*EO ONLY* Old Believers

RileyG said:

Who are the Old Believers? I remember watching a documentary about them in Alaska years and years ago. What is their essential beliefs?

God bless

Click to expand...

I read about them years ago but the only thing I remember for sure is that they only touch two fingers together when they make the sign of the cross. A long time ago a Russian Patriarch wanted to standardize the practices of the Church in Russia to align with the Greek Church. Note that it had nothing to do with the beliefs of the Church, only some of the practices. The Old Believers broke away in schism rather than change any of their traditions, such as the manner of making the sign of the cross. It was a big deal at the time, on the order of a civil war.

There is, however, a small community of Old Believers who came back into canonical Orthodoxy and were allowed to keep their rites. Usually they're called Old Ritualists to avoid the stigma. Erie, PA has one such canonical community. The former Patriarch of Moscow, Alexei II, sent an open invite for them to return to Orthodoxy and keep their Old Rites.

they did things the way Russia did before the Nikonian reforms which sought to align Russia more with Byzantium in the 17th century. there was some tension, many schismed although some didn’t.

no problem!

I read a bit about the Old Believers a while back and recall that many of them are still divided over the issue of whether or not to have priests. None of the bishops left the Russian Orthodox Church with the Old Believers so before long there were no new priests. In recent decades some communities have members to Eastern Europe to become priests. While other communities are against having priests which I would think puts them quite a bit further from the original church than just issues related to making the sign of the cross. Anyway, not for me to say, although if I did say anything, it would be SAY WHAT?

Can't remember what I was reading, I think it was something like this. (link below). There are Old Believers in Oregon and I am aware that they interact and intermarry with the Old Believer community on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, so I did some quick reading.

They seem to be rather tragic and troubled being stuck in ritualism. They have often been horribly mistreated throughout history. Had more kindness been extended, maybe things would have been different. At the beginning of the 20th century, they were still being kicked around.

Author Alex Dejong in his book on Rasputin & the situation of his lifetime, he mentions a couple instances of horrible mistreatment of the old believers.