Old Believers - differences from the Orthodox and differences in traditions. Old Believers: difference from the Orthodox. History, characteristics, interesting facts

After church schism XVII More than three centuries have passed, and the majority 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 quite arbitrary. The Old Believers themselves admit that their faith is Orthodox, and the Russian Orthodox Church is called New Believers or Nikonians. In the Old Believer literature of the 17th - first half of the 19th century centuries, the term “Old Believer” was not used. Old Believers called themselves differently. Old Believers, Old Orthodox Christians...The terms “orthodoxy” and “true Orthodoxy” were also used.
In the writings of Old Believer teachers of the 19th century, the term “true Orthodox Church” was often used. The term “Old Believers” became widespread only towards the end of the 19th century. At the same time, Old Believers of different agreements mutually denied each other’s Orthodoxy and, strictly speaking, for them the term “Old Believers” united, on a secondary ritual basis, religious communities deprived of church-religious unity

Fingers
It is well known that during the schism the two-finger sign of the cross was changed to three-finger. Two fingers are a symbol of the two Hypostases of the Savior ( true God and true man), three fingers - a symbol of the Holy Trinity.
The three-finger sign 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-finger Sign of the Cross were found in the Roman catacombs. There are similar examples of the discovery of the relics of saints of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.

Agreements and rumors
The Old Believers are far from homogeneous. There are several dozen agreements and even more Old Believer rumors. There is even a saying: “No matter what a man is, no matter what a woman is, there is agreement.” There are three main “wings” of the Old Believers: priests, non-priests 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 “drawn-out” sound of the first sound, which in Greek is indicated 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
During the “book reform” of the Nikon reform, changes were made to the Creed: the conjunction-opposition “a” was removed in the words about the Son of God “born, not made.” From the semantic opposition of properties, a simple enumeration was thus obtained: “begotten, not created.” The Old Believers sharply opposed the arbitrariness in the presentation of dogmas and were ready to suffer and die “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 had been established in the Russian Church to perform a procession of the cross. Church reform Patriarch Nikon unified all rituals according to Greek models, but the innovations were not accepted by the Old Believers. As a result, New Believers perform anti-salt movements during religious processions, and Old Believers perform religious processions salt.

Ties and sleeves
In some Old Believer churches, in memory of the executions during the Schism, it is forbidden to come to services with rolled up sleeves and ties. Popular rumor associates rolled up sleeves with executioners, and ties with gallows. Although, this is only one explanation. 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 blouse.

Question of the cross
Old Believers recognize only eight-pointed cross, whereas after Nikon’s reform in Orthodoxy four and six-pointed crosses were recognized as equally honorable. On the crucifixion tablet of the Old Believers it is usually written not I.N.C.I., but “King of Glory.” On body crosses Old Believers do not have an image of Christ, since it is believed that this is a person’s personal cross.

A deep and powerful Hallelujah
During Nikon's reforms, the pronounced (that is, double) pronunciation of “halleluia” was replaced by a triple (that is, triple). Instead of “Alleluia, alleluia, glory to you, God,” they began to say “Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to you, God.” According to New Believers, the triple utterance of alleluia symbolizes the dogma of the Holy Trinity. However, Old Believers argue that the strict utterance together with “glory to Thee, O God” is already a glorification of the Trinity, since the words “glory to Thee, O God” are one of the translations into Slavic language the Hebrew word Alleluia (“praise God”).

Bows at the service
At services in Old Believer churches, a strict system of bows has been developed; replacing prostrations with bows from the waist is prohibited. There are bows four types: “ordinary” - bow to the chest or to the navel; “medium” - in the waist; small bow to the ground - “throwing” (not from the verb “to throw”, but from the Greek “metanoia” = repentance); great prostration (proskynesis). Throwing was banned by Nikon in 1653. He sent out a “memory” to all Moscow churches, which said: “It is not appropriate to do throwing on your knees in church, but you should bow to your waist.”

Hands cross
While serving in Old Believer Church It is customary to cross your arms across your chest.

