More than three centuries have passed since the church schism of the 17th century, and most still do not know how the Old Believers differ from Orthodox Christians.

Terminology

The distinction between the concepts of "Old Believers" and "Orthodox Church" is rather conditional. The Old Believers themselves admit that it is their faith that is Orthodox, and the Russian Orthodox Church is called New Believers or Nikonians.

In the Old Believer literature of the 17th - the first half of the 19th century, the term "Old Believer" was not used.

The Old Believers called themselves differently. Old Believers, Old Orthodox Christians ... The terms "orthodox" and "true Orthodoxy" were also used.

In the writings of the Old Believers of the 19th century, the term "truly Orthodox Church" was often used. The term "Old Believers" became widespread only towards the end of the 19th century. At the same time, the Old Believers of various accords mutually denied each other’s Orthodoxy and, strictly speaking, for them the term “Old Believers” united religious communities, devoid of church and religious unity, on a secondary ritual basis.

fingers

It is well known that during the schism the two-fingered sign of the cross was changed to a three-fingered one. Two fingers - a symbol of the two Hypostases of the Savior (true God and true man), three fingers - a symbol of the Holy Trinity.

The sign of the three fingers was adopted by the Ecumenical Orthodox Church, which by that time consisted of a dozen independent Autocephalous Churches, after the preserved bodies of the martyrs-confessors of Christianity of the first centuries with folded fingers of the three-fingered sign of the Cross were found in the Roman catacombs. Examples of finding the relics of the saints of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra are similar.

Consensus and talk

The Old Believers are far from homogeneous. There are several dozen agreements and even more Old Believer interpretations. There is even a saying: "Whatever a man is good, whatever a woman, then consent." There are three main "wings" of the Old Believers: priests, bespopovtsy and co-religionists.

Jesus

During the Nikon reform, the tradition of writing the name "Jesus" was changed. The double sound “and” began to convey the duration, the “stretching” sound of the first sound, which in Greek is denoted by a special sign, which has no analogy in the Slavic language, therefore the pronunciation of “Jesus” is more consistent with the universal practice of sounding the Savior. However, the Old Believer version is closer to the Greek source.

Differences in the Creed

In the course of the “book right” of the Nikon reform, changes were made to the Creed: the union-opposition “a” was removed in the words about the Son of God “born, not created.”

From the semantic opposition of properties, a simple enumeration was thus obtained: "born, not created."

The Old Believers sharply opposed arbitrariness in the presentation of dogmas and were ready to go to suffering and death “for a single az” (that is, for one letter “a”).

In total, about 10 changes were made to the Creed, which was the main dogmatic difference between the Old Believers and the Nikonians.

Towards the sun

By the middle of the 17th century, a universal custom was established in the Russian Church to make a salting procession. The church reform of Patriarch Nikon unified all rituals according to Greek models, but the innovations were not accepted by the Old Believers. As a result, the New Believers make a movement during the processions of the salting, and the Old Believers make the processions of the salting.

Ties and sleeves

In some Old Believer churches, in memory of the executions during the Schism, it is forbidden to come to the service with rolled up sleeves and with ties. Popular rumor associates rolled up sleeves with executioners, and ties with gallows. However, this is only one of the explanations. In general, it is customary for Old Believers to wear special prayer clothes (with long sleeves) to services, and you can’t tie a tie on a kosovorotka.

Question of the cross

The Old Believers recognize only the eight-pointed cross, while after Nikon's reform in Orthodoxy, four and six-pointed crosses were recognized as equal. On the tablet of the crucifixion, the Old Believers usually write not I.N.Ts.I., but “King of Glory”. On pectoral crosses, the Old Believers do not have an image of Christ, since it is believed that this is a personal cross of a person.

Severe and demanding Aliluyah

In the course of Nikon's reforms, the purely (that is, double) pronunciation of "alleluia" was replaced by a treble (that is, triple). Instead of "Alleluia, alleluia, glory to you God" they began to say "Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to You, God."

According to the New Believers, the triple pronunciation of alleluia symbolizes the dogma of the Holy Trinity.

However, the Old Believers argue that the pure pronunciation together with “glory to Thee, God” is already a glorification of the Trinity, since the words “glory to Thee, God” are one of the translations into Slavic of the Hebrew word Alleluia (“praise God”).

