Russian Orthodoxy belongs to the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition. Its churches share the Divine Liturgy and the veneration of icons with Orthodox Christians elsewhere. The history of the institution governed from Moscow follows a longer and less direct path than the name might suggest. It begins with the Christianization of medieval Rus’, passes through the creation of the Moscow patriarchate, and includes a split over how worshippers made the sign of the cross. Orthodox Church in America address in Kyiv Orthodox Church in America account of the Moscow patriarchate Orthodox Church in America account of Nikon’s reforms Eastern Orthodox worship and belief
Kyiv and the baptism of Rus’
The Primary Chronicle tells how the apostle Andrew travelled up the Dnieper and blessed the hills where Kyiv would stand. The episode is a foundation legend preserved in a medieval text. Its claim about an apostle belongs to the story of the city’s sacred origins. The same chronicle describes a much later ruler, Olga, being baptized in Constantinople. Her story places Christianity at the court of Rus’ before the conversion of her grandson Volodymyr, also known as Vladimir. Excerpts from the Primary Chronicle
The conventional date for the baptism of Rus’ is 988. Under that year, the chronicle connects Volodymyr’s conversion with his marriage to the Byzantine princess Anna and describes people gathering in water for baptism at Kyiv. The scene gives a memorable public form to a change that took longer to work through the realm. Research on the chronicle also finds elements of Byzantine liturgy in the way the writer shapes the account. The text conveys how a medieval Christian author understood the conversion as well as what the author reported about it. Excerpts from the Primary Chronicle Research on the Chronicle’s use of Byzantine liturgy
Kyiv is now the capital of Ukraine. The lands and traditions of medieval Rus’ figure in the histories of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. The adoption of Christianity from Byzantium is part of that shared inheritance. Reading the events of 988 in their medieval setting helps explain why the baptism of Kyiv has a place in the historical memory of several Orthodox churches. Orthodox Church in America address in Kyiv
How Moscow acquired a patriarch
In 1448, bishops in Moscow consecrated Jonah as metropolitan. A metropolitan is a senior bishop whose responsibilities extend beyond an individual parish or diocese. The local consecration marked a change in how the church in Moscow chose its head after a period in which the appointment had depended on Constantinople. The office of patriarch came later. In 1589, Jeremias II, patriarch of Constantinople, recognized Job, the metropolitan of Moscow, as patriarch. A further confirmation in 1593 placed Moscow fifth in the order of honour, after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. Orthodox Church in America account of Metropolitan Jonah Orthodox Church in America account of the Moscow patriarchate
Why two fingers mattered
Patriarch Nikon began changing Russian liturgical practice in 1653, with the support of Tsar Alexis. He sought to bring Russian worship closer to the usage of Greek churches. One change concerned the sign of the cross. Worshippers accustomed to making it with two fingers were directed to use three. Another concerned the prayers of Lent, where the new instructions replaced some full prostrations with bows from the waist. A person who had learned those prayers as a child would now have to alter a familiar movement at a familiar moment in the service. Orthodox Church in America account of Nikon’s reforms
The priest Avvakum and other opponents argued that they were keeping rites the Russian church had already affirmed. A council in 1666–67 upheld the reforms and deposed Nikon. It condemned those who refused the new rites, and secular authorities punished dissenters. Avvakum was executed in 1682. Communities known as Old Believers carried on forms of worship that the official church had set aside. In Vasily Surikov’s 1887 painting Boyarynya Morozova, a woman being taken away on a sled raises two fingers above the crowd. The Tretyakov Gallery presents that later painting in the context of the schism. The raised hand makes the difference between the two ritual forms visible. Orthodox Church in America account of Nikon’s reforms Tretyakov Gallery record of Surikov’s painting
From imperial synod to restored patriarchate
After Patriarch Adrian died in 1700, Peter I delayed the choice of a successor. His Ecclesiastical Regulation of 1721 placed the church under a permanent governing synod in place of a patriarch. The emperor appointed its members, and a government official oversaw its work. The arrangement gave the imperial state a continuing role in church administration and lasted until the political upheavals of 1917. Orthodox Church in America account of the Holy Governing Synod
The All-Russian Church Council restored the patriarchate that year. The council selected three candidates, and the name of Metropolitan Tikhon was drawn by lot in November. He had previously served as an Orthodox bishop in North America. The council’s method combined a vote with an act of prayerful discernment, and its choice came at the opening of a period of conflict between the church and the new revolutionary authorities. Orthodox Church in America archive on Tikhon’s election
Conclusion
The baptism remembered at Kyiv ties Russian Orthodoxy to the wider Christian history of medieval Rus’. Moscow’s later patriarchate, the Old Believer schism and the two centuries of synodal government trace the distinct institutional history of the Russian church. Each event changed a different part of religious life. The conversion established a relationship with Byzantine Christianity, the reforms reached into the movements of ordinary worshippers, and the synod changed who could govern the church. The two fingers in Surikov’s painting are a concrete reminder of how those larger struggles could be felt in a single gesture.
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