In 1653 Great Lent began in the last decade of February. It started with a big surprise from the head of the Russian Orthodox Church - Patriarch Nikon. On February 22, Moscow churches received his order to use the three-fingered sign of the cross instead of double. Thus began the famous and still not outlived church schism.
Not obsolete, although some steps towards rapprochement are being taken, moreover, from both sides. But the intensity of passions was too serious, there was too much blood, perjury and direct betrayal to throw everything away and forget at once. And it all started, as it seems to us, with little things.
The devil is in the details
As you know, the changes introduced by Patriarch Nikon concerned the ceremonial side: “It is not appropriate in the church to do kneeling, but bow to your waist; even with three fingers they would be baptized.” They also changed the spelling of the name of Christ - instead of Jesus, it was now supposed to write Iesus. This is what is in front of everyone and everyone. The rest will now be noticed only by those who often go to church. For example, the fact that they walk around the altar is not "salting" - following the movement of the Sun, but "anti-salting" - vice versa. Or the fact that the exclamation "Hallelujah" is pronounced three times during the service, and not twice, as it was before. A logical question arises - was it even worth it to arrange an ugly brawl with grave consequences because of these trifles?
The people of the middle of the 17th century decided what was worth it. It's not even about the little things. And in the political and national background. According to Nikon's plan, Russian liturgical books should be corrected according to Greek models. This was perceived as a direct insult that could not be taken down.
By that time the Greek Orthodox Church for two hundred years she dragged out an existence not just miserable, but extremely humiliated. After the conquest of Byzantium by the Turks and the fall of Constantinople, it could have disappeared altogether if not for the constant Russian financial support. In addition, in Russia they became related to the idea that Moscow is the Third Rome. The first Rome fell for sins. The second Rome - Constantinople - again paid the price for sins. Moscow - the Third Rome - the new capital of Orthodoxy. It is from Moscow that the light comes true faith. Everything is logical, patriotic and clear.
And then suddenly they are ordered to make a “circle to the left” and change the Russian service according to the Greek model. Brothers, but this is a direct betrayal!
The funny thing is that a much more radical reform of worship took place in the XIV century. Just at the time of the most revered Russian saint - Sergius of Radonezh. In those years, Russia, following Constantinople, passed from the Studian liturgical charter to the Jerusalem typikon. The differences between them were much more serious than those introduced by Nikon. And - nothing terrible. Moved on without a hitch. Student of Sergius of Radonezh Afanasy Vysotsky he made a special trip to Constantinople to translate the new charter. And no one considered the transition to the "Greek rails" shameful. For the simple reason that Constantinople was then surrounded by the Turks from all sides, but it also retained strength and glory. It was not a shame to study with him. But now, almost three hundred years later, it already seemed offensive and even dangerous. How so? The Lord punished the Greeks for their sins with the Turkish invasion, and now we have something to learn from them? reproductionNikon and Habakkuk
It is interesting that the leaders of the two church groups, one might say, the personification of the church mainstream and the church schism, were very similar people. and Archpriest Avvakum. And they were similar in every way. Up to the fact that they were born, albeit with a difference of 15 years, but, practically, in the same place. Here is what Avvakum wrote about his senior colleague: “Nikon and I are from those places ... I was born from a priest, and Nikon was born in a village between Murashkin and Lyskov, I know him, his father is Cheremisin, and his mother is a mermaid (Russian). Minka and Manka are his parents.
Such attention to the origin and nationality of Nikon was justified. Many schismatics considered him the Antichrist. And the honest Avvakum, although he was an ideological opponent of the patriarch, corrected his co-religionists: "The Antichrist is from Galilee, from the tribe of Dan, from a Jewish wife." That is, Nikon, being half Russian, half Cheremisin (Mari) for the role of the real Antichrist, according to Avvakum, does not pull in any way.