Beads
Orthodox and Old Believer rosaries are different. In Orthodox rosaries there may be different quantities beads, but most often rosaries with 33 beads are used, according to the number of earthly years of Christ’s life, or a multiple of 10 or 12. In the Old Believers of almost all agreements, a ladder is actively used - rosary beads in the form of a ribbon with 109 “beans” (“steps”), divided into unequal groups. Lestovka symbolically means a ladder from earth to heaven.

Full immersion baptism
Old Believers accept baptism only by complete threefold immersion, while in Orthodox churches baptism by pouring and partial immersion is allowed.

Monodic singing
After the split Orthodox Church the Old Believers did not accept either the new polyphonic singing style or new system musical notation. Kryuk singing (znamenny and demestvennoe) preserved by the Old Believers got its name from the way of recording a melody with special signs - “banners” or “hooks”.

The Old Believers arose in the mid-17th century in response to the unification of worship and church texts undertaken by Patriarch Nikon in 1653-56. Having adopted Christianity through Byzantium, Rus' adopted worship and statutory texts from the Church of Constantinople. Over 6.5 centuries, many discrepancies in texts and ritual differences arose. Newly printed Greek books were taken as the basis for the new Slavic text. Then variants and parallels from the manuscripts were given. As for the ritual, the changes actually affected only a few minor elements: the two-fingered sign of the cross was replaced with a three-fingered one, instead of “Jesus” they began to write “Jesus”, walking towards the sun, and not “salting”, along with the eight-pointed cross, they began to recognize the four-pointed one. We can agree that these steps were taken without sufficient preparation and the necessary...

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. Let's figure it out.

Terminology. The distinction between the concepts of “Old Believers” and “Orthodox Church” is quite arbitrary. The Old Believers themselves admit that their faith is Orthodox, and the Russian Orthodox Church is called New Believers or Nikoninans.

In the writings of Old Believer teachers of the 19th century, the term “true Orthodox Church” was often used. The term “Old Believers” became widespread only towards the end of the 19th century. At the same time, Old Believers of different consents mutually denied each other’s Orthodoxy and, strictly...

How is the Old Believer Church different from the Orthodox Church?

The liturgical reform of Patriarch Nikon in the 1650s-1660s caused a schism in the Russian Orthodox Church, as a result of which clergy and laity who disagreed with the new rules of liturgical life separated from the bulk of believers. The Old Believers began to be considered schismatics and were persecuted, often brutally. In the twentieth century, the position of the Russian Orthodox Church in relation to the Old Believers softened, but this did not lead to the prayerful unity of believers. Old Believers continue to consider their doctrine of faith true, classifying the Russian Orthodox Church as heterodox.

What is the Old Believer and Orthodox Church

The Old Believer Church is a set of religious organizations and movements that arose within the mainstream of the Orthodox Church, but separated from it due to disagreement with the reforms carried out by Patriarch Nikon.

The Orthodox Church is an association of believers belonging to the eastern branch of Christianity, accepting dogmas and...

The cross - a symbol of the atoning sacrifice of Christ - not only marks our belonging to Christianity, but through it the saving Grace of God is sent down to us. Therefore he is the most important element faith. Be it Old Believer cross or one of those accepted in the official church - they are equally graceful. Their difference is purely external, and is due only to the established tradition. Let's try to figure out what it is expressed in.

The departure of the Old Believers from the official church

In the middle of the 17th century, the Russian Orthodox Church experienced a severe shock caused by the reform carried out by its primate, Patriarch Nikon. Despite the fact that the reform affected only the external ritual side of worship, without touching the main thing - religious dogma, it led to a schism, the consequences of which have not been smoothed out to this day.

It is known that, having entered into irreconcilable contradictions with the official church and separated from it, the Old Believers did not remain united for long...

