example, the Republic of Zuev or the Old Believers of the Lampovo village, whose Fedoseevites became malicious collaborators ^ ^.

Researchers have no consensus regarding the number of Old Believers. This is due to both the desire of the official authorities of the Russian Empire to underestimate the number of Old Believers in their reports, and the lack of full-fledged scientific research on this topic. Ioann Sevastyanov, a cleric of the RPSTs, believes that “a quite adequate figure for the beginning of the 20th century.<...>4-5 million people out of 125 million of the population of the Russian Empire "^ ^.

In the post-war period, according to the memoirs of Bishop Evmeniy (Mikheev), “in places where Old Believers traditionally lived, being a communist in public and secretly going to church was never something out of the ordinary. They were not militant atheists. After all, many believers joined the CPSU forcibly in order to have a decent job or to occupy some kind of leadership position. Therefore, there were quite a lot of such people "^ ^.

Reforms of Patriarch Nikon

In the course of the reform undertaken by Patriarch Nikon in 1653, the liturgical tradition of the Russian Church, which developed in the XIV-XVI centuries, was changed in the following points:

1. The so-called "book on the right", expressed in the editing of the texts of Holy Scripture and liturgical books, which led to changes, in particular, in the text of the translation of the Symbol of Faith adopted in the Russian Church: the union-opposition "a" in the words about faith in the Son of God was removed " born, not created ”, they began to speak of the Kingdom of God in the future (“ there will be no end ”), and not in the present tense (“ there will be no end ”), the word“ Istinnago ”was excluded from the definition of the properties of the Holy Spirit. Many other corrections were also made to the historical liturgical texts, for example, another letter was added to the word "Isus" (under the title "Ic") and it began to be written "Iesus" (under the title "Iis").
2. Replacement of the two-finger sign of the cross with the three-finger sign and the abolition of the so-called. throwing, or small bows to the ground --- in 1653 Nikon sent out to all Moscow churches a "memory", which said: "It is not proper in a church to throw to the knee, but to bow to your belt; more and three fingers would be baptized naturally. "
3. Nikon ordered the processions to be carried out in the opposite direction (against the sun, not salting).
4. The exclamation "Hallelujah" during the singing in honor of the Holy Trinity began to be pronounced not twice (augmented hallelujah), but three times (triangular).
5. The number of prosphora on the proskomedia and the style of the seal on the prosphora have been changed.

Modernity

At present, there are Old Believer communities, in addition to Russia, in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Poland, Belarus, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, the USA, Canada and a number of Latin American countries ^ ^, as well as in Australia.

The largest modern Orthodox Old Believer religious organization in Russia and beyond its borders is the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church (Belokrinitskaya hierarchy, founded in 1846), numbering about a million parishioners; has two centers --- in Moscow and Braila, Romania. In 2007, a number of clergy and laity of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia formed an independent Old Orthodox Church of Christ in the Belokrinitsa hierarchy.

The total number of Old Believers in Russia, according to a rough estimate, is over 2 million people. Russians predominate among them, but there are also Ukrainians, Belarusians, Karelians, Finns, Komi, Udmurts, Chuvashs and others.

On March 3, 2016, at the Moscow House of Nationalities, a round table was held on the topic "Actual problems of the Old Believers", which was attended by representatives of the Russian Orthodox Old Believers Church, the Russian Ancient Orthodox Church and the Old Orthodox Pomor Church ^ ^. The representation was the highest - the Moscow Metropolitan Korniliy (Titov), ​​the Old Orthodox Patriarch Alexander (Kalinin) and the Pomor spiritual mentor Oleg Rozanov. A meeting at such a high level between different branches of Orthodoxy took place for the first time ^ ^.

October 1 and 2, 2018 at the House of Russian Abroad named after AI Solzhenitsyn hosted the World Old Believers Forum, which brought together representatives of all basic agreements to solve common problems, preserve those spiritual and cultural values ​​that unite modern Old Believers, despite the doctrinal differences ^ ^.

The main currents of the Old Believers

Population

One of the broadest currents of the Old Believers. It arose as a result of a split and took root in the last decade of the 17th century.

It is noteworthy that the Archpriest Avvakum himself spoke out in favor of accepting the priesthood from the New Believer Church: “And others like him in Orthodox churches, where singing without admixture is inside the altar and on the wings, and the priest is newly ordained, judge about this --- if he is a priest curses the Nikonian and their service and with all the strength he loves the old days: for the needs of the present, for the sake of the time, let there be a priest. How can the world be without priests? To come to those churches "^ ^.

At first, the priests were forced to accept priests who had deserted for various reasons from the Russian Orthodox Church. For this, the priest received the name "runaway popovtsy". Due to the fact that many archbishops and bishops either joined the new church or, otherwise, were repressed, the Old Believers could not ordain deacons, priests or bishops themselves. In the 18th century, several self-appointed bishops (Afinogen, Anfim) were known, who were exposed by the Old Believers.

When accepting fugitive new believers priests, the priests, referring to the decrees of various Ecumenical and local councils, proceeded from the reality of ordination in the Russian Orthodox Church and the possibility of receiving three-immersion baptized new believers, including the priesthood with the second order (through chrismation and renunciation of heresies), in view of the fact that the Apostolic succession in this church survived, despite the reforms.

In 1846, after the transition to the Old Believers of the Metropolitan of Bosnian Ambrose, the Belokrinitskaya hierarchy arose, which is currently one of the largest Old Believers' trends accepting the priesthood. Most of the Old Believers adopted the Old Believers' hierarchy, but a third part passed into unpopularity.

According to dogma, the priests differ little from the new believers, but at the same time they adhere to the old --- pre-Niconian --- rituals, liturgical books and church traditions.

The number of priests at the end of the 20th century is about 1.5 million people, most of whom are concentrated in Russia (the largest groups are in the Moscow and Rostov regions).

At present, the priests are divided into two main groups: the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church and the Russian Old Orthodox Church.

Unity

In 1800, for the Old Believers who came under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church, but retained all the pre-reform rituals, Metropolitan Platon (Levshin) established "points of unanimity." Themselves as Old Believers, who moved to the Synodal Church with the preservation of the old rituals, books and traditions, began to be called the same faith.

Unity has a legal priesthood, consecration, and Eucharistic communion with the community of local Orthodox Churches.

Today, in the bosom of the Russian Orthodox Church, there is unity of faith (Orthodox Old Believers) - parishes in which all pre-reform rituals are preserved, but at the same time they recognize the hierarchical jurisdiction of the ROC and ROCOR (see, for example: Right Reverend John (Berzin), Bishop of Caracas and South American, manager of parishes of the same faith of ROCOR).

Unpopularity

It arose in the 17th century after the death of the priests of the old ordination. After the schism, there was not a single bishop in the ranks of the Old Believers, with the exception of Pavel Kolomensky, who died in 1654 and did not leave himself a successor. According to canonical rules, the church hierarchy cannot exist without a bishop, since only a bishop has the right to ordain a priest and deacon. The Old Believer priests of the pre-Nikon ordination soon died. Some of the Old Believers, who did not recognize the canonicity of the priests who were appointed to their posts according to the new, reformed, books, were forced to deny the possibility of preserving the "true" clergy in the world, and formed a non-popovist sense. Old Believers (officially referred to as ancient Orthodox Christians like the priesthood do not accept), who rejected the priests of the new position, left completely without priests, began to be called in everyday life non-popovtsy, they began, if possible, to conduct the so-called. a lay order, in which there are no elements carried out by a priest.

Bespopovtsy originally settled in wild uninhabited places on the coast of the White Sea and therefore began to be called Pomors. The Olonets Territory (modern Karelia) and the Kerzhenets River in the Nizhny Novgorod lands became other large centers of the Bespopovites. Subsequently, in the non-popov movement, new divisions arose and new accords were formed: Danilovskoe (Pomorskoe), Fedoseevskoe, Filipovskoe, chapel, spasovo, aristovo and others, smaller and more exotic, such as middlemen, hole-makers and runners.

In the 19th century, the Fedoseyevskaya community of the Preobrazhensky cemetery in Moscow, in which Old Believer merchants and owners of manufactures played a leading role, became the largest center of unprofessionalism. At the present time, the largest associations of non-priesthood are the Old Orthodox Pomor Church and the Old Orthodox Old Pomor Church of the Fedoseevsky Consent.

According to Dmitry Urushev: “But not all Old Believer communities have stood the test of time. Many agreements, which were once very numerous, have not reached our days. Thinned the communities of Fedoseevites and Spassovites. On the fingers of one hand you can count the runners, Melchizedeks, Ryabinovites, Self-crosses, Titlovites and Filipovtsy "^ ^.

In a number of cases, some pseudo-Christian sects have been attributed to the number of pop-free consents, on the grounds that the followers of these sects also reject the care of the official priesthood.

Distinctive features

Liturgical and ritual features

Differences between the "ancient Orthodox" service from the "common Orthodox" service:

• Two-fingered at the sign of the cross.
• Baptism only through three full immersion.
• Exclusive use of the eight-pointed Crucifixion; the four-pointed crucifix is ​​not used, since it is considered Latin. A simple four-pointed cross (without the Crucifixion) is revered.
• Spelling the name Jesus with one letter "and", without the modern Greek addition of the second letter I and sus, which corresponded to the rules of the Slavic spelling of the name of Christ: cf. ukr. Isus Christ, belor. Isus Khrystos, Serb. Jesus, Rusyn. Isus Khristos, Maked. Jesus Christ, Bosn. Isus, Croatian. Isus
• secular types of singing are not allowed: operatic, partisan, chromatic, etc. Church singing remains strictly monodic, unison.
• the service is held according to the Jerusalem charter in the version of the Old Russian typicon "Church Eye".
• there are no abbreviations and substitutions characteristic of the New Believers. Kathisma, stichera and canon songs are performed in full.
• no akathists are used (with the exception of the "Akathist of the Most Holy Theotokos") and other later prayer works.
• the Great Lent Service is not served. Passion, which is of Catholic origin.
• the initial and initial bows are preserved.
• the synchronicity of ritual actions is maintained (the ritual of congregational prayer): the sign of the cross, bows, etc., are performed by those praying at the same time.
• The Great Agiasma is considered to be water consecrated on the eve of the Epiphany.
• The procession takes place in the sun (clockwise).
• in most currents, the presence of Christians in ancient Russian prayer clothes is approved: caftans, kosovorotkas, sarafans, etc.
• more widely used pogos in church reading.
• the use of some pre-schismatic terms and the Old Slavonic spelling of some words are preserved (Psalt NS pb, Jer O salim, Dove NS d, Prev O techa, ca v atiy, E cc a, priestly women (not hieromonk), etc.) --- see the list of differences.

