MOSCOW. - Sacred city of old Russia, the capital of the R. S. F. S. R. and the U. S. S. R. stands on seven hills along the banks of the Moskva River and its small tributary, the Yauza, and represents the true geographical center of the immense region.
I. GEOGRAPHY.
Before 1147, Moscow was not even mentioned in Russian chronicles; in 1325, Metropolitan Peter established his residence in Vladimir on the Klyazma near Moscow; it later became the capital of the Russian state in the 17th century, until (1712) it was supplanted by St. Petersburg. The Kremlin represents the city's center; around it, Moscow gradually expanded in five concentric zones, following the characteristic pattern best suited to the military needs of the era. Today, the city is the starting point of over ten major railway lines. The quantitative element (streets and squares of uncommon vastness) does not correspond to the qualitative one. Palaces, theaters, museums, and villas rise among hovels. The city's center is the famous Red Square, enclosed on the south side by the Church of St. Basil and flanked on the west side by the Kremlin; the latter comprises numerous palaces, churches, and monasteries, now used for the high offices of the State and the Party. Moscow, which had approximately 150,000 inhabitants around the mid-18th century, had about 380,000 in 1861; soon after, it grew due to the influx of peasants who engaged in various trades. In the 1897 census, out of 1,035,000 inhabitants, 63% of the population was immigrant. The number fluctuated around this figure even during the years of war and the Revolution, rising to 1,949,000 in 1915, dropping to 1,028,000 in 1920, and increasing to 2,740,000 in 1931. Such an agglomeration can only be explained by the progress in communications, commerce, and industry.
II. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
SUMMARY:
I. Autocephalous Metropolis (1448-1589)
II. Patriarchate (1589-1721)
III. Holy Synod (1721-1917)
IV. Reestablished Patriarchate (from 1917).I. AUTOCEPHALOUS METROPOLIS (1448-1589)
The western dioceses, Kiev (v.), found themselves during the 13th-14th centuries within the Polish-Lithuanian state, which caused their removal from the jurisdiction of the metropolitan of "Kiev and all Russia," then residing in Moscow. The division—already occurring sporadically—became definitive when, in Poland, the jurisdiction of the united metropolitan of Kiev, Gregory, appointed in 1458 by Pope Callistus III, was recognized. From then on, each of the two parts followed its own historical evolution.Metropolitan Jonas (1448-61), still retaining the traditional title, also claimed governance over the entire ancient metropolis; but his successor, Theodosius (1461-65), called himself only metropolitan of "Moscow and all Russia," a title corresponding to the actual extent of his jurisdiction. Metropolitan Jonas, and then all his successors, were elected and installed without seeking, as had been done until then, at least ratification from the Constantinopolitan patriarch. Thus began the independence or autocephaly of the metropolis of Moscow. Among the following metropolitans, Daniel (1522-39), a writer and polemicist, and Macarius (1542-63), a writer, organizer, and promoter of religious culture, stood out; Philip (d. 1569) paid with his life for his courageous condemnation of the cruelty of Ivan the Terrible.
In the metropolis, supreme legislative and judicial power belonged to the council, which also elected and deposed the metropolitan. The bishops—all obligatorily monks—were appointed by the metropolitan and had full administrative and judicial powers in their own dioceses, including over monasteries, except for some exempt ("stauropegial") ones. The dioceses—10 in 1448—numbered 13 by the end of the period. The clergy, decimated during the Tartar invasions, grew rapidly in number. The secular clergy, composed of priests, deacons, and minor clerics, could marry, but only once and before receiving major Orders. The Council of 1503 required all widowed priests and deacons either to become monks or to renounce the exercise of sacred functions to prevent the potential scandal of incontinence. This unjust provision practically prevented the existence of a secular clergy even if voluntarily celibate. As for canon law, the Byzantine law collected in the Kormčia Kniga (Pilot Book), which contained the Nomocanon with commentaries, essentially prevailed: it was supplemented by the laws of local councils and the statutes of the grand princes. The most important council was that of 1551 (called Stoglav due to the division of its decrees into 100 chapters), which reorganized all ecclesiastical life (education, liturgy, religious art, administration, discipline of ecclesiastics and laity). Ecclesiastical courts judged all matters of religion, the clergy, and the laity dependent on the Church (peasants, employees) even in civil cases, except capital ones. Disputes between ecclesiastics and laity fell to mixed courts. Ecclesiastical property consisted mainly of landholdings exempt from many state taxes. Some bishops and famous monasteries owned tens of thousands of hectares. The metropolitan and bishops also received a special tribute from monasteries and churches, as well as numerous administrative and penal fees. Even the urban clergy was quite wealthy, while the rural clergy was rather poor and sometimes lived by their own agricultural or artisanal work.
The collaboration between the State and the Church was very close. The State assumed the defense of the Church against internal and external enemies. However, the grand prince often decisively influenced the appointment or deposition of metropolitans and bishops. For its part, the metropolitan supported the grand princes of Moscow, who sought to unite the Russian princes into one state, seeing in this the best guarantee of the unity of their own metropolis. His moral prestige was unparalleled. All important documents of the princes—decrees, pacts, peace treaties, testaments, etc.—were issued "with the blessing of our father the metropolitan." The clergy maintained the national spirit during the Tartar domination and later encouraged the grand princes in the struggles for liberation (Dmitry Donskoy, Ivan III). The Church promoted spiritual and material culture, assisted the socially weak, maintained charitable institutions, and ransomed prisoners.
