Old Believers priests. Who are the Old Believers? Ancient Orthodox Pomeranian Church
On the history of the emergence of the Fedoseevsky persuasion of the Old Believers-bespopovtsy. An excerpt from the book by Kirill Yakovlevich Kozhurin "The Daily Life of the Old Believers":
“In the 1690s, among the Old Believers of the Novgorod land, the voice of the “glorious and venerable teacher” Theodosius Vasiliev sounded loudly and clearly: “The Antichrist reigns in the world now, but reigns spiritually in the visible church ... He destroyed all the sacraments of it and overshadowed every shrine.” This provision formed the basis of the new Old Believer consent, which united thousands of confessors. old faith in the Pskov-Novgorod lands and later became one of the most numerous agreements in the Russian Old Believers.
An outstanding preacher of the Old Believers in the Novgorod land, Feodosy Vasilievich came from ancient family princes Urusovs. ... When Nikon's "reformation" broke out over Russia, father<его>Vasily Evstratievich ( a priest in the village of Krestetsky Yam near Novgorod (now Kresttsy) - approx. SDG), “We contain persecution and torment with fear”, did not dare to speak openly and submitted to the church leaders, but in his soul he did not accept the “news”. ... Despite the strict instructions issued by the church authorities, he not only did not persecute the adherents of the old faith, but often covered them up.
(After his death, his eldest son, Theodosius, began to serve as a deacon in the same church - he was not ordained a priest because of his youth, but such a prospect was - approx. SDG.) In the first years of his ministry, the young deacon showed himself to be a zealot for Nikon's reforms and even threatened with cruel persecution those Old Believers who did not want to obey the church authorities and did not come to the service. However, a miracle happened here: the ardent persecutor of Christianity, Saul, turned into his zealous defender, the Apostle Paul. After conversations with some "God-loving men" who revealed to him all the perniciousness of Nikon's "news" and the falsity of the accusations raised against the Old Believers, Theodosius abruptly changed his attitude towards the old faith. The change that took place in him was so strong that he could no longer remain in the patriarchal church and honestly confessed this to the parishioners who had chosen him. In 1690, he publicly renounced the diaconate, openly declaring that "according to the newly stated dogmas in newly printed books, it is by no means possible to obtain salvation." …
In support of his words, Theodosius, baptized in infancy already according to new books, received Old Orthodox baptism "from some orthodox Christians" and was named Dionysius, thereby finally breaking with Nikonianism. This step made a strong impression on the inhabitants of Krestetsky Pit, many of whom continued to staunchly profess the old faith. Together with Theodosius, his wife, two brothers, son Eustratius and little daughter were baptized. Then, leaving the house and their native village and taking their mother with them, they all went to another village, located not far from the Krestetsky Pit. There they are “living in silence, working for God.” But all the tests were ahead. Some time later, Theodosius’ wife dies along with her young daughter, and then Theodosius, as a sincerely and deeply religious person, seeing the special Providence of God in the tragedy, decides to devote his life to serving God and preaching the persecuted faith.
He retires and that's it. free time devotes to the reading of the Holy Scriptures and liturgical books, the works of the Church Fathers and the Lives of the Saints, trying to "comprehend the depth of the Spirit lying in them." ... Finally, feeling sufficiently prepared for an open struggle and encouraged by other "spiritual men", Theodosius goes out to preach. … Under the influence of his preaching, many converted to the old faith. …
Fedoseevtsy of the Krasnoyarsk Territory at the beginning of the 20th century(It was he who initiated the Second Novgorod Cathedral of the Old Believers, where a program of life was formulated, according to which the "schismatics"-bespriests of all consents lived for a whole century - ed. SDG) The Second Novgorod Council, held on June 3, 1694 under the leadership of Theodosius Vasiliev, adopted 20 provisions that left practically no possibility of compromise with the "world of Antichrist." The council approved the need for baptism for those who come from the New Believer church, complete and decisive celibacy for everyone, and even a hundred bows for a brashno (food) bought at the market from infidels.
At this very time, the Novgorod diocesan authorities began to pay special attention to Theodosius Vasiliev. In 1697, Metropolitan Job (d. 1716), known for his active work against the Old Believers and sympathy for the "Latin" direction, entered the Novgorod cathedra. The search for "schismatics" and their interrogations became more frequent. If any of the Old Believers managed to be captured, he was brought to Metropolitan Job and interrogated "with partiality." Many, unable to withstand the torture, confessed that they were converted to the old faith by Theodosius. Arriving in an indescribable rage, the metropolitan ordered to find Theodosius. He personally arrived at the Krestetsky Yam, where Theodosius had previously served as a deacon, and forced all the inhabitants to come to the church for communion, and violence was used against those who evaded. However, neither in the Krestetsky Pit, nor in its vicinity could they find an Old Believer clergy teacher.
Seeing that “it is impossible for a city to hide on top of a mountain,” Theodosius in 1699, taking his mother and son Eustrat with him, moved to the Commonwealth, to the Nevelsky district, where he was received by Pan Kunitsky. ... Following Theodosius, "many Christians from cities, villages and villages went to Poland, ... wishing the ancient church holy orthodoxy observe undisturbed and abide under his guidance.” Leaving their family nests, the Old Believers took with them only the most necessary and expensive - holy icons and church books. ... With the permission of the Polish authorities, two monasteries were built near the village of Rusanova, Krapivinsky volost: male and female (In total, 600 men and 700 women of various classes, from peasants to nobles and boyars, left for Theodosius in Poland.)
The charter in the cloisters was laid "monastic, Basil the Great." … Bread and other foods were also shared. Clothes, shoes and other necessary things were issued from the general treasury. … According to regulations Novgorod cathedrals All members of the community were required to be celibate. ... Theodosius, as the spiritual leader of the community, himself sent the main church services and the requirements, baptized, confessed, buried the dead. ... In addition to the cathedral prayer rooms, there were hospitals, an almshouse, numerous outbuildings in the cloisters, in which all members of the community constantly worked for the common good. The inhabitants of the cloisters were mainly engaged in arable farming. “Idleness is the school of evil,” Theodosius liked to remind, who himself set an example of diligence and took an active part in all the works. Theodosius enjoyed great spiritual authority among his associates. … He was known and loved in the most remote places. The presence of two monasteries made it possible to give shelter to many fugitive Old Believers from Russia.
However, despite the community of property and the observance of the rules of celibacy, Theodosius did not consider his dormitories to be monasteries. For his followers, the Nevelsk community and those like it were everything " christianity where they lived separately from the sinful world conquered by the Antichrist. “It was a special world of people who considered themselves chosen by God for salvation, who resolutely dissociated themselves from the outsider, sinful and mired in the secular life of humanity. Outside the community, everything belonged to the Antichrist, in houses, in the fields, at auctions there was his seal, and from outside the community only sin and great death were possible ”(Zenkovsky S.A.“ Russian Old Believers ”).
Fedoseevtsy Riga
However, this realization of one's chosenness was not the fruit of spiritual pride, but rather a heavy burden that fell on the shoulders of people who chose the narrow path of soul salvation and refused to compromise with their own conscience. After the fall church hierarchy all responsibility for the preservation of the true faith and thus for the fate of the Third Rome fell on the shoulders of ordinary laity. In the "last times" a person must be especially vigilant, must be in constant spiritual tension. ... Now it was impossible to rely on the fact that "priests and monks will atone for all our sins." Now everyone was responsible for their actions directly before God, bypassing intermediaries. …
The Fedoseevites lived in the Krapivinskaya volost for nine years. Diligence and an ascetic lifestyle soon led the community to economic prosperity. But then the other side of the coin appeared: the monasteries founded by Theodosius began to be subjected to predatory attacks by Polish soldiers (zholners), who had heard about their prosperity. Many of the brethren perished during these raids. … Then (in 1707 - approx. SDG) It was decided to look for new places. …
In Russia at this time, the persecution of adherents of ancient piety subsided, and Theodosius came up with the idea of returning to his homeland. With the assistance of the royal favorite, "Highest Prince" Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, with whom he was personally acquainted, Theodosius received in 1708 permission to move with all the brethren to the land of the prince in the Pskov province, in the Velikolutsk district (Vyazovskaya volost), ... they were promised " in faith, their liberty” and it is allowed to pray according to old printed books. …
In the same year, thanks to the petition of a certain nobleman Neganovsky, the Fedoseyevites received Ryapin's manor near Yuryev-Livonsky (now Tartu) from Prince Menshikov. In order to obtain from the authorities an official decree on the ownership of the Ryapin manor, Theodosius, taking with him his son and three more of his associates, went to Novgorod in May 1711. Unfortunately, this trip turned out to be the last of his life.