In addition to a common small homeland, the leaders of church groups also had common views. For example, both hated drunkenness and eradicated it in the priestly environment. Nikon - relying on an administrative resource: "The patriarchal archers constantly go around the city, and as soon as they meet a drunk priest or monk, they immediately take him to prison and subject him to all sorts of reproach ...". Habakkuk - with a fiery sermon: “Sages, sour with yeast, write books with shaking hands, crawling drunk on the ground, like reptiles ... Overslept with a hangover, and we are shameful and ashamed of ourselves: a beard and mustache in vomit, and from the goose all the way to the feet in shit , from the healthy bowls the head is spinning.
Furthermore. At first they were associates and even friends. Both sincerely believed that church reform is necessary, and that without it the Church will soon have to suffer from disorganization. Both believed that in order to correct the situation, it was necessary first of all to correct the charter of worship and church books.
Spies and traitors?
The only discrepancy is in the patterns by which the books should be edited. We already know Nikon's position. Becoming patriarch in 1652, he disbanded the Russian staff of the Book Right and replaced it with Poles led by Arseny Grek. Avvakum was among the retired “spravshchikov”, who believed that ancient Russian manuscripts should become a model.
Who of them was "really" right and who was not - each at that time decided independently. Yes, and then - too. Avvakum's position seemed more attractive to many - after all, without the "lecherous Greeks", relying on one's own strength and on national holiness.The result was deplorable - all subsequent major riots and popular uprisings relied precisely on the followers of Habakkuk. The authorities were so afraid of the radical Old Believers that they crushed and destroyed them almost three hundred years later. Actually, everyone famous writer Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin made his career through the Ministry of Internal Affairs as an “official for special assignments”, investigating the case of the Sarapul schismatics, who were suspected of almost espionage in favor of powers hostile to Russia.
Thus, the fight for the "information dictatorship" and capital, between the court of the patriarch and the Kremlin, was inevitable. As usual, no one thought about ordinary people. And where does church books, and rituals? Of course, at that time there was no question of the direct and complete confiscation of church property, as happened several centuries later. The point was to include the "church business" in the general system of taxation of the Moscow state. Is it just that the personal bank of the last Old Believer patriarch, Joseph, entered the tsar and the near boyars at his own disposal. In fairness, it should be noted that most of the funds received as a result of taxes on "church business" went to the maintenance of the army, by the way, fighting and to the development of the regular fleet of the Moscow kingdom. By the way, this was long before the birth of the "creator of the fleet" Peter.
And the newly-appeared Patriarch Nikon? They just took advantage. You never know what he thought and wanted himself. This man, with his sharpness and straightforwardness, was only a replaceable "instrument" in the state tax and budgetary policy. If he hadn't pulled, another one would have been found right there.
Of course, Nikon was known for his idea of the primacy of the church over the state, the patriarch over the king. In sight was the "Roman way", the same after all, Christians, although the "Latins are filthy." But Nikon coped with the task and until he “went too far”, he was on horseback.
Of course, a huge number of believers were completely unaware of all these reasons of the rulers. People met the changes with extreme hostility and fear. After all, what was considered, in their understanding, unshakable was crumbling. Massacres began between supporters and opponents of the reforms. monks and simple people went into the dense forests, founded secret settlements and sketes. There were enough opponents of reforms everywhere, in largest cities and on the outskirts of the state. Among serfs and gentlemen. Throughout Russia, fermentation began, because there were no modern means of communication, the people lived on rumors.
One of the most famous and largest centers of the schism was the famous Solovetsky Monastery, and yet its influence spread throughout the Russian north.
Here is what the head of the schismatics, Archpriest Avvakum, said - “They want to establish the faith with fire, with a whip, and with a gallows!” “Which apostles taught like this? Don't know! My Christ did not order our apostles to teach in such a way as to lead them to faith with fire, with a whip, and with a gallows. Righteous is the wrath of a sincerely believing person, but when I read these words of his, I remembered how they brought primordial, pagan Russia to the Christian faith? Were they not forced to abandon their native Gods by the same methods?! But this is so, just thinking aloud, irrelevant to the case.