Symbol of faith

In the course of the “book inquiry”, a change was made to the Symbol of Faith: the union-opposition “a” in the words about the Son of God “was born, not created” was removed. Thus, from the semantic opposition of properties, a simple enumeration was obtained: "born, not created." The Old Believers strongly opposed the arbitrariness in the presentation of dogmas and were ready “for a single az” (that is, for one letter “”) to go to suffering and death.

Pre-reform text	"New Believer" text
Ісъъ, (Ісъ)	І and sus, (І and c)
Born a not created	Born, not created
His kingdom carry end	His kingdom will not end
And incarnate from the Holy Spirit, and the Virgin Mary incarnate	And incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary , and becoming human
their.	And he rose again on the third day according to Scripture eat.
Gentlemen true and life-giving	Lord of the life-giving
Tea resurrections are dead m	Tea resurrections are dead NS

Old Believers believe that the Greek words in the text --- τò Κύριον --- mean Master and True(that is Lord Istinnago), and that according to the very meaning of the Creed, it is required to confess the Holy Spirit as true, as they confess in the same Creed God the Father and God the Son are True (in the 2nd term: "Light from the Light, God is true from God is true") ^ ^^ : 26 ^.

Heavy hallelujah

In the course of Nikon's reforms, the augmented (that is, double) utterance of "Alleluia", which in translation from the Hebrew language means "praise God", was replaced by a triple (that is, triple). Instead of "Alleluia, alleluia, glory to you, God," they began to say "Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to you, God." According to the Greek-Russians (new believers), the triple utterance of Alleluia symbolizes the dogma of the Holy Trinity. However, the Old Believers argue that the augmented utterance together with "glory to Thee, God" is already a glorification of the Trinity, since the words "glory to Thee, God" are one of the Slavic translations of the Hebrew word Alleluia ^ ^.

According to the Old Believers, the ancient church said "Alleluia" twice, therefore, the Russian pre-schismatic church knew only double Alleluia. Studies have shown that in the Greek church, triple halleluia was initially rarely practiced, and began to prevail there only in the 17th century ^ ^. The double hallelujah was not an innovation that appeared in Russia only in the 15th century, as advocates of the reforms claim, and even less an error or a typo in old liturgical books. Old Believers point out that the triple Alleluia was condemned by the ancient Russian Church and by the Greeks themselves, for example, by the Monk Maximus the Greek and at the Stoglav Cathedral ^ ^^: 24 ^.

Bows

It is not allowed to replace bows to the ground with waist bows.

There are four types of bows:

1. "Usual" --- bow to Perseus or to the navel;
2. "Medium" --- in the belt;
3. a small bow to the ground --- "throwing" (not from the verb "to throw", but from the Greek. "metanoia" = repentance);
4. great bow to the ground (proskinesis).

For the new believers and for the clergy, and for the monastics, and for the laity, it is prescribed to bow only of two types: waist and earth (throwing).

The "usual" bow accompanies censing, lighting of candles and lamps; others are performed during conciliar and cell prayer according to strictly established rules.

With a great bow to the earth, knees and head must be bowed to the ground (floor). After the sign of the cross, the outstretched palms of both hands are placed on the handcuff, both side by side, and then the head is tilted to the ground so that the head touches the hands on the handcuff: the knees are also bowed to the ground together, without spreading them.

Throwing is performed quickly, one after the other, which removes the requirement to bow the head to the very assistant.

Liturgical singing

Tuva

Apocrypha

Apocrypha was widespread in Russia among Christians even before the schism, and some of the Old Believers had an interest in apocrypha, most often eschatological. Some of them are named and condemned in the "District letter" of 1862: "The vision of ap. Paul "," The Walking of the Mother of God in Torment "," The Dream of the Mother of God "," The Walking of Elder Agapius to Paradise ", as well as" The Legend of Twelve Fridays "," Epistol on the Week "," Conversation of Three Saints "," Jerusalem List ", etc. . In the XVIII-XIX centuries. predominantly among bespopovtsy a number of distinctive apocryphal works appear: the Sedmitolk Apocalypse, "The Book of Eustathius the Theologian about the Antichrist", "Interpretation of the Amphilochian Second Song of Moses", "A Word from the Elders, in the same monk Zachariah talks to his disciple Stephen, 2 41-42, 7. 7, "The Story of the Haute-Bearer, from the Gospel Conversations", the notebook "On the Wine Creation" (allegedly from the documents of the Stoglav Council), "On Bulba" from the Book of Pandok, "On the Spiritual Antichrist", as well as " notebook ", in which the date of the end of the world is named (District message. pp. 16-23). There were Old Believer apocryphal writings against the use of potatoes ("A King by the Name of Mamer", with reference to the book of Pandoks); compositions containing a ban on the use of tea ("In which house a samovar and dishes, do not enter that house until five years old", with reference to the 68th right. Karf. Cathedral, "He who drinks tea, he despairs of the future century"), coffee ("He who drinks coffee, in that one gets a wicked man") and tobacco, attributed to Theodore IV Balsamon and John Zonara; essays against the wearing of ties ("The Legend of Fees, Nezii are Wearing, Written out from Kronik, that is, the Latin Chronicler"). The ban on reading the compositions named in the "District Epistle" was in effect only among the Old Believers

Old Believers: what are they like?

The split caused by the reforms Nikon, did not just split society in two and spark a religious war.

Popovtsy and bespopovtsy

The schism in the Russian Orthodox Church in the 1650s-60s, associated with the reforms of Patriarch Nikon, put the adherents of the old rite in a difficult position - there was not a single bishop in their ranks. The last one was Pavel Kolomensky, who died in 1656 and left no successors behind him.

According to the canons, the Orthodox Church cannot exist without a bishop, because only he is authorized to appoint priests and deacons. When the last priests and deacons of the pre-reform establishment passed away, the paths of the Old Believers diverged. One part of the Old Believers decided that it was possible to resort to the help of priests who had renounced Nikon's faith. They began to willingly receive priests who had left their diocesan bishop. This is how the “priests” appeared.

Another part of the Old Believers was convinced that after the Schism, grace completely left the Orthodox Church and all that was left for them was to humbly await the Last Judgment. The Old Believers who rejected the priesthood began to be called "non-popovtsy". They settled mainly on the uninhabited shores of the White Sea, in Karelia, Nizhny Novgorod lands. It was in the midst of bespopovtsy that the most radical Old Believer accords and rumors subsequently appeared.

Waiting for the Apocalypse

Eschatological motives became a key element in the ideology of the Old Believers. Many denominations of Old Believers, protecting themselves from the "antichrist power", existed from generation to generation in anticipation of the imminent end of the world. The most radical currents tried to bring it closer at all. Preparing for the last days, they dug caves, lay down in coffins, starved to death, threw themselves into the pool, burned themselves with whole families and communities.

Throughout its history, the Old Believers have exterminated tens of thousands of their adherents. A connoisseur of Old Believers and sectarianism, Alexander Prugavin tried to determine the number of schismatics who died in the fire. According to his calculations, up to 1772 alone, about 10,000 people were burned to death.

Because of the persecution, the Old Believers were divided into a great variety of different movements.

The main currents of the Old Believers are runaway, clericalism and bespopovism.

Beglopopovshchina- This is the earliest form of the Old Believers. This movement got its name due to the fact that believers accepted priests who were transferred to them from Orthodoxy. From beglopopovschina in the first half of the 19th century. there was an hourly agreement. Due to the lack of priests, they began to be governed by ordinators who conducted services in the chapels.

Groups of priests in organization, doctrine and cult are close to Orthodoxy. Among them were the co-religionists and the Belokrinitskaya hierarchy. The Belokrinitskaya hierarchy is an Old Believer church that arose in 1846 in Belaya Krinitsa (Bukovina), on the territory of Austria-Hungary, in connection with which the Old Believers who recognize the Belokrinitskaya hierarchy are also called the Austrian Consent.

Bespopovschina at one time was the most radical trend in the Old Believers. According to their creed, the Bespopovtsy departed further from Orthodoxy than other Old Believers.

The dispute between the priest and the bespopovets. Engraving. 1841 Fragment (State Historical Museum)

The various branches of the Old Believers stopped appearing only after the revolution. Nevertheless, by that time, there were so many different Old Believer movements that even just listing them is a rather difficult task. Not all representatives of the Old Believer confessions are on our list.

Consecrated Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Old Believers Church (October 16-18, 2012)

Today it is the largest Old Believer denomination: according to Paul, about two million people. Initially, it arose around the association of Old Believers-priests. Followers consider the RPSTs to be the historical successor of the Russian Orthodox Church, which existed before Nikon's reforms. The RPSTs is in prayer and Eucharistic communion with the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church in Romania and Uganda. The African community was admitted to the RPSTs in May this year. Ugandan Orthodox Christians, led by priest Joachim Kiimba, split from the Alexandrian Patriarchate, due to the transition to a new style. The rituals of the RPSTs are similar to other Old Believer movements. Nikonians are recognized as heretics of the second order.

Lestovka- this is the Old Believer rosary. The word "ladder" itself means a ladder, a ladder. A staircase from earth to sky, where a man ascends through unceasing prayer. Fingering the rows of sewn beads in your fingers and making a prayer. One row - one prayer. And the lidovka is sewn in the form of a ring - this is so that prayer is unceasing. It is necessary to constantly pray that the thoughts of a good Christian do not stagger around, but be directed towards the divine. Lesovka has become one of the most characteristic signs of the Old Believer.

Distribution in the world: Romania, Uganda, Moldova, Ukraine. In Russia: throughout the country.

Unified believers.

The second largest Old Believer denomination in terms of the number of parishioners... The United Believers are the only Old Believers who have come to a compromise with the ROC.

Women and men of the same faith stand in different parts of the church, during prayer they raise their hands in prayer, the rest of the time they keep their hands crossed. All movements are kept to a minimum.

This trend of priests arose at the end of the 18th century. The persecution of Old Believers led to a serious shortage of priests among the Old Believers. Some were able to come to terms with this, others - no. In 1787, the same believers recognized the hierarchical jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate in exchange for certain conditions. So, they were able to bargain for the old pre-Nikon rituals and services, the right not to shave their beards and not wear German dresses, and the Holy Synod undertook to send them myrrh and priests. Rituals of the same faith are similar to other Old Believer movements.

It is customary for fellow believers to come to church in special clothes for divine services: a Russian shirt for men, sundresses and white scarves for women. The woman's scarf is pinned with a pin under the very chin. However, this tradition is not observed everywhere. “We do not insist on clothing. People do not come to church for the sake of sundresses, ”notes Priest Ioann Mirolyubov, head of the community of co-religionists.

R distribution:

Worldwide: USA. In Russia: according to the Russian Orthodox Church, about 30 communities of the same faith operate in our country. How many of them exactly, and where they are located is difficult to say, since the believers prefer not to advertise their activities.

Chapels.