When Theodosius and his companions arrived in Novgorod, the “gold-loving and all-evil” voivode Yakov Nikitich Korsakov arrested them and handed them over to Metropolitan Job of Novgorod. The Metropolitan, delighted with such good luck, ordered Theodosius to be imprisoned in the Orlov Chamber of the Bishops' Order, "filled with darkness and dust, and his legs are bound." To all the exhortations of the Novgorod Metropolitan to renounce the Old Believers, to the promises of honors, wealth and exaltation up to the bishopric, Theodosius calmly replied that all these are temporary things of this world, fleeting, like a dream, which he does not put especially high. Then they began to frighten him with torture, but they found in him “not a shaken and soon broken cane, but a strong and immovable pillar; not water-borne sand, but hard adamant stone. …
Then, at the suggestion of Metropolitan Job, a dispute was arranged about the old and new rites. Job, who opened in Novgorod at the bishop's house religious school and invited the famous learned brothers Ioannikius and Sophronius Likhudov to teach there, thought to shame the “ignorant schismatic teacher” with “external wisdom” borrowed from the Greeks. However, the “elder scientist of free sciences” who opposed Theodosius (apparently, Ioanniky Likhud, who was at that time in Novgorod) was defeated in a dispute. Theodosius in all its brilliance revealed his talent as a bookkeeper, showing a deep knowledge of Holy Scripture and patristic literature. The disgraced Job and his slanderers did not know what to answer, and then Theodosius was again imprisoned in the Eagle Chamber. A month later, the health of the sufferer, broken by wanderings, fasting and copper chains, which, along with the sackcloth, he constantly wore on his body, was shaken, and on July 18, 1711, Theodosius Vasilyev died in captivity. ... Later, the Ryapinsk Old Believers wished to rebury the "bones of the dear father" Theodosius in their monastery and sent Vasily Kononov and another brother with him to Veliky Novgorod. This event was not without miracles - Theodosius appeared to Vasily in a dream and himself indicated the place of his burial. After 127 days of the body's stay in the ground (from July 22 to November 27), it miraculously remained "whole and incorruptible." ... On December 6, 1711, on the day of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the body of Theodosius Vasiliev was reburied "with funeral psalms and songs" at the Old Believer cemetery in Ryapin Manor, on the banks of the Vybovka River. A small birch tree was planted over his grave. …
Fedoseev singers
…<Что касается отношений Феодосия с поморцами:>twice (in 1703 and 1706)<Феодосий>visited Vyg (spiritual center Pomortsy, founded by monks who managed to escape from the besieged Solovki during the "Solovki Sitting" and avoid terrible reprisals from the royal army - ed. SDG) where he had conversations with the Pomeranian fathers. But it was precisely during the period of the existence of the Nevelsk monastery that Theodosius fell out with the Vygovtsy in some matters of dogma, as a result of which a special Old Believer agreement, later called Fedoseevsky (self-name - Old Pomor agreement) gained its separate existence. …
The point separating the Pomortsy and Fedoseevtsy was the inscription on the Cross of the Lord. Fedoseyevites initially recognized the inscription "I.N.Ts.I." (“Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews”, the so-called Pilat’s title), the Pomeranians considered the inscription “IC XC King of Glory” to be the only correct one. The fact is that "Pilat's title", according to the Gospel, was indeed written on the Cross of the Lord, but on the icon of the Crucifixion it was not found anywhere in Rus' before Nikon. She did not meet in Byzantium either. This is explained by the fact that in Orthodox tradition the icon of the Crucifixion depicted Christ, who had already conquered death, Christ in His Glory (King of Glory), and not in suffering and humiliation. The Catholic tradition, however, preferred to emphasize the physical suffering of Christ, which found its place not only in the physiological details of the depiction of death on the cross (for Catholics, the Savior always hangs, while in the Orthodox tradition He stands on the Cross, as if opening his arms to those who pray), but also in Pilate's Inscription. Naturally, Nikon's borrowing of this inscription was perceived in Rus' as a Latin heresy. Subsequently, the Fedoseyevites recognized the correctness of the Pomortsy in this matter and stopped worshiping crosses with the inscription "I.N.Ts.I."
Another reason for the division was the issue of the so-called market stall. Pomortsy-Danilovtsy did not consider it necessary to clean the products bought on the market from the non-believers (“trashy brashno”) with a special rank. The Fedoseyevites, on the other hand, prayed for the products bought from the non-believers with the Jesus Prayer with bows. …
copper cast icons of the Fedoseyevites
Subsequently, another point appeared that separated the Pomortsy and Fedoseyevtsy - a prayer for the king. If the Pomortsy, under the threat of the closure of the Vygovsky hostel, were forced in the 1730s to accept prayer for the tsar, then the Fedoseevites did not make such a compromise with the authorities, without accepting the “royal pilgrimage”. …
(As for marriage, the Fedoseyevites agreed with the Pomors at first - approx. SDG) Initially, the general understanding of the mystery of marriage for the non-priests was that the sacrament of marriage must certainly be performed by a priest and that only this form of marriage makes marriage legal. This conviction led the Bespopovites to the position that in " Lately when there are no priests, there can be no legal marriage. Consequently, the union of a man and a woman is not marriage, but fornication, and as an obvious sin cannot be tolerated in the Church. … Thus, both Vygovtsy and Fedoseevtsy came to the conclusion about the need for celibacy, and couples who entered into cohabitation were absent from conciliar prayer and from the fraternal meal as fornicators. Of course, the requirements of strict asceticism imposed on members of the first Old Believer communities were simply necessary in the conditions of that hostile, “antichrist” world in which the Old Believers found themselves at the end of the 17th century. Moreover, both Vyg and the Nevelsk community initially came to people who had completely broken with the world and wanted to live a monastic life, that is, who had chosen the “narrow path” of Christianity.
Let us remember that even the first Christians, who lived in tense expectation of the Second Coming and even prayed for its approach, put virginity above marriage. The apostle Paul writes about this to the Corinthians: “I tell you, brethren, the time is short, so that those who have wives must be as if they had not” (2 Cor. 7, 29-33). …
Fedoseevsky icons
Yet, despite the divisions and controversy, which sometimes took on a very fierce character, repeated attempts were made to unite the two fraternal non-priestly agreements. So, for example, it is known that after the break of Feodosy Vasiliev with the Vygov fathers (and this break occurred during the absence of Andrei Dionisevich (one of the founding fathers of the Vygovsky hostel - approx. SDG) on Vyga), the Vygovsky kinoviarch who returned to the monastery was very saddened by what had happened, and after two years he met for negotiations in Staraya Russa with Theodosius, after which they served together in one of the surrounding villages all-night vigil thus starting to communicate with each other. … (It got really complicated in the 90sXVIIIcentury, when the Pomortsy nevertheless accepted the marriage, but the Moscow Fedoseyevites did not. This, however, is a separate story, - approx. SDG.)
… After martyrdom Theodosius Vasiliev, most of his followers settled on the Ryapin manor in the Yuryevsky district ( modern Estonia, around Tartu - approx.SDG). The head of the community was the son of Theodosius Evstrat (until 1689-1768). The Fedoseevites lived here until 1719, when, on the denunciation of their former mentor Konstantin Fedorov, who joined the dominant church and subsequently received the priesthood, a military team was sent to them, ruining the new cloisters. The reason for the ruin was a false denunciation of allegedly hiding runaway soldiers here. Many, frightened, left everything and fled wherever they could: Yevstrat Vasiliev fled to Poland, where he continued his preaching, others fled to Courland, Livonia, Wallachia, Starodubye and other places. Thanks to this, the Fedoseev doctrine spread throughout Russia and far beyond its borders, so that up to late XIX centuries, the followers of Theodosius Vasiliev remained one of the most numerous non-priests' concords. …
As for the Ryapinskaya monastery, it (despite the falsity of the denunciation) was destroyed in 1722, the bells, icons and old books were taken to the Yuryevskaya Assumption Church, and the prayer room itself was turned into a Lutheran church. Amazing story! Tolerance in the Russian Empire extended to all religions, including Mohammedanism, paganism and Buddhism. Only the Old Believers, the indigenous Russian people, had to endure all kinds of oppression and persecution for their adherence to the faith of their ancestors - Old Orthodoxy. ( However, some descendants of the first settlers remained in the vicinity of Yuryev, and to this day they live there, on the shores of Lake Peipsi - from the Estonian side. For a long time, it was there that the center of Fedoseev icon painting and copper casting was preserved (cast copper icons were banned by Nikon, but the Old Believers, of course, continued to cast them). When the Fedoseev community was formed in Moscow, Preobrazhenka is unknown. Perhaps these were Fedoseevites who had come from outside, God knows when they moved to Moscow. Or maybe they were one of those who did not leave Moscow anywhere at all, at first at their own peril and risk, and later hiding under the wing of Praskovya Fedorovna, the widow of the co-emperorIidiot IvanV, who lived nearby, in the royal estate of Izmailovo, and did not at all sympathize with the church reform, for some reason started by her father-in-law Alexei Mikhailovich. In this case, who and when conveyed to them information about the teachings of Theodosius Vasiliev and who “agitated” to join is again not clear. But it is known for sure that by the 1760s there was already a Fedoseev community on Preobrazhenka, a 37-year-old industrialist, the owner of a brick factory, Ilya Alekseevich Kovylin, joined it, having crossed himself - and the largest center in Russia of the Old Believers-bespopovtsy - the Preobrazhenskoe cemetery. However, this is a completely separate story, about her -. We also go there.)
