The Orthodox Eastern Greek-Russian Church is a truly apostolic Church.

The "RPC" request is redirected here; for other meanings, see ROC (meanings).

Russian Orthodox Church

(
ROC
, another official name [comm. 1] -
Moscow Patriarchate
[21] (
MP
)) is the largest autocephalous local Orthodox Church in the world [22][23][24][25]. It occupies fifth place in the diptych of autocephalous local churches of the world[26][27]. The largest and most influential religious organization in Russia[25]. The largest religious organization is also in Ukraine (as of 2011 in terms of the number of parishes, clergy[28][29] and places of worship[30], but, according to some surveys at the beginning of 2015[31], not in terms of the number of believers), in Belarus, Moldova[32][33] (including Transnistria)[34].

Considers itself as the only canonically legitimate Orthodox administrative-independent church on the territory of the former Soviet Union, excluding Georgia (within the borders of the Georgian SSR[35]) and Armenia[note 16], recognized as the canonical territory of the Georgian Orthodox Church, as well as in Japan, China[ 36] and from February 2021 in Mongolia[37]; considers itself the only legitimate successor to the local Russian Orthodox Church[38], the Synodal Russian Church and the Kyiv Metropolis within the Patriarchate of Constantinople. In addition, according to its Charter, the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church “extends to Orthodox Christians who voluntarily join it and live in other countries”[39]. However, its exclusive jurisdiction in the PRC and Estonia[15] is disputed by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, on the territory of Ukraine - by the Orthodox Church of Ukraine[40][41], and in Moldova - by the Romanian Orthodox Church[9][note 17].

The name “Russian Orthodox Church” has been used for a long time[42], but was adopted as official only in the fall of 1943[38]. Previously, the names “Russian Orthodox Church”, “Greek-Eastern Russian Church” and others were used. The Russian Orthodox Church as a centralized organization until 1991 did not have the status of a legal entity[43], which it acquired in full on the territory of the RSFSR on May 30, 1991 when the Ministry of Justice of the RSFSR registered the Civil Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church[44] on the basis of the USSR Law of October 1, 1990 “On freedom of conscience and religious organizations.” Canonical units located on the territory of states other than the Russian Federation may be registered as independent legal entities under other names in accordance with the legislation in force in each country.

The religious and legal basis for its organization and activities is the Holy Scripture, as well as the Holy Tradition[45]. The latter includes the canons, liturgical texts authorized by the Church, the works of the Holy Fathers, the lives of the Saints, as well as the customs of the Church[46].

Catholic Church means universal church

The term Greek Catholic Orthodox Church appears in many church documents. So, for example, in the text of Leo Tolstoy’s excommunication from the Church, in its introductory part there is the following wording:

“...By the grace of God, the Holy All-Russian Synod, the faithful children of the Orthodox Catholic Greek-Russian Church rejoice in the Lord.”

Naturally, it causes bewilderment among many believers, because we are accustomed to calling our church the Russian Orthodox Church.

In the text of Leo Tolstoy’s renunciation of the Church, it is called the Greek-Russian Orthodox Catholic Church.

The definition of the Synod in the “Church Gazette” (beginning) on ​​the excommunication of Leo Tolstoy from the Church. The text of the definition contains the term Orthodox Catholic Greek-Russian Church

If you study the history of the Church and the works of its Fathers, you will find out that a similar name for the Russian Orthodox Church was very common before 1917.

This period in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church is sometimes called the “synodal period,” although this is not entirely correct.

1823

this year Philaret of Moscow published the catechism “Christian Catechism of the Catholic Church”

In May 1823, Saint Philaret of Moscow published a catechism, which had the following title: “Christian Catechism of the Orthodox Catholic Eastern Greek-Russian Church.”

The term Orthodox Greek Catholic Church is used as a synonym for this term.

Metropolitan Moscow Filaret (Drozdov). Portrait of N. D. Shprevich, 1861. In May 1823, Saint Philaret of Moscow published a catechism with the title: “Christian Catechism of the Orthodox Catholic Eastern Greek-Russian Church”

Catholic (κᾰθολικός - “universal, whole”, from καθ' (κᾰτά) - “in, on, by” + ὅλος - “whole, whole, complete, whole”) means Ecumenical.

