More than three centuries have passed since the church schism of the 17th century, and most still do not know how the Old Believers differ from Orthodox Christians.

Terminology

The distinction between the concepts of “Old Believers” and “Orthodox Church” is quite arbitrary. The Old Believers themselves admit that their faith is Orthodox, and the Russian Orthodox Church is called New Believers or Nikonians.

In the Old Believer literature of the 17th - first half of the 19th century centuries, the term “Old Believer” was not used.

Old Believers called themselves differently. Old Believers, Old Orthodox Christians...The terms “orthodoxy” and “true Orthodoxy” were also used.

In the writings of Old Believer teachers of the 19th century, the term “true Orthodox Church” was often used. The term “Old Believers” became widespread only end of the 19th century century. At the same time, Old Believers of different agreements mutually denied each other’s Orthodoxy and, strictly speaking, for them the term “Old Believers” united, on a secondary ritual basis, religious communities deprived of church-religious unity

Fingers

It is well known that during the schism the two-finger sign of the cross was changed to three-finger. Two fingers are a symbol of the two Hypostases of the Savior ( true God and true man), three fingers - a symbol of the Holy Trinity.

The three-finger sign was adopted by the Ecumenical Orthodox Church, which by that time consisted of a dozen independent Autocephalous Churches, after the preserved bodies of the martyrs-confessors of Christianity of the first centuries with the folded fingers of the three-finger were found in the Roman catacombs Sign of the Cross. There are similar examples of the discovery of the relics of saints of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.

Agreements and rumors

The Old Believers are far from homogeneous. There are several dozen agreements and even more Old Believer rumors. There is even a saying: “No matter what a man is, no matter what a woman is, there is agreement.” There are three main “wings” of the Old Believers: priests, non-priests and co-religionists.

Jesus

During the Nikon reform, the tradition of writing the name “Jesus” was changed. The double sound “and” began to convey the duration, the “drawn-out” sound of the first sound, which in the Greek language is indicated by a special sign, which has no analogue in the Slavic language, therefore the pronunciation of “Jesus” is more consistent with the Universal practice of sounding the Savior. However, the Old Believer version is closer to the Greek source.

Differences in the Creed

During the “book reform” of the Nikon reform, changes were made to the Creed: the conjunction-opposition “a” was removed in the words about the Son of God “born, not made.”

From the semantic opposition of properties, a simple enumeration was thus obtained: “begotten, not created.”

The Old Believers sharply opposed the arbitrariness in the presentation of dogmas and were ready to suffer and die “for a single az” (that is, for one letter “a”).

In total, about 10 changes were made to the Creed, which was the main dogmatic difference between the Old Believers and the Nikonians.

Towards the sun

By the middle of the 17th century, a universal custom had been established in the Russian Church to perform a procession of the cross. The church reform of Patriarch Nikon unified all rituals according to Greek models, but the innovations were not accepted by the Old Believers. As a result, New Believers perform anti-salt movements during religious processions, and Old Believers perform religious processions salt.

Ties and sleeves

In some Old Believer churches, in memory of the executions during the Schism, it is forbidden to come to services with rolled up sleeves and ties. Popular rumor associates rolled up sleeves with executioners, and ties with gallows. Although, this is only one explanation. In general, it is customary for Old Believers to wear special prayer clothes (with long sleeves) to services, and you can’t tie a tie on a blouse.

Question of the cross

Old Believers recognize only eight-pointed cross, whereas after Nikon’s reform in Orthodoxy four and six-pointed crosses were recognized as equally honorable. On the crucifixion tablet of the Old Believers it is usually written not I.N.C.I., but “King of Glory.” On body crosses Old Believers do not have an image of Christ, since it is believed that this is a person’s personal cross.

A deep and powerful Hallelujah

During Nikon's reforms, the pronounced (that is, double) pronunciation of “halleluia” was replaced by a triple (that is, triple). Instead of “Alleluia, alleluia, glory to you, God,” they began to say “Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to you, God.”

According to New Believers, the triple utterance of alleluia symbolizes the dogma of the Holy Trinity.

However, Old Believers argue that the strict utterance together with “glory to Thee, O God” is already a glorification of the Trinity, since the words “glory to Thee, O God” are one of the translations into Slavic language the Hebrew word Alleluia (“praise God”).

