Edinoverie - UnitedFaith

A Brief History of the Old Orthodox Church by F.E. Melnikov

The absence of an episcopate in Old Belief for an extended period led to the creation of another church in Russia, known as the Edinoverie Church (meaning "Unitedfaith" or, according to the Latin usage, "Uniate"). This church served as a transitional path from Old Belief to the new-rite Orthodoxy. It was subordinate to the bishops of the new-rite church, but all its services were conducted according to the old pre-Nikonian books, and all its rituals, customs, and traditions followed the Old Believer practices. Those belonging to this church were called "Edinovertsy" or "United Believers". The name reflects the belief that they shared one faith with the new-rite church. However, in reality, they did not have full unity of faith with either the new-rite followers (i.e., the Nikonian church) or the Old Believers.

The UnitedFaith Church was officially founded by the decree of Emperor Paul on October 27, 1790. However, preparations for its establishment had been in progress for nearly a quarter of a century. In the 1770s and 1780s, a well-read and energetic Old Believer monk named Nikodim lived in the Starodub Slobodas. He had close ties with prominent statesmen of Catherine the Great's era, including Prince Potemkin and Count Rumyantsev-Zadunaysky. Nikodim sought their assistance in acquiring a bishop for the Old Believers, with the right to conduct services according to the old-printed books. He presented Prince Potemkin with a written proposal consisting of 12 points, which called for the removal of all anathemas and curses pronounced against the two-fingered sign of the cross and the ancient practices. He also requested that no forced acceptance of new-rite practices be imposed, that Old Believer monks, priests, deacons, and other clergy be recognized as legitimate, and that a bishop be sent to the Starodub region, who would follow the Old Believer practices and ordain clergy chosen by the Old Believers themselves, using the ancient ordination rites.

These proposals were submitted to Count Rumyantsev, Metropolitan Gavriil of St. Petersburg, Metropolitan Platon of Moscow, and the Holy Synod. Nikodim personally presented his petitions to each of these figures, and all of them promised to grant the Starodub Old Believers their requested bishop. Nikodim was even introduced to Empress Catherine by Prince Potemkin, and she promised to provide a bishop. Potemkin himself, as Nikodim reported to his friends in Starodub, "with special fatherly concern agreed to request a bishop" and had even "almost appointed who among the humble and God-fearing people would be elevated to the episcopacy." However, after Nikodim left the capital, the matter was delayed, and various discussions took place both in church and secular circles. It wasn't until March 11, 1784, that Empress Catherine issued a rescript to Metropolitan Gavriil regarding "granting Old Believers priests at their request and allowing them to conduct services according to their old rites." The rescript, however, did not mention the issue of a bishop, merely noting that "further arrangements would follow." But such arrangements never came. The Old Believers received only "authorized" priests. Disappointed and feeling deceived, Monk Nikodim fell ill that same year and died on May 12, at the age of 39, in the prime of his life.

The successors of Nikodim in the Starodub monasteries continued to petition the leadership of the dominant church for a bishop, but all their requests were in vain. No response was given. In desperation, they wrote to Metropolitan Gavriil: "What shall we do? Our petitions are futile, our complaints are empty, our tears are unheeded, and our sorrows are of no concern to you. Thus, we are at a loss as to what more to present to your Eminence." Despite all efforts, the Starodub Old Believers never succeeded in obtaining a bishop from the new-rite church through an open and permitted path.

In 1799, a small group of Moscow Old Believers addressed Metropolitan Platon of Moscow with a new petition, outlined in 16 points, which were very similar to the previous proposals made by Nikodim. Like Nikodim, the Muscovites first requested that the anathemas against the two-fingered sign of the cross and other similar rituals be rescinded. They also asked that priests serving in the Old Believer communities be recognized as having the right to continue their ministry and that the sacraments they performed remain valid. They requested that new priests be ordained for them using the old-printed books and be chosen with the consent of the parishioners. These priests were to conduct all services according to the old-printed books, and the churches and antimensions for the Old Believers were to be consecrated according to the old-printed Euchologion. The petitioners also asked that Metropolitan Platon bless the priests and Old Believers "by forming the sign of the cross with two fingers, as was the custom in ancient Russia." They asked that both the priests and their congregations be protected from having to worship together with the three-fingered sign of the cross adherents and beardless clergy, although they allowed for the possibility that, by personal choice, an Old Believer could partake of the Holy Mysteries in the Greek-Russian church, just as they requested that members of that church be permitted to receive Holy Communion from an Old Believer priest. The final point stated: "Let there be no strife, discord, or blasphemy on either side regarding the observance of different rituals and the use of different books for divine services." These were all the requests. The Moscow petitioners did not dare even hint at the possibility of being granted a bishop, as the desire of the Old Believers to have a bishop conducting services according to the old-printed books seemed utterly hopeless.

