What periods did the Russian Church have? A brief history of the Russian Orthodox Church. Monasteries, monasticism and spiritual enlightenment in the 18th century

He was appointed by the Patriarch of Constantinople from the Greeks, but in 1051 the Kiev prince Yaroslav the Wise managed to achieve the installation of the first Russian, Metropolitan Hilarion, one of the most educated people of that time, on the high priestly throne.

From the very beginning of the official spread of Christianity, monasteries began to be established: in 1051, the Monk Anthony of Pechersk brought the traditions of Athos monasticism to Kiev, founding the famous Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, which became the center of the spiritual life of the ancient Russian state in the pre-Mongol period. Monasteries played the role of religious and cultural centers. In them, in particular, chronicles were kept that brought information about significant historical events to the present day; Icon painting and the art of book writing flourished.

Due to the decline in the importance of Kyiv as a political center after its defeat by the Tatar-Mongols (), in 1299, Metropolitan Maxim of Kiev moved his residence to Vladimir-on-Klyazma; at the end of 1325, Moscow became the seat of the Kyiv metropolitans. During the period of Horde rule, the Russian clergy enjoyed significant property and immunity privileges.

The last metropolitan in Moscow installed in Constantinople was the Bulgarian Isidore (1437-1441). Representing the Russian Church, as well as the Patriarch of Antioch Dorotheos I (1435-1452) at the Ferrara-Florentine Council (1438-1445), he signed on July 5, 1439 the Council's definition of Union, which accepted all the new dogmas of the Roman Church. In Constantinople, the Union suffered a complete collapse already in , due to the general rejection of its population: the Union was adhered to only by the court of the emperor and the Patriarch of Constantinople himself. The Council of Constantinople in 1484, with the participation of all the Eastern Patriarchs, recognized the Latins as "heretics of the second category", who were subject to joining Orthodoxy through anointing.

Break with Constantinople. Beginning of the Moscow period

After gaining independence, the Moscow Church experienced a long period of isolation: in 1458, the Kiev (Kievo-Lithuanian) Metropolis returned to the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the Moscow Church from 1504 was shaken by the heresy of the Judaizers, from the end of the 15th century to the half of the 16th century, a fierce struggle did not subside between the non-possessors and the Josephites. The victory of the latter was finally recorded by the acts of the Stoglavy Council of 1551. The cathedral presented a vivid picture of the spiritual crisis of the Moscow Church and its transformation into the largest feudal landowner who did not want to bear national obligations and duties. A number of doctrinal definitions of the Council are of a frivolous nature for the Council, elevating to the level of dogmas the opinion about “unshaven braids” and “uncut mustaches,” about double-fingering, special hallelujah, etc.

First patriarchal period

Certificate of the Council of Constantinople on the founding of the Moscow Patriarchate, May 1590

The main task of the first Patriarch of Moscow Job (1589-1605) was to carry out the reforms in the Russian Church outlined by the Council Code of 1589: increasing the number of dioceses and raising a number of diocesan bishops to the rank of metropolitans and archbishops. The Patriarch contributed to the spread of Christianity among foreigners in Siberia, the Kazan region, and the Korel region (Karelia). In Moscow, in order to establish greater deanery among the lower clergy, eight priestly elders were established. For refusing to recognize False Dmitry I, he was deprived of his throne and exiled to the Staritsky Assumption Monastery. The Patriarchal throne was occupied by False Dmitry's henchman Ignatius (1605-1606), but immediately after the murder of False Dmitry he was deprived of not only the patriarchal, but also the priesthood.

As Patriarch Filaret's successor, Tsar Michael and his inner circle, and Filaret himself, who chose Archimandrite Joasaph as his successor, would like to see a person less bright and less inclined to political activity. Under Patriarch Joseph (1642-1652), the largest number of books (compared to previous patriarchates) was published - 38 titles (some of which went through up to eight editions). The Patriarch supported rapprochement with the Greek East and Kiev.

Under Peter I, the clergy finally turned into a closed class, access to which for persons from other classes in the interests of public service and tax was practically closed. The system of theological schools (seminaries and theological schools) that arose under Peter was also class-based. Education was organized according to the Little Russian model: Latin dominated (both as a subject and as a language of instruction) and scholasticism. The introduction of school education for the children of the clergy proceeded with extreme difficulty and met massive resistance.

The consequence of the changed legislation was a situation where the Orthodox Church, having lost its former state-legal privileges, actually found itself in the role of a discriminated confession, since it continued to be under direct state control. Attempts by the leading member of the Synod, Anthony (Vadkovsky), to find ways to correct the abnormal situation were torpedoed by Pobedonostsev.

However, in response to the discussion that began among the episcopate about the canonical structure of church government, on January 16, 1906, Nicholas II approved the composition of the “Pre-Conciliar Presence” - the commission for preparation for the Council - which opened on March 8, 1906. But in the conditions of reaction after the turmoil of 1905, the Court considered the demands for the convening of the Council as revolutionary sentiments in the “department of the Orthodox confession.” The highest decree of February 28, 1912 established “at the Holy Synod a permanent pre-conciliar meeting until the convening of the council” (in a more limited composition than Presence, - for “all kinds of preparatory work for the council, which may be necessary”), the chairman of which on March 1 of the same year, the emperor approved, at the suggestion of the Synod, Archbishop Sergius (Stragorodsky) of Finland. After the death of St. Petersburg Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky) on November 2, 1912, an editorial in the right-wing newspaper “Moskovskie Vedomosti” under the heading “Conciliar election of the first metropolitan” called for the implementation of “this smallest of small restorations of the canonical order,” explaining that this is not about a Local Council, but a “bishop’s council” (Antony’s successor was appointed in the usual manner for the synodal era).

At the end of this period, a number of radical nationalist and monarchist, so-called “Black Hundred” organizations arose, based in their ideology on Russian Orthodoxy: “Russian Assembly”, “Union of the Russian People”, “Russian Monarchist Party”, “Union of Michael the Archangel” and others . Representatives of the black and white clergy participated in the monarchist movement, holding leadership positions in some organizations until 1913, when the Holy Synod issued a decree prohibiting the clergy from engaging in party political activities.

The act of the Council was not a mechanical restoration of the patriarchate in the form in which it existed before the synodal period: along with the institution of the patriarchate, the Council established 2 permanent collegial bodies (the Holy Synod and the Supreme Church Council). The jurisdiction of the Synod included matters of a hierarchical-pastoral, doctrinal, canonical and liturgical nature, and the jurisdiction of the Supreme Church Council included matters of church and public order: administrative, economic, school and educational. Particularly important church-wide issues related to the protection of the rights of the Church, preparation for the upcoming Council, and the opening of new dioceses were subject to decision by the joint presence of the Synod and the Supreme Church Council. The new bodies of Supreme Power assumed the powers of the abolished Holy Synod on February 1 () 1918, in accordance with the resolution of the Council of January 31.

The Synod included, in addition to its Chairman - the Patriarch, 12 more members: the Metropolitan of Kiev by office, 6 bishops elected by the Council for three years and 5 bishops, summoned in turn for a period of one year. Of the 15 members of the Supreme Church Council, headed, like the Synod, by the Patriarch, 3 bishops were delegated by the Synod, and one monk, 5 clergy from the white clergy and 6 laymen were elected by the Council.

Before

Tikhon - Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

Patriarch Tikhon, condemning the fratricidal civil war, after 1919 sought to take a neutral position in the conflict between the parties, but for the Bolsheviks such a position was unacceptable. In addition, most of the hierarchy and clergy, located in the territory controlled by the “whites,” emigrated in connection with their defeat and created their own church structure abroad - the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.

An acute conflict between the structures headed by Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow and All Russia and the authorities flared up in the spring of 1922 during a campaign to confiscate church valuables for the purchase of food abroad. Forced confiscation sometimes led to bloody excesses. Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Tikhon was brought to criminal liability for issuing his appeal of February 28. In Moscow, Petrograd and other cities, trials were held against “church members” with harsh sentences, including the highest measure of “social protection” - execution.

The authorities also sought to weaken the Russian Church by stimulating contradictions and schismatic groups. Received support from government authorities renovationism (q.v.), which was officially recognized by government authorities as the Orthodox Russian Church. At their council in April 1923, the renovationists adopted a resolution in support of the Soviet socialist system, condemned the counter-revolutionary clergy, and declared the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Tikhon deposed.

According to the testamentary order of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Tikhon, after his death (March 25 (April 7), 1925), the Patriarchal Locum Tenens, Metropolitan Peter (Polyansky) of Krutitsky, became the helm of the Russian church administration of the Patriarchal Church. From December 10, 1925, the actual head of church administration with the title of Deputy Patriarchal Locum Tenens was Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) of Nizhny Novgorod, who made attempts to normalize the position of the Russian Church in the new state.

1941-1991

In the conditions of a forced military-political alliance with Great Britain and the USA, I.V. Stalin was faced with the need to stop the anti-religious and anti-church campaigns in the USSR, which had an extremely negative impact on the public opinion of the allied powers; Roosevelt directly conditioned the provision of assistance on the easing of repression against religion in the USSR. “Already at the end of October 1941, his [F.] arrived in Moscow. D. Roosevelt] personal representative A. Harriman informed Stalin about the American public’s concern about the fate of the Russian Church and conveyed the president’s request to improve its legal and political position in Russia.”

Another serious factor in weakening repression against religion was the church revival in the territories of the USSR that were under German control: the Armed Forces and punitive bodies of the USSR, which had gone on a strategic offensive, for reasons of political expediency, could not immediately resume the previous repressive practices in the occupied territories. On January 25, 1944, the psalm-reader of the Nikolo-Konetsky parish of the Gdov district, S. D. Pleskach, wrote to Metropolitan Alexy: “I can report that the Russian person completely changed as soon as the Germans appeared. Destroyed churches were erected, church utensils were made, vestments were delivered from where they had been preserved. Peasant women hung clean towels embroidered by themselves on the icons. There was only joy and consolation. When everything was ready, then a priest was invited and the temple was consecrated. At this time there were such joyful events that I cannot describe.”

On October 12, 1943, J.V. Stalin decided to liquidate the renovationist church structures. After this, the Council for the Affairs of the Orthodox Church began to impose former Renovationists for appointment to cathedras.

According to a note from the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1948: “As of January 1, 1948, there were 14,329 operating churches and houses of worship in the USSR (11,897 churches and 2,432 houses of worship, which is 18.4% of the number of churches, houses of worship and chapels in 1914, when there were 77,767). The number of churches in the Ukrainian SSR is 78.3% of their number in 1914, and in the RSFSR - 5.4%... The increase in the number of operating churches and houses of worship occurred for the following reasons: a) during the war in the territory subject to German occupation, 7,547 churches were opened (in fact, even more, since a significant number of churches ceased to function after the war due to the departure of the clergy along with the Germans and due to our confiscation of school, club, etc. buildings from religious communities that they occupied during the occupation as houses of worship) ; b) in 1946, 2491 parishes of the Uniate (Greek Catholic) Church in the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR converted to Orthodoxy; c) for 1944-1947. 1,270 churches were reopened with the permission of the Council, mainly in the RSFSR, from where there were numerous and persistent requests from believers.”

The initial intentions of the USSR authorities to hold an ecumenical council in Moscow in 1948 “to resolve the issue of conferring the title Ecumenical on the Moscow Patriarchate” were rebuffed in the eastern patriarchates; In July 1948, a Meeting of the Heads and Representatives of Local Orthodox Churches was held in Moscow, at which there were no primates of the leading Greek patriarchal sees.

Some change in the government's policy towards the Russian Orthodox Church and its hierarchy occurred in the second half of July - August 1948: repressions took place against individual active bishops, and the Council's interference in the personnel policy of the Patriarchate increased. From 1948 until Stalin's death, not a single temple was opened. From February 1949 to March 1953, ordinations ceased, with the exception of a small number for Ukraine and foreign dioceses.

On January 1, 1952, there were 13,786 churches in the country, of which 120 were not operational, as they were used to store grain. The number of priests and deacons decreased to 12,254, 62 monasteries remained, and 8 monasteries were closed in 1951 alone.

