Ancient Orthodox Church in the 20th century. The meaning of the Russian Old Orthodox Church in the Orthodox Encyclopedia tree

Meaning RUSSIAN ANCIENT ORTHODOX CHURCH in the Orthodox Encyclopedia Tree

RUSSIAN ANCIENT ORTHODOX CHURCH

Open Orthodox Encyclopedia "TREE".

Russian Old Orthodox Church ("Novozybkovskaya hierarchy"), one of the Old Believer organizations of the priestly persuasion.

The basis for the Old Orthodox Church was the Beglopopovtsy, who did not accept the Belokrinitsky hierarchy. A significant part of them in 1923 recognized as their head the Saratov Renovationist Archbishop Nikolai (Pozdnev), who had passed to them.

In September 1929, Stefan (Rastorguev), Bishop of Sverdlovsk, joined them. Literally a few days later, Bishops Nikola and Stefan already consecrated the new Bishop Pansofius.

Since 1923, the head of the newly formed church was called the Archbishop of Moscow, Saratov and All Russia of Old Orthodox Christians.

Initially, the center of the church was in Saratov. In 1924, it was moved to Moscow (at the Nikolsky Church at the Rogozhsky cemetery), and in 1955 to Kuibyshev (Samara), and finally in 1963 to Novozybkov (Bryansk region), which is why the church is often called the Novozybkovskaya archdiocese.

The Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior in Novozybkov was closed only in 1938, and in 1943, during the German occupation, divine services resumed in it and never stopped.

On March 3, 2002, the Council of the Old Orthodox Church ended, at which a decision was made to restore the patriarchate. Archbishop of Novozybkovsky, Moscow and All Russia Alexander (Kalinin) was elevated to the rank of patriarch with the title "Old Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia".

primates

Statistics

50 communities, 9 bishops (including on the territory of Romania, under which 5 parishes are subordinate), 9 episcopal chairs: the archbishop of Novozybkovsky, Moscow and all Russia, the bishop of Perm, the bishop of Volgograd and Saratov, the bishop of Tulchinsky and all Romania, the bishop of Gomel and all Belarus, Bishop of Moscow, Bishop of the Urals, Samara and Orenburg, Bishop of Kursk and all Ukraine, Bishop of Buryatia and the entire Far East.

There is a Higher Old Orthodox Theological School (Novozybkov, Bryansk region, Pervomaiskaya st., 7).

Adherents of the Church live in Central Russia, in the Middle Volga region, in Western Siberia, Transbaikalia, in the Krasnodar Territory, in Romania and in Georgia.

The Moscow community has 6 functioning churches. In 1990, the Moscow church of St. Nicholas on Zatsepa (not far from the Paveletsky railway station) was handed over to Novozybkovites, where the chair of the ancient Orthodox patriarch was located.

Used materials

http://www.ortho-rus.ru/cgi-bin/or_file.cgi?1_4322

http://edinoverec.narod.ru/staroobrad/2.html

TREE - open Orthodox encyclopedia: http://drevo.pravbeseda.ru

About the project | Chronology | Calendar | Customer

Orthodox Encyclopedia Tree. 2012

Church history

The basis of the Old Orthodox Church was originally made up of Beglopopovtsy. This is part of the Old Believers who accepted the priesthood, passing from the New Believer Church. However, they did not recognize the Belokrinitskaya hierarchy.

In 1923, the majority of the members of the Old Orthodox Church recognized Archbishop Nikola of Saratov as their head. His contemporaries noted that the already aged monk Nikola quite unexpectedly switched to the Renovationists. Many even believed that he became disillusioned with the Renovationists about a year later, but did not return to the Russian Orthodox Church, but went over to the Old Believers.

In 1929, another well-known clergyman, Bishop Irginsky, joined the Old Orthodox Church.

Center of Old Believers

Initially, the center of the Russian Old Orthodox Church was in Saratov, in 1924 it moved to Moscow. He began to be based at the Nikolskaya Church on

In 1938, the cathedral in Novozybkov was closed. Divine services in it resumed only during the years of German occupation. Since then, they have not stopped. But still, in 1955, the center of the Old Believers, to whom this article is dedicated, returned to Saratov.

Pressure from the authorities

The history of the Old Orthodox Church tells about a period of difficult relations with the official church and the authorities. The Soviets had a negative attitude towards any religious organizations, the Old Orthodox were no exception.

In the late 50s, a massive anti-religious campaign began, initiated by Khrushchev. One of the negative results of this was the aggravation of sentiments among the fugitives themselves.

