The Filippovtsy
Much less is known about the Filippovtsy sect compared to the Pomortsy and Fedoseevtsy sects. This is partly due to the greater secrecy of the Filippovtsy, which stems from their teachings. Currently, very few Filippovtsy remain—on Russian territory, the sect is represented by only a few communities, with an estimated total of no more than 200–300 people. However, the Filippovtsy community was once quite numerous. Its members lived in large numbers in the Arkhangelsk, Olonets, Vyatka, Vladimir, and Yaroslavl provinces, as well as in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Uglich, Kimry, Odessa, and other places.
The founder of the sect, known as the “Christians of Solovetsky and Old Pomorian Descent,” was Elder Filipp (born Foty (Photios) Vasilyev; 1674–1742). Nothing is known about his origins. During the Northern War, while serving in a musketeer regiment, Foty, according to Pavel Lyubopytny, “zealous for piety, abandoned the tsar’s service and settled in Vygoretsia; having renounced the world there, he bore Christ’s cross for a long time.” He was described as “a pious man, strict in his life, and a firm literalist.”
In Vyg, Foty was baptized and began a new life. A Pomorian manuscript details his life in the Vyg community: “When he was a novice in the monastery, he performed all monastic duties—sometimes working in the bakery, sometimes chopping firewood and delivering it to the cells, and performing other labors to serve the brethren. While living and laboring in this way, he did not neglect his prayer rule, attentively participating in reading and singing, and diligently fulfilling his cell prayers to the best of his ability.”
Diligently striving in the Vyg monastery, Foty decided to take monastic vows, a step that, surprisingly, none of the Vyg leaders—neither Andrey Denisov, Daniil Vikulin, nor later leaders—had taken. “And so, Foty desired to be tonsured into monasticism. With the blessing of the elders, he was tonsured by the monk David of the same monastery. His name became Filipp in monasticism. After this, as the monastic rule requires a six-week fast and staying under the guidance of a spiritual father in silence, without going out into the world or among people, Filipp stayed under Father David’s guidance for some time, observing the 40-day fast. However, he began to act willfully, walking about and talking with everyone about everything.”
Over time, Filipp became the spiritual father of the Vyg community. Through the strictness of his life and austere piety, he earned the respect of the monastery’s inhabitants. After Andrey Denisov’s death, he was considered a candidate for the position of head of the Vyg community. However, the elderly Daniil Vikulin, before his death, blessed Semyon Denisov as the leader. Filipp was told, “It is not fitting for a monk to think about honors and ranks or to desire them. Since you have renounced all that, focus instead on your soul and the vows you have taken.” In response, Elder Filipp began to show disobedience to the newly elected leader, calling him “pope” for allegedly usurping both spiritual and secular authority. This conflict led Semyon Denisov to write A Word of Admonition to Those Causing Discord Among the Faithful and Disturbing the Church’s Peace. The text suggests that Denisov was even willing to step down from leadership to resolve the issue.
However, the Vyg council, held on September 14, 1737, sided with Semyon Denisov and condemned Elder Filipp. “Elder Filipp renounced the spiritual leadership before the council,” after which he left the community with his supporters (up to 50 people) and founded a new monastery on the Umba River, “beyond the mosses,” 30 versts from the Nadezhdinsky Skete. Denisov, along with some brethren, visited Filipp to seek reconciliation but returned empty-handed.
Settling in the new monastery, Elder Filipp and his followers formed a separate sect, refusing to share prayer or meals with the Vyg community. Vyg historian Ivan Filippov described the life of the Filippovtsy on the Umba: “The poorest and homeless gathered around him. Those who had their own bread built small, modest huts, and he helped them. He accepted everyone who came to him, driven by his zeal for salvation. Some stayed briefly and left because life was harsh, meager, and desolate. There was no one nearby to buy from or ask for help, as there were no neighbors. Those who brought provisions from elsewhere ate what they had. Many would have stayed with him, but there was nothing to live on, and no means to establish themselves, as there was no arable land nearby. Seeing his poverty, need, and the unsuitable location, many could not endure and left to earn a living through work. Many from various sketes visited him, confessing their sins, as there was a great need for this. He strengthened some in his sect, while allowing others, at their request, to remain in communion with all, including the monastic communities. In the first year, he traveled to the sketes in winter, gathering people and attracting them to his cause. In the last two years, he stopped traveling, either for fear of persecution or to preserve his reputation, sending his followers to the sketes instead. They went secretly, taught, addressed needs, and sought support.”