Honors in the service

At services in Old Believer churches, a strict system of bows has been developed; it is forbidden to replace bows with bows. There are four types of bows: “normal” - a bow to the chest or to the navel; "medium" - in the belt; a small prostration - “throwing” (not from the verb “to throw”, but from the Greek “metanoia” = repentance); great bow to the earth (proskineza).

IN Lately, being carried away by the study of Russian culture, various ways of spiritual and physical development, many people became interested in the Old Believers. Indeed, the Old Believers - who are they? There are many opinions and views on this matter. Some believe that these are Orthodox Christians who profess the faith that existed before the church schism during Nikon's reform. Others think that these are people who have chosen for themselves a faith that Orthodox priests call pagan. The old faith, which was spread before the Baptism of Rus' by order of Prince Vladimir.

Old Believers - who are they

The first associations that come to mind are people living in the taiga, who have rejected all the benefits of civilization, follow the old way of life, do everything themselves, without using any equipment. Medicine is also not common, all diseases are cured by the prayers of the Old Believers and fasting.

How true is this? It is difficult to say, because the Old Believers do not talk about their life, do not sit in social networks, do not write about it in blogs. The life of the Old Believers is secretive, takes place in closed communities, they try not to contact people once again. One gets the feeling that they can only be seen by accidentally getting lost in the taiga, wandering for more than one day.

Where do the Old Believers live?

For example, the Old Believers live in Siberia. In a harsh and cold climate, it was thanks to them that new unexplored and hard-to-reach corners of the country were mastered. There are villages of Old Believers in Altai, there are several of them - Upper Uimon, Maralnik, Multa, Zamulta. It was in such places that they hid from persecution by the state and the official church.

In the village of Upper Uimon, you can visit the Museum of the Old Believers and learn in detail about their way of life and faith. Despite the fact that the attitude towards them has changed for the better with the course of history, the Old Believers prefer to choose remote corners of the country for life.

To clarify the questions that involuntarily arise when studying them, it is worth first understanding where they came from and what is the difference between them. Old Believers and Old Believers - who are they?

Where did they come from

To find out the answer to the question of who they are, the Old Believers, you first have to plunge into history.

One of the significant and tragic events in Russia was the schism of the Russian Church. He divided believers into two camps: followers of the "old faith" who did not want to accept any innovations, and those who humbly accepted the innovations that arose due to Nikon's reforms. appointed by Tsar Alexei, who wished to change the Russian Church. By the way, the concept of "Orthodoxy" appeared along with Nikon's reform. Therefore, the phrase "Orthodox Old Believers" is somewhat incorrect. But in modern times, this term is quite relevant. Because at the moment the Russian Orthodox Church officially exists, in other words, the Church of the Old Believers.

So, changes in religion took place and led to many events. It can be said that at that time in the 17th century the first Old Believers appeared in Russia, whose followers exist to this day. They protested against the Nikon reforms, which, in their opinion, changed not only the features of some rites, but also the faith itself. These innovations were carried out with the aim of making Orthodox rites in Rus' as similar as possible to Greek and global ones. They were justified by the fact that church books, which were copied by hand, since the time of Baptism in Rus' had some distortions and typos, according to supporters of innovations.

Why people opposed Nikon's reforms

Why did people protest against the new reforms? Perhaps the personality of Patriarch Nikon himself played a role here. Tsar Alexei appointed him to the important post of patriarch, gave him the opportunity to radically change the rules and rituals of the Russian church. But this choice was a little strange and not very justified. Patriarch Nikon did not have sufficient experience in creating and implementing reforms. He grew up in a simple peasant family, eventually became a priest in his village. Soon he moved to the Moscow Novospassky Monastery, where he met the Russian Tsar.

Their views on religion largely coincided, and soon Nikon became patriarch. The latter not only did not have sufficient experience for this role, but, according to many historians, he was imperious and cruel. He wanted power that had no boundaries, and envied Patriarch Filaret in this regard. Trying in every possible way to show his significance, he was active everywhere and not only as a religious figure. For example, he personally participated in the suppression of the uprising in 1650, it was he who wanted a brutal reprisal against the rebels.

