January 31, 7534
On February 8, 2025, the 300th anniversary of the death of the Russian Emperor Peter the First was commemorated. At his tomb, Metropolitan Barsanuphius of St. Petersburg and Ladoga of the Russian Orthodox Church officiated a memorial litany. The service was attended by the Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov, Chairman of the Gazprom Board…
-by N.A. Prozorov. INTRODUCTION Before proceeding to the study of the history of Old Belief, it is necessary to say a few words about what Old Belief actually is. Having accepted the Christian Orthodox faith from the Greeks in 988 under Prince Vladimir the Saint, the Russians faithfully and inviolably preserved it until the 17th…
K. Kozhurin. (On the 350th anniversary of its beginning) In 1668, the siege of the principal holy shrine of the Russian North—the Solovetsky Monastery—began by tsarist troops. From the very start of Patriarch Nikon’s reforms, the monastery had become one of the chief strongholds of the old faith. “The Solovetsky Monastery was the fourth most…
-K. KOZHURIN, Candidate of Philosophical Sciences (Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia) As has already been noted by a number of researchers, the “zealots of piety” of the mid-17th century and their followers—the Old Believers—in their historiosophical views relied on written monuments of South- and West-Russian origin. Over time these texts acquired unconditional authority, and…
On the 2nd day of November. A brief account of the valor, courage, elegant testimony, and patient suffering of the newly-revealed great martyr, the noblewoman Feodosiya Prokopievna, who in monasticism was named Feodora, and by her earthly fame called Morozova; together with her only sister and fellow-sufferer, the pious princess Evdokia, and their third companion…
Dimitry Urushev Bishop Pavel of Kolomna is one of the most significant figures in Russian spiritual history of the 17th century. Alas, he was not fortunate. His name failed to attract the attention of scholars. He remained in the shadow of his more famous contemporaries—Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Patriarch Nikon, and Archpriest Avvakum. Pavel and Nikon…
In the wild, desolate Dauria, A voivode’s detachment marches on. In that troop, with a dignified stride, A great sufferer trudges along. His wife and young children Bear the exile with him. For his righteous preaching in the world, A cruel judgment has been passed. – Old Believer spiritual verse “Avvakum in Exile” In the…
A Word on the Old Faith “If I lived in Russia, I would be an Old Believer” [Djordje Trifunović] [From a publication in the newspaper Old Believer, No. 76, October–December 2019]: In September 2019, we had the opportunity to visit Serbia on business. We were invited to speak at the Department of Old Slavic Literatures…
-Dimitry Urushev In rare books on 18th-century Russian literature, one seldom encounters the name of Simeon Denisov. Among the “enlightened men” like the poets Kantemir, Sumarokov, or Kheraskov, who sang in a European style of “the heart’s bitter sorrows,” there is little room for a northern hermit who, in an ancient style, recounted not “the…
-K. Kozhurin As it has always been within the Orthodox Church, there have been sacred persons, permitted by the authorities at certain times and under specific circumstances, including from among ordinary, unordained individuals, particularly in monastic settings, even when sacred persons faced ultimate destruction. For when sacred persons are present, they strictly prohibit ordinary people…