In the 17th century Orthodoxy remained the spiritual and religious basis of Russian society. It determined many aspects of life (from everyday issues to state ones) and interfered in the daily life of both a simple peasant and a noble boyar.

Starting with the rise of the patriarch. In his submission were metropolitans, bishops, archbishops, black monastics and white clergy of villages and cities. A lot has changed over the course of a century. But none of them left such a mark in church history as Patriarch Nikon.

Path to power

The future patriarch was a bright figure from the very beginning. His path to the coveted pulpit is amazing. Nikita Minich (worldly name Nikon) was born in 1605 in the poorest peasant family. He was orphaned early and spent most of his childhood in. Over time, he took the priesthood and first served in the Nizhny Novgorod suburbs, and from 1627 - in Moscow.

After the death of three small children, he persuaded his wife to go to the monastery, and he himself also took tonsure at the age of 30. In 1639, Nikon left the Anzersky skete, left his mentor, the stern elder Eliazar, after which he lived for 4 years as a hermit near. In 1643, he became the mentor of this monastery. In 1646 he went to Moscow on church business. There, the future Patriarch Nikon met Vonifatiev and enthusiastically accepted his program. At the same time, his own mind, views and energy made a strong impression on the king. At the word of Alexei Mikhailovich, Nikon was approved as archimandrite of the Novospassky Monastery, which was the court abode of the Romanovs. From that moment on, his path to the rank of patriarch was swift. He was elected to them 6 years after his arrival in Moscow - in 1652.

Activities of Patriarch Nikon

He himself perceived it much more broadly than a simple transformation of church life, a change in rites and editing books. He strove to return to the foundations of the dogma of Christ and forever establish the place of the priesthood in Orthodoxy. Therefore, his first steps were aimed at improving the moral state of society.

The patriarch initiated the issuance of a decree that prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages in the city on fasting days and holidays. It was especially forbidden to sell vodka to priests and monks. Only one drinking house was allowed for the whole city. For foreigners, in whom Patriarch Nikon saw the bearers of Protestantism and Catholicism, a German settlement was built on the banks of the Yauza, where they were evicted. This is about social change. There is also a need for reform within the church. It was associated with differences in the rites of Russian and Eastern Orthodoxy. Also, this issue had political significance, so at that time the struggle for Ukraine began.

Church reforms of Patriarch Nikon

They can be summarized in a few paragraphs:

1. Editing of biblical texts and other books that are used during worship. This innovation resulted in a change in some of the wording of the Creed.
2. From now on, the sign of the Cross should be made up of three fingers, and not of two, as before. Small earthly prostrations were also cancelled.
3. Also, Patriarch Nikon ordered to conduct religious processions not in the direction of the Sun, but against it.
4. Triple pronunciation of the exclamation "Hallelujah!" replaced double.
5. Instead of seven prosphora, five were used for proskomedia. The inscription on them has also changed.

Patriarch Nikon, one of the largest and most powerful figures in Russian history, was born in May 1605 in the village of Veldemanovo, Nizhny Novgorod district, to the peasant Mina.

At an early age, he lost his mother, spent all his childhood under the unbearable yoke of his stepmother. By nature, very gifted, he learned to read and write at home. Reading books led him to an ascetic life. At the age of twelve, he went to the Makaryev Zheltovodsky Monastery. But soon his relatives called him into the world and forced him to marry. But the family life of Father Nikita was not happy. Overnight, he lost all his children. Considering this event as a sign from above, Nikita decides to return to monastic life. According to him, his wife goes to the Alekseev Monastery, and Nikita himself goes to the White Sea to the Anzersky Skete. Soon, the founder and rector of the skete, the Monk Eleazar, tonsured the thirty-year-old Nikita into monasticism under the name Nikon (this was of no small importance, since Nikita means "conquering", and Nikon - "winner"). Nikon became one of the close and beloved students of Eleazar, but over time, disagreements arose between the mentor and the student, and in 1635 Nikon was removed from the Anzersky Skete. After long wanderings, he stops at the Kozheozersk monastery, where he becomes abbot. On business of the monastery in 1646, Nikon came to Moscow. Then Nikon met with the young tsar, whom she made a huge impression on. An extraordinary mind, a bright look at objects, natural eloquence, a stately appearance could not go unnoticed. The rapprochement of the tsar with Nikon continued, and after Nikon pacified the rebellion in 1650, the tsar's love for Nikon increased significantly.