The trend of priests, which, due to persecution in the first half of the 19th century, was forced to turn into a non-popist movement, although the chapels themselves do not recognize themselves as non-popovites. The birthplace of the chapels is the Vitebsk region of Belarus.

Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in Vereya

Left without priests, a group of runaway priests abandoned the priests, replacing them with lay teachers. Divine services began to be held in chapels, and this is how the name of the movement appeared. Otherwise, the rituals are similar to other Old Believer movements. In the eighties of the last century, part of the chapels from North America and Australia decided to restore the institution of priesthood and joined the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church, similar processes are observed now in our country.

Chapel of the Nevyansk plant. Photo of the early XX century

Spreading:

Worldwide: Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, USA, Canada. In Russia: Siberia, the Far East.

Ancient Orthodox Pomor Church.

DOC is the modern name of the largest religious association of the Pomor accord. This is a pop-free trend, the Pomors do not have a three-fold hierarchy, Baptism and Confession are performed by laity - spiritual mentors. Rituals are similar to others

Old Believer confessions. The center of this movement was in the Vyzhsky monastery in Pomorie, hence the name. The DOC is a fairly popular religious movement; there are 505 communities in the world.

In the early 1900s, the Old Believers' community of the Pomor Consent acquired a plot of land on Tverskaya Street. Enlarge The five-domed church in the "neo-Russian style" with a belfry was built on it in 1906 - 1908 by the project of the architect D. A. Kryzhanovsky, one of the greatest masters of St. Petersburg Art Nouveau. The temple was designed using the techniques and traditions of the architecture of the ancient temples of Pskov, Novgorod, Arkhangelsk.

Spreading:

In the world: Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Poland, USA, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Romania, Germany, England. In Russia: Russian north from Karelia to the Urals.

Runners.

This popovskoe current has many other names: Sopelkovites, secrets, golbeshniks, underground fighters. It arose at the end of the 18th century. The main idea is that there is only one way left for salvation: "have no village, no hail, no house." To do this, you need to accept a new baptism, break all ties with society, and evade all civil obligations.

Wanderers-teachers Davyd Vasilievich and Fyodor Mikhailovich. The photo. 1918 g.

According to its principle, runaway is asceticism in its most severe manifestation. The runners' rules are very strict, especially the penalties for adultery are severe. At the same time, there was not a single pilgrim guide who did not have several concubines. As soon as it arose, the current began to divide into new branches. This is how the following sects appeared:

Non-payers rejected divine services, sacraments and veneration of saints, worshiped only individual "old" relics. They do not make the sign of the cross, do not wear the cross, do not recognize fasts. Prayers were replaced by religious home talks and readings. Non-paying communities still exist in Eastern Siberia.

Mikhailovsky plant in the Urals - one of the centers of defaulters

Luchinkovtsi appeared at the end of the 19th century in the Urals. It was believed that the Antichrist reigned in Russia back in 1666. From their point of view, the only object of worship not stained by the Antichrist is a torch, therefore they rejected all other means of illumination. Also, the Luchinka residents gave up money and trading devices. They completely disappeared in the first half of the 20th century.

Nevyansk plant in the Urals became the center of Luchinka residents

Beggars completely rejected money. It was not easy to do this even in the 19th century, so they regularly had to resort to the help of pilgrims, they did not shun money. Disappeared by the beginning of the 20th century.

The descendants of this direction of the Old Believers inherited the surname Bezdenezhnykh. Village TRUKHACHI VYATSKAYA LIP.

Marriage Wanderers allowed marriage even after taking a vow of pilgrimage. Disappeared in the first half of the 20th century.

M.V. Nesterov (1862-1942), "The Hermit"

The hermits replaced wandering with removal to remote forests and deserts, where they organized communities, living according to such ascetic standards, which Mary of Egypt would have called too harsh. According to unverified information, hermitage communities still exist in Siberian forests.

Aaronites.

The Bespopov movement of the Aaronites arose in the second half of the 18th century.

Aaron. Mosaic in the Church of St. Sophia in Kiev.

One of the leaders of the movement had the nickname Aaron, after his "chase" and began to call this denomination. The Aaronites did not consider it necessary to renounce and withdraw from life in society and allowed to enter into a marriage, which was married by a layman. They generally treated marriage issues very favorably, for example, they allowed them to combine marriage and desert life. However, the wedding,

what was done in the ROC, the Aaronites did not recognize, they demanded a divorce or a new marriage. Like many other Old Believers, the Aaronites shied away from passports, considering them "the seals of the Antichrist." It was a sin, in their opinion, to give any receipt in court. In addition, they revered the doubledans as apostates from Christ. Back in the seventies of the last century, several Aaron communities existed in the Vologda Oblast.

Bricklayers.

This unpopular religious denomination has nothing in common with the Freemasons and their symbols. The name comes from the ancient Russian designation of a mountainous area - a stone. Translated into modern language - highlanders.

All the scientists-researchers of the area were amazed at the qualities of the inhabitants. These mountain settlers were brave, courageous, determined and confident. The famous scientist K.F. Ledebour, who visited here in 1826, noted that the psychology of communities as well is really something gratifying in such a wilderness. The Old Believers were not embarrassed by strangers, whom they did not see so often, did not feel shyness and isolation, but, on the contrary, showed openness, straightforwardness and even disinterestedness. According to the ethnographer A. A. Printts, the Altai Old Believers are a daring and dashing people, brave, strong, decisive, tireless.

Bricklayers formed in the inaccessible mountain valleys of the southwestern Altai from all kinds of fugitives: peasants, deserters. The isolated communities followed the rituals characteristic of most of the Old Believers' movements.

In order to avoid closely related relationships, up to 9 generations of ancestors were remembered. External contacts were discouraged. As a result of collectivization and other migration processes, masons scattered throughout the world, mixing with the rest of the Russian ethnic groups. In the 2002 census, only two people identified themselves as bricklayers.

Kerzhaki.

The homeland of the Kerzhaks is the banks of the Kerzhenets River in the Nizhny Novgorod province. In fact, kerzhaks are not so much a religious movement as an ethnographic group of Russian Old Believers of the North Russian type, like masons, whose core, by the way, was made up of kerzhaks.

Hood. Severgina Ekaterina. Kerzhaki

Kerzhaks are Russian old-timers of Siberia. When the Kerzhensky sketes were defeated in 1720, the Kerzhaks fled in tens of thousands to the east, to the Perm province, and from there they settled throughout Siberia, to Altai and the Far East. The rituals are the same as those of other "classical" Old Believers. Until now, in the Siberian taiga, there are Kerzhatsk settlements that do not have contact with the outside world, like the famous family Lykov.

According to the 2002 census, 18 people called themselves Kerzhaks.

Self-baptized.

Self-baptized. Engraving. 1794 g.

This pop-free sect differs from others in that its followers baptized themselves, without priests, through three times immersion in water and reading the Creed. Later, self-baptized people stopped performing this "self-rite". Instead, they introduced the custom of baptizing infants in the same way that midwives do when a priest is absent. So self-baptized received a second name -grandmothers... Self-baptized grandmothers disappeared in the first half of the 20th century.

Ryabinovtsy.

The Ryabinovites refused to pray for icons where anyone other than the depicted image was present. There were not many such icons, and in order to get out of the situation, Ryabinovites began to carve eight-pointed crosses from a mountain ash tree for prayers without images and inscriptions.

Ryabinovtsy, as the name implies, generally revered this tree very much. According to their beliefs, it was from the mountain ash that the cross was made, on which Christ was crucified. In addition, Ryabinovites did not recognize church sacraments, they themselves baptized their children in the name of the Holy Trinity, but without the rite of baptism and prayers. They generally recognized only one prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners!" As a result, they buried their deceased without a funeral service, instead, they bowed to the ground for the repose of the soul of the deceased. They completely disappeared in the first half of the 20th century.

Holes.

This is the current of self-baptized bespopovtsy. The name of the sect comes from the distinctive way of praying. The hole-makers do not venerate the icons painted after the church reform of Patriarch Nikon, since there was no one to consecrate them.

At the same time, they do not recognize "pre-reform" icons either, since they are desecrated by "heretics". To get out of their predicament, the hole-dwellers began to pray as Muslims, in the street facing east. In the warm season, this is not difficult to do, but our winter is very different from the Middle East. It is a sin to pray while looking at the walls or a glazed window, so hole-holes have to make special holes in the walls, which are plugged with plugs. Separate communities of dyrniki exist to this day in the Komi Republic.

Middlemen.

Middlemen are another pop-free, self-baptized movement. Unlike other self-baptized people, they do not recognize ... the days of the week. In their opinion, when, during Peter's time, the celebration of the new year was postponed from September 1 to January 1, the courtiers were mistaken by 8 years and moved the days of the week. Like, today's Wednesday is a former Sunday. Our Sunday, according to their account, is Thursday. They completely disappeared by the beginning of the 20th century.

Fedoseevites.

The Fedoseevites are adherents of the non-popov Old Believer movement. Their views are somewhat similar to those of today's Russian protesters.

Gifts to Napoleon. The Transfiguration Fedoseevites send a bull and gold to the Kremlin as a gift to Napoleon in 1812. From engraving.

The Fedoseevites are convinced of the historical depravity of the Russian state. In addition, they believe that the kingdom of the Antichrist has come and are celibate. The name arose from the name of the founder of the community - Feodosiy Vasiliev from the clan of boyars

Urusovs. The vow of celibacy did not stop the community from attracting new followers. For a hundred years - from the second half of the 18th to the second half of the 19th centuries, the Fedoseevites were the most numerous and influential trend in unprofessionalism, communities appeared throughout the country. At the beginning of the 20th century, due to internal contradictions, the Fedoseevites were divided into several directions: liberal Moscow(they accept the "newlywed" for confession, allow them to participate in services without making the sign of the cross),

Conservative Kazan("newlyweds" are not accepted, singing and reading in the church can only be unmarried), Filimonovites and non-communists.

They did not disappear even after the revolution. In 1941, in one of the centers of the Fedoseev movement, the village of Lampovo near Tikhvin, the Fedoseevites proved themselves to be malicious collaborators.

30 facts to help you better recognize Old Believers

Old Belief, or Old Belief, is a unique phenomenon.

Both spiritually and culturally. Economists point out that Old Believer communities abroad are often more successful than the local population.

1. The Old Believers themselves admit that it is their faith that is Orthodox, and that the ROC is called the New Believers or Nikonians.

2. Until the first half of the 19th century, the term "Old Believers" was not used in spiritual literature.

3. There are three main "wings" of the Old Believers: priests, bespopovtsy and co-religionists.

4. In the Old Believers, there are several dozen interpretations and even more consensus. There is even a saying "Whatever a man is good, whatever a woman is consent."

5. The Old Believers do not have an image of Christ on their pectoral cross, since this cross symbolizes a person's own cross, a person's ability to feat for faith. The cross with the image of Christ is considered an icon, it is not allowed to wear it.