What changed

Nikon's reform brought significant changes to the Russian Christian faith. That is why opponents of these innovations and followers of the old faith appeared, who later began to be called Old Believers. They were persecuted long years, were cursed by the church, and only under Catherine II did the attitude towards them change for the better.

In the same period, two concepts appeared: "Old Believer" and "Old Believer". What is the difference and who they stand for, today, many no longer know. In fact, both of these concepts are essentially the same.

Despite the fact that Nikon's reforms brought only splits and uprisings to the country, for some reason there are opinions that they have changed almost nothing. Most often, only two or three changes are indicated in history books, in fact there are more. So, what has changed and what innovations have occurred? You need to know this in order to understand how the Old Believers differ from the Orthodox believers belonging to the official church.

sign of the cross

After the innovation, Christians crossed themselves by folding three fingers (or fingers) - thumb, index and middle. Three fingers or "pinch" means the holy Trinity - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Although earlier, before the reform, only two fingers were used for this. That is, two fingers - the index and middle fingers were left straight or slightly curved, and the rest were folded together.

It should depict the main two creeds - the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of Christ. It was the two-fingered that was depicted on many icons and came from Greek sources. Old Believers or Old Believers still use two-fingered, overshadowing themselves with the sign of the cross.

Bows during services

Before the reforms, several types of bows were performed in the service, there were four in total. The first - to the fingers or to the navel, was called ordinary. The second - in the belt, was considered average. The third was called "throwing" and was made almost to the ground (small prostration). Well, the fourth - to the very earth (great prostration or proskineza). This whole system of bows is still in effect during Old Believer services.

After the Nikon reform, it was allowed to bow only to the waist.

Changes in books and icons

In the new faith and the old one they wrote the name of Christ in different ways. They used to write Jesus, as in Greek sources. After the reforms, it was necessary to stretch out his name - Jesus. In fact, it’s hard to say which spelling is closer to the original, since in Greek there is a special symbol for stretching the letter “and”, in Russian it is not.

Therefore, in order for the spelling to match the sound, the letter “and” was added to the name of God. The old spelling of the name of Christ has been preserved in the prayers of the Old Believers, and not only among them, but also in Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian, Croatian, Belarusian and Ukrainian.

Cross

The cross of the Old Believers and followers of innovations is significantly different. The followers of ancient Orthodoxy recognized only the eight-pointed version. The Old Believer symbol of the crucifixion is represented by an eight-pointed cross located inside a larger four-pointed one. On the most ancient crosses there are also no images of the crucified Jesus. For its creators, the form itself was more important than the image. The pectoral cross of the Old Believer also has the same appearance without the image of the crucifix.

Among Nikon's innovations concerning the cross, Pilatov's inscription can also be distinguished. These are the letters that are visible on the uppermost small crossbar of a common cross, which is now sold in church shops- I N C I. This is an inscription left by Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator who ordered the execution of Jesus. It means "Jesus of Nazareth, King of Judah." She appeared on new Nikon icons and crosses, the old versions were destroyed.

At the very beginning of the split, fierce disputes began about whether it is permissible to depict this inscription. Archdeacon Ignatius from the Solovetsky Monastery wrote a petition to Tsar Alexei on this occasion, rejecting the new inscription in it and demanding the return of the old I X C C denoting "Jesus Christ the King of Glory." In his opinion, the old inscription speaks of Christ as God and Creator, who took his place in heaven after the Ascension. And the new one speaks of him as of an ordinary person who is on earth. But Theodosius Vasiliev, deacon of the Church of the Red Pit, and his followers for a long time, on the contrary, defended the "Pilate inscription." They were called Fedoseevtsy - a special offshoot of the Old Believers. All other Old Believers still use an older inscription in the manufacture of their crosses.

Baptism and procession

Among the Old Believers, only complete immersion in water is possible, carried out three times. But after Nikon's reforms, either partial immersion during baptism, or even just pouring, became possible.

The procession used to take place according to the sun, clockwise or salting. After the reform, during the rites, it is performed counterclockwise. This caused strong discontent at one time, people began to consider a new darkness.