How can one explain the extraordinary disposition of young Romanov towards the abbot of a deaf monastery, the muzhik's son Nikon? Undoubtedly, the personal qualities of the tsar and Nikon played a big role. Brought up in the spirit of "ancient piety", from childhood surrounded by deeply religious people, Alexei was deeply religious. For such a person, the circumstance that both of them, the tsar and Nikon, were the spiritual children of the same father, the Anzer hermit Eleazar, was of particular importance.

As for Nikon, he is. Having passed the hard school of life, which tempered his outstanding nature. He became one of those bright people who, once seen, are hard to forget. Years of silence accumulated in his soul a huge supply of spiritual energy. However, the location of the king to Nikon is explained not only by personal motives. Nikon appeared in Moscow just in time - there was a moment when the demand for outstanding people from among the clergy was very high. Even during the reign of Mikhail Romanov, the idea spread in the highest circles of the need for a thorough "cleansing" of the ranks of the clergy, the introduction of a "dean", uniform worship. Increasing the authority of the church, which was greatly shaken in the first half of the seventeenth century, was a necessary part of the work to strengthen the feudal statehood as a whole. It was of great importance for strengthening the position of the new dynasty. So, when the elderly Patriarch Joseph died, it is not surprising that Nikon became his successor. Accession to the patriarchal throne provided Nikon with the means to develop his transforming spirit in serving the truth and the good of the church and fatherland.

Under Nikon, patriarchal power increased to the highest degree. During the war of the Muscovite state for Little Russia, going on a campaign, the tsar entrusted the patriarch, as his closest friend, with his family, his capital, and instructed him to oversee justice and the course of affairs in orders. Everyone was afraid of Nikon, nothing important was done without his advice and blessing. He not only called himself the "great sovereign", but during the absence of Alexei Mikhailovich, as the supreme ruler of the state, he wrote letters in which he expressed himself as follows: "The sovereign, the tsar, the Grand Duke of All Russia Alexei Mikhailovich, and we, the Great sovereign." The patriarch was a real, and not nominal only "great sovereign", he surrounded himself with royal pomp and grandeur. He built himself a new palace, using all the means of that art to decorate cathedrals and splendor of worship. Nikon was afraid of the boyars themselves, whom he denounced without any hesitation, acting autocratically with them. The patriarch, using his rich funds, increased his house almshouses, distributed rich manual alms, and made donations to prisons. At different times he founded three monasteries, the most famous of which is New Jerusalem in the vicinity of Moscow.

From the very first days of being in power, Nikon did not behave in the way that many of his former associates expected. He severed all ties with them, did not even order them to be allowed into the waiting room of his patriarchal palace.

But it was not so much a personal offense as fundamental considerations that turned many "zealots of piety" into irreconcilable enemies of the new patriarch. Effective measures were expected from Nikon aimed at strengthening the internal order, unifying books and rituals. And the patriarch set about correcting church orders, but not according to ancient Russian (as the "zealots" expected), but according to ancient Greek, believing that this would help turn the Russian Church into the center of world Christianity and oppose "Latinism" (Catholicism).

However, Nikon's reforming fervor soon began to fade away. The main thing for him was his own exclusive position in the state. Nikon was inspired by the image of Patriarch Filaret, who possessed not only church, but also the highest state power. In his claims to unlimited power, Nikon felt the support of the higher clergy, who were greatly annoyed by government measures aimed at limiting the privileges and incomes of the church (according to the Council Code of 1649, all urban "white" settlements and courtyards of monasteries passed into the hands of the state, and churches the acquisition of new land was prohibited). Like many hierarchs, Nikon was dissatisfied with the decisions of the Code. He believed that his main task was to subjugate the tsar and the boyars, to stop the advance of the state on the positions of the church.