Apparently not everyone knows that the Russian Orthodox Church already took such steps a quarter of a century ago. On Local Council Russian Orthodox Church 1971 The decision of the Patriarchal Holy Synod of April 23/10, 1929 was approved. about “recognition of old Russian rites as saving, as well as new rites, and equal to them... about the rejection and imputation, as if not former, of disparaging expressions relating to the old rites and, in particular, to double-fingered, wherever they are found and whoever they are spoke...about the abolition of the oaths of the Moscow Council of 1656. and the Great Moscow Council of 1667, which they imposed on the old Russian rites and on the Orthodox Christians who adhere to them, and consider these oaths as if they had not been…”

Thus, the Russian Orthodox Church turned its face to the Old Believers in an effort to overcome the schism that arose 300 years ago.
Everyone knows that the cause of the schism was the church reforms carried out by Patriarch Nikon. What caused them?...

Differences in the faith of Old Believers and Old Believers

Very often, Old Believers are confused with Old Believers, attributing to them the same worldview. However, there are large number differences between Old Believers and Old Believers. Confusion in these concepts is created by means mass media who, without knowing Russian terminology, interpret definitions with incorrect concepts.

Old Believers are the custodians of the old faith of their ancestors - the pre-Christian faith, faith in the Orthodox Vedas. Old Believers are representatives of the old Christian rite and refuse to accept the innovations of the Christian Church.

There is also a second reason why there is now confusion in the concept of Old Believers and Old Believers. In 1653, under the leadership of Tsar Alexei Romanov, church reforms were launched, which met strong resistance from supporters of the old rituals. All Old Believers were declared apostates and excommunicated from the church. Under pain of physical harm (at this time there was...

The tragedy of the schism of 1661 was caused by the Nikon Council, which brought to the Russian Orthodox Church a number of changes regarding canons, liturgics, rituals and readings of sacred prayers, canons and even the Holy Scriptures. All these changes were caused, in fact, by an unfounded desire to completely imitate the Church of Constantinople without understanding that those changes that had already taken place in the Church of Constantinople before 1661, in fact, were the result of constant pressure from both Catholicism and Monophysitism and even Islam.

The desire of Patriarch Nikon to introduce all these “innovations” of the Church of Constantinople could not but cause unrest in the ranks of ordinary laymen and many clergy who, not wanting to put up with dubious innovations, were forced to move away from the unity of the church. This is how the Old Believers appeared.

The main canonical differences (the most important ones are highlighted in black), after Nikon’s innovations, were:

three-fingered instead of two-fingered. (To…

russian7.ru 09/3/2015 Alexey Rudevich.

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. Don't do that.

Terminology

The distinction between the concepts of “Old Believers” and “Orthodox Church” is quite arbitrary. The Old Believers themselves admit that their faith is Orthodox, and the Russian Orthodox Church is called New Believers or Nikonians.

In the Old Believer literature of the 17th - first half of the 19th centuries, the term “Old Believer” was not used.

Old Believers called themselves differently. Old Believers, Old Orthodox Christians...The terms “orthodoxy” and “true Orthodoxy” were also used.

In the writings of Old Believer teachers of the 19th century, the term “true Orthodox Church” was often used. The term “Old Believers” became widespread only towards the end of the 19th century. At the same time, Old Believers of different agreements mutually...

What are the differences between Orthodoxy and the Old Believers?

Priest Afanasy Gumerov, resident of Sretensky Monastery

The Old Believers arose in the mid-17th century in response to the unification of worship and church texts undertaken by Patriarch Nikon in 1653-56. Having adopted Christianity through Byzantium, Rus' adopted worship and statutory texts from the Church of Constantinople. Over 6.5 centuries, many discrepancies in texts and ritual differences arose. Newly printed Greek books were taken as the basis for the new Slavic text. Then variants and parallels from the manuscripts were given. As for the ritual, the changes actually affected only a few minor elements: the two-fingered sign of the cross was replaced with a three-fingered one, instead of “Jesus” they began to write “Jesus”, walking towards the sun, and not “salting”, along with the eight-pointed cross, they began to recognize the four-pointed one. We can agree that these steps have been taken...