6. The largest in Latin America place of compact residence of Russian Old Believers-chapels - Colonia Russa or Massa Pe. It is home to about 60 families, or about 400-450 people, there are three cathedrals with three separate prayer houses.

7. The Old Believers retain monodic hook singing (znamenny and demestvennoe). It got its name from the way of recording the melody with special signs - "banners" or "hooks".

8. From the point of view of Old Believers - Patriarch Nikon and his supporters left the church, and not vice versa.

9. The Old Believers celebrate the procession in the sun. The sun in this case symbolizes Christ (who gives life and light). During the reform, the decree to make a procession against the Sun was perceived as heretical.

10. In the first time after the split, there was a habit of recording as "Old Believers" in general all sects that arose at that time (mainly of the "spiritual-Christian" direction, like "eunuchs") and heretical movements, which subsequently created a certain confusion.

11. For a long time, among the Old Believers, slipshod work was considered a sin. It must be admitted that this affected the material situation of the Old Believers in the most favorable way.

12. Old Believers - "runaways" recognize the priesthood of the new church "active". The priest from the new church, who passed to the Old Believers-runaway, retained his rank. Some of them restored their own priesthood, forming "priestly" accords.

13. Old Believers-bespopovtsy consider the priesthood completely lost. The priest who passed over to the Old Believers-bespopovtsy from the new church becomes a simple layman

14. According to the old tradition, there is only a part of the sacraments that only priests or bishops can perform - everything else is available to ordinary laymen

15. A sacrament accessible only to priests is marriage. Despite this, marriage is still practiced in the Pomor accord. Also, in some communities of the Pomors, sometimes another inaccessible sacrament is performed - the sacrament, although its effectiveness is questioned

16. In contrast to the Pomors, in the Fedoseevsky agreement, marriage is considered lost, along with the priesthood. Nonetheless, families give birth, but they believe that they have lived in fornication all their lives.

17. The Old Believers are supposed to say either the triple "Hallelujah", in honor of the Holy Trinity, or two "Hallelujah" in honor of the Father and the Holy Spirit, and "Glory to you God!" in honor of Christ. When in the reformed church they began to say three "Hallelujah" and "Glory to you God!" Old Believers believed that the extra "Hallelujah" is pronounced in honor of the devil.

18. Among Old Believers, icons on paper are not welcome (like any other material that can be easily damaged). On the contrary, cast metal icons became widespread.

19. Old Believers make the sign of the cross with two fingers. Two fingers are a symbol of the two Hypostases of the Savior (true God and true man).

20. Old Believers write the name of the Lord as "Jesus". The tradition of spelling the name was changed during the Nikon reform. The doubled sound "and" began to convey the duration, the "stretching" sound of the first sound, which in the Greek language is designated by a special sign, which has no analogy in the Slavic language. However, the Old Believer version is closer to the Greek source.

21. The Old Believers are not allowed to pray on their knees (prostrations to the ground are not considered as such), and they are also allowed to stand during prayer with their hands folded on their chest (right over left).

22. Old Believers bespopovtsy dyrniki deny icons, pray strictly to the east, for which they cut holes in the wall of the house to pray in winter.

23. On the tablet of the crucifixion among the Old Believers it is usually written not I.N.TS.I., but "King of Glory."

24. In the Old Believers of practically all consents, lestovka is actively used - a rosary in the form of a ribbon with 109 "bobbins" ("steps"), divided into unequal groups. Ladder symbolically means a staircase from earth to heaven. The ladder can be done by yourself.

25. Old Believers accept baptism only by full threefold immersion, while in Orthodox churches, baptism by pouring and partial immersion is allowed.

26. In tsarist Russia there were periods when only marriage (with all the ensuing consequences, including inheritance rights, etc.), concluded by the official church, was considered legal. Under these conditions, many Old Believers often resorted to a trick, formally accepting the new faith at the time of the wedding. However, not only Old Believers resorted to such tricks at that time.

27. The largest Old Believer association in modern Russia - the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church - belongs to the priests.

28. The Old Believers had a very ambiguous attitude towards the kings: while some strove to write the next tsar-persecutor in the Antichrist, others, on the contrary, shielded the kings in every possible way. Nikon, according to the Old Believers, bewitched Alexei Mikhailovich, and in the Old Believer versions of the legends about the substitution of Tsar Peter, the true Tsar Peter returned to the old faith and died a martyr's death at the hands of the supporters of the impostor.

29. According to economist Danil Raskov, Old Believers abroad are somewhat more successful than Aboriginal people, since they are more hardworking, capable of performing monotonous and difficult work, more focused on projects that take time, are not afraid to invest, they have stronger families. One example: the village of Pokrovka in Moldova, which, contrary to general trends, has even grown somewhat, since young people remain in the village.

30. Old Believers, or Old Believers, despite the name, are quite modern. They are usually successful at work and are close-knit.

T.A. Voskresenskaya

NOVGOROD OLD BELIEVERS-DISORDERS: ESCHATOLOGICAL BASES OF WORLD PERCEPTION AND LIFE

Humanitarian Institute NovSU

The influence of the eschatological perception on the everyday culture of Old Believers is shown. The criteria, defining the behavior of the Old Believer in everyday life, are analyzed.

Eschatology is recognized as one of the leading components of Christianity. The Old Believers, although they do not create a "harmonious eschatological system", is an "eschatological variety of Orthodoxy." As the researcher of the Old Believer worldview MO Shakhov defined, "eschatological expectations are the most important element of the Old Believer worldview."

After the reforms carried out by Patriarch Nikon, the traditionalist consciousness logically inevitably drew a conclusion from two premises: a) the spiritual hierarchy produced a distortion of the forms of worship, leading to the severance of the connection with the supernatural, to the loss of Divine grace; b) the loss of the true church hierarchy is possible only at the final stage of world history, with the accession of the Antichrist, therefore, the fall of the last stronghold of Orthodoxy, Muscovite Russia, marks the advent of the Antichrist into the world.

The attitude of the non-priest to the coming of the Antichrist into the world, supplemented by the conviction of the onset of the "unholy" state of the Church (that is, without secrets and priesthood), led them to the need to search for new forms of organizing their lives as true bearers of faith in the new conditions of recent times, which found a vivid expression in everyday life.

Many researchers of the Old Believers talk about the influence of the eschatological worldview on all spheres of the everyday culture of the Old Believers. The author of this study sets himself the task of examining this influence on the example of Novgorod Old Believers-bespopovtsy. Until now, researchers and public figures have paid special attention to the consideration of the system of communication with God created by the Old Believers, but we will try to illuminate the everyday life of the Old Believers-bespopovtsy, in particular the principles of their communication, interaction with the Gentiles, we will analyze the criteria that determine their behavior.

According to M.O.Shakhov, "the isolationism of Old Belief is a completely adequate reaction of the traditional Orthodox consciousness in a collision with a society of other faiths and is based on the rules and laws collected in the" Pilot Book "that require" non-communication "with heretics." In order not to succumb to temptation, the Old Believers tried with the apostates of the Christian faith, who were considered "much greater sinners than the pagans", to end friendship, joint meals and everything

communication . Following, as they believed, the covenant of St. Joseph Volotsky, who echoed St. John Chrysostom, the Old Believers strictly observed the ban on communication with the Gentiles in food, drink, friendship, love. This prohibition was supplemented by the strict prohibition on joint prayer with heretics, established by Rule 45 of the Holy Apostles.

There were stories among the Old Believers, from which it was clear that any relationship with the Gentiles could entail punishment. According to one of the stories, for the fact that the Old Believers and the Nikonians ate from the same cup, "the Lord punished them: he threw them into the icy lake, hit them with a fierce frost." Only for the alms they perform during their lifetime does He allow them to warm up at night in the cell of the Old Believer elder, who was once the abbot, and now retired into the desert near Soltsy.

Any contact with representatives of the outside world - "worldly" - makes the Old Believer himself "worldly" or "serene" (defiled), that is, deprives him of the necessary spiritual level of ritual purity. The Old Believers consider “pacification” to be a very grave sin, the return of a disobedient to the community as a full member is associated with the need to ask for forgiveness from other members of the community and perform a penance, which could include up to 40 compliments with the prayer of Isusova and bows.

The society of Novgorod Old Believers-Pope-povtsy, like any other society of keepers of ancient piety, is heterogeneous. This division is based on a qualitative characteristic of communion with the world that has departed from Christ. Each category is distinguished according to the main criterion - the degree of “pardon”. In their midst the Old Believers single out "slaves", sometimes they could be called simply "Christians" or "big arabs." To avoid secularism, every devout Old Believer, who is a slave, must have with him, especially if he sets out on a journey or into a society of Orthodox Christians, his own cup and spoon, so as not to use Orthodox dishes under any circumstances. This practice is called "holding your cup." The cup had to be blessed by the mentor, after which it could be used. In addition, the slaves prayed to God together with their mentor, because they were people “worthy, praying” (that is, they fulfilled the commandments of God, including fasting, the prohibition on visiting Nikonian churches and communicating with other faiths). Most often, these qualities were possessed by people of age.

Another category is the "navozhonye" as they were called in the Krestetsky region, or the "siet" ones in the Starorussky region, or "vain" - this name is mentioned by an informant from the Poddorsky region. According to the descriptions of the informants, the sitnets were much younger in age, were married, communicated with the Gentiles in some way, and therefore they were forbidden to pray together with everyone during public worship.

To define co-religionists who had the closest relations with the apostate world, or infidels, the term "secular" or simply "churchly" was used. If this term was used to define the Old Believer, then in this version this concept is similar to the concept of sitet, that which is weaker among the Old Believers ”, for which they did not pray with everyone at the service and did not have the right to take the“ slave's cup ”.

This division was reinforced by the presence in each house of separate cups (dishes) for representatives of each group. "And before they had three cups: mundane, nauzhona and slave." They were kept in different places and washed separately.

This hierarchical status ladder was flexible. There was an opportunity to raise their status within the Old Believer society. Some informants mention the custom on Easter for all Old Believers to become slaves and receive grace from a mentor. For this it was necessary: ​​1) to wash the cup after praying; 2) go to Great Lent for obeisances (i.e., confess); 3) pray 40 flights; 4) be a slave at home.

In everyday life, as the materials of ethnographic studies of the life of Novgorod Old Believers-bespopovtsy show, all of the above prohibitions were strictly observed. So, if at the commemoration (and other forms of joint communication were strictly limited) there were people of different faiths or secular ones, then the owners, referring to the words of the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 5, 11), set two tables: separately for the slaves and separately for the secular or worldly ... When performing memorial prayers, the Gentiles were forbidden even to cross themselves with the cross.