Bows at the service

At services in Old Believer churches, a strict system of bows has been developed; substitution is prohibited. prostrations to the waist ones. There are four types of bows: “regular” - bow to the chest or to the navel; “medium” - in the waist; small bow to the ground - “throwing” (not from the verb “to throw”, but from the Greek “metanoia” = repentance); great prostration (proskynesis).

Old Believers and Old Believers - how often these concepts are confused. They were confused before during conversations, and they are still confused today, even in the media. Every educated person who respects the culture of his people is simply obliged to understand the difference between these two different categories of people.

Old Believers are people who adhere to old Christian rituals. During the reign of A.M. Romanov, under the leadership of Patriarch Nikon, carried out religious reform. Those who refused to obey the new rules united and immediately began to be called schismatics, since they seemed to split the Christian faith into old and new. In 1905 they began to be called Old Believers. Old Believers became widespread in Siberia.


The main differences between the new and old rituals include:

• The Old Believers write the name of Jesus, as before, with a small letter and one “and” (Jesus).
• The three-fingered sign introduced by Nikon is not recognized by them and therefore they continue to cross themselves with two fingers.
• Baptism takes place according to the tradition of the old Church - immersion, because this is exactly how they were baptized in Rus'.
• When reading prayers according to old rituals, clothes specially designed for this purpose are used.

Old Believers are not people Christian faith, they are the ones who adhere to what was in Rus' before it. They are the real guardians of the faith of their ancestors.


Their worldview is Rodnoverie. The Slavic Native Faith has existed since the first Slavic tribes began to appear. This is what the Old Believers keep. Old Believers believe that no one has a monopoly on truth, and it is precisely this that all religions claim. Each nation has its own faith and everyone is free to communicate with God as they see fit and in the language they deem correct.

By Native Vera a person, through his perception of the world, creates his own understanding of the world. A person is not obliged to accept as faith someone else's idea of ​​the world. For example, tell someone: we are all sinners, this is the name of God and you need to address him like this.

Differences

Indeed, they often try to attribute the same worldview to Old Believers and Old Believers, despite the fact that there are huge differences between them. These confusions are created by people who do not know Russian terminology and interpret the definitions in their own way.

Old Believers traditionally believe in their own gender, and at the same time do not belong to any religion. Old Believers adhere to the Christian religion, but the one that existed before the reform. From some point of view, they can even be called a type of Christians.

It's easy to tell them apart:

1. Old Believers have no prayers. They believe that prayer humiliates both the one to whom it is addressed and the one who performs it. There are their own rituals among the clan, but they are known only to a specific clan. Old Believers pray, their prayers are similar to those that can be heard in Orthodox churches, but they are performed in a special robe and end with the fact that they cross themselves according to the old rites with two fingers.
2. The rituals of the Old Believers and their ideas about good, evil, and way of life are not written down anywhere. They are passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. They may be written down, but each clan keeps these records secret. Old Believer religious writings constitute the first Christian books. 10 commandments, bible, old testament. They are in public access and knowledge is passed on freely, not based on family ties.
3. Old Believers do not have icons. Instead, their house is full of photographs of their ancestors, their letters, and awards. They honor their family, remember it and are proud of it. The Old Believers also do not have icons. Although they adhere to the Christian faith, their churches are not filled with impressive iconostasis; there are no icons even in the traditional “red corner”. Instead, they make holes in churches in the form of holes, because they believe that God is not in the icons, but in the sky.
4. The Old Believers do not have idolatry. Traditionally, in religion there is a main living element who is worshiped and called God, his son or prophet. For example, Jesus Christ, Prophet Muhammad. Rodnoverie only praises surrounding nature, but not considering her a deity, but considering himself a part of her. Old Believers praise Jesus, the biblical hero.
5. There are no Old Believers in the Native Faith certain rules, which must be adhered to. Every person is free to live in harmony with his own conscience. It is not necessary to participate in any rituals, wear robes and follow one common opinion. Things are different for the Old Believers, because they have a clearly defined hierarchy, a set of rules and clothing.

Is there anything in common?

