Patriarch Nikon At that time it became necessary to reform the church. Liturgical books were worn out to the limit, in the texts copied by hand, a huge number of inaccuracies and errors have accumulated. Often church services in one temple were very different from this

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

Theological works, Sat. 23, M., 1982, pp. 154-199;
Sat. 24, M., 1983, pp. 139-170.

To the 300th anniversary of the death of Patriarch Nikon

PATRIARCH NIKON

Essay on life and work

“Eternally, Saint, abide with God,
And remember us, who honor your holy name,
Standing before the Throne of the Lord God,
Yes, and we are taught His mercy much.

(The inscription on the wall in the aisle,
where Patriarch Nikon is buried.)

Foreword

His Holiness Nikon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, is one of the greatest phenomena of the Russian and Ecumenical Church, national and world history and culture. Its significance is still not fully understood for a number of specific objective reasons.

In the XVIII-XIX centuries, during the formation and development of our historical science, Nikon's name was too closely associated with his struggle against the absolutist claims of the tsarist autocracy to dominance in church affairs. This struggle led in 1666 to the emergence of the famous court "case" of the Patriarch; he was deprived of his dignity, exiled to imprisonment in a monastery. And although at the end of his life he was returned from exile, and then resolved and restored to his patriarchal dignity, the Russian monarchy, starting with Peter I, maintained a negative attitude towards him. A biased trial created a certain official version of Nikon's personality, which deliberately distorted his spiritual appearance. This version, without any significant changes, then migrated to the works of such prominent historians as S. M. Solovyov, Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov), and others, who lived and wrote in the conditions of the same monarchy and the “synodal” Church forcibly deprived of the Patriarchate.

There were two more reasons that prompted many Russian historians not to care much about revising the "case" and about changing attitudes towards Nikon's personality. In the educated society of the last century, a view on the history of Russia was quite firmly rooted, according to which only after Peter I “cut a window to Europe”, the “light” of true enlightenment and culture poured out to us from there, and everything that happened before was imagined basically some kind of darkness of ignorance ... With this view of things, Nikon's personality and activities could not be objectively considered and understood. This was also accompanied by the experience in Russian society of the phenomenon of a church schism by the Old Believers, for the occurrence of which they are accustomed to blame Patriarch Picon (which is not entirely true, as we will see later). Thus, a textbook stamp was created, representing the life and personality of Nikon in negative terms.

However, interest in the acts of the Patriarch, connected with very important church-state and social processes, did not weaken, and from the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. even increased steadily. All the documents of Nikon's court "case" were published, many rare documents relating to the period of his Patriarchate; about this saint, civil and church historians have written as much as about any other!

In this extensive literature, one can find works in which the personality and activity of the Patriarch are considered as a positive phenomenon (for example, N. Subbotin, Archimandrite Leonid (Kavelin), M. V. Zyzykin). But the "hypnosis" of textbook ideas was too strong, and in public opinion the image of Patriarch Nikon continued to be drawn in dark colors1. Modern historical science, generally far from ecclesiastical issues, simply did not undertake to revise the “case” of Patriarch Nikon.

Meanwhile, Nikon is far from being only ritual corrections and a judicial “case”. This is a whole era of the most important and interesting decisions, events and undertakings, which largely determined the further course of national history and public life, and left a number of “testaments” and mysteries that still need to be deciphered. Patriarch Nikon is the problem of the Ecumenical Orthodox ecclesia and the place of the Russian Church in it, the problem of the development of the iconographic teaching of Orthodoxy, the most acute problem of relations between the monarchy and the Church, when the inevitability of the fall of autocracy in Russia was predetermined. Nikon is a wondrous and unique phenomenon in Russian architecture, making a precious contribution to the treasury of national and world culture and art (the academician I.E. Grabar called the New Jerusalem Monastery built by the Patriarch "one of the most captivating architectural fairy tales ever created by mankind").

The life and work of Nikon are amazingly diverse and left a mark in history with significant and sometimes great achievements. Nikon was a bunch of the most versatile talents. He was well versed in all the intricacies of architecture, was a connoisseur and connoisseur of icon painting, singing, liturgics, was fluent in the art of governing the Church and the state, knew military affairs, was an outstanding organizer, had great but at that time knowledge in the field of sacred and civil history, various areas of theology , studied medicine, the Greek language, collected an excellent library of a wide variety of writings from Aristotle and Demosthenes to the holy fathers and teachers of the Church. For all that, the Patriarch was a great prayer book and ascetic.

Coming from ordinary peasants, Nikon deeply and sincerely loved his people and, being elevated to the height of the patriarchal throne, was a vivid spokesman for the spirit and will of the Russian people, their fearless and determined intercessor, became famous as an active defender of the oppressed and oppressed.

All these are sufficiently solid motives to mark the 300th anniversary of the death of Patriarch Nikon with an attempt to reconsider the main aspects of his life, work and personality, to recreate, as far as possible, at least the most important common features of his spiritual appearance.

The beginning of life

“Seeking those on high, I have greatly denied the earthly race.

The brotherhood of Anzer, when mori, be revered as a monk,

There is a lot of desert in Kozhezerskaya,

Removed from sorrows living in the shrine ".

(Epitaph to Nikon)

“In the summer from the universe 7, in the month of May, within the limits of Lower Novagrad, in the village called Veldemanova, he, His Holiness, the Patriarch, was born from simple but pious parents ... and he was named Nikita, after the name of St. on the 24th day. Thus begins Patriarch Nikon's “News of the Birth and Upbringing and Life…” written by his devoted cleric and subdeacon John Shusherin2. This is the only source that reports on the earliest, initial period of the life of the great saint. The mean, unpretentious lines contain what, apparently, the Patriarch himself once told others about his childhood and youth, and what Shusherin wrote down many years later.

died when the boy was very young. His father, the peasant Mina, married a second time, and "his stepmother was very angry with him Nikita." She beat her stepson, starved him and cold. Once he decided to take something to eat in the cellar himself and was punished by her with such a blow to the back that, having collapsed into a deep cellar, "almost there he lost the spirit of life." Once Nikita, fleeing the cold, climbed into the extinguished but still warm Russian stove and, having warmed himself, fell asleep there. The stepmother saw him in the stove, quietly laid firewood and lit it ... The cries of the boy, who woke up in smoke and fire, were heard by his grandmother, threw the firewood out of the stove and saved her grandson. On another occasion, the stepmother stuffed food with arsenic and, with unusual kindness, offered Nikita something to eat. The always hungry child attacked the food, but, feeling a burning sensation in the larynx, left the food and began to drink water eagerly, and this saved him from certain death. Returning from heavy rural work, Mina often found his son beaten to the point of blood, hungry, chilled. He could not pacify his wife, and it was hard to see his son in such a state.