The attitude toward the Holy See became definitively hostile. The continuous anti-Latin propaganda conducted by the Greeks, the military conflicts with neighboring Catholics—knightly Orders in the Baltic and Poland—created a deep aversion in Russia against the Latin West. This manifested itself sharply in the deposition of Metropolitan Isidore (1441) because he united with Rome at the Council of Florence. Neither the marriage of Ivan III to Zoe-Sophia Palaiologina in 1472 nor the pontifical legations to Vasily III and Ivan IV succeeded in modifying this hostile attitude, which was continually revived by Greek ecclesiastics.
This aversion to Rome and the close collaboration of the Church with the State found their characteristic expression in the theory of "Moscow—the Third Rome," formulated in the 16th century by the monk Philotheus of Pskov. According to him, ancient Rome fell due to the heresy of the popes, the second, Constantinople, due to its union with the pope at the Council of Florence. The only remaining free "Orthodox" empire was that of Moscow—the Third Rome, guardian of the purity of the Christian faith until the end of the world.
The expansion of the Church, paralyzed by the Tartar invasions, resumed, and in the 14th–15th centuries Christianity penetrated among the Tartars themselves; some of these converts became the founders of notable Russian families: Aničkov, Godunov, Strogonov, etc. The systematic Christianization of the Tartars began after the conquest of their Khanates of Kazan (1536) and Astrakhan (1563). In the apostolate, the first bishop of Kazan, Gurij (d. 1563), and his collaborators Barsonofij and Germano, good connoisseurs of the Tartar language, distinguished themselves. The monasteries of Valaam on Lake Ladoga and Murma on the Onega were centers of missionary activity in Karelia. In the far north, the faith was spread by the monks of the Solovetskij Monastery on the homonymous islands of the White Sea, and other missionaries settled at the mouths of the Kola (Feodorite, d. 1577) and near Cape North (Trifon Pečenskij, d. 1583). In the northeast, the conversion of the Zyrians—initiated by St. Stefan of Perm (d. 1396)—continued, and preaching then extended further east on the Vyatka and Kama rivers (Trifon Vjatskij, d. 1612). With the Russian penetration into Siberia in 1582, Russian missionaries crossed the Urals. The government favored missionaries and converts everywhere, sometimes even repressing the hostility of the infidels by force, but generally, both ecclesiastical and civil authorities recommended peaceful means to missionaries: instruction and charity. The language of the indigenous peoples was used not only in preaching but sometimes even in the liturgy. Education was provided by the clergy to a greater or lesser extent, but despite the efforts of councils, systematically organized schools were not established, not even for the formation of the clergy. The cultural level of the secular clergy, especially the rural clergy, was very low. The libraries of monasteries, bishops, and princes were sometimes quite rich, and the type of the načetčik, or self-taught individual, developed. Literature consisted mainly of translations from Greek into Church Slavonic. The Archbishop of Novgorod, Gennadij (d. 1504), collected the already translated books of the Old and New Testaments and procured new translations of the missing ones. Original literature was rather practical in character: chronicles, liturgy, sacred discourses and pious instructions, hagiography, descriptions of pilgrimages to the Holy Land. The most eminent writers of the period are: Iosif Volokolamskij (d. 1515), Nil Sorskij (d. 1508), the metropolitans Daniil and Makarij, Pahomij Serb (d. at the end of the 15th century), Zinovij Otenkij (d. 1568), Maksim Grek (d. 1556), the protopope Silvestr (d. 1566). Sborniki, or miscellanies of articles on various subjects and by different authors, were widely circulated. In general, literature had a compilatory character with little criticism of sources. For this reason, apocryphal literature, condemned and combated by ecclesiastical authority, spread.
Around 1474, a heretical movement called the "Judaizers" appeared in Novgorod, which was a mixture of Judaism, humanistic rationalism, and astrology. The heretics denied the main Christian dogmas and indulged in repulsive profanations of sacred places and objects. In M., they even gained some adherents among the laity and clergy: even the metropolitan Zosima (1490–94) was suspected of heresy. Gennadij, Archbishop of Novgorod, and Iosif, abbot of the Volokolamsk Monastery, energetically combated the doctrines of the Judaizers and obtained the conciliar condemnation of the heresy and the punishment of the main heretics. These measures led to the liquidation—at least externally and officially—of the Judaizers. However, their ideas, with the addition of Protestant elements, revived in the doctrines of Matvej Baškin and the even more radical Feodosij Kosoj, condemned by the Council of M. in 1553–54. As for Protestantism, in Russia the exercise of worship by foreign Protestants was tolerated at the time, but no propaganda was permitted. Apostasy from the official Church was a crime punished by the State as well.
Worship was celebrated with increasing splendor, and the number of new churches, richly decorated and furnished, became greater than necessary. In sacred art, the Byzantine tradition was followed, and statues were not admitted in churches. The preferred destinations of pilgrimages were sanctuaries where icons of the Madonna (Vladimir, Kursk, Tichvin, Kazan, etc.) or relics, especially incorrupt ones, of saints were venerated. The Council of 1547 canonized 21 of them, and that of 1549, 20. In liturgy, great variety reigned, despite the efforts of councils to unify liturgical practice. Even the printing of liturgical books (from 1564) did not provide an effective remedy, due to the lack of correct manuscripts and attachment to the usual texts and ceremonies.
Insufficient religious instruction led to an exaggeration of the importance of external worship and favored superstitious practices. The almost continuous wars made customs rough, and the growing prosperity of the classes...