According to the Chairman of the Council for Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR K. M. Kharchev, personnel decisions of the party and state leadership of the USSR in relation to the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church in the late 1980s were made as follows: “Then the opinion of the Central Committee about the episcopate of the Russian Orthodox Church was formed based on information as KGB and the council. And if the two points of view coincided, then a decision was made.” The KGB bodies paid special attention to the international activities of the Moscow Patriarchate: the selection of clergy candidates for work abroad became the main direction of joint activities of the KGB and the Council for Religious Affairs. In 1993, retired KGB general Oleg Kalugin testified: “<…>In addition, people were recruited using “compromising evidence.” This was especially often practiced in relation to hierarchs and priests of the Orthodox Church.” In the early 1990s, there were allegations in the press about the connections of the Russian Orthodox Church clergy with Soviet bodies of political investigation and espionage: priest Gleb Yakunin, then a cleric of the Moscow Patriarchate, who was one of those who briefly gained access to the KGB archives in the early 1990s, alleged that the Moscow Patriarchate was “practically a subdivision, a sister organization of the KGB”; it was stated that the archives reveal the degree of active involvement of the hierarchs of the Moscow Patriarchate in the activities of the KGB abroad.

Beginning in 1987, as part of the policy of glasnost and perestroika carried out under Mikhail Gorbachev, a gradual process began of transferring buildings and property previously under church jurisdiction to the Patriarchate, dioceses and communities of believers; There was a liberalization of the regime of control over religious life and restrictions on the activities of religious associations.

On January 28, 1988, the Council for Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR abolished regulations that limited the activities of church parishes. The turning point in the life of the Church was the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus' in 1988. The ban on covering religious life in the USSR on television was lifted: for the first time in the history of the Soviet Union, people were able to watch live broadcasts of religious services on television. Confirmation of a fundamental change in the religious policy of the state in the conditions perestroika was the election in 1989 of about 300 ministers of various religions, including 192 Orthodox, as people's deputies of Soviets at various levels.

A feature of the position of the Russian Orthodox Church that emerged after the collapse of the USSR (late December 1991) is the transnational nature of its exclusive jurisdiction within the former USSR (without Georgia): for the first time in the entire history of its existence, the Moscow Patriarchate began to consider its “canonical territory” (the term was coined in 1989) territory of many sovereign and independent states. As a result, its administrative and canonical divisions (dioceses, metropolitan districts and a number of self-governing churches), located in different countries, function in very different state-legal, socio-political and confessional-cultural conditions.

see also

• Sections Story in the articles Romanian Orthodox Church and Georgian Orthodox Church

Notes

1. History of the Russian Church. Volume 1. Part 1. Chapter 1 Macarius (Bulgakov), Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna.
2. Metropolitan Macarius. History of Christianity in Russia before Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir. P. 18.
3. Ep. Porfiry Uspensky. Four conversations of Photius, His Holiness Patriarch of Constantinople. St. Petersburg, 1863; Nikon (Lysenko). “Photievo” baptism of the Slavic-Russians and its significance in the prehistory of the Baptism of Rus': Theological works. Collection No. 29. M., 1989, pp. 27-40; Prot. Lev Lebedev. Baptism of Rus'. Ed. MP, 1987, pp. 63 - 76.
4. History of the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church. Commented lists of hierarchs by episcopal sees since 862. M.: Orthodox St. Tikhon's University for the Humanities, 2006, pp. 119, 121, 124.
5. The Tale of Bygone Years under “6491” contains the corresponding story without indicating the names of those killed.
6. Theodore Varangian, Kyiv, Russian First Martyr
7. Russian Orthodox Church 988-1988. Essays on the History of the I-XIX centuries. Ed. Moscow Patriarchies, 1988, p. 10.
8. E. E. Golubinsky. History of the Russian Church. T. I, first half of the volume, p. 720.
9. Lakier A. B. Chapter eight. Seals of the clergy // Russian heraldry. - St. Petersburg. , 1855.
10. N.S. Trubetskoy. About the Turanian element in Russian culture
11. N. S. Trubetskoy. A look at Russian history not from the West, but from the East
12. Text Stoglava Ch. 35
13. Ch. 40
14. Text Stoglava Ch. 31
15. Text Stoglava Ch. 42
16. Text Stoglava
17. Vladislav Tsypin. The highest administration of the Russian Church until the end of the 17th century
18. Patriarchs of Moscow and All Rus'
19. Patriarch Joasaph I and the Russian Church during his patriarchate
20. http://www.ukrainianorthodoxchurchinexile.org/1924_tomos_of_autocephaly.html 1924 Tomos of Ecumenical Patriarchate
21. http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=ru&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=0&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ukrainianorthodoxchurchinexile.org%2F1924_tomos_of_autocephaly.html 1924 Tomos of Constantinople Patriarchy
22. Russian Orthodox Church 988-1988. Essays on the history of the I-XIX centuries. Issue 1: Publication of the Moscow Patriarchate, 1988, p. 72: Head of the Kyiv Metropolis and the Moscow Patriarchate
23. Orthodox Encyclopedia. M., 2007, T. XVI, p. 75.
24. Global Confrontation. Bishop Vasily (Osborne) in the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Ukraine. Article by Abbot Gregory (Lurie).
25. Report by Prof. Alexey Svetozarsky Council of the Orthodox Russian Church 1917-1918
26. Spiritual Regulations of 1721
27. // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional ones). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
28. “Orthodox interlocutor”, Kazan, 1863, July, pp. 407-411.
29. Secularization of monastic estates (1762-1788) Orthodox Encyclopedia
30. Solovyov. V.S. About spiritual power in Russia.(article 1881) // Collected Works. St. Petersburg, T. III, p. 218.
31. Notes of St. Petersburg religious and philosophical meetings. St. Petersburg, 1906
32. The personal HIGHEST Decree given to the Senate, On strengthening the principles of religious tolerance dated April 17, 1905
33. On strengthening the principles of religious tolerance. The highest approved position of the Committee of Ministers
34. “Government Bulletin”, March 2 () 1912, No. 50, p. 4.
35. “Church Gazette”, 1912, No. 9, p. 54.
36. “Moskovskie Vedomosti”, November 4 () 1912, No. 256, p. 1.
37. A. D. Stepanov. The best sons of the Russian people. Black Hundreds and their struggle against lawlessness and unrest.
38. Russian clergy and the overthrow of the monarchy in 1917. / Comp., prev. and comm. M. A. Babkin. M., 2006.
39. Pavel Troitsky. The hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church and the autocracy in March 1917
40. RGIA. F. 796. On. 209. D. 2832. L. 2 a. Typescript. Script.
41. Prince Nikolai Davidovich Zhevakhov. Memories. Volume I. September 1915 - March 1917: Chapter LXXXII. Commemorative meeting of the Holy Synod, February 26, 1917
42. The Orthodox Church and the Coup d'Etat. // “Church bulletin published by the missionary council at the Holy Synod”, 1917, April - May 14, No. 9-17, stb. 181.
43. “Orthodox Evangelist”, M., 1917, May - December, p. 6.
44. “Bulletin of the Provisional Government”, 6 (May 19) 1917, No. 49 (95), p. 2.
45. EMPEROR NICHOLAS II AND THE LOCAL CATHEDRAL OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
46. Kartashev. A.V. The Provisional Government and the Russian Church // Modern notes. Book 62, Paris, 1933, p. 23.
47. Decree on the separation of “Power” February 13, 2001.
48. “Additions to the Church Gazette”, 1918, No. 2 (January 13), p. 98.