Then, as Shusherin writes, "at the request of Nikitin, and even more so according to God's care, the father taught him to read and write Divine Scripture." Nikita unexpectedly showed great abilities, diligence and quickly learned to "read holy books." After completing his primary education, he returned home, began to help his father with the housework, but soon noticed that he was forgetting what he had learned. Then he decided to leave his home, father, household and secretly run to the monastery "for the sake of learning the Divine Scripture." And he fled to the Makariev Zheltovodsky Monastery near Nizhny Novgorod, where he became a novice ...

There, one of the most important properties of the soul of the future Patriarch was revealed: the Divine truths of being, comprehended through spiritual knowledge and ascetic life, were the treasure to which his heart most of all aspired (Matt. 6, 21). It is interesting to note that this desire is accelerated in its manifestation by severe suffering from childhood abuse. Human malice also had another important influence on the character of the future saint: it made Nikita most of all appreciate opposite qualities in relations with loved ones - sincere love, genuine and faithful friendship. He really, as his later life shows, valued this most of all, and so much so that he did not recognize any other relationships at all.

In the monastery, the novice Nikita was assigned a kliros obedience. Nor did he abandon his "continuous diligence" in reading the Divine Scriptures. After the experience at home, the strict monastic life did not seem difficult to him, and he willingly applied labor to labor. “Seeing his own childhood years, they usually have a strong dream of being,” Nikita in the summer went to bed on the bell tower at the gospel bell, so as not to oversleep the beginning of early worship. A true ascetic began to awaken in him, although he had not yet received monastic vows.

During this time, two strange things happened to him. One of them is narrated in the "Life of Hilarion, Metropolitan of Suzdal"3, the other - in the same Life and in Shusherin's Izvestiya.

Not far from the monastery, in the village of Kirikovo, lived a certain instructive and pious priest Ananias, to whom Nikita liked to go for spiritual conversations and instructions. One day he asked Fr. Ananias to give him a cassock. He replied: “Chosen young man, do not be angry with me; you, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, will wear cassocks better than this one; you will be in the great rank of the Patriarch. Another time, Nikita, with fellow novices, got into the house of a Mordvin fortune teller (according to Shusherin, a Tatar), and, wondering about Nikita, he announced in great excitement: “You will be a Tsar or a Patriarch” (according to Shusherin - “you will be a great Sovereign of the Kingdom of Russia "). Such predictions should have strongly aroused vainglorious dreams in a gifted young man who had already embarked on the path of monasticism, but he was not subject to arrogance. The opposite happened: he did not attach any importance to them. And this was revealed in an unexpected event that sharply disrupted such a seemingly determined course of life.

Called by deceit from the monastery to his native village, Nikita survived the death of his father and beloved grandmother and, succumbing "to the advice and petition of many relatives", got married ... Marriage did not stop Nikita's spiritual feat. The desire for the Kingdom of God still remained the main thing for him, so that even a married man, he could not live outside the temple and worship. First, Nikita becomes a psalm reader in one of the villages in his native places, and then a priest in the same parish.

Soon he and his family moved to Moscow. Historians - Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov) and S. M. Solovyov write that Fr. Nikita, as an outstanding priest, was noticed by the capital's merchants and taken with them to Moscow. But Shusherin says nothing about these merchants, but says that Nikita had relatives in Moscow4. It does not seem unreasonable to assume that Nikita was drawn to Moscow by the same desire to deepen and perfect spiritual knowledge and experience. In this regard, the capital, of course, gave a gifted priest very great opportunities. And judging by the time spent in Moscow (at least seven years, or even more), he took full advantage of them. But at the same time, Moscow, the capital, revealed with particular clarity all the temptations and vices of this world. Here, for Nikita, the question of his attitude to the world was finally decided, the further life path was determined. Priest Nikita made a firm choice: "in vain the vanity and inconstancy of this world", he decided to leave the world forever. Family circumstances also contributed to this. For ten years of marriage, the couple had three children, but they died one after another in infancy. It seemed that by taking away the children the Lord did not bless their marriage. Perhaps he remembered that Nikita's marriage took place, as it were, in violation of that heartfelt vow of monasticism, which he carried in himself when he was a novice. However, from a providential point of view, family life was not an accident for the future Patriarch. She gave him the opportunity to comprehensively study the life and customs of modern society, to know the real situation of people. Many years later, Paul of Aleppo will write that Patriarch Nikon is so well versed in state and secular affairs because he himself was married and lived a secular life.

Nikita began to persuade his wife to become a monk. With God's help, this was possible, and she, "desiring God more than the world to work", went to the Moscow Alekseevsky nunnery5, and Fr. Nikita, “wishing to find a convenient path to salvation,” went to the ends of the world - to the White Sea, to the Anzersky Skete of the Solovetsky Monastery.

If the real aspiration of the soul of Fr. Nikita was not a spiritual ascent to God, but, say, an advancement in the hierarchical ladder, he would not have gone to the Arctic Circle, but would take monastic vows, most likely in the capital ... Let us note this exceptional integrity of the nature of the ascetic in his striving for the Heavenly World: it will explain a lot in the subsequent life of the Patriarch.