Ksenia Koncarevic (Belgrade)

ABOUT SOME ASPECTS OF THE COMMUNICATIVE CULTURE OF THE OLD BELIEVERS

A lot has been written about the Old Believers... and very little. The extensive library consists of theological works aimed at canonical, dogmatic, church-historical denunciation or justification of the Old Believer doctrine, liturgical practice, culture, and everyday life. There is quite a large bibliography of cultural studies scientific works about the Old Believers - works of archaeographers, historians, works devoted to the study of the philosophical content of Old Believer thought (its ontological, epistemological, historiosophical, aesthetic concepts). But the study of the linguistic aspects of the Old Believers, with the exception of the question of “Nikon’s Law”, mainly in its historical and textual aspects, practically did not develop from its very rudimentary state, despite the fact that, in fact, the schism in the Russian Orthodox Church was caused precisely by philological considerations - different...

"RUSSIAN COMPOUND"

In issue No. 13 of the newspaper “Knowledge-Power” for 2000, an article was published “The Slavic Priesthood in the Global Management Structure”, which talked about the “Global Predictor” and the role and place of the Slavic Priesthood in the secret, “shadow” Old Believer structure of the “Russian Compound” "in the Global Social Management System of the "Global Predictor".

The article was prepared by the newspaper's editors based on materials I transmitted to them. But due to the natural limitations of the newspaper, which is published in paper form, in terms of the volume of information published, a lot of what was transmitted was not included in the article. And yet, according to the newspaper's editors, the article aroused some interest among readers. Therefore, I continue to publish information about the “Russian Compound”. And not only about him...

Old Believers and Old Believers.
Ancient history...

What does modern civilized society know about Old Belief and...

What do Old Believers believe and where did they come from? Historical background

IN recent years All more our fellow citizens are interested in issues healthy image life, environmentally friendly methods of management, survival in extreme conditions, the ability to live in harmony with nature, spiritual improvement. In this regard, many turn to the thousand-year experience of our ancestors, who managed to develop the vast territories of present-day Russia and created agricultural, trade and military outposts in all remote corners of our Motherland.

Not in last resort in this case we are talking about the Old Believers - people who at one time settled not only the territories Russian Empire, but also brought the Russian language, Russian culture and Russian faith to the banks of the Nile, to the jungles of Bolivia, the wastelands of Australia and to the snowy hills of Alaska. The experience of the Old Believers is truly unique: they were able to preserve their religious and cultural identity in the most difficult natural and political conditions, without…

Old Believers

Myths and truth about church schism.

When did the Old Believers arise and what was its essence?

The schism arose under Tsar Alexei Romanov and his friend Patriarch Nikon in the mid-17th century. The church reform was preceded by a hundred years of isolation of the Moscow Metropolis, which until the end of the reign of Ivan the Terrible did not receive recognition from the Eastern patriarchs. After the restoration of church ties with the East, the Greek and Russian traditions already revealed contrasting differences. Rus' increasingly looked to the West as an object of imitation. But Nikon’s struggle with Italian icons was not understood by the people - when the patriarch in the Kremlin Cathedral pierced the non-canonical image of the Mother of God with a knife, he was recognized as a harbinger of the end of the world. Therefore, the Old Believers arose both as personal opposition to the patriarch and as a struggle to preserve the usual order of things. The isolated Old Believers felt themselves to be the center of world Christianity, and the state persecution that began only strengthened them in this...

Nowadays, most people are unlikely to give a clear answer to the question of who the Old Believers are, because today the concept of “Old Believers” is associated with something dense, very ancient, left somewhere far in the past. Of course, today on the streets of the city you can no longer meet men with a special bowl haircut and a thick beard, and even women in long skirts with a scarf tied under the chin cannot be found. But there are adherents of the Old Believers, and there are quite a few of them in different cities of Russia.

Features of the Old Believers

Let's look at people like Old Believers, who they are and what they do. These are communities of people who have supported the traditions of the Orthodox Church since the baptism of Rus', and remain faithful to this day to the ancient church rites.

In fact, there are no special differences between the new and old faiths, but the teachings of the Old Believers are much stricter than the Orthodox. Besides this, there are a few more differences, namely:

Old Believers cross themselves with two fingers. The name of Christ on the icons of the Old Believers is written “Jesus”, with one “I”….