Brief history of the Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church has a history of more than a thousand years. According to legend, the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, preaching the Gospel, stopped at the Kyiv Mountains and blessed the future city of Kyiv. The spread of Christianity in Rus' was facilitated by its proximity to a powerful Christian power - the Byzantine Empire. The south of Rus' was sanctified by the activities of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles brothers Cyril and Methodius, apostles and educators of the Slavs. In 954, Princess Olga of Kiev was baptized. All this prepared the greatest events in the history of the Russian people - the baptism of Prince Vladimir and the Baptism of Rus' in 988.
In the pre-Mongol period of its history, the Russian Church was one of the metropolises of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The metropolitan who headed the Church was appointed by the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople, but in 1051 the Russian Metropolitan Hilarion, the most educated man of his time and a remarkable church writer, was first installed on the high priestly throne.
Since the 10th century, majestic temples have been built. Since the 11th century, monasteries began to develop in Rus'. In 1051, the Monk Anthony of Pechersk brought the traditions of Athonite monasticism to Rus', founding the famous Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, which became the center of the religious life of Ancient Rus'. The role of monasteries in Rus' was enormous. And their main service to the Russian people - not to mention their purely spiritual role - is that they were the largest centers of education. In the monasteries, in particular, chronicles were kept that brought to this day information about all significant events in the history of the Russian people. Icon painting and the art of book writing flourished in the monasteries, and translations of theological, historical and literary works into Russian were carried out. The extensive charitable activities of monastic monasteries contributed to the cultivation of the spirit of mercy and compassion among the people.
In the 12th century, during the period of feudal fragmentation, the Russian Church remained the only bearer of the idea of ​​the unity of the Russian people, counteracting the centrifugal aspirations and civil strife of the princes. The Tatar-Mongol invasion - the greatest disaster that befell Rus' in the 13th century - did not break the Russian Church. She remained as a real force and was a comforter to the people in this difficult trial. Spiritually, materially and morally, she contributed to the restoration of the political unity of Rus' - the key to future victory over the enslavers.
The unification of disparate Russian principalities around Moscow began in the 14th century. And the Russian Church continued to play an important role in the revival of a united Rus'. Outstanding Russian saints were the spiritual leaders and assistants of the Moscow princes. Saint Metropolitan Alexy (1354-1378) raised the holy noble prince Demetrius Donskoy. He, like later Saint Metropolitan Jonah (1448-1471), by the power of his authority helped the Moscow prince in ending feudal unrest and preserving state unity. The great ascetic of the Russian Church, St. Sergius of Radonezh, blessed Demetrius Donskoy for the greatest feat of arms - the Battle of Kulikovo, which served as the beginning of the liberation of Rus' from the Mongol yoke.
Monasteries greatly contributed to the preservation of the national identity and culture of the Russian people during the difficult years of the Tatar-Mongol yoke and Western influences. In the 13th century, the beginning of the Pochaev Lavra was laid. This monastery and its abbot, Reverend Job, did a lot to establish Orthodoxy in Western Russian lands. In total, from the 14th to the half of the 15th century, up to 180 new monastic monasteries were founded in Rus'. The largest event in the history of ancient Russian monasticism was the founding of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery by St. Sergius of Radonezh (around 1334). Here, in this later famous monastery, the wondrous talent of the icon painter St. Andrei Rublev blossomed.
Freed from the invaders, the Russian state gained strength, and with it the strength of the Russian Orthodox Church grew. In 1448, shortly before the fall of the Byzantine Empire, the Russian Church became independent of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Metropolitan Jonah, installed by the Council of Russian Bishops in 1448, received the title of Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus'.
Subsequently, the growing power of the Russian state contributed to the growth of the authority of the Autocephalous Russian Church. In 1589, Moscow Metropolitan Job became the first Russian Patriarch. The Eastern Patriarchs recognized the Russian Patriarch as fifth in honor.
The 17th century started out hard for Russia. Polish-Swedish invaders invaded Russian Land from the west. During this time of unrest, the Russian Church, as before, honorably fulfilled its patriotic duty to the people. The ardent patriot Patriarch Ermogen (1606-1612), tortured by the interventionists, was the spiritual leader of the militia of Minin and Pozharsky. The heroic defense of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra from the Swedes and Poles in 1608-1610 is forever inscribed in the chronicle of the history of the Russian state and the Russian Church.
In the period following the expulsion of the interventionists from Russia, the Russian Church dealt with one of its very important internal problems - the correction of liturgical books and rituals. Much of the credit for this belonged to Patriarch Nikon.
The beginning of the 18th century was marked for Russia by the radical reforms of Peter I. The reform also affected the Russian Church: after the death of Patriarch Adrian in 1700, Peter I delayed the election of a new Primate of the Church, and in 1721 established a collegial higher church government represented by the Holy Governing Synod, which remained the highest church body for almost two hundred years.
During the Synodal period of its history (1721-1917), the Russian Church paid special attention to the development of spiritual education and missionary work on the outskirts of the country. The restoration of old and the construction of new temples was carried out. The beginning of the 19th century was marked by the activities of remarkable theologians. Russian church scientists did a lot for the development of such sciences as history, linguistics, and oriental studies.
The 19th century gave great examples of Russian holiness: the outstanding hierarchs, Metropolitans of Moscow Philaret and Innocent, St. Seraphim of Sarov, the elders of the Optina and Glinsk hermitages.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, preparations began for the convening of the All-Russian Church Council. The Council was convened only after the February Revolution - in 1917. His greatest act was the restoration of the Patriarchal administration of the Russian Church. Metropolitan Tikhon of Moscow was elected at this Council as Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' (1917-1925).
Saint Tikhon made every effort to calm the destructive passions fanned by the revolution. The Message of the Holy Council dated November 11, 1917 said: ‘Instead of the new social structure promised by the false teachers, there is a bloody feud among the builders, instead of peace and brotherhood of peoples, there is a confusion of languages ​​and the bitter hatred of brothers. People who have forgotten God rush at each other like hungry wolves... Leave the crazy and wicked dream of false teachers who call for the implementation of world brotherhood through world civil strife! Return to the path of Christ!’
For the Bolsheviks, who came to power in 1917, the Russian Orthodox Church was a priori an ideological enemy. That is why many bishops, thousands of priests, monks, nuns and laity were subjected to repression, including execution and murders that were shocking in their cruelty.
When in 1921-22 the Soviet government demanded the release of valuable sacred objects, things came to a fatal conflict between the Church and the new government, which decided to use the situation for the complete and final destruction of the Church. By the beginning of World War II, the church structure throughout the country was almost completely eliminated. There were only a few bishops left free who could perform their duties. In the entire Soviet Union, only a few hundred churches were open for worship. Most of the clergy were in camps, where many were killed or disappeared.
The catastrophic course of hostilities for the country at the beginning of World War II forced Stalin to mobilize all national reserves for defense, including the Russian Orthodox Church as a popular moral force. Temples opened for worship. The clergy, including bishops, were released from the camps. The Russian Church did not limit itself only to spiritual support for the cause of defending the Fatherland in danger - it also provided material assistance, including uniforms for the army, financing the tank column named after Dmitry Donskoy and the squadron named after Alexander Nevsky.
The culmination of this process, which can be characterized as the rapprochement of the state and the Church in “patriotic unity,” was Stalin’s reception on September 4, 1943 of the Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) and Metropolitans Alexy (Simansky) and Nikolai (Yarushevich).
From this historical moment, a “thaw” began in relations between the Church and the state, but the Church was constantly under state control, and any attempts to expand its activities outside the walls of the temple met with unyielding resistance, including administrative sanctions.
The position of the Russian Orthodox Church was difficult during the period of the so-called “Khrushchev Thaw”, when thousands of churches throughout the Soviet Union were closed for the sake of ideological principles.
The celebration of the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus' in 1988 marked the decline of the state-atheist system, gave new impetus to church-state relations, forced those in power to begin a dialogue with the Church and build relationships with it on the principles of recognition of its enormous historical role in the fate of the Fatherland and its contribution to the formation of moral foundations of the nation. The true return of the people to the Father's house began - people were drawn to Christ and His Holy Church. Archpastors, pastors, and laity began to work zealously to recreate full-blooded church life. At the same time, the absolute majority of clergy and believers showed extraordinary wisdom, endurance, steadfastness in faith, devotion to Holy Orthodoxy, despite neither the difficulties with which the revival was associated, nor the attempts of external forces to split the Church, undermine its unity, deprive it of internal freedom, and subjugate it. worldly interests. Even the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, accompanied by a widespread increase in national egoism, could not destroy the multi-ethnic nature of the Moscow Patriarchate. The desire to enclose the Russian Orthodox Church within the framework of the Russian Federation and the national diasporas associated with it has so far proven futile.
However, the consequences of the persecution turned out to be very, very serious. It was necessary not only to restore thousands of churches and hundreds of monasteries from ruins, but also to revive the traditions of educational, educational, charitable, missionary, church and public service.
Metropolitan Alexy of Leningrad and Novgorod, who was elected by the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church to the First Hierarchal See, widowed after the death of His Holiness Patriarch Pimen, was destined to lead the church revival in these difficult conditions. On June 10, 1990, the enthronement of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II took place. Under his First Hierarchal omophorion, the Russian Orthodox Church undertook the most difficult efforts to recreate what was lost during the years of persecution. Peculiar milestones on this difficult path were the Bishops' Councils of the Russian Orthodox Church, at which current problems of church revival were freely discussed and decisions were made on canonical, disciplinary and doctrinal issues.
The Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church on March 31 - April 5, 1992, held in Moscow, made a number of important decisions regarding church life in Ukraine and the canonical position of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. At the same Council, the beginning was laid for the glorification of the holy new martyrs and confessors of Russia, who suffered for Christ and His Church during the years of persecution. In addition, the Council adopted an appeal in which it outlined the position of the Russian Orthodox Church on issues that worried society in the countries in which its flock lives.
The Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church on June 11, 1992 was convened on an extraordinary basis to consider the case on charges of Metropolitan Philaret of Kyiv in anti-church activities that contributed to the split of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In a special “Judicial Act,” the Council decided to depose Metropolitan of Kyiv Philaret (Denisenko) for committing grave moral and canonical crimes and causing a schism in the Church.
The Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church on November 29 - December 2, 1994, in addition to a number of decisions concerning internal church life, adopted a special definition 'On the relationship of the Church with the state and secular society in the canonical territory of the Moscow Patriarchate at the present time', in which it confirmed the 'non-preference' for the Church of any political system, political doctrine, and so on, the inadmissibility of the Church's support of political parties, and also prohibited clergy from nominating themselves for elections to local or federal authorities. The Council also decided to begin developing a ‘comprehensive concept reflecting a pan-church view on issues of church-state relations and the problems of modern society as a whole’. The Council especially noted the need to revive the missionary service of the Church and decided to develop a concept for the revival of the missionary activity of the Russian Orthodox Church. In pursuance of the decisions of the Council of Bishops in 1994, the Holy Synod in December 1995 decided to form the Missionary Department of the Moscow Patriarchate.
The Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church on February 18 - 23, 1997 continued work on the church-wide glorification of the new martyrs and confessors of Russia. In addition, the themes discussed at the Council of Bishops in 1994, which outlined the most important tasks and trends in church life, were developed in council reports and discussions. In particular, the Council confirmed the inviolability of the church position on the issue of the inadmissibility of participation of the Church and its ministers in political struggle. In addition, the prospects for the participation of the Russian Orthodox Church in international Christian organizations, problems of missionary and social service of the Church, threats to the proselytizing activities of heterodox and heterodox religious associations were discussed.
The Anniversary Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church met on August 13-16, 2000 in the Hall of Church Councils of the recreated Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The meetings of the Council, which ended with the solemn consecration of the Temple, were included in the circle of celebrations dedicated to the great Jubilee - the 2000th anniversary of the Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into the world.
The Council became a unique phenomenon in the life of the Russian Orthodox Church in terms of the number and significance of the decisions it made. According to the report of Metropolitan Yuvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, Chairman of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints, a decision was made to glorify for church-wide veneration in the ranks of saints the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia of the 20th century, known by name and hitherto unknown to the world, but known to God. The Council considered materials about 814 ascetics whose names are known, and about 46 ascetics whose names could not be established, but about whom it is reliably known that they suffered for the faith of Christ. The names of 230 previously glorified locally venerated saints were also included in the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia for church-wide veneration. Having considered the issue of canonization of the Royal Family, the members of the Council decided to glorify Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra and their children: Alexy, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia as passion-bearers in the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. The Council made a decision on the general church glorification of the ascetics of faith and piety of other times, whose feat of faith was different from that of the new martyrs and confessors.
The members of the Council adopted the Basic Principles of the Russian Orthodox Church’s attitude towards heterodoxy, prepared by the Synodal Theological Commission under the leadership of Metropolitan Philaret of Minsk and Slutsk. This document became a guide for clergy and laity of the Russian Orthodox Church in their contacts with non-Orthodox people.
Of particular importance is the adoption by the Council of the Fundamentals of the social concept of the Russian Orthodox Church. This document, prepared by the Synodal Working Group under the leadership of Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad and the first document of its kind in the Orthodox world, sets out the basic provisions of the teaching of the Church on issues of church-state relations and on a number of modern socially significant problems. The document reflects the official position of the Moscow Patriarchate in the sphere of relations with the state and secular society.
In addition, the Council adopted a new Statute of the Russian Orthodox Church, prepared by the Synodal Commission to amend the Statute on the governance of the Russian Orthodox Church under the leadership of Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad. The Church is currently guided by this Charter.
The Council adopted the Epistle to God-loving shepherds, honest monastics and all faithful children of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Determination on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Determination on the position of the Orthodox Church in Estonia and the Determination on issues of the internal life and external activities of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Russian Orthodox Church is the largest autocephalous church in the world. Its history dates back to apostolic times. The Russian Church survived the schism, the fall of the monarchy, years of atheism, war and persecution, the fall of the USSR and the formation of a new canonical territory. We have collected theses that will help you better understand the history of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Russian Orthodox Church: history

• The history of the Russian Orthodox Church begins in apostolic times. When Christ's disciples left to bring the Word of God to people, the territory of future Rus' turned out to be the path of the Apostle Andrew. There is a legend that the Apostle Andrew came to the Crimean land. The people who lived there were pagans and worshiped idols. The Apostle Andrew preached Christ to them.
• Nevertheless, from the time when the apostle walked through the territory of future Rus' until the Baptism of Rus', nine centuries passed. Many believe that the history of the Russian Church began in apostolic times, for others the “reference point” is the Baptism of Rus' in 988, and still others believe that the Russian Orthodox Church was born in the 4th century. In 1448, the first Autocephalous church organization appeared, its center was located in Moscow. Then the Russian bishops for the first time elected Metropolitan Jonah as the Primate of the Church without the participation of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
• In 1589-1593, Autocephaly was formally recognized and the Church gained independence. Initially, under the Patriarch there was no functioning Council of Bishops - the Holy Synod, which distinguished the Russian Orthodox Church from other Churches.
• The Russian Orthodox Church has also survived difficult pages of its own history. Namely, church reform, when the term “Old Believers” appeared.

• During the time of Peter I, the Holy Synod became the state body performing the function of church-wide administration. Due to the Tsar's innovations, the clergy became a rather closed society, and the Church lost its financial independence.
• But the most difficult times for the Russian Orthodox Church came during the years of fighting against God after the fall of the monarchy. By 1939 the Church was practically destroyed. Many clergy were convicted or killed. Persecution did not allow believers to openly pray and visit temples, and the temples themselves were desecrated or destroyed.
• After the collapse of the USSR, when repression of the Church and the clergy ceased, the “canonical territory” of the Russian Orthodox Church became a problem, as many former republics separated. Thanks to the act of canonical communion, local Churches remained “an integral self-governing part of the Local Russian Orthodox Church.”
• In October 2011, the Holy Synod approved the reform of the diocesan structure with a three-level management system - Patriarchate - Metropolis - Diocese.

Russian Orthodox Church: structure and management

The order of the Church hierarchy in the modern Russian Orthodox Church looks like this:

1. Patriarch
2. Metropolitan
3. Bishop
4. Priest
5. Deacon

Patriarch

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church since 2009 is Patriarch Kirill.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' was elected to the Primate's ministry at the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church on January 27-28, 2009.

Structure of the Russian Orthodox Church (metropolises, dioceses)

There are more than three hundred dioceses in the Russian Orthodox Church, which are united into metropolitanates. Initially, in the Russian Orthodox Church, the title of metropolitan was awarded only to the Primate. Metropolitans still decide the most important issues in the Russian Orthodox Church, but its head is still the Patriarch.