#A completely different city excursions in Moscow
Chapel at the Fedoseevsky Preobrazhensky Cemetery "On the Nine Crosses"
T.A. Voskresenskaya
NOVGOROD OLD BELIEVERS-BEZPOPOVTS: ESCHATOLOGICAL BASES OF WORLD PERCEPTION AND LIFE
Humanitarian Institute of 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”, are an “eschatological variety of Orthodoxy” . As the researcher of the Old Believer worldview M.O.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, with logical inevitability, drew a conclusion from two premises: a) the spiritual hierarchy distorted the forms of worship of God, leading to a break in 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 Rus', marks the coming of the Antichrist into the world.
The installation of the non-priests on the coming of the Antichrist into the world, supplemented by the belief in the onset of a “non-holy” state of the Church (i.e., 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 the last time, which found bright 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 considering this influence on the example of the 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 highlight everyday life Bespopovtsy Old Believers, in particular the principles of their communication, interaction with non-believers, we will analyze the criteria that determine their behavior.
According to M.O. Shakhov, “the isolationism of the Old Belief is a completely adequate reaction of the traditional Orthodox consciousness in a collision with a heterodox society and is based on the rules and laws collected in the Pilot Book, requiring “non-communication” with heretics” . In order not to succumb to temptation, the Old Believers tried with apostates Christian faith, who were considered "much greater sinners than the pagans", to stop friendship, joint meals and all
communication . Following, as they believed, the testament 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 a strict prohibition on joint prayer with heretics, established by Canon 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 an icy lake, beats them with fierce frost.” Only for the alms they do during their lifetime, at night does He allow them to warm themselves in the cell of an Old Believer elder, who was once a rector, and now retired to the desert near Soltsy.
Any contact with representatives of the outside world - "worldly" - makes the Old Believer himself "worldly" or "peaceful" (desecrated), that is, deprives him of the necessary spiritual level of ritual purity. “Pacification” among the Old Believers is considered a very serious 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 penance, which could include up to 40 ladders with the Jesus prayer and bows.
The society of Novgorod Old Believers-Bespo-Povtsy, like any other society of keepers of ancient piety, is heterogeneous. This division is based on the qualitative characteristics of communion with the world that has departed from Christ. Each category is distinguished according to the main criterion - the degree of "peace". In their midst, the Old Believers single out “slave”, sometimes they could simply be called “Christians” or “big-workers”. In order to avoid reconciliation, every devout Old Believer, which is what a slave is, should have with him, especially if he goes on a journey or in the company of Orthodox, his cup and spoon, so that in no case should he use Orthodox utensils. This practice is known as "holding your cup". Your cup had to be blessed by a mentor, after which it could be used. In addition, the slaves prayed to God together with the mentor, since they were “worthy, praying” people (that is, they fulfilled the commandments of God, including fasting, a ban on visiting Nikonian churches and communicating with non-believers). Most often, these qualities were possessed by people of age.
Another category is the "navzhony" as they were called in the Krestetsky district, or "sietnye" - in the Starorussky district, or "vain" - this name is mentioned by an informant from the Poddorsky district. The Sietians, according to the description of the informants, were much younger in age, were married, communicated with the Gentiles in some way, and therefore they were forbidden to pray together with everyone else during public worship.
To define fellow believers who had the closest relationship with the apostate world, or non-believers, the term "secular" or simply "church" was used. If this term was used to define an Old Believer, then in this variant this concept is similar to the concept of a secular one, i.e. under the worldly Old Believers, married, “not being on bows” (i.e., not confessing this year), “those , which is weaker among the Old Believers, ”for which they did not pray with everyone in the service and did not have the right to take a“ slave 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: mirska, navozhona and rabna" . They were stored in different places and washed separately.
Such a status hierarchical ladder was mobile. There was an opportunity to raise their status within the Old Believer society. Some informants mention the custom at 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 post to bow (i.e., confess); 3) pray 40 ladders; 4) to be a slave at home.
In everyday life, as materials of ethnographic studies of the life of the 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 those of other faiths or secular ones, then the hosts, referring to the words of the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 5, 11), laid two tables: separately for the slaves and separately for the secular or worldly . During the performance of memorial prayers, non-believers were forbidden even to overshadow themselves with a cross.
According to the second half of XIX c., the Old Believers of the Fedoseevsky consent, known for their severity, considered the food bought in the shops from the Gentiles to be desecrated, and therefore they cleansed it with prayer before use. In an article of 1873 about the Old Russian Old Believers of the town of Gorodtsy, the rite of purification is described as follows: the domestic one sat down in front of the bench on a chair (similar to a rocking chair), swaying, sorting through the ladder, beating bows on the bench. The quality of food was characterized by the number of bows. Most big number prostrations are necessary for the purification of sugar and salt. A little less - for salted and fresh fish, no bows were made for fresh food. According to the data of F. Pardalotsky, the Fedoseyevites from the Cross before dinner had to make a hundred prostrations to purify food, buy
share among the Orthodox. In addition, he mentions the presence of special wells in the ovens of the Krestets Fedoseyevites “for consecrating the cooked food with grace.”
Going 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, where they go on the road, they go with their food, with their bread and drink" ).
Old Believers have a ban on visiting Nikonian churches. An exception could only apply to the younger generation, whose representatives, contrary to the will of their parents, “out of curiosity” went to see Christian churches, but later asked for forgiveness from their spiritual father for such an action. The ban on joint prayer with the Nikonians was strictly enforced.
Along with the secular cup in some houses of the Old Believers, one could find the so-called "secular" icons, that is, icons that were not covered by a curtain, left especially for those who came from the world. The icons, to which the owners themselves prayed, were carefully hidden from prying eyes. In the house 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, the husband is Orthodox and the wife is an Old Believer), according to one of the informants, they each kept their icons in a separate corner, hiding them from the eyes of a non-Christian relative.
The ban on marriage with non-believers became a guarantee that within the clan, family (in the broad sense) a single faith was preserved. Marriage not according to 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 “just like a cut off piece” (informants explained: in the house “everyone eats from one cup, but she eats separately from the peasant”). Subject to this prohibition, the communication of the Old Believer was limited to his family and his community - the circle of fellow believers.
A sign of the division of the world was the presence on the doors of the Old Believers (this practice has regional restrictions) of two brackets (handles) - for the secular and for the Old Believers.
Despite all its isolation, the Old Believer society was open to accepting new members. The preaching aimed at the conversion of heretics was encouraged in every possible way: “he who turns a sinner from his false path will save the 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-priestly interpretations and came from other consents) is described by many informants.
Like all Christians, the main goal of the Old Believers is the salvation of the soul. This problem becomes especially urgent in the conditions of the end times, since to save the true Church without concern for own soul impossible. “With the body, at least support the fence, but the darling will be tormented in the next world
those who have to answer for everything. The Bespopovites 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 the Old Believers, can do almost everything even in the days of the arrival of the Antichrist, if he does it “with God's help, yes, with prayer," if "with a feat and with zeal, seek spiritual ones." The Old Believer tries to live his life in such a way as to earn 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 in all his life path. Parents taught their children: “Every day you need to pray for yourself. 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 gives thanks for every day he has lived. Every holiday, every Sunday, he begins with public prayer and dedicates it to the Lord, abstaining from work and from everyday worries.
One of the indicators of the severity of the Old Believer faith is fasting. Fasting for the Old Believers is a prerequisite for the Christian faith. The Old Believers strictly observe the four main 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 these days only once. Others insist that these days “not how much to eat, but what is limited,” and therefore they ate several times a day, but only 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 will meet you when you die. And Monday is always treasured. On Monday, only those who made a covenant fasted, that is, they got into a difficult life situation and expected help in resolving it from God, and therefore took on some obligations regarding the restriction of their diet. It should be noted that in the Old Believer environment, children begin fasting very early.
In a similar way, relating to God in all his work, observing fasts, the Old Believer fulfilled the first commandment of love given by Jesus Christ himself - the commandment to love God. In everyday life, the Old Believer, like a true Christian, tries to realize His second commandment - the commandment to love one's neighbor. It was ideal for the Old Believer in everyday practice to follow a simple formula: "We must pray to Christ more and do good." “When a good deed is done, they say, the Angel himself smiles,” and intercedes for its creators.
Only one good deed done can change the fate of a person after his death - send him from hell to heaven. Even a harlot can go to heaven only because she “delivered some kind of gospel.”
They said that if you do good to people, you will go to heaven: “you may not get into the middle, but you will be from the edge.”
The Old Believer tried to help anyone in need of help. I did not forget the saying: "Give Christ for the sake of - God will send." In different regions there were their own customs associated with almsgiving. Some gave alms right on the street, others invited those who asked to the house, and others, in case of any unfavorable life situations, themselves delivered alms to their co-religionists. At the same time, the so-called "secret alms" were especially valued, such "to right hand gave, the left did not know. Alms were also given in case of an accident with cattle, in case of illness, after death. loved one(“You won’t give alms, you will dream in a dream. If you are naked, barefoot, you need to give clothes. Here you give, and there they will put him on, dress him”).
A sin was considered an unworthy attitude towards other people. Physical violence against other people is sinful. Moreover, it was considered sinful to deprive a person of life. The murder of a person did not pass for the killer without consequences. 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. And therefore, “the whole universe cannot be answered for him.” They said: "At least a hundred people pray for this, you still won't beg."