Father Nikita was about thirty-one years old when he received monastic tonsure from the Monk Eleazar (+ 1656; Comm. January 13) in the Anzersk Skete, receiving the name Nikon, in honor of the Monk Martyr Nikon Bishop (Comm. 23 March). His new life began. The Anzer Skete is located on a small island in the White Sea, 20 versts from the Solovetsky Monastery. Sparse vegetation, a very short summer, severe cold in winter, polar night, endless sea, winds and waves… The rule of monastic life was very strict. The cells of the monks were located at a distance of two fields (three kilometers) from one another and at the same distance from the cathedral church. Only one monk lived in each cell. The brethren did not see each other for a whole week, went to church on Saturday evening, served Vespers, Compline, Matins, chanted all 20 kathismas, after 10 kathismas they read the explanatory Sunday Gospel and so spent in continuous vigil all night until morning. At the beginning of the day, they served the Liturgy without leaving, and then they said goodbye, giving each other a brotherly kiss, asking for prayers, and returned to their cells in complete solitude again for the whole week. The food of the monks was mainly flour, donated in small quantities from state reserves, occasional alms from fishermen, and the few vegetables and berries that had time to grow on the island in summer.

With the blessing of Elder Eleazar, Hieromonk Nikon indulged in special feats of fasting, prayer and abstinence. In addition to the prescribed prayers of vespers, matins, kathismas, canons, morning and evening prayers, Nikon read the entire Psalter every "night" and performed a thousand prostrations with the Jesus Prayer, reducing sleep time to the extreme. Moreover, he carried the priestly obedience in the church of the skete. Under these conditions, Nikon had to face face to face with what all true ascetics and ascetics of piety faced. His spiritual feats turned out to be unbearable for the enemy of human salvation and lured demonic forces into open confrontation. As Shusherin narrates, when Nikon decided to take a break from his labors, “then the abyss of unclean souls come to him in his cell, his pressure and other dirty tricks and horrors with his diverse dreams, deyahu, and, from labor, do not honor him.” Suffering from such misfortunes, Nikon also began to read prayers from being overwhelmed by evil spirits and every day to perform water blessing, sprinkling his cell with holy water. The attacks have stopped. But most importantly, Nikon emerged victorious in the fight against fear of the forces of evil. Thus, almost three years passed in labors, exploits, silence and prayerful communion with God.

One day, the Elder Eleazar was going to Moscow for alms to build a stone church in the skete and took Hieromonk Nikon with him, on whom, therefore, he especially relied. Nikon justified the trust of the monk. They visited “many noble and pious” people in Moscow, beat Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich himself with their foreheads and, having collected about five hundred rubles (at that time, an amount sufficient to build a temple), returned to Anzer.

But here Nikon was lured by an unexpected temptation. Out of the best intentions (so that the robbers, having learned about the money, would not kill the brethren), Nikon began to offer Eleazar either to start construction as soon as possible, or to give money for preservation for the reliable walls of the Solovetsky Monastery. These proposals were not to the soul of the elder, and he became angry with Nikon. Nikon mourned, tried to achieve reconciliation, but could not and decided to leave the skete. It is difficult now to find out exactly what actually happened. It is unbelievable that Nikon, asserting himself in strict monastic obedience, would dare to somehow offend the elder, from whom he received tonsure. It is also unbelievable that Saint Eleazar seriously hated his tonsurer for his good desire to secure the monastery, or that he could not, in a paternal way, forgive him even rudeness, if any. Perhaps Eleazar, as a teacher of monks, found it unprofitable for the ascetic to have such a keen interest in things that did not concern his spiritual achievement. Be that as it may, Nikon took this change in the rector's attitude towards himself as the suppression of the former love between them and, after unsuccessful attempts to restore it, decided to leave.

“If you can’t be in love and harmony, then you can’t be together at all” - this is Nikon’s formula for actions. Having become Patriarch, Nikon did much good to the Monk Eleazar and the Anzer Skete. It means that he did not harbor a grudge against the old man.

Going in a boat to the mainland, Nikon almost drowned during a storm, having vowed to build a monastery on the Kiysky Island of the Onega Bay, where his boat was washed up by waves, which he subsequently fulfilled.

With great difficulty, he then reached the Kozheozerskaya desert, where he was accepted into the ranks of the brethren. At first, Nikon served in the monastery church, but soon, "taking pity on the solitary desert life," he begged the abbot and the brethren to let him go to a lonely island in the middle of the lake, where he began to live "in the order of the Anzer wilderness." In addition to prayer feats, Nikon's doing this island was fishing for the brethren. Meanwhile, the aged abbot of the Kozheozersk monastery reposed in Bose. The brethren, seeing Hieromonk Nikon's "gifted mind" and "virtuous life", began to ask him to be their abbot. He refused. The brethren asked more and more, and Nikon refused. And only "by many denials," seeing that the monks did not get tired of asking, he, not wanting to "despise" "their many diligent petitions," agreed. Nikon was appointed as abbot of the Kozheozersk desert in Novgorod by Metropolitan Affoniy of Novgorod and Velikolutsky in 1643.6 Returning to the monastery, he continued to live strictly and simply, as before he was engaged in fishing and loved to cook fish himself and treat the brethren with it. just collecting donations) forced him to go to Moscow. It is unlikely that he thought that he was going to the heights of his glory and power.

Elevation

"A true zealot was about piety."

(Monastic chronicler)

Arriving in Moscow, Abbot Nikon introduced himself to the Tsar. According to the custom of those times, every abbot of the monastery who came to the capital was obliged to introduce himself to the sovereign. But during this period, young Alexei Mikhailovich and his confessor, Archpriest of the Kremlin Cathedral of the Annunciation, Stefan Vonifatiev, looked at each visitor with special intentness. They were looking for such clerics who could become allies in the great work they conceived of very important church transformations that had far-reaching political goals.