Rapidly, and as if for no reason, ascending from the very bottom of society to the pinnacle of power, Nikon lost his sense of reality. He did not want to understand that he owed his dizzying career not so much to his personal qualities as to the types of boyars who needed him as an energetic reformer of church life. Circumstances for quite a long time favored the development of Nikon's lust for power. In connection with the war with the Commonwealth, the tsar was absent from Moscow for a long time, and the patriarch practically turned out to be the head of state. However, having returned to the capital as a victorious warrior, the tsar no longer wanted to be under the constant care of the patriarch. The discontent of the sovereign was kindled by numerous enemies of Nikon himself and his reforms.

In the summer of 1658, signs of an imminent disgrace to the patriarch became noticeable. He was no longer invited to solemn royal dinners, the boyars began to offend his servants, the king stopped attending patriarchal services. The final break occurred on July 10, 1658, when the tsar, despite numerous invitations from Nikon, did not appear at the cathedral. In the eyes of the patriarch, this was a direct insult to the patriarchate, as a spiritual authority, which he placed above the royal. In response to the royal disgrace, Nikon took his own measures, hasty and imprudent.

The voluntary departure of Nikon from the patriarchal throne was an unprecedented event and was perceived tragically in society. But the reconciliation expected by Nikon after his demonstrative departure and seclusion in the monastery did not follow. The king accepted his resignation with indecent haste. Nikon. Thinking only to scare Alexei Mikhailovich, he tried to return his post, but it was too late. And at the Council of 1666, the patriarch was defrocked and exiled to a remote monastery.

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Nikon (in the world Nikita Minich) was born in 1605, in the family of a peasant in the village of Veldemanovo (now the Nizhny Novgorod region, Perevozsky district). As a young man, Nikita went to the Makariev Zheltovodsky Monastery. In a few years he will become a priest. Shocked by the death of his children, he convinces his wife to go to the monastery, and he himself takes monastic vows on the White Lake, in the Anzersky skete, under the name of Nikon. In 1642, Nikon moved to the Kozheozersk hermitage and soon became its abbot. From 1646, he became known to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, at whose request he was soon appointed archimandrite of the Moscow Novospassky Monastery. In 1648 Nikon became Metropolitan of Novgorod.

In 1652, Nikon transported the relics of the holy Metropolitan Philip to Moscow from the Solovetsky Monastery (Comm. 23 December SS). At this time, Patriarch Joseph dies in Moscow, and Nikon is elected his successor.

Even under Patriarch Joseph, in order to streamline church life, a circle of zealots was formed in Moscow, with the tsar's confessor Stefan Vonifatyev at the head. The views of the zealots were also shared by Nikon. The tsar himself, adjoining the zealots in the general formulation of the problem, had, however, a special look at the method of its implementation, since he was inclined to attach political significance to church reform. Alexei Mikhailovich considered it necessary to have a close unity of the Russian Church with the Greek and Little Russian ones, and, in his opinion, this could be achieved by harmonizing Russian church practice with Greek models.

The tsar and the patriarch were bound by true friendship. While still an archimandrite, Nikon went to the king's palace every Friday, and they sat up for a long time in a frank conversation; The king often visited him himself. When Nikon became patriarch, the tsar sometimes spent whole days with him in suburban monasteries.

Nikon's first important order, and at the same time the beginning of church reform, was the order (in 1653) to "create in the church" instead of "throwing on the knee" bows "to the waist" and to be baptized "with three fingers." Convened by Patriarch Nikon in 1654, the council decided to correct the liturgical books according to ancient manuscripts. The Council of 1656 approved Nikon's missal and cursed those who were baptized with two fingers.

Nikon's opponents set the tsar against the patriarch. Nikon resigned his dignity and left for the Resurrection Monastery. At the cathedral held in Moscow in 1666, Nikon was sentenced to deprivation of dignity and exiled to the Ferapontov Monastery, and then to a more difficult conclusion - to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich decides to transfer Nikon to the Resurrection Monastery, and at the same time intercedes with the Eastern patriarchs for Nikon's permission and for his restoration to patriarchal dignity. The permit did not find Nikon alive: he died on the way, in Yaroslavl, on August 17, 1681, and was buried in the Resurrection Monastery as a patriarch.

Born near Nizhny Novgorod in the family of a Mordovian (Mari?) peasant and a Russian mother, he learned to read and write from a parish priest.