MOSCOW - Letter of Cardinal Isidore, metropolitan of Kiev and all Russia, addressed "to the Starosta of Cholm" (27 July 1440) - Vatican Library, cod. Vat. slavo 12, f. 18 V.
The hermits led by Nil Sorskij condemned the landholdings of monasteries as an obstacle to the perfection of religious poverty. Conversely, Iosif Volokolamskij, the representative of strict cenobitism, along with his followers, upheld the usefulness of such properties as the foundation for the cultural and social activity of cenobitic monasteries, in which perfect individual poverty was guaranteed by the rigorous observance of common life. The Council of 1503 affirmed the legitimacy of monastic possessions, leaving the freedom to follow either ascetic direction. Despite the defects that infiltrated some communities—despotism of superiors, worldly spirit, disobedience, and wandering of monks—monasteries were generally true centers of religious and cultural life. They provided the Russian Church with many excellent bishops, writers, and ascetics, also raised by it to the honor of the altars: besides the aforementioned Iosif Volokolamskij and Nil Sorskij, Zosimo Soloveckij (d. 1478), Pafnutij Borovskij (d. 1478),
German Soloveckij (d. 1484), Aleksandr Svirskij (d. 1533), Kornelij Komelskij (d. 1537), Antonij Sijskij (d. 1556), Nikandr Pskovskij (d. 1581). Furthermore, special forms of asceticism also emerged, such as recluses (Arsenij of Novgorod, d. 1570), stylites (Saba Višerskij, d. 1461), and jurodivyje (fools for Christ’s sake): Michail Klopskij (d. 1452), Simeon Jurjevskij (d. 1584).
This period, rich in strong personalities, bears the dynamic character of spiritual reconstruction aimed at repairing the damage of the Tatar invasion and domination. The metropolis of M., having become autocephalous, strove to become autonomous also in its religious and cultural life and began to offer aid to other Eastern Churches oppressed by the Turks. Unfortunately, at the same time, it separated sharply from the Latin West. Isolation preserved it from the storm of the Protestant Reformation but also deprived it of fruitful contacts with the life of the Catholic Church.
II. PATRIARCHATE (1589-1721)
On 26 January 1589, the Patriarch of Constantinople Jeremiah II, then visiting M., elevated the metropolitan Giobbe (1586-1605) to the dignity of "Patriarch of M. and all Russia." Four bishops (of Novgorod, Rostov, Kazan, Kruticy) also received the title of metropolitan, though without any special jurisdiction. This elevation, ratified by the patriarchal synods held in Constantinople in 1590 and 1593, increased the prestige more than the real rights of the supreme head of the Russian Church, as he had already been fully independent of the Patriarchate of Constantinople since 1448.In the 17th century, the patriarchal curia, following the example of state administration, progressively organized special offices (prikaz): judicial, treasury, palatine, and ecclesiastical discipline. Similar prikaz were also established in episcopal curias, generally two: treasury and ecclesiastical discipline. Dioceses remained too vast; by the end of the period, there were only 23. Councils were frequently convened. The greatest, in 1666-67, retracting the positions of the Stoglav (1551), issued new decrees concerning the composition of ecclesiastical tribunals, the moral formation and education of candidates for the priesthood, the discipline of the clergy (attire, improper commerce and professions, worldly entertainments, wandering clerics), and again authorized widowed priests and deacons to continue their sacred ministry. However, the establishment of seminaries was not achieved, leaving the education of their children to the clergy themselves, from whom the secular clergy was almost exclusively recruited.
The code of Tsar Alexis (Uloženije, 1649) entrusted the special Monastyrskij prikaz with all civil cases involving clergy and their peasants. This aroused great discontent and, condemned by the Council of 1666-67, the Monastyrskij prikaz was abolished in 1675.
In other respects, the socio-economic position of the clergy remained largely unchanged from the previous period. The state sought to limit the growth of ecclesiastical landholdings and their exemptions from public burdens. State and Church practically interpenetrated. The tsar retained decisive influence over the choice of the patriarch, but the patriarchal dignity became almost sovereign in the eyes of the people. During the Time of Troubles following the extinction of the Rurikid dynasty (1598), the patriarchs Giobbe and Germogen (1606-1612) strongly supported the authority of the legitimate tsars (Boris Godunov, 1598-1605, and Vasily Shuisky, 1606-10). Bishops and monasteries materially and morally sustained the national movement, which, under the leadership of Kuzma Minin and Prince Pozharsky, led to the liberation of M. from the Poles (1612) and the restoration of legality with the election of the new tsar Mikhail Romanov (1613). The new patriarch Filaret (1612-33), father of Tsar Mikhail (forced by Tsar Boris Godunov to become a monk in 1601), bore the title of "grand sovereign" like the tsar, and his word was decisive even in state affairs. His successors Ioasaf (1634-40) and Iosif
(1642-53) were more modest and submissive toward the tsars. The prestige of the patriarch reached its apogee during the time of Nikon (1652-66), who resumed the title of "grand sovereign" and asserted the superiority of the patriarchal dignity over that of the tsar. Open conflict erupted in 1658 and dragged on until the Council of 1666-67, which, with the participation of the Eastern patriarchs, condemned, deposed, and degraded Nikon. But this latent conflict between the authority of the tsar and the patriarch, dormant under Nikon’s successor Ioasaf II (1667-72), revived under Ioakim (1674-90) and especially under Adrian (1690-1700), who opposed the reforms of Peter the Great. Therefore, after his death, Peter did not permit the election of a new patriarch but appointed only a patriarchal vicar (Stefan Javorskij), who governed the patriarchate until its suppression in 1721.
