There were many denominations of Old Believer (starovery staroobryadtsy) in Russian Empire.

There were many denominations of Old Believer (starovery  staroobryadtsy)  in Russian Empire.

The Uspensky cathedral in Belaya Krinitsa (beginning 20th century), the oldest centre of the priestly Old Believers

Although all Old Believers groups emerged as a result of opposition to the Nikonian reform, they do not constitute a single monolithic body. Despite the emphasis on invariable adherence to the pre-Nikonian traditions, the Old Believers feature a great diversity of groups that profess different interpretations of the church tradition and often are not in communion with each other (some groups even practise re-baptism before admitting a member of another group into their midst).

Since none of the bishops joined the Old Believers (except Bishop Pavel of Kolomna, who was put to death for this), apostolically ordained priests of the old rite would have soon become extinct. Two responses appeared to this dilemma: the Popovtsy (поповцы, "with priests") and the Bespopovtsy ("priestless").

                                                                 Popovtsy

The Popovtsy represented the more moderate conservative opposition, those who strove to continue religious and church life as it had existed before the reforms of Nikon. They recognized ordained priests from the new-style Russian Orthodox church who joined the Old Believers and who had denounced the Nikonian reforms. In 1846 they convinced Amvrosii Popovich (1791–1863), a Greek Orthodox bishop whom Turkish pressure had had removed from his see at Sarajevo, to become an Old Believer and to consecrate three Russian Old-Believer priests as bishops. In 1859, the number of Old-Believer bishops in Russia reached ten, and they established their own episcopate, the so-called Belokrinitskaya hierarchy. Not all priestist Old Believers recognized this hierarchy. Dissenters known as beglopopovtsy obtained their own hierarchy in the 1920s. The priestist Old Believers thus manifest as two churches which share the same beliefs, but which treat each other's hierarchy as illegitimate. Popovtsy have priests, bishops and all sacraments, including the eucharist.

Belokrinitskaya hierarchy—The largest Popovtsy denomination. One can refer to the Russian part of this denomination as the Belokrinitskoe Soglasie (the "Belokrinitsky Agreement") or as the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church.

Neokruzhniki (extinct)

Novozybkovskaya hierarchy or Russian Old-Orthodox Church

Beglopopovtsy (extinct, now the Russian Old-Orthodox Church)

Luzhkane, also known as Luzhkovskoe soglasie; in some places, they had no priests and so belonged to the Bespopovtsy (extinct)

Bespopovts

The Bespopovtsy (the "priestless") rejected "the World" where they believed the Antichrist reigned; they preached the imminent end of the world, asceticism, adherence to the old rituals and the old faith. More radical movements which already existed prior to the reforms of Nikon and where eschatological and anti-clerical sentiments were predominant, would join the priestless Old believers. The Bespopovtsy claimed that any priest or Hierarch who has ever used the Nikonian Rites have forfeited Apostolic Succession. Therefore, the true church of Christ had ceased to exist on Earth, and they therefore renounced priests and all sacraments except baptism. The Bespopovtsy movement has many sub-groups. Bespopovtsy have no priests and no eucharist.

Pomortsy or Danilovtsy (not to be confused with Pomors) originated in North Russia (Russian Karelia, Arkhangelsk region). Initially they rejected marriage and prayer for the Tsar.

Novopomortsy, or "New Pomortsy": accept marriage

Staropomortsy, or "Old Pomortsy": reject marriage

Fedoseevtsy: “Society of Christian Old Believers of the Old Pomortsy Unmarried Confession” (1690s until present); deny marriage and practice cloister-style asceticism.

Fillipovtsy.

Chasovennye (from chasovnya i.e. chapel), a Siberian branch. The Chasovennye initially had priests, but later decided to change to a priestless practice. Also known as Semeyskie (in the lands east of Baykal Lake).