Old Believers and Old Believers, despite their different Faiths, have something in common. Firstly, they were connected by history itself. When the Old Believers, or as the Russian schismatics used to say then, Orthodox Church, persecution began, and this was just during the time of Nikon, they headed to Siberian Belovodye and Pomorie. Old Believers lived there and gave them shelter. Of course, they had different faiths, but nevertheless, by blood they were all Russians and tried not to let this be taken away from them.

Many people ask the question: “Who are the Old Believers, and how do they differ from Orthodox believers?” People interpret Old Belief differently, equating it either to a religion or to a type of sect.

Let's try to understand this extremely interesting topic.

Old Believers - who are they?

Old Belief arose in the 17th century as a protest against changes in old church customs and traditions. A schism began after the reforms of Patriarch Nikon, who introduced innovations in church books and church structure. All who did not accept the changes and advocated for the preservation of old traditions were anathematized and persecuted.

The large community of Old Believers soon split into separate branches that did not recognize the sacraments and traditions of the Orthodox Church and often had different views on the faith.

Avoiding persecution, the Old Believers fled to uninhabited places, settling in the North of Russia, the Volga region, Siberia, settling in Turkey, Romania, Poland, China, reaching Bolivia and even Australia.

Customs and traditions of the Old Believers

The current way of life of the Old Believers is practically no different from the one that their grandfathers and great-grandfathers used several centuries ago. In such families, history and traditions are respected, passed down from generation to generation. Children are taught to respect their parents, brought up in strictness and obedience, so that in the future they become a reliable support.

From the early age sons and daughters are taught to work, which is held in high esteem by the Old Believers. They have to work a lot: Old Believers try not to buy food in the store, so they grow vegetables and fruits in their gardens, keep livestock in perfect cleanliness, and do a lot of things for the house with their own hands.

They do not like to talk about their lives to strangers, and even have separate dishes for those who come into the community “from the outside.”

To clean the house, use only clean water from a consecrated well or spring. The bathhouse is considered an unclean place, so the cross must be removed before the procedure, and when they enter the house after the steam room, they must wash themselves with clean water.

Old Believers pay great attention to the sacrament of baptism. They try to baptize the baby within a few days after his birth. The name is chosen strictly according to the calendar, and for a boy - within eight days after birth, and for a girl - within eight days before and after birth.

All attributes used in baptism are kept in running water for some time so that they become clean. Parents are not allowed to attend christenings. If mom or dad witnesses the ceremony, then this bad sign, who threatens divorce.

As for wedding traditions, relatives up to the eighth generation and relatives “on the cross” do not have the right to walk down the aisle. There are no weddings on Tuesday and Thursday. After marriage, a woman constantly wears a shashmura headdress; appearing in public without it is considered a great sin.

Old Believers do not wear mourning. According to customs, the body of the deceased is washed not by relatives, but by people chosen by the community: a man is washed by a man, a woman by a woman. The body is placed in a wooden coffin with shavings at the bottom. Instead of a cover there is a sheet. At funerals, the deceased is not remembered with alcohol, and his belongings are distributed to the needy as alms.

Are there Old Believers in Russia today?

In Russia today there are hundreds of settlements in which Russian Old Believers live.

Despite the different trends and branches, they all continue the life and way of life of their ancestors, carefully preserve traditions, and raise children in the spirit of morality and ambition.

What kind of cross do the Old Believers have?

IN church rituals and during divine services, Old Believers use an eight-pointed cross, on which there is no image of the Crucifixion. In addition to the horizontal crossbar, there are two more on the symbol.

The top one depicts a tablet on the cross where Jesus Christ was crucified, the bottom one implies a kind of “scale” that measures human sins.

How Old Believers are baptized

In Orthodoxy, it is customary to make the sign of the cross with three fingers - three fingers, symbolizing the unity of the Holy Trinity.

Old Believers cross themselves with two fingers, as was customary in Rus', saying “Alleluia” twice and adding “Glory to Thee, God.”

For worship they dress in special clothes: men put on a shirt or blouse, women wear a sundress and a scarf. During the service, Old Believers cross their arms over their chests as a sign of humility before the Almighty and bow to the ground.

Where are the settlements of the Old Believers?

In addition to those who remained in Russia after Nikon’s reforms, Old Believers continue to return to the country, for a long time living in exile outside its borders. They, as before, honor their traditions, raise livestock, cultivate the land, and raise children.