Criticism of the Old Believers

Old Believers are often criticized for their indispensable observance of all dogmas and rituals. When the symbolism and some features of the old rituals were changed, this caused strong discontent, riots and uprisings. The followers of the old faith might even have preferred martyrdom rather than accept the new rules. Who are the Old Believers? Fanatics or selfless people who defend their faith? This is difficult for a modern person to understand.

How can one doom oneself to death because of one letter that has been changed or thrown out or, on the contrary, added? Many authors of articles write that the symbolism and all these minor, in their opinion, changes after the Nikon reform are only external. But is it right to think so? Of course, the main thing is faith, and not just blind observance of all the rules and customs. But where is the limit of these acceptable changes?

If you follow this logic, why do you need these symbols at all, why call yourself Orthodox, why do you need baptism and other rituals, if they can be easily changed just by gaining power, while killing hundreds of people who disagree. Why is such an Orthodox faith needed if it does not differ at all from Protestant or Catholic? After all, all these customs and rituals exist for a reason, for the sake of their blind execution. It was not in vain that people kept the knowledge of these rituals for so many years, passed from mouth to mouth, rewrote books by hand, because this is a huge work. Perhaps they saw something more behind these rituals, something that modern man is not able to understand and sees in this unnecessary external paraphernalia.

The current Orthodox young generation, perhaps with surprise, perceives the concept of Old Believers, Old Believers, and even more so does not delve into what is the difference between Old Believers and Orthodox believers.

fans healthy lifestyle life study the life of modern hermits, using the example of the Lykov family, who lived 50 years away from civilization, until geologists discovered them in the late 70s of the last century. Why did Orthodoxy not please the Old Believers?

Old Believers - who are they

Let's make a reservation right away that the Old Believers are people who adhere to the Christian faith of pre-Nikon times, and the Old Believers worship pagan gods that existed in the folk religion before the advent of Christianity. The canons of the Orthodox Church, as civilization developed, were somewhat modified. The 17th century brought a split in Orthodoxy after the introduction of innovations by Patriarch Nikon.

By decree of the Church, rites and traditions were changed, all those who disagreed were anathematized, and the persecution of adherents of the old faith began. Adherents of pre-Nikonian traditions began to be called Old Believers but there was no unity among them.

Old Believers are adherents of the Orthodox movement in Russia

Persecuted by the official church, believers began to settle in Siberia, the Volga region, and even on the territory of other states, such as Turkey, Poland, Romania, China, Bolivia, and Australia.

The current life of the Old Believers and their traditions

The found settlement of the Old Believers in 1978 stirred up the entire space of the then Soviet Union. Millions of people literally "stuck" to TVs to see the way of hermits, which has not changed much since the time of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers.

At present, there are several hundred settlements of Old Believers in Russia. The Old Believers themselves teach their children, the elderly and parents are in special reverence. The whole settlement works hard, for food all vegetables and fruits are grown by the family, duties are distributed very strictly.

A random guest will be received with benevolence, but he will eat and drink from separate dishes so as not to defile the members of the community. Cleaning in the house, washing and washing dishes is carried out only with well or spring running water.

sacrament of baptism

The Old Believers try to carry out the rite of baptism of babies during the first 10 days, before that they very carefully choose the name of the newborn, it must be in the calendar. All items for baptism are cleaned several days before the sacrament in running water. Parents are not present at the christening.

By the way, the bathhouse of hermits is an unclean place, so the cross received at baptism is removed and put on only after washing with clean water.

Wedding and funeral

The Old Believer Church forbids marriage to young people who are relatives up to the eighth generation or who are connected by a “cross”. Weddings take place on any day except Tuesday and Thursday.

Wedding at the Old Believers

Married women do not leave the house without a headdress.

The funeral is not a special event, the Old Believers do not have mourning. The body of the deceased is washed by people of the same sex, specially selected in the community. Chips are poured into a coffin, a body is placed on it and covered with a sheet. The coffin has no lid. After the funeral, there is no commemoration, all the belongings of the deceased are distributed in the village as alms.

Old Believer Cross and Sign of the Cross

Church rituals and worship take place near the eight-pointed cross.

On a note! Unlike Orthodox traditions, it does not have an image of the crucified Jesus.

