The Old Believers (Russian: starovery or staroobryadtsy) separated after 1666 from the official Russian Orthodox Church as a protest against church reforms introduced by Patriarch Nikon between 1652–66. Old Believers continue liturgical practices which the Russian Orthodox Church maintained before the implementation of these reforms.

In the context of Russian Orthodox church history, the Old Believers (Russian: starovery or staroobryadtsy) separated after 1666 from the official Russian Orthodox Church as a protest against church reforms introduced by Patriarch Nikon between 1652–66. Old Believers continue liturgical practices which the Russian Orthodox Church maintained before the implementation of these reforms.

Boyarina Morozova by Vasily Ivanovich Surikov.

Boyarynya Morozova, depicting the defiant boyarynja Morozova during her arrest. Her holding up two fingers (instead of three) refers to the dispute about the proper way to make the Sign of the Cross on oneselfers (instead of three) refers to the dispute about the proper way to make the Sign of the Cross on oneself.

В нашем сознании эти два термина: старообрядцы староверы всегда считались синонимами и обозначали последователей православной веры до Никоновской реформы. Наиболее известными их представителями считаются протопоп Аввакум и боярыня Морозова. Остальные существует в некоторой обезличенной массы, которая подвергала себя самосожжению и уходила в глухие и необжитые уголки необъятной России. Однако после просмотра телевизионной передачи, в которой принимал участие Патер Дий Александр Коловрат вдруг обозначилось и существование дохристианских староверов – носителей Старой Веры.

О том, что крещение на Руси происходило не просто, умалчивалось всегда. Целые народы уходили от христианства и монастырского закабаления в другие земли, в непролазные болота, глухую тайгу или непроходимые горы. К их числу например относятся финно-угорские чудь и меря, которые проживали на землях, сегодня считающихся исконно русскими. Огромный интерес вызывает рассказ об урах и русах, Асгарде и его разрушении джунгарами. Даже если это мистификация староверов инглингов (так называется это направление), то

имеет не меньшее право на жизнь, чем изолганная официальная история, вдалбливаемая в наши головы со школьной скамьи.

В любом случае рассказ получился не только интересный, он пробудил интерес к дальнейшим поискам материалов на эту тему.

In 1652, Nikon (1605–81; Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church from 1652 to 1658) introduced a number of ritual and textual revisions with the aim of achieving uniformity between Russian and Greek Orthodox practices. Nikon, having noticed discrepancies between Russian and Greek rites and texts, ordered an adjustment of the Russian rites to align with the Greek ones of his time. In doing so, Nikon acted without adequate consultation with the clergy and without gathering a council.[1] After the implementation of these revisions, the Church anathematized and suppressed—with the support of Muscovite state power—the prior liturgical rite itself, as well as those who were reluctant to pass to the revised rite. Those who maintained fidelity to the existing rite endured severe persecutions from the end of the 17th century until the beginning of the 20th century as schismatics (raskol'niki, Russian: раскольники). They became known as "Old Ritualists" (staroobryadtsy), a name introduced during the reign of Empress Catherine the Great[citation needed]. They continued to call themselves simply Orthodox Christians.

TheThe three-barred cross of the Russian Orthodox Church three-barred cross of the Russian Orthodox Church

By the middle of the 17th century Greek and Russian Church officials, including Patriarch Nikon, had noticed discrepancies between contemporary Russian and Greek usages. They reached the conclusion that the Russian Orthodox Church had, as a result of errors of incompetent copyists, developed rites and liturgical books of its own that had significantly deviated from the Greek originals. Thus, the Russian Orthodox Church had become dissonant from the other Orthodox churches. Later research was to vindicate the Muscovite service-books as belonging to a different Greek recension from that which was used by the Greeks at the time of Nikon, and the unrevised Muscovite books were actually older than the current Greek books, which had undergone several revisions over the centuries and ironically, were newer and contained innovations.[1][2]

Nikon, supported by Tsar Alexis I (reigned 1645–1676), carried out some preliminary liturgical reforms. In 1652, he convened a synod and exhorted the clergy on the need to compare Russian Typikon, Euchologion, and other liturgical books with their Greek counterparts. Monasteries from all over Russia received requests to send examples to Moscow in order to have them subjected to a comparative analysis. Such a task would have taken many years of conscientious research and could hardly have given an unambiguous result, given the complex development of the Russian liturgical texts over the previous centuries and the lack of textual historiographic techniques at the time.

The locum tenens for the Patriarch, Pitirim of Krutitsy, convened a second synod in 1666, which brought Patriarch Macarios III of Antioch, Patriarch Paisius of Alexandria and many bishops to Moscow. Some scholars allege that the visiting patriarchs each received both 20,000 rubles in gold and furs for their participation.[1] This council officially established the reforms and anathematized not only all those opposing the innovations, but the old Russian books and rites themselves as well. As a side-effect of condemning the past of the Russian Orthodox Church and her traditions, the messianic theory depicting Moscow as the Third Rome appeared weaker. Instead of the guardian of Orthodox faith, Russia seemed an accumulation of serious liturgical mistakes.