As a result, in 1962, Bishop Epiphanius retired, citing ill health and advanced age. New was Jeremiah, who moved the center to the Bryansk region.

After Khrushchev's persecution, about 20 parishes of the Old Orthodox Church remained. Mostly in Samara, Volsk, Novozybkov and Kursk.

Since 1988, the church began to rank among the saints. This honor was awarded to Andrei Rublev, Patriarch Hermogenes, Archpriest Avvakum.

Modern Old Orthodoxy

An important event in ancient Orthodoxy took place in 1990. Then the Moscow community was given the Pokrovsky Cathedral, which is located in Zamoskvorechye. Since then, it has become the main metropolitan temple of this offshoot of the Old Believers.

In 1999 there was a split in the church. Some of the laity did not agree with the official qualification, considering it identical to the one offered by the Russian Orthodox Church. Because of this disagreement, a separate association was formed, which is officially called Drevle Orthodox Church Russia. It is headed by Bishop Apollinaris. Modern Old Orthodoxy is experiencing an outflow of parishioners, in recent years there have been fewer and fewer of them.

In 2002, at a special Council, it was decided to restore the patriarchate in the Old Orthodox Church. Archbishop Alexander became Patriarch. Since then, his residence has been located in Moscow.

Interestingly, in 2010, several hierarchs of the Provisional Higher Church Administration of the Russian Orthodox Church joined the Russian Old Orthodox Church. They renounced the heresies they previously professed, including the ecumenical and "Nikonian" heresies.

Relations with other faiths

Officially, the Moscow Patriarchate of Russia does not recognize the patriarchal title of rector of the Old Orthodox Church. In documents, he is referred to exclusively as an archbishop.

An active dialogue between the two confessions has been going on since 2008. Since then, representatives of the two churches have met three times for negotiations. In 2013, the next meeting was supposed to take place, but representatives of the Old Orthodox Church did not come to it. And soon they adopted a resolution at the Council, in which they announced that negotiations with the Russian Orthodox Church had not brought any result, had reached a dead end and had lost any constructiveness. Therefore, they consider it inappropriate to continue them.

The Old Orthodox are in dialogue with the Russian Orthodox. In particular, they cooperate in the field of book publishing and constantly exchange liturgical experience.

Cathedral of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin

Since 2000, it is in this cathedral that the patriarch of the described is based in the capital at the address: Novokuznetskaya street, house 38.

Active construction of Old Believer churches began in Russia after 1905. It was then that a manifesto on religious tolerance came out. Moscow is no exception. The land plot on which this temple is located today was acquired by Fyodor Morozov in 1908. In the same year, on October 12, the foundation stone of the church was laid. The local Old Believer community began to look forward to the completion of construction.

The architect Desyatov worked on the building project. In total, 100 thousand rubles were required for these works. The grand opening of the temple took place in 1910. The first priest to conduct services was Mikhail Volkov, who had previously worked in the Polezhaevs' home church, which was located on Luzhnetskaya Street. Over the next 20 years, prayer meetings of adherents of the Old Believers were regularly organized here.

In the early 1930s, Ferapont Lazarev, deacon of the Intercession Cathedral, was arrested. He was accused of counter-revolutionary activities, which he led in the Old Believer group. March 2, 1931 he was shot. Soon the Soviet government finally closed the church. The last service took place in May 1932.

After that, the building housed a department of OSOAVIAKhIM, the predecessor of the modern DOSAAF. In the 70s, Metrostroy began to be based.

Only after the collapse Soviet Union The building was returned to the Russian Old Orthodox Church. This happened in 1990. In 2000, the department of the primate moved from Novozybkov.

Ancient Orthodox Pomeranian Church

An important role in Russia is occupied by the Old Believer Pomor community of the Old Orthodox Pomor Church. Today it is the largest religious association of the Old Believers of the Pomeranian consent.

The beginning of this spiritual center was laid in 1694. Then a men's monastery was founded on the river Vyg. In 1706, a women's shop appeared in Leksinsk.

They became famous for compiling the famous Pomeranian answers, which became the actual basis for the defense of Ancient Orthodoxy. TO XIX century Pomeranian communities have become a key economic center in the north of the country.

Community today

The modern history of the community dates back to 1989. Then the Russian Council of the Old Orthodox Church was created.

In 2006, the All-Russian Council was held, which became the first since 1912. According to official data, 50 religious organizations related to the Old Orthodox Church are now registered in Russia. About 200 more similar groups and communities exist without registration. At least 250 more communities operate outside the country.