The use of the complex word “Greek-Russian” means that the Orthodox Church in Russia has continuity in relation to the Byzantine Church.

In addition, the Greek Catholic Church is the official name of the Orthodox Church in general as a special branch of the Christian Church.

See also the article Arianism

Greco-Russian Church

Russian-Greek flock and Greek clergy - this was the beginning of the Greek-Russian Orthodox Church in London. The archives did not preserve a portrait - even a verbal one - of Archimandrite Gennady, the right hand of Metropolitan Arseny on the deputation of the Alexandrian Church. Their signatures remained on a document setting out the teaching of the Orthodox Church on the true presentation of the Holy Gifts in the sacrament of the Eucharist, compiled by them for an English friend (ill. 2.1–2.2).

Archimandrite Gennady and his nephew also served as mediators in secret negotiations between Anglicans and Orthodox Christians. The "Unsworn" - a group of Anglican bishops who had separated from the established church - wanted reunification with the Eastern Church. In 1716, calling themselves “the catholic remnant of the British Churches,” through Archbishop Arseny they sent proposals to the Eastern Patriarchs to unite the churches. In response to the restrained response of the Patriarchs, the non-sworners were forced to admit that they were not ready to accept a number of important provisions of Orthodox dogma and church tradition. At the same time, Peter I happily responded to the Anglican proposal, ordering the State Chancellor and the Holy Synod of the Russian Church to provide assistance to the non-sworn, but in 1725, with the death of Peter the Great, negotiations were interrupted.

Although at the end of 1720 diplomatic relations between Russia and England were interrupted and almost all Russians returned to their homeland, services in the Assumption Greek-Russian Church did not stop. Most of the parishioners were Greeks - merchants, sailors; There were also several Russians. The British began to gradually accept Orthodoxy - most often the brides and wives of Orthodox Christians. According to the “Church Record Book” (ill. 2.3–2.4),

On August 15, 1724, the Englishwoman Elizabeth, the wife of Bartholomew Cassano, was added to the Holy Church
(ill. 2.5)
.
To prepare Elizabeth Barton for St. On Epiphany, Bartholomew translated the Orthodox Catechism into English. At Christmas 1731, the first English family converted to Orthodoxy - Robert Wright with his wife Elizabeth and children (ill. 2.6)
.

2.6. 25 Dec 1731. Confirmed and added to the Holy Church Robert Wright and his family

2.7. 31 Dec 1738 Confirmed and joined to the Holy Church by Mr. Philip Ludwell

2.8. Philip Ludwell in his youth (the only portrait of him that has come down to us)

In 1726, Archimandrite Gennady asked the Holy Synod to ordain Bartholomew Cassano, who was then in St. Petersburg, to the priesthood. At the direction of Archbishop Feofan (Prokopovich) of Novgorod, the request was fulfilled. Three years later, Archimandrite Gennady went to Russia, where he met with the retired Metropolitan Arseny. Having received funds to maintain the church, icons and shrouds, he returned to London. The decoration of the embassy church was very modest: according to the inventory of 1739, in addition to a two-tier iconostasis with nine icons, the church had two small icons and four folding windows (ill. 2.15)

.

The first rector of the Embassy Assumption Church, Archimandrite Gennady, departed to the Lord at the beginning of 1737. Priest Bartholomew, who by that time had become a widower and became a monk, assumed the position of rector. According to the testimony of Prince Antiochus Cantemir, a famous poet and the first Russian envoy in London after a twelve-year break, Fr. Bartholomew "spoke and wrote English like a natural Englishman."

Hieromonk Bartholomew served mostly in Greek, as well as in English. The inventory of church property for 1749 contains English translations of two Liturgies, a Missal, a Catechism, and a box of sermons in English and Greek. The small church community consisted of Russian diplomats and their families, a few Greek and Russian merchants (from 1681 to 1838 the London Greeks did not have their own church), commoners who found themselves in England, and a dozen English families who converted to Orthodoxy.

