On March 3, the website Russkaya Vera published a report by the Old Believer historian Yuri Isaev titled Old Belief and the Traditions of Popular Rule. In it, the author analyzes the history of the Old Believer movement and highlights its distinctive populist, grassroots traditions. Isaev argues that the Old Believer protest, in addition to…
By Yury IsaevHistorian of Old Belief in the Moscow Region On January 31, 2020, a roundtable was held in Moscow titled “Constitutional Reform in the Russian Federation,” in which representatives of the Old Believer community participated—historians, legal scholars, and experts. The occasion for the roundtable was the constitutional reform underway in the Russian Federation. At…
A Study Guide Priest Ioann Kurbatsky. Kaluga, 2022 Foreword You are holding a study guide designed for Sunday school classes with teenagers aged 13–14 and older. It is no secret that after the age of twelve, children often stop going to church, lose interest in worship, and in matters of faith altogether. And while in…
Educational Department of the Moscow Metropolia of the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church Introduction Dear fathers and mothers, and dear children! We would like to draw your attention to the fact that this little book, in addition to the Holy Gospel—retold in simple and understandable language for children—also includes explanations from the Holy Fathers, which we…
The Old Testament The Creation of the Invisible World Before the creation of the world, the Lord created angels, that is, bodiless spirits, who fulfill God’s will and announce this will to people. When appearing to people, the holy angels take on a visible form, for example, in the appearance of young men, to show…
ON THE WORLD Everything in this world has a creator. A book was written by an author, then prepared and printed in a publishing house. A pencil was made in a factory designed for pencil production. The plan of a church was designed by an architect, and then builders raised the walls — and thus…
In Christ’s Church, saints are always present in every generation of Christians. Propagandists from among the New Rite often accuse the Old Rite Orthodox Church of lacking saints after the Schism. This is a profound misconception. Some of the more honest historians of the New Rite Church acknowledge that the number of canonized saints within…
According to ancient pious customs, children in Old Believer families were taught to fast from the age of two or three. Today, the more common practice is to begin fasting labors upon emerging from infancy, around six or seven years of age. It is at about this age that a child begins to understand the…
How can a child be prepared for confession? To answer this question, we have gathered advice from several priests:
Excerpt from the book: V.P. Ryabushinsky – Old Belief and the Russian Religious Consciousness Around the middle of the 17th century, an event of tremendous significance took place in the history of Russian culture: the Russian Church was torn by a schism. This division, for many, even to this day, seems to have arisen from…