Old Belief, or Old Believers, is a unique phenomenon. Both spiritually and culturally. Economists note that Old Believer communities abroad are often more successful than the local population.

1. The Old Believers themselves admit that their faith is Orthodox, and the Russian Orthodox Church is called New Believers or Nikonians.

2. Until the first half of the 19th century, the term “Old Believer” was not used in spiritual literature.

3. There are three main “wings” of the Old Believers: priests, bespopovtsy and co-religionists.

4. In the Old Believers, there are several dozen rumors and even more agreements. There is even a saying: “No matter what a man is, no matter what a woman is in agreement.”

5. The Old Believers do not have an image of Christ on their pectoral cross, since this cross symbolizes a person’s own cross, a person’s ability to perform feats for the faith. A cross with an image of Christ is considered an icon; it is not allowed to be worn.

6. Biggest in Latin America the place of compact residence of Russian Old Believers-chapels is Colonia Russa or Massa Pe. About 60 families, or about 400–450 people, live here, there are three cathedrals with three separate prayer houses.

7. The Old Believers retain monodic, hook singing (znamenny and demestvennoe). It got its name from the way a melody is recorded using special signs - “banners” or “hooks”.

8. From the point of view of the Old Believers, Patriarch Nikon and his supporters left the church, and not vice versa.

9. Among the Old Believers, the religious procession takes place according to the sun. The sun in this case symbolizes Christ (the giver of life and light). During the reform, the decree to perform a religious procession against the Sun was perceived as heretical.

10. In the first time after the schism, there was a habit of recording as “Old Believers” all the sects that arose at that time (mainly of the “spiritual-Christian” direction, such as the “Eunuchs”) and heretical movements, which subsequently created a certain confusion.

11. For a long time, among the Old Believers, doing careless work was considered a sin. It must be admitted that this had the most favorable effect on the financial situation of the Old Believers.

12. Old Believers “beglopopovtsy” recognize the priesthood new church"acting". The priest from the new church who went over to the Old Believers-beglopopovets retained his rank. Some of them restored their own priesthood, forming “priestly” concords.

13. The priestless Old Believers consider the priesthood to be completely lost. A priest from the new church who went over to the Old Believers-bespopovtsy becomes a simple layman

14. According to old tradition, there are only part of the sacraments that can only be performed by priests or bishops - everything else is available to ordinary laity

15. A sacrament available only to priests is marriage. Despite this, marriage is still practiced in Pomeranian concord. Also, in some Pomeranian communities, another inaccessible sacrament is sometimes performed - communion, although its effectiveness is questioned

16. Unlike the Pomeranians, in the Fedoseyev agreement, marriage is considered lost, along with the priesthood. Nevertheless, they start families, but believe that they live in fornication all their lives.

17. Old Believers are supposed to say either a triple “Hallelujah” in honor of the Holy Trinity, or two “Hallelujahs” in honor of the Father and the Holy Spirit, and “Glory to you God!” in honor of Christ. When the reformed church began to say the three “Hallelujahs” and “Glory to you God!” Old Believers believed that the extra “Hallelujah” was pronounced in honor of the devil.

18. Among the Old Believers, icons on paper (as well as any other material that can easily be damaged) are not welcome. On the contrary, cast metal icons became widespread.

19. Old Believers make the sign of the cross with two fingers. Two fingers are a symbol of the two Hypostases of the Savior (true God and true man).

20. Old Believers write the name of the Lord as “Jesus.” The tradition of writing the name was changed during the Nikon reform. The double sound “and” began to convey the duration, the “drawn-out” sound of the first sound, which in the Greek language is indicated by a special sign, which has no analogue in the Slavic language. However, the Old Believer version is closer to the Greek source.

21. Old Believers are not allowed to pray on their knees (bows to the ground are not considered such), and they are also allowed to stand during prayer with their hands folded on their chest (right over left).