As for relations with Rome, the patriarchal period marked the hardening of the anti-Roman stance. The intervention of Catholic Poland in favor of the False Dmitry, later transformed into the military occupation of M., gave the subsequent struggle for liberation the character of a defense of Russian "orthodoxy" against the Latin West.
A. M. Ammann
Missionary activity among the Tartars of Kazan was weak, more vigorous among the Mordvins in the regions of Tambov and Ryazan, especially thanks to Archbishop Missale, who died a victim of pagan fanaticism in 1654. In Siberia, the establishment of the diocese of Tobolsk (1620) and the founding of monasteries intensified the work of missionaries, who in the second half of the 18th century penetrated into southern Siberia and beyond Lake Baikal. In 1680, Poland definitively ceded the city of Kiev with the lands on the left bank of the Dnieper to Russia, and in 1687 the Patriarch of Constantinople consented to the incorporation of the Metropolis of Kiev into the Patriarchate of M.
The work of correcting and unifying liturgical books, resumed by Patriarch Filaret and continued by Patriarch Joseph II, was completed by Patriarch Nikon. He corrected the texts and Russian liturgical practice according to the liturgical books then used by the Greeks, also suppressing particular Russian customs sanctified by long and legitimate tradition. This aroused ever-growing opposition from conservatives. The Council of 1666-67 definitively approved Nikon's liturgical reform and condemned all opponents. However, the latter, led by the archpriest Avvakum, did not submit, positioning themselves as defenders of the "ancient faith," and thus began the movement known as the "Old Believers" (starověři). They remained in opposition despite the Council's excommunications and the often drastic repressions by the government. Dividing into multiple sects, the "Old Believers"
MOSCOW - From the Council of Florence, and on events following that Council; as well as on Metropolitan Theodorus, excerpts from Muscovite chronicles (15th century) - Vatican Library, cod. Vat. slavo 12, f. 7 f.
they henceforth constituted the gravest problem of the internal life of the Russian Church (v. RASKOL).
Yet even the official Church remained deeply attached to the traditional forms of religious and civil life. For many, religious life consisted primarily in the rigid observance of ceremonies and external austerities. Despite the jealous isolation from abroad, "worldly" customs and amusements penetrated Russia from the West, even into the court of the "most pious tsar." Nevertheless, manifestations of sincere Christian faith were not lacking. Works of mercy were widely practiced, especially almsgiving and visits to prisoners. The Council of 1682 issued special norms for the organization of ecclesiastical charity.
Ascetic-monastic life was still considered the highest form of Christian perfection. In the 17th century, 220 new monasteries were founded. The Council of 1666-67 introduced stricter regulations for receiving novices, prohibited admitting candidates to religious profession without sufficient probation, and condemned extravagant forms of ascetic practice. Among the monks of that period, many of whom were later canonized, the following stood out: Basilio Mangazejskij (d. 1600), Giuseppe Vologodskij (d. 1612), Irinarco Rostovskij (d. 1616), Adriano Monzenskij (d. 1619), Irinarco Solovskij (d. 1628), Dionigi Troickij (d. 1633), Eleazaro Anzerskij (d. 1656), Macario Konevskij (d. 1678). Besides monks living in community, hermits and jurodivyje (Procopio Vjatskij, d. 1627) were also encountered.
This period was less turbulent than the preceding one. The life of the Church tended to fossilize somewhat in its traditional forms. "Orthodoxy" was considered a characteristic element of Russian nationality, though few could precisely define what it consisted of and thus it was easily identified with external ritual forms. Efforts were made to organize systematic religious instruction. Yet even in this period, education—especially of the secular clergy and the masses of the faithful—remained the weakest point in Russian ecclesiastical life.
III. THE HOLY SYNOD (1721-1917)
During the vacancy of the patriarchal throne, Peter the Great matured the idea of a radical reform of the structure of the Russian Church. In his youth, Peter had not received the traditional education, essentially ecclesiastical, which instilled a distrustful isolation from all foreigners considered heretics. Instead, removed from the court to the village of Preobraženskoje, he grew accustomed to familiarity with Protestants from the German colony in the suburbs of M. Later, as tsar, he chose foreigners, including Protestants, as his closest collaborators. The Protestant Theophanes Prokopovič (d. 1736), despite the opposition of the patriarchal vicar Stefano Javorskij, was appointed by Peter as bishop of Pskov (in 1718) and became the tsar's principal collaborator in the ecclesiastical reform codified in the Spiritual Regulation. On 14 February 1721, in place of the suppressed patriarchate, the Holy Synod was established, a college of bishops and priests appointed by the tsar and all having equal vote. From that moment, the Holy Synod, recognized in 1723 by the Eastern patriarchs, exercised supreme legislative, administrative, and judicial power over the Russian Church. The Holy Synod was directly subordinate to the tsar, who ultimately ratified its decisions and controlled its activity through the lay high procurator of the Holy Synod. This structure of the Holy Synod underwent no essential modifications. From 1885, it consisted solely of bishops—generally seven—and included: the Synodal Chancery, the Committee for Religious Instruction, the Council for Ecclesiastical Schools, the Economic Section, the Audit Office, the Directorate of Synodal Printing Presses, and two delegated offices (in M., for the administration of the former patriarchal diocese, and in Tiflis for the Georgian Church, dependent on the Holy Synod since 1783). The high procurator had his own chancery, like other ministers.The traditional division into dioceses was preserved. New bishops were chosen by the tsar, to whom the Holy Synod presented three candidates. Transfers of bishops, in the manner of state officials, became increasingly frequent, seriously hindering their pastoral activity. Directly dependent on the Holy Synod were the court clergy, headed by the tsar's confessor, the Chief Protopresbyter of military chaplains, and some monasteries. Ecclesiastical property, administered by the Holy Synod, remained juridically the property of the Church until 1764, when Catherine II secularized it all, compensating the holders with an annual pension, which represented only a minimal part of the actual revenues of the confiscated properties. Arsenij Macevič (d. 1772), metropolitan of Rostov, protested but was deposed and imprisoned. The economic situation of the lower clergy, especially the rural clergy, worsened, and in 1862-1865 a special mixed commission studied this problem. However, no solution was found to ensure the rural clergy an economic and social status corresponding to their dignity and mission.
