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Whoever put the comparison to Oriental Orthodox Churches knows next to nothing about them. Some of the things applied to certain OO churches but none of them were accurate for all of them, and some were just flat out wrong across the board.
== Revision of the Church Books ==
In 1551, the [[Stoglavy Sobor|Moscow Stoglav Church Council]] declared in favour of revision. The council's purpose was to regulate the church's relationship to the state, reform its internal life, strengthen the authority of the bishops, and eradicate non-Christian folk customs from among the populace. It would not introduce anything new but would purify the Russian church of irregularities. The council called for many irregularities in church life to be corrected. Among other things, drunkenness among the clergy was to be eradicated, parish priests were to be better educated, and priests and laity alike were to be protected against rapacious episcopal tax collectors. "Pagan" and foreign practices popular among the laity were prohibited, such as minstrels playing at weddings and the shaving of beards. [[Philaret (Romanov) of Moscow|Patriarch Philaret (Romanov) of Moscow]], during the reign of his son Tsar Michael, took part in abortive attempts to reform the church books; and under Tsar Alexis, the second of the Romanovs, in 1654, a council of thirty-six bishops assembled at Moscow, over which the Pat. Nikon presided, and earnestly recommended the long-contemplated project to the attention of the Tsar. Macarius, the Patriarch of Antioch, with his archdeacon, [[Paul of Aleppo]], and the head of the Serbian church, were present upon this occasion. At length, under the auspices of the [[Moscow Sobor of 1666–1667|Moscow Sobor]] of 1667, attended by the Patriarch of Alexandria and the Patriarch of Antioch, with delegates from both the Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Patriarch of Constantinople, the revision of the liturgical books of the Slavonic church was effected; and the revised texts were formally declared to be the only true, lawful, and authorised copies. Alexis in person presided over this conclave. By its voice the ambitious and turbulent Patriarch Nikon was deposed from the Russian patriarchate and the canon against shaving was repealed.
The effect of the above salutary measure in the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], and that of the nearly contemporaneous [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_Uniformity_1558 Act of Uniformity in the Anglican Church], was in some degree similar. Dissent arose on an extensive scale, and persecution was vigorously applied to reclaim or crush the nonconformists.
Internal dissensions troubled the Russo-Greek communion at an early period, leading to separation Russian Orthodoxy from the Greek. The earliest controversies referred to trifling or ridiculous points of difference, yet were none the less furious on account of the causes being trivial. There was warm contention whether the hallelujah should be repeated two or three times at the end of the psalms, and whether the [[sign of the cross]] should be made with three fingers, symbolising the Trinity, according to the [[Byzantine Rite]], or with two fingers, in allusion to the two natures in the person of [[Jesus Christ|Christ]], as prescribed by the [[Armenian Rite]]. But in 1375, Karp Strigolnik, a citizen of [[Novgorod]], touched upon topics of greater moment. Accusing the [[clergy]] of simony and abuse of the rite of confession, he raised a violent outcry against them, and proclaimed doctrines in which the fanatical blended with the sober.
A new phenomenon in Orthodoxy was the appearance of a printed bible in 1581. The so-called Ostrog Bible became the first printed bible in the entire orthodox eastern world. A Greek printed Bible appeared only in 1821, was even then it was printed in Moscow. The first-printed bible was created because of the efforts of pious prince Constantine Ostrozhskiy, who was patron of the printing affair of Ivan Fedorov. The composition of the [[Ostrog Bible]] used a huge amount of resources brought from Russia, Greece and other countries. The text of this Bible was a close as possible to the original Greek, and the division into chapters of the Old Testament corresponded to ancient Jewish models.
== Sobornost ==
The history of the long and pious life of Russian church gave to the entire Christian world an example of many ascetics of God. The need for their canonization, the establishment of special holidays and days of remembrance led to the convocation of a special sobor. Under the chairmanship of St. Macarius at the sobor were glorified numerous Russian obsequious men, saints and miracle workers. Among them were canonized John archbishop of Novgorod, St. Prince Alexander Nevsky, Nikon abbot of Radonezhsky, St. Jonah Metropolitan of Moscow, Zosim Solovetsky, Makarius Kalyazinsky, St. Arseny bishop of Tver, St. Prince Peter and Princess Fevroniya Muromskaya. Following the sobor, by Metropolitan Macarius were comprised “the great Cheti-Minei” [?].
===The [[Stoglavy Sobor ]] of 1551===The Stoglavy sobor (also known as the Council of the Hundred Chapters) became perhaps the brightest phenomenon of the history of the ancient Russian Orthodox church. At this sobor were present [[Macarius of Moscow|Macarius]], Metropolitan of Moscow, [[Philip II of Moscow|Philip]], the future prelate of Moscow, Maxim the Greek, [[Gury of Kazan|Gury]] and Barsonofius of Kazan, Akaki the bishop of Tver and others. Many of these persons have been proclaimed saints lateronlater on. Tsar [[Ivan IV of Russia|Ivan IV]] actively contributed to the convocation of the sobor. More than 70 questions regarding all aspects of church life were examined by the sobor: divine service, piety, spiritual instruction, church control and law court, the rules of Christian behavior and the relations between the spiritual and secular authorities. At the sobor were confirmed many orthodox traditions including the sign of the cross with two fingers and especially the haleluias. In the course of the sobor a committee drew up a collection of acts with 100 chapters. Specifically, on the basis of this collections, the sobor of 1551 obtained the name “Stoglavy” or “Stoglav”.
Issues developed at this sobor became a set of laws for the entire church life in the course of the subsequent 100 years. And today, after 450 years of its solution they have great authority among the Russian Christian Old Believers.
| Ісусъ || Іисусъ
|-
! [[Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed|Creed]]
| рождена, '''а''' не сотворена ''(begotten '''but''' not made)''; И в Духа Святаго, Господа''' истиннаго''' и Животворящаго ''(And in the Holy Ghost, the '''True''' Lord, the Giver of Life)'' || рождена, не сотворена ''(begotten not made)''; И в Духа Святаго, Господа Животворящаго ''(And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord, the Giver of Life)''
|-я
However, Russian economic history of the late 19th and early 20th centuries reveals the Old-Believer merchant families as more flexible and more open to innovations while creating factories and starting the first Russian industries.
==Old Believer churches==
**Crummey, Robert O. ''The Old Believers & The World Of Antichrist; The Vyg Community & The Russian State'', Wisconsin U.P., 1970
**Gill, T. ''The Council of Florence'', Cambridge, 1959
**Meyendorff, P.": ''Russia - Ritual and Reform: The Liturgical Reforms of Nikon in the 17th Century"'', St Vladimir's Seminary Press, Crestwood, NY, 1991
**Zenkovsky, Serge A. "The ideology of the Denisov brothers", ''Harvard Slavic Studies'', 1957. III, 49-66
**Zenkovsky, S.: "The Old Believer Avvakum", ''Indiana Slavic Studies'', 1956, I, 1-51
==External links==
*[http://www.rpsc.ru Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church (official site of the Moscow Metropoly)]
*[http://www.starover.ee Old Believers in Estonia]
*[http://members.tripod.com/old_rite_orthodox/index.html Orthodox Kellion of the Holy Trinity and Saint Sergius]
*[http://www.churchofthenativity.net/ Old Rite ROCOR Church of the Nativity]
[[Category:Jurisdictions]]
[[Category: Schisms]]
[[Category:Old Believer Jurisdictions|*]]
[[fr:Orthodoxes vieux-croyants]]
[[ro:Rascolnici]]