Alexei Mikhailovich grew up and was brought up under the double influence of the uncles of his boyar Boris Ivanovich Morozov and confessor Fr. Stephen. Morozov - an experienced courtier and rogue - introduced young Alexei to the worldly side of life, and Fr. Stefan sought to educate the tsar in the spirit of strict Orthodox piety, which was greatly helped by the whole way of life of the then Russian society, so that the influence of Fr. Stephen turned out to be especially strong7. Alexei Mikhailovich grew up as a sincere believer. He did not think of himself outside of church life, took all its events and deeds to heart, was very fond of divine services, knew the Rule perfectly, read and sang on the kliros himself, loved to light lamps in church, and always fasted strictly according to the Typicon. Alexei Mikhailovich greatly revered the church hierarchy, and the authority of a clergyman, especially if he was distinguished by the genuine sanctity of his personal life, was indisputable for the king. Not without intent, the confessor read to him the works of Theodore the Studite and - people who suffered from the wickedness of kings and fought against this wickedness. However, for all that, Alexei Mikhailovich was an ordinary person, and the damage inherent in human nature was often found in his actions and words, which showed that the influence of Morozov and the passions of this world in general did not pass without a trace for him. This did not prevent him from considering himself a deeply Orthodox Christian and therefore believing main The task of the king is to preserve and strengthen faith, churchliness and piety among the people. According to him, the Orthodox sovereign should “not worry about the royal only,” but first of all about “even if there is peace in the churches, and keep the faith firmly and keep us safe: when God is in us wholely supplied, then we will have all the good standing from God there are: peace and multiplication of fruits and enemies, overcoming and other things, all things will be well arranged to have ”11. In other words, if the tsar does not, first of all, take care of the affairs of faith and the Church, then all state affairs and the well-being of the people entrusted to him by God will suffer.

In addition to these general views on the tasks of tsarist power, Alexei Mikhailovich also had a firm conviction that he, the Russian tsar, was the only support of Orthodoxy in the world, the legitimate heir and successor to the work of the great Byzantine emperors. Therefore, he must take care in every possible way about the Orthodox peoples languishing under the Turkish yoke, about the Ecumenical Patriarchs, about the Ecumenical Church in general, and, if possible, must try to free the Orthodox East from the Turks, joining it to his state. These ideas were strongly inspired by the Russian and especially the Greek clergy. The tsar fully assimilated them and even asked to send him from Athos the Sudebnik and the Official "to the entire royal rank of the former pious Greek kings"12. He was preparing to take their throne. This was not an idle dream of the young king. State diplomacy and secret services were seriously working in an eastern direction, preparing and reconnoitering the possibility of annexing Greece and other lands inhabited by Orthodox peoples to Russia. Alexei Mikhailovich more than once allowed himself to speak in the sense that he must become the liberator of the Orthodox East. Paul of Aleppo relates his words: “Since the time of my grandfathers and fathers, Patriarchs, monks and the poor have not ceased to come to us, groaning from insults, anger and oppression of their enslavers, driven by great need and cruel oppression. Therefore, I am afraid that the Almighty will exact from me for them, and I have taken upon myself the obligation that, if God pleases, I will sacrifice my army, treasury, and even my blood for their deliverance.

It was a tempting idea of ​​a single Orthodox monarchy with Russia and the Russian Tsar at the head. The idea had its own background, but as for Alexei Mikhailovich, it took shape in his mind especially under the influence of confessor Stefan Vonifatiev. However, in order to claim the role of tsar of the Eastern Orthodox peoples, the Russian tsar had to have with them, first of all, complete religious unity, to show and emphasize his perfect agreement with the Churches of the East. But there were considerable difficulties here. Greek hierarchs who came to Russia constantly noted various discrepancies between Russian church rites and rituals and Greek liturgical practice. This was pointed out before the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, and under him. Confessor Fr. Stefan convinced Alexei Mikhailovich of the need to correct Russian worship and customs in such a way as to bring them into perfect conformity with Greek ones. But such a step would have met with strong opposition from those who adhered to the then rather widespread opinion that only in Russia did true piety and right faith survive, while among the Greeks all this was “distorted”15. That's why o. Stefan and Alexei Mikhailovich gathered capable and strong like-minded people around them, looking for a person who could carry out the difficult and dangerous work of church reforms. Now one can imagine approximately from what angle the tsar looked at the Abbot of Kozheozersk Nikon presented to him.

Alexei Mikhailovich in 1646 was only 17 years old. A year ago, he lost his father and mother. His character was generally kind, gentle (sometimes even to the point of timidity), but at the same time stubborn, active and lively, and there was in him the ability inherited from his father to become strongly attached to people who fell in love.

A striking man appeared before the young king, as if hewn from a northern stone. A mighty and kind spiritual force poured out from Nikon, capable of easily conquering the hearts of people. The main features and components of this power were deep prayerfulness, great life experience, many years of ascetic feat in the most severe conditions, the integrity of the soul in its striving for God, detachment from earthly passions, which gives rise to calm inner independence, amazing directness and honesty (Nikon never knew how to cheat ). To this was added a lively mind, good spirits, a very great erudition, an excellent knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, the ability to conduct a conversation (even with the king!) at ease, without timidity, and at the same time with due respect. It was that natural nobility of the soul, which is not uncommon in the simple believing Russian people and which always arouses admiration. If we also take into account the imposing good-looking appearance of a monk strong in body and soul, then one can imagine what a deep impression Abbot Nikon made on the young tsar. Alexei Mikhailovich literally fell in love with this man (“Nikon from the great autocrat will love deeply,” writes Shusherin). Nikon was also liked by the strict zealot of piety, Fr. Stefan Vonifatiev. It was decided to appoint Nikon archimandrite of the royal Novospassky monastery in Moscow.

Alexei Mikhailovich ordered that Nikon come to his palace every Friday for Matins, after which the sovereign "wanted to enjoy his conversation." Soon, however, these conversations took on an unexpected character. The people of Moscow, having learned about the close relations of the Novospassky archimandrite with the tsar, vividly used this circumstance. In the monastery, in the temple, on the streets, people began to hand over petitions to Nikon with petitions for a variety of needs. There were also requests for protection from harassment, complaints about the injustice of judges, petitions for pardon for convicts, prayers, lamentations - tears of the people. Nikon knew from life experience how difficult, and sometimes impossible, for a poor person to find justice and protection, breaking through bribery, lies and cruelty of "clerks" and "clerks". The Novospassky archimandrite collected all these petitions and without ceremony laid out a pile of papers in front of the tsar after the morning service. Alexei Mikhailovich had no choice but to immediately, together with Nikon, sort out these papers and give immediate decisions on them. It became difficult for Nikon to leave the monastery because of the multitude of people waiting for him. His authority in the eyes of the king grew enormously. Now the king invited him not only on Fridays, but on every convenient occasion. Nikon became, in the words of Alexei Mikhailovich, his "sobin (special) friend." The deep personal affection of these two people increased every day.