The institution of the Holy Synod ensured the tsar's complete dominance over the Church. The Spiritual Regulation justified the suppression of the patriarchate by the fact that the common people were inclined to consider the patriarch equal or even superior to the tsar, and in case of conflict between them, were disposed to follow the patriarch, convinced they were doing God's will. Instead, the new Regulation subordinated the Church economically and administratively to the State, and an energetic high procurator, skillfully using bureaucratic legislation, could become the undisputed master of the Holy Synod, even defying the opposition of the episcopate (e.g., N. Protasov [1838-55], K. Pobědonoscev [1880-1905]). It was no longer a matter of the close collaboration between Church and State in the Byzantine sense, but of the simple subordination of the Church to the State in the spirit of enlightened absolutism and then Josephinism, which had penetrated Russia from the West. Such subordination could only reinforce the hostile attitude toward Rome. Proof of this is the close collaboration between ecclesiastical and state authorities in arranging the forced submission to the Holy Synod of Eastern-rite Catholics (in 1839 and 1875), who had come under the Russian Empire after the partitions of Poland. The freedom of Latin-rite Catholics was also restricted, despite a kind of concordat concluded in 1847 between Tsar Nicholas I and the Holy See. Conversion from the official Church to other confessions was prohibited and punished until the Edict of Tolerance of 1905, which permitted it with regard to Protestantism and the Catholic Church. However, in its practical application, it did not recognize Eastern-rite Catholics. Nevertheless, a unionist current of thought (Vladimiro Soloviev, d. 1900) emerged among the faithful of the Russian Church, and small groups of Eastern-rite Catholics began to form (in St. Petersburg, in M., and in White Russia).
The revolutionary-reformist movement of 1905 also raised the question of reorganizing the ecclesiastical administration of the Russian Church through a council, never convened since the establishment of the Holy Synod. A pre-conciliar commission was established, but the actual convocation only took place in 1917.
A. M. AMMANN
Missionary activity continued to develop, though at times hindered by the prevailing political-ideological orientation in government circles (Voltairianism under Catherine II, pseudo-mysticism under Alexander I). Missions among the Tatars received new impetus from the establishment of the missionary section of the Theological Academy of Kazan (in 1854) and the founding of the Confraternity of St. Gurias (in 1867), which ensured material assistance and the translation of books into the local language. In the southeastern steppes, the Christianization of the Kalmyks intensified from 1725, and for the converts the city of Stavropol was founded (in 1738). Between 1821 and 1830, nearly the entire Samoyed population (ca. 30,000) in the Archangelsk region was converted.
In Siberia, Christianization progressed thanks to the new dioceses gradually established: Irkutsk in 1707, Kamchatka in 1743, Yakutsk in 1869, and that of the Aleutians in 1870, with its seat in San Francisco, encompassing the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, and even the faithful residing in America. Beyond the missionary activity of regular parishes, special missions were established in indigenous centers, mostly nomadic, for the mixed population. For example, in 1897 the Altai mission counted 70 missionaries, 56 catechists, 13 stations, 45 churches and chapels, and 30,000 Christians; that of Irkutsk: 20 stations, 64 missionaries, 17 schools, and ca. 35,000 Christians; that of Transbaikalia: 23 stations, 20 missionaries, 29 schools, and ca. 30,000 Christians. The mission in China (Peking) was more a center of Sinological studies than of properly missionary activity. Instead, the mission in Japan, begun in 1861 by the priest, later bishop, Nicolò Kassatkin, counted by 1897 already 225 communities with 23,800 Christians, 1 bishop, 35 priests (30 indigenous), 16 teachers, and 156 catechists. In the Caucasian regions, the Ossetians were almost entirely converted (60,000 faithful in 67 parishes in 1823), and between 1840 and 1850, 1,000–2,000 conversions were recorded annually among the local populations. Missionaries used indigenous languages not only for religious instruction (preaching and printing) but also in the liturgy. Moreover, it should be noted that in Russia, the metropolitan territory was generally not distinguished from the colonial one (not even in Asia), and thus indigenous peoples enjoyed all the rights of Russian nationality. In 1865, the Orthodox Missionary Association arose, whose diocesan committees were to promote propaganda in favor of missions and the collection of necessary funds.
Work among Latvian and Estonian Protestants also met with success, for whom the diocese of Riga was established (1850). During the 19th century, there were also negotiations for rapprochement with the "Old Catholics" and contacts with Protestants (Anglicans), but without concrete results.
Religious instruction made great progress. The "Spiritual Regulation" prescribed the establishment in all dioceses of schools for the formation of the clergy, which were reformed in 1808; there were 4 theological academies for advanced theological studies, 36 major seminaries, 115 minor seminaries, and a total of 29,000 students. At that time, study in seminaries was compulsory for all children of ecclesiastics, even those not aspiring to the priesthood.