Elder Filipp’s fears were not unfounded. During the reign of Empress Anna Ioannovna (1730–1740), the situation for Old Believers worsened significantly compared to previous reigns. Already heavy taxes were doubled and ruthlessly collected. This led to a mass exodus of Old Believers abroad. However, the government pursued them even there. For instance, in 1735, by Anna Ioannovna’s decree, five army regiments under Colonel Ya. G. Sytin surrounded the Vetka settlements (in Poland) and forcibly brought 14,000 people back to Russia in what became known as the “Vetka expulsion,” a major blow to one of the largest Old Believer spiritual centers. The leader of Vetka, Hieromonk Iov, was exiled to the Iversky Valdaysky Monastery, where he died. Many ancient icons and a unique collection of books from the Lavrentyev Monastery were destroyed. Now it was Vyg’s turn…
In 1739, a special investigative commission, led by Assessor O. T. Kvashnin-Samarin, was sent to Vyg. The commission was established following a denunciation by Ivan Krugly, a former Vyg resident, who accused the community of refusing to pray for the tsar and other “crimes,” fabricating numerous slanders against the monastery and its sketes. Under pressure from Samarin’s commission, the Vyg community was forced to adopt the practice of praying for the tsar, mentioning Empress Anna Ioannovna by name. Although the future Vyg leader Manuyl Petrov replaced the epithets “pious” and “orthodox” with “sovereign” in the troparion to the Cross, this was still a significant compromise. It violated one of the core tenets of the Solovetsky fathers: “Do not mention the great sovereign’s name in services or pray to God for him.” The Filippovtsy rejected this compromise, calling the Vyg community “Samarinians” (after Samarin).
It should be noted that the Filippovtsy’s (and later the Stranniki’s) refusal to pray for the tsar was not, as some researchers have claimed, an “anti-monarchist protest.” Rather, as Professor I. F. Nilsky demonstrated in the 19th century based on Stranniki texts, “the Stranniki do not recognize the existing authority not out of democratic or anarchistic tendencies, nor because they hate authority itself, but because, in their view, the tsars are impious and antichrists.” This sentiment is reflected in a kontakion, likely composed in the late 17th century, dedicated to the “New Martyrs of the Solovetsky Monastery Who Suffered for Christ” (Tone 2):
Armed with reason against the enemies, You destroyed all their snares, And, receiving victory from above, You did not obey the earthly tsar, Trampling Nikon’s evil designs underfoot. And to the Lord of all, Christ, the Son of God, you pray, Holy martyrs, all-praised, Crying out in unison: “How good and beautiful it is to be with God!”
The Filippovtsy monastery managed to remain hidden from Samarin’s commission for some time. However, in October 1742, a denunciation was received from a “Shunzhanin.” The clerk who received the denunciation demanded a five-ruble bribe through a Suzemsk intermediary to hush the matter, but Elder Filipp, informed of this, took no action. He also did not flee, despite having the opportunity. As a result, a punitive detachment was sent to the Filippovtsy skete. When soldiers began breaking down the gates, the skete’s inhabitants set fire to the prayer house where they had gathered. Elder Filipp and 72 of his followers perished in the flames, with only about 20 residents escaping the fire and falling into the hands of the commission.
