Preface #
A profoundly sorrowful event transpired within the Church of Christ from 1653 to 1667. During this period, a great schism occurred in the Russian Orthodox Church, which split into two opposing and hostile factions. Until this time, almost the entire Russian nation upheld the same Orthodox faith, the same church traditions, the same rites, statutes, books, and Christian customs, thereby dwelling in the one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Christ.
However, at the mentioned time, a small but influential faction of Russian people, esteemed in rank and outward authority, came to believe that our Russian Orthodox Church was not entirely Orthodox, that it required correction in many aspects, and that salvation could not be attained within it otherwise. The leader and head of this faction was Nikon of Mordovia, then the Patriarch of Moscow.
The other part—or rather, almost the entirety of the Russian Orthodox Church—considered itself fully Orthodox and its faith entirely correct, recognizing as unnecessary any alterations or so-called corrections, which distorted these sacred matters of faith and morality and led to destruction.
But Nikon, undeterred, altered many sacred customs and books, introducing his various innovations under the guise of corrections. Some Christians accepted his supposed corrections and new rituals, thus gaining the name “New Ritualists,” though they proudly call themselves Orthodox. The majority, however, rejected Nikon’s innovations, continuing to hold to the old faith, customs, and church rites as before, and are therefore called “Old Ritualists” or “Old Believers.” Thus arose the division of the Russian Orthodox Church into Old Ritualists and New Ritualists.
It is not appropriate here to expound greatly on this sorrowful division, as a preface is usually intended merely to acquaint the reader briefly with the subjects or circumstances discussed in the work itself. Since this work addresses the question of the absence of bishops for a time in the Old Believer Church, it is necessary, however briefly, to acquaint the reader with this occurrence and its causes.
This situation arose because the bishops under Nikon adopted his innovations and errors in place of the ancient holy church traditions, such as the three-finger sign of the cross and the nominal finger arrangement, replacing the ancient two-finger sign; the triple “Alleluia” instead of the double; the name Jesus as “Иисус” (Iisus) instead of “Исус” (Isus); and generally, the so-called “newly corrected books” in place of those previously used in the Russian Orthodox Church, along with many others. Declaring these innovations as unalterable, unquestionable, and binding dogmas of faith at the councils of 1656-67, Nikon, along with his associates, adherents, and followers, established them with harmful and reckless curses for eternal affirmation and perpetual remembrance.
Regrettably, all the then-serving bishops sided with these anathematizers; incidentally, there were very few bishops at that time, so much so that at the great council of 1666-7, there were only twenty-nine bishops in total. However, prior to this, one bishop, namely Pavel of Kolomna, refused to accept Nikon’s innovations. For this, Nikon beat him nearly to death and sent him into exile, where he died as a martyr. Following the aforementioned council, when the Russian Church was irrevocably divided into Old and New Ritualists, no bishop remained in the Old Believer Church who was faithful to it. Yet, as historical records attest, the Old Believers were initially not lacking in priests; at the very onset of the schism, there was a sufficient number of the white clergy (secular clergy) who deviated into schism (that is, into the Old Belief). At the outset of the church discord, the highest white clergy of the Moscow Kremlin stood at the head of Nikon’s opponents. In the cities, the highest white clergy also led the schism. Among the earliest leaders of the schism were protopopes (senior priests) and priests: Nikita in Suzdal, Avvakum in Yuryevets, Lazar in Romanov, Daniil in Kostroma, Loggin in Murom, Nikifor in Simbirsk, Andrei in Kolomna, Serapion in Smolensk, Varlaam in Pskov, and others (Historical Sketches of the Popovtsy by Melnikov, pp. 5, 13, 29). Many priests who refused to accept Nikon’s dogmas were exiled, imprisoned, and chained, while others were burned alive, such as the protopopes Avvakum, Lazar, and many others.
However, a considerable number of priests, along with laypeople, escaped persecution by fleeing abroad, primarily to Poland, Turkey, Austria, and Romania, where they established settlements and monasteries and performed sacraments, services, and other religious duties for Christians. These priests were known as “of the old ordination,” as they had been ordained by bishops who adhered to the old faith. While these priests were alive, nearly all Old Believers were in perfect unity among themselves: they all received the sacraments and services from them. Thus, after the bishops had deviated into error, all Old Believers were initially what we now call “Popovtsy” (those with priests). Later, as the priests of the old ordination began to die out over time, with no one to ordain new ones, the Old Believer Church, guided by the rules and practice of the ancient Church, began to accept priests who renounced Nikonian errors, which were considered heresies of the second rank, under the anointing of holy chrism, as required by the church’s holy canons (Kormchaia, ch. 5, p. 35).
Yet, some Old Believers, partly due to excessive strictness toward heretics and partly in expectation of the imminent end of the world, being misled by false speculation on the coming and reign of the final Antichrist, did not follow the holy church’s rules on receiving clergy from heresy in their rank. They asserted that priests were supposedly unnecessary in the Church. Separating themselves from the Old Believer Church, these people formed a distinct community, known as “Bespopovtsy” (those without priests). Subsequently dividing further among themselves, they devised and adhered to the most crude and absurd errors, such as the beliefs that all heretics and schismatics must be rebaptized, that Antichrist already reigns in the person of the ruling Church’s representatives, that the sacraments are unnecessary, that each person may baptize himself, that lawful marriage is a sin, and more. They walked down these false and destructive paths, disregarding the Word of God.
Meanwhile, the Old Believer Church continued along the direct royal path, neither veering to the right nor the left. Adhering to all the holy ecumenical rules and the practices of the ancient Church, it accepted priests who joined from heresy of the second rank in their orders. In this way, it not only upheld the Orthodox faith but also remained steadfast in its hierarchy and sacraments.