An encroachment on material values was considered sinful: whether it was land (“seizing the land is an unforgiven sin”) or a house (“setting fire to someone else’s house”) or cattle (“poisoning a cattle is an unforgivable sin”).
Not only the deed done by a person 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 will not live, I will hang myself.” And for ten years an unclean spirit follows you from behind: “You gave (or gave) your word. Why don't you keep it, don't fulfill it? Forty years will walk until you choke.
The curse (especially from the mouth of the mother) had irreparable consequences. An envious word can even kill a person.
Discussing, as well as judging other people, as well as lying and scolding, is also considered a sin and is punished by burning in hell. You can not discuss other people, judge them. “We cannot judge, for that is God the Judge.” The Old Believers warned: “You lie and talk a lot, but you talk in vain - they will hang you by the tongue” in the next world.
Old Believers, especially women, do not use swear words. The most terrible curse, according to informants, is “to the mother” ( God's mother commemorate) and “to God”, one should not commemorate the unclean. Swearing at cattle is not allowed. “Neither a cat, nor a hen, you can’t call anyone, everything is created by Christ!”. The father-in-law poured out just a sub-
milk only because the daughter-in-law, when she was milking, called the cow an “infection”: “You can’t drink milk from an infection!”. A bad word, swearing can lead to the fact that cattle can get "on a bad track" (i.e., get lost in the forest).
The Old Believers also have a special attitude to the choice of words pronounced at a meeting and at parting. Instead of "Goodbye" they say "Godly": "Forgive me for God's sake." To which the rest respond: "God will forgive you and bless you." It is also necessary to give thanks "in God's way". Old Believers
bespopovtsy usually say "Save the Lord", and the Novgorod Old Believers-priests thank with the phrase "Save Christ".
Fornication is considered a sin by Christians. In the household practice of the Old Believers intimate relationship even between husband and wife they were not considered perfectly pure. After every night with her husband, the woman had to douse herself head to toe in water, either in the house or in the barn. The Old Believers refrained from close relations between spouses during fasts, on the eve of holidays (before public prayers).
The Old Believers avoided excessive consumption of intoxicating drinks. We can not talk about their complete ban. Women did not drink at all, while men were allowed to relax in holidays. However, according to the charter of the Old Believers, for the abuse of intoxicating drinks (for drunkenness) they imposed six weeks of fasting and three thousand prostrations. One of the reasons for the conscious restriction of the use of intoxicating drinks by the Old Believers is, in particular, the realization that under their action control over oneself is lost, 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 the Old Believers also danced. Especially young people. But if they did this, then - realizing that for this sin their punishment awaits: “you will dance on 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 Believer environment, a ban was extended on secular entertainment (hippodrome, opera, theater, etc.), including music. Although it should be noted that the Old Believers could not completely do without music in their lives. First, the music was important integral part divine services. 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 life of the Old Believer in Lent. In the villages one can still find handwritten collections of spiritual poems. As an exception to the rule, the Old Believers allow the use of "worldly songs", especially among young people who attend village holidays.
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 Gentiles, secondly, in their opinion, now there are no “divine doctors about whom Sirach speaks (38, 1-15), but all are heretics”, thirdly , believe that "casual pain from the Throne of God, from His will is sent to test people" or as a punishment. One way or another, but the cure for the disease depends only on the mercy of the Creator, and it must be achieved by yourself. Some Old Believers believe that being sick is bad in this world, but for the next century this occupation is useful. After all, “when you are sick, you work for your sins.” And therefore, approaching the patient, they say: "God help you work." According to the observations of researchers of the 19th century, if the Old Believers (especially wealthy in cities) took external medicines, albeit with reluctance, but from doctors, then they did not take internal medicines at all. The Old Believers condemned surgical intervention. They explain it this way: "The cut one is the same as the circumcised Jew, he will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven." Anatomists who open the bodies of the dead were especially negatively treated.
In case of illness, the Old Believers usually resort to reading the canons to some saint, to whom the power to heal certain ailments is attributed. They can give a covenant - how many ladders to pray or impose a fast on themselves. So in vill. Lyakov was given a covenant, and according to it they walked (about 100 km) to Novgorod to bow to the Monk Varlaam of Khutynsky. Often resorted to charity. As an exception (very rare, according to the data of the 19th century, collected by opponents of the Old Believers), the Old Believers also resorted to the help of fortune tellers, and also used traditional medicine.
Smoking tobacco was considered forbidden in the Old Believer environment. If the Old Believer smoked, that is, “did not obey the law” (according to the law, this is a sin), then he never did it at home or in a prayer room, smoking at a well with water was also prohibited. The stories about the origin of tobacco that existed in the Old Believer environment contributed to the maintenance of such a practice. According to them, tobacco grew from the remains of a prodigal black-haired woman (or, according to other sources, a maiden) thanks to a “fornicating demon”.
If the Old Believers took food from their opponents Nikonians through purification by bows, then the food delivered from the pagans who did not honor the Christian God was rejected. The Old Believers tried to exclude tea, coffee, sugar, potatoes and yeast from the diet.
Secular fashion could penetrate into the life of an Old Believer, but following it was associated with the need to bear spiritual punishment, and its scope was clearly limited to everyday life. During an appeal to God (whether it was a public prayer or a prayer at home), 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 us to
to argue that the eschatological moods that form the basis of the Old Believers' worldview had a direct impact on everyday life, justifying, in particular, the ban on communication with the world that apostatized from Christ, the ban on everyday innovations, affirming the need for asceticism in worldly life.
1. Kerov V. V. 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 (XVII - XX centuries): Sat. scientific tr. Issue. 3 / State. ist. museum; resp. ed. and comp. E.M. Yukhimenko. M.: Languages of Slavic culture, 2004. P. 410, 405.
2. Shakhov M.O. Old Believer worldview: Religious and philosophical foundations and social position. M.: RAGS, 2002. P.193.
3. Shakhov M.O. Philosophical aspects of old belief. M.: Ed. house "Third Rome", 1997. P.98.
4. Ibid. P.103.
5. Ibid. P.105.
7. Psalmist D. G-ev. On schismatic pacification in eating and drinking // Eparch of Tobolsk. statements. 1889. No. 6. P.123.
8. Archive of educational and scientific laboratory of ethnology and history of culture of Novgorod State University. Materials of ethno-culturological expeditions.
9. S-v. Notes on the life and way of life of the schismatics of the town of Gorodets, Starorussky district // Novgorod provincial journals (NGV). 1873. No. 2. P.7.
10. Pardalotsky F. Punishment for disbelief 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 without priests, convicted of the wrongness of their faith in their own prayer room. Novgorod, provincial printing house, 1902. 23 p.
14. St. V. A few words about schismatics in the Starorussky district // NGV. 1869. No. 25. P. 183.
15. Nilsky I.A. The view of the schismatics on some of our customs and practices of church, state, social and domestic life. St. Petersburg, 1863. P.63.
16. Ibid. S.42-43.
“Shake off, unbelievers, mental sleep, open the eyes of the mind and look: the world sun is already at sunset, night will soon come, the fateful hour will suddenly strike, Christ will appear like lightning - for everything is ready. And you, instead of Christ, Who should be awaited 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 in the Pomeranian Church,
bookkeeper, author of apologetic writings
The different consents 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 ceased, the grace of the priesthood was interrupted, the church hierarchy ceased, and the spiritual Antichrist reigned. Under the spiritual antichrist, the non-priests began to understand the totality of various heresies that had penetrated the church, i.e. Antichrist is not a specific person, but a spiritual heresy that reigns in the world, which has destroyed the true priesthood. The dominion of the Antichrist is represented by the non-priests as the dominion of heretics with their persecution of true Christians. And since the Antichrist is already reigning, it means that Christians must be in a universal non-holy word state. That is why the bezpopovtsy did not recognize the consecration of the dominant church and declared that it was impossible to receive priests from there.
Bishop Pavel Kolomensky in 1654, he spoke out against the heretical changes that Patriarch Nikon made to the Church, and was exiled to the Paleostrovsky monastery of the Olonetsky district, where, in captivity, he taught and confirmed people in patristic traditions and piety. It was Bishop Pavel Kolomensky who established that all those 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 under no circumstances to accept their “sacraments” from new, heretical “false priests”.
Christians asked Bishop Paul to appoint priests and a bishop:
O reverend, our holy passion-bearer, holy and great-moving father, if your shrine from us orphans in the future ages will move, and the holy and bloodless sacrifice will die on the earth. And if the priesthood perishes to the end, then who will light the lamp of the priesthood for us, the holy Service of God? Only you, father, have retributive grace in the priests, and all the holy Church Mysteries are sanctified by you. If you, Holy Father, do not light this lamp, then the visible priesthood will truly die out in us, and then all the faithful will have a great need of the present time and 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, but the true priesthood has ceased with Nikon's novina.
While the priests of the old, ancient Orthodox order were alive, they communed the Divine Mysteries of "the rest of the ancient piety." After it was impossible to find an Orthodox priest, then out of necessity the fathers ordered the commoner to baptize and confess according to the tradition of the Holy Church, and the verbal flock was handed over to unconsecrated shepherds, who can perform only two church mysteries - baptism and repentance.