So far, we have primarily followed the Pomorian version of the conflict between Elder Filipp and the Vyg community, as well as his subsequent fate. However, there exists a Filippovtsy version of these same events. We will present it here, and let the reader draw their own conclusions. The following is how this story is recounted in the Filippovtsy manuscripts:
“When the troparion was sent to the monastery to pray for the tsar, and it was ordered to pray for the ‘orthodox’ tsar, our father, the noble man (i.e., Filipp – K.K.), by God’s providence, did not bless the singing of such a troparion, as it was not in accordance with the traditions of the ancient fathers to call an impious person pious. This caused a great dispute among them during the morning service, something that had never happened before. When an elder woman at the kliros began to sing the troparion directly for the ‘pious’ tsar, our father, the pious man Filipp, forbade her to continue. The senior elder woman, named Marina, began to argue. They started this during the autumn feast of St. John the Theologian. Then Father Filipp prevented the psalmist from singing and struck her with his prayer rope. The senior woman, Prokopyevna, shouted that he, a monk, had no right to interfere, as the leaders had ordered them to sing it, though they did not. This continued until the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. And then they sang, ‘Save, O Lord,’ directly for the ‘pious’ tsar. At that moment, the noble and holy man Filipp threw the censer to the ground and cried out that the Christian faith had fallen. He ran out of the chapel, and they barely caught him in the street and dragged him to his cell. After this, Semyon Denisov, along with others, held a council and came to Elder Filipp. Semyon Denisov began to strike the holy Elder Filipp on the cheeks. Then Elder Filipp said, ‘My child, be bold as if you were crucifying Christ in me.’ He stretched out his arms, and they beat him severely. Father Terenty, who was still a layman at the time, showed great zeal for Father Filipp and asked, ‘Father, what will happen?’ Filipp replied, ‘My child, be silent. Whatever happens to me, you will be my preacher afterward.’ Then the holy Elder Filipp boldly declared, ‘Say directly what you accuse me of. I baptize and hear confessions, and I will answer for the troparion myself, apart from you.’ The one who struck Father Filipp, named Filipp Kurpakov, soon left for Leksa. As soon as he passed through the gates, his horse threw him off and dragged him almost to Sergeev Skete, leaving him barely alive. His mouth was twisted, his body broken, and for a year he could not rise from his bed, turning only when someone turned him. Thus, he ended his life miserably. Meanwhile, Father Filipp was kept in chains for three days. A merchant from Novgorod, named Moshennikov, arrived at the Leksa monastery and, learning that Filipp was shackled, shouted at Semyon Denisov, ‘Why have you chained the holy elder?’ He personally broke the chains and led Elder Filipp out of the monastery to Nadezhdinsky Skete. Father Filipp lived in a barn there for a year. The brethren began to gather around him, one by one, growing in number. They built a cell, though a bit farther away. He did not live there long before finding a place ‘beyond the mosses’ and building five cells. The brethren multiplied, constructing many cells. Then people from the monastery came to persuade Father Filipp, some with flattery, others with threats. But Father Filipp feared neither their threats nor their flattery, relying only on Holy Scripture to make his case. They came repeatedly, trying to lure him out to seize him. Some said they would kill him so that his name would no longer be mentioned or cause them shame. But by God’s judgment, such a deed was not permitted. When Father Filipp agreed to go, the brethren cried out with one voice, ‘Father, do not go, do not go!’ as if inspired by the Holy Spirit. Seeing such zeal and strength in Father Filipp, the monastery leaders, namely Manuyl Petrov, Zakhar Nefedyev Pulov, and others, conspired as if against a villain or a robber, like the Jews against Christ. On the day they made their plan, Nefedyev swelled up in a way that was unspeakable, and that same day, like a villain, he perished in bitter death. They could not even finish his funeral in the chapel because his body burst, emitting such a foul stench that it became impossible for people to remain there. Before completing the service, they carried him out to a grave, and many fled, unable to bear the stench. Yet these accursed ones were not deterred by this fear and horror. They went to Olonets of their own accord, without coercion, and took a detachment from Shunga with witnesses. They came as if to a robber or villain. Many at that time did not want to participate in such wickedness, and those who refused were beaten nearly to death, causing many to flee. They wept bitterly, lamenting that they had armed themselves against such a noble and holy elder as if he were a villain. About 70 or more people gathered in the monastery and set out. Then Manuyl Petrovich told his like-minded followers, ‘If the elder offers even a hundred or three hundred rubles, do not take it—burn them.’ A man named Vasily, from the same monastery, overheard this godless and inhumane command. Unable to bear such malicious words, he ran like a soaring eagle to Father Filipp to warn him of their sudden attack, as they had planned to prevent anyone from informing him. They came to Nadezhdinsky Skete, took fire and pitch, and set out at night. Some, reaching about a verst from Father Filipp, ordered everyone to cut stakes and commanded that anyone encountered on the road or attempting to flee be beaten to death, sparing no one. They sent one man, named Vasily, to scout what was happening. He went to Elder Filipp, prayed with him, and wept bitterly, saying, ‘Forgive me, honest father, I have sinned. I did not come to persecute you but to warn you that they have come to destroy you completely.’ Filipp replied, ‘God forgive you, my child, in this age and the next. We have long been ready for this work of God.’ Vasily went to inform his group. When he had come to Father Filipp and told him everything in detail, having been present himself, he barely escaped alive from such fear. He begged, ‘Father, bless me to drink this cup with you and not leave.’ Filipp said, ‘The Lord bless you, my child, but stay with us.’ From that moment, our noble father Filipp began gathering the brethren into the chapel, preparing himself and them for the hour of death, awaiting God’s judgment. He ordered all the doors to be locked and commanded the brothers and sisters to pray to God with tears, asking to be delivered from bitter torments, the terrible and unbearable Tartarus, outer darkness, and unquenchable fire. ‘Do not fear the turmoil and slander of hostile enemies here, for it is the devil who wages war,’ he said, citing Ephesians, chapter 5. ‘When the vile serpent reigns on earth, he gives no peace to Christ’s faithful servants, neither in the mountains nor in the depths of the earth. Do you not see, brethren, that the time of this evil serpent has come?’ He quoted St. Hippolytus: ‘When kingdom rises against kingdom, king against king, prince against prince, son against father, wife against husband, and husband against wife, then it will be an evil time.’ And John Chrysostom in The Pearl: ‘The churches of God will flee to the mountains, caves, and earthly abysses. Interpretation: The churches of God are the Christians, and then it will be the time of the Antichrist.’ ‘So, brethren, is this not exactly what has come to pass? The Lord Himself said with His most pure lips, “If anyone loses their soul for My sake and the Gospel’s, they will save it.” So, brethren, do not fear, do not fear this attack.’ At that time, our holy and pious father Filipp strengthened his brethren with divine scriptures. Then they attacked like robbers, pounding at the window. Others, without waiting for the elder’s response, began hacking at the chapel with six axes, breaking down the doors. The old women cried out, ‘Father, father, they are breaking into the chapel!’ Then Father Filipp gave his children his final blessing to make their last act. They fell silent and began their final act. Father Filipp bowed to the brethren to the ground and said, like thunder, ‘Forgive me, fathers and brethren, in this age and the next.’ The brethren cried out with one voice, ‘May the Lord God forgive you, honest father.’ They began to bid farewell one by one, saying, ‘Forgive me, honest father.’ A mournful farewell ensued. Hearing this, the soldiers asked, ‘Do they have a priest there?’ The monastery people replied, ‘There is no priest, only a simple elder.’ Then they quickly set fire. When it blazed, not a single person screamed or wailed; it was as if they had all died before the fire, falling into a light sleep. The monastery people began looting whatever they could find. Where Father Filipp stood, the window was weakly fastened with one shutter and quickly burned through. Not only did others see, but the dispatched officer also saw Father Filipp in the flames by the window, his vestments intact, standing until the ceiling collapsed. Then the officer shouted to the soldiers and peasants, ‘Touch nothing, for we have burned a holy elder, truly a holy elder, unconsumed by fire.’ Those who burned with Filipp, having bowed properly, seemed to fall asleep; not one moved a hand or foot. After Father Filipp’s burning, great fear fell upon them, as if the earth itself trembled. All marveled at this fear. Glory to our God, now and ever, and unto ages of ages, amen.”