22. Old Believers, non-priest hole-dwellers, deny icons, pray strictly to the east, for which they cut holes in the wall of the house to pray in the winter.

23. On the crucifix tablet of the Old Believers it is usually written not I.N.C.I., but “King of Glory.”

24. In the Old Believers of almost all agreements, the lestovka is actively used - a rosary in the form of a ribbon with 109 “beans” (“steps”), divided into unequal groups. Lestovka symbolically means a ladder from earth to heaven. Lestovka.

25. Old Believers accept baptism only by complete threefold immersion, while in Orthodox churches baptism by pouring and partial immersion is allowed.

26.V Tsarist Russia there were periods when only a marriage (with all the ensuing consequences, including inheritance rights, etc.) concluded by the official church was considered legal. Under these conditions, many Old Believers often resorted to a trick, formally accepting the new faith for the duration of the wedding. However, it was not only the Old Believers who resorted to such tricks at that time.

27. The largest Old Believer association in modern Russia- Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church - belongs to the priests.

28. The Old Believers had a very ambiguous attitude towards the kings: while some strove to write down the next persecuting king as the Antichrist, others, on the contrary, defended the kings in every possible way. Nikon, according to the ideas of the Old Believers, bewitched Alexei Mikhailovich, and in the Old Believer versions of the legends about the substitution of Tsar Peter, the true Tsar Peter returned to the old faith and died a martyr’s death at the hands of the supporters of the impostor.

29. According to economist Danil Raskov, Old Believers abroad are somewhat more successful than natives, since they are more hardworking, capable of performing monotonous and difficult work, are more focused on projects that require time, are not afraid to invest, and have stronger families. One example: the village of Pokrovka in Moldova, which, contrary to general trends, has even grown somewhat as young people remain in the village.

30. Old Believers, or Old Believers, despite the name, are very modern. They are usually successful at work and united. Old Believer books can be read and downloaded on the Internet, and large movements, for example the Old Orthodox Church, also have their own websites.

A person with little church faith or little knowledgeable about history Orthodoxy is sometimes difficult to distinguish from the New Believer (Nikonian). Sometimes a passer-by accidentally enters a church and tries to perform prayer and ritual actions “in the new style” (for example, he rushes to kiss all the icons), but it turns out that this church is an Old Believer church and similar customs exist here are not approved. An uncomfortable, embarrassing situation may arise. Of course, you can ask the gatekeeper or candle maker about the identity of the temple, however, in addition to this, you need to know some of the signs that distinguish an Old Believer temple.

External architecture of the Old Believer temple. Bezpopovsky churches

External architecture Old Believer Church in the overwhelming majority of cases, it does not differ in any way from the architecture of New Believer, Uniate and other churches. This could be a building built in the Novgorod or New Russian styles using elements of classicism, or maybe even small house or even an impromptu temple in a wooden trailer.

The exceptions are Old Believers priestless churches. Some of them (mainly in the Baltic states, Belarus and Ukraine) do not have an altar apse, since there is no altar itself.

The eastern part of such Old Believer churches does not have an altar ledge and ends an ordinary wall. However, this is not always visible. Whether there is an altar or not - you can definitely tell only once you are inside the temple. In Russia and some other places, the Bezpopovites continue to build churches with apses, maintaining the tradition of antiquity.

Regarding internal view, then in non-priest churches, in all without exception, there is no altar. The iconostasis covers the wall, but not the altar; the altar is placed on the solea. In some non-priest churches, a large altar cross is installed in the center of the solea, opposite the royal doors.

The doors to the altar have a decorative function and do not open. However, in most non-priest churches there are no royal or deacon doors at all. There are several non-priest churches, the buildings of which were built in ancient times; such altars are present, but are used as additional premises: baptisms, small prayer houses, storage rooms for icons and books.

Eight-pointed cross

All Old Believer churches have eight-pointed crosses without all kinds of decorations. If there is a cross of some other shape on the temple, incl. and with the “crescent”, “anchor”, then this temple not Old Believer. And the point here is not that the Old Believers do not recognize four-pointed or other forms of crosses, but that due to the persecution of the eight-pointed cross, it was he who received a preferential position in the Old Believers.