According to the data of the second half of the 19th century, the Old Believers of the Fedoseevsky consent, known for its severity, the food bought in the shops from the Gentiles was considered defiled, and therefore they cleansed it with prayer before use. In an article of 1873 about Old Russian Old Believers in the town of Gorodtsy, the ritual of purification is described as follows: the home person sat down opposite the bench on a chair (similar to a rocking chair), swaying, fingering the ladder, beating bows on the bench. The number of bows was used to characterize the quality of the food. The greatest number of bows is required for the purification of sugar and salt. Slightly less - for salted and fresh fish, they did not bow for fresh food. According to F. Pardalotskiy's data, the Krestets Fedoseevites had to make a hundred bows before dinner to cleanse their food.

from the Orthodox. In addition, he mentions the presence of special wells in the stoves of the Krestetsky Fedoseevites "for the consecration of the food prepared by the grace."

Setting off on the road, the Old Believer took with him everything necessary to maintain his "purity" - an icon, his cup, his food ("Our parents, for example, they go where they go, with their food they go, with their bread and drink" ).

Old Believers have a ban on visiting Nikonian churches. An exception could concern only the younger generation, whose representatives, against the will of their parents, "out of curiosity" went to see Christian churches, but for such an action they later asked forgiveness from their spiritual father. The ban on joint prayer with Nikonians was strictly followed.

Along with the mundane cup in some homes of the Old Believers, one could find the so-called “mundane” icons, that is, icons not covered with a curtain, left especially for those who come from the world. The icons, which the owners themselves prayed to, were carefully hidden from prying eyes. In the home of the Orthodox, the Old Believer should “baptize his eyes, but not say a prayer” on other people's icons. If representatives of different faiths lived in the same family (for example, an Orthodox husband and an Old Believer wife), according to one of the informants, they each kept their icons in a separate corner, hiding them from the eyes of a non-religious relative.

The ban on marrying people of other faiths became a guarantee that a single faith was preserved within the clan, family (in the broadest sense). Marriage not by faith in the Old Believer environment threatened to be rejected from the family. Marriages between representatives of different faiths happened, but subject to a change of religion. Otherwise, the new family member was in her “all the same as a cut off hunk” (the informants explained: in the house “everyone eats from one cup, and she eats separately from the man”). Subject to this prohibition, the communication of the Old Believer was limited to his family and his community - the circle of co-religionists.

The presence of two brackets (handles) on the doors of the Old Believers (this practice has regional restrictions) was also a sign of the division of the world - for the worldly and for the Old Believers.

Despite all its isolation, the Old Believer society was open to accepting new members. A sermon aimed at converting heretics was encouraged in every way: “he who converted a sinner from his wrong way, will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20). The custom of baptizing adults who came from the world (and in some non-popist talk and came from other consents) is described by many informants.

Like all Christians, Old Believers have the main goal of the salvation of the soul. This problem is becoming especially urgent in the conditions of recent times, since it is impossible to save the true Church without taking care of one's own soul. “The body, even if it’s from the city, will support, but darling will be tormented in that light

those, you have to answer for everything. " The non-popovtsy had to create their own system of serving the Lord, since they were deprived of the opportunity to receive grace through the Church. A person, according to Old Believers, can do almost everything even in the days of the arrival of the Antichrist, if he does it "with God's help, but with prayer", if he does it "with deed and with the joy of spiritual seeking." The Old Believer tries to live his life in such a way as to deserve the grace of God.

The Old Believer begins every business, every day with an appeal to God (“crossing his eyes with Christ”) and ends with an appeal to God. Prayer accompanies the Old Believer throughout his life. Parents taught their children: “You have to pray for yourself every day. When you die, you can't pray for yourself there. There you will only pray for your living people. " He prays, having risen from sleep, going on the road, before and after eating, before going to bed, he expresses gratitude for every day he has lived. Every holiday, every Sunday he begins with a public prayer and devotes it to the Lord, refraining from work and from everyday worries.

One of the indicators of the severity of the Old Believer faith is the keeping of fasts. For Old Believers, fasting is a prerequisite for the Christian faith. The Old Believers strictly observe four basic Christian fasts. In addition, every week the Old Believers especially honor Wednesday and Friday with fasting, thereby remembering the betrayal of Judas and the suffering of Christ. Some Old Believers mention eating food on these days only once. Others insist that these days “it is not how much to eat, but what is limited, and therefore they ate several times a day, but exclusively lean food. Some informants mention the tradition of fasting three times a week. “They say Wednesday and Friday are the first meeting. Friday and Wednesday you will be greeted when you die. And Monday is always cherished. " On Monday, only those who made the covenant fasted, that is, got into a difficult life situation and expected help in resolving it from God, and therefore took on some obligations regarding limiting their diet. It should be noted that in the Old Believer environment, children begin to fast very early.

In a similar way, correlating with God in every business, observing fasts, the Old Believer fulfilled the first commandment of love given by Jesus Christ himself - the commandment of love for God. In everyday life, the Old Believer tries, like a true Christian, to realize His second commandment - the commandment to love one's neighbor. It was ideal for the Old Believer in his daily practice to follow the simple formula: "We must pray to Christ more and do good." “When a good deed is done, they say, the Angel himself smiles,” but intercedes for his creators.

Only one good deed created can change the fate of a person after his death - send him from hell to heaven. Even a harlot can go to heaven just because "she has done a certain gospel."

They said that if you do good to people, you will get to paradise: “maybe you won’t get into the heart, but you’ll be fine.”

Starover tried to help anyone in need of help. I did not forget the saying: "Give for Christ's sake - God will send." In different parts of the world there were customs related to charity. Some of them served directly on the street, others invited those who asked to come into the house, while others, in any unfavorable life situations, distributed alms to their fellow believers. At the same time, the so-called "secret charity" was especially appreciated, such as "so that the right hand gives, the left does not know." Alms were also given in case of an accident with a cattle, in case of illness, after the death of a loved one (“You don’t give a donation, it will dream in a dream.

It was considered a sin to treat other people unworthily. Physical violence is sinful towards other people. The deprivation of a person's life was considered all the more sinful. The murder of a person did not pass without consequences for the murderer. Informants note that in the next world he will have to answer both for his sins and for the sins of the person he killed. Although forgiveness even for this terrible sin is possible, if, of course, you repent. Abortion is considered an unforgiven sin. That is why “the whole universe cannot be answered for him”. They said: "Pray for this at least a hundred people, all the same you will not pray."

An encroachment on material values ​​was considered sinful: whether it was land (“seizure of land is an unforgiven sin”) or a house (“light a stranger’s house”) or cattle (“poisoning a cattle is an unforgivable sin”).

It was not only the deed done by a person that influenced his life. The meaning of the spoken word is also very great. Every word can be heard and turned against a person. "Think about it:" Oh, I won't live, I will hang myself. " And for ten years an unclean spirit has been following you from behind: “You gave (or gave) your word. Why don't you hold, don't you perform it? " He will walk for forty years until you choke. "

The curse (especially from the mouth of the mother) had irreparable consequences. An envious word can even kill a person.

Discussing how and condemning other people, as well as lying and scolding, is also considered a sin and is punished by burning in hell. You cannot discuss other people, judge them. "We cannot judge, for that is God the Judge." The Old Believers warned: "You lie a lot and talk about, but talk in vain - they will hang by your tongue" in the next world.

Old Believers, especially women, do not use swear words. The most terrible curse, according to the informants, “to the mother” (you remember the mother of God) and “to God”, you should not remember the unclean. Swearing at the cattle is unacceptable. "Neither a kitty, nor a chicken, you cannot call anyone, everything is created with Christ!" The father-in-law has just poured

milk only because the daughter-in-law, when she was milking, called the cow "contagion": "You cannot drink milk from an infection!" A bad word, a swear word can lead to the fact that the cattle can get “on the bad trail” (that is, get lost in the forest).

The Old Believers also have a special attitude to the choice of words spoken at the meeting and at parting. Instead of "Goodbye" they say "in God's way": "Forgive me for God's sake." To which the rest answer: "God will forgive you and bless you." It is also necessary to give thanks "in the way of God." Old Believers

non-popovtsy usually say "Save the Lord", and Novgorod Old Believers-priests thank the phrase "Save Christ".

Fornication is considered a sin among Christians. In the everyday practice of Old Believers, intimate relationships even between husband and wife were considered not completely clean. After every night with her husband, the woman had to drown herself from head to toe in water either in the house or in the barn. The Old Believers refrained from close relationships between spouses during fasting, on the eve of holidays (before public prayers).

The Old Believers avoided excessive consumption of intoxicated drinks. You can't talk about their complete ban. The women did not drink at all, while the men were allowed indulgences on holidays. However, according to the charter of the Old Believers, six weeks of fasting and three thousand bows were imposed for the abuse of intoxicated drinks (for drunkenness). One of the reasons why Old Believers deliberately restrict the use of intoxicated drinks is, in particular, the realization that under their influence they lose control over themselves, and at this time even the most serious sin can be committed.

A ban was imposed on dancing in the everyday life of the Old Believer. However, informants admit that Old Believers danced as well. Especially young people. But if they did this, then - realizing that for this sin their punishment awaits: "you will dance in a red-hot frying pan in the next world" or "on red-hot nails", or "they will make you dance on coals."

In addition to the ban on dancing in the Old Believers' environment, a ban on secular entertainment (hippodrome, opera, theater, etc.), including music, was extended. Although it should be noted that the Old Believers could not completely do without music in their lives. First, music was an important part of worship. Secondly, there was such a genre of musical work as a spiritual verse. Spiritual verses were often performed in the prayer room; they were an important part of the Old Believer's life in Great Lent. Handwritten collections of spiritual poetry can also be found in the villages. As an exception to the rule, Old Believers allow the use of "worldly songs", especially among young people who attend village festivals.

Some Old Believers are wary of science, especially those of its branches, the achievements of which clearly contradict the religious picture of the world.

They prefer to do without the help of doctors in case of illness. Firstly, fearing pacification, since many doctors are non-believers, and secondly, in their opinion, now there are no "divine doctors, about whom Sirach speaks (38, 1-15), but all are heretics", thirdly , believe that "every pain from the Throne of God, from His will is sent to the test to people" or as a punishment. One way or another, but the cure of the disease depends only on the Creator's grace, and you must achieve it yourself. Some Old Believers believe that being sick is bad in this world, but for the next century this activity is useful. After all, "when you are sick, you work for your sins." And therefore, approaching the patient, they say: "God will help you to work." According to the observations of researchers of the 19th century, if the Old Believers (especially the wealthy in cities), although reluctantly, did not accept external medicines from doctors, they did not take internal medicines at all. The Old Believers condemned surgical intervention. They explain it this way: "The cut is the same as the circumcised Jew, will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven." The anatomists who open the bodies of the dead were especially negatively treated.