Under Peter the Great, education passed once again into the hands of ecclesiastics trained at the Academy of Kiev. However, the scholastic-Catholic orientation represented by Stefano Javorskij (d. 1722), Demetrio of Rostov (d. 1709), and Teofilatto Lopatinskij (d. 1741) was overwhelmed by the Protestantizing current of Teofano Procopovič (d. 1736), which predominated in Russian theological schools until the first decades of the 19th century (Giorgio Konnisskij, d. 1851; Gabriele Petrov, d. 1807; Teofilatto Gorskij, d. 1788; Plato Levšin, d. 1812; Silvestro Lebedinskij, d. 1808; Ireneo Falkovskij, d. 1827). The reforms of theological education in the 19th century spurred the great development of sacred sciences cultivated by eminent professors and writers: I. Borisov (d. 1857), Filarete Gumilevskij (d. 1866); Filarete Drozdov (d. 1867); A. Gorskij (d. 1875); G. Sokolov (d. 1869); A. Amfitestrov (d. 1879); M. Bulgakov (d. 1882); P. Uspenskij (d. 1885); A. Pavlov (d. 1898); V. Bolotov (d. 1900); L. Janyšev (d. 1900); A. Bělajev (d. 1903); Al. Lebedev (d. 1908); S. Malevanskij (d. 1908); N. Malinovskij (d. 1917); E. Golubinskij (d. 1912); S. Mansuetov (d. 1885); N. Krasnoselcev (d. 1898); M. Suvorov (d. 1909); P. Solarskij (d. 1890).
In 1751, the new edition of the Bible in Church Slavonic was published, corrected according to the Septuagint with the aid of other Greek, Latin, and Hebrew texts. Between 1818 and 1825, the Bible Society (founded in 1813 in St. Petersburg on the model of the British one) published the Russian version of the New Testament and part of the Old, without annotations, in the Protestant manner. In the years 1860–1875, under the authority of the Holy Synod, the entire Bible was translated into Russian.
These currents affected the popular masses less due to insufficient schooling, which became widely possible only after the liberation of peasants from serfdom. Between 1859 and 1865, the clergy organized 21,400 schools. However, the state's school bureaucracy hindered their development and practically obstructed religious instruction in public schools. The situation improved only when, in 1884, the schools run by the clergy again came under the direct dependence of the Holy Synod. Insufficient popular education favored the spread of false doctrine. The movement of the "Old Believers" remained very much alive and divided into various groups and tendencies. Furthermore, new, more radical sects appeared: the "Khlysty" (Ivan Suslov, d. 1716), who believed in other reincarnations of Christ, and the "Skoptsy" (Cossack Kondratij Selivanov, d. 1832), who condemned marriage to the point of mandatory castration. In southern Russia, under the influence of Protestantism, the sect of the "Dukhobors" formed, which, in absolute religious subjectivism, rejected Holy Scripture and external worship, and that of the Molokans, who, while admitting Holy Scripture and the obligatoriness of all Mosaic prescriptions, rejected all ecclesiastical and civil authority. In the second half of the 19th century,
(from M. G. Vernadskij, Note sur les vêtements sacerdotaux du patriarche Nicom, part 2a. Paris 1930, p. 42)
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BIBL.:
V. missioni ortodosse; A. Brückner, Geschichte Russlands bis zum Ende des XVIII. Jahrhunderts, Gotha 1913; A. Palmieri, Theologia dogmatica orthodoxa, I, Florence 1911; Id., La Chiesa russa, Rome 1922; Id., Le missioni ortodosse russe, Rome 1922; N. Talberg, Istorija russkoj cerkvi, Paris 1950; G. Florovskij, Puti russkogo bogoslovija, Paris 1937; P. Kovalevskij, Histoire de Russie, Paris 1948; A. V. Kartashev, Očerki po istorii russkoj cerkvi, Paris 1959; Pravoslavnaja enciklopedija, Moscow 2000 ss.
A. PALMIERI.
MOSCOW - Patriarch Nikon with Constantine, St. Helena, Alexei Mikhailovich, and Tsarina Maria. 16th-century miniature.
the Protestant Anabaptist sect of the "Shtundists" spread through the work of German colonists.
Liturgical worship continued to be the characteristic element of Russian religiosity. The Holy Synod, with appropriate measures, sought to preserve sacred art and liturgical chant from the infiltration of profane elements. Sculpture and musical instruments remained always excluded from churches. From 1852, the Academy of Fine Arts included a section for sacred painting, and in 1892 the Synodal School of Sacred Chant was opened in Moscow. In architecture, during the 18th century, Western-Latin models were also introduced, but from 1840 there was a return to the traditional Byzantine-Russian style.
The religious life of the people was elevated thanks to the improved formation of the clergy, who, through more frequent preaching, school teaching, and the press, strove to make the fulfillment of traditional pious practices more conscious and sincere.
Monastic life was paralyzed by the restrictions imposed by Peter the Great, who, inspired by secular utilitarianism, significantly limited the number of monasteries and monks in 1724.