List of metropolises of the Russian Orthodox Church:

Altai Metropolis
Archangel Metropolis
Astrakhan Metropolitanate
Bashkortostan Metropolis
Belgorod Metropolitanate
Bryansk Metropolis
Buryat Metropolis
Vladimir Metropolis
Volgograd Metropolis
Vologda Metropolis
Voronezh Metropolitanate
Vyatka Metropolis
Don Metropolis
Ekaterinburg Metropolis
Transbaikal Metropolis
Ivanovo Metropolis
Irkutsk Metropolis
Kaliningrad Metropolitanate
Kaluga Metropolis
Karelian Metropolis
Kostroma Metropolis
Krasnoyarsk Metropolis
Kuban Metropolis
Kuzbass Metropolis
Kurgan Metropolitanate
Kursk Metropolis
Lipetsk Metropolis
Mari Metropolis
Metropolis of Minsk (Belarusian Exarchate)
Mordovian Metropolis
Murmansk Metropolitanate
Metropolis of Nizhny Novgorod
Novgorod Metropolis
Novosibirsk Metropolitanate
Omsk Metropolis
Orenburg Metropolis
Oryol Metropolis
Penza Metropolis
Perm Metropolis
Amur Metropolis
Primorsky Metropolis
Pskov Metropolis
Ryazan Metropolitanate
Samara Metropolis
St. Petersburg Metropolitanate
Saratov Metropolis
Simbirsk Metropolis
Smolensk Metropolis
Stavropol Metropolis
Tambov Metropolis
Tatarstan Metropolis
Tver Metropolis
Tobolsk Metropolis
Tomsk Metropolis
Tula Metropolis
Udmurt Metropolis
Khanty-Mansi Metropolis
Chelyabinsk Metropolis
Chuvash Metropolis
Yaroslavl Metropolis

According to the chronicle tradition, the foundations of the Christian faith were brought to Rus' by the Apostle Andrew the First-Called in the middle of the 1st century AD. The penetration and spread of Christianity among the East Slavic tribes was due to the following factors:

Trade, economic and spiritual-religious ties with Byzantium;

The gradual evolution of paganism towards monotheism;

The process of state formation;

The need to strengthen the power of the Kyiv prince:

The development of feudal relations and the need to justify social inequality;

The need to introduce Rus' to pan-European political realities, spiritual and cultural values.

Due to the peculiarities of the geopolitical position of Rus' between Europe and Asia, Prince Vladimir had a wide religious and civilizational choice. Theoretically, Rus' could accept one of three religions professed by neighboring states: Islam - Volga Bulgaria, Judaism - Khazar Khaganate, Eastern Christianity - Byzantium, or Western - most European countries. The choice of Orthodoxy is explained by the following factors:

The universal nature of the doctrine, acceptable to all people;

The principle of the dominance of secular power over spiritual power;

The influence of Byzantium and the need to strengthen the military-political alliance with this state;

The missionary activities of Cyril and Methodius, the baptism of Princess Olga;

The opportunity to perform worship in one’s native language, the attractiveness of the decoration of churches.

In 988, a mass baptism of Kyiv residents took place in the Dnieper. After this, the priests, with the active support of the squad, baptized residents of other Russian cities. A feature of the Christianization of Rus' was dual faith, i.e. preservation of a number of pagan rituals and beliefs.

The history of the Orthodox Church in Rus' begins with the formation of the Kyiv Metropolis, dependent on the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Patriarch of Constantinople had the right:

Bless the metropolitans at the pulpit;

The right to try the metropolitan;

The right to resolve religious and ritual disagreements.

In the history of the Kyiv metropolis, only two metropolitans were Russian: Hilarion, elected in 1051, and Clement in 1147.

The Russian Church was divided into dioceses headed by bishops, first in the 6th century (X century), then in the 15th century (XIII century). The highest clergy of the Kyiv Church was supported by state support - tithes from princely income. There were other sources of income: trade and ship duties, monastic estates.

The second stage in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church is Moscow (XIII-XIY centuries). During this period, the church was a unifying force in conditions of feudal fragmentation and the Tatar-Mongol yoke. The Russian principalities also had to fight Western European invaders. Prince Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod renounced his alliance with the Catholic Church in exchange for military assistance and was subsequently canonized by the Orthodox Church.

During this period, the throne of the Metropolitan of All Rus' was transferred to Moscow. Metropolitan Alexy and Abbot Sergius of Radonezh made a significant contribution to the national liberation movement.

In the middle of the XY century. The Russian Orthodox Church became autocephalous. In 1438, a council was held in Florence, at which a union was adopted between the Pope and the Byzantine Patriarch Joseph, recognizing the primacy of Rome. Metropolitan Isidore, who headed the Russian Church, supported the union, but the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily II and the Moscow clergy accused Constantinople of apostasy and removed Isidore. In 1448, a council was convened in Moscow and Bishop Jonah of Ryazan was installed as metropolitan.

At the end of the XY century. The Russian Orthodox Church faced the heresies of the Judaizers and Strigolniks. Heretics rejected the trinity of God, the divinity of Jesus Christ, and did not recognize church sacraments and hierarchy.

The controversy between the Josephites, led by Joseph Volotsky, and the non-covetous people, led by Nil Sorsky, had a great resonance in the public life of Rus'. The first defended the right of the church and monasteries to land property and recognized the primacy of secular power, arguing that the power of the prince was from God. Non-acquisitives were for an independent church and opposed the accumulation of wealth by the clergy.

Metropolitan Macarius crowned Ivan IY the Terrible to the throne, affirming the idea of ​​​​the divinity of royal power. In the middle of the XYI century. 39 Russian saints are canonized, rituals and cults are unified. The Council of the Hundred Heads in 1551 introduced the church rank of archpriests, who monitored the discipline of the clergy, consolidated the customs of making the sign of the cross with two fingers, making a religious procession in the direction of the sun (posolon), etc.

As a result of the strengthening of the Moscow centralized state, it became possible to establish the patriarchate in 1589. Job became the first Russian patriarch. The third stage in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church is the patriarchal period of 1589-1700. After the death of Boris Godunov and his son, Patriarch Job refused to recognize the power of the impostor False Dmitry I, for which he was exiled to a monastery. Another outstanding personality of the “Time of Troubles” was Patriarch Hermogenes, who, under the conditions of the Polish-Swedish intervention, defended the idea of ​​an Orthodox kingdom. From 1619 to 1633 The Moscow Patriarch was the father of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich - Filaret. He became co-ruler with his son and received the title “great sovereign.”

In the middle of the XYII century. a schism occurred in the Russian Orthodox Church, which was a consequence of church reform. The main reason for the reform was the implementation of the doctrine of the monk Philotheus “Moscow is the Third Rome,” which established the historical continuity of Moscow in relation to the first Rome, which “fell into the Latin heresy,” and the second Rome, Constantinople, captured by the Turks in 1453. This concept ensured the national unity of the state and the right to spread Orthodoxy beyond Russia. To transform Russia into a center of Orthodoxy, it was necessary to correct liturgical books and unify rituals according to Greek models. In addition, the books have accumulated many errors and discrepancies. The development of book printing also contributed to the reform.

Patriarch Nikon (1652-1666) played an important role in carrying out church reform. During the reforms, the two-finger sign was replaced by a three-finger sign, instead of “Jesus” they began to write “Jesus”, along with the eight-pointed cross, the four-pointed one was also recognized, walking around the altar began to be done against the movement of the sun, etc. There were changes in icon painting, church architecture and music.

But the reforms were not accepted by everyone. Many priests and laity opposed the Greek models, considering them a departure from the true faith. Archpriest Avvakum became the leader of the Old Believers. Followers of the old faith fled to the remote corners of Russia - to the North, to Siberia. Acts of protest included self-immolations, “purges,” and social unrest.

During the reform period, a conflict occurred between Nikon and the Tsar, Alexei Mikhailovich. At the heart of the conflict is the question of the relationship between secular and spiritual authorities. The patriarch's idea that the "priesthood is higher than the kingdom" led to his deposition. Church Council 1666-1667 deprived Nikon of his dignity and finally approved the reforms, blaming the Old Believers for the schism.

The consequences of these events were:

The emergence of the Old Believer Church;

Approval of the Church of the New Rite;

Affirmation of the priority of secular power over spiritual power;

Loss of the Church's monopoly on ideology;

Development of secular culture and social thought.

The official Church imposed an anathema on the Old Believers, which was lifted only in 1971.

Among the Old Believers, two main directions can be distinguished - priests and non-priests. Bespopovtsy believe that the post-reform clergy is wrong and has no right to exist. They retained only two sacraments - baptism and confession. The priests retained the priesthood.

The synoidal period in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church (1700-1917) began after the death of Patriarch Adrian. Peter I did not allow the election of a new patriarch, and the Church was headed by the locum tenens of the patriarchal throne, Stefan Yavorsky. The Tsar subordinated the clergy to the Monastic Order, transferred the clergy to a salary, and carried out a partial secularization of church lands.

In 1721, the Spiritual Regulations were adopted, according to which the patriarchal administration was replaced by the synodal. The Holy Governing Synod was headed by the Chief Prosecutor and consisted of. Peter's church reforms contributed to even greater subordination of the church to the state.

At the end of the XYIII century. The Church lost almost all of its land holdings, and its property came under state control. In the XYIII century. The missionary activity of the Church was actively developing, promoting the spread of Orthodoxy in Siberia, the Far East, and the Caucasus.

The Synodal period is characterized by a revival of monastic life and eldership. The elders of Optina Pustyn gained particular fame - Seraphim of Sarov (1760-1833), Ambrose of Optina (1812-1821), John of Kronstadt (1829-1908).

In the 19th century A large number of religious educational institutions appeared. Under Alexander I they were combined into one system. In the middle of the 19th century. the number of clergy reached 60 thousand people. Until the middle of the century, the clergy was a closed class, but in 1867 young men of all classes were allowed to enter seminaries. By 1917, there were 57 seminaries and 4 theological academies.

In August 1917, the All-Russian Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church began work in Moscow, which lasted until 1918. On October 28, 1917, a decision was made to restore the patriarchate. Tikhon was elected the new patriarch.

Under Soviet rule, a number of legislative acts were adopted that not only separated the church from the state, but also placed it in a discriminatory position. During the civil war, the church and clergy were subjected to severe persecution. For 1918-1922 27 bishops were arrested, and from more than one hundred thousand priests only 40 thousand remained.

In February 1922, the state confiscated jewelry from the church to fight hunger. Patriarch Tikhon sent a message in which he authorized the voluntary donation of valuables, with the exception of sacred objects. The repressions continued with the confiscation of church property, more than eight thousand clergy died.

To establish civil peace and end the persecution of the clergy, Patriarch Tikhon in June 1923 recognized the legitimacy of Soviet power. The main task of the patriarch was to preserve the canonical integrity of the church and the purity of doctrine in the conditions of a powerful anti-religious campaign.

After Tikhon's death in April 1925, the church was headed by the locum tenens of the patriarchal throne, Metropolitan Sergius. In his declaration of 1927, he declared the Church's loyalty to Soviet power in civil matters, without making any concessions in matters of faith. This statement did not stop the repressions and by the end of the 30s. In the USSR, only a few hundred churches were active and only four bishops remained in office. All monasteries and theological educational institutions were closed.

On the first day of the Great Patriotic War, Metropolitan Sergius in his Message called on the Orthodox to defend the sacred land of the Fatherland from invaders. The Russian Orthodox Church has done a lot to strengthen the patriotic feelings of the Soviet people. The church contributed more than 300 million rubles to the defense fund; the Dmitry Donskoy tank column and the Alexander Nevsky air squadron were built with its funds.

In September 1943, the patriarchate was restored. In February 1945, Metropolitan Alexy of Leningrad was elected patriarch to replace the deceased Sergius. The relaxations of the first post-war years led to an increase in the number of operating churches, the opening of two theological academies and eight seminaries. But the Church was prohibited from conducting any other activities other than worship and training of priests.

In 1961, the Russian Orthodox Church joined the World Council of Churches. In the 70s Patriarch Pimen was active in anti-war activities. On his initiative, the World Conference “Religious Leaders for Lasting Peace, Disarmament and Fair Relations between Nations” was held in Moscow.

The situation in the Church changed radically in the mid-80s. In the anniversary year of 1988, more than a thousand parishes were opened, and enrollment in theological seminaries was increased. Celebrations were held throughout the country to mark the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Rus'.

In May 1990, after the death of Pimen, Alexy II became the new Patriarch. In the 90s There was a genuine separation of church and state. The state no longer promoted atheism. A religious organization was recognized as a legal entity with the right to own property and engage in social, missionary, and charitable activities.

In August 2000, the “Fundamentals of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church” were adopted at the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church. This document formulates and systematizes the position of the Church on a wide range of issues - economic, political, moral.

In May 2007, the “Act on Canonical Communion” of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad was signed. This document was the result of long-term work to eliminate contradictions and unite the Churches on mutually acceptable principles.

In January 2009, Kirill became the new Patriarch.