Inside the Old Believer Church. Candles and chandeliers

Once inside the Old Believer temple, you need to look around. In Old Believer churches, practically no electric light is used during services (with the exception of the choir). Lamps in candlesticks and chandeliers burn using natural vegetable oil.

Candles for use in Old Believer churches are made from pure wax of a natural color. The use of colored candles - red, white, green, etc. - is not allowed.

Inside the Old Believer Church. Icons

An important feature of an Old Believer church is its special icons: copper-cast or handwritten, written in the so-called. "canonical style".

If the temple has icons of famous New Believer saints - Tsar Nicholas II, Matrona, Seraphim of Sarov, then the temple is definitely not Old Believer. If there are no such icons, then you should take a closer look at the headdresses of the saints and saints depicted on the icons. If they are crowned with black or white hoods in the shape of “buckets”, then this temple is clearly not an Old Believer one. Such hoods came into fashion after the reforms of Patriarch Nikon; in the ancient Russian church, monks and saints wore completely different headdresses.

Inside the Old Believer Church. Helpers

In Old Believer churches you can also find hand tools— special mats for prostrations. Handicrafts, as a rule, are folded into neat piles on the benches of an Old Believer church.

Contrary to popular belief, supposedly in Old Believer churches there are never chairs or seats (like Catholics or Uniates), in fact, such seats are available in many (but not all) Old Believer non-priest churches in the Baltic countries.

Unison singing and clothing of believers

If a divine service takes place in a church, then an Old Believer church can be easily distinguished by its characteristic unison singing of singers. Chords, triads and generally any harmonic modes are prohibited at Old Believer Divine services. Also, certain information about the affiliation of the temple can be provided by the clothes of the believers, which are distinguished by their severity.

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

Terminology

The distinction between the concepts of “Old Believers” and “Orthodox Church” is quite arbitrary. The Old Believers themselves admit that their faith is Orthodox, and the Russian Orthodox Church is called New Believers or Nikoninans.

In the Old Believer literature of the 17th - first half of the 19th centuries, the term “Old Believer” was not used.

Old Believers called themselves differently. Old Believers, Old Orthodox Christians...The terms “orthodoxy” and “true Orthodoxy” were also used.

In the writings of Old Believer teachers of the 19th century, the term “true Orthodox Church” was often used.

The term “Old Believers” became widespread only towards the end of the 19th century. At the same time, Old Believers of different consents mutually denied each other’s Orthodoxy and, strictly speaking, for them the term “Old Believers” united, on a secondary ritual basis, religious communities deprived of church-religious unity.

Fingers

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

The three-finger sign 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-finger Sign of the Cross were found in the Roman catacombs. There are similar examples of the discovery of the relics of saints of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.

Vasily Surikov, “Boyaryna Morozova” 1887

It was not for nothing that I attached to the article this particular work by the artist Surikov, where character-Boyaryna Morozova demonstrates “two fingers.” A little about the picture itself:

"Boyaryna Morozova"- a gigantic (304 by 586 cm) painting by Vasily Surikov, depicting a scene from the history of the church schism in the 17th century. After its debut at the 15th traveling exhibition in 1887, it was purchased for 25 thousand rubles for the Tretyakov Gallery, where it remains one of the main exhibits.

Surikov’s interest in the topic of Old Believers is associated with his Siberian childhood. In Siberia, where there were many Old Believers, handwritten “lives” of the martyrs of the Old Believer movement, including “The Tale of Boyarina Morozova,” became widespread.

The image of the noblewoman was copied from an Old Believers whom the artist met at the Rogozhskoye cemetery. And the prototype was the artist’s aunt, Avdotya Vasilyevna Torgoshina.

The portrait sketch was painted in just two hours. Before this, the artist for a long time could not find a suitable face - bloodless, fanatical, corresponding to the famous description of Habakkuk: “The fingers of your hands are subtle, your eyes are lightning fast, and you rush at your enemies like a lion.”