Some of Elder Filipp’s spiritual children lived outside the skete. Fearing persecution, 49 of them gathered in one house and burned on the morning of October 24. In 1747, another of Filipp’s followers, Elder Terenty, along with 98 supporters, also burned in the presence of a military detachment. Next was Elder Matfey, who gathered dozens around him and perished in flames in 1750. A terrible wave of self-immolations swept through the Russian Empire in the mid-18th century…
It is worth reiterating that the cause of mass self-immolations among Old Believers was not a propensity for suicide or religious “fanaticism,” but the inhumane policies of the government and the dominant church toward the best sons of the Russian people, leaving them no other way out. The same must be said of the Filippovtsy sect. There is an unfair perception in the literature of the Filippovtsy’s alleged particular inclination toward self-immolation. However, as mentioned earlier, the wave of self-immolations in the mid-18th century affected adherents of nearly all Old Believer sects across Russia, while later, no cases of self-immolation were observed among the Filippovtsy. On the contrary, there is evidence that in the 1770s, when a Filippovtsy monk named Iona preached in Pomorie to “kill oneself” or “burn oneself,” he was condemned by the other Filippovtsy fathers.
In essence, the Filippovtsy are the same as the Pomortsy, considering themselves the continuators of the original Vyg Pomorian tradition, which traces back to the Solovetsky tradition. Hence their self-designation as “Christians of Old Pomorian and Solovetsky Descent.” In fundamental matters, the Filippovtsy adhered to the teachings of the Pomortsy and Fedoseevtsy but sought to follow them as strictly as possible, earning them the nickname “strong believers” or “staunch Christians” among the people. For example, unlike the Pomortsy, they did not accept the troparion for the tsar and strictly observed celibacy. Unlike the Fedoseevtsy, they abstained from communion not only with the unfaithful but also with “old-married” Old Believers, more consistently observed celibacy, and did not venerate the icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow,” asserting it was revealed after Patriarch Nikon (other Old Believers accept this icon). Another feature of the Filippovtsy was that their services strictly followed the monastic rule, with each service of the daily cycle performed at its appointed time. If the rule prescribed an “all-night vigil,” they truly prayed all night, without combining services for convenience or shortening them. The canonical norms of the Filippovtsy were outlined in the books The Hundred Articles and Christian Life. New members from the Fedoseevtsy were accepted after a six-week fast, from married Pomortsy after a twelve-week fast, and others were rebaptized.
In fairness, it should be noted that the innovations against which the Filippovtsy rebelled at Vyg were not introduced in all Pomorian communities. Praying for the tsar was primarily adopted at Vyg and in registered urban communities, while in villages, where government control was weaker, mentors continued to pray without mentioning the tsar in the troparion. The issue of marriage was also not uniformly resolved. Alongside married Pomortsy, there were always celibate ones.
Over time, Filippovtsy teachings spread widely in the villages of northern provinces: in Upper Podvinye, Solvychegodsk and Veliky Ustyug districts, on the Kokshenga and Vaga rivers, in Totemsky district and other places in Vologda province, on the Upper Volga in Kimry, Uglich, Rostov Veliky, Rybinsk, Yaroslavl, and surrounding villages, as well as in Kostroma province. In Uglich, a Filippovtsy monastery was even established, which was destroyed by authorities in the mid-19th century. One of the significant centers of the Filippovtsy sect to this day remains the town of Kimry in Tver province. Filippovtsy began to appear in more distant regions of Russia—Middle Volga, Uren (Nizhny Novgorod province), Nolinsk and Glazov districts of Vyatka province, and South Vyatka. Filippovtsy communities emerged in major cities—Moscow, St. Petersburg, Odessa—and abroad in Poland and Romania.
In the 1760s, a significant portion of Moscow’s Pomortsy adopted Filippovtsy teachings, and in the 1780s, emigrants from Kimry founded the main spiritual center of the Filippovtsy in Moscow—the Bratsky Dvor (Brotherly Court), comparable in significance to the Preobrazhensky and Rogozhsky cemeteries.