Public organizations operate under the Old Orthodox Church. Magazines and other periodicals are published, children's and youth summer camps are held. There are even religious schools in St. Petersburg and Riga, where seminarians study every year.

"Themes"

Primate - Patriarch Alexander (in the world Avdey Diomidovich Kalinin)

Episcopate "Russian Old Orthodox Church"

1. Barnabas (Yedigarev)
Bishop of Belebeevsky and All Bashkiria (2001-2005), Bishop of Volga (2005), Bishop of Ural (2005-

5. German (Saveliev)
Bishop of Belebeevsky and All Bashkiria
(1996-2001), Bishop of Perm (2002 - November 2003), ep.
Azovo-Chernomorsky (November 2003 - December 25, 2004) (moved to RSPTs)

6. Grigory (Kornilov)
Bishop of Samara (Kuibyshev) and Orenburg (April 26, 1969 - June 27, 1992)

7. Daniel
Bishop Gorodetsky (1937-1938)

9. Eumenius (Titov)
Bishop of Tulchinsky and All Romania (1990-2000)

10. Eusebius (Samartsev)
Bishop of Belebeevsky and Beloretsky, then Perm (June 13, 1953 - July 3, 1964) and Kursk (1964-1968)

11. Epiphany (Abramov)
Bishop of Samara (Kuibyshev) and Orenburg (May 26, 1950 - November 5, 1955)

12. Elijah (Morozov)
Bishop Gorodetsky (October 1938-1938/39)

15. Joseph (Zolotukhin)
Bishop of Gomel and All Belarus and Ukraine (1996-

16. Irinarkh (Chulkov)
ep. Orenburg (1987-1988), bishop. Kamyshinsky and Volgogradsky (1988-1999)

17. Jacob (Barclay)
Bishop of Zion and All Western Europe, (spring 2005 -)

18. Leo (Bobylev)
Bishop of Samara (Kuibyshev) and Orenburg (1996-2001) (S. and Kursk) (was banned, died in July 2005)

20. Macarius
Bishop of Grozny

23. Pavel
Bishop of Samara (Kuibyshev) and Orenburg (1944-1946)

24. Pavel (Mashinin)
Bishop of Poti and Azov-Black Sea (November 26, 1966 - July 27, 1969)

25. Pavel (Nosov)
Bishop Gorodetsky (December 1933-1937) (arrested)

27. Pansofiy (Ivliya
c) Bishop of Rostov-on-Don and Kursk (September 18, 1929 - April 15, 1933) (arrested)

28. Savin (Tikhov)
Bishop of Volga (October 30, 2005 - December 23, 2008), Nizhnevolzhsky (since December 23, 2008)

32. Filaret (Kharlamov)
Bishop of Sverdlovsk (January 1930-1937)

33. Theodore (Shashin)
Bishop Volsky (1934-1937)

"News"

Visit of the Primate of the Russian Old Orthodox Church Patriarch Alexander to Italy

On the
meeting with the President of Buryatia Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn, Patriarch
Alexander emphasized the importance of the republic in the process of revival and
further development of ancient Orthodoxy. Patriarch Alexander -
Primate of the Russian Old Orthodox Church. "On this earth lives
about a million Old Believers, he noted. - Not everyone goes to
church, but many are already turning their attention to faith"
link: http://samstar.ucoz.ru/news/drevlepravoslavnyj

Patriarch of the Russian Old Orthodox Church Alexander met with the Governor of the Bryansk region

16
August Governor of the Bryansk region Nikolai Denin met with
Primate of the Russian Old Orthodox Church Patriarch Alexander,
the press service of the regional administration.
link: http://www.nita-press.de/news/a-1696.html

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexander visits Sterlitamak

13
January the Old Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow arrived in Sterlitamak and
All Russia Alexander. He took part in the consecration of the temple of the Old Believers in
honor of Basil the Great.
link: http://sterlegrad.ru/str/

Old Orthodox Patriarch Alexander (Kalinin) held a theological dialogue in Greece with the hierarchs of Old Calendar jurisdictions

FROM
paid an official visit to Greece in the second half of October
Primate of the Russian Old Orthodox Church (RDC) Patriarch of Moscow
and All Russia Alexander (Kalinin). According to the correspondent
"Portal-Credo.Ru", October 17-20, the Patriarch headed the official
theological dialogue with representatives of the Metropolia of Mesogeia and Lavreotika
True Orthodox Church of Greece, also known as "Kirikovskaya
branch of the Matthew hierarchy.
link: http://www.staroobrad.ru/modules.php?