But the oppressed and oppressed people fell in love with the archimandrite even more. The rumor about Nikon as an intercessor of people spread far beyond the borders of Moscow and marked the beginning of that deep reverence for Nikon among the people, with whom we meet more than once in the future fate of the Patriarch. However, such behavior of a person close to the tsar could not but restore many tsarist boyars and princes against Nikon. In turn, Nikon could not help but take a hostile stance towards the upper class. A native of the people and a strict ascetic, he was used to looking at the powerful of this world as people especially prone to passions, and unexpected proximity to the sovereign gave him the opportunity to show his complete contempt for such lack of spirituality. True, this was not discovered immediately. At first, the foundation for the future conflict between Nikon and the nobility was only being laid; and it should be emphasized that this beginning was laid by Nikon's sincere intercession for the people (over the heads and bypassing the boyar-princely elite).

Becoming an archimandrite, Nikon began to rebuild the Novospassky Monastery. This was the first experience of the future Patriarch in the art of building and, I must say, very successful. Nikon built a new majestic temple on the site of the dilapidated church, erected new cells and a surrounding monastery wall with towers17. The result was a beautiful architectural complex, distinguished by its monumentality and beauty. , Archdeacon of Antioch Patriarch Macarius, visiting the Novospassky Monastery in 1655, wrote: “The Great Church (cathedral) was built by Patriarch Nikon when he was the archimandrite of this monastery. She is splendid, beautiful, soul amusing; we do not find in this city (Moscow) similar to it in elevation and heart-pleasing appearance”18. The architecture of this cathedral first revealed Nikon's artistic tastes - he loved the monumentality, scope and Orthodox traditions of Russian architecture. With his inquisitive mind and thoroughness, Nikon delved into all the processes of construction work. Here he undoubtedly studied the art of building, mastering everything from drawing up and reading blueprints to the tricks of masonry. Documents relating to his further buildings - the Iberian, Cross, New Jerusalem monasteries, reveal in Nikon a genuine specialist who knows all the construction business to the subtleties. Architecture was not a side hobby of Nikon. Over time, it will become the main thing in his life and work.

In Moscow, Nikon began a very stressful life. Divine service, prayer, monastic affairs took up most of the day. And he still had to meet with the king, many people, read and study. Nikon discovered new spiritual horizons for himself, he was forced to think about big church-wide problems. Against the background of the general very high piety of the Russian people, certain negative phenomena of church life began to stand out especially clearly at that time. The morality of the people and the clergy was shaken, after the Time of Troubles the level of education of the clergy noticeably decreased, the worship service, in which they tried in vain to achieve unity, was upset, live church preaching ceased long ago, and services in churches lost their teaching character. To shorten the service, they read and sang at the same time in three or four, or even in five or six voices, in order to fulfill in a short time everything that was prescribed by the Charter. For example, at Matins they could simultaneously read the Six Psalms, Kathismas, and Canons; against the background of this polyphony, the deacon proclaimed litanies one after another, etc. It was impossible for those standing in the church, with all their desire, to understand anything; the service was losing structure and consistency. The so-called "hom" singing with ridiculous accents, adding extra vowels to words distorted the sacred texts, turning them into nonsense. Many errors and omissions crept into Russian liturgical books. Serious distortions have penetrated into some rites. The grossest superstitions flourished among the people, and pagan customs were revived.

The Church has been fighting against such negative phenomena for a long time. In the closest time to Nikon, Patriarch Filaret resumed and revived the business of church printing, tried to set up a Greek school at his court, organized the business of translating from Greek into Russian, and what is especially noteworthy, he began to widely involve Greek learning in the work of correcting Russian rites and books19. Patriarch Filaret himself was a protege of the Jerusalem Patriarch Theophan and deeply honored the authority of the Eastern Church. At the suggestion of Theophanes, Filaret abolished our custom of giving Holy Communion to the laity three times (in the image of the Holy Trinity) and established a single communion. Also, at the insistence of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archimandrite Trinity was acquitted, who suffered for the correction of Russian liturgical books in Greek, in particular for the correction of the rite of the Great Blessing of Water in the Russian Ribbon. In the corresponding prayer, we read: “Sanctify this water with the Holy Spirit and fire." The words "and fire" were ruled out by Dionysius as incorrect. For this he was condemned as a heretic. But Patriarch Theophan convinced the Russians that this was indeed a mistake. Hagiographer Dionysius, among other things, remarks: “Wonderful, Patriarch Theophan caused many sons of Orthodoxy to write Greek books and speak, and taught the philosophy of Greek books to the end to know”20. The never-ceasing fraternal communion of the Russian Church with the four Ecumenical Patriarchates under Filaret took on special significance. Several Greek hierarchs, many monks and elders permanently lived in Moscow, some Eastern bishops became Russian diocesan bishops (Nektary, Arseny). Patriarch Filaret in 1632 asked Constantinople to send a good Orthodox teacher to teach "little guys" the Greek language and to translate books into Russian. For this purpose, the protosingel of the Patriarch of Alexandria Joseph21 remained in Moscow. The death of Patriarch Filaret in 1633 interrupted his undertakings. But they clearly showed that the Russian Church had firmly embarked on the path of unity with the Eastern Church, bringing Russian liturgy into line with Greek.