They came to look at a literate Mordovian boy from a hundred miles away - what a marvel.

Until the age of 30, Nikita Minin lived in the world, served as a parish priest in the village of Lyskovo, and in 1626, for his erudition, Moscow merchants transported him and his family to Moscow.

After the death of the children in 1635, Nikita's wife took the vows in the Moscow Alekseevsky monastery, and Minin himself - in the Anzersky skete of the Solovetsky monastery.

In the Kozheozersky monastery in 1643 he was elected abbot and, according to the custom of that time, went to introduce himself to the king.

Alexei Mikhailovich left him in Moscow as archimandrite of the Novospassky Monastery.

Nikon quickly entered the circle of "zealots of piety" close to the monarch, whose members were the archpriest of the Annunciation Cathedral, confessor of the Tsar Stefan, the archpriest of the Kazan Cathedral Ivan Neronov and the boyar Fyodor Mikhailovich Rtishchev, a truly remarkable person.

A Christian philanthropist, one of the very few laymen about whom lives were compiled (“The Life of the Gracious Husband Fyodor, with the title of Rtishchev”). He, being a major statesman, built hospitals, schools, hospices, redeemed Russians from the Crimean slavery and, a truly unheard of business, kept foreign prisoners, sympathizing with their plight, for which he was forced to sell his property.

Nature is mother! When would such people

You sometimes did not send to the world,

The field of life would have died out ...

Nikon became the closest adviser to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, not only on church, but also on political affairs; in 1649 Nikon was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan of Novgorod and Velikolutsky.

In 1652 Patriarch Joseph died; Stefan refused the patriarchal throne, knowing that the tsar wants to see Nikon as patriarch.

Nikon came up with the idea of ​​transferring the relics of St. Philip to the capital, and in front of the tomb of the martyr, the tsar offered Nikon the dignity and staff of the patriarch.

The fantastic fate of the Mordovian peasant son.

The tsar and the people swore allegiance to Nikon "to listen to him in everything, like a boss, and a shepherd and a father" ...

The following year, 1653, Nikon began a church reform, the purpose of which was to streamline the rites, correct errors and gag in liturgical books.

In 1654, the council of the clergy decided "on a new right", that is, the correction of church books according to Greek models.

However, this contradicted the belief, rooted in the people, of the superiority of Russian piety over Greek, especially after the signing by Constantinople of the Union of Florence in 1439, which recognized the primacy of the papacy over Greek Orthodoxy and the dogma of the filioque.

The former supporters of Nikon, Archpriest Avvakum Petrov and Archpriest Ivan Neronov, opposed the reform.

A church schism took place, the tsar and most of the believers supported Nikon, the opponents of the patriarch called themselves Old Believers, they adhered to two-fingered, old-printed books and other ancient rituals and rules.

Nikon founded several monasteries, of which the Resurrection New Jerusalem on the Istra River became the most remarkable.

Nikon tried to recreate the shrines of Palestine in the center of Russia, pilgrimages to which for the Russians were a difficult and rare feat at that time.

And forty miles from Moscow, the Zion, Olivet and Tabor hills appeared, Istra became the Jordan, they dug a new channel - Kedron.

Like a mirage, the huge dome of the Resurrection Cathedral shining from afar, a copy of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where the disgraced patriarch rested in the northern aisle, appears like a mirage among the humble Russian fields.

Nikon argued that "the priesthood is higher than the kingdom" - the papal principle, the king listened, kept quiet, but shook his head.

Having first met the tsar's obvious displeasure, in 1658 Nikon retired to the Resurrection New Jerusalem Monastery. He was sure that the tsar would send for him, he would yearn for his "friend", but the tsar, cautious and secretive, did not return Nikon.

The Great Moscow Cathedral of 1666, with the participation of the two Eastern Patriarchs Paisius of Alexandria and Macarius of Antioch, deprived Nikon not only of the patriarchal, but also of the episcopal dignity and exiled to the Ferapontov Belozersky Monastery, and then under strict supervision to the Kirillovo - Belozersky Monastery.

Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich (1676-1682) allowed Nikon to return to New Jerusalem, but on the way to the last limit, the former patriarch died at the walls of the Yaroslavl Kremlin.