In case of illness, Old Believers usually resort to reading the canons to some saint, who is credited with the power to heal certain ailments. They can give a covenant - how many compliments to pray or impose on themselves a fast. So in the village. Lyakov gave a covenant and walked along it (about 100 km) to Novgorod to bow to the Monk Varlaam of Hu-tynsky. They often resorted to charity. As an exception (very rare, according to the 19th century, collected by opponents of the Old Belief), the Old Believers also resorted to the help of sorcerers, and also used traditional medicine.

Smoking tobacco was considered forbidden in the Old Believers' environment. Even if the Old Believer smoked, that is, “did not obey the law” (according to the law, this is a sin), he never did it at home or in the prayer room; smoking near a well with water was also prohibited. The maintenance of this practice was facilitated by the stories about the origin of tobacco prevailing among the Old Believers. According to them, tobacco grew from the remains of the prodigal black-norizitsa (or, according to other sources, a girl) thanks to the "fornication demon."

If the Old Believers received food from their opponents, the Nikonian, through cleansing with bows, then they rejected food delivered from the pagans who did not worship the Christian God. The Old Believers tried to exclude tea, coffee, sugar, potatoes and yeast from the diet.

Secular fashion could penetrate the life of the Old Believer, but following it was associated with the need to bear spiritual punishment, and its scope was clearly limited to everyday life. During their appeal to God (whether it be a public prayer or a home prayer), the Old Believers preferred to dress in modest, old-fashioned clothes.

Thus, the study of the everyday life of the Novgorod Old Believers-bespopovtsy allows the ut-

to assert that the eschatological sentiments, which constitute the basis of the worldview of the Old Believers, had a direct impact on everyday life, substantiating, in particular, the ban on communication with the world departed from Christ, the ban on everyday innovations, asserting the need for asceticism in worldly life.

1. Kerov VV Eschatology of the Old Believers of the late 17th - first half of the 17th centuries and the new economic ethics of the old faith // Old Believers in Russia (17th - 20th centuries): Sat. scientific. tr. Issue 3 / State ist. Museum; otv. ed. and comp. E.M. Yukhimenko. M .: Languages ​​of Slavic culture, 2004.S. 410, 405.

2. Shakhov M.O. Old Believer Worldview: Religious and Philosophical Foundations and Social Position. M .: RAGS, 2002.S. 193.

3. Shakhov M.O. Philosophical aspects of Old Belief. Moscow: Ed. house "Third Rome", 1997. P.98.

4. Ibid. P.103.

5. Ibid. P.105.

7. Psalmist D. G-ev. On schismatic serenity in eating and drinking // Tobolsk Eparch. statements. 1889. No. 6. P.123.

8. Archive of the educational and scientific laboratory of ethnology and cultural history of NovSU. Materials of ethno-cultural expeditions.

9.C-in. Notes on the life and life of schismatics in the town of Gorodets, Starorusskiy uyezd // Novgorod Provincial Gazette (NGV). 1873. No. 2. P.7.

10. Pardalotsky F. Punishment for unbelief and conversion from schism to Orthodoxy // NGV. 1873, no. 43. C.5.

11. Kerov V.V. Decree. op. P.421.

13. Barsanuphius, hieromonk. Old Believers bezpopovtsy, convicted of the wrongness of their faith in their own prayer room. Novgorod, provincial printing house, 1902.23 p.

14. S. V. A few words about the schismatics in the Starorussky district // NGV. 1869. No. 25. С.183.

15. Nilsky I.A. The view of the schismatics on some of our customs and orders of life, church, state, public and domestic. SPb, 1863, p. 63.

16. Ibid. S.42-43.

“Shake off, unbelievers, mental sleep, open the eyes of the mind and see: the world sun is already at sunset, night will come soon, the fateful hour will suddenly strike, Christ will appear like lightning - for everything is ready. And you, instead of Christ, whom you should fear with fear day and night and every hour, are still waiting for the beast - the antichrist with ten horns ”.

L.F. Pichugin (1859-1912), an outstanding figure of the Pomor Church,
nachetchik, author of apologetic essays

The different accords of the Old Believers-Bezpopovtsy are united by the conviction that after the schism of the 17th century the apostolic succession of the Orthodox clergy was cut off, the grace of the priesthood was interrupted, the church hierarchy ceased, and the spiritual antichrist reigned. By the spiritual antichrist, the Bezpopists began to understand the totality of various heresies that penetrated the church, i.e. the antichrist is not a specific person, but a spiritual heresy that reigns in the world, which also destroyed the true priesthood. The bezpopovtsy present the rule of the Antichrist as the rule of heretics with their persecution of true Christians. And since the Antichrist is already reigning, it means that Christians should be in a general, unholy state. That is why the Bezpopovites did not recognize the consecration of the ruling church and declared that it was impossible to accept priests from there.

Bishop Pavel Kolomensky in 1654 he spoke out against the heretical changes that Patriarch Nikon introduced to the Church, and was exiled to the Paleostrovsky monastery of the Olonets district, where in captivity he taught and established people in patristic traditions and piety. It was Bishop Pavel Kolomensky who established that everyone who came from the Nikonian church must be baptized with true Baptism. He commanded not to accept newly ordained priests, but to baptize them, and also not to accept their “sacraments” from new, heretical “false priests” under any circumstances.

Christians asked Bishop Paul to appoint priests and a bishop:

O reverend, our sacred passion-bearer, holy and highly mobile father, if your relic from us orphans will migrate to future ages, and the holy and bloodless sacrifice will fade away on earth. And if the priesthood perishes to the end, then who will cry out to us a lamp of the priesthood, the holy Service of God? Only you, Father, have the rewarding grace in the priests, and all the holy Church Mysteries are sanctified by you. If you are the priestly father of this lamp do not kindle, then the visible priesthood will truly fade away in us, and then all the faithful will have a great need of the present time and of our brethren coming after us.

To which Bishop Paul replied:

Among you there are simple pious men and monks who fear God and keep the commandments of Christ, who can baptize and confess, and the true priesthood with Nikon's novines has ceased.

While the priests of the old, ancient Orthodox order were still alive, they communed the Divine Mysteries of the "rest of the Trevlyago piety." After it was impossible to find an Orthodox priest, the fathers commanded the commoner to baptize and confess according to the tradition of the Holy Church out of need, and the flock of words was given over to uninitiated pastors who can perform only two church mysteries - baptism and repentance.

Since the time of the Solovetsky uprising of 1667-1676. Solovetsky monks and Balts, who did not submit to the liturgical reform, attempted to break with the priests, who, in particular, opposed the decision of the rebels not to pray for the Tsar and Patriarch. Some of the Solovetsky monks and Balts stopped going to church and to confession to the spiritual fathers, did not take the heretical communion, and confessed "among themselves among the commoners."

The bezpopovtsy never denied the church hierarchy as such, and therefore in the first half of the 18th century. were still looking for the true priesthood of ancient ordination. Thus, at the beginning of 1730, a joint trip with the priests was undertaken to Palestine in order to find the "Orthodox priesthood." The Bezpopovites, in contrast to the Bezpopopovtsy, accepted the clergy of the ruling church who passed on to them without preserving their rank, that is, as ordinary laity. In 1765, in Moscow, the idea of ​​uniting the Bezpopovites and the priests was considered under the authority of the Old Believer bishop. It was suggested that such a bishop would be installed by the hand of the relics of Metropolitan Jonah or another saint, but all these attempts were unsuccessful - unification never took place. The extinction of the priests of the "pre-Nikon" position and the absence of bishops in the Old Believers led to the fact that some of the Old Believers by the end of the 17th century. became convinced that it was no longer possible to have the priesthood.

According to the degree of their importance for salvation, all the sacraments bezpopovtsy are divided into "necessary" (baptism, repentance, communion) and "necessary" (marriage, blessing, priesthood, chrismation), which may not be performed due to need.

The unholy state of the Bezpopites (due to the spiritual heresy that reigns in the world and destroyed the true priesthood), the dominion of the Antichrist and "the abomination of desolation in the holy place" was substantiated teaching about spiritual communion.

In the XVIII century. among the Vygovites and Fedoseevites there was a practice of communion with ancient reserve Gifts, in the Vygovskaya desert there was also a rite of "communion" with the Theotokos bread.

Old Believer bezpopov thinkers in the 18th century explained in their writings that in the current historical situation it is impossible, due to the absence of the ancient Orthodox church hierarchy, to preserve "the invariable completeness of all external forms of the Church's existence," and therefore partial deviations are inevitable, as evidenced by examples from the Old and New Testaments, from the writings of the holy fathers and the history of the Church:

unnecessarily daring not in behavior, like criminals of the law are condemned. Out of need, however, the daring one is not just condemned, but they are worthy of praise and honor and are justified from all teachers. But there is a lot of flight in this reasoning, as in such there is like daring, in which the most extreme need commands, but not when this is a supply to need, and unnecessary times, and to the need of a secret need for action, we begin to produce.

Bezpopovtsy throughout the 18th century substantiated the impossibility of following the example of the priests and accepting the priesthood passing from the synodal church, explaining that in this way they reproduce the external forms of worship, but not the lost grace. And if the "Deacon's Answers" directly speaks of the readiness of representatives of the priestly direction to reunite with the Synodal Church, if it returns to pre-reform rituals, then the Bezpopovites have a different opinion on this matter.

In the Holy Scriptures and the history of the Church, bezpopovtsy find an answer to the question of how to make up for the forced rejection of some church sacraments. So, in the ancient Church during the times of persecution of Christians and during the confrontation between Orthodoxy and Arianism, iconoclasm and other heresies, Christians were repeatedly deprived of hierarchy and clergy. Descriptions of such religious and historical events are well known from the lives of the saints and other literature.

The conflict of the 16th-17th centuries between the Orthodox and the Uniates in Russia showed that with an almost complete retreat of the clergy and cruel persecution of Orthodoxy, the laity found a way for the existence of the Church, which had lost the priesthood.

Archimandrite of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Zakhariya Kopystensky He proved in his writings that in the absence of a priest, a layman can perform the sacraments of baptism and confession, and the sacrament of communion replaces spiritual communion, as the most sincere and "warm from the heart desire" to receive the Body of Christ.

The works of Zechariah Kopystensky, as well as other Orthodox writers - polemicists and church preachers - Stefan Zizania(1550-1634) and John Vishensky(between 1545-1550 - after 1620), were reprinted in Moscow in the middle of the 17th century.