Literature

1. Gribanov A. Orthodoxy / A. Gribanov // Science and life. – 1993. - No. 6.

2. Kartashov, A.V. History of the Russian Church. In 2 volumes / A. V. Kartashov. – M., 1993.

3. Men, A. Orthodox worship. Sacrament. Word. Rite. / A. Men. – M., 1989.

4 Orthodoxy: dictionary. – M., 1989.

5. Kolesnikova, V.S. Russian Orthodox holidays / V.S. Kolesnikova. – 2nd ed., corrections and additions. – M., 1996.

6. Regelson, L.L. The tragedy of the Russian church 1917-1945 / L.L. Regelson. – M., 1999.

7. Nikitin, V. New holiday - a holiday of church unity. Act on canonical communion of Russian Orthodox Churches \ V. Nikitin // Science and religion. – 2007. - No. 11.

8. History of religions in Russia: textbook / ed. I.Ya. Trofimchuk. – M., 1995.

9. A new Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' has been elected. // Science and religion. 2009. No. 2.

10. Babkin M.A. Local Council of 1917-1918: the question of the conscience of the Orthodox flock. // Questions of history. 2010. No. 4.

11. Vyatkin V.V. Church policy of Anna Ioannovna. // Questions of history. 2010 No. 8.

12. Pashkov V. Monasticism in Rus' in the mirror of statistics. // Science and religion. 2010. No. 8

13. Myalo K. Participation in God or dedication to God? (Russian Orthodox Church and the Soviet legacy). // Science and religion. 2010. No. 9.

14. Peter I and the patriarchs // Science and religion. – 2006 – 2006. - No. 12.

15. Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches: prospects for cooperation. // Science and religion. – 2005. - No. 6.

16 http://www.russion-orthodox-church.org.ru/

Topic 8

Catholicism

Plan:

1. Features of the doctrine and cult of Catholicism.

2 Organizational structure of the Roman Catholic Church.

3. Brief history of the Roman Catholic Church.

1. Features of the doctrine and cult of Catholicism.

The largest variety of Christianity is Catholicism. In the modern world, more than 1 billion people are adherents of Catholicism. Catholicism is predominantly widespread in Western, South-Eastern and Central Europe. In addition, it covers with its influence the majority of the population of Latin America and a third of the population of Africa. The position of Catholicism is also strong in the United States.

The doctrine of Catholicism is based on the common Christian Creed, which includes 12 dogmas and seven sacraments. But the Catholic Creed has its differences. The source of Catholic doctrine is not only the Holy Scripture, but also the Holy Tradition, which includes the decisions of not only the Ecumenical Councils, but also subsequent councils, the judgments of the Popes and the most authoritative saints. In general, Catholicism is more susceptible to religious innovations than Orthodoxy.

One of the reasons for the church schism was the dogma of the “filioque” (lat. from the son). It was adopted at the Council of Toledo in 589. In Catholicism, the Holy Spirit can come not only from God the Father, but also from God the Son. The veneration of the Virgin Mary is much more developed among Catholics - in 1854 the dogma of her immaculate conception was adopted, and in 1950 the dogma of the resurrection and bodily ascension of the Virgin Mary was adopted.

In addition to the doctrine of hell and heaven, the Catholic Church formulated the dogma of purgatory - the place of residence of the souls of sinners not burdened with mortal sins. The fire of purgatory removes sins before heaven. The dogma of purgatory was adopted by the Council of Florence in 1439 and finally approved by the Council of Tridenum in 1568.

In Catholicism, there is a widespread teaching about the stock of good deeds, according to which the church disposes of the stock of “super-duty deeds” accumulated through the activities of Jesus Christ, the Mother of God and the saints, being the mystical body of the Savior. Relatives of the deceased can ease the fate of the soul in purgatory through prayers, services, and donations to the church. The doctrine of the stock of good deeds was the basis for the practice of selling indulgences (letters of remission of sins) in the Middle Ages.

A special feature of Catholic doctrine is the dogma of the infallibility of the Pope, adopted at the First Vatican Council in 1870. According to this dogma, God himself speaks through the mouth of the Pope in official speeches on issues of faith and morals.

The originality of Catholicism is also manifested in religious activities, including the performance of the seven sacraments. The sacrament of baptism is performed by pouring water or immersion in water. The sacrament of confirmation in Catholicism is called confirmation and is performed on children aged 7-12 years. The sacrament of the Eucharist is celebrated with the help of unleavened bread. The sacrament of repentance, most often individual, is performed in a special room - the confessional. The sacrament of anointing is performed over a dying person.

In Catholicism, starting from the 11th century, celibacy has been in effect - mandatory celibacy for the clergy. All Catholic priests belong to one of the monastic orders. Currently, the largest monastic orders are the Jesuits, Capuchins, Dominicans, Benedictines, etc. There are 150 monastic orders.

The cult of saints and blesseds is quite developed in Catholicism. Before Vatican II, Catholic worship was conducted in Latin, today in national languages.

Catholic churches are usually built on a foundation shaped like a cross, which is designed to commemorate the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The main part of the Catholic church faces West. In home prayer, Catholics also usually turn towards Rome, located in Western Europe, which symbolizes its recognition as the capital of the entire Christian world, and the pope as the head of the entire Christian Church.

According to tradition, in a Catholic church the altar is open to everyone present. The temple is dominated by sculptural images of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and saints. However, in all Catholic churches you can find fourteen icons depicting various stages of the “Way of the Cross.”

In a Catholic church, believers sit during worship and stand up only when certain prayers are chanted. The service has musical accompaniment: an organ or harmonium sounds.

Holidays are basically the same as in Orthodoxy, but are celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar. But Catholics have several specific holidays: the Feast of the Heart of Jesus, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lady. The holiday of All Souls (November 2) is established in memory of those who have passed away.

The most solemn holiday, the Nativity of Christ, is celebrated with three services: at midnight, at dawn and during the day, which symbolizes the birth of Christ in the womb of the Father, in the womb of the Mother of God, in the soul of the believer. On this day, a manger with a figurine of the infant Christ is displayed in churches for worship. Epiphany among Catholics is called the Feast of the Three Kings - in memory of the appearance of Jesus Christ to the pagans and the worship of Him by the three kings.

The number of strict fasts in Catholicism has tended to decrease; they are now observed at the beginning of Lent, on the Friday before Easter and on Christmas Eve. During Lent, Catholics are allowed to eat fish, milk, eggs and butter.

History of the Russian Church- history of the Orthodox Church on the territory of historical Rus'.

Modern both ecclesiastical and secular historiography of the Russian Church usually has the year 988 as its starting point; more traditional ecclesiastical historiography traced the history of the Church within Rus' to the apostolic era. Reliable information about the existence of Christian communities in Kyiv dates back to the second half of the 9th century.

An autocephalous church organization centered in Moscow with a regulated canonical status arose in 1589, when the Moscow Metropolitan was recognized with the dignity of patriarch as the independent primate of the Moscow Church, that is, the Church in the northeastern part of historical Rus'.

The history presented in this article is the history of the modern Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate); also, before one or another historical milestone, it is the history of other religious associations and movements, from the point of view of the historiography adopted in them, for example, the Old Believers, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and others.

As part of the Patriarchate of Constantinople

The spread of Christianity in Rus' was facilitated by its proximity to the Christian power - the Byzantine Empire. It is known that the Christian community existed in Kyiv already in the second half of the 9th century. Its appearance is usually associated with the so-called Photius baptism of Rus' in the first half of the 860s. A number of historians suggest that the first baptizers of Russians could be the brothers Cyril and Methodius, sent by Photius on a mission to Khazaria. According to Byzantine sources, from 862/863 there was a “diocese of Rosiya”, later a “metropolis of Rosiya”. According to some sources, in the same year 862, an episcopal see was established in Kyiv: the first bishop, with reference to Byzantine sources, is called “Archbishop Alexy, sent by Patriarch Photius”; There is no reliable data about the Kyiv bishops until the end of the 10th century.

According to hagiographic literature, in 983, Theodore and John, revered by the Russian Church as the first Russian martyrs, died as martyrs at the hands of the Kyiv pagans.

Kiev Grand Duchess Olga was baptized in Constantinople in 957 (or 954/5). Her grandson, Prince (Kagan) of Kiev Vladimir, according to chronicles, was baptized in Chersonese Tauride, receiving the name Basil, in honor of Saint Basil the Great, as well as in honor of his successor, the Roman Emperor Basil. Traditional historiography places the Baptism of Rus' in 988, although, according to some church historians, there is reason to believe 987 is a more likely date.

For the first five centuries, the Russian Church was one of the metropolises of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The metropolitan who headed the Russian hierarchy of Kiev and all Russia was appointed by the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople, but in 1051 the Kiev prince Yaroslav the Wise managed to achieve the installation of the first Russian, Metropolitan Hilarion, one of the most educated people of that time, on the high priestly throne.

Other dioceses were formed: in Belgorod (now the village of Belogorodka near Kiev), Veliky Novgorod, Rostov, Chernigov, Vladimir-Volynsky, Polotsk, Turov. Diocesan bishops were elected locally by the corresponding appanage princes or veche (in Veliky Novgorod from the middle of the 12th century) - as a rule, Russians.

Evgeny Golubinsky, discussing the attempts of Prince Vladimir to introduce enlightenment among his boyars at the level of Byzantine standards of that time, wrote: “Vladimir wanted and tried to introduce enlightenment to us, but his attempt remained unsuccessful. After him, we no longer made any attempts and were left without enlightenment, with only literacy, with only the ability to read.”

From the very beginning of the official spread of Christianity, monasteries began to be established: in 1051, the Monk Anthony of Pechersk brought the traditions of Athos monasticism to Kyiv, founding the famous Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, which became the center of the spiritual life of the ancient Russian state in the pre-Mongol period. Monasteries played the role of religious and cultural centers. In them, in particular, chronicles were kept that brought information about significant historical events to the present day; Icon painting and the art of book writing flourished.

Due to the decline in the importance of Kyiv as a political center after its defeat by the Tatar-Mongols (1240), in 1299, Metropolitan Maxim of Kiev moved his residence to Vladimir-on-Klyazma; at the end of 1325, Moscow became the seat of the Kyiv metropolitans. During the period of Horde rule, the Russian clergy enjoyed significant property and immunity privileges.

The last metropolitan in Moscow installed in Constantinople was the Bulgarian Isidore (1437-1441). Representing the Russian Church, as well as the Antiochian Patriarch Dorotheos I (1435-1452) at the Ferrara-Florentine Council (1438-1445), he signed on July 5, 1439 the Council's definition of the Union, which accepted all the new dogmas of the Roman Church. In Constantinople, the Union suffered a complete collapse already in 1440, due to the general rejection of it by the population: Only the court of the emperor and the Patriarch of Constantinople himself adhered to the Union. The Council of Constantinople in 1484, with the participation of all the Eastern Patriarchs, recognized the Latins as “heretics of the second category,” who were subject to joining Orthodoxy through anointing.

Break with Constantinople. The beginning of autocephaly of the Russian Church

In 1441, Metropolitan Isidore, upon arriving in Moscow from the Council of Florence, served a liturgy, at which he remembered Pope Eugene IV, and also read out the document on the Union. Immediately after this, by order of Grand Duke Vasily II (the Dark), he was taken into custody, but subsequently escaped. The Grand Duke ordered not to pursue Isidore.

Convened on this occasion in 1441 in Moscow, the Council of Bishops of Eastern Rus' (Grand Duchy of Moscow) condemned Metropolitan Isidore as a heretic and apostate and rejected the Union. The Moscow Council of 1448, convened by Grand Duke Vasily, on December 15 installed Bishop Jonah of Ryazan on the Russian Metropolis without the consent of the Uniate Patriarch of Constantinople (the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Emperor were in the Union before the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, until May 29, 1453), with the title “ Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus'."