Bespopovtsy: minor groups

Apart from these major groups, many smaller groups have emerged and became extinct at various times since the end of seventeenth century:

Aristovtsy (beginning of nineteenth to the beginning of twentieth centuries; extinct): from the name of the merchant Aristov;

Titlovtsy (extinct in the twentieth cent.): emerged from Fedoseevtsy, supported the use of Pilate's inscription upon the cross (titlo), which other groups rejected;

Troparion confession (troparschiki): a group that commemorated the tsar in the hymns (troparia);

Daniel’s confession of the “partially married” (danilovtsy polubrachnye);

Adamant confession (adamantovy): refused to use money and passports (as containing the seal of Antichrist);

Aaron's confession (aaronovtsy): second half of the eighteenth century, a spin-off of the Fillipovtsy.

“Grandmother’s confession” or the Self-baptized: practised self-baptism or the baptism by midwives (babushki), since a valid priesthood—in their opinion—had ceased to exist;

“Hole-worshippers” (dyrniki): relinquished the use of icons and prayed to the east through a hole in the wall;

Melchisedecs (in Moscow and in Bashkortostan): practised a peculiar lay "quasi-eucharistic" rite;

“Runaways” (beguny) or “Wanderers” (stranniki);

“Netovtsy” or Saviour’s confession: denied the possibility of celebrating sacraments and praying in churches; the name comes from the Russian net "no", since they have "no" sacraments, "no" churches, "no" priests, etc.

Edinovertsy

Edinovertsy (Russian: единоверцы, i.e. "people of the same faith"; collective, единоверчество): Agreed to become a part of the official Russian Orthodox Church while saving the old rites. First appearing in 1800, the Edinovertsy come under the omophor of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate or of the Russian Church Abroad. Edinoversty retain the use of the pre-Nikonian rituals. They can be regarded as "Old Ritualists", but they do not count as "Old Believers" in the standard sense.

Boris and Gleb, the first Russian saints (early 14th century icon of the Moscow School). The Old Believers only recognize saints which were canonized before the Schism, although they do have their own saints, such as Archpriest Avvakum and Boyarynya Morozova.

Main differences between the Old Believers and post-Nikonian Russian Orthodoxy

Old Believers use two fingers while making the Sign of the Cross (the pointer finger straight, middle finger slightly bent, two fingers joined with thumb, held at point, three folded) while new-style Orthodoxy uses three fingers for the sign of cross (three fingers (including the thumb) held together at point, two fingers folded). Old Ritualists generally say the Jesus Prayer with the Sign of the Cross, while New Ritualists use the Sign of the Cross as a Trinitarian symbol. This makes for a significant difference between the two branches of Russian Orthodoxy, and one of the most noticeable (see the picture of Boyarynya Feodosia Morozova above).

Old Believers reject any changes and emendations of liturgical texts and rituals introduced by the reforms of Patriarch Nikon. Thus they continue to use the previous Church Slavonic translation of the Greek texts, including the Psalter, striving to preserve intact the "pre-Nikonian" practices of the Russian Church.

Old Believers only recognize performing baptism through three full immersions, in agreement with the Greek practice, but reject the validity of any baptismal rite performed otherwise (for example through pouring or sprinkling, as the Russian Orthodox Church has occasionally accepted since the eighteenth century).

Old Believers perform the Liturgy with seven prosphora, instead of five as in new-rite Russian Orthodoxy or a single large prosphora, as sometimes done by the Greeks and Arabs.

Old Believers chant the alleluia verse after the psalmody two times rather than the three used in the Nikonian reforms.

Old Believers do not use polyphonic singing as the new-style Russian practice, but only monodic, unison singing. They also have their own musical notation: not with linear notation, but with special signs—kriuki or znamena ("hooks" or "banners"; see Znamenny Chant). Old Believers practise several different types of Znamenny Chant: Stolpov Chant, Great Znamenny Chant, Lesser Znamenny Chant, Putevoi Chant, Pomorsky Chant(or Khomov Chant), Demestvenny Chant, etc. In this respect it represents a tradition that parallels the use of Byzantine chant and neumatic notation.