The Bratsky Dvor was located in Durnoy Lane (now Tovarishchesky Lane), within the premises of house No. 6. In 1789, with funds from Tver merchant T. I. Dolin, a wooden prayer house was built there in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Transfiguration of the Lord, St. Nicholas, and the Solovetsky wonderworkers Zosima and Savvaty. Two stone residential wings with an almshouse faced the lane and survive today in altered form. In the garden, within the courtyard, was the prayer house, unrecorded on Moscow’s plans. The Bratsky Dvor housed icon-painting and copper-casting workshops, established by the community’s first mentor, Alexey Yakovlev (known as Balchuzhny, real surname Smirnov; died 1815). The second mentor was Peter Ivanov. As the head of the Bratsky Dvor, Alexey Yakovlev sought to unite all Filippovtsy communities in Russia at the time and establish a single spiritual center in Moscow. He left behind numerous writings addressing both the internal life of the Filippovtsy and their relations with other Old Believer sects, the official church, and the state.
By the end of the 18th century, the Moscow Filippovtsy community numbered up to 300 people. During Napoleon’s occupation of Moscow in 1812, the Bratsky Dvor burned down, so after the city’s liberation, a new stone prayer house was built. Surrounding houses were purchased by Filippovtsy merchants, forming a labyrinth of courtyards that allowed sect members to evade police. After the 1905 Edict of Religious Tolerance, a bell tower was added to the sunken prayer house.
People came from afar to pray at the Bratsky Dvor, staying in the almshouse buildings for months, where they were fed for free. From around 1885, the Bratsky Dvor was led by the nun Paraskoviya, who worked tirelessly to preserve this spiritual center. Until 1917, the Bratsky Dvor, like most Old Believer churches and monasteries, was considered private property, passed from one trusted person to another. After the death of Paraskoviya’s brother, K. A. Belikov, the nominal owner of the Bratsky Dvor, the property was divided among five heirs. Paraskoviya’s mother received only one-fifth. Of the other heirs, only F. N. Kalmykov proved to be an honest man. The rest of the inheritance had to be bought out or contested, requiring significant effort and resources. After Paraskoviya’s death, the Bratsky Dvor passed to the monk Vitaly, the nun Fekla, and a certain Chibisov. Notably, since the Bratsky Dvor had no cemetery, Filippovtsy preferred to bury their dead at Rogozhsky rather than Preobrazhensky Cemetery.
Somewhat later than the Moscow Bratsky Dvor, a Filippovtsy prayer house was established on Bolotnaya Street (founded in the 18th century) and a women’s skete beyond the Moscow Gate in St. Petersburg. Due to the proximity of the Vyg Monastery to the northern capital, Old Believers appeared in St. Petersburg early on. From the city’s founding, Peter I, needing skilled craftsmen, resettled them from various regions, primarily to Okhta and the Rybatskoye village area. Carpenters, especially from Olonets and Arkhangelsk—all Old Believers—were particularly needed. During Catherine II’s reign, a Vyg Monastery metochion was established on Mokhovaya Street (1768), and Pomorian and Fedoseevtsy prayer houses were built at Malookhtinsky (1760) and Volkov (1777) cemeteries, later becoming centers for their respective sects in the Northwest. In the early 19th century, the Filippovtsy established a prayer house for 150 people in a room of merchant Dmitriev’s house at 12 Kolomenskaya Street, consecrated in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. The renowned icon painter N. S. Racheyskov lived at this prayer house, and conversations with him inspired writer N. S. Leskov to create the story The Sealed Angel. In 1911–1913, the house’s wing was rebuilt for the prayer house and clergy apartments by architect F. F. Lumberg. Named after one of its later owners, Pavlin Ivanovich Kirzhakov, the prayer house became known as Kirzhakovskaya.