Geographically, it occupied the following areas: on the Kerzhenets, in the provinces of Ryazan and Moscow, on the Irgiz, in Siberia, on the Don, in the Starodub settlements, in Poland, on the Vetka, in Turkey, and elsewhere. In many places, the Old Believers openly maintained churches, priests, and monasteries, especially where they enjoyed some freedom, such as in Starodub, the Caucasus, and particularly in Poland and Turkey.
Having an ample number of Orthodox priests, the Old Believers always desired and strove to have Orthodox bishops as well. Initially, after the council of 1667, many of them believed that somewhere there must be bishops who shared their faith. But when they realized there were none, they began to take all lawful measures to acquire Orthodox bishops based on the teachings of the holy fathers.
As early as 1715, the Old Believers decided at one of their assemblies to acquire a bishop based on the 8th canon of the First Ecumenical Council (Historical Sketches of the Popovtsy by Melnikov), and from that time on, their efforts toward this goal were unceasing until they achieved complete success in 1846, when Metropolitan Ambrose joined them.
However, even before this time, the Old Believers occasionally managed to fulfill their desire for bishops. Thus, in 1734, they received Bishop Epiphanius at Vetka; but for this, they paid a heavy price. The following year, at the insistence of the synod, the Russian government dispatched a large military force to Vetka. The force’s commander, Colonel Sytin, arrived there, arrested Bishop Epiphanius, and sent him to the fortress of Kiev for imprisonment. Sytin devastated Vetka and its surrounding settlements, dispersing the inhabitants and sending them to various locations. This is known in history as the “first Vetka expulsion.”
Yet the Old Believers did not cease their efforts to have a bishop even after this. The fervency of their desire is evident from the fact that some of them, in the 1750s, accepted even an impostor as a genuine bishop, albeit unknowingly. This was someone named Amphilogen, a hieromonk or hierodeacon from the New Ritualist Church. When it became known that he was an impostor, the Old Believers drove him away. Then, in 1753, they received Bishop Anthimus, consecrated to this rank by Metropolitan Daniel. Following him came Bishop Theodosius, consecrated by Bishop Gideon of Crimea; and according to some reports, there was also Bishop Raphael, consecrated by Patriarch Daniel, but he died on his journey, never reaching Russian lands.
For more details on these bishops, one may read Mr. Melnikov’s Historical Sketches of the Popovtsy and Mr. Subbotin’s History of the Belokrinitsa Hierarchy, from which we draw our information about them, although these histories cannot be called impartial.
As mentioned earlier, the Old Believer Church always had a sufficient number of priests, for, upon the division of the Russian Church, almost all priests belonging to the dominant Church sympathized with the Old Believers. Even a hundred years after the division, when the clergy began to cool in their faith under the influence of various seminaries and academies, the Old Believers alone from the Irgiz had up to two hundred priests in various locations. In 1827, at the Rogozhskoye Cemetery alone, there were nine permitted priests and three deacons (Schism by Andreev, p. 212).
However, from this year forward, Old Believers were strictly forbidden to receive priests joining them. If the government discovered any such priests, they were immediately sent to a fortress without any trial. In short, it was decided to eliminate the priesthood among the Old Believers. In response, following the example of previous years and based on the 69th and 70th canons of the Council of Carthage, they resolved to bring the lost bishops back to Orthodoxy. And—what a wondrous turn of events!—just when their enemies seemed to be celebrating a complete victory, when only three or four elderly priests remained among the Old Believers, a metropolitan named Ambrose joined them. This occurred in 1846 at the Belokrinitsa Monastery in Austria. Upon joining, Metropolitan Ambrose consecrated Bishops Kyrill and Arkadiy, along with many priests and deacons. Since that time, the Church of Christ has again had Orthodox bishops and continues to have them to this day, just as it did before they departed under Nikon’s influence. The appearance and establishment of the Old Believer hierarchy was such a powerful and shocking blow to the New Ritualist Church that it has still not recovered. At its urging, the Austrian Emperor closed the Belokrinitsa Monastery, scattered its inhabitants, and exiled Metropolitan Ambrose, who, after sixteen years of suffering, passed away in the Lord. As if in punishment for this injustice, a revolution soon erupted in Austria—a terrifying revolt of a kind rarely seen before—and the Austrian Emperor was stripped of his former power.
In Russia, the New Ritualists continued to persecute and plunder the Old Believers, but with particular fury after the establishment of the Belokrinitsa hierarchy. Nearly all Old Believer monasteries, churches, and prayer houses, along with all their property, were confiscated to the benefit of their church, which thus acquired several tens of millions of rubles and became enriched. But soon these millions had to be paid to the lowest and most corrupt individuals among the Old Believers who had defected to it. These people are called by a name that sounds strange to Russian and Orthodox ears—missionaries. Their duty is to revile the Old Believer Church and hierarchy and thereby deter people from joining it, which they sometimes manage to do, though rarely.
Finding absolutely no doctrinal errors in the Old Believer Church of Christ, these missionaries mostly fault it for the fact that, from 1666 to 1846—one hundred and eighty years—it had no bishop. However, this situation is by no means a fault nor an accusation against it, because it was not the case that the Church was without bishops solely because they had deviated into error and remained in it. Yet the missionaries sometimes lead simple, uneducated people astray with this claim, people who cannot distinguish truth from falsehood, Orthodoxy from heresy. For those who are zealous in faith, however, they only inspire a greater desire to study holy church teachings, to clarify the truth, and to defend the Church of Christ.
This motivated us to write this work on the question of the absence of bishops in the Old Believer Church of Christ for a time, due to their (the New Ritualists) remaining in error.
The present work, presented in dialogue form for clarity, is nothing more than a compilation of numerous conversations the author held with various people, primarily with missionaries.