Another Patriarch of Moscow appeared in the country

"His Holiness and Beatitude the Old Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow and
of all Russia" became known as the head of the Russian Old Orthodox Church
(also known as Novozybkovskaya Archdiocese) Archbishop Alexander
(Kalinin), reports "Blagovest-info". As reported in the circulated
Novozybkovskaya Archdiocese of an official communication, such a decision was
adopted at the last in early March of this year in Novozybkovo
Consecrated Cathedral.
link: http://www.newsru.com/religy/18may2002/altglaeubiger_patriarch.html

Chapter
Buryatia Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn met with the Head of the Russian
Old Orthodox Church Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexander

The head of the Russian Old Orthodox Church shared his impressions of visiting the places of compact residence of the family.
link:

The February Revolution became a significant event in the life of the Old Believers. Old Orthodox Christians accepted it with the hope that the times of violence against conscience and faith will become a thing of the past. The newly created Provisional Government announced its intention to remove all restrictions on the activities of the ancient Orthodox Church.

In April 1917, an extraordinary congress of the Old Believers of the Belokrinitsky hierarchy was held. Its resolution spoke of the need to establish a fundamentally new relationship between the Church and the state: “The Church cannot be in the service of state power, the Church must renounce all inclinations towards dominance, must renounce the financial support of the state ... Complete separation of the Church from the state and freedom of religious groups located in Russia will serve only for the good, greatness and prosperity of free Russia.

In the summer of 1917, the religious situation became more complicated. Contrary to initial statements, the Provisional Government again took a course in support of the dominant confession. A ministry of confessions was formed, in which the posts of the minister and both of his deputies were occupied by members of the synodal church.

The government issued a decree, which confirmed "the former ruling institutions of the Russian Church, to the establishment of which the state power attached the seal of its sanction." Thus, the pre-revolutionary order of religious organization was preserved, albeit temporarily. To the questions of the Old Believers about the reasons for abandoning the principle of equidistance of confessions from power, the Minister for Confessions A.V. Kartashev replied that, being Russian, national, the government should treat the synodal church as "historically superior among other confessions in the Russian state."

In the autumn of 1917, a deep government crisis erupted in the country. Under the pressure of the radical left forces, the Provisional Government fell, and the Bolsheviks came to power.

In November 1917, Bishop Alexander (Bogatenkov) wrote to Bishop Philaret of Kazan-Vyatka (Parshikov): “Yes, the Bolsheviks are doing so many troubles that great Russia is becoming a poor “dispersion”, from the “dispersion of peoples” that made it up: Finland is separated, Latvia, Ukraine, Caucasus, Crimea, Don, Siberia, and maybe the Volga and so on and so forth.

Immediately after the October events, the closure of ancient Orthodox churches, monasteries and educational institutions began. The Civil War cut off the Moscow Archdiocese from many Russian dioceses for several years. Archbishop Meletius was forced to leave for the Don, where he had to hide for several years. The total control established by the Bolsheviks during the period of the "Red Terror" forced the Primate of the Church to stop correspondence with the Archdiocese.

The duties of the archbishop during this period were performed by Bishop Alexander (Bogatenkov). At the same time, he was forced to replace several episcopal chairs. Vladyka Geronty (Lakomkin), Bishop of St. Petersburg and Tver, became his only assistant.

In the years civil war in Siberia, the apologist bishop Anthony of Perm-Tobolsk (Paromov) and Joasaph of Tomsk-Altai (Zhuravlev) passed away into eternal life.

A significant number of Old Orthodox Christians, especially peasants and Cossacks living on the outskirts of Russia, opposed the Bolshevik dictatorship and actively participated in the White movement. In the Cossack units of A.I. Denikin, Old Believer regimental priests acted. In the army of A. V. Kolchak, there were “volunteer crusader squads” consisting of Old Believers, and the institute of military priests of the Belokrinitsky hierarchy was also created. Bishop Innokenty (Usov) at the end of 1918 composed a prayer for the deliverance of Russia from the power of the atheists. The Old Believers participated in the largest peasant uprising of those years, which received the name of the Antonov rebellion in Soviet historiography.

In connection with this situation, the Supreme Revolutionary Council of the RSFSR adopted the “Instruction” on December 12, 1918, which stated that “all generals are subject to mandatory extermination; landlords; staff and chief officers; district, village and farm atamans; all the counter-revolutionaries and all the Cossacks.” Thus, during the years of the civil war, one of the pillars of the ancient Orthodox Church - the Cossacks - was subjected to genocide.