The most famous Old Believer publications "Spiritual Sword", "Shield of Faith" and other bezpopovskaya literature repeat the doctrine of spiritual communion that has become generally accepted in bezpopovstvo. This teaching is also set forth in detail in the main apologetic book of the Old Believers - “ Pomeranian response x "(answer 104). Here, with references to the Book "On the Seven Sacraments" (Chernigov, 1716), as well as "Dialogism" (Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, 1714) are described three types of communion. First communion- it is "usual" when a sacrament is received with a pure heart and conscience and lips; second- spiritual, when "those who are blessed for the sake of wines who do not have where to commune, they also taste the life-giving and most pure Mysteries with their lips, they also show a warm and zealous desire for this, adorn their life with virtues: such, through faith and diligence, they spiritually partake of the Flesh and Blood of Christ", and third when those who receive the sacrament unworthily, have not been cleansed of sins and for whom it will work not for salvation, but for condemnation, partake of the communion “with only one mouth”.

To the unfair accusations of Protestantism, the Bezpopists responded as follows:

We are not bishops, but we are afraid of novin, and we are running around not man-made churches, but new traditions and statutes introduced into it.

Bezpopovtsy especially note that the state of a person's spirit is able to determine the result of the sacrament and even to compensate for the forced incompleteness of external forms, since it is “ the inner spiritual essence predetermines both the outer forms and the nature of their change”, In other words, the spiritual content takes precedence over the canonical external forms.

Bezpopovstvo never rejected as an idea a single church sacrament or rite, did not question the status of the priesthood as the bearer of God's grace. The entire worldview of bezpopovstvo is imbued with the awareness of loss, which is replenished by the spiritual power of faith.

The Shield of Faith states that “ but we, even if we do not get a heretic onago for the situation, but with our faith we will finish”, And this confirms the forced nature of their actions, and not the desire for the reformation of the Church in accordance with their own convictions.

In the Church without the priesthood and hierarchy, the bezpopovtsy strove to follow the canonical rules and historical events in everything, placing all their hope on the fact that God would make up for what was not perfect due to forced circumstances. It is important to note that the layman baptized and confessed instead of a priest, for which there are grounds and examples in church tradition, but he never performed unauthorized spiritual acts, such as, for example, chrismation or Liturgy, which the laity could never perform. Unfortunately, the loss in the fullness of external forms came from the loss of the priesthood, the grace-filled power of which is not made by hands and cannot be recreated by any human effort.

Many of the holy martyrs and ascetics did not partake of the Body and Blood of Christ all their lives, but they were saved and are glorified by the Church. Such, for example, are the reverends: Paul of Thebes, Peter the Athonite, Mark the Fraches, Theophanes of Antioch, Mary of Egypt, Theoktista and other martyrs: Eupsychius, Esper and Zoya, Koprius and Alexander, Kirik and Iulita, Drosis, Glyceria other.

Elitsy are now metropolitans, archbishops and bishops ... priests and deacons, and other clergymen of the church ... and archbishops and protchii, according to the holy Divine canons, the eruptions are; and the tree bless - the essence of non-blessing. For from those baptisms - non-baptism, and ordination - not a clergy ... and such is for the sake of everything abolishing the hierarchy and the priesthood (Professor N. F. Kapterev "Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich", vol. 2, p. 200).

With the abolition of the priesthood, there is no visible sacrament of holy communion, which can only be given by truly Orthodox pastors.

In the interpretation of a verse from the book of the saint Prophet Zechariah « And the Lord said to me: still take for yourself the shepherd's vessels of an inexperienced shepherd."(Zech. 11, 15) blessed Jerome writes: “ undoubtedly the unwise or unskilled shepherd is the antichrist"(Creations of Blessed Jerome of Stridonsky, part 15, p. 150, published in 1915).

Reverend Ephraim Sirin writes about the same:

The Antichrist is represented in the image of this shepherd (Toren, Saint Ephraim the Syrian, part 6, p. 189, published in 1901).

It means that the foolish shepherds, deviating from the true faith and sinning against it, according to the holy fathers, already represent the Antichrist.

John Chrysostom explains:

The same is the essence of Christianity, but they resort to Scripture, for from that time, when the Church has revolted the heresies of the beginning, neither the one true Christian refuge nor the rightness of faith want to know, except for the Divine Scripture they can not have (Book of Faith, ch. 23, l. 215 about.).

This means that true Christians should always turn to Holy Scripture, because since the time of the Church's indignation with heresies, nothing but Divine Scripture can no longer be a Christian refuge for the knowledge of the true faith, according to the word of the Holy Father. Hippolyta, Pope:

Hear the Divine Scriptures and the possessor is melting in his hands and those who are always learning in thought, many of his delights will flee (Word of the third, in the week of meat-eating according to the collection, fol. 183 vol.).

For you see into the place of Christ's true shepherd, into Christ's flock, a wolf has entered in the clothing of the bishop's sheep. Faithful people to that false shepherd exist heretic, and even if the abomination of desolation is in the holy place in the Church, reluctantly turn, I go outside the city in the field and gather from an empty place, I serve God.

From the cited passages of Holy Scripture, it is clear that the believers considered the emerging heretical bishops to be "an abomination of desolation" and, trying to distance themselves from all that was abominable, went out into the field to perform Divine services.

The holy place denotes the throne on which a sacrifice should be offered to God, that is, the sacrament of holy communion, as it says Kirillov's book on sheet 31:

The throne is a holy place, on which the priests offer sacrifices to God, consecrate bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.

Therefore, bezpopovtsy believe, heretical archpastors and shepherds - servants of the Antichrist, and make up his body, they are also an abomination of desolation, performing service in a holy place, that is, on the throne.

With the fact that the prophecy of the abomination of desolation was fulfilled, the Bishop of Belokrinitsa Consent (ROCTs) of Ural (Shvetsov) agreed with the Bezpopovites. In his conversation with M. E. Shustov He says:

These Nikonian preachers don't believe the Gospel; only one thing was fixed: the eternity of the priesthood! And they don't want to hear anything else. So they do not see what was said: when you see the abomination of desolation spoken by Daniel the prophet, I stand in a holy place, whoever honors and understands, then those who are in the Jews will run to the mountains. The fathers also called heretical bishops an abomination of desolation. We saw that the bishops at the Moscow cathedral had rejected everything ancient, and so we fled to the mountains from the seductive bishops. (Conversation between M. E. Shustov and Fr. Shvetsov in Moscow in May 1888, pp. 11-12).

The prophetic word about the antichrist of the holy teacher of the 3rd century Hippolyta, Pope:

The Churches of God will also mourn with great lamentation, when the offering is made, below the censer is performed, below is the God-pleasing service. The Sacred Church, like a vegetable storehouse, will not have the honest body and blood of Christ in one day (Word three, in the week of meat-eating according to the collection, fol. 184 turnover).

Blessed Jerome (4.2, p. 155, ed. 1912) indicates that heretics also imitate the meekness of the church, but their offering is not as a service to God, but as food for demons.

The false sacraments of apostate pastors, according to the testimony of the holy fathers of the Church, bring destruction to Christian souls. For the sins of people, the Lord allows the holy temples, the holy sacrament, the priesthood to be defiled:

Thus, for the sins of the rulers, the subordinate gives execution and for the filthy deeds of the servants of the oltar, allows the oltari saints of the wicked to be plundered, and the holy temples to desolation.

Wonder, beloved, how God does not spare his houses, when he allows anger on the earth. If the Holy Ark is not spared, but will betray it by a foreigner, with the priests who have transgressed the temple of consecration, and the Cherub of glory, and clothing, and prophecy, and anointing, and appearances in trampling and desecration with the tongue, below the holy churches and pure secrets spares (the book of Nikon Black Mountain, fol. 41, fol. 308 ob.).

If there is no true sacrament of holy communion, then the false, harmful to the soul, is not accepted. Cyprian of Carthage indicates (in letter 56, part 1, p. 316):

And so the people obeying the Divine commandments and fearing God must separate from the sinner primate and not participate in the sacrificial sacrifice of the sacrilegious priest.

Theodore the Studite writes in the same 2nd volume:

Just as the divine bread that the Orthodox receive communion makes all those who receive communion with one body, so the heretical bread, bringing those who partake of it into communion with each other, makes them one body contrary to Christ (part 2, letter 153, p. 532).

Blessed Jerome in part 6 of his works (p. 78, edition 1905) warns Christians about the church of heretics, “ which invites an unintelligible mind to herself so that he, deceived by her, would accept thieves 'bread and thieves' water, that is: a false sacrament».

The sacrament of Holy Communion, even in its pure and inviolable form, cannot by itself save a person, which is confirmed by the evidence given:

True ubo in Yuda will obey, as if from the most pure hand of the Lord Christ, he will receive the holy bread and he will enter into Satan for his unworthiness (Prologue March 22, l. 117).

Accept, say, bread, he will partake of me ... Ponezhe, for the Lord will give bread to Iuda, the food has come to the senses of the meal of bread, legends will recede: but it is not that way, then Satan was fast to the end (the Gospel of the Gospel, interpretation of Theophylact on 45 conceived the Gospel of John, fol. 222 and 223).

That is, communion from the hands of the Savior Himself, Who said to Judas Iscariot: “ take bread from me and commune”, And the performance of the sacrament of the sacrament itself, the purpose of which was to reason with him, did not deter Judas from the crime and his own destruction. Consequently, it is not communion that has the power to save a person, to keep him from crime - it depends first of all on the Christian himself, his way of life, purity of thoughts, his good deeds, but not on the basis of whether he is taking communion, as the saint teaches us about this. John Chrysostom:

It is not fitting for the faithful to learn from the communion of the holy mysteries, but from a fair life and auspicious deeds (the Gospel of the Gospel in the preface of Matthew, the morality of John Chrysostom, l. 24).

The main idea of ​​spiritual communion lies in the life of a Christian in accordance with faith in Christ, in the assimilation by the whole human being of the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

The robber, crucified with Christ and considered a desperate sinner, during his many sinful life never received communion and was not even baptized, but was introduced by the Savior into paradise, he says about this Ephraim Sirin:

Since the Judes chose the robber and rejected Christ, God chose the robber and rejected them. But where is that (said): "If someone does not receive My flesh, does not have life?" When he accepted the faith from the robber, in exchange for it, freely giving him immeasurable ones, he freely poured out his treasures before him, immediately transferred him to his paradise and there he put the introduced (into paradise) over his treasures: with Me you will be in the paradise of desires! (Creations of Ephraim the Syrian, part 8, p. 306).

In addition to the robber who escaped on the cross, one can also read in the menaus or prologues about those holy martyrs who believed in Christ, who, not only the Holy Eucharist, but also Holy Baptism had not yet been awarded, like the robber, but suffered for their faith and were awarded the crown. Any literalism in the interpretation of Holy Scripture, bezpopovtsy believe, can lead to dangerous heresies.

Saint Gregory the Theologian writes:

They will not be allowed to the altars, but I know another altar, the image of which is now visible altars ... which is the whole work of the mind and to which contemplation ascend. I will stand before him, on him I will devour the sacrifice and burnt offerings pleasing to God and the sacrifice, as much the best offered now, as the truth is better than a shadow ... no one will distract me from this altar; expelled from the city, but not expelled from the city, which is grief (Creations of Gregory the Theologian, part 1, p. 382 and 3, ed. Soikin).