Many people took advantage of the resettlement program for Far East, where there is a lot of fertile land and there is an opportunity to build a strong economy. Several years ago, thanks to the same voluntary resettlement program, Old Believers from South America returned to Primorye.

In Siberia and the Urals there are villages where Old Believer communities are firmly established. There are many places on the map of Russia where the Old Believers flourish.

Why were the Old Believers called Bespopovtsy?

The split of the Old Believers formed two separate branches - priesthood and non-priesthood. Unlike the Old Believers-Priests, who after the schism recognized the church hierarchy and all the sacraments, the Old Believers-Priestless began to deny the priesthood in all its manifestations and recognized only two sacraments - Baptism and Confession.

There are Old Believer movements that also do not deny the sacrament of Marriage. According to the Bespopovites, the Antichrist has reigned in the world, and all modern clergy is a heresy that is of no use.

What kind of Bible do the Old Believers have?

Old Believers believe that the Bible and the Old Testament in their modern interpretation are distorted and do not carry the original information that should carry the truth.

In their prayers they use the Bible, which was used before Nikon's reform. Prayer books from those times have survived to this day. They are carefully studied and used in worship.

How do Old Believers differ from Orthodox Christians?

The main difference is this:

1. Orthodox believers recognize church ceremonies and the sacraments of the Orthodox Church, believe in its teachings. Old Believers consider the old pre-reform texts of the Holy Books to be true, without recognizing the changes made.
2. Old Believers wear eight-pointed crosses with the inscription “King of Glory”, there is no image of the Crucifixion on them, they cross themselves with two fingers, and bow to the ground. In Orthodoxy, three-fingered crosses are accepted, crosses have four and six ends, and people generally bow at the waist.
3. The Orthodox rosary consists of 33 beads; the Old Believers use the so-called lestovki, consisting of 109 knots.
4. Old Believers baptize people three times, completely immersing them in water. In Orthodoxy, a person is doused with water and partially immersed.
5. In Orthodoxy, the name “Jesus” is written with a double vowel “and”; Old Believers are faithful to tradition and write it as “Isus”.
6. There are more than ten different readings in the Creed of the Orthodox and Old Believers.
7. Old Believers prefer copper and tin icons to wooden ones.

Conclusion

A tree can be judged by its fruits. The purpose of the Church is to lead its spiritual children to salvation, and its fruits, the result of its labors, can be assessed by the gifts that its children have acquired.

And the fruits of the Orthodox Church are a host of holy martyrs, saints, priests, prayer books and other wondrous Pleasers of God. The names of our Saints are known not only to the Orthodox, but also to Old Believers, and even non-church people.

In the 17th century, Patriarch Nikon carried out reforms that were caused by the need to bring the liturgical practice of the Russian Church to a single model. Some of the clergy, along with the laity, rejected these changes, saying that they would not deviate from the old rituals. They called Nikon’s reform “a corruption of the faith” and declared that they would preserve the previous charters and traditions in worship. It is difficult for an uninitiated person to distinguish an Orthodox from an Old Believer, since the difference between representatives of the “old” and “new” faith is not so great.

Definition

Old Believers – Christians who left the Orthodox Church due to their disagreement with the reforms carried out by Patriarch Nikon.

Orthodox Christians – believers who recognize the dogmas of the Orthodox Church.

Comparison

Old Believers are more detached from the world than Orthodox Christians. In their everyday life, they preserved ancient traditions, which, in essence, became a certain ritual. The life of Orthodox Christians is devoid of many religious rituals that burden it. The main thing that should never be forgotten is prayer before every task, as well as keeping the Commandments.

In the Orthodox Church, the three-fingered sign of the cross is accepted. It means the unity of the Holy Trinity. At the same time, the little finger and ring finger are pressed together into the palm and symbolize faith in the divine-human nature of Christ. Old Believers put their middle and index fingers together, professing the dual nature of the Savior. The thumb, ring finger and little finger are pressed against the palm as a symbol of the Holy Trinity.

Sign of the Cross of Orthodox Christians

It is customary for Old Believers to proclaim “Alleluia” twice and add “Glory to Thee, O God.” So, they claim, proclaimed ancient church. Orthodox Christians say “Alleluia” three times. This word itself means “praise God.” Pronunciation three times, from the point of view of the Orthodox, glorifies the Holy Trinity.