Present situation

Inside Old believers church in McKee near Gervais and Woodburn in Oregon, USA

In 1971 the Moscow Patriarchate revoked the anathemas imposed on the Old Believers in the 17th century. In 1974, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia issued an ukase revoking the anathemas and asked forgiveness from the Old Believers for the wrongs done them. Under their auspices, the first efforts to make the prayer and service books of the Old Believers available in English were made. Nevertheless, most Old Believer communities have not returned to Communion with the majority of Orthodox Christianity worldwide.
Inside Old believers church in McKee near Gervais and Woodburn in Oregon, USA
Estimates place the total number of Old Believers remaining today at from 1 to 2 million, some living in extremely isolated communities in places to which they fled centuries ago to avoid persecution. One Old-Believer parish in the United States has entered into communion with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, after a split in the congregation.The remainder have remained Old Believers.

Old Believer church outside of Gervais, Oregon, USA.

Old-Believer churches in Russia currently have started restoration of their property, although Old Believers (unlike the nearly-official mainstream Orthodoxy) face many difficulties in claiming their restitution rights for their churches. Moscow has churches for all the most important Old Believer branches: Rogozhskaya Zastava (Popovtsy of the Belokrinitskaya hierarchy official center), a cathedral for the Novozybkovskaya hierarchy in Zamoskvorech'ye and Preobrazhenskaya Zastava where Pomortsy and Fedoseevtsy coexist.

Russian Old Believers in Woodburn, Oregon. Old Believers consider the shaving of one's beard a severe sin. This is due to the so-called iconographic thinking of Orthodoxy: Christ had a beard and men ought to have the same appearance (photo by Mikhail Evstafiev).

Russian Old Believers in Woodburn, Oregon. Old Believers consider the shaving of one's beard a severe sin. This is due to the so-called iconographic thinking of Orthodoxy: Christ had a beard and men ought to have the same appearance (photo by Mikhail Evstafiev).
Within the Old-Believer world, only Pomortsy and Fedoseevtsy treat each other relatively well; none of the other denominations acknowledge each other. Ordinary Old Believers display some tendencies of intra-branch ecumenism, but these trends find sparse support among the official leaders of the congregations.
Modern day Old Believers live all over the world, having fled Russia under tsarist persecution and after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Some Old Believers are still transient throughout various parts of the world today. Significant established Old Believer communities exist in the United States and Canada in Plamondon, Alberta; Woodburn, Oregon; Erie, Pennsylvania; Erskine, Minnesota and in various parts of Alaska including near Homer in the Fox River area villages of Voznesenka, Razdolna, and Kachemak Selo, Nikolaevsk,[8] Beryozovka, Delta Junction, and Kodiak, Alaska (the Anton Larson Bay Area, and on Raspberry Island).[9] Two flourishing communities also exist in Sydney, Australia, along with rural areas of New Zealand. Communities also have been established in many parts of South America, including Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia and Argentina. Small hidden communities have been found in the Russian Far North (specifically remote areas of Arkhangelsk Oblast and the Komi Republic) and various regions of Siberia, especially concentrated in the areas between the Altai Mountains and Tuva Republic. Perhaps the highest concentration of older established Old Believer communities, with foundations dating back hundreds of years, can be found concentrated in Eastern Siberia, specifically the Transbaikal region in desolate areas of Buryatia and Zabaykalsky Krai.
Conservative Old believer population stands at some 3,000 in Bolivia, while that in Alaska is estimated at 2,500.

Old Believer Churches

Lipovan Orthodox Old-Rite Church (Belokrinitskaya Hierarchy)

Lipovans

Pomorian Old-Orthodox Church (Pomortsy)

Russian Old-Orthodox Church (Novozybkovskaya Hierarchy)

Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church (Belokrinitskaya Hierarchy)