NIKON, Patriarch of Moscow. — Born Nikita Minič in 1605 in the region of Nizhnii Novgorod, died 17 August 1681 near Yaroslavl.
His peasant origins and the ill-treatment he suffered in childhood contributed to the development of a strong and harsh character in N. He became a priest (1625) in a rural parish, from which he moved to Moscow in 1627. After the death of his children, he retired to the hermitage on Anzersky Island in the White Sea and then to the Kožezeerskij monastery in the Archangel province, of which he became abbot in 1643. In 1646 N. was presented to Tsar Alexis, of whom he became the most influential advisor. In 1649 N. was appointed Metropolitan of Novgorod and on 22 July 1652 Patriarch of Moscow. N. proved to be a zealous pastor. He promoted missions in Siberia and frequent preaching in churches, demanding strict observance of ecclesiastical discipline. Fond of the splendor of worship, he wished to complete the revision of liturgical books begun by his predecessors. To this end he convened several synods and decided to reform Russian liturgical texts and practices according to the liturgical books then in use among the Greeks, suppressing also the numerous particular Russian usages hallowed by long and legitimate custom, which did not fail to arouse ever stronger opposition from conservatives led by Avvakum. N. claimed the full independence of the Church from the State; indeed, he maintained the superiority of the patriarchal dignity over that of the Tsar in the manner of the papal dignity in the Holy Roman Empire and ended by assuming the title of Great Sovereign (Velikij Gosudar) reserved to the Tsar. During Alexis’s frequent absences from Moscow, the Tsar entrusted the regency of the Empire even to the Patriarch. N., proud and authoritarian, treated state and ecclesiastical dignitaries without regard, which ended by making him many enemies and alienating even the Tsar’s own affection.
The open conflict broke out in 1658, and the Tsar ordered N. to lay down the title of Great Sovereign. N. retired to the Voskresenskij monastery near Moscow. In 1666 the Moscow Synod, in which the Eastern patriarchs participated, found N. guilty of arbitrary abandonment of the patriarchal see, abuse of the title of Great Sovereign, pride, and tyranny, and deposed and degraded him. N. was then confined to the distant Ferapontov-Bělozerskij monastery. In 1676 Tsar Alexis died without N. having been reconciled with him. Finally, in 1681, by order of Tsar Theodore, N. was transferred to his beloved Voskresenskij monastery, but he died on 17 August during the journey near the city of Yaroslavl. By the Tsar’s will, N. was buried with pontifical honors, and in 1682, when posthumous absolution by the Eastern patriarchs arrived, N.’s name was restored to the list of Patriarchs of Moscow. The Synod of 1666–67 definitively approved N.’s liturgical reform of the Russian Church, and the opponents of N.’s reform gave rise to the schism known as the “Raskol” (q.v.).