Nevertheless, both Patriarch and Tsar wished to carry out their reforms, although their endeavours may have had as much or more political motivation as religious; several authors on this subject point out that Tsar Alexis, encouraged by his military success in the war against Poland-Lithuania to liberate West Russian provinces and Ukraine, grew ambitious of becoming the liberator of the Orthodox areas which at that time formed part of the Ottoman Empire. They also mention the role of the Near-East patriarchs, who actively supported the idea of the Russian Tsar becoming the liberator of all Orthodox Christians and who suggested that Patriarch Nikon might become the new Patriarch of Constantinople.

The numerous changes in both texts and rites occupied approximately 400 pages. Old Believers present the following as the most crucial changes:

Old Practice

New Practice 

Spelling of Jesus

Ісусъ [Isus] 

Іисусъ [Iisus] 

Creed

рожденна, а не сотворенна (begotten but not made); И в Духа Свѧтаго, Господаистиннаго и Животворѧщаго (And in the Holy Spirit, the True Lord and Giver of Life) 

рожденна, не сотворенна (begotten not made); И в Духа Свѧтаго, Господа Животворѧщаго (And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life) 

Sign of the Cross

Two fingers, pointer finger straight, middle finger slightly bent 

Two fingers joined with thumb, held at point 

Mosaic inscription inside (Offering of Caesarion, at the time of Alexios and Theophilos priests)

Mount Nebo (Jordan) fifth-century monastery Prosphora inscription in Greek: "Offering of Caesarios, at the time of Alexios and Theophilos, priests"

Inscription in Mount Nebo "Offering of Caesar at the time of Alexios and Theophilos priests" προσφορα καισαριου επει αλεξυ (ο)σκαι θεοφιλου πρεσβ(υτερο)σ

Number of Prosphora in the Liturgy and Artoclasia 

A funeral procession, illustrated in a manuscript of the Hours of the Virgin. Fifteenth century. British Museum, Add. MS. 27697.

Direction of Procession

Clockwise

Counterclockwise

Alleluia 

Аллилуїa, аллилуїa, слава Тебѣ, Боже (twice alleluia, glory to Thee, o God) 

Аллилуїa, аллилуїa, аллилуїa, слава Тебѣ, Боже (thrice alleluia, glory to Thee, o God) 

The schism

Opponents of the ecclesiastical reforms of Nikon emerged among all strata of the people and in relatively large numbers (see Raskol). However, after the deposition of patriarch Nikon (1658), who presented too strong a challenge to the Tsar's authority, a series of church councils officially endorsed Nikon's liturgical reforms. The Old Believers fiercely rejected all innovations, and the most radical amongst them maintained that the official Church had fallen into the hands of the Antichrist. Under the guidance of Archpriest Avvakum Petrov (1620 or 1621 to 1682), who had become the leader of the Old Believers' movement, the Old Believers publicly denounced and rejected all ecclesiastical reforms. The State church anathematized both the old rites and books and those who wished to stay loyal to them at the synod of 1666. From that moment, the Old Believers officially lacked all civil rights. The State had the most active Old Believers arrested, and executed several of them (including Archpriest Avvakum) some years later in 1682.

Christ the Saviour (Pantokrator), a 6th-century encaustic icon from Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai. 6th century Author anonymous

After the schism

After 1685 a period of persecutions began, including both torture and executions. Many Old Believers fled Russia altogether. However, Old Believers became the dominant denomination in many regions, including Pomorye (the Russian Far North), Kursk region, the Urals, Siberia, and Russian Far East. A compact 40,000-strong Lipovan community of Old Believers still lives in neighboring Kilia raion (Vilkovo) of Ukraine and Tulcea County of Romania in the Danube Delta. By the 1910s, in the last Imperial Russian census, just before the Bolshevik Revolution, approximately 10% of the population of the Russian Empire said that they belonged to one of the Old Believer branches.

Government oppression could vary from relatively moderate, as under Peter the Great (reigned 1682–1725) (Old Believers had to pay double taxation and a separate tax for wearing a beard)—to intense, as under Tsar Nicholas I (reigned 1825–55). The Russian synodal state church and the state authorities often saw Old Believers as dangerous elements and as a threat to the Russian state.

In 1905 Tsar Nicholas II signed an Act of religious freedom, which ended the persecution of all religious minorities in Russia. The Old Believers gained the right to build churches, to ring church bells, to hold processions and to organize themselves. It became prohibited (as under Catherine the Great—reigned 1762–96) to refer to Old Believers as raskolniki (schismatics), a name they consider insulting[citation needed]. People often refer to the period from 1905 until 1917 as "the Golden Age of the Old Faith". One can regard the Act of 1905 as emancipating the Old Believers, who had until then occupied an almost illegal position in Russian society. Nevertheless some restrictions for Old Believers continued: for example, they were forbidden from joining the civil service.