During the Civil War, all the Siberian and Far Eastern parishes were ruled by the Hieromartyr Bishop Amphilochius (Zhuravlev). He managed to restore contact with the Archdiocese only in 1920. Some bishops were forced to emigrate (Bishop Innokenty of Nizhny Novgorod and Kostroma to Moldova, Bishop Joseph of Irkutsk-Amur to China). In subsequent years, thanks to the efforts of Bishop Amphilochius, new bishops were installed in Siberia and the Far East (among them were Hieromartyrs Tikhon of Tomsk-Altai and Athanasius of Irkutsk-Amur).

After the end of the civil war, the spiritual life of the Church began to gradually improve. Unlike the New Rite Church, the Old Orthodox Christians during this period did not have any schisms, autocephaly, renovationism, etc. The Church maintained its integrity and unity thanks to ancient spirit catholicity.

After October revolution the church council was able to convene only in May 1922. At it, among other things, it was decided to raise Bishop Alexander to the metropolitanate in case the absent Archbishop Meletius could not come to Moscow. However, in the same year, 1922, Vladyka Meletius arrived in the capital and took over the leadership of the Church; thus the establishment of the Metropolis was again delayed.

Subsequently, this issue was repeatedly raised at the councils, and each time, due to objective reasons, it could not be resolved positively.

Several more Consecrated Councils took place in the 1920s. New bishops were consecrated, most of whom later received the crowns of martyrs and confessors. Questions were discussed about counteracting atheism, about Old Believer church education, about pastoral courses, about the creation of Old Believer brotherhoods, about the participation of laity in the life of the Church.

The Old Believers came into open confrontation with the apologists of atheism. It was during this period that F. E. Melnikov's famous disputes with Bukharin, Lunacharsky and other apologists of atheism took place. The result of these discussions was a series of books refuting godlessness. Most of these works have now been published by the Old Believer publishing house Ladder (Barnaul).

The last Consecrated Cathedral took place in 1927. At that time, 27 bishops served in the Old Orthodox Church of Christ. In 1928, the last congress of the Old Believers took place, accepting the Belokrinitsky hierarchy. Bishop Alexander died on January 2, 1928.

In the 1920s, a number of bishops and some parishes of the New Believer Church, due to the Renovationist schism and the Sergian turmoil, began to gravitate towards the Old Believers. In 1929, before the threat of another schism, the synod of the New Believer Church, led by Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky), adopted a resolution on the abolition of the oaths of the councils of 1656 and 1666-1667 on the old rites. The “Acts” of the synod said: “We recognize: a) liturgical books printed under the first five Russian patriarchs, Orthodox ... The oath definitions of the council of 1666-1667 ... we destroy and destroy as if they were not former.”

In 1930, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks issued a resolution "On measures to eliminate kulak farms in areas of complete collectivization." The new policy of the Soviet government primarily hit the Old Believers, the core of the prosperous peasantry. The resolution involved the conclusion of "kulaks" in concentration camps or expulsion to remote areas of the USSR. During the year, almost all advanced and rich peasant farms were destroyed. The most active and wealthy peasants were either repressed or forced to leave their native lands. Thus, the strong peasantry, a significant part of which were Old Believers, was destroyed.

Simultaneously with the fight against the “kulaks”, the authorities began a large-scale closure of Old Believer churches and monasteries. The latter were persecuted not only as religious centers, but also as highly efficient farms, "competing" with the created collective farms.

On June 4, 1934, Archbishop Meletios reposed in the Lord. Many bishops by this time were in exile or under arrest, some died, some ended up in exile. The bishops who remained at large could not gather together and elect a new primate of the Church.

After a lengthy correspondence, Bishop Vincent of the Caucasus (Nikitin) was elected locum tenens of the archiepiscopal throne. Archpriest Vasily Nikitin received monastic vows in 1928. In April 1932 he was arrested and spent a year and a half in prison. “He got the most difficult living conditions, there was nowhere to lay his head,” wrote Galina Marinicheva, secretary of the Archdiocese, in her memoirs. – Nevertheless, he took part in divine services in the surviving Moscow churches at the Rogozhsky cemetery, on Tverskaya, on Apukhtinka, and in the most acute period of anti-religious persecution, he found the courage to deliver sermons after the divine services, which were a breath of fresh air in the suffocating atmosphere of spreading unbelief ... His speech was thoughtful, laconic, serious and accessible to the understanding of every listener. He enjoyed great authority among the believers, the people revered and loved him.