In addition to the large crossbar, to which the hands of the Savior were nailed, there are two more. The upper crossbar symbolizes a tablet; a sin was usually written on it, for which the condemned was crucified. The lower small board is a symbol of scales for weighing human sins.

Old Believers use an eight-pointed cross

Important! The current Orthodox Church recognizes the right to exist of Old Believer churches, as well as crosses without a Crucifix, as signs of Christianity.

Orthodox believers use the modern Bible, but only the pre-Nikonian Scripture, which is carefully studied by all members of the settlement.

The main differences from Orthodoxy

In addition to the non-recognition of the traditions and rituals of the modern Orthodox Church and the above differences, the Old Believers:

• make only earthly bows;
• they do not recognize a rosary of 33 beads, using ladders, in which there are 109 knots;
• baptism is performed by three times immersion in water with the head, while sprinkling is accepted in Orthodoxy;
• the name Jesus is spelled Jesus;
• recognize icons only from wood and copper.

Many Old Believers are currently accepting the traditions of the Old Believer Orthodox churches, which has been encouraged in the official Church.

Who are the Old Believers?

Old Believers and Old Believers - how often these concepts are confused. They were confused before during conversations, they are confused today, even in the media. Every educated person who respects the culture of his people is simply obliged to understand what is the difference between these two different categories of people.

Old Believers are people who adhere to the old Christian rites. During the reign of A.M. Romanov, under the leadership of Patriarch Nikon, a religious reform was carried out. Those who refused to obey the new rules united and they immediately began to be called schismatics, as they, as it were, split the Christian faith into the old and the new. In 1905 they began to be called Old Believers. The Old Believers became widespread in Siberia.


The main differences between the new and old rites are:

• The Old Believers write the name of Jesus, as before, with a small letter and one "and" (Jesus).
• The three-fingered sign introduced by Nikon is not recognized by them, and therefore they are still baptized with two fingers.
• Baptism takes place according to the tradition of the old Church - immersively, because that is how they were baptized in Rus'.
• During the reading of the prayer according to the old rites, clothes specially designed for this are used.

The Old Believers are people not of the Christian faith, they are those who adhere to the one that was in Rus' before it. They are the true guardians of the faith of their ancestors.


Their worldview is Rodnoverie. The Slavic Native Faith has existed since the very first tribes of the Slavs began to appear. That is what the Old Believers keep. The Old Believers believe that no one has a monopoly on the truth, namely, all religions claim it. Each nation has its own faith and each is free to communicate with God, as he sees fit and in the language that he considers correct.

According to the Native Faith, a person creates his own understanding of the world through his worldview. A person is not obliged to accept as faith someone's idea of ​​the world. For example, tell someone: we are all sinners, the name of God is exactly that and you need to address him like this.

Differences

Indeed, they often try to attribute one worldview to Old Believers and Old Believers, despite the fact that there are huge differences between them. These confusions are created by people who do not know Russian terminology and interpret definitions in their own way.

The Old Believers primordially believe in their own Kin, and at the same time do not belong to any religion. The Old Believers adhere to the Christian religion, but the one that was before the reform. In some ways, they can even be called a kind of Christians.

It's easy to tell them apart:

1. The Old Believers do not have prayers. They believe that prayer humiliates both the one to whom it is addressed and the one who performs it. There are their own rites among the genus, but they are known only to a particular genus. The Old Believers pray, their prayers are similar to those that can be heard in Orthodox churches, but they are performed in a special attire and end with the fact that they are baptized according to the old rites with two fingers.
2. The rituals of the Old Believers and their ideas about good, evil, way of life are not written anywhere. They are passed on by word of mouth. They may be written down, but these records are kept secret by each clan. Old Believer religious writings constitute the first Christian books. 10 commandments, bible, old testament. They are in the public domain and knowledge is transferred freely, not based on ancestral ties.
3. The Old Believers have no icons. Instead, their house is full of photographs of their ancestors, their letters, awards. They honor their family, remember it and are proud of it. The Old Believers also do not have icons. Although they adhere to the Christian faith, their churches are not filled with imposing iconostases, there are no icons even in the traditional "red corner". Instead, in churches, they make holes in the form of holes, since they believe that God is not in icons, but in heaven.
4. The Old Believers have no idolatry. Traditionally, in religion there is a main living element that is worshiped and called God, his son or prophet. For example, Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammed. Rodnovery praises only the surrounding nature, but not considering it a deity, but considering itself a part of it. The Old Believers praise Jesus, the biblical hero.
5. In the Native Faith of the Old Believers, there are no specific rules that must be followed. Each person is free to live in harmony with his conscience. It is not necessary to participate in some rituals, wear robes and follow one consensus. Things are different with the Old Believers, because they have a well-defined hierarchy, a set of rules and clothes.