In many Old Believer movements, it is customary to wear clothes in the Old Russian style to participate in worship. This is a shirt or blouse for men, a sundress and large scarf for women. Men tend to grow a beard. Among Orthodox Christians, a special style of clothing is reserved only for the priesthood. Lay people come to the temple in modest, not provocative, but ordinary secular clothing, women with their heads covered. By the way, in modern Old Believer parishes there are no strict requirements for the clothing of worshipers.

During worship, Old Believers do not keep their arms at their sides, like the Orthodox, but crossed over their chests. For both some and others, this is a sign of special humility before God. All actions during the service are performed synchronously by the Old Believers. If you need to bow, then everyone present in the temple does it at the same time.

Old Believers recognize only the eight-pointed cross. This is the form they consider perfect. Orthodox, in addition to this, also four-pointed and six-pointed.

Eight-pointed cross

During worship, Old Believers bow to the ground. Orthodox Christians wear belts during services. Earthly ones are performed only in special cases. Moreover, on Sundays and holidays, as well as Holy Pentecost, bowing to the ground is strictly prohibited.

Old Believers write the name of Christ as Jesus, and Orthodox Christians write it as I And sus. The topmost marks on the cross are also different. For the Old Believers, this is TsR SLVY (King of Glory) and IS XC (Jesus Christ). On the Orthodox eight-pointed cross it is written INCI (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews) and IIS XC (I And sus Christ). There is no image of the crucifixion on the eight-pointed cross of the Old Believers.

As a rule, eight-pointed crosses with a gable roof, the so-called cabbage rolls, are placed on the graves of Old Believers - a symbol of Russian antiquity. Orthodox Christians do not accept crosses covered with a roof.

Conclusions website

1. Adherents of the old faith are more detached from the world in everyday life than Orthodox Christians.
2. Old Believers make the sign of the cross with two fingers, Orthodox Christians make the sign of the cross with three fingers.
3. During prayer, the Old Believers usually shout “Hallelujah” twice, while the Orthodox say it three times.
4. During worship, Old Believers keep their arms crossed on their chests, while Orthodox Christians keep their arms down at their sides.
5. During the service, the Old Believers perform all actions synchronously.
6. As a rule, to participate in worship, Old Believers wear clothes in the Old Russian style. The Orthodox have a special type of clothing only for the priesthood.
7. During worship, Old Believers bow to the ground, while Orthodox worshipers bow to the ground.
8. Old Believers recognize only the eight-pointed cross, the Orthodox - eight-, six- and four-pointed.
9. Orthodox and Old Believers have different spellings of the name of Christ, as well as the letters above the eight-pointed cross.
10. On the pectoral crosses of the Old Believers (eight-pointed inside a four-pointed one) there is no image of the crucifixion.

More than three centuries have passed since the church schism of the 17th century, and most still do not know how the Old Believers differ from Orthodox Christians.

Terminology
The distinction between the concepts of “Old Believers” and “Orthodox Church” is quite arbitrary. The Old Believers themselves admit that their faith is Orthodox, and the Russian Orthodox Church is called New Believers or Nikonians. In the Old Believer literature of the 17th - first half of the 19th centuries, the term “Old Believer” was not used. Old Believers called themselves differently. Old Believers, Old Orthodox Christians...The terms “orthodoxy” and “true Orthodoxy” were also used.
In the writings of Old Believer teachers of the 19th century, the term “true Orthodox Church” was often used. The term “Old Believers” became widespread only towards the end of the 19th century. At the same time, Old Believers of different agreements mutually denied each other’s Orthodoxy and, strictly speaking, for them the term “Old Believers” united, on a secondary ritual basis, religious communities deprived of church-religious unity

Fingers
It is well known that during the schism the two-finger sign of the cross was changed to three-finger. Two fingers are a symbol of the two Hypostases of the Savior (true God and true man), three fingers are a symbol of the Holy Trinity.
The three-finger sign was adopted by the Ecumenical Orthodox Church, which by that time consisted of a dozen independent Autocephalous Churches, after the preserved bodies of the martyrs-confessors of Christianity of the first centuries with folded fingers of the three-finger Sign of the Cross were found in the Roman catacombs. There are similar examples of the discovery of the relics of saints of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.

Agreements and rumors
The Old Believers are far from homogeneous. There are several dozen agreements and even more Old Believer rumors. There is even a saying: “No matter what a man is, no matter what a woman is, there is agreement.” There are three main “wings” of the Old Believers: priests, non-priests and co-religionists.

Jesus
During the Nikon reform, the tradition of writing the name “Jesus” was changed. The double sound “and” began to convey the duration, the “drawn-out” sound of the first sound, which in the Greek language is indicated by a special sign, which has no analogue in the Slavic language, therefore the pronunciation of “Jesus” is more consistent with the Universal practice of sounding the Savior. However, the Old Believer version is closer to the Greek source.

Differences in the Creed
During the “book reform” of the Nikon reform, changes were made to the Creed: the conjunction-opposition “a” was removed in the words about the Son of God “born, not made.” From the semantic opposition of properties, a simple enumeration was thus obtained: “begotten, not created.” The Old Believers sharply opposed the arbitrariness in the presentation of dogmas and were ready to suffer and die “for a single az” (that is, for one letter “a”). In total, about 10 changes were made to the Creed, which was the main dogmatic difference between the Old Believers and the Nikonians.

Towards the sun
By the middle of the 17th century, a universal custom had been established in the Russian Church to perform a procession of the cross. The church reform of Patriarch Nikon unified all rituals according to Greek models, but the innovations were not accepted by the Old Believers. As a result, New Believers perform the anti-salting movement during religious processions, and Old Believers perform religious processions during salting.

Ties and sleeves
In some Old Believer churches, in memory of the executions during the Schism, it is forbidden to come to services with rolled up sleeves and ties. Popular rumor associates rolled up sleeves with executioners, and ties with gallows. Although, this is only one explanation. In general, it is customary for Old Believers to wear special prayer clothes (with long sleeves) to services, and you can’t tie a tie on a blouse.

Question of the cross
Old Believers recognize only the eight-pointed cross, while after Nikon’s reform in Orthodoxy four and six-pointed crosses were recognized as equally honorable. On the crucifixion tablet of the Old Believers it is usually written not I.N.C.I., but “King of Glory.” Old Believers do not have an image of Christ on their body crosses, since it is believed that this is a person’s personal cross.

A deep and powerful Hallelujah
During Nikon's reforms, the pronounced (that is, double) pronunciation of “halleluia” was replaced by a triple (that is, triple). Instead of “Alleluia, alleluia, glory to you, God,” they began to say “Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to you, God.” According to New Believers, the triple utterance of alleluia symbolizes the dogma of the Holy Trinity. However, Old Believers argue that the strict pronunciation together with “glory to Thee, O God” is already a glorification of the Trinity, since the words “glory to Thee, O God” are one of the translations into the Slavic language of the Hebrew word Alleluia (“praise God”).

Bows at the service
At services in Old Believer churches, a strict system of bows has been developed; replacing prostrations with bows from the waist is prohibited. There are four types of bows: “regular” - bow to the chest or to the navel; “medium” - in the waist; small bow to the ground - “throwing” (not from the verb “to throw”, but from the Greek “metanoia” = repentance); great prostration (proskynesis). Throwing was banned by Nikon in 1653. He sent out a “memory” to all Moscow churches, which said: “It is not appropriate to do throwing on your knees in church, but you should bow to your waist.”

Hands cross
While serving in Old Believer Church It is customary to cross your arms across your chest.

Beads
Orthodox and Old Believer rosaries are different. In Orthodox rosaries there may be different quantities beads, but most often rosaries with 33 beads are used, according to the number of earthly years of Christ’s life, or a multiple of 10 or 12. In the Old Believers of almost all agreements, a ladder is actively used - rosary beads in the form of a ribbon with 109 “beans” (“steps”), divided into unequal groups. Lestovka symbolically means a ladder from earth to heaven.

Full immersion baptism
Old Believers accept baptism only by complete threefold immersion, while in Orthodox churches baptism by pouring and partial immersion is allowed.

Monodic singing
After the split of the Orthodox Church, the Old Believers did not accept either the new polyphonic singing style or new system musical notation. Kryuk singing (znamenny and demestvennoe), preserved by the Old Believers, got its name from the method of recording a melody with special signs - “banners” or “hooks”.