NIKITA PUSTOSVJAT. - Russian raskolnik, d. in Moscow on 12 July 1682. His full name is N. Konstantino Dobrynin.
In the controversy aroused by the reforms of Patriarch Nikon, N., of a combative character, placed himself at the head of the opposition and published a petition to Emperor Alexis Mikhailovich refuting Nikon’s *Schizel*; the petition was refuted first by the Archbishop of Gaza, Paisi Li-garides, and then by Simeon of Polotsk, with his book *Zezel pravlenija* (The Rod of Direction). At the Moscow Synod of 1666–67, N. was condemned, but he submitted to penance, obtained forgiveness, and retired to the Ugra monastery in the government of Smolensk. After fifteen years he reappeared in Moscow, leading the delegation of Old Believers who went to the Kremlin to the regent Sophia. N. paid for his boldness with his life.
As regards doctrine, in his pamphlet against Nikon and against the innovations imported from Byzantium, N. upholds the ancient tenets of the Moscovites, which agree with Catholics on many points, notably in the Immaculate Conception of Mary and in the form of the Sacrament of the Eucharist.