Such a change in attitude towards Greek Orthodoxy did not then lead to upheavals and schisms, although there were many opponents of such a line in Russia. Relations with the Greek Church were disputed as early as the 16th century. Nil Sorsky, Maxim Grek, Kurbsky, and others believed that the Russian Church should obey the Greek in everything. They even refused to recognize as saints Metropolitan Jonah and those who were canonized after the establishment of the autocephaly of the Russian Church. The grouping of Joseph Volotsky opposed this party. Recognizing Metropolitan Jonah as a saint, the Monk Joseph expressed the ideas of his party in the words of the "Illuminator": "The Russian land is now overpowered by piety." This position seemed to agree with the widely accepted in Russia idea of ​​Elder Philotheus about Moscow as the “Third Rome” and about Russia as the heir of the Great Roman Empire (Byzantium) who perished for apostasy from piety. The opinions of Joseph Philotheus prevailed in Russian society, the independence of our Church was recognized as legitimate, especially after the establishment of the Patriarchate. Many began to look at the Greeks as apostates from true piety. These opinions were so firmly rooted in the Russian clergy that any other point of view was considered a departure from Orthodoxy, almost a heresy. At first, Nikon also held such views. One can hardly doubt the validity of the words of I. Neronov, who later said to Nikon: “Before this, we heard from you that you used to say to us many times:“ the Greeks de and Little Russia have lost their faith and strength and they don’t have good morals, rest in peace. deceived the honor of those, and they work with their own disposition, but constancy did not appear in them and piety in the least. Neroov speaks about this in connection with the fact that Nikon later began to “praise the foreigners (Greeks) of the legal provisions and accept their customs” and call the Greeks “believing and pious parents”22.

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 of ​​the need for a thorough "purge" of the ranks of the clergy, the introduction of a "dean", uniform worship, spread in the highest circles. 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. The 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 Nikon, one of the most famous and powerful figures in Russian history, was born in May 1605 in the village of Veliemanovo near Nizhny Novgorod in the family of a peasant Mina and was named Nikita at baptism. His mother died shortly after birth. The father married a second time. The malevolent stepmother turned the boy's life into a real hell: she starved him, beat him for nothing and even tried to kill him several times. When Nikita grew up, his father gave him to learn to read and write. Having learned to read, Nikita wanted to taste all the wisdom of the Divine Scripture, which, according to the then system of concepts, was the most important subject. He retired to the monastery of Macarius Zheltovodsky, found some learned elder and diligently began to read the sacred books. Soon his stepmother, father and grandmother died one after another. Remaining the only owner in the house, Nikita got married, but he was irresistibly attracted to the church and worship. Being a literate and well-read man, he began to look for a place for himself and was soon ordained a parish priest. He was then no more than 20 years old. From his wife he had three children, but they all died one after another while still in infancy. This circumstance greatly shocked the impressionable Nikita. He accepted the death of his children as a heavenly command, commanding him to renounce the world, and decided to retire to a monastery. He persuaded his wife to get a haircut in the Moscow Alekseevsky monastery, gave her a contribution, left her money for maintenance, and he himself went to the White Sea and was tonsured in the Anzersk monastery under the name Nikon. He was then 30 years old.

Life in the Anzer Skete was difficult. The brethren, who were no more than twelve people, lived in separate huts scattered around the island, and only on Saturday evenings went to church. The service went on all night; the brethren listened to the whole psalter; with the onset of the day, the liturgy was performed, then everyone dispersed to their huts. Above all was the initial elder named Eleazar. For some time, Nikon dutifully obeyed him, but then quarrels and disagreements began between them. Then Nikon moved to the Kozheozerskaya desert; located on the islands of Kozheozero, and due to poverty he gave to the monastery (they did not accept it without a contribution) his last liturgical books. By his nature, Nikon did not like to live with the brethren and preferred free solitude. He settled on a special island and was engaged in fishing there. After some time, the local brethren chose him as their igumen. In the third year after his suppression, namely in 1646, he went to Moscow and here appeared with a bow to the young Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, as at that time the abbots of all monasteries generally appeared with bows to the kings. Alexei liked the hegumen of Kozhoozersk to such an extent that he immediately ordered him to stay in Moscow, according to the royal desire, Patriarch Joseph consecrated him to the rank of archimandrite of the Novospassky Monastery. This place was especially important, and the archimandrite of this monastery, sooner than others, could approach the sovereign: here was the family tomb of the Romanovs; the pious king often came there to pray for the repose of his ancestors and gave generous pampering to the monastery. During each of these trips, Alexey talked with Nikon for a long time and felt more and more affection for him. It is known that Alexei Mikhailovich belonged to the category of people who cannot live without cordial friendship, and he easily became attached to people. He ordered Nikon to go to his palace every Friday. Conversations with the archimandrite sank into his soul. Nikon, taking advantage of the sovereign's disposition, began to ask him for the oppressed and offended. Alexei Mikhailovich instructed him to accept requests from all those who were looking for royal mercy and justice for the untruth of judges. Nikon took this assignment very seriously, studied all complaints with great care, and soon Patriarch Nikon gained fame as a good defender and universal love in Moscow. 100 Great Russians / ed. V.S. Ivanova, M., Enlightenment, 2005 - P.125.

In 1648 Metropolitan Athanasius of Novgorod died. The tsar, choosing a successor to him, preferred his favorite to all others, and the then Jerusalem Patriarch Paisius, who was then in Moscow, ordained Archimandrite Novospassky to the Metropolitan of San Novgorod, according to the tsar's desire. This dignity was the second most important in the Russian hierarchy after the patriarch. Having become the ruler of Novgorod, Nikon for the first time showed his harsh power-hungry disposition. Then he took the first steps towards the correction of worship. In those years, the church service went on in Russia ridiculously: afraid to miss something from the established ritual, in the church for speed they read and sang different things in two or three voices at once: the deacon read, the deacon spoke the litany, and the priest exclaimed, so that nothing can be heard it was understandable Nikon ordered to stop this custom, despite the fact that neither the clergy nor the laity liked his order: with the establishment of the correct order of service, the service was lengthened, and many Russians of that century, although they considered it necessary to go to church, did not like to stay there for a long time. For deanery, Nikon borrowed Kievan singing. Every winter he came to Moscow with his singers, from whom the tsar was sincerely delighted.