But generally speaking, the losses among the population were huge, and it's not just about those killed and executed. How many strong and faithful to the old faith people then went to the outskirts, to the wilderness. Almost dropped out of the economic and military life of the state.
The monolithic country, which had not fully recovered after the Great Troubles, split. A new discord came to Russian soil. A terrible trace left a split in the life of the people. And now, probably, it is not so important what caused it, but this trace has not healed so far.
In fact, there are many Old Believers of various sects among the Russian people today. It's just that they are already accustomed not to advertise themselves, to lead their spiritual life outside of society.
But the ideologists of both the Old Believer and the official Russian Orthodox Church still prefer to keep quiet, not to touch on the economic component of the split in Russia in the 17th century.
In those states where a strong royal power has developed, going towards the national bourgeoisie (for example, in England or France), the Catholic Church was limited in its claims by special decrees and thus saved for a time from destruction. In Germany, for example, where the central government was illusory and the papal curia got the opportunity to manage, as in their fiefdom, the Catholic Church, with its endless extortions and extortions, caused universal hatred, and the obscene behavior of the high priests increased this hatred many times over. Dissatisfaction with the church was shared by almost all classes: the peasants were ruined church tithe and posthumous requisitions, the products of artisans could not compete with the products of monasteries, which were not taxed, the church expanded its land holdings in cities, threatening to turn the townspeople into lifelong debtors. All this, as well as the huge sums of money that the Vatican exported from Germany, and the moral decay of the clergy, led to the speech of Martin Luther, who on October 31, 1517 nailed his “95 theses” to the doors of the Wittenberg Castle Church. In them, the doctor of divinity opposed the sale of indulgences and the power of the Pope to absolve sins. In the teaching he preached, he proclaimed that the church and the clergy are not mediators between man and God. He declared false the claims of the papal church that it can give people through the sacraments "remission of sins" and "salvation of the soul" by virtue of special powers from God with which it is allegedly endowed. The basic proposition put forward by Luther was that a person achieves "salvation of the soul" (or "justification") not through the church and its rites, but with the help of faith given to him directly by God.
The papacy initially showed little concern for his performance. However, expressing support for Jan Hus and distrust church cathedral who condemned him, Luther doomed himself to a curse and a break in relations with the church. The newly elected Holy Roman Emperor Charles V summoned Luther to convince him to renounce his views. Luther was given two days to answer the question of whether he was ready to recant. At the end of the second day, he replied: I'm standing on that. I can't do otherwise. God help me". Luther was outlawed in the territory of the Holy Roman Empire.
The basis for the split and separation of the church was laid by the conflict and dissatisfaction with the church of the population in relation to material infringements and requisitions. But the new class, for the sake of material gain, supported the protest, and this affected the formation of Protestantism. And again, religious reasons in their scale fade into the background compared to the thirst for power and money.
At the moment, the Catholic Church is the largest (in terms of the number of believers) branch of Christianity. As of 2008, there were 1.086 billion Catholics in the world. Their number is constantly increasing due to the growth of the number of believers in Asia, America and Africa, while in Europe the number of Catholics is gradually decreasing.
Catholicism is practiced in almost all countries of the world. It is the main religion in many European countries, and there are about 115 million Catholics in Africa. Until 1917, according to official figures, more than 10 million Catholics lived in the Russian Empire. There are about 300 parishes of the Roman Catholic Church in modern Russia.
Orthodoxy is historically traditionally spread in the Balkans among Greeks, Romanians and Albanians, in Eastern Europe among the Eastern and South Slavic peoples, as well as Georgians, Ossetians, Moldovans and, along with Russians, among some other peoples of the Russian Federation.
In Orthodoxy, there is no single point of view whether to consider the “Latins” as heretics who distorted the Creed by means of an unauthorized later preposition Filioque, or as schismatics who broke away from the One Catholic Apostolic Church. But the Orthodox unanimously reject the dogma of the infallibility of the pope in matters of doctrine and his claims to supremacy over all Christians - at least in the interpretation that is accepted in the modern Roman Church.