Of the latter, we should especially note the noble American landowner Colonel Philip Ludwell (Lodwell) who lived in London with his daughters (ill. 2.8).

One of the first - and perhaps the very first - Orthodox American, Ludwell came for a short time from Virginia to London in 1738 to convert to Orthodoxy
(ill. 2.7)
. On this occasion, Fr. Bartholomew asked the Holy Governing Synod in advance, which made a unique decision: to bless the twenty-two-year-old layman Ludwell, who had just been accepted into the fold of the Church, to take the Holy Gifts with him to America.

2.9. The daughters of Philip Ludwell were confirmed and added to the Holy Church.

2.10. 22 Feb 1767 Sick Philip Ludwell received unction, confession and communion in his home

2–11. March 14, 1767 Philip Ludwell died

In 1762 he published in London his English translation of the Confession of the Orthodox Faith of Metropolitan Peter Mogila. Philip Ludwell died in London in 1767 ( illus .

2.10–2.11). Now, on the day of his death, March 14/27, memorial services for him are held annually in the churches of the Eastern American Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

Parishioners were also the Paradise family - father Peter, a former British consul in Thessaloniki, and son John, a member of the Royal Society. John Paradise, married to Lucy, the youngest daughter of Philip Ludwell, lived for a long time in America. He was friends with cultural figures (Samuel Johnson) and American politicians (Franklin, Adams, Jefferson).

Almost all parishioners confessed and received communion once a year, during Great Lent, on Holy Day ( ill .

2.12). Several especially zealous ones (Greek Maria Tuk, Philip Ludwell) received communion during the Nativity Fast, and less often during the Assumption Fast.

After the death of Archimandrite Gennady, the Holy Synod sent Fr. Bartholomew Hieromonk John (Yastrembsky), however, soon transferred to Holland. With him came two psalm-readers, in the old days called deacons or clergymen (psalm-reader, i.e., church reader - the lowest rank of clergyman). Psalmists were usually chosen from among the seminarians or choristers of the Court Chapel. The clergy prepared services, sang in the choir, and cleaned the church. After this, the staff of the Embassy Church did not change for 130 years - one priest and two clergy.

Hieromonk Bartholomew died in 1746. At the request of the Russian envoy, Athonite hieromonks Gennady and Jeremiah serve temporarily in the church. The Synod sent the archpriest of the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin, Antipa Martinianov, to London, but he soon fell ill and asked to return. On the recommendation of the ambassador, London psalmist Stefan Ivanovsky, ordained priest and a graduate of the Moscow Slavic-Greco-Latin Academy, became the rector of the London church. Father Stephen, “a quiet, pious and rather learned man,” married to an Englishwoman, Anna Johnson, served in the Church of the Assumption until his death in 1765.

2.12. Register of those who confessed and received communion for 1761

2.13. St. Burlington Gardens, where the Russian Church moved in 1756

Under Priest Stefan, the Embassy Church moved for the first time. “The church... came to an extremely dilapidated and meager state, namely the house in which St. The church is so ancient that I expect its destruction every day,” wrote Fr. Stefan to the ambassador. The house stood “in an indecent and shameful place” - a narrow alley off the Strand, the main shopping street in London, where street women went out in the evenings (they had to hire a watchman at the door during service). In 1756 the church moved to Burlington Gardens near Piccadilly, closer to the embassy ( ill .

2.13). As before, the church was built from a large living room.

The annual rent of the house cost 80 pounds or 400 rubles. The church in the 1760s cost another £60–70 a year. Helping those in need was a natural part of spending. In the list of expenses for 1763 - 15 shillings to the Greek Bishop of Arcadia Gerasim, 7 shillings 6 pence “for food for the sexton Prokhor Zhdanov, from August 5 to 16 paid”, 14 shillings “for a carriage with the Holy Sacrament to the Greek LuiMicheli in Newgate for the death of a condemned man , and for his burial to the collecting Greeks,” and 5 shillings “to the poor Greek Michael who came and asked” ( ill .

2.14).