These restrictions, continued throughout the 18th century, reduced monasteries from 1,200 to only 453. In the 19th century, the government eased the restrictions, and the number of monasteries slowly grew (23) with the re-establishment of those suppressed (65 by 1890) and the founding of new ones (200 by 1890). In addition to female convents, religious communities without monastic vows were also formed (in 1890 there were 103). Monasteries, with their schools and charitable institutions, once again became important centers of religious-cultural life. Parallel to this was the reform of the internal life of monasteries, especially through the work of the Russian monk Paisius Velichkovsky (d. 1794), who settled in Moldavia. Paisius insisted on meditation, the study of the works of the Fathers, and the spiritual direction of more advanced monks ("starets" [v.]). He directly and through correspondence influenced the formation of the new generation of Russian monks, who then reformed numerous monasteries in the spirit of Paisius. The venerated "starets," sought by clergy and laity for spiritual direction, made their monasteries famous (Zosima in Siberia, d. 1833; in Sarovskaia Pustyn, Seraphim of Sarov, d. 1833; in Optina Pustyn, Ambrose Grenkov, d. 1891; in Valaam on Lake Ladoga, Alexei Blinov, d. 1900). Among the bishops, all of whom were monks, Tikhon of Zadonsk (d. 1783), Ignatius Brianchaninov (d. 1866), and Theophanes the Recluse (d. 1894) stood out as models and masters of ascetic life. Among the secular clergy, the archpriest John of Kronstadt (d. 1908) became famous for his apostolate and reputation for holiness.
The Synodal period is characterized, on the one hand, by the oppression suffered by ecclesiastical authority at the hands of the state and, on the other, by the great progress of religious culture. During the 19th century, the Russian Church, with its theological academies, libraries, and printing presses, also contributed to the religious-cultural elevation of the other "Orthodox" Churches progressively freed from the Turkish yoke. The clergy had the opportunity for more serious formation and could better provide for the religious instruction of the people, which remained very deficient. Toward the end of the period, the educated class drifted away from the Church, yielding to anti-Christian currents penetrating from the West. The distrustful isolation from the Latin West then prevented the Russian Church from benefiting from the experiences and methods already acquired by the Catholic Church in the struggle against the same atheistic tendencies. Numerous ecclesiastics and laypeople sincerely sought a profound reform of ecclesiastical life and the liberation of the Church from state bureaucracy. The most enlightened minds, such as V. Soloviev, saw the best means of revitalizing the Russian Church precisely in breaking its fatal isolation by integrating into global Christian activity through union with the Roman Church.
IV. RESTORED PATRIARCHATE (from 1917)
On August 15, 1917, amid the turmoil of the Revolution, the long-awaited All-Russian Council convened in Moscow, which restored the patriarchate and, on November 15, elected the metropolitan of Moscow, Tikhon, to this dignity. Until September 1918, the Council discussed all aspects of Russian ecclesiastical life and outlined a plan for profound reforms. However, their implementation was prevented by the Bolshevik Party's rise to power, which on January 23, 1918, proclaimed the separation of Church and State and of school and Church, seized all ecclesiastical property, including sacred buildings and furnishings. The Patriarch's protests were in vain; he was arrested on May 9, 1922. Released in 1923, he officially recognized the authority of the Soviet government, which, however, did not change its hostile attitude toward the Church. During the Patriarch's arrest and after his death (1925), the Church was governed by patriarchal vicars and vice-vicars, repeatedly arrested and released.Meanwhile, internal schisms, fomented by the Bolsheviks, tore apart the patriarchal Church. Among the various currents, the "Living Church" emerged with a synod led by Vvedensky ("Synodal Church"), which rejected several points of traditional doctrine and discipline (episcopal celibacy, the patriarchal system, etc.). In 1923, it was recognized by the Patriarch of Constantinople and supported by the Soviet government against the patriarchal Church. Completely radical was the "All-Ukrainian Orthodox Church" organized by Lipkivsky, "ordained" metropolitan by the imposition of hands of priests and elderly faithful.
In 1927, the Soviet government de facto recognized Metropolitan Sergius as patriarchal vicar, but this did not prevent new waves of violent persecution between 1927 and 1932. Numerous churches were destroyed or repurposed for secular use; many bishops and priests were shot or deported. The organization of "militant atheists" was tasked with eradicating religion, already banned from schools and cultural life. In 1929 and 1931, the government issued new regulations unilaterally ordering ecclesiastical affairs, imposing all sorts of limitations on the Church's activity and subjecting it to meticulous police control. Despite this, in the 1936 census, many still declared themselves believers, so much so that the government never fully published those statistics.
During the German invasion of the Soviet Union (1941), Metropolitan Sergius, the episcopate, and the clergy, in solidarity with the people, demonstrated loyal patriotism. Then, the government, pressed by external and internal difficulties, officially recognized the ecclesiastical administration and authorized the election of the patriarch, which took place on September 8, 1943, in the person of Metropolitan Sergius. He was succeeded, upon his death on May 15, 1944, by the metropolitan of Leningrad, Alexius, elected on February 1, 1945, by the Council in Moscow.
A. M. Ammann, S. J.
The day before, the Council approved a new statute of the Russian Patriarchal Church, adapting it entirely to Soviet legislation. According to this statute, the head of the Church is the patriarch "of Moscow and all Russia," who governs with the assistance of a synod composed of six bishops. The supreme legislative and judicial authority resides in the council, which includes, in addition to bishops, priests and laity, though it is not specified whether they have a deliberative vote. The bishop, appointed by the patriarch with the synod, governs his diocese, divided into deaneries and, respectively, parishes. To establish a parish—or a religious association according to Soviet legal terminology—the faithful (at least 20) must request authorization from the municipal Soviet; however, not even a parish thus established enjoys all the rights of a legal person. The parish priest, appointed by the bishop, is assisted by an executive committee, elected by the faithful, which administers the assets of worship. The civil authority may grant the faithful the use of previously nationalized places and objects of worship or authorize their construction or acquisition.
