The Old Believer Schism

Patriarch Nikon set out in 1653 to correct the Russian books and usages against the contemporary Greek ones: three fingers for the cross instead of two, three alleluias instead of two, a different spelling of the Saviour’s name, a procession the other way round the church. The council of 1666 and 1667 approved the changes and anathematised those who kept the old rites, and a large part of the Russian people would not. The state enforced it. The Archpriest Avvakum was burned in 1682, communities burned themselves rather than submit, and the schism has lasted to this day. In 1971 the Moscow Council lifted the anathemas and declared the old rites equally honourable, which is an admission that what was imposed by force had not needed imposing at all.