But even what the Moscow petitioners presented to Metropolitan Platon was, in today's terms, a revolutionary demand. It implied a rejection of Nikon's reform, recognition of its unnecessity and futility, acknowledgment that the old books and rituals were correct or, at the very least, acceptable for divine service, and that the curses and anathemas placed on them were incorrect and unlawful. In short, it declared the triumph of the Old Belief and the near cancellation of Nikonianism, at least for the petitioners.

However, since the completion of the 1667 Council, which definitively split the Russian Church in two, the Nikonian Church had issued a series of new acts and writings over the next 130 years, relentlessly condemning the ancient rituals and books, particularly the two-finger sign of the cross. Examples include the works: Patriarch Joachim's "Uvety", Dimitry of Rostov's "Rozysk" (later canonized as a saint), Pitirim of Nizhny Novgorod's "Prashchitsa", Theophilact Lopatinsky's "Oblichenie", Answers by Nikifor, Archbishop of Astrakhan, and others. All these works were published with the Synod's approval and blessing, speaking with the authoritative voice of the ruling hierarchy. Besides these books, a number of authoritative acts were also issued, such as Patriarch Joachim's oath for priests containing terrible anathemas, the fabricated Council against the non-existent heretic Martin the Armenian, Theognost's Euchologion, the 1720 Rite of Reconciliation for the Schismatics, and the 1722 Synod Decree—to label anyone using the two-fingered sign of the cross as a schismatic, "regardless of their affiliation" (even if they were part of the Nikonian Church and regularly received sacraments). Furthermore, there were polemical prefaces in commonly used prayer books like the Horologion and Psalter, among many other decrees. In all these acts and writings, the ruling church condemned and anathematized the Old Believers for venerating God according to the old books—books that were declared erroneous and heretical—and particularly for teaching the use of the two-fingered sign of the cross. This sign itself was condemned with horrifying hostility as a heresy of Arians, Nestorians, Macedonians, and others. It was vilified in these writings and acts with such terms as "wicked division," "devil's work," "demonic signature," "gates of hell," "devilish tradition," and similar blasphemous insults.

Now, the Moscow Old Believer petitioners, along with the earlier efforts of Monk Nikodim and the Starodub petitioners, were asking Metropolitan Platon to bless them and their priests using this very "devilish tradition" and to conduct all services for them according to the old books, which had been continuously condemned as heretical for 150 years.

Metropolitan Platon found himself in a very difficult position. However, the long reign of the humane Empress Catherine had somewhat prepared him for a new approach toward the Old Believers. The Empress had already allowed Old Believers to have priests who served according to the old books and rites, and she had ordered bishops to provide such priests to the Old Believers. All that remained for Platon was to follow this path, which he did, but with hesitation and many delays.

To most of the points from the Moscow petitioners, Platon added, "This is acceptable." However, he responded to the first point with a deceptive and evasive answer. The petitioners had asked for the abolition of the anathemas placed on the two-fingered sign of the cross and similar rituals, but Platon replied, "To absolve them from the curses previously placed upon them, although the church rightfully placed these curses, which they themselves acknowledge by considering themselves bound by them." The petitioners had not admitted anything of the sort, nor had they requested such absolution. Platon was simply unwilling to part with the previous anathemas and curses, thus avoiding a direct and honest answer to the Old Believers' request.

