Moscow Patriarchate relations with Old Ritualists

[Edward Henderson]

Many of you may already know this, but this week,as is done every four years, the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, have their Synod (Ñîáîð). While some materials are in English on their website www.mospat.ru/en (http://www.mospat.ru/en), most have not been translated. I am currently translating Metropolitan Kyrill of Smolensk's report on the questions of relations with the Russian Church Abroad and the Old Ritualists. Fortunately, a good portion of it has been translated an posted on ROCOR's website www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/english (http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/english). After some corrections and revisions, I will post the first part. There is just one part that I had troubles with and a mistranslation could give a false idea of what is occuring, that is why I want to be careful. If anyone who also knows Russian could contact me for help, I would be very thankful.
Second, it is interesting to point out that now that the Moscow Patriarchate and the Church Abroad are clearly on the path to restoring canonical and eucharistic relations, it has brought up the question of relations with the Old Believers. I have a particular interest in this subject, first because I was once a Greek Old Calendarist. The histories of the Old Believers and Old Calendarists parallel each other in many ways. I have also spent a good amount of time among the Edinoveri, Old Ritualists who are in the Moscow Patriarchate and have grown to really love the Pre-Nikonian rites of the Russian Church. I just translated this paragraph from the Metropolitan's report, which has been a theory, I have really believed in. It is certainly what my academic research, both at Florida State University, Moscow State University, and University College London, has confirmed. Here it is: "To a greater degree than in the case of the Church Abroad, the problem with Old Ritualism is not exclusively ecclesiastical, it also has other aspects - social, political, and cultural. The church schism made a very crucial impact on the national consciousness. The breakup of traditional church-society foundations and spiritual-moral values divided a once united nation in not only ecclesiastical relations but also in social relations. The national body, which then fully coincided with the body of the church, was wounded. The destructive consequences have survived through the centuries. The dividing of Russian society, evoked by the church schism, became the precursor of further breaks that led to the revolutionary catastrophe."

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

Dear Edward,
Thanks so much for your comments on the Old Ritualists (Old Believers) along with the translation. I have visited our Old Rite parish in Erie, Pa and was really deeply affected by serving with them for a weekend (note: for anyone who thinks they are a "traditionalist" go worship with the Old Ritualists- the Vigil in Erie began at about 4:30 pm and ended at 9 or later. And the church was packed with young people all singing the ancient znamenyi style- in English.
About the Old Rite schism- I really had never thought about this in these terms- how it is also "social, political & cultural." And how like between the Church in Russia & the Church Abroad this represents a deep wounding.
Could you tell if the Old Ritualists who are with clergy ('popovtsi')are in communion with each other? I see they have hierarchy in Russia but I have also heard of a large group in Romania and/or the Baltics. Are these all part of the same group? When I visited our Old Rite parish in Erie, Pa they seemed to have a lot of contacts with the Old Ritualists in Romania.
In Christ- Fr Raphael

[Edward Henderson]

As far as I know, most 'Popovtsi' Old Believers are united in one synod. The head of the Synod is "Metropolitan" Adrian of Moscow. Their previous head reposed last year. The only reason I know about that is because it was report on the Moscow Patriarchate's website. For those of you who don't know Russian or have no clue about what we are mentioning. The Old Believers are generally split into two groups, 'Popovtsi' or those with clergy and 'Bezpopovtsi' or those without.
As far as the implications of the schism are concerned. The results were the dividing of Orthodox believers in Russia and weaking the position of the Church in Russian society. Patriarch Nikon's ambitions for power caused a backlash in which the Tsar ended up increasing his own authority. When Peter I became Tsar, the Church's authority had weakened to the point where he was able to abolish the Moscow Patriarchate and replace it with the Holy Synod. The organization of the Holy Synod was based on that of the Swedish Lutheran Church and made the Church another government department in the Russian Empire. Peter was also the first Tsar to title himself 'Emperor', as title that has secular implications. From that point on, many more Western European and secular things came into the Russian society. The Church was not immune to this. Acquinas' Summa Theologica became the standard theological textbook in Russian Seminaries. Indeed, scholastism truly invaded Orthodox theology. Priests became a caste in that the sons of Priests usually went to seminary. Skete and Hermetic monasticism was abolished and only coenobitic was permitted. Church music,art and architecture became more westernized. One only needs to visit the churches in Saint Petersburg to realize this. Today, we venerate the Optina Elders, Saint Seraphim of Sarov, Saint Theophan the Recluse but we have to remember that during their time, they were heavily marginalized and often persecuted by members of the Holy Synod. Thus, the Old Believer schism and its after effects set the initial conditions that allowed Peter's and Catherine's reforms. This deterioration of influence of true Orthodoxy in Russia continued through the 18th and 19th centuries. We all know what happened in the 20th.
The irony of Nikon's reforms is that he was trying to bring the Russian liturgical practices in line with the Greek. Yet, the changes that occured in the Russian Church after the schism, brought it further from the Greek practices. Oddly enough, I find the Pre-Nikonian rites to be closer to traditional Greek practices than the current Russian practices.

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

Edward wrote,"The irony of Nikon's reforms is that he was trying to bring the Russian liturgical practices in line with the Greek. Yet, the changes that occured in the Russian Church after the schism, brought it further from the Greek practices. Oddly enough, I find the Pre-Nikonian rites to be closer to traditional Greek practices than the current Russian practices."
This is correct. In the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom the Old Rite use is closer to the Byzantine than the present day Russian practise is. The most obvious point of difference is during the Anaphora. In the Old Rite when the priest says, "Let us give thanks to the Lord.", the people respond "It is meet & right" as in the Byzantine tradition without the addition, "to worship the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit: the Trinity, one in essence, and indivisible" as in present day Russian practise.
Another difference between the Old Rite & present day Russian piety is that in the Old Rite outward piety (like crossing oneself) is strongly guided by a sense of 'when & when not' whereas in conventional Russian churches there is the famous spontaneous cross yourself 'as the spirit moves you.' Another visible difference are the constant prostrations to the floor, even on Saturday night and during Sunday Liturgy, which is largely seen as not being canonically proper in standard Russian churches nowadays. These last two points were the only parts of the Old Rite worship that caused me to invisibly scratch my head and wonder to myself, "is this proper?" I wonder though if these Old Rite practises and their more 'regimental' approach to piety were a result of struggling against the waning piety they saw (or thought they saw) in the standard Orthodox parishes. If so, I wonder if canonical unity would cause them to be a bit more spontaneous while keeping their unique piety.
In Christ- Fr Raphael

[Edward Henderson]

I have finally finished with my translation of Metropolitan Kyrill's report. It has been edited, checked and rechecked and is ready. The text is 13 pages and I tried to post it but it was too big. I will try and just post the second part, dealing with the Old Believers, but should anyone want a complete text, email me and I will send it to you as an attached MS Word file.

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

Dear Edward,
Thanks so much for the translation about the Old Ritualists. It is wonderful to see how on both sides of this terrible schism within the Russian Church there is a desire to overcome this. Metropolitan Kyrill's report really embodies the charity necessary for this.
In Christ- Fr Raphael