Old Believers in North America

In the 1660s Patriarch Nikon, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, instituted reforms in Russian Orthodox ritual and usage. These included such things as the wording and number of prayers, the configuration of the hand when making the sign of the cross, the spelling of Jesus’ name, and the like. Nikon’s stated purpose was to bring the Russian Orthodox Church into closer alignment with the usages of the Greek Orthodox Church of his day, as he believed the Greeks surpassed the Russians in preserving ancient Orthodox tradition.

Whatever the merits of Nikon’s position, it was opposed by millions of Russian believers. In the resulting Great Schism Nikon, most of the clergy, the Tsar and many common folk accepted the reforms, resulting in what is today commonly called the Russian Orthodox Church. Other clergy, along with millions of believers, rejected the reforms, sometimes choosing martyrdom rather than abandoning the old ways. For their adherence to the “old ritual” they became known as “Old Believers” or “Old Ritualists”, and became subject to fluctuating levels of persecution over the life of the Russian empire and that of the Soviet Union.

The Great Schism was the single most cataclysmic event in the history of Russian Orthodox Christianity, weakening it severely shortly before the drastic political and social reforms under Peter the Great. Generations of scholars have sought to explain the motives and especially the astonishing zealotry of the people involved, variously citing honest scholarly disagreement, international politics, blind superstition, limited literacy, abrasive personalities, the influence of the Antichrist, or popular resistance to enserfment and political centralization.

While most of the above doubtless played a role, a more subtle understanding points to the central role of the image in Orthodox Christian theology. A holy image (and by extension a ritual gesture or the wording of a prayer) is not a “symbol” in the Western sense– not a construct invented by humans which humans are free to change at their convenience. It is more like the imprint of a holy seal carved by God Himself. To change the image is to lose sight of the prototype, to cut oneself off from God and sacred history — in short, a spiritual disaster. Under these circumstances, choosing the correct images and usages is a question of eternal life and death.

Over the course of time, millions of Old Believers fled to the outskirts of the Russian Empire in search of greater religious freedom. Many crossed borders, or stayed put as borders moved around them, and as a result ended up in modern Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and China. Some fled the country with the advent of Soviet power. Others stayed. Some groups adopted modern ways in everything but liturgical matters. Others maintained traditional dress, hairstyle, and folkways as part of their Old Believer practice.

This bibliography documents the three groups of Old Believers who moved to North America.