Are there saints among the Old Believers after the Schism?

Are there saints among the Old Believers after the Schism? #

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 the New Rite Church sharply declined following the Schism. For instance, G.P. Fedotov, in his book Saints of Ancient Rus, wrote:

“The primary path of Moscow piety directly led to the Old Belief… With the Schism, a significant, though narrow, religious strength departed from the Russian Church.”

He further speaks of “the deadening of Russian [New Rite] life, whose soul has departed." By “departed soul,” he refers to holy people. Thus, according to G.P. Fedotov, “for the past centuries of the Russian [New Rite] Church, one can study the history of spiritual life and the history of righteousness, but not yet the history of sanctity.”

During the period of New Rite dominance after the Schism, about which Fedotov states there was “zero sanctity in the last quarter of the 17th century," the Old Rite Orthodox Church saw a shining host of martyrs, confessors, ascetics, and righteous ones. These include not only the fiery Archpriest Avvakum, burned at the stake for his faith, and the noblewoman Feodosia Morozova (Nun Feodora, venerable martyr), starved to death in an underground prison, but also many others. Saints have continued to arise in the Church throughout subsequent centuries, though sadly, many remain unknown to most.

Here is a list of just some of the Old Believer saints after the Schism:

  • Hieromartyr Pavel, Bishop of Kolomna and Kashira (+1656).

  • Hieromartyr Daniil, Protopriest of Kostroma (+c. 1653).

  • Venerable Leonid of Ustneduma (+1654).

  • Venerable Bogolep, youth of Chernoyar (+1654).

  • Confessor Loggin, Protopriest of Murom (+1654).

  • Venerable Eleazar of Anzersk (+1656).

  • Venerable Ilya, first Archimandrite of Solovki (+1659).

  • Venerable Eufrosin of Kurzhensk (+early 1660s).

  • Venerable Spiridon Potyomkin (+1665).

  • Martyrs Feodor, fool-for-Christ, and Luka, wonderworkers of Mezen (+1670).

  • Venerable Martyr Avraamy (in the world, Afanasy), fool-for-Christ (+1672).

  • Martyr Kiprian Nagoi, fool-for-Christ (+1675).

  • Venerable Martyr Iustina (+1675).

  • Martyrs Princess Evdokia Urusova and Maria (+1675).

  • Martyr Isaiah of Moscow (+before 1676).

  • Venerable Martyr Feodor the Singer, of Moscow (+before 1676).

  • Venerable Martyrs Nikanor Archimandrite and Monk Makary, Martyr Samuil Sotnik, and 400 monks and lay brothers martyred in the Solovki Monastery (+1676).

  • Venerable Arseny of Kerzhensk (+no earlier than 1676).

  • Martyr Ioann Ulyanin (+1679).

  • Martyrs of Kargopol: Andrei and his daughter Glykerya, Nikita and his wife Neonila, Ioann, and Afanasy (+1679).

  • Venerable Martyr Eleazar of Olonets (+1679).

  • Olonets Martyrs Alexander Guttoev, Gavriil Korelyanin, and Mark Olonchanin (+1679).

  • Martyrs Ierofei, Evdokia, and Natalia of Olonets (+1679).

  • Martyr Grigory, farmer of Olonets (+1679).

  • Venerable Iov of Lgov, new wonderworker (+1681).

  • Hieromartyr Protopriest Nikita Dobrynin (+1682).

  • Hieromartyr Lazar, priest of Romanov (+1682).

  • Martyr Deacon Feodor (+1682).

  • Venerable Martyr Epiphany of Solovki (+1682).

  • 14 Martyrs of Novgorod: Nobleman Dmitry Khvostov with his sisters Matrona and Paraskovia, their two handmaids, Vasily, Tit, and others (+late 17th century).

  • Martyr Sampson, son of a Novgorod priest (+late 17th century).

  • Venerable Martyr Ioasaf of Kirilov (+late 17th century).

  • Martyrs Evdokim and Grigory of Charonda (+late 17th century).

  • Venerable Isidor of Kerzhensk (+after 1670).

  • Hieromartyr Simeon of Tobolsk, priest (+late 17th century).

  • Venerable Dosifey, Abbot of Chirsk (+c. 1690).

  • Venerable Kirill of Sunaretsk (+1690).

  • Venerable Korniliy and Vitaliy of Vyg (+early 1690s).

  • Martyr Feodor Tokmachev (+1694).

  • Venerable Ioasaf of Vetka (+1695).

  • Venerable Dalmat, Hermit of Isetsk (+1697).

  • Venerable Sofoniya of Kerzhensk (+c. 1700).

  • Venerable Feodosiy of Vetka (+1710–1711).

  • Venerable Martyr Deacon Alexander of Kerzhensk (+1720).

  • Venerable Iov of Tagil (+1741).

  • Venerable Iakov of Tagil (+after 1742).

  • Venerable Lavrenty of Vetka, founder of the Starodub Michael Archangel Monastery (+1776).

  • Venerable Maksim of Tagil (+1783).

  • Venerable Isaakiy and Ioasaf of Irgiz (+late 18th century).

  • Venerable Iona of Kerzhensk (+c. 1819).

  • Venerable Pavel and Alimpiy of Belaya Krinitsa (+1854, late 19th century).

  • Venerable Martyrs Arkady and Konstantin, wonderworkers of Shamara (+1857).

  • Confessor Ambrosiy, Metropolitan of Belaya Krinitsa (+1863).

This is far from a complete list of God’s saints who shone forth in the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church after the Nikonian Schism.

For those wishing to learn more about the lives of some of these saints, I recommend my book This Generation Shall Not Pass, published in Moscow in 2022. A download link is available here.

— Archpriest Vadim Korovin