The persecutions of the 20th century were the most severe test for Old Belief. The 20th century succeeded in what three centuries of persecution and inquisition could not—many Old Believers abandoned their fathers’ faith. A primary reason was the destruction of entire social strata that formed the backbone of Old Belief: merchants, industrialists, artisans, small entrepreneurs, cooperators, prosperous peasants, and Cossacks. The tsarist regime, while persecuting Old Believers for their convictions, did not aim to destroy their way of life or social structure, which were the “core” of Old Believer religious life. Thus, Old Believers “relatively easily endured discrimination and open persecution. However, the complete destruction of their way of life and social ties in Soviet Russia had a tragic impact on Old Belief.”
All Old Believer sects suffered from 20th-century persecutions, but the Filippovtsy were among the hardest hit, as they lacked a unified spiritual center, relying instead on the authority of individual mentors. In the 1930s, the Filippovtsy of the Northern Dvina were struck, and their spiritual tradition there was completely severed; “only dilapidated huts along the Dvina banks still recall the former glory of the Filippovtsy sketes.” In Kimry, while Filippovtsy still exist today, they are far less numerous than before.
In Moscow, the Bratsky Dvor was devastated after the revolution. In 1926, its bell tower was demolished, and on May 7, 1933, the city executive committee decided to close the Filippovtsy prayer house. On July 5, 1933, the Moscow Regional Executive Committee upheld this decision, citing the prayer house’s “complete dilapidation due to lack of necessary repairs and the small number of believers.” Despite all complaints from the Filippovtsy, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee confirmed the city authorities’ decision on September 10, 1933, and the temple was liquidated. The prayer house building was demolished in 1982, and a city park now stands in its place.
After the Bratsky Dvor was destroyed, Moscow Filippovtsy gathered for a time at Rogozhsky Cemetery until they received the former Fedoseevtsy Nikolskaya Chapel at Preobrazhensky Cemetery near I. A. Kovylin’s grave in 1940. The Moscow Filippovtsy community existed until the early 1990s, ceasing with the death of its elders, and the chapel was returned to the Fedoseevtsy. The younger members, led by their mentor, relocated to the Arkhangelsk region, where they reestablished a community near Kargopol. In St. Petersburg, the Kirzhakovskaya prayer house community was officially registered in 1919 but was ordered closed in May 1935. In May 1946, the building was partially returned to Old Believers, with all non-priest Old Believers in Leningrad—Pomortsy, Fedoseevtsy, and Filippovtsy—praying there, as the authorities preferred not to allocate separate spaces for different non-priest communities, making control easier. Thanks to the wise leadership of Father Ambrosy Ioakimovich Tolstov, all non-priest Old Believers in the northern capital united into one Ancient Orthodox Pomorian Church. However, during Khrushchev’s persecutions, the Kolomenskaya prayer house was closed again, and the community was relocated to Rybatskoye (1961), which later became one of the country’s largest non-priest centers. Only in 1994 was the Kolomenskaya building returned to the Pomorian Old Believers, and church life resumed within its walls.
The Filippovtsy of Vyatka also could not recover from the blows of 20th-century persecutions. Many spiritual fathers were dispossessed and repressed, prayer houses were destroyed, and ancient books and icons were confiscated or destroyed. A modern historian of the Filippovtsy sect writes: “The current state of Filippovtsy communities in Vyatka (as in almost any rural non-priest community) is difficult to assess definitively… It is hard to say whether continuity or a gradual (albeit slow) decline of the Old Believer tradition prevails.”
Despite new laws on religion in modern Russia that seem to guarantee Old Believers their rights and freedom to follow their ancestors’ traditions; despite the restoration and construction of churches, the opening of Sunday schools, the publication of church literature, and the revival of parishes; despite the opportunity for Old Believers to restore, strengthen, and glorify “ancient piety,” history itself prompts a question: for how long? Especially since today’s challenge—global mass culture, which is not merely “post-Christian” but outright anti-Christian—poses no less (and perhaps greater) danger to the old faith than open persecution. Yet, as the saying goes, they are accustomed to it, and this is the subject of our final story.
K. Kozhurin From the book Spiritual Teachers of Hidden Russia