In 1937, Bishop Vincent was re-arrested and executed on April 25, 1938. In the 1930s, most of the Old Believer churches were closed. Not a single legally operating Old Believer monastery, not a single educational institution remained on the territory of the USSR. Most of the bishops, priests, monks were repressed.

Martyr's crowns were received by Saints Amphilochius (Zhuravlev), Tikhon (Sukhov), Athanasius (Fedotov), Raphael (Voropaev). “I personally am a very religious person and I am ready to give my life for the faith,” the investigator wrote in the protocol of interrogation of the words of the priest Markel Maslov from the village of Fokino (now the Medynsky district of the Kaluga region).

In 1938, the only bishop who remained free was the elderly Bishop of Kaluga-Smolensk Sava (Simeon Ananiev), who was consecrated in 1922. The Belo-Krinitskaya hierarchy on the territory of the USSR was under the threat of complete disappearance. Trying to avoid this and expecting arrest and execution every day, in 1939 Bishop Sava single-handedly ordained Bishop Paisius (Petrov) as his successor to the Kaluga-Smolensk diocese. Fortunately, there was no arrest, and in 1941, Bishop Sava, at the request of the Rogozhsky Old Believers, elevated Bishop Irinarkh of Samara (Parfenov), who had returned from prison, to the rank of archbishop.

“I occupied the orphaned primatial throne not of my own will,” Archbishop Irinarkh later said. - This post was very embarrassing for me, my soul trembled to accept such a great responsibility. I did not look for him, but I was found, because at that time I was only one and only bishop. The second bishop, Sava of Kaluga, was ill. Thus, by the will of God, I came to you on the Moscow throne. I have come not to be served, but to serve you, according to the word of the Lord: “Though to be first in you, let him be a servant to all” (Matt. XX, 26).

The following year, 1942, Bishop Gerontius (Lakomkin) returned from prison, becoming an assistant to the archbishop.

During the Great Patriotic War, the Old Orthodox Christians, as in previous difficult times, stood up to defend the Fatherland.

Many thousands of Old Believers fell on the battlefield, died of hunger and disease. In the winter of 1942-1943, Bishop Paisiy (Petrov) died of typhus, and Archpriest Andrei Popov was shot in the occupied Rzhev by the German invaders.

Bishop Irinarkh of Kiev-Vinnitsa (Vologzhanin), Archpriests Markel Kuznetsov (Kaluga), Lazar Turchenkov (Ivanovo, Rzhev) and others were awarded medals "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War”, Bishop Alexander (Chunin) of the Volga-Don and Caucasus - with medals “For the Defense of Stalingrad” and “For the Victory over Germany”. The legendary scout Nikolai Kuznetsov came from an Old Believer family...

Having barely finished school, he worked 16 hours a day as a welder at the Yaroslavl Locomotive Repair Plant, where armored trains were produced and repaired, the future Archbishop John (Vitushkin). Hard work as a welder damaged the vision of the future bishop. At 24, he became an invalid of the second group.

In 1942, during one of the most difficult periods of the war, Archbishop Irinarch addressed the inhabitants of the occupied territories with a message. It said: “Beloved children of the Old Believer Church of Christ, who are in German captivity and occupation ... From the center of the Old Believers - from the glorious Moscow, from the Rogozhskaya Zastava - I, your archpastor and pilgrimage, appeal to you with words of consolation and hope and an appeal to render all kinds of opposition to the enemy. Help the partisans, join their ranks, be worthy of your ancestors who fought for their holy Russia. Remember how our glorious ancestors, driven by love for the Motherland, exterminated and drove out from their land twelve tongues of the proud conqueror with pitchforks and horns. And how many of them left Russia? Pitiful bunch! The liberation of our motherland from the primordial enemy and destroyer of the Russian people - the German - is a sacred cause of all people. Help our army to exterminate and drive the enemy from our sacred land and thereby bring closer the joyful hour of union with you. Here we offer unceasing prayers to the Lord God so that he saves you from evil and destruction and gives you the strength of our ancestors in the struggle for the liberation of our homeland from the invaders.

One million two hundred thousand rubles were collected by the Archdiocese of Moscow and All Russia for the defense of the country. “It was touching to tears to see with what readiness, with what ardent impulse hands were stretched out to the plate “For the Defense of the Motherland” in order to put their feasible contribution to it,” recalled Galina Marinicheva, Secretary of the Archdiocese, about the services in Pokrovsky cathedral during the war years.

