Within the Russian Orthodox Church, the Old Believers, Old Ritualists (Old-Rite), Starovery or the preferred name is Staroobryadtsy (старообрядцы) are Eastern Orthodox Christians. Who maintain the liturgical and ritual practices of the Apostolic Church as they were before the Greek influenced reforms/raskol (раскол) between 1652 and 1666 in Russia. This cataclysmic event implemented by Patriarch Nikon with overwhelming supported of Tsar Aleksei. Resisting reforms based on Greek Orthodox worship. Staroobryadtsy were anathematized, persecuted, tortured and killed for the faith. Protopope Avvakum being the center figure for the resitance. The New Ritualists (New-Rite) cleansing campaign attempted to remove; books, worship and chant that was deemed "wrong" by the Greek and New-Rite church. The new church adopted rituals from the west such as; multi choral signing, books, ceremonies and symbolic rituals of the Holy Euchuarist, that resemble the Catholics more than Eastern Orthodox.
The New-Rite church attempted to make ammends but wasn't successful at convincing the Old-Rite communities to commune with their church. To this day, it labels the Old-Rite followers as schismatics (расколники). For more information look at
wikipedia.
More in-depth information can be found at the following sites and current events.
rpsc.ru
starove.ru
ruvera.ru
altaistarover.ru
sibstarover.ru
izdrevle.ru
tula-rpsc.ru
nashavera.com