Since the Solovetsky uprising of 1667-1676. Solovetsky monks and Balti, 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. Part of the Solovetsky monks and Balti ceased to go to church and to confession to the spiritual fathers, did not take heretical communion, and confessed "among themselves with commoners."
The church hierarchy as such was never denied by the bezpopovtsy, and therefore in the first half of the 18th century. still sought the true priesthood of the ancient setting. So, at the beginning of 1730, a trip was made jointly with the priests to Palestine in order to find the "Orthodox priesthood." The Bezpopovtsy, unlike the Beglopopovtsy, accepted the clergymen of the dominant church who passed to them without preserving their rank, that is, as ordinary laymen. In 1765, the idea of uniting the bezpopovtsy and the popovtsy under the authority of an Old Believer bishop was considered in Moscow. There were suggestions that such a bishop was appointed by the hand of the relics of Metropolitan Jonah or another saint, but all these attempts were unsuccessful - the unification never happened. The extinction of the priests of the "Donikon" setting 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. convinced that it was no longer possible to have the priesthood.
According to the degree of their importance for salvation, all the sacraments are divided into “necessary” (baptism, repentance, communion) and “necessary” (marriage, unction, priesthood, chrismation), which, if necessary, may not be performed.
The non-priestly state of the priestless (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" justified the doctrine of spiritual communion.
In the XVIII century. the Vygovtsy and Fedoseyevtsy had the practice of communion with the ancient spare Gifts, in the Vygovskaya hermitage there was also a rite of "communion" with the Mother of God bread.
Old Believer thinkers without priests in the 18th century explained in their writings that in the current historical situation it is impossible, due to the lack of the Old Orthodox church hierarchy, to preserve “the unchanging fullness of all the 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:
needlessly daring not in behavior, as criminals of the law are condemned. Out of need, however, he who dares is not just condemned, but he is also worthy of praise and honor and is justified by all teachers. But there is also a flight to reason in this, as if in such there is like daring, in which the most extreme need commands, but not when this is adjoining to the need offering, and not the right times, and to the need not subject to the mystery of the need for action, we will begin to produce.
Throughout the 18th century, the Bezpopovtsy justified the impossibility of following the example of the priests and accepting the priesthood passing from the synodal church, explaining this by the fact 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 rites, then the non-priests have a different opinion on this matter.
IN Holy Scripture and the history of the Church, non-priests find an answer to the question of how to make up for the forced rejection of certain 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 the hierarchy, the 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 Rus' showed that with the almost complete retreat of the clergy and the cruel persecution of Orthodoxy, the laity found a way to exist for the Church, which had lost its priesthood.
Archimandrite of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Zakharia Kopystensky argued in his writings that in the absence of a clergyman, a layman can perform the sacraments of baptism and confession, and the sacrament of communion replaces spiritual communion, as the most sincere and “warmest wish from the heart” to receive the Body of Christ.
The writings of Zakharia 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 already in the middle of the 17th century.
The most famous Old Believer publications "Spiritual Sword", "Shield of Faith" and other priestless literature repeat the doctrine of spiritual communion that has become generally accepted in non-priesthood. This doctrine is also detailed 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- this is “usual”, when with a pure heart and conscience and mouth they accept the sacrament; second- spiritual, when “those who are blessed for the sake of wine do not have anywhere to take communion, even if they taste the life-giving and most pure Mysteries with their lips, they both show a warm and zealous desire for this faith, adorning their lives with virtues: such through faith and zeal spiritually partake of the Flesh and Blood of Christ”, and third when those who receive communion unworthily, without being cleansed of sins, and for whom it will act not for salvation, but for condemnation, commune with "only one mouth" communion.
To the unfair accusations of Protestantism, the Bezpriests responded as follows:
We are afraid not of bishops, but of novelties, and not of churches man-made, but of new traditions and charters introduced into it, we run
The Bezpopovites especially note that the state of a person’s spirit is able to determine the result of the impact of the sacrament and even make up for the forced incompleteness of external forms, since it is precisely “ the inner spiritual essence predetermines both the external forms and the nature of their change”, in other words, spiritual content takes precedence over canonical external forms.
Bezpopovstvo never rejected as the idea of a single church sacrament or ritual, did not question the status of the priesthood as a bearer of God's grace. The whole worldview of priestlessness 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 receive an ongo heretic for the situation, but by our faith we complete it”, and this confirms the forced nature of their actions, and not the desire to reform the Church in accordance with their own convictions.
In the Church without priesthood and hierarchy, the priestless strove to follow the canonical rules in everything and historical events, laying all his hope on the fact that God will make up for what was not perfect due to forced circumstances. At the same time, it is important to note that a layman baptized and confessed instead of a priest, for which there are grounds and examples in church tradition, but he never performed unauthorized spiritual actions, such as, for example, chrismation or Liturgy, which could never be performed by the laity. 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 efforts.
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 glorified by the Church. These are, for example, the Reverends: Paul of Thebes, Peter of Athos, Mark of Thrace, Theophanes of Antioch, Mary of Egypt, Theoktista and other martyrs: Eupsychius, Esper and Zoya, Kopriy and Alexander, Kirik and Julita, Drosis, Glyceria and others.
Yelitsy are now metropolitans, archbishops and bishops ... priests and deacons, and other clergymen of the church ... Metropolitans are no longer worthy to be called metropolitans, so are archbishops, even to the last, and even in the rank they combine and the sacred garments are decorated with ornaments, like metropolitans and archbishops and protchii, according to the holy Divine canons, are cast out; and they bless the Christmas tree - the essence is unblessed. For from those baptisms - non-baptisms, and appointments - not the clergy ... and for the sake of everything, the hierarchship and priesthood were abolished (Professor N.F. Kapterev “Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich”, vol. 2, p. 200).
With the abolition of the priesthood, there is also 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 the unskilled shepherd"(Zech. 11, 15) blessed Jerome writes: " there is no doubt that an unwise or unskillful shepherd is the Antichrist"(Creations of Blessed Jerome of Stridon, part 15, p. 150, ed. 1915).
Reverend Ephraim Sirin writes about the same:
In the image of this shepherd, the Antichrist appears (Tvoren, St. Ephraim the Syrian, part 6, p. 189, ed. 1901).
This means that foolish shepherds, deviating from the true faith and sinning against it, according to the words of the holy fathers, already represent the Antichrist
John Chrysostom explains:
Those who are in Christianity, let them resort to Scripture, for from that time, when heresies began to revolt the Church, not a single true Christian refuge, even those who want to know the correctness of faith, except for Divine Scripture, they cannot have (The Book of Faith, ch. 23, l. 215 about.).
This means that true Christians must always turn to the Holy Scriptures, because since the time of the indignation of the Church with heresies, nothing but Divine Scripture can no longer be Christian refuge for the knowledge of the true faith, according to the word of the holy father Hippolytus, Pope:
Hearing the Divine Scriptures and in the hands of those who have it and who always learn in thought, many of its charms will run away (Third Word, in the week of meat-fare according to the collection, l. 183v).
For to see in the place of the true shepherd of Christ, in the flock of Christ, a wolf entered in sheep's hierarchical clothes. The faithful people, therefore, I exist to that false shepherd heretic, and if the abomination of desolation is in the holy place in the Church of the present, turn reluctantly, go out of the city in the field and gather in an empty place, doing service to God.
From the cited passages of Holy Scripture, it is clear that the believers considered the heretical bishops who appeared to be “an abomination of desolation” and, trying to get away from everything vile, went out into the field to perform Divine services.
The holy place denotes the throne on which sacrifice to God should be offered, that is, the sacrament of Holy Communion, as he says about this. 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, the non-priests believe, heretical archpastors and shepherds are the servants of the Antichrist, and make up his body, they are the abomination of desolation, serving in a holy place, that is, on the throne.
With the fact that the prophecy about the abomination of desolation was fulfilled, the Bishop of Belokrinitsky consent (ROSC) Ural (Shvetsov) agreed with the Bezpopovites. In his conversation with M. E. Shustov He says:
These Nikonian preachers don't believe the Gospel; they only fixed one thing: the eternity of the priesthood! And they don't want to hear anything else. So they don’t even see what was said: when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, whoever reads 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 rejected everything ancient, and so we fled to the mountains from seductive bishops. (M.E. Shustov’s conversation with Father Shvetsov in Moscow in May 1888, pp. 11-12).
Prophetic word about the Antichrist of the teacher of the III century saint Hippolyta, Pope of Rome:
The Church of God will also weep with a great cry, for no offering, lower the censer is performed, lower the service is pleasing to God. The Holy Church will be like a vegetable storehouse and the honest body and blood of Christ will not appear in one day (Third Word, in the week of meat-fare according to the collection, l. 184 rev.).
Blessed Jerome (4. 2, article 155, ed. 1912) points out 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 shepherds, according to the testimony of the holy fathers of the Church, bring death to Christian souls. The Lord allows the holy temples, the holy sacrament, the priesthood to be defiled for the sins of people:
So God, for the sins of those in command, commits the subordinates to execution and for the bad deeds of those who serve the altar, allows the holy altars to be plundered by the ungodly hands, and the holy temples into desolation.