In 1943, changes began in the attitude of the Soviet authorities towards religious associations. In May 1944, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR decided to create a Council for Religious Cults under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, which was entrusted with the task of establishing relations "between the government of the USSR and the leaders of religious associations: Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Armenian-Gregorian, Old Believer, Greek Catholic , Catholic and Lutheran churches and sectarian organizations on the issues of these cults requiring permission from the government of the USSR.

In the post-war period, the position of the Old Orthodox Church was extremely difficult. Most of the churches closed in the 1930s were never returned to the Church. The Archdiocese of Moscow and All Russia huddled in the back room of the Edinoverie church of St. Nicholas at the Rogozhsky cemetery. No permission was received to open monasteries and educational institutions. The only sign of a religious "thaw" was the permission to publish church calendar for 1945.

Despite the difficulties, Vladyka Irinarkh did everything possible to revive the Old Believers.

By 1950, there were five bishops serving in the Church, and several dozen priests were ordained in the surviving parishes. Several communities have been restored.

On March 7, 1952, Archbishop Irinarkh died, and on March 12 of the same year, Bishop Flavian (Slesarev) of the Donetsk-Don and Caucasus was unanimously elected Archbishop of Moscow. Lord Flavian was born in peasant family in the village of Gorodishche in the Don Cossack region. On September 22, 1905, he was ordained a deacon at the Assumption Church in his native village, and on February 12, 1910, he was ordained a priest at the same church. He published his works in the Old Believer periodicals. In 1947 he was elected a candidate for bishops. At the beginning of 1948, he received monastic tonsure, and in March of the same year, Archbishop Irinarch and Bishop Gerontius was consecrated to the rank of bishop. Archbishop Flavian died on December 25, 1960.

On February 19, 1961, Bishop Iosif Kishinevskiy (Morzhakov) was elevated to the rank of archbishop. As a young man, he was sent to the Elesinsky Old Believer Monastery, where the famous Old Believer bishops Cyril of Nizhny Novgorod and Arseny of Ural took part in his upbringing. In November 1916, Bishop Innokenty (Usov), he was appointed a priest at the Nizhny Novgorod Cathedral, the next year he was elevated to the rank of archpriest. In 1924 he was widowed, left with seven children. In 1935 he was arrested and sent to the Karaganda camps. After serving his term, he settled in Rzhev, where he went to work in a sewing artel. During the German occupation, with the foreman of the artel, he refused to sew coats for the invaders and was forced to flee from Rzhev. In May 1945, he was invited to take the rank of bishop, and on September 9, he was installed by Archbishop Irinarkh and Bishop Gerontius to the Kishinev see. During his presidency, a large group of Nekrasov Old Believers returned to Russia. September 22, 1962 arrived at the port of Novorossiysk by sea 400 Cossack families (about a thousand people), most of which settled and still live in the Stavropol Territory. Archbishop Joseph died on November 3, 1970. On October 22, 1971, Bishop Nikodim (Latyshev) was elected a new archbishop, and on October 24, in the Intercession Cathedral at the Rogozhsky cemetery, he was elevated to this rank. Archbishop Nikodim was born in 1916 in Moldova, at the age of three he was left without a mother. From childhood he was accustomed to the church service. Having taken a vow of celibacy, Bishop Innokenty (Usov) was ordained a deacon in the parish of the village of Dobruja. In 1943, Deacon Nikita refused to serve in the church according to the new style and was imprisoned in a concentration camp. In 1944, when the camp was transferred to Chisinau, he fled and hid until the Red Army arrived in Bessarabia. On October 5, 1961, Nikita Latyshev was tonsured a monk, and on October 8 of the same year, at the Intercession Cathedral, he was consecrated as a bishop at the Kishinev see.

Archbishop Nikodim, due to illness, could not stay permanently in Moscow and in last years of his primacy lived in Dobruja. During these years, Bishop of the Donskoy and Caucasus Anastasy (Kononov) (1896-1986) was in fact in charge of church affairs. Sensitive to the needs of the flock, he did everything possible to make life easier for Christians in this difficult time. Through the efforts of Vladyka Anastassy, dozens of priests, deacons, and readers were ordained.

In the 1950s and 1980s there were no mass repressions against the Church. However, she could not develop freely. So, for example, questions about the establishment of new dioceses, the consecration of new bishops were resolved and coordinated with the departments for religious affairs for years, and more often they were not resolved at all.

These few decades can be defined as a period of stagnation that took place against the backdrop of active anti-religious propaganda and pressure from state security agencies. The state pursued a policy aimed at the disappearance of ancient Orthodoxy. By the mid-1980s, only three elderly bishops remained in the Church.