In the fifth point, the petitioners asked for the reconciliation of Old Believers who had long "departed from the communion of the Greek-Russian Church." To this, Platon gave a resolute refusal: no one who had previously belonged to the Orthodox Church could be permitted "to such reconciliation." It is clear that Metropolitan Platon viewed the UnitedFaith (United Faith) Church, which he was creating, as not salvific, but rather harmful, which is why he so strictly protected his Orthodox flock from it. This perspective was also evident in his response to the eleventh point, in which the petitioners asked that both Old Believers be allowed to commune in the Greek-Russian Church and Orthodox Christians be permitted to receive communion from an UnitedFaith priest. Platon responded that Old Believers should be "allowed without any hindrance," but Orthodox Christians could only receive permission _"in extreme necessity, in a mortal situation, where no Orthodox priest or church can be found."

Platon clearly had a low opinion of UnitedFaith. He more fully expressed his views—shared by the Synod and Nikonianism—in his final opinion, added to the 16 points of UnitedFaith. First, he stated that the church established by these points and his resolutions based on them should indeed be called the UnitedFaith Church, and its members should be referred to as Edinovertsy or United Believers, but not Old Believers. Secondly, he proclaimed that the errors and heresies of those who had "separated" had been "clearly and demonstrably shown" in many "church-published books" (as previously listed). He affirmed that _"the church's current stance on these matters remains as it has always been: that the old books are indeed erroneous and heretical, and that the rituals, practices, and customs used by the Old Believers are equally erroneous and heretical, especially the two-fingered sign of the cross."

Thus, the creation of the UnitedFaith Church in 1800 was based on the idea that it was temporarily permitted only in the hope that its followers would eventually "be enlightened by God" and come into full agreement with the Nikonian Church. Old Believers rightly called UnitedFaith a "trap" and a "snare." It was a stepping stone designed to lead Old Believers away from their faith and into Nikonianism.

In reality, only a small number of Old Believers joined UnitedFaith, and it initially struggled to survive. Old Believers quickly saw it for what it was—a dangerous trap—and avoided it. Only during the reign of Emperor Nicholas I did UnitedFaith grow significantly, as the government forcibly drove Old Believers into it, confiscating their churches, chapels, monasteries, and sketes, along with their valuable church property, and handing it over to the Edinovertsy. With this confiscated wealth, UnitedFaith flourished, becoming rich and numerous, but it also became more hated and more alien to the rest of the Old Believers.

Even Edinovertsy themselves felt uncomfortable in their strange position: they were neither fully Nikonian nor Old Believers. They served according to the old printed books, followed the old rites and customs, and had priests who also used the old service books. Yet they remained dependent on the Nikonian bishops and the Governing Synod, which continued to view them as schismatic ignoramuses, unenlightened, and foreign to the Synod’s values. Moreover, the Synod continued to publish polemical books filled with insults and condemnations of the old rites and service books. Prayer books, Psalters, and Horologions were still printed with accusations against the two-fingered sign of the cross, denouncing it as an Armenian heresy.

Thus, the Edinovertsy, who were under the authority of the Nikonian Church, were expected to accept all these condemnations, including the curses on themselves and their own practices. Consequently, UnitedFaith was far from truly unified with the Nikonian Church, and the name "Edinovertsy" seemed more like a mockery than a genuine title.

Over the course of more than a century, Edinovertsy (United Believers) repeatedly petitioned the Holy Synod with persistent requests for their own bishop, one who shared their faith and liturgical practices. However, each time they were met with a resolute refusal. In response to one such request, the Synod sent a confidential inquiry to all bishops, asking whether it was permissible to grant the Edinovertsy a bishop. The majority of bishops replied in the negative, expressing the view that UnitedFaith was not only useless to the church but even harmful, with some bishops referring to the Edinovertsy as semi-schismatics or outright schismatics. Even after 1905, when religious freedom was granted to Old Believers, the Edinovertsy were still denied the appointment of their own bishop. They also frequently appealed to the Synod for the removal of the anathemas pronounced by the councils of 1653 and 1667, and for the repeal of all condemnations and insults against the old rites in previous polemical writings. In response, the Synod issued only a consolatory statement in 1886, claiming that these polemical books were the work of individuals and that the anathemas were directed solely at schismatics for their separation from the church. Naturally, neither Old Believers, Edinovertsy, nor even the authors of the statement believed this, as it was clearly false. Even after this "clarification," the polemical books continued to be published with insults against the old rituals and prefaces in liturgical books denouncing the two-fingered sign of the cross as heretical.