In 1650, during the Novgorod revolt, the townspeople showed a strong dislike for their metropolitan: when he went out to persuade the rebels, they began to beat and throw stones at him, so that they almost beat him to death. Nikon, however, asked the king not to be angry with the guilty. In 1652, after the death of Patriarch Joseph, the spiritual council elected Nikon as patriarch to please the tsar.

Nikon stubbornly refused this honor until the tsar himself, in the Assumption Cathedral, in front of the boyars and the people, bowed at Nikon's feet and begged him with tears to accept the patriarchal rank. But even then he considered it necessary to negotiate his consent with a special condition. “Will they honor me as an archpastor and supreme father, and will they let me organize the Church?” Nikon asked. The tsar, followed by spiritual authorities and the boyars swore to this. Only after that Nikon agreed to take the dignity.

Nikon's request was not an empty formality. He occupied the patriarchal throne, having in mind the established system of views on the Church and the state, and with the firm intention of giving Russian Orthodoxy a new, never seen before meaning. Contrary to the tendency to expand the prerogatives of state power at the expense of the church (which, in the end, should have led to the absorption of the Church by the state), which had clearly emerged since the middle of the 17th century, Nikon was an ardent preacher of the symphony of authorities. In his view, the secular and spiritual spheres of life were in no way mixed with each other, but, on the contrary, they had to maintain, each in its own area, complete independence. The patriarch in religious and ecclesiastical matters was to become the same unlimited ruler as the tsar in worldly matters. In the preface to the service book of 1655, Nikon wrote that God gave Russia "two great gifts" - the tsar and the patriarch, by which everything is built both in the Church and in the state. However, he also looked at secular power through a spiritual prism; giving her only second place. He compared the bishopric with the sun, and the kingdom with the month, and explained this by the fact that church power shines on souls, and royal power on the body. The king, according to his concepts, was called by God to keep the kingdom from the coming Antichrist, and for this he had to win God's grace. Nikon, as a patriarch, was to become the teacher and mentor of the tsar, for, in his opinion, the state could not exist without higher church ideas regulating its activities.

As a result of all these considerations, Nikon, without the slightest embarrassment, accepted for granted the enormous power that Alexei Mikhailovich willingly granted him in the first years of his patriarchate. The power and influence of Nikon at this time were enormous. Going to the war in Little Russia in 1654, Alexei Mikhailovich entrusted the patriarch with his family, the capital, and instructed him to oversee justice and the course of affairs in orders. During the two-year absence of the tsar, Nikon, who officially took the title of great sovereign, single-handedly managed all state affairs, and the noblest boyars, who were in charge of various state orders, had to come to him daily with their reports. Often, Nikon made the boyars wait a long time for his reception on the porch, even if it was very cold at that time; belittling them, he listened to the reports, standing, without seating the speakers, and forced them to bow to him. Everyone was afraid of the patriarch - nothing important was done without his advice and blessing.

In church affairs, Nikon was the same unlimited autocracy as in state affairs. In accordance with his lofty ideas about the significance of the Church in the life of society, he took strict measures to raise the discipline of the clergy. He seriously wanted to make Moscow a religious capital, a true "third Rome" for all Orthodox peoples. But in order for the Russian Church to meet its purpose, they had to become on a level with the age in terms of enlightenment. Nikon tried very hard to raise the cultural level of the clergy: he started a library with the works of Greek and Roman classics, planted schools with a powerful hand, set up printing houses, ordered Kiev scholars to translate books, set up schools of artistic icon painting, and at the same time took care of the magnificence of worship. At the same time, he sought to restore full agreement between the Russian church service and the Greek one, destroying all the ritual features that distinguished the first from the second. It was an old problem that had been talked about for decades, but never got around to solving it. The case was actually very complicated. From time immemorial, Russian Orthodox have been in full confidence that they preserve Christian worship in complete and original purity, exactly as it was established by the Church Fathers. However, the eastern hierarchs, who visited Moscow more and more often in the 17th century, began reproachfully pointing out to Russian church pastors the numerous inconsistencies in Russian worship, which could upset agreement between local Orthodox churches. In Russian liturgical books, they noticed numerous discrepancies with Greek ones. From this arose the idea of ​​the errors that had crept into these books and of the need to find and legitimize a uniform, correct text.

In 1653, Nikon gathered for this purpose a spiritual council of Russian hierarchs, archimandrites, abbots and archpriests. The tsar and his boyars attended its meetings. Turning to the audience; First of all, Nikon brought the letters of the ecumenical patriarchs to the establishment of the Moscow Patriarchate (as is known, this happened under Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich at the very end of the 16th century). The patriarchs pointed out in these letters to some deviations in Russian worship from the norms that had been established in Greece and other Eastern Orthodox countries. After that, Nikon said: “We must correct as best as possible all the innovations in church ranks that are at odds with the ancient Slavic books. I ask for a decision on how to proceed: whether to follow the new Moscow printed books, in which, from unskilled translators and scribes, there are various dissimilarities and disagreements with the ancient Greek to Slavic lists, or more directly, errors, or to be guided by the ancient, Greek and Slavic text , since they both represent the same rank and charter? The cathedral answered this question: “It is worthy and righteous to correct, in accordance with the old charate and Greek lists” Kolminsky V.N. History of the Russian Church. - M., Knowledge, 1998 - S. 289.

Nikon entrusted the correction of the books to the Kiev monk scribe Epiphanius Slavinetsky and the Greek Arseniy. All monasteries were instructed to collect old charter lists and send them to Moscow. Arseny, sparing no expense, brought from Athos up to five hundred manuscripts, some of which were attributed to extreme antiquity. Soon a new council was assembled, at which it was decided that from now on one should be baptized with three, and not two fingers, and a curse was placed on those who are baptized with two fingers. Then a new missal was published with the corrected text carefully checked against the Greek. In April 1656, a new council was convened, which approved all the changes made. However, ardent opponents of the reform already appeared here, with whom Nikon began an uncompromising struggle: they were defrocked and exiled. Archpriest Avvakum, the most violent opponent of innovations, was sent with his wife and family to Dauria. But it turned out that these were only the first signs of disobedience. When the new liturgical books, along with the strict order to be baptized with three fingers, reached the local priests, a murmur arose in many places at once. In fact, besides the fact that the two-finger was replaced by the three-finger, all liturgical rites became shorter, and many hymns and formulas, which were given a special magical meaning, were thrown out. The whole liturgy was remade, the procession was set against the sun, the name Jesus was corrected in Jesus. Even the text of the creed has been corrected. At a time when the ritual side of religion was given great importance, such a change could not seem like an empty deed. Many ordinary monks and priests came to the conclusion that they were trying to replace the former Orthodox faith with another. New books refused to be taken into action and served according to the old ones. The Solovetsky Monastery, excluding a few elders, was one of the first to oppose this innovation. His example gave strength to Nikon's opponents.