On December 15, 1448, the Russian Church became autocephalous. After the capture of Constantinople by the Turks and the destruction of the Union there, communication between the Russians and Greeks was restored. In 1458, from the Moscow Metropolitan Jonah, under pressure from Pope Callixtus III, the Polish king Casimir IV took away the Russian dioceses located in Lithuania and put the Uniate Metropolitan Gregory at their head. Gregory left the union in 1470 and was accepted into communion by the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople. Two metropolises were formed. One of them is Moscow, which was an autocephalous church; and the second - Kiev, which was part of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Beginning with the reign of John III, a religious-historiosophical and political ideology began to take shape in the Russian state, according to which, as a result of the political fall of Byzantium, Moscow became the only state stronghold of universal Orthodoxy, which received the dignity of the Third Rome. In a slightly modified form, this idea was formally enshrined in Laid Certificate 1589 on behalf of the Patriarch of Constantinople Jeremiah II. In the Russian Church during this period, a view was formed on Russian piety as the only intact and saving teaching of Christ in the whole world. Christians of other confessions were not considered as such and were subject to rebaptism when joining Orthodoxy (q. v. in the article Latinity). As a result, a specifically Muscovite religiosity was formed with special emphasis on external ritual, the absolute immutability of liturgical forms, as well as what some researchers call “everyday confession.”

In 1478, the Moscow principality and its clergy abolished the jurisdictional autonomy of the Novgorod diocese.

After gaining independence, the Russian Church experienced a long period of isolation: in 1458, the Kiev (Kievo-Lithuanian) Metropolis returned to the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the Moscow Metropolis from 1470 to 1504 was shaken by the heresy of the Judaizers; from the end of the 15th century to the half of the 16th century, the struggle between non-covetous and Josephites. The victory of the latter was finally recorded by the acts of the Stoglavy Council of 1551. A number of doctrinal definitions of the Council are of a frivolous nature for the Council, elevating to the level of dogmas the opinion about “unshaven braids” and “uncut mustaches,” about double-fingered, especially (double) hallelujah, etc.

First patriarchal period

In 1589-1593, the Moscow metropolitans received the dignity of Patriarchs and formal recognition of autocephaly from the Eastern Patriarchs. A distinctive feature of the governance of the Moscow Church in comparison with other patriarchates was the absence under the Patriarch of a permanent council of bishops - the Synod, which by that time had already emerged as one of the authorities in other local Churches.

The main task of the first Patriarch of Moscow Job (1589-1605) was to carry out reforms in the Russian Church outlined by the Council Code of 1589. Almost all episcopal sees were promoted in rank, and several new ones were opened. Job elevated to the rank of four metropolitans, five archbishops (out of six) and one bishop for the seven planned new dioceses. He established church-wide holidays for some previously recognized saints and canonized a number of new ones. The Patriarch contributed to the spread of Christianity among foreigners in Siberia, the Kazan region, and the Korel region (Karelia). In Moscow, in order to establish greater deanery among the lower clergy, eight priestly elders were established. For refusing to recognize False Dmitry I, he was deprived of his throne and exiled to the Staritsky Assumption Monastery. The Patriarchal throne was occupied by False Dmitry's henchman Ignatius (1605-1606), but immediately after the murder of False Dmitry he was deprived of not only the patriarchal, but also the priesthood.

Patriarch Hermogenes (1606-1612) was an outstanding church writer and preacher, one of the most educated people of his time. Under him, a new printing house was erected in Moscow, a printing press was installed, and books were printed. He was an active opponent of the Poles, for which he was imprisoned in the Chudov Monastery, where he died of hunger.

The Moscow Patriarchs reached their highest power under Patriarch Filaret (1619-1634), the father of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. In 1625 the king issued Certificate of no criminal record, according to which the court over all churches, monasteries and peasants on church and monastic lands was transferred to the Patriarch, which turned the Patriarchate into status in status. Under Filaret, two Zemsky Councils were convened (in 1619 and 1632), the Tobolsk and Siberian Archdiocese was established, a Greek school for children was opened, and book printing developed. In 1619-1630, the publication of a major work was prepared - the 12-volume Menyas of Menstruation.

As Patriarch Filaret's successor, Tsar Michael and his inner circle, and Filaret himself, who chose Archimandrite Joasaph as his successor, would like to see a person less bright and less inclined to political activity. Under Patriarch Joseph (1642-1652), the largest number of books (compared to previous patriarchates) was published - 38 titles (some of which went through up to eight editions). The Patriarch supported rapprochement with the Greek East and Kiev.

In the middle of the 17th century, under Patriarch Nikon, corrections of liturgical books and other measures were taken to unify Moscow liturgical practices with Greek ones. The reform of Patriarch Nikon was not accepted by part of the Church, as a result of which a schism occurred and the Old Believers arose. The last years of Nikon's patriarchate were marked by a conflict with the tsar, which led to the deposition of the patriarch in December 1666.

During the patriarchate of Joasaph II (1667-1672), the Great Moscow Council of Russian and Eastern clergy was held, which cursed the Old Believers, while simultaneously subjecting them to state criminal prosecution. Joasaph II made efforts to implement the prohibitions introduced by the Moscow Council. At the same time, Joasaph II did not have enough energy to implement a number of the most important decisions of the Moscow court: the council’s recommendation on the widespread establishment of colleges (schools) and the establishment of new dioceses in Russia remained unrealized (only one was approved - Belgorod). Fighting against the penetration of Western European style into Russian icon painting, the patriarch sought to legitimize the Byzantine style. Under Joasaph II, preaching in churches was resumed. On his initiative, Orthodox missionaries acted in the Far North (to the islands of Novaya Zemlya) and the Far East (to Dauria). On the Amur, near the border with the Qing Empire (China).

The content of the activities of Patriarch Joachim (1674-1690) was to defend antiquity and the prestige of the church in the clergy. The most important event of his patriarchate was the reassignment in November 1685 to the Moscow Patriarchate of part of the autonomous Kiev Metropolis (Kiev and Chernigov dioceses), which had previously been under the jurisdiction of the Throne of Constantinople: in 1686, Patriarch Dionysius of Constantinople, with the consent of other Eastern Patriarchs, sent a letter approving the metropolitan’s decree Gideon Chetvertinsky at the head of the Kyiv Metropolis, annexed to the Moscow Patriarchate; the successors of Gideon Chetvertinsky, who was de facto elected to the Kyiv Metropolis by the Cossack elders led by Hetman Samoilovich, were canonically subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate. A staunch opponent of the resubordination of the Kyiv Metropolis was the Patriarch of Jerusalem Dositheos II (Notara), who took an active part in Russian affairs, and considered such resubordination contrary to the canons. Metropolitan Gideon was awarded the title by the Certificate of Moscow Patriarch Joachim Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia of Lesser Russia, as well as the right to present the Cross in one’s diocese; The Kyiv department was recognized original in Russia. Soon, Metropolitan Gideon began to lose the privileges given to him in Moscow: in January 1688, the right to be titled Metropolitan of “Little Rus'” was taken away from him, and in July the Chernigov diocese and the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra were removed from his jurisdiction, which undermined his prestige. During the synodal period, the Kyiv metropolitans became diocesan bishops, retaining the metropolitan title.

Another important event in the patriarchate of Joachim was the establishment of the Moscow Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy.

Under Joachim, the king's repeated attempt at the Council of 1682 to increase the number of dioceses and introduce metropolitan districts ended in failure.

The last patriarch of the pre-Synodal period, Adrian (1690-1700), was a conservative and opponent of the reforms of Tsar Peter I; his relationship with the young king was tense. Two councils took place under him: in 1697 and 1698.

Synodal period 1700-1917

After the death of Patriarch Adrian in 1700, Peter I prohibited the election of a new patriarch and after 20 years established the Theological College, soon renamed the Holy Synod, which, being a state body, performed the functions of church-wide administration from 1721 to January 1918, - with the emperor (until March 2, 1917) as “the last Judge of this Board.”

Up until the time of the All-Russian Local Council of 1917-1918, the main external (state-legal) regulatory document for the Church was the Spiritual Regulations of 1721, and later also the Charter of Spiritual Consistories.

Under Peter I, the clergy turned into a closed class, access to which for persons from other classes in the interests of public service and tax was greatly hampered. The system of theological schools (seminaries and religious schools) that arose under Peter was also class-based. Education was organized according to the Little Russian model: Latin dominated (both as a subject and as a language of instruction) and scholasticism. The introduction of school education for the children of the clergy proceeded with extreme difficulty and was met with massive resistance.

In 1763 and 1764, a series of decrees abolished the Monastic estates and introduced states. As a result, the Church ceased to play the role of the most important subject in the socio-economic life of the country. The clergy lost their financial independence and found themselves supported by the state treasury, becoming a special category of bureaucrats. Four-fifths of the monasteries in Great Russia were abolished as a result of the secularization of monastic properties. The church's response to this was the revival and spread in some monasteries of such a phenomenon as eldership.

In the 19th century, the most significant figures in church politics were Moscow Metropolitan (1821-1867) Filaret (Drozdov) and Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod (1880-1905) Konstantin Pobedonostsev. The first, being a brilliant preacher, dogmatist and administrator, played a significant role in the formation of the Russian theological school, free from Latin scholasticism. The second, pursuing a protective policy and using significant influence on Alexander III, contributed to the further social isolation of the clergy and the decline in the prestige of the Church in society. In the 19th century, there was almost complete secularization and a departure from the Church of a significant part of the educated layer of the Russian people. At the same time, at the end of the century there was a noticeable awakening of interest in religion among the creative intelligentsia, a movement arose for the renewal of church life and the restoration of the conciliar principle in government, the heralds of which were Alexei Khomyakov, Vladimir Solovyov, Lev Tikhomirov and others. Vladimir Solovyov wrote in 1881: “ The Council of the Russian Church must solemnly confess that the truth of Christ and His Church do not need forced unity of forms and violent protection<…>Having thus abandoned external police power, the church will acquire internal moral authority, true power over souls and minds. No longer needing the material protection of the secular government, she will be freed from its tutelage and will take on the worthy attitude towards the state that is due to her.”

In 1901-1903, “religious and philosophical meetings” of representatives of the secular intelligentsia and clergy were held in St. Petersburg under the chairmanship of Bishop Sergius (Stragorodsky) of Yamburg; The idea of ​​the need to convene a local council and reorganize the highest church administration is finally maturing. According to the Highest Decree, the government headed by Count Sergei Witte in December 1904 began developing a bill On strengthening the principles of religious tolerance, issued by the Supreme Manifesto on April 17, 1905.

The consequence of the changed legislation was a situation where the Orthodox Church, having lost its former state-legal privileges, actually found itself in the role of a discriminated confession, since it continued to be under direct state control. Attempts by the leading member of the Synod, Anthony (Vadkovsky), to find ways to correct the abnormal situation were torpedoed by Pobedonostsev.

However, in response to the discussion that began among the episcopate about the canonical structure of church government, on January 16, 1906, Nicholas II approved the composition of the “Pre-Conciliar Presence” - the commission for preparation for the Council - which opened on March 8, 1906. But in the conditions of reaction after the turmoil of 1905, the Court considered the demands for the convening of the Council as revolutionary sentiments in the “department of the Orthodox confession.” The highest decree of February 28, 1912 established “at the Holy Synod a permanent pre-conciliar meeting until the convening of the council” (in a more limited composition than Presence, - for “all kinds of preparatory work for the council, which may be necessary”), the chairman of which on March 1 of the same year, the emperor approved, at the suggestion of the Synod, Archbishop Sergius (Stragorodsky) of Finland. Following the death of St. Petersburg Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky) on November 2, 1912, an editorial in the right-wing newspaper Moskovskie Vedomosti under the heading “Conciliar election of the first metropolitan” called for the implementation of “this smallest of small restorations of the canonical order,” explaining that this is not about a Local Council, but a “bishop’s council” (Antony’s successor was appointed in the usual manner for the synodal era).

At the end of this period, a number of radical nationalist and monarchist, so-called “Black Hundred” organizations emerged, based in their ideology on Russian Orthodoxy: “Russian Assembly”, “Union of the Russian People”, “Russian Monarchist Party”, “Union of Michael the Archangel” and others . Representatives of the black and white clergy participated in the monarchist movement, holding leadership positions in some organizations until 1913, when the Holy Synod issued a decree prohibiting the clergy from engaging in party political activities.