The goal set for UnitedFaith by its founder, Metropolitan Platon, to eradicate Old Belief through what even the Edinovertsy themselves referred to as a "Jesuitical" institution, was gradually realized. Over time, many UnitedFaith parishes lost their Old Believer character, and the very foundations of Old Belief within them began to crumble, transforming them into something almost Nikonian.

After 1905, with the proclamation of freedom of religion in Russia, the leaders of UnitedFaith sought to strengthen it and preserve its Old Believer traditions and style. However, to succeed, UnitedFaith needed to achieve independence from the hierarchical dependency on the Synod. They needed their own UnitedFaith bishop, a request they had long pursued in vain. Only after the Bolshevik Revolution, during a meeting of the All-Russian Council of the Nikonian Church in Moscow, did they finally decide to grant the Edinovertsy bishops, though only in the form of "vicars", subordinate to the ruling diocesan bishops of the Nikonian Church. When the former dominant church itself split into several churches—Tikhonite or Patriarchal, led by Metropolitan Sergius and known as the Sergian Church; the Living Church or Renovationist Church; the Sodatska Church; the Lipkovskaya Church; the Autocephalous Ukrainian Church; and others—the Edinovertsy proclaimed their church independent and their hierarchy no longer dependent on any of these new churches.

Only after these events did one of these churches, the Sergian Church, issue a decree regarding the Old Believer liturgical books and rites on April 10/23, 1929, without any request from the Old Believers or even from the Edinovertsy:

1) We recognize:

• a) The liturgical books printed under the first five Russian patriarchs as Orthodox;
• b) The rituals, venerated by many Orthodox, Edinovertsy, and Old Believers, as salvific by their inner meaning;
• c) The two-fingered sign of the cross, representing the Holy Trinity and the two natures in our Lord Jesus Christ, as a rite that was undoubtedly used in the Church of old and was graceful and salvific.

2) We reject and dismiss any derogatory expressions concerning the old rituals, especially the two-fingered sign of the cross, wherever they may be found and by whomever they were uttered.

3) We abolish and annul the anathemas pronounced by Patriarch Macarius of Antioch and other bishops in February 1656, as well as the anathemas of the 1656 and 1666-1667 councils, which have been a stumbling block for many zealots of piety and have led to the schism of the Holy Church.

This decree came far too late—more than two and a half centuries too late. It should have been issued the day after the conclusion of the 1667 Council. Even in 1682, when the famous "debates on the faith" took place in the Moscow Kremlin, the "zealots of piety" implored both patriarchal and tsarist authorities to "correct the Orthodox Christian faith, so that the Church of God may be in peace and unity, not in division and strife." At that time, the Church could have remained united, and the schism that divided it into two halves could have been avoided. It was then that the proclamation should have been made: that the old books were fully Orthodox, that the rituals of the ancient Church were salvific, and that the two-fingered sign of the cross, for which so much blood had been shed across the country, was indeed graceful and salvific. Had this been declared then, the history of both the Church and Russia would have been entirely different.

It took over 250 years for the Sergian Church to finally acknowledge the truths that were clear to every pious zealot at the time. This belated recognition is, of course, a just verdict on the entire Nikonian century. However, the decree should have been clearer and more specific. Nothing was said about Nikon's innovations, the reforms of Peter the Great and the Synod, the bloody persecutions, or the millions of holy martyrs who suffered because of these events. Nor was anything said about the need to review the entire Nikonian reform or the nearly three-century history of the Church. This review cannot be accomplished by the mere resolution of one church—the Sergian Church—especially since it was likely a response to the chaos of the time and therefore may not have been sincere or issued out of genuine conviction. In matters like these, there should be no ambiguity, hypocrisy, or insincerity—everything must be done honestly, openly, and sacredly.

Neither UnitedFaith nor the Old Belief has yet responded to this "Decree" of the Moscow Patriarchate. Under the conditions of the godless yoke in Russia, it is impossible to freely discuss church and religious matters. For that, we must wait for a better time.