Is there anything in common?

Old Believers and Old Believers, despite their different Faith, have something in common. First, they were connected by history itself. When the Old Believers, or as they said then, the schismatics of the Russian Orthodox Church, began to be persecuted, and it was just in the time of Nikon, they went to the Siberian Belovodie and Pomorye. The Old Believers lived there and gave them shelter. Of course, they had different faiths, but nevertheless, they were all Russians by blood and tried not to let it be taken away from them.

The Old Believers are a religious movement that arose in Russia in the middle of the 17th century. during the reform of the Orthodox Church, which was carried out by Patriarch Nikon from 1653.

Old Believers (the term itself appeared in the 19th century) are called adherents of the old faith, opponents of these reforms. There was a split in the Church at this time. The movement of the Old Believers was led by Archpriest Avvakum.

The Council of 1666-1667 cursed the Old Believers as "blasphemy against the Lord" and consistently carried out the unification of rites, books and icons according to the Greek model. Having adopted Christianity through Byzantium in the 10th century, Rus' received from the Church of Constantinople both its worship and statutory texts. For six and a half centuries, there have been many discrepancies in the texts and differences of a ritual nature. Newly printed Greek books were taken as the basis for the new Slavic text during the reforms. Brutal persecution of the Old Believers began. Adherents of the Old Believers founded their sketes in remote places in the North, the Urals and the Volga region. The Old Believers themselves eventually broke up into various formations - consents and rumors.

What are the differences?

The Old Believers are baptized with two fingers (two-finger) and sing "Hallelujah!" twice, the Orthodox are baptized with three fingers and sing "Hallelujah!" three times. Before Nikon's reform, they bowed to the ground, after - the waist bow.

During the service, the Old Believers pass in a procession around the altar in the direction of the sun (salting), and the Orthodox - against (towards the sun).

Until the split name Christ Jesus was written, and after - Jesus.

From now on, church books and icons were corrected according to the Greek model, and earlier this was done according to various Slavic translations. The uncorrected were to be destroyed.

In divine services after the reform, individual words were replaced.

The Old Believers considered the Greek reference model imposed by Nikon to be incorrect and alien to the liturgical tradition that had developed in Rus', which came to us from Cyril and Methodius. Its essence was that Christianity in Rus' was assimilated taking into account the national translation of the Holy Scriptures and divine services using local Christian traditions.

Along with the eight-pointed cross, the Orthodox began to recognize the four-pointed one.

The rosary also differs: in the Orthodox, there are usually 33 beads - according to the number of earthly years of Christ, and the Old Believers are a ladder - a leather ribbon with 109 "steps", divided into unequal groups.

The rite of baptism is also performed differently. The Orthodox are allowed both complete immersion in water, and partial and dousing with water. The Old Believers recognize only a complete triple immersion in water.

After the reform, the Orthodox churches began to use polyphonic singing and new system musical notation. The Old Believers preserved hook monodic singing.

During the service, it is customary for the Old Believers to fold their arms in a cross on their chests.

How does the modern Church relate to the Old Believers?

Today there is a commission for dialogue between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church. The initiator was the Russian Orthodox Church.

“The Russian Orthodox Church has a special attitude towards the Old Believers. We never put the Old Believers on a par with the heterodox, ”said Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev), Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate in an interview with the Russian Faith portal.

The prohibition and curse on the use of the old rites were abolished in 1929 by the synod.

“In order to heal church divisions due to the old rites and to give the greatest calm to the conscience of those who use them in the fence of the Russian Orthodox Church,” the synod on April 23, 1929 recognized the old rites as “saving”, and the oath prohibitions of the councils of 1656 and 1667. "Canceled, as if not former."

The local council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1971 confirmed the decisions of the synod.