Currently, Protestantism is most widespread in the Scandinavian countries, the USA, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Canada, and Switzerland. Protestantism is one of the few religions that is rapidly spreading around the world today. Over the past 30 years, 15-20% of the population of Brazil, 15-25% of the population of Chile, a third of the population of Guatemala, from a quarter to half (according to various estimates) of the population South Korea adopted Protestantism. According to Sabri Khizmetli, a member of the Eurasian Islamic Council of Kazakhstan, over 500,000 Muslims in Central Asia have converted to Protestantism over the past 15 years.
In the course of this work, I have considered the main processes and ways of forming conflicts, as a result of which one of the world religions was divided into three main directions. I found that religious disputes served only as a cover in the way of powerful organizations, hungry for power and money. Thus, the conflict between Pope Leo IX and Patriarch Michael Ceroullarius served as the final division of Christianity into Catholicism and Orthodoxy, on whose territory the former had its sights. And for the rapidly developing bourgeoisie, discontent came in very handy catholic church almost all segments of the population.
Thus, the main aggressor in all conflicts is earthly human greed and a thirst for money. In the course of the description, brief conclusions were made that characterize the stages in the formation of modern religious communities.
In my opinion, sadly, but 7 sins sometimes give rise to very complex and unpredictable consequences. I was convinced once again that no person should forget about the Testaments, even if he is not an ardent Christian. bible and Holy Scriptures underlie the foundations of any of the Christian branches, be it Orthodoxy, Protestantism or Catholicism. These books formulated the basic rules, under which people can live in peace and harmony. And as I now believe, the slightest neglect of them leads to quarrels in any large and friendly family.
We must not forget the simple seven truths that are instilled in us with Mother's milk, on which the Personality grows and the World stands.
1. Kudryavtsev V.V. Lectures on the history of religion and free thought. Tutorial. M., 2007.- 304 p.
2. Polikarpov V.S. History of religions. Lectures and reader. M., 1997.
3. Radugin A.A. Introduction to Religious Studies: Theory, History and modern religions. Lecture course. M., 2006.
4. Chernokozov A.I. History of world culture. Tutorial. Rostov-on-Don, 2004.
5. http://ru.wikipedia.ruElectronic encyclopedia Wikipedia | Categories: World Religions | Christianity
6. http://ru.wikipedia.ru Electronic encyclopedia Wikipedia | Categories: World Religions | Christianity| History of the Roman Catholic Church
7. http://ru.wikipedia.ru Electronic encyclopedia Wikipedia | Categories: World Religions | Christianity| Protestantism
8. http://ru.wikipedia.ru Electronic encyclopedia Wikipedia Categories: Religions of the world | Christianity| Orthodoxy
9. http://www.bible.com.ua/answers/r/19/300304.
Tests
1. Define Christianity.
a) worldview and attitude, as well as appropriate behavior and specific actions (cult), based on the belief in the existence of God or gods, the supernatural.
b) personal trust in God and his word addressed to man (divine revelation).
c) a world religion, the first at the present time in terms of the number of followers (about 494 million) and cultural and historical. its significance and the nations that have accepted it, recognizing itself as a revelation of the One in the Trinity of the True God, the Creator and Provider of the universe, the Savior and Sanctifier of people.
2. Define "Orthodoxy".
a) a religious movement that includes all those Western faiths that do not go beyond Christian tradition but differ from the Roman Catholic tradition.
b) one of the main directions in Christianity. It has gained distribution mainly in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
c) one of the three most common directions in Christianity, which took shape as a result of a split Christian churches in the XI century, having its own church organization, headed by the Pope.
3. In what century did the split in Christianity occur?
4. In what century did the separation of Protestantism occur?
5. What direction in Christianity is most widespread in the Scandinavian countries, USA, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland.
a) orthodoxy
b) Protestantism
c) Catholicism
Testing answers.