Wonder, beloved, how God does not spare his own houses, when he lets anger on earth. If you don’t spare the holy Ark, but betray it as a foreigner, with lawless priests, and the temple of consecration, and the Cherubim of glory, and clothes, and prophecy, and anointing, and appearances in trampling and desecration of the tongue, spares the holy churches and most pure mysteries (the book of Nikon Black Mountain, line 41, sheet 308v).
If there is no true sacrament of holy communion, then the false one, which is harmful to the soul, is not acceptable. Cyprian of Carthage points out (in letter 56, part 1, p. 316):
And so the people, who obey the Divine commandments and fear God, must separate themselves from the sinful primate and not participate in the sacrifice of the blasphemous priest.
Theodore Studite writes in the same 2nd volume:
Just as the divine bread, which the Orthodox partake of, makes all who partake of it one body, so also heretical bread, bringing those who partake of it into communion with one another, makes them one body opposed to Christ (part 2, letter 153, p. 532).
Blessed Jerome in part 6 of his writings (p. 78, edition 1905) warns Christians about the church of heretics, “ which invites the foolish mind to her so that he, seduced by her, accepts thieves' bread and thieves' water, that is: a false sacrament».
The sacrament of Holy Communion in its pure and inviolable form cannot by itself save a person, which is confirmed by the evidence cited:
He will obey the true one in Jude, as if from the most pure hand of the Lord Christ, to receive the most holy bread and abie in him Satan for his unworthiness (Prologue of March 22, fol. 117).
Take, say, bread, and partake of it from me ... After all, the Lord will give bread to Jude, the food, as the meal of bread came to his senses, the traditions will recede: but Jude is not so known, then Satan was to the end (Gospel, interpretation of Theophylact on 45 the beginning of the Gospel of John, fol. 222 and 223).
That is, communion from the hands of the Savior Himself, Who said to Judas Iscariot: “ accept bread from me and take communion”, and the performance of the sacrament of the sacrament itself, the purpose of which was to bring him to reason, did not keep Judas from crime and his own death. Therefore, communion does not have the power to save a person, to keep him from crime - this depends primarily on the Christian himself, his way of life, purity of thoughts, his good deeds, but not on the basis of whether he takes communion, as the saint teaches us about this. John Chrysostom:
It is not fitting for the faithful to be known from communion of the holy mysteries, but from a fair life and auspicious deeds (The Good Gospel in the preface of Matthew, the moral teaching of John Chrysostom, fol. 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 Saving Sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
The thief, crucified with Christ and considered a desperate sinner, during his many-sinful life never took communion and was not even baptized, but he was led into paradise by the Savior, this is said Ephraim Sirin:
Since the Jews chose the thief and rejected Christ, God chose the thief and rejected them. But where is that (said): "If anyone does not receive my flesh, has no life?" When he received faith from the thief, in return for it for free giving him immeasurable things, he poured out his treasures before him for free, he immediately transferred him to his paradise and there he placed the one who was brought in (into paradise) over his treasures: you will be with me in the paradise of desires! (Creations of Ephraim the Syrian, part 8, p. 306).
In addition to the thief who was saved on the cross, one can also read in the menaias or prologues about those holy martyrs who believed in Christ, who, like the thief, did not yet receive the holy Eucharist, but also the holy baptism, 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 all a matter of the mind and to which one ascends by contemplation. I will stand before him, on it I will devour an offering that is pleasing to God and a sacrifice and burnt offering, as much better as the present is better than 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 that is mountain (The Works of Gregory the Theologian, part 1, art. 382 and 3, ed. Soikin).
Holy father Athanasius of Alexandria teaches in his creations: They will not be ashamed during the fierce"(Psalm 36, 19). In times of persecution, when teachers are impoverished, the Lord Himself nourishes those who believe in Him with His spirit (part 4, p. 29, ed. 1903 in the interpretation of the psalms according to Permyakov's extract, 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 the true performers of it, nevertheless receive the opportunity, through faith in Jesus Christ, to partake spiritually. This spiritual communion with the Body and Blood of the Lord also takes place through the knowledge of the word of God, as the blessed one writes about it. Jerome:
Since the body of the Lord is a true brasno and His blood is a true drink, then, according to the mysterious interpretation, in the present age we have only the only good if we feed on His flesh and drink His blood, not only in the sacrament (Eucharist), but also in reading the scriptures: for the true drink and drink, which is accepted from the word of God, is the knowledge of the scriptures (Blessed Jerome, part b, p. 37).
Speaking about spiritual communion, bezpopovtsy say:
As the first advent of the Savior was in the impoverishment of the Old Priesthood, so the second advent will be. Let it be better, at least in our Church, to keep a bright and pure remembrance of the inviolable Throne of God, on which the Lord will again come to set foot on the Day of His Second and Great Coming. Although we do not have a visible sacrifice of communion, but according to the merit of faith, according to the virtues, God feeds his believers with the Holy Spirit.
A superficial understanding of the words of Christ " drink my blood and poison my body and have eternal life As soon as communion in the form of bread and wine, any literalism in the interpretation of Holy Scripture, leading to heresies, misleads many people, believe the non-priests, in other places the body of Christ is called the Church, and the blood is interpreted as the teachings of Christ.
The sacrament of communion is performed by the Holy Spirit, and not by the faith of the priest alone, but the sacrifice of communion cannot be performed without an Orthodox true priest.
In the life of the holy martyr Mary Golendukha we read:
Then the holy martyr Maria Golendukha prayed to God, that she would reveal to her about the Severians, whether it was appropriate to begin communion with them, or neither, and in the form of an angel, holding two chalices, one full of darkness, and the other full of light, showing her, like a chalice with darkness - heretical communion, and like the light, then the saint of the catholic Catholic Church. The saint is abhorred by heretical communion, and soon from there will be no more (Chetya-Minea, July 12, page 433 turnover).
Saint Theodore Studite(Part 2, letter 154, p. 385, ed. 1867) writes:
Here, too, the light of the world shows that communion is communion: and no sane person will say that communion is not communion. Just as the divine bread, which the Orthodox partake of, makes all those who partake of it one body, so also the heretical bread, bringing those who partake of it into communion with one another, makes them one body, contrary to Christ, and whoever speaks otherwise will idle talk in vain.
To the question about how to acquire spiritual communion, bezpopovtsy say:
Only spiritual feat.
Sometimes a person's heart acts as a nest of various vices, and the mind skillfully finds an excuse for them. Often the inner essence of a person is closed by empty words and actions generated by an empty mind, which 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 confess, because all Christian wisdom lies in the knowledge of the Lord God and ourselves. Not all arguments or teachings about God are true, therefore a Christian needs to be tempted in the teachings - to accept the good, and to sweep aside everything that is inconsistent with Christ's Teachings.
The division of the Old Believers into two main areas - priesthood and priestlessness - 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 impasse created due to the fact that the priests " Donikonian", the old formation by this time almost did not survive.
The Old Believers were divided into two main sects: popovsky(recognizing the need for priests in worship and ceremonies) and bespopovsky(denying the possibility of the existence of a "true" clergy).
The non-priestly movement preserved in its liturgical practice only a part of the church rites, moreover, in a greatly simplified form, and some non-priestly movements generally abandoned any rituals whatsoever. Therefore, the initial positions of the "old faith" for priestlessness were, in fact, only the main arguments for accusing the official church of apostasy from the "true" faith. In its essence, it is related to the old Russian sectarianism, and the use of the terms “Old Belief” or “Old Believers” in relation to it is extremely conditional. According to the teachings of the non-priests, the church is certainly not necessary for the salvation of the soul. The main argument of the bespopovtsy in favor of this statement was that the entire true priesthood was destroyed by the Antichrist and that the priests of the new formation “are not sacred,” because after Nikon the church apostatized 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-priests usually referred to the words of John Chrysostom: "Sanctify yourselves, be your own priests."
Bespopovtsy did not deny the monarchy in principle, their hostile attitude towards the royal power was explained mainly by the fact that it persecuted the Old Believers and patronized the dominant church. Because of this, most of the bespopovtsy ruled out praying for the tsar for a long time.
Bespriests divide all church sacraments into: “necessarily needed” and “simply needed”. 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 obligatory. Baptism and confession are allowed, if necessary, to be performed by a lay person. Communion bespriests interpret in a spiritual sense (as a desire to partake of the holy sacraments). As for marriage, if the initial priestlessness was characterized by its resolute denial and the preaching of asceticism, then later, in the second half of the 18th century, “marriages”, or “newlyweds”, were already present in almost all the main senses of priestlessness. The management of the community and liturgical practice were carried out among the bespriests by elected tutors and teachers.
Local conditions had a certain influence on the formation of priestlessness and religious traditions North and Northwest of Russia.
There were few churches in the hard-to-reach and sparsely populated Pomorye, and some of them remained without priests for a long time. Therefore, many residents of this region died without confession and communion, babies were baptized by laymen, married couples cohabited without a wedding. Occasionally, Pomortsy, gathering for public worship without a priest, were content with the service of a clerk. All this facilitated the spread of the Old Believers in Pomorie precisely in the form of priestlessness.