The patriarch unleashed cruel repressions on the disobedient. In response, complaints came from all sides to the king about the willfulness and ferocity of the patriarch, his pride and self-interest. He could, for example, give an order to collect 500 heads of horses from all the churches of the Muscovite state and calmly send them to his estates; he introduced a new salary of the patriarchal duty, raising it to such an extent that, according to one petitioner, “the Tatar Abyz live much better,” in addition, Nikon demanded emergency contributions for the construction of New Jerusalem and other monasteries he had started. Indignant stories circulated about his proud and cruel treatment of the clergy who came to Moscow - for him it cost nothing to put a priest on a chain for some slight negligence in the performance of his duties, torture him in prison or exile him somewhere to a beggarly life.

Near Alexei Mikhailovich there were also many boyars - Nikon's enemies. They were indignant at the patriarch because he constantly interfered in worldly affairs, and repeated with one voice that the tsarist authorities were no longer heard, that they were more afraid of the envoys of the patriarchs than those of the tsar, that the great sovereign patriarch was no longer satisfied with the equality of power with the great sovereign tsar , but seeks to exceed it, enters into all royal affairs, sends decreed memory and orders from himself, takes all sorts of affairs without a decree of the sovereign from orders, offends many people. The efforts of ill-wishers were not in vain: without quarreling openly with Nikon, Alexei Mikhailovich began to gradually move away from the patriarch. Due to the softness of his character, for a long time he did not dare to make a direct explanation, but instead of the former friendship, stiffness and coldness came.

In the summer of 1658, there was already an obvious quarrel - the tsar several times did not invite the patriarch to court holidays and did not himself attend his divine services. Then he sent to him his sleeping bag, Prince Romodanovsky, with the command that Nikon should no longer be written as a great sovereign. Stung by this, Nikon renounced the patriarchal see, probably hoping that the meek and pious tsar would be frightened and hasten to reconcile with the primate. After serving the liturgy in the Assumption Cathedral, he took off his mantle and went on foot to the courtyard of the Resurrection Monastery. He stayed there for two days, perhaps waiting for the king to call him; or wants to explain himself to him, but Alexei kept silent. Then Nikon, as if forgetting about the patriarchate, began to actively engage in stone buildings in the Resurrection Monastery: he dug ponds, bred fish; he built mills, planted gardens and cleared forests, setting an example for the workers in everything and working on an equal footing with them.

With the departure of Nikon, turmoil ensued in the Russian Church. Instead of the patriarch who left his throne, a new one should have been elected. But Nikon's behavior did not allow this. After some time, he already repented of his hasty removal and again began to make claims to the patriarchate. “I left the holy throne in Moscow by my own will,” he said, “I am not called Moscow and will never be called; but I did not leave the patriarchate, and the grace of the Holy Spirit has not been taken away from me.” These statements by Nikon greatly embarrassed the tsar and should have embarrassed many, not even Nikon's enemies: now it was impossible to proceed with the election of a new patriarch without resolving the question: in what relation would he be to the old one? In 1660, a council of the Russian clergy was convened to consider this problem. Most of the bishops were against Nikon and decided to defrock him, but a minority argued that the local council did not have such power over the patriarch. Tsar Alexei agreed with the arguments of the minority, and Nikon retained his dignity. But this confused the matter so much that it could only be resolved by an international council.

At the beginning of 1666, a “great council” gathered in Moscow, which was attended by two Greek patriarchs (Alexandria and Antioch) and 30 bishops, Russian and Greek, from all the main churches of the Orthodox East. The trial of Nikon lasted more than six months. The council first got acquainted with the case in his absence. Then Nikon himself was called in to listen to his explanations and excuses. At first, Nikon did not want to appear at the trial, not recognizing the power of the Alexandrian and Antiochian patriarchs over himself, then, in December 1666, he nevertheless arrived in Moscow, but behaved proudly and uncompromisingly: he entered into disputes with accusers and the tsar himself, who in in tears and excitement, he complained to the cathedral about the patriarch's long-standing faults. The council unanimously condemned Nikon, deprived him of his patriarchal rank and priesthood. Converted to a simple monk, he was exiled to the Ferapontov Monastery near White Lake. Here he was kept for several years with great severity, almost like a prisoner, but in 1671 Alexei ordered the guards to be removed and allowed Nikon to live without any embarrassment. Then Nikon partly reconciled with his fate, accepted maintenance and gifts from the king, started his own household, read books and treated the sick. Over the years, he began to gradually weaken in mind and body, petty squabbles began to occupy him: he quarreled with the monks, was constantly dissatisfied, swore to no avail and wrote denunciations to the king. After the death of Alexei Mikhailovich in 1676, Nikon's situation worsened - he was transferred to the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery under the supervision of two elders, who were supposed to constantly live with him in a cell and not let anyone in to him. Only in 1681, already seriously ill and decrepit, Nikon was released from prison. On the way to Moscow, on the banks of Kotorosl, he died. His body was brought to the Resurrection Monastery and buried there. Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich was present at the same time.

Nikon's transformations had a strong impact on society. Their consequence was a great schism in the Russian Orthodox Church, which quickly, like a fire, spread throughout Russia. All dissatisfied with the secular and spiritual authorities joined the schism as a banner. For many decades, this cruel religious and social strife remained the main motive of the internal Russian history Patriarch Nikon. 100 Great Russians / ed. V.S. Ivanova, M., Enlightenment, 2005 - P.205.