Involvement of the Greek hierarchy in the development of the Old Believer schism in Russia

Authors

  • Pismeniuk Ilya, priest Moscow Theological Academy

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31802/CHIST.2019.2.2.007

Keywords:

History of Russia, History of the Russian Orthodox Church, Old Believers, Schism, Orthodoxy, Constantinople Church, Greek Church, Patriarch Nikon, The Great Moscow Cathedral, 1666-1667

Abstract

The article is devoted to the participation and role of the Greek hierarchy in the development of the Old Believer schism in Russia. The schism that began in the middle of the 17th century became one of the saddest pages in the history of the Russian state and the Russian Orthodox Church. This event was caused by the Church reform and the bookends organized by Patriarch Nikon with an orientation towards Greek Orthodoxy. Opponents of these reforms, who refused to recognise the new Russian rite, caused a schism and went down in history under the name of Old Believers. The subject of the Russian Church schism has been studied in sufficient detail in domestic historiography, with emphasis on the personal characteristics of Patriarch Nikon, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, and the leaders of Old Believers. However, given the progressive nature of Patriarch Nikon's church reforms, the question of the participation of the Greek hierarchy directly in the events of the schism and the role they played in it remains rather underreported in scholarship. The latter applies especially to the participation of the Greek Patriarchs in the acts of the Great Council of Moscow in 1666-1667, which under the influence of these hierarchs imposed a church anathema on the old rite and thereby confirmed the church schism for many centuries to come. In addition, special attention is given to the religious and political context of the era and the state of Greek Orthodoxy after the fall of the Byzantine Empire under the rule of the Ottoman Turks.

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Author Biography

Pismeniuk Ilya, priest, Moscow Theological Academy

Master of Divinity, Lecturer, Department of Church History, Moscow Theological Academy   141300, Sergiev Posad, Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, Academy   ilya.pismenjuk@mail.ru

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Published

2020-08-15

How to Cite

Pismeniuk И. (2020). Involvement of the Greek hierarchy in the development of the Old Believer schism in Russia. The Church Historian, (2 (2), 153–171. https://doi.org/10.31802/CHIST.2019.2.2.007