With great difficulty, with the blessing of Archbishop Nikodim, on January 5, 1986, Bishop Alimpiy (Gusev) was consecrated. On February 11 of the same year, Archbishop Nikodim died, and in April, Bishop Anastassy of the Don and Caucasus, elected locum tenens of the archiepiscopal throne, also died.

On April 13, 1986, Bishop Alimpiy became locum tenens of the Moscow archiepiscopal throne; soon at the Consecrated Council he was elected Archbishop of Moscow and All Russia. The enthronement was performed on July 6, 1986 by Russian bishops and Bishop Kiprian of Brailov (Romania) in the Intercession Cathedral in Moscow.

In 1988, Archbishop Alimpiy was elected Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia. The rite of elevation to the department took place on July 24, 1988. At the same council, the Old Orthodox Church of Russia adopted the official name - the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church.

This time can be considered the beginning of a new period in the history of the Church. The revival of the Old Believers turned out to be a complex and slow process. The classes that formed the social basis of the Old Believers no longer existed: the peasantry, the Cossacks and the merchants. The church was greatly weakened organizationally. There was no education system. Before the beginning of Perestroika, the authorities did not give permission to open monasteries.

Nevertheless, in the 1990s, old parishes were revived and new parishes appeared, some churches closed during the years of atheism returned to the Old Believers. The Far Eastern, Don and Caucasian dioceses were recreated. Consecrated Councils began to convene regularly. In 2003, the health of Metropolitan Alimpiy deteriorated, and in December of the same year he reposed in the Lord.

The Extraordinary Consecrated Council was convened by the Locum Tenens of the Metropolitan Throne, Archbishop John of Yaroslavl and Kostroma in February 2004. Bishop Andrian (Chetvergov) of Kazan and Vyatka was elected Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia by an overwhelming majority of votes.

The time of the primacy of Metropolitan Andrian turned out to be short-lived. He stayed at the primatial cathedra for a little more than a year and a half. However, during this short period, Metropolitan Andrian managed to accomplish a lot for the benefit of the Church. Vladyka ordained two bishops, 5 priests, 8 deacons, 7 readers, 3 priests. He made 7 archpastoral trips, visiting 23 regions Russian Federation.

In Rogozhskaya Sloboda, the Theological School, closed in 1917, resumed its activities, an information and publishing department was created, and the publication of the Bulletin of the Metropolis was resumed. With the assistance of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church, a number of scientific and cultural events were held.

A significant event in the spiritual life of Russia was the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the granting of freedom of religion in Russia and the unsealing of the altars of the churches of the Rogozhsky cemetery. During the presidency of Metropolitan Andrian, contacts were established with representatives of state power, heads of regions of the Russian Federation, and heads of municipalities. On August 10, 2005, during the Velikaya River procession (a traditional procession to the site of the appearance of the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker), Metropolitan Andrian reposed in the Lord.

On October 18, 2005, at the Consecrated Council of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church, Kornily, Bishop of Kazan and Vyatka, was elected Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia.

Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia Korniliy (in the world Konstantin Ivanovich Titov) was born on August 1, 1947 in Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Moscow Region, into an Old Believer family. After graduating from the eighth grade of the school, he became a turner's apprentice at the Foundry and Mechanical Plant of the Orekhovskoye Cotton Mill. He worked at this plant for 35 years, combining work with studies at an evening school, a technical school and the Moscow Automotive Institute, from which he graduated in 1976. Until 1997, he worked as the head of the plant's technical control department; from 1991 to 1995 he was the chairman of the church council of the Orekhovo-Zuevskaya Old Believer community of the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. In 1997, having taken a vow of celibacy, he was ordained a deacon. The ordination was performed by His Grace Metropolitan Alimpiy.

His Grace Metropolitan Andrian ordained Deacon Constantine to the rank of priest. The Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God in the city of Orekhov-Zuev was assigned to him as a place of service.

On October 21, 2004, by the Consecrated Council, Priest Konstantin Titov was elected a candidate for bishop for the Kazan-Vyatka See, and on March 14, 2005, he received monastic vows.

On May 7, 2005, at the Cathedral of the Intercession, Metropolitan Andrian, co-served by Bishops Siluyan of Novosibirsk, Evmeny Kishinev, and Herman of the Far East, ordained him Bishop of Kazan and Vyatka.

On October 18, 2005, the Consecrated Council, which met in Moscow to elect a new primate of the Church, elected Bishop Cornelius as Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia. His erection to the chair took place in the Intercession Cathedral on October 23, 2005.