It is characteristic of the initial history of priestlessness that she found her main followers among the black-haired peasantry of the North and Northeast. All the main rumors of priestlessness were formed in the regions located north of Moscow, and only later, from the second half of the 18th century, priestlessness began to gradually move south.
Bespopovshchina has never been a single religious entity, breaking up into the following main sects: Pomor, Fedoseevsky, Filippovsky, Netov and Wanderer. All of them, with the exception of the wanderer, took shape at the end of the 17th or at the beginning of the 18th century. The attitude of the Bespriests towards Orthodoxy and priesthood was, as a rule, characterized by religious intolerance and fanaticism. All the Orthodox, priests and even non-rebaptized non-priests, who were transferred to them, were accepted by the non-re-baptized non-priests only through re-baptism, i.e., just like heretics and non-Christians, “first rank”. A certain religious estrangement (up to the prohibition to have communion with each other in food, drink and prayer) was shown in relation to each other even by doctrinally close non-priest talk and agreement.
In general, the end of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century were a time of intensified religious searches and the formation of the dogma of almost all major persuasions, sharp religious disputes, behind which disagreements of a political or social nature were often felt that took place among various social groups of the bespopovtsy. Supporters of priestlessness during this period were numerically inferior to supporters of priesthood, and the areas of their distribution were limited to Pomorie, the Baltic States, and partly the Nizhny Novgorod Territory.
Priesthood presented a different picture during this period. Initially, priesthood took shape in the form of beglopopovism, because its followers decided to accept priests who defected to them from the official church. Priesthood was a rite of faith, Old Believers in the true sense of the word. Not only at the end of the 17th - the first half of the 18th century, but throughout its entire subsequent history, it was unable to develop an independent and original dogma, which consisted in the fact that you can take fugitive priests from the dominant Orthodox Church to perform divine services, despite the accession to it , as in the whole "world", the Antichrist. In the Nizhny Novgorod Territory, priesthood appeared from the very beginning of the split. The Old Believers settled here mainly along the rivers Kerzhenets and Belbash, in dense forests, where their sketes and repairs were scattered. At the end of the 17th century, this territory acquired the importance of an important center of the Old Believers.
The elders of the Bespopovsky Sharpan Skete
Bespopovtsy- one of the two main branches of the split of the Old Believers, so called because its followers do not accept the priesthood (priests).
THE ORIGIN OF THE HOUSEHOLD CONSENT OF THE OLD BELIEVERS-BEZPOPOVTSEV
When the priests of the pre-schism establishment died in antiquity, there was a fundamental division of all the Old Believers into two sects.
Those who preferred to remain without a church hierarchy at all, rather than accept newly appointed priests, were called priestless. For some time, the Old Believers still retained the hope that somewhere (in the country of Belovodie, in impenetrable forests or mountains, in the deserts of the East) the true priesthood of the ancient setting was preserved, and many were eager to acquire it. Until the middle of the 18th century, the bulk of the Bespopovites recognized the absence of the priesthood as a temporary test.
The desire to acquire a church hierarchy was so great among them that the well-known founders of priestlessness, the Denisov brothers, negotiated in writing with representatives of the priests who lived on Vetka, about accepting a bishop even from the dominant church, if only he agreed to keep the old rites. But hopes for the possibility of a speedy acquisition of the hierarchy gave way to disappointment, and really had to build their religious and everyday life in the absence of the priesthood. Under the influence of terrible persecution, the Bespopovites considered that the last time had come, in Orthodox Church(the Old Believers call it the dominant church) and the Antichrist reigned everywhere in the world.
In this regard, the bespriests from the church sacraments retained only baptism and confession (performed by laity, often even by women). They are the minimum necessary for salvation. All other sacraments are not performed at all. realizing, for example, the need for the Eucharist, the non-priests thought to replace it for themselves with "their communion." completely rejecting marriage after the termination, in their opinion, of the true Orthodox priesthood, they demand from all their co-religionists, husbands and wives, a celibate life.
Most non-priestly consents accept the consents coming from others according to the first rank, i.e. re-baptized, from this comes the name of the consent - "bespriest-rebaptized". among them are Pomortsy, Fedoseyevtsy, Filippovtsy, wanderers and others. The exceptions are the chapels, Novospasovtsy, Babushkins and Netovtsy singing, non-singing and denialists, also called non-rebaptized Bespopovtsy.
In the 18th century, part of the bespopovtsy added a third sacrament to the two main sacraments (baptism and confession) - marriage. the reason was as follows: in their opinion, this is a simple rite that has no dogmatic meaning, which is a combination of elements of ancient traditions with fragments of a wedding, from which priestly actions were removed. Ultimately, this action is an ordinary parental blessing, which consists of two conventionally distinguished parts: the first is the pronunciation of the blessing in the form of a traditional formula, the second is the alternate kissing of the icons by the newlyweds. In conclusion, the ceremony of dividing the bride's one braid into two is performed, which symbolically distinguishes a married woman from a girl. This is the rite of the Old Believer marriage.
This was the beginning of the division of bespopovtsy into married and non-married.
In the 18th century, there was a further fragmentation of the Bespopovtsy, divided into large areas and numerous rumors.
At the head of the priestless communities are mentors - "blessed fathers". they dispose of in meetings during worship and send church services and services, which they supposedly allow out of necessity. According to the non-priests, not everyone has such rights, but only those who have received a successive blessing from former mentors. It has essentially the meaning of placing on a sacred degree.
It is worth noting that there are many interpretations or agreements in priestlessness, differing among themselves in the acceptance and non-acceptance of minor rites.
Today, Bespopovites live in many countries of the world: in Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Poland, the USA, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, etc.
The most numerous of the surviving concords of the Bespopovtsy is the chapel.
In Central Russia in the early 1920s. The Fedoseyevites had a numerical superiority among the Bespopovtsy, there were about 2-2.5 million of them. Pomortsev at the same time was up to 2 million people. However, the spontaneous transition of many Fedoseevsky communities to marriage consent in 1920-1950. changed the quantitative ratio in the direction of the Pomeranians.
HOURLY CONSENT MANAGED BY INSTALLERS
Chapels (other name - chapel consent; charter-managed) - the Old Believers, who were originally priests, but because of the persecution, which especially intensified under Nicholas I, remained for a long time without the priesthood. Thus, by being forced to perform the basic rites and conducting divine services without the church hierarchy, they became priestless. Like traditional bespopovtsy, they performed services in chapels deprived of altars, which later gave the name to the concord.
The current state entailed the adoption by the chapels of many purely priestless ideas: about the spiritual advent of the Antichrist (although there are those who claim that he came sensually), about the complete dominance of the Antichrist in the New Believer Church and in the state, about the permissibility of self-immolations in case of persecution by the authorities (self-immolations were noted in the Sayans back in 1940), about the inadmissibility of communication , mainly in prayer and a meal, with the worldly and especially with personnel, about the fundamental impossibility of obtaining passports, pensions, etc.
The most important difference between the chapels and other bespriests is only the refusal to re-baptize those who come to them from other Old Believer agreements. Baptism is performed by the laity in a wooden font - a tub, while in many non-priestly agreements it is preferable to perform baptism in open water.
The chapel agreement was formed from several migration flows of Old Believers, moving at different times from European Russia further to the east. In 1720 the main part of the ancestors of the chapels left the Nizhny Novgorod forests for the Urals. Back at the beginning of the 20th century, the bulk of their descendants were concentrated in the triangle formed by the cities of Perm, Tyumen and Chelyabinsk. The resettlement to the Urals was also facilitated by the fact that at the beginning of the 18th century the owners of the Ural factories provided patronage to the fleeing Old Believers, seeing in them a powerful labor force. Later, state-owned factories also began to provide this kind of assistance, and Yekaterinburg became the center of the Old Believers who settled in the Urals. The chapels themselves trace their origins to the monk Sophronius, who settled on Kerzhents and was received from heresy by the priests of the pre-Nikonian ordination Dionysius, the future Shuisky, Trifilius of Vologda, and others. - for disagreeing with the Vetka-Starodubsky fathers, in vain suspecting them of an ugly reception of sacred persons consecrated by Little Russian bishops-oblivants.
It should be noted that after the death of Patriarch Andrian in 1701, many people were summoned to Moscow to participate in the work of the Synod, who, from the point of view of Nicephorus, had poured baptism and dubious ordination. Nikifor's disagreement with the Kerzhensky and Vetka-Starodubsky fathers was due to the fact that they allegedly received sacred persons indiscriminately, without finding out who was ordained by whom.
His followers began to find out which bishops were known to have been baptized in three immersions and were also ordained by bishops who were also baptized in three immersions. After this kind of research, they began to receive sacred persons ordained only by such bishops. in 1776, the leaders of the chapels believed, relying on some data allegedly received in the Synod, that from the hierarchy of the Orthodox Church only the Ryazan and Georgian bishops were baptized in three immersions, which means that they received priests ordained by these bishops.