The figure of the noblewoman on the sliding sledge is a single compositional center around which representatives of the street crowd are grouped, reacting differently to her fanatical readiness to follow her convictions to the end. For some, a woman’s fanaticism evokes hatred, mockery or irony, but the majority look at her with sympathy. A hand raised high in a symbolic gesture is like a farewell to old Russia to which these people belong.

Agreements and rumors

The Old Believers are far from homogeneous. There are several dozen agreements and even more Old Believer rumors. There is even a saying: “No matter what a man is, no matter what a woman is, there is agreement.” There are three main “wings” of the Old Believers: priests, non-priests and co-religionists.

Name of Jesus

During the Nikon reform, the tradition of writing the name “Jesus” was changed. The double sound “and” began to convey the duration, the “drawn-out” sound of the first sound, which in the Greek language is indicated by a special sign, which has no analogue 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

During the “book reform” of the Nikon reform, changes were made to the Creed: the conjunction-opposition “a” was removed in the words about the Son of God “born, not made.”

From the semantic opposition of properties, a simple enumeration was thus obtained: “begotten, not created.”

The Old Believers sharply opposed the arbitrariness in the presentation of dogmas and were ready to suffer and die “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 had been established in the Russian Church to perform a procession of the cross. 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 perform the anti-salting movement during the religious processions, and the Old Believers perform the anti-salting religious processions.

∗ Salting is a movement across the sun that helps increase vitality and accelerate spiritual evolution.

Ties and sleeves

In some Old Believer churches, in memory of the executions during the Schism, it is forbidden to come to services with rolled up sleeves and ties. Rolled up sleeves are associated there with executioners, and ties with gallows.

Question of the cross

Old Believers recognize only the eight-pointed cross, while after Nikon’s reform in Orthodoxy four and six-pointed crosses were recognized as equally honorable. On the crucifixion tablet of the Old Believers it is usually written not I.N.C.I., but “King of Glory.” Old Believers do not have an image of Christ on their body crosses, since it is believed that this is a person’s personal cross.

A deep and blatant Hallelujah

During Nikon's reforms, the pronounced (that is, double) pronunciation of “halleluia” was replaced by a triple (that is, triple). Instead of “Alleluia, alleluia, glory to you, God,” they began to say “Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to you, God.”

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

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

Bows at the service

At services in Old Believer churches, a strict system of bows has been developed; replacing prostrations with bows from the waist is prohibited. There are four types of bows: “regular” - bow to the chest or to the navel; “medium” - in the waist; small bow to the ground - “throwing” (not from the verb “to throw”, but from the Greek “metanoia” = repentance); great prostration (proskynesis).

Throwing was banned by Nikon in 1653. He sent out a “memory” to all Moscow churches, which said: “It is not appropriate to do throwing on your knees in church, but you should bow to your waist.”

Hands cross

During services in the Old Believer church, it is customary to fold your arms with a cross on your chest.

Beads

Orthodox and Old Believer rosaries are different. Orthodox rosaries can have a different number of beads, but most often rosaries with 33 beads are used, according to the number of earthly years of Christ’s life, or a multiple of 10 or 12.

In the Old Believers of almost all agreements, the lestovka* is actively used - a rosary in the form of a ribbon with 109 “beans” (“steps”), divided into unequal groups. Let's contact once again to Surikov’s painting:

∗ Lestovka — in the noblewoman's hand. Leather Old Believer rosary in the form of steps of a ladder - a symbol of spiritual ascent, hence the name. At the same time, the ladder is closed in a ring, which means unceasing prayer. Every Christian Old Believer should have his own ladder for prayer.

Full immersion baptism

Old Believers accept baptism only by complete threefold immersion, while in Orthodox churches baptism by pouring and partial immersion is allowed.

Monodic singing

After the split of the Orthodox Church, the Old Believers did not accept either the new polyphonic style of singing or the new system of musical notation. Kryuk singing (znamenny and demestvennoe) preserved by the Old Believers got its name from the way of recording a melody with special signs - “banners” or “hooks”.

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