Religious associations may procure the necessary means for the maintenance of the clergy and the exercise of worship only through free offerings from the faithful, made in money or in kind. Religious instruction is prohibited in all private and public schools; even outside of them, it may be imparted to minors (up to 18 years) exclusively by their parents. It is not lawful to organize public catechism teaching or to establish libraries of religious literature. Only preaching as an integral part of sacred functions is authorized. Nor is the Church permitted to establish cultural, sports, or charitable organizations, as all these activities are reserved for state organizations. As for religious printing, it is reduced to the monthly publication of the patriarchate's bulletin and a few rare books. In fact, Article 124 of the Soviet Constitution guarantees freedom of atheist propaganda but not of religious propaganda.
The exercise of worship is authorized only in places of worship; each parish may use only one premises for this purpose. The dioceses within the Union's territory number 83. The number of parishes is unknown. Official reports in 1946 spoke of 22,000 functioning churches, which would necessarily imply as many parishes, not counting those without them. No official data exist on the number of the faithful, as religion is no longer recorded in censuses. In the volume of the official Great Soviet Encyclopedia published in 1948 (article "Religion and the Church in the U.S.S.R."), it is stated only that "religious prejudices are still considerably widespread among the population" and that the "vast majority" of believers belong to the Patriarchal Church.
In its relations with the government, the Patriarchal Church continues to affirm its most sincere loyalty. This has been recognized by the government itself, which has decorated numerous ecclesiastics for their patriotic merits. Indeed, the highest representatives of the Church at home and abroad spare no opportunity to praise government leaders and to recommend docile submission to civil authorities among the faithful. Nevertheless, in its hostile stance toward Rome, the Patriarchal Church evidently follows the directives of Soviet policy. Ecclesiastical authorities promptly collaborated in the liquidation of the Eastern Rite Catholic Church in Ukraine, which was officially "reunited" with the patriarchate of Moscow in 1946. Bishops and priests who remained faithful to Rome were arrested and deported, and their places were taken by bishops and priests of the Patriarchal Church.
Despite all this, the Soviet government, through the Council for Orthodox Ecclesiastical Affairs, exercises meticulous control over all the activity of the Patriarchal Church. While allowing the Church legal existence and the exercise of worship, it deprives it of all means of propaganda—except for preaching in church—with which it could oppose the official propaganda of atheistic Marxism, systematically carried out in schools, through the press, radio, and cinema. Furthermore, the leadership of the Komsomol—the official organization of Soviet youth—prohibited its members in 1947 from attending churches and entering into relations with the clergy. Thus, the very existence of the Church is severely compromised for the future, as it is practically deprived of the possibility of forming the younger generations.
In the years following the Bolshevik Revolution, numerous Russians, both lay and ecclesiastical, emigrated abroad. Some of them recognized the authority of the Synod of Bishops Abroad, presided over by Metropolitan Antonio Chrapovickij (d. 1936) with its seat in Karlovci, Yugoslavia. Another group, led by Metropolitan Eulogio, residing in Paris, submitted to the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Metropolitan Eulogio also succeeded in opening an "Orthodox" theological institute in Paris in 1925. After the war (1945), some Russian bishops abroad submitted to the jurisdiction of the patriarch of Moscow. Others continued to recognize either the authority of the Synod of Russian Bishops in Munich or the successor of Metropolitan Eulogio (d. 1946), Archbishop Vladimiro, now in Paris.
Abroad, important publications by ecclesiastical and lay authors were also produced. Among them were N. Glubokovskij (d. 1937), S. Bulgakov (d. 1944), Sergio Starogrodskij (d. 1944), N. Berdjaev (d. 1948), N. Arseniev, G. Fedotov, V. Višeslavcev, N. Losskij, G. Florovskij, V. Zenkovskij, and others.
Historically evaluating the life and activity of the Russian Church, it clearly appears the important role it played in the spread of Christianity, defending and propagating it from the Black Sea to the Arctic Ocean, from the Baltic to the Pacific. However, its missionary activity could not, due to the schism, develop in close collaboration with Catholic missionaries, to the grave detriment of the Christianization of Asia. The long separation from the Catholic Church weakened the internal vitality of the Russian Church and prevented it from contributing to the development of universal Christian culture and life as much as its important geographical position and the considerable number of its faithful would have required.
41. Faithful: 98,363,874 (44,005,833); to the Russian Church passed from other Christian confessions (Catholic, Protestant, Armenian) in 1842-1891: 582,954; from the "Old Believers": 311,279; from Jews, Muslims, pagans: 267,872; total: 1,172,755; churches: 54,174 (34,049); chapels: 23,593 (9,305); dioceses: 68 (49); priests in service: 51,105 (36,563); deacons in service: 15,035 (16,024); male monasteries: 550 (435); monks: 11,845 (5,112); novices: 9,485 (3,259); female convents: 475 (112); nuns: 1,448 (2,287); novices: 56,016 (4,583); schools: theological academies: 4 (3); teachers: 164 (53); students: 995 (372); major seminaries: 57 (45); teachers: 1,448 (501); students: 22,734 (16,204); minor seminaries: 185 (175); teachers: 2,374 (822); students: 29,419 (26,533); schools dependent on the Holy Synod: 38,244 (2,700) with pupils: 2,144,742 (25,000); popular libraries at churches: 33,497 (11,170); charitable institutions: hospitals: 291 (53), poorhouses: 1,113 (522)
Vedi tav. XCVIII.(fot. Publifoto)