In 1725, in Nizhny Tagil, Nikifor received from the Orthodox Church the priest John (he was later revered among the chapel priests Job). The third Ural priest was the holy monk Iyakov, who was also received by Nicephorus. After correcting Fr. Iyakov lived in the Nevyansk plant until his death (1754). Nikifor also received priests from the Vyatka province from the Orthodox Church - Fr. Simeon and Fr. Gabriel. The first, after the correction, went to Iryum, and the second to Ishim. Both of them were martyred in Tobolsk. Until about the first third of the 18th century, the Ural chapels in their current rank received clergy who passed from the Orthodox Church, and in 1735 their leaders from among the mining employees even asked, but unsuccessfully, Empress Anna Ioannovna to consolidate such a practice legally. After the death of Fr. Iyakov, the Ural Old Believers were left without the priesthood, since there was no one to receive fugitive priests from the Orthodox Church, and they were afraid to invite priests from Moscow, from Kerzhents or from Vetka: they could get caught ordained by Bishop Epiphanius, whom they considered an impostor. The reception of this bishop on Vetka exacerbated the distance of the Ural Old Believers from the rest of the priests.
When the priest Peter came to the Ural Old Believers, there was no one to correct him. Then, according to the conciliar decision, he “through three prayer chants took upon himself the sacred vestments and began to serve as a priest.” After his death, they managed to find the priest Herodion, who was recognized as having a succession of corrections, dating back to the holy monk Iyakov. Company. Herodion was followed by the holy monk Theophylact, who together with him received a number of priests, including Fr. Philip, ordained by the Georgian Bishop Gregory (then those bishops already died in Russia, whose ordination the Ural Old Believers considered completely legal, Georgian church they believed, however, not infected by pouring baptism). Philip, in turn, introduced several priests of Georgian ordination, including Fr. Archippus - the last Nizhny Tagil priest. With his death in 1825, the Ural Old Believers were finally left without a church hierarchy. IN early XIX centuries, they actively searched for suitable priests, but to no avail, and the subsequent persecution of the Old Believers made this completely impossible. True, some of the chapels recognized the Irgiz priests and Fr. Paul (Tula), but Irgiz was soon ruined, and Fr. Pavel is dead.
The extreme difficulty in obtaining new Old Believer priests and finally their complete disappearance gradually increased the role of non-ordained, but leading divine services, clerks, or old men (hence the other name for consent - old man's consent). The absence of a church vertical also led to the fact that the chapels began to accept those who came to them from Orthodoxy as heretics of the third rank (of course, if the person who came was baptized in three immersions). Consequently, the consent began to take shape as a non-priest, although its members retained (and still retain) spare Gifts, consecrated by the fathers, who had successive correction from the priests of the pre-Nikonian ordination. Among the chapels, apparently, there were also the Sacred Gifts, consecrated on the Irgiz. In addition, at the council in 1913 they discussed the possibility of communion. However, in the journal "Ural Old Believer", in response to a question from the editors, where the chapels got spare gifts from, they confidently point to the priests of Nikiforovskaya, etc. corrected. The Holy Gifts were also preserved in the well-known Lykov family, belonging to the chapel concord (at present, only Agafia remains of them).
In 1840, the Cathedral of the Chapels refused to receive priests.(according to some reports, in connection with the defeat of the Irgiz), and at the Yekaterinburg cathedrals in 1884 and 1887. the possibility of accepting the Belokrinitsky priesthood, which was discussed there, was rejected and the non-priestly practice of worship was fixed (with the non-ordained elders omitting purely priestly chapel prayers, with confession to the elder, etc.). This circumstance was also facilitated by the fact that, due to the scarcity of the priesthood, adventurers began to operate among the chapels, calling themselves priests of the so-called Belovodsk instruction, whose imposture was sooner or later revealed.
In the middle of the 18th century, new streams of the so-called Poles (as they are still called, for example, in Altai) join the Ural-Siberian Old Believers, that is, those Old Believers who returned from Poland, from Vetka and moved further and further east from Ural. Already since 1780. Beglopopovtsy-Poles actively assimilated with the Ural and Siberian chapels.
The great heterogeneity of chapel harmony at the beginning of the 20th century became an obstacle to the growth of a separate self-awareness of chapels. The first congress (cathedral) of chapels after the law on religious tolerance was held in the village of Sosnovaya Maza near Khvalynsk on February 7, 1910. Then questions of the inner life of consent were considered, incl. it was decided to pray for the king who came to rebaptize if they did not prove that they had been baptized in three immersions in the name of the Holy Trinity. The congress confirmed the rejection of the priesthood, not only passing from the dominant church, but even belonging to the Belokrinitskaya hierarchy. “The Belokrinitsky priesthood are impostors like Grishka Otrepyev, and the Russian fools believed him, like the Austrians,” we read in the Acts of the First Council.
The second congress, which proclaimed itself the first all-Russian, was held on September 25-29, 1911 in Yekaterinburg and was convened on the initiative of M.L. Sokolov. The Yekaterinburg mentor P.S. was then elected chairman. Mokrushin. Questions were discussed about the harmonization of religious rites, the founding of a brotherhood of Christians of chapel harmony, and public education. Siberian chapels at the beginning of the century held annual councils in the village of Kutorok.
In 1912, a similar council, which was attended by 300 people, was held on January 29 and 30. Then the following decisions were made: not to accept communities, but to consider registered mentors as heresiarchs; the laity to receive the third rank in the non-communal bosom with the curse of communal heresy; do not drink tea and vodka, and punish those who violate it with heavy penances, and consider those who drink vodka as heretics of the third rank; do not send children to public schools, excommunicating violators from common prayer.
The next council was held in the city of Balakovo on May 1, 1913 - under the chairmanship of E.A. Komissarov. The most acute question that was dealt with on it: should the ancestors of the chapels, for the fact that they accepted the fleeing priesthood through chrismation and in their existing rank, be considered heretics or simply mistaken? Comrade Chairman of the Cathedral A.F. Nesterov even demanded to find other ancestors for himself, but the general opinion prevailed: a mistake was made, the spare Gifts are in doubt, however, if anyone wants to partake of them, let it be on his conscience. On the question of the coming of the Antichrist, the participants in the congress made a typically priestless decision: he already reigns. They refused to register communities and to establish schools for youth. But on these issues, the chapels did not have a unanimous opinion, which is clear from the controversy with the anticommunists, which was conducted on the pages of the Ural Old Believer.
Mass persecution of skete-chapels since the mid-1930s. led to the fact that they moved in large numbers to the east of the Urals, including the Yenisei, where they lived in relative calm until 1951, when most of their sketes were destroyed by the troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs using aircraft, mortars, etc. . In connection with these dramatic circumstances, the Angarsk Chapel Cathedral in 1957, by a special decree, allowed those who were imprisoned to receive food from personnel.
Very significant for the Ural-Tyumen chapels is their division into two directions - factory and rural, which existed for at least two centuries (by the way, the word "direction" in the Old Believers is a synonym for "bush", which is actually a term).
The first - the factory (sometimes also called urban) - direction belonged to mining workers, who invariably outnumbered the members of the second direction in number. Factory houses have always been considered more liberal in terms of compliance with statutory norms, while rural ones are more fundamentalist-minded. By the 20th century, the statutory strictness became less respected by the rural direction: the general process of depeasantization also affected its members, but the psychological distance between factory and rural is still felt by the descendants of both.
It should be pointed out that there were no attempts to organize a regular system of education, a general periodical press, etc.. Publishing activity was also not carried out - until the beginning of the 90s, despite the presence of a large number of early printed books, the leader in reprinting of which was the Belokrinitskaya hierarchy. Her reprint editions are in constant demand in all Old Believer concords.
Tyumen chapels (mostly rural) live in Tyumen, Yalutorovsk, Zavodoukovsk, etc. In villages and small towns, they constituted and still constitute an influential and most active part of the population, which not without success influences the formation of public opinion and local authorities (subsidizing repairs and construction of chapels, etc. from the budget). The current state of these communities is as follows: they are small in number and are mainly visited by old believers of advanced age.
Among rural chapels, the rejection of television, radio, the use of coffee, tea, etc. is extremely pronounced. For a long time, only handwritten books were accepted, but more recently, photocopies have also been used.
Among all the chapels of the Urals and Siberia, holy springs are especially revered, among which they include a spring in the village of Roshcha, Sverdlovsk Region (near the border with the Perm Region). Among the young Perm chapels in the 90s. mass pilgrimages to Lake Svetloyar, to the "city of Kitezh", which, according to legend, disappeared under water at the prayer of the inhabitants in order to avoid captivity from the Tatars, were popular.
The scientific study of the chapels began at least 100 years late compared to other Old Believer agreements. Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg archaeological centers took the main part in the study. According to researchers, over the years of persecution of religion (especially in the 1930s and 1940s, when the activities of most of the central structures of the Old Believers in the USSR were practically paralyzed), the chapels became even more accustomed to an existence independent of European Russia and formed a stable and skeptical attitude towards the current there Old Believer churches.
As before, monasticism and hermitism are developed in harmony. The main region of compact residence of chapels is Transbaikalia and Tuva, no less than them in the east of the Urals and Siberia. There are also several communities of chapels in the USA, where they fled (mainly through China) in the 20-30s and 50-60s.
