By Roman Atorin The origins of the Christian faith in Rus’ should be sought long before the enlightening mission of the holy equal-to-the-apostles Prince Vladimir. Christian tradition holds that the very hills upon which the magnificent city of Kiev would later rise were visited by the holy apostle Andrew the First-Called when he preached the…
In recent decades, the meaning of the term “Old Believers” (староверы) has undergone a significant transformation in the public consciousness. Whereas just a few decades ago, society had a clear understanding that Old Believers were Old Ritualists (старообрядцы)—representatives of the most ancient and orthodox form of Christianity in Russia—today, this term is increasingly being adopted by neo-pagans to describe their own…
By the 17th century, messianism had fully taken shape as a fundamental part of the Russian mentality, crystallized through the terror of Ivan the Terrible and the Time of Troubles that inevitably followed. The sense of a providential mission before the whole world shaped key features of the Russian national character, including (1) isolation from…
Why did God allow the trials of the 20th century to befall the Orthodox state (godless rule, execution of clergy, destruction of churches)? For what sins? What needed to be corrected? “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.”(Hebrews 12:6) When we are ill, we go to a doctor…
A certain Old Believer clergyman — a somewhat well-known one — once surprised me in conversation by referring to a “holy lestovka.” But we, as Christians, understand holiness to belong first and foremost to God. It is proper and fitting to speak of the Holy Church, the Holy Gospel, the Holy Temple, and the Holy…
By F.E. Melnikov Old Belief is generally understood to mean that Russian religious movement which unites millions of people, commonly called Old Believers. But such a definition clarifies nothing of substance, for the very nature of this “ecclesiastical movement” remains unexplained. The vast literature on Old Belief contains a wide variety of definitions. According to…
Viktor Bochenkov Almost everyone has at least heard something about Old Belief. But what exactly is it? It’s no secret that the old label “schismatics” is still in common use. For a long time, these words were nearly synonymous. Even today, the terms “schism” and “schismatic” appear frequently, including in scholarly articles, despite being ideological…
The Holy Catholic, and Apostolic Christian Church appeared on earth in the first century A.D. in Palestine, which was then part of the Roman Empire. After His Resurrection, the Lord Jesus Christ informed His disciples of His imminent Ascension, commanded them not to despair but to wait and pray, and promised to send them the…
The development of church theology in ancient Russia still awaits its historian. Despite the extensive research devoted to contemporary events in church and civil history, the evolution of Christian legal and moral concepts within our own land remains poorly studied. The flourishing of Christianity in Russia long before St. Vladimir is clearly attested by Blessed…
It is impossible to be saved outside the Church (naturally, we mean the Orthodox and true Church). This truth is so firmly rooted in the Old Believer consciousness that we need not prove its validity. The “patristic” testimonies concerning the essential truth of the Church for salvation are known to all of us. Therefore, in…