The otpet was Nikon at the insistence of Tsar Fedor at the patriarchal rank.

In the capital of Mordovia, Saransk, in 2006, a monument to Nikon was opened and consecrated by Patriarch Alexy II.

Bibliography:

Zyzykin M.V. Patriarch Nikon. His state and canonical ideas. T.I-III. Warsaw, 1931-1938.

Kapterev N.F. Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. T. 1-2. M., 1996

Patriarch Nikon: the tragedy of the Russian schism (collection of articles). M., 2006

Patriarch Nikon - Archpriest Avvakum. M., 1997

Sevastyanova S.K. Materials for the Chronicle of the Life and Literary Activities of Patriarch Nikon. SPb., 2003

Nikon was elected Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia in July 1652 at the age of 47. He gave his consent to become patriarch only after the clergy, boyars and even the tsar swore to him loyalty and obedience.

Patriarch Nikon actively engaged in reforms. However, it soon turned out that, unlike the tsar, the patriarch viewed them as part of a grander plan - the creation of the Greek-Russian Orthodox Empire, a new universal theocracy. If at one time Elder Philotheus and his followers assigned the leading role in such a project to the Grand Duke of Moscow (later the Tsar), then Nikon proceeded from the idea of ​​the priority of spiritual power.

Nikon's church reform was aimed at correcting liturgical books according to Greek models and establishing uniformity in church services. The reform affected the essential elements of ritual: the two-fingered sign of the cross was replaced with a three-fingered one, instead of "Jesus" they began to write "Jesus", along with the eight-pointed cross they began to recognize the four-pointed. "Hallelujah" began to be sung three times, not twice, religious processions - not led from left to right, but vice versa. The reform provoked a protest from a part of the clergy headed by Archpriest Avvakum. The protest, later called a split, found support among the peasants, boyars, and archers. The opponents of the reform were anathematized at the Council of 1666-1667. and were severely repressed. The ruling Church began to call the schismatics "Old Believers" or "Old Believers", they themselves began to call themselves "Old Orthodox".

Nikon spoke out against the attempts of the state to limit the property and judicial prerogatives of the Church. Not being able to cancel the decrees of the Zemsky Sobor of 1648-1649, the patriarch simply ignored them. He considered the Council Code of 1649 a demonic, lawless book.

Even more resolutely, the patriarch rejected the interference of secular authorities in internal church affairs. If earlier bishops were appointed only by royal decree, now he began to do it on his own, as well as to judge them.

Nikon sought to establish the idea of ​​the Russian Church as the center of world Orthodoxy. Not far from Moscow, on the banks of the Istra River, he built the Resurrection Monastery and gave it the pretentious name - "New Jerusalem". A temple was erected in the monastery, which is a copy of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Five thrones were installed in the altar of the temple - for five Orthodox patriarchs (Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem and Russia). At the same time, the throne of the patriarch of the Russian Church occupied a central place among them. People of different nationalities were accepted into the monastic brethren of the monastery.

Not allowing the state to interfere in the affairs of the Church, Nikon, in accordance with his theocratic convictions, actively interfered in state affairs himself. In the absence of the tsar, he became the de facto head of the government and decided current civil and military affairs. The commission of the Boyar Duma, which monitored the activities of the orders, was itself under the control of the patriarch. In the verdicts (resolutions) on cases, the formula was adopted: "... the most holy patriarch pointed out, and the boyars were sentenced." Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, who favored Nikon, gave him the title of Great Sovereign, which at one time was worn only by Patriarch Filaret.

However, the period of Nikon's steep ascent was short-lived. With his arrogance and rigidity, he alienated a lot of people both in the Church and in state structures. Tsar Alexei began to be weighed down by the lust for power of his "common friend". The failure of the Swedish military campaign (1656), to which Nikon persuaded him, added negative feelings towards him. In July 1658 there was an open conflict.