After the death of Fr. Stephen's church was temporarily served by Greek hieromonks. In 1766, the preacher of the Kiev-Sophia Monastery and “teacher of the great instruction,” Hieromonk Ephraim (Dyakovsky), arrived in London, and served here for only a short time. From London he went to Moldavia, where he labored for twenty-five years under the leadership of his fellow countryman, St. Paisiy Velichkovsky. After the death of the saint in 1794, Fr. Ephraim - in the schema John - composed the Funeral Lament and the first service for him, and four months later he followed his elder.

The Holy Synod appointed Kharkov native Andrei Samborsky, a clergyman who arrived in London with Fr. Ephraim ( ill .

3.1). Having married Elizaveta Fielding in Amsterdam, Samborsky went to Russia, and in September 1769 he was ordained a priest in St. Petersburg. Father Andrey, like his successors, Archpriests Yakov Smirnov and Evgeny Popov, shaved their beards and dressed like the Anglican clergy, in the fashion of the time.

2.14. Expenditure sheet of the Russian Church in London for 1763

One of the main requirements for the candidate was knowledge of the Greek language, since a significant part of the parishioners were Greeks. Father Andrey, after graduating from the Belgorod Seminary, studied at the Kyiv Theological Academy, where he studied biblical Greek.

Before leaving for the place of service, the newly ordained priest received written instructions from the Synod. Thus, Hieromonk John (Yastrembsky) was ordered to wear “a black dress, not of a very expensive price, but only clean,” long (“no higher than 2 inches from the ground”); “Do not walk barefoot, but in the kind of boots they use there, or in shoes with black stockings.” It was forbidden to “cover the monastic robe while wearing it,” “to sell church candles on the street, or to set up tables on the street to collect money,” “to invent miracles and visions.” It was necessary to “ride around the city in a clean stroller, and not walk.”

The 21-point instruction to priest Andrei Samborsky prescribed forms of commemoration of Empress Catherine, the august family, the entire chamber and their army, as well as the Holy Governing All-Russian Synod. A list of services and prayers on highly solemn days is given - birth, namesake, accession to the throne and coronation of the monarch. The requirements for the behavior of a priest, who is obliged to “look diligently” over the clergymen subordinate to him, are specified. The priest must be diligent about preaching the word of God; always have spare Holy Gifts in the altar, “see to it that during the divine service they do not laugh, make noise or riot” (disturbers of order, after a double admonition, were to be reported to the Russian Ambassador). It is necessary to behave well with everyone, especially with the British, and also “with the necessary condescension and pleasantness with visiting Greeks.”

Here are some notable points from the instructions. Andrey:

6

. It is diligent to see that in the city of London, people of the Orthodox-Eastern, Greek-Russian faith of every rank of the Russian people fast and confess and partake of the Holy Mysteries according to the dignity of the Holy Mysteries on all established fasts, especially on the Great Holy Day.

2.15. Beginning of the “Register of church utensils located at the Greco-Russian Church in London”, 1749

2.16. Kantemir Antioch Dmitrievich, prince (1708–1744), Russian envoy to London in 1731–1738

7

. Do not enter into a debate about faith with anyone, especially people of a different confession.

8

. In the presence, no matter where you are, of His Royal Majesty, if you happen to be there, act honestly and courteously and do not engage in any distant or immoderate conversations or actions...

9

. Do not ask for baptisms, marriages, blessings and burials, but whoever gives anything of his own free will, accept with gratitude and be content with Her Imperial Majesty’s gracious salary.

12

. Do not go to people of other confessions with shrines, and only go to your own when you are invited. Misfortunes also happened to clergy in London. About

To hieromonk Ephraim (Dyakovsky), Ambassador Alexei Semenovich Musin-Pushkin wrote in a report for 1767: “his health fell, and he could not leave the house, because from the daring and unbridled people here, unaccustomed to his clothes, they repeatedly inflicted on him streets of grief and resentment." O. Ephraim was severely beaten, mistaking him for a Catholic priest, of whom in England a century and a half earlier they were supposed to be caught and executed. The life of psalm-readers was especially difficult - until the end of the 19th century, their salaries were very meager, and London was one of the most expensive cities in the world. Ambassador Count Pyotr Grigorