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Sts. Cyril and Methodius
 Of
major importance in the history and development of Orthodoxy was the conversion
of the Slavs and the shifting of the focus of the Church to the northern
regions of Bulgaria, Serbia, Moravia, Romania, and then Russia. In the
middle of the 9th Century, Patriarch Photius initiated large scale missionary
labors in these regions by sending out the two brothers Constantine (in
monasticism Cyril - 869) and Methodius (885 - both are commemorated May
11). |
The Baptism of Russia
Missionaries penetrated into Russia
during this period and the Russian Princess Olga was converted to Christianity
in 955, although the effective Christianization of Russia actually received
its greatest impetus with the conversion of Olga's grandson, Vladimir,
in 988. According to Russian tradition. Grand Prince Vladimir of Kiev
decided that an official religion was necessary for his country and he
was unsure which to choose. |
 Moscow
- the Third Rome
Disaster befell the Kievan State
in 1237 with the onslaught of the Mongols, who ruled until 1480, and during
this period only the Church kept alive national consciousness, much as
was later done by the Greek Church under the Turkish yoke. The primary
See of the Russian Church was moved from Kiev to Moscow by St. Peter,
Metropolitan of Kiev (1326 - commemorated December 21), and henceforth
ceased to be the city of the chief Hierarch. |
 The
Possessors and The Non-Possessors
The Russian Church was not without
its own turmoils however. In 1503 came the beginnings of a split in the
monastic ranks between the Non-Possessors (followers of St. Nilus of Sora
(1508 - commemorated May 7)), who argued for monastic poverty, and the
Possessors (followers of St. Joseph of Volokolamsk (1515 - commemorated
September 9)), who defended monastic landholding. |
The Reforms of Patriarch Nikon
 In
the middle of 17th Century there occurred in the Russian Church a major
split due to the liturgical reforms of Patriarch Nikon (1605-1681), who
attempted to correct certain corruptions in the liturgical books and liturgical
practice. The result was the splitting off of the Old Believers, who resisted
the changes (many of which were ill-founded), as well as their persecution,
and this schism has endured to the present day. |
 The
Synodal Period
A third major event which was to
have a profound effect on the Russian Church, was the abolition of the
Patriarchate by Tsar Peter I (the Great) in 1721. The Patriarch had died
in 1700 and Peter, wishing no more Nikons, refused to allow the appointment
of a successor. Accordingly, in 1721 he issued his celebrated Spiritual
Regulations. |
The Russian Orthodox Church in XX c.
Finally, in 1917, with the Fall
of the Monarchy, the Patriarch was re-established and Tikhon, Metropolitan
of Moscow, was elected Patriarch by the All-Russian Council of that year.
Sadly, however, the Church was soon engulfed in the fires of the Bolshevik
Revolution of that year and the unprecedented persecutions which followed. |