The fall of the monarchy in Russia on March 2, 1917, was met by the majority of the church hierarchy either indifferently or sympathetically. On March 6, the Holy Synod at its meeting issued Determination No. 1207 On the promulgation of the acts of March 2 and 3, 1917 in Orthodox churches., which read, in particular: “Take note of the said acts and implement them and announce them in all Orthodox churches, in urban churches on the first day upon receipt of the text of these acts, and in rural churches on the first Sunday or holiday, after the Divine Liturgy, with the celebration prayers to the Lord God for the pacification of passions, with the proclamation of many years to the God-protected Russian Power and its Blessed Provisional Government.” Prince N.D. Zhevakhova, who was then a comrade of the Chief Prosecutor of the Synod, while subsequently in exile in the 1920s, recalled the “memorable” meeting of the Holy Synod on February 26, 1917, when Petrograd was completely paralyzed by the turmoil: the leading member of the Synod, Metropolitan of Kiev Vladimir (Epiphany) rejected the prince’s proposal to address the population with an appeal, which, according to the prince, should have become “a formidable warning to the Church, entailing, in case of disobedience, church punishment,” telling him: “This is always so. When we are not needed, then we are not noticed; and in times of danger, we are the first to be turned to for help.” It is noteworthy that Zhevakhov explained this behavior of the Synod members not as “the refusal of the highest church hierarchy to help the state in a moment of danger, but as the most ordinary phenomenon of the Synod’s opposition to the Chief Prosecutor’s Office.” The editorial in the official publication “Church Bulletin” (April 1917), written by the editor, member of the State Council, member of the Council of the Russian Assembly, Professor-Archpriest Timofey Butkevich, is typical: “<…>But if the behavior of the former tsar was not the result of mental abnormality, then it is inevitable to come to the conclusion that no one has ever discredited the principle of autocracy as much as Nicholas II.<…>After all, it’s no secret that instead of Nicholas II, Russia was ruled by the depraved, ignorant, self-interested horse thief Rasputin!<…>Rasputin's influence on the Tsar had a particularly difficult impact in the life of the Orthodox Church. As a whip, Rasputin was the most implacable enemy of the Church. Therefore, all the tsar’s orders on church affairs were of a hostile nature, the nature of Julian’s persecution. Dominance in the church was given to the Khlysty movement. And the church was ruled, in fact, by Rasputin.<…>" A figure of Russian Orthodoxy with a reputation as an extreme nationalist and monarchist, like Archpriest John Vostorgov, immediately after the February Revolution, wrote about the “slavery” of bishops and the Synod “in the old order.”

On April 29, 1917, reorganized by the new Chief Prosecutor V.N. Lvov, the Synod addressed Message to the archpastors, pastors and all faithful children of the Russian Orthodox Church, which announced the introduction of an elective principle in church government and announced the convening of the Local Council. The resolution of the Holy Synod of May 5 (Old Art.), 1917, No. 2668 “On attracting the clergy and flock to a more active participation in church governance,” in particular, decided: “<…>Concern for the convening in the coming days of extraordinary diocesan congresses of the clergy with the participation of representatives from parishes invested with the trust of parishioners, and representatives from local theological educational institutions to discuss at these congresses not only issues related to this diocese, but also general questions about the situation of the Orthodox Church in Russian state, in connection with the changes that have occurred in the system of government administration and the upcoming convening of the Church Council and the Constituent Assembly, as well as questions about desirable transformations in church government and church-public life, so that the decisions made by the congresses and the wishes expressed on general issues were reported to the Holy Synod, in view of the upcoming convening of the Pre-Conciliar Council<…>»

In the summer of 1917, elections of bishops were held for dioceses - an unprecedented phenomenon in the synodal period: Tikhon (Bellavin) in Moscow, Veniamin (Kazansky) in Petrograd, Sergius (Stragorodsky) in Vladimir were elected to the corresponding sees.

Second patriarchal period

In the early 1900s, despite the resistance of Konstantin Pobedonostsev, preparations began for the convocation of the All-Russian Local Council, which opened with the service of the liturgy on August 15 (Old Art.), 1917 in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. His biggest decision was the restoration on October 28 of the same year of the patriarchal leadership of the Russian Church, which continues to this day. The Pre-Conciliar Council, which worked earlier, in the summer of 1917, in Petrograd, under the influence of a number of professors from the Theological Academies (the Council consisted of 40 laymen, 10 priests and 12 bishops), made a decision directed against the restoration of the patriarchate, finding it incompatible with the idea of ​​conciliarity. At the meetings of the cathedral Department on the Higher Church Administration (one of 22 departments formed at the Council), most of the reports were directed against the patriarchate. At the Council itself, which began debate on the issue of October 11 (Old Art.), the positive resolution of the issue on October 28 was largely due to the sharp radicalization of the political situation in connection with the seizure of power in Petrograd by the Bolsheviks three days earlier and armed clashes in Moscow that day between Bolshevik supporters and junkers.

The act of the Council was not a mechanical restoration of the patriarchate in the form in which it existed before the synodal period: along with the institution of the patriarchate, the Council established 2 permanent collegial bodies (the Holy Synod and the Supreme Church Council). The jurisdiction of the Synod included matters of a hierarchical-pastoral, doctrinal, canonical and liturgical nature, and the jurisdiction of the Supreme Church Council included matters of church and public order: administrative, economic, school and educational. Particularly important church-wide issues related to the protection of the rights of the Church, preparation for the upcoming Council, and the opening of new dioceses were subject to decision by the joint presence of the Synod and the Supreme Church Council. The new bodies of Supreme Power assumed the powers of the abolished Holy Synod on February 1 (14), 1918, in accordance with the resolution of the Council of January 31.

The Synod included, in addition to its Chairman - the Patriarch, 12 more members: the Metropolitan of Kiev by office, 6 bishops elected by the Council for three years and 5 bishops, summoned in turn for a period of one year. Of the 15 members of the Supreme Church Council, headed, like the Synod, by the Patriarch, 3 bishops were delegated by the Synod, and one monk, 5 clergy from the white clergy and 6 laymen were elected by the Council.

Before 1941

Already in December 1917, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (Bolshevik government) adopted a number of acts that abolished the functions of the Orthodox Church as a state institution enjoying state patronage.

On January 23 (Old Style), 1918, the Decree approved on January 20 by the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR was published , by which the Church was separated from the state and from the public school, deprived of the rights of legal personality and property; religion became an exclusively private matter for citizens. The Bolsheviks, who took power in Russia (RSFSR, later USSR), openly proclaimed as their task to promote the “withering away of religious prejudices”; Patriarch Tikhon's political messages, which were distributed in the form of printed leaflets in 1918, were perceived by the authorities as calls for sabotage.

Patriarch Tikhon, condemning the fratricidal civil war, after 1919 sought to take a neutral position in the conflict between the parties, but for the Bolsheviks such a position was unacceptable. In addition, most of the hierarchy and clergy, located in the territory controlled by the “whites,” emigrated in connection with their defeat and created their own church structure abroad - the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.

An acute conflict between the structures headed by Patriarch Tikhon and the authorities flared up in the spring of 1922 during a campaign to confiscate church valuables for the purchase of food abroad. Forced confiscation sometimes led to bloody excesses. Patriarch Tikhon was prosecuted for issuing his appeal on February 28. In Moscow, Petrograd and other cities, trials were held against “church members” with harsh sentences, including the highest measure of “social protection” - execution.

The authorities also sought to weaken the Church by stimulating contradictions and schismatic groups. Received support from government authorities renovationism (q.v.), which was officially recognized by government authorities as the Orthodox Russian Church. At their council in April 1923, the renovationists adopted a resolution in support of the Soviet socialist system, condemned the “counter-revolutionary clergy,” and declared Patriarch Tikhon deposed.

According to the testamentary order of Patriarch Tikhon, after his death (March 25 (April 7), 1925), the Patriarchal Locum Tenens, Metropolitan Peter (Polyansky) of Krutitsky, became the helm of the Russian church administration of the Patriarchal Church. From December 10, 1925, the de facto head of church administration with the title of Deputy Patriarchal Locum Tenens was Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) of Nizhny Novgorod, who, like his predecessors, made attempts to normalize the position of the Russian Church in the new state.

On July 29, 1927, under pressure from the authorities, Metropolitan Sergius issued a message known as the “Declaration.” The reaction to Metropolitan Sergius's statement in church circles was extremely contradictory. The Foreign (Karlovak) Synod rejected and condemned it. Some of the hierarchs within the country, regarding the Metropolitan’s act as a betrayal of the interests of the Church, openly announced their departure from him, and some stopped commemorating Metropolitan Sergius. Some, not being in solidarity with a number of provisions of the Declaration, assessed its character as forced, and retained confidence in Sergius as the leader of the Church. However, the hopes of the Metropolitan and his supporters regarding the authorities were not justified. The Synod, headed by Sergius, did not receive legal recognition and in May 1935 was forced to “self-liquidate”; arrests of the clergy and administrative closure of churches resumed with renewed vigor in 1929. Thus, in 1937, more than 8 thousand churches were closed, 70 dioceses and vicariates were liquidated. During 1937-1938, the NKVD carried out massive operations to arrest and execute clergy everywhere. At the end of this special operation, on April 16, 1938, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR decided to liquidate the Commission of the Presidium of the USSR Central Executive Committee on religious issues. The repressions of 1937-1938 also affected the renovationists. If at the beginning of 1938 they had 49 ruling bishops and 11 retired, then by the summer of 1941 there were 2 ruling renovationist bishops left, the rest of the survivors were retired or in prison.

By 1939, the church structure throughout the country had been virtually destroyed; dioceses as administrative units virtually disappeared, most of the clergy were physically exterminated or were kept in camps. However, by the same time in 1939, it became clear to Stalin that attempts to solve the task of completely eradicating religion in the USSR had failed. Some researchers believe that the existence of the Catacomb Church in the USSR was one of the important, if not the main, reasons why the Patriarchal Locum Tenens managed to preserve several hundred parishes and church administration reduced to a minimum by 1939. The situation changed seriously in September 1939, when, as a result of the annexation by the USSR of the eastern territories of Poland, and in 1940 - of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, over 7,500 thousand Orthodox believers of Western Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic countries, organized in dioceses, ended up on the territory of the USSR and parishes, active monasteries, educational institutions, editorial offices of church newspapers, etc. At this time, there was a temporary curtailment of anti-church actions. The government needed the activity of the Moscow Patriarchate: “For the first time since he headed the Church, Sergius found himself in a position where he could demand concessions from the government.” There are no exact and reliable statistics of churches operating on the eve of the Great Patriotic War, but, according to some sources, their number before the start of the war was 3,732 churches of all “orientations” (that is, including Renovationist, Uniate, and Catholic), of which about 3,350 were to the Western recently annexed republics, and the number of clergy, according to TASS, was 5,665 of which about 90% fell in Western Ukraine and Belarus, Moldova and the Baltic states.

1941-1991

On June 22, 1941, Metropolitan Sergius, returning to the office of the Patriarchate from the Sunday liturgy in the Epiphany Cathedral, printed with his own hand Message to the shepherds and flocks of Christ's Orthodox Church, in which he called on everyone to defend the Motherland. The appeal was sent to all dioceses. On June 26, Metropolitan Sergius served a prayer service at the Epiphany Cathedral in Moscow. About the granting of victory, after which similar prayers began to be performed in all churches of the Russian Church. A broad fundraising campaign was organized, with which a tank column named after Dmitry Donskoy and a squadron named after Alexander Nevsky were built and transferred to the active army.

In the conditions of a forced military-political alliance with Great Britain and the USA, J.V. Stalin was faced with the need to stop the anti-religious and anti-church campaigns in the USSR, which had an extremely negative impact on the public opinion of the allied powers; Roosevelt directly conditioned the provision of assistance on the easing of repression against religion in the USSR. “Already at the end of October 1941, his [F.] arrived in Moscow. D. Roosevelt] personal representative A. Harriman informed Stalin about the American public’s concern about the fate of the Russian Church and conveyed the president’s request to improve its legal and political position in Russia.”

Another serious factor in weakening repression against religion was the church revival in the territories of the USSR that were under German control: the Armed Forces and punitive bodies of the USSR, which had gone on a strategic offensive, for reasons of political expediency, could not immediately resume the previous repressive practices in the occupied territories. On January 25, 1944, the psalm-reader of the Nikolo-Konetsky parish of the Gdovsky district, S. D. Pleskach, wrote to Metropolitan Alexy: “I can report that the Russian person completely changed as soon as the Germans appeared. Destroyed churches were erected, church utensils were made, vestments were delivered from where they had been preserved. Peasant women hung clean towels embroidered by themselves on the icons. There was only joy and consolation. When everything was ready, then a priest was invited and the temple was consecrated. At that time there were such joyful events that I cannot describe.”