On the feast of the Deposition of the Lord's Robe, Alexei did not come to Matins at the Assumption Cathedral, but after it he sent the boyar Yuri Romodanovsky to the Patriarch, who declared: “The Royal Majesty is angry with you. Therefore, he didn’t come to Matins, he didn’t order him to wait for the Liturgy either. You neglected the royal majesty and are written as the Great Sovereign, and we have one Great Sovereign - the Tsar. The Royal Majesty honored you as a father and shepherd, but you did not understand. And now the Royal Majesty ordered to tell you that henceforth you would not be written and called the Great Sovereign, and you will no longer be honored "(Quoted from: Lebedev L. Patriarchal Moscow. P. 117).

Nikon was a man of sudden movements. After the liturgy, he wrote a letter to the tsar right in the altar, then, in great excitement and tears, he turned to those present: "From now on, I will not be your patriarch ..." - and left the cathedral. Through the Spassky Gate, with a stick in his hand, he left the Kremlin and went on foot to his courtyard. For three days, Nikon waited for a signal from the king to reconcile, but in vain. On the fourth day he left for the New Jerusalem Monastery.

A long period of uncertainty began. Nikon was not involved in the affairs of church administration, nominally remaining a patriarch. In 1660, the Church Council found him guilty of arbitrarily leaving the patriarchate, failure to fulfill his pastoral duty, and decided to elect a new patriarch. However, as it turned out, according to the canonical rules, the Council of Russian Bishops was not competent to decide the issue of depriving Nikon of the patriarchate, since his election was approved by all the eastern patriarchs.

It was only at the end of 1666 that a new Council with the participation of the patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch was organized. The tsar himself made accusations against Nikon. He was charged with unauthorized abandonment of the chair, an insult to the royal power, the Russian Church and the entire flock. On December 12, 1666, the verdict was announced: Nikon was deprived of the rank of patriarch. As a simple monk, he was sent under guard to the Ferapontov Monastery.

Church under the closest successors of Nikon (1667-1690)

The Council did not limit itself to condemning Nikon. His work continued until the summer of 1667. Participation in the Council of the Eastern Patriarchs gave special authority to the decisions made. The correction of old books and rites was approved; a decision was made obliging the clergy to perform divine services according to new books; the decrees of the Stoglavy Cathedral of 1551 were invalidated. The council obtained the consent of the king to abolish the jurisdiction of the clergy to the secular authorities and the liquidation of the Monastic order, which, however, was carried out only 10 years later.

At the Council, the discussion, which began even under Nikon, continued on the relationship between spiritual and secular power - "priesthood" and "kingdom". The Eastern participants in the Council proposed a compromise formula corresponding to the Byzantine ideal: the tsar has the advantage in civil matters, the patriarch in church matters. But the king did not agree to a compromise, and the discussion did not receive a final resolution.

Thus, the Cathedral, to a large extent, carried out the program tasks that Nikon set. Even on the question of "priesthood" and "kingdom" the Russian clergy took a Proneconian position.

Patriarchy of Nikon's successors - Joasaph(1667-1672) and Pitirim(1672-1673) - nothing significant was noted. Joasaph, the former archimandrite of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, an elderly and quiet man, sought only to fulfill the decisions of the Council of 1666-1667. Pitirim, who during the years of Nikon's disgrace conducted only the current affairs of the patriarchate, himself stayed on the patriarchal throne for only a few months. He was replaced Joachim (1674-1690).

Having experienced internal upheavals associated with liturgical and ritual reforms and Nikon's conflict with Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the Church entered the last third of the 17th century. relatively pacified and consolidated. Over the previous decades, it was enriched with new temples and monasteries. In the 1680s in the country there were about 15 thousand churches (including more than 150 in Siberia) and about 1200 monasteries. At the end of the century, the clergy numbered up to 100 thousand people.

At the same time, the need to strengthen church discipline, monitor the morality of the clergy, and suppress heretical movements required the development of a system of church government, bringing it closer to parish life. In this regard, twice - at the Councils of 1667 and 1682. - at the initiative of the king, the question was raised of increasing the number of dioceses, mainly due to the disaggregation of existing ones, which, due to their size, were difficult to manage. However, since the fragmentation of the dioceses would lead to a restriction of the power of the ruling bishops and would cause them material damage, the bishops and the patriarch sought to minimize such projects. By the beginning of the XVIII century. there were only 23 dioceses, while it was supposed to form 72.