Holy father Athanasius of Alexandria teaches in his creations: “ Will not be ashamed during the fierce”(Psalm 36, 19). In times of persecution, with the impoverishment of teachers, the Lord Himself teaches those who believe in Him with His spirit (part 4, p. 29, published in 1903 in the interpretation of the psalms on the extract of Permyakov, part 1, l. 222v.).

According to the words of the saint Athanasius of Alexandria and saint Gregory the Theologian, bezpopovtsy, not having the now visible sacrament of holy communion and true performers of such, still get the opportunity to receive spiritual communion by faith in Jesus Christ. This spiritual communion with the Body and Blood of the Lord also occurs through the knowledge of the word of God, as the blessed one writes about this. Jerome:

Since the Lord's body is a true drink and His blood is a true drink, then, according to the mysterious interpretation, in the present age we have only that only good if we eat His flesh and drink His blood, not only in the sacrament (Eucharist), but also in reading the scriptures: for true drinking and drinking, which is received from the word of God, is the knowledge of the scriptures (Blessed Jerome bb, p. 37).

Discussing Spiritual Sacrament, bezpopovtsy say:

As the first coming of the Savior was in the impoverishment of the Old Priesthood, so the second coming will be. Let it be better at least in our Church to keep a bright and pure memory of the unopened Throne of God, on which the Lord will come again to set foot on the Day of His Second and Great Coming. Although we do not have the sacrifice of visible communion, but according to the merit of faith, according to virtues, God feeds his believers with the Holy Spirit.

A superficial understanding of Christ's words " drink my blood and poison, and my body has an eternal belly", As soon as the sacraments in the form of bread and wine, any literalism in the interpretation of Holy Scripture, leading to heresies, misleads many people, the bezpopovtsy think, - in other places the body of Christ is called the Church, and the blood is interpreted as the teaching of Christ.

The sacrament of communion is performed by the Holy Spirit, and not by the faith of the priest alone, while the sacrifice of communion cannot be accomplished without an Orthodox true priest.

In the life of the holy Martyr Maria Golendukha we read:

Pray for the holy martyr Maria Golendukha to God, may he reveal to her about the Severians whether it is appropriate to proceed to their communion, or not, and the form of an angel holding two chalices, one is full of darkness, and the other light is filled, showing her, like a chalice with darkness - heretical communion, and others like the light, the holy cathedral Catholic Church. Abhorrent to the saint with heretical communion, and soon from there I left (Chetya-Menaion, July 12, sheet 433 turnover).

Saint Theodore the Studite(part 2, letter 154, p. 385, ed. 1867) writes:

Here, too, the light of the world shows that communion is communion: and none of the sane will say that communion is not communion. Just as the divine bread, which Orthodox Christians partake of, makes all those who partake in one body, so the heretical bread, bringing those who partake of it into communion with each other, makes them one body, contrary to Christ, and the one who speaks otherwise will uselessly gossip.

When asked about how to acquire the spiritual sacrament, bezpopovtsy say:

Only by spiritual deed.

Sometimes a person's heart acts as a nest of various vices, and the mind skillfully finds justification for them. Often, the inner essence of a person is closed by empty words and actions generated by an empty mind that is without any connection with the Creator.

It is proper for a true Christian first of all to know the Lord his God, to believe in Him and to confess, because all Christian wisdom consists in the knowledge of the Lord God and ourselves. Not every reasoning or teaching about God is true, therefore a Christian needs to be tempted in the teachings - to accept good, and to sweep away everything that does not agree with Christ's Teaching.

The question of the religious characteristics of the Old Believers at the present time cannot be considered finally resolved. There is no doubt that the Old Believers are a very complex in their social composition religious social movement, formally united by the denial of church innovations of the mid-17th century. The division of the Old Believers into two main directions - clergy and non-popovism - occurred in the mid-90s of the 17th century, when among the followers of the "old faith" the question of how to get out of the deadlock created by the fact that the priests of the Donikon , the old staging by this time almost did not survive.

Bespopovschina

According to the teaching of bespopovtsy, the church is not absolutely necessary for the salvation of the soul. The main argument of the Bespopovites in favor of this statement was that the entire true priesthood was destroyed by the Antichrist and that the priests of the new ordination were not illuminated, since after Nikon the church departed from the true faith. In addition, the position was put forward that the priesthood has not only a mysterious meaning, but also a spiritual one, according to which "every Christian is a priest." To confirm this position, the non-popovtsy usually referred to the words of John Chrysostom: "Sanctify yourself, be your own priests." Antichristology occupied a decisive place in the doctrine of non-popovism, but its specific weight in various non-popovs was not the same. With the exception of a few non-popov movements that preached the accession of a personal Antichrist (that is, embodied in specific persons), all the others recognized the accession of a spiritual Antichrist (that is, the totality of heresies contained, in their opinion, in the official church). The Bespopovites did not deny the monarchy in principle, their hostile attitude towards the tsarist power was explained mainly by the fact that it persecuted the Old Believers and patronized the ruling church. Because of this, the majority of bespopovtsy ruled out prayer for the tsar for a long time.

All church sacraments bespopovtsy divide into "needful need" and "just needful." Among the first, they include only baptism, repentance (confession) and communion; the rest of the sacraments, in their opinion, "for the salvation of the soul" are not required. Baptism and confession are allowed, if necessary, to be performed by a layman. The non-popists interpret the communion in a spiritual sense (as a desire to commune the holy sacraments). As for marriage, if the initial unprofessionalism was characterized by its decisive denial and the preaching of asceticism, then later, in the second half of the 18th century, "marriage partners", or "newlyweds", were already present in almost all the main senses of bezopovstvo.

For the initial history of bespopovschina, it is characteristic that it found its main followers among the black-haired peasantry of the North and Northeast. All the main rumors of non-popovism were formed in the regions located north of Moscow, and only later, from the second half of the 18th century, the non-popovism began to gradually move south. Bespopovschina has never been a single religious entity, breaking up into the following rumors:

• * Fedoseevites (Fedoseevsky consent),
• * Aristovites (Aristovo consent) * Titlovians,
• * Polish Fedoseevites * troparshchiki,
• * Danilovites are semi-married * Filippovites (Filippovskoe consent),
• * adamant * aaronites,
• * Pomor consent or marriage bespopovtsy * grandmothers or self-baptized,
• * ryabinovtsy * hole-mongers,
• * melchizedeks * runners or wanderers,
• * netovtsy (spasovo consent) * chapel (hourly consent).

All of them, with the exception of the wanderer, took shape in the late 17th or early 18th century. The attitude of the Bespopovites to Orthodoxy and to the priesthood, as a rule, was characterized by religious intolerance and fanaticism. All Orthodox Christians, priests and even non-rebaptized bespopovtsy, rebaptized bespopovtsy were accepted only through repeated baptism, that is, in the same way as heretics and non-believers, “the first order”. A certain religious alienation (up to the prohibition to have communication with each other in food, drink and prayer) was shown in relation to each other even by doctrines close to each other, pop-free talk and accord.

Let's consider the main rumors in non-popovism. Pomeranian sense.

The Pomorshchyna enjoyed the greatest influence in bespopovshchina in the first half of the 18th century. The first Pomor community arose in 1694 (according to other sources - in 1695) among the dense Povenets forests, along the Vygu river, near Lake Vyg. Its founder was the sexton Danila Vikulin, which is why the sect itself is sometimes called Danilov's. However, the Vygovskaya community gained fame and influence in the Old Believer world thanks to two brothers - Andrei and Semyon Denisov, who came from a seedy branch of the Myshetsky princes. At first, the Vygovskaya community was almost peasant in its composition. Living conditions were unusually harsh, members of the community had to clear the impenetrable jungle for housing and arable land on their own. Initially, even the generality of consumption was introduced. In the views of the Pomors of this period, filled with the struggle for existence in a harsh environment, there was a sharp opposition between the "world" and the community of "Christians of evangelical preaching." The Pomors denied the royal power, they did not accept priests from the "world of antichrist". In the face of the end of the world, it was recommended to lead a virtuous and virginal life in order to become one of God's chosen ones and ensure a paradise life. In connection with the coming end of the world, the marriage was declared to have lost all meaning.

Gradually, the population of the Vygov community increased due to the people who fled to it in search of rescue, the number of sketes and courtyards grew, and all kinds of workshops, forges, and brick factories gradually arose. The increased need for bread and other food products forced the community members to enter into economic ties with central Russia, that is, with the "world of antichrist." The Vygovites were engaged in fish and animal industries, arable farming on rented land, hunting and trade in furs. Very soon the Vygovskaya community grew into a large commercial and industrial enterprise on an artel basis. Trading offices of the Vygovites appeared in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Petrozavodsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Starodubye and other places. The old equality came to an end, a strict division began to be carried out between the "wanderers" and "working people". Economic and social differentiation soon led to a retreat in matters of ideology, in matters of attitude to the "world." For their agreement to send workers to the Povenets iron plant, the Vygovites received freedom of residence in monasteries and settlements and freedom of worship. The leadership of the Vygovites agreed without resistance to the introduction of a double per capita salary (which, incidentally, reached them only in 1722).

In 1722, Hieromonk Neophyte was sent to Vyg, who was supposed to conduct a "talk about faith." However, he turned out to be too weak in a public debate with the Pomor petitioners. Then Neophyte gave the Vygovites 106 written questions, demanding a written answer. These answers, composed mainly by Andrey Denisov and called "Pomorskie", were the ideological substantiation not only of the Pomorian persuasion, but, to some extent, of all the lack of populism, mainly of its moderate tendencies. "Pomorian answers" completely satisfied Peter I, and he left the Vygov community alone. Having made a similar evolution in their views, the Pomors resignedly accepted in 1732 the recruiting service with the right to pay for money.

Reconciliation with the "world" could not but lead to a partial rejection of the eschatological ideology. The Pomors developed a relatively uncomplicated ritual, which consisted of public prayer, chanting and reading under the guidance of an elected mentor. Of all the church rites, the Pomors first recognized only two - baptism and confession, but later, in the person of some of their more moderate trends, they recognized the marriage rite, which fully corresponded to the interests of the bourgeois stratum. In the first half of the 18th century, pomorshchina was the most powerful and influential trend in non-popovshchina. Its offices were scattered across many cities of Russia, being not only trading points, but also a kind of missions. In the Vygovskaya monastery there was a wonderful collection of old manuscripts, an icon painting school, schools for teaching literacy and hook singing. The rise of pomorshchina and the strengthening of its role in bespopovschina were associated with the growing influence of large merchants-buyers, breeders and timber merchants of the North, who were interested in a compromise with the autocratic-serf system, in semi-feudal methods of exploitation.