On June 5, 1943, J.V. Stalin signed a secret resolution of the State Defense Committee On approval of measures to improve the foreign work of intelligence agencies of the USSR, in which religious organizations were for the first time classified as objects of interest to the USSR foreign intelligence agencies.

In the run-up to the Tehran Conference at the end of 1943, “his [Stalin’s] intention was to press again for the opening of a second front and also to seek more aid. He decided that the time had come to make a public gesture and demonstrate his loyalty to the Church. He believed that the West would appreciate such a signal and this would entail the desired response.”

On August 30, NKGB officer G. G. Karpov (future Chairman of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church) urgently delivered Patriarchal Locum Tenens Sergius and his employees from Ulyanovsk, where the church leadership of the Patriarchate had been evacuated since October 1941, to Moscow.

While in evacuation, Metropolitan Sergius used every opportunity to recreate the church-administrative structure of the Moscow Patriarchate: as a result of his efforts, the number of “registered” bishops in the Russian Federation increased from 7 (as of mid-October 1941) to 18.

On September 4, 1943, J.V. Stalin met with the Patriarchal Locum Tenens Sergius (Stragorodsky) and the metropolitans: Alexy (Simansky) of Leningrad and Nikolai (Yarushevich) of Kiev, who was constantly in Moscow. (The actual church power in the Reichskommissariat Ukraine, created on August 20, 1941, then belonged to the “Administrator of the Autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church” Archbishop Polycarp (Sikorsky), appointed in December 1941 by Metropolitan Dionysius (Waledinsky) of Warsaw on the basis of the instructions of the Patriarch of Constantinople Benjamin and in agreement with the Reich authorities Issariat) . At the meeting on behalf of the USSR government, according to the notes of G. G. Karpov, Stalin stated: “that the church can count on the full support of the Government in all matters related to its organizational strengthening and development within the USSR”; it was decided to create a special government body - Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church, headed by G. G. Karpov.

On September 8, 1943, at the residence of the former German ambassador in Chisty Lane, a Council of Bishops was held, electing Sergius Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'; on the same day, the Holy Synod was formed “under the Patriarch”, which included 3 permanent members: Metropolitan Alexy (Simansky) of Leningrad, Nikolay (Yarushevich) of Kiev and Archbishop Sergius (Grishin) of Gorky and Arzamas. The Patriarchal Church was legalized de facto and received its current official name - Russian Orthodox Church instead of what was used before: the Local Russian Orthodox Church, which also meant the actual non-recognition of renovationist structures by the state. The Patriarchate was recreated without the Supreme Church Council provided for by the Council of 1917-1918, but the Holy Synod as a body was preserved and its existence was enshrined in the Regulations on the Administration of the Russian Orthodox Church, adopted at the Council of 1945. The New Synod differed from the Provisional Synod under the Deputy Locum Tenens in that it became a body of power, and was not just an advisory body under the First Hierarch.

On October 12, 1943, J.V. Stalin decided to liquidate the renovationist church structures. From that time on, at the initiative of the authorities, the process of accelerated acceptance of renovationist clergy and bishops into the Patriarchal Church began, and the Council for the Affairs of the Orthodox Church began to impose former renovationists for appointment to the cathedra.

From September 19 to 28, 1943, the second most senior hierarch of the Church of England, Archbishop of York Cyril Garbett, was in Moscow at the invitation of the Patriarchate. Cyril Forster Garbett), which meant the resumption of foreign policy activities by the leadership of the Patriarchate. On September 21, Cyril Garbett, in liturgical vestments, was present at the altar during the celebration of the liturgy by Patriarch Sergius in the Epiphany Cathedral. September 24 The New York Times quoted Archbishop Garbett as saying that “he is convinced that there is complete freedom of religion in the Soviet Union.”

Temples opened by the German authorities, as a rule, were not closed; a number of previously closed churches, the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and religious educational institutions were opened; under the Holy Synod, the Publishing Department (1945), the Educational Committee and the Department of External Church Relations (1946) were organized. In 1948, in its explanatory note to the Politburo, the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church provided the following data on the number of churches and houses of worship in the USSR:

According to a note from the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1948: “As of January 1, 1948, there were 14,329 operating churches and houses of worship in the USSR (11,897 churches and 2,432 houses of worship, which is 18.4% of the number of churches, houses of worship and chapels in 1914, when there were 77,767). The number of churches in the Ukrainian SSR is 78.3% of their number in 1914, and in the RSFSR - 5.4%... The increase in the number of operating churches and houses of worship occurred for the following reasons: a) during the war in the territory subject to German occupation, 7,547 churches were opened (in fact, even more, since a significant number of churches ceased to function after the war due to the departure of the clergy along with the Germans and due to our confiscation of school, club, etc. buildings from religious communities that they occupied during the occupation as houses of worship) ; b) in 1946, 2491 parishes of the Uniate (Greek Catholic) Church in the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR converted to Orthodoxy; c) for 1944-1947. 1,270 churches were reopened with the permission of the Council, mainly in the RSFSR, from where there were numerous and persistent requests from believers.”

The initial intentions of the USSR authorities to hold an ecumenical council in Moscow in 1948 “to resolve the issue of conferring the title Ecumenical on the Moscow Patriarchate” were rebuffed in the eastern patriarchates; In July 1948, a Meeting of the Heads and Representatives of Local Orthodox Churches was held in Moscow, at which there were no primates of the leading Greek patriarchal sees.

Some change in the government's policy towards the Russian Orthodox Church and its hierarchy occurred in the second half of July - August 1948: repressions took place against individual active bishops, and the Council's interference in the personnel policy of the Patriarchate increased. From 1948 until Stalin's death, not a single temple was opened. From February 1949 to March 1953, ordinations ceased, with the exception of a small number for Ukraine and foreign dioceses.

On January 1, 1952, there were 13,786 churches in the country, of which 120 were not operational, as they were used to store grain. The number of priests and deacons decreased to 12,254, 62 monasteries remained, and 8 monasteries were closed in 1951 alone.

In 1955-1956, some bishops and priests returned from camps and exile. The number of registered Orthodox societies (parishes) as of January 1, 1957 was 13,477.

However, despite the “thaw” in relations between the Church and the state, the Church was constantly under state control, and any attempts to expand its activities outside the walls of churches were met with rebuff, even administrative sanctions. Already from the late 1950s, a new wave of pressure on the church began to emerge. The justification was no longer political accusations, but the fight against “religious remnants” in people’s minds. During 1958-1965 the number of registered Orthodox societies decreased to 7,551. Since the late 1950s, a targeted personnel policy began to be implemented to qualitatively change the composition of the clergy (preparation for the “show of the last priest”), as the authorities were afraid of fully trained clergy.

The number of registered clergy was not only sharply reduced, but they were removed from direct control over the financial and economic activities of parishes: a corresponding amendment to the Regulations on the Administration of the Russian Orthodox Church was made by the Council of Bishops on July 18, 1961. 40 monasteries were closed (in particular, in Moldova, out of 15, 1 survived), 5 theological seminaries out of 8, and admission to each of the remaining ones was limited. The network of operating churches has decreased everywhere, especially dramatically in the eastern regions of Ukraine, where no more than 20-25% of the post-war level remained (for example, in the Dnepropetrovsk region, after the liquidation of 85 parishes of operating churches in 1958-1963, only 25 remained). At the same time, the authorities sought to use the authority of the Church to strengthen the position of the USSR in the international community, for the purpose of which in 1961 the entry of the Russian Orthodox Church (and a number of other Christian religious organizations) into the World Council of Churches was initiated.

The period 1965-1985 was a time of relative stability in the relationship between the state and the church, with some signs of its internal strengthening and growth appearing. The rejuvenation of the clergy cadres began, the growth of their educational level and theological training; Due to the migration of the population from rural areas to cities, the share of urban communities increased.

The “Open Letter” of dissident priests Nikolai Eshliman and Gleb Yakunin in November 1965 was of great importance in the development of the human rights movement in the USSR and the revival of interest in the Church among the intelligentsia.

According to the Chairman of the Council for Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR K. M. Kharchev, personnel decisions of the party and state leadership of the USSR in relation to the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church in the late 1980s were made as follows: “Then the opinion of the Central Committee about the episcopate of the Russian Orthodox Church was formed based on information as KGB and the council. And if the two points of view coincided, then a decision was made.” The KGB bodies paid special attention to the international activities of the Moscow Patriarchate: the selection of clergy candidates for work abroad became the main direction of joint activities of the KGB and the Council for Religious Affairs. In 1993, retired KGB general and defector Oleg Kalugin testified: “<…>In addition, people were recruited using “compromising evidence.” This was especially often practiced in relation to hierarchs and priests of the Orthodox Church.”

Beginning in 1987, as part of the policy of glasnost and perestroika carried out under Mikhail Gorbachev, a gradual process began of transferring buildings and property that were previously under church jurisdiction to the Patriarchate, dioceses and communities of believers; There was a liberalization of the regime of control over religious life and restrictions on the activities of religious associations.

On January 28, 1988, the Council for Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR abolished regulations that limited the activities of church parishes. A turning point in the life of the Church was the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus' in 1988. The ban on covering religious life in the USSR on television was lifted: for the first time in the history of the Soviet Union, people were able to watch live broadcasts of religious services on television. Confirmation of a fundamental change in the religious policy of the state in the conditions perestroika was the election in 1989 of about 300 ministers of various religions, including 192 Orthodox, as people's deputies of Soviets at various levels.

Full status of a legal entity was acquired by the Russian Orthodox Church on May 30, 1991, when it was registered by the Ministry of Justice of the RSFSR Civil Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church, approved by the Holy Synod on January 31 of the same year, which became possible with changes in legislation on freedom of conscience and religious organizations in the USSR. Before that, the legal status of the Russian Orthodox Church was regulated by the Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR on religious associations of April 8, 1929, issued on the basis of the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of January 20, 1918 On the separation of church and state and school from church.

The collapse of the USSR caused centrifugal tendencies in the church. On the territory of the former Soviet republics, church structures independent of the Russian Orthodox Church began to be created (often with the support of the authorities). In conflict conditions, there was an actual separation from the Russian Orthodox Church of a certain number of parishes in Ukraine and the formation on their basis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kiev Patriarchate). In Moldova, some parishes came under the jurisdiction of the Romanian Patriarchate (Bessarabian Metropolis). In Estonia, some parishes also left the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate, accepting the patronage of the Patriarch of Constantinople.

A feature of the position of the Russian Orthodox Church that arose after the collapse of the USSR (late December 1991) is the transnational nature of its exclusive jurisdiction within the former USSR (without Georgia): for the first time in the entire history of its existence, the Moscow Patriarchate began to consider its “canonical territory” (the term was coined in 1989) territory of many sovereign and independent states. As a result, its administrative and canonical divisions (dioceses, metropolitan districts and a number of self-governing churches), located in different countries, function in very different state-legal, socio-political and confessional-cultural conditions.

In the early 1990s, statements were made in the press about connections between the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church and Soviet bodies of political investigation and espionage; it was stated that the archives reveal the degree of active involvement of the hierarchs of the Moscow Patriarchate in the activities of the KGB abroad.

The Patriarchate of Patriarch Alexy II was characterized by a significant quantitative growth of parishes, monasteries and dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church, the preservation of the schism in Ukraine, and the increasing role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the socio-political life of Russia and some other countries of the former USSR.

On May 17, 2007, the Act on Canonical Communion between the ROCOR and the Russian Orthodox Church was signed, according to which the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia became “an integral self-governing part of the Local Russian Orthodox Church.”

On January 27, 2009, the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church elected Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev) of Smolensk and Kaliningrad to the Moscow patriarchal throne, on whose initiative a reform of the administrative structure of the Moscow Patriarchate was carried out, in particular, a number of new synodal institutions (departments) were created, and the Church became more actively present in the life of society.

In 2011, a reform of the diocesan structure began, consisting of the creation of new dioceses, the Russian Orthodox Church, as a result of which a three-tier system will operate in the Russian Orthodox Church, as in a number of other local churches: Patriarchate - Metropolis - Diocese.

On April 3, 2012, the Supreme Church Council of the Russian Orthodox Church issued an Appeal in which 4 cases of “desecration” of churches and a number of “loud accusations and statements from enemies of the faith,” i.e., individual actions of private “anti-church” individuals that have always taken place, are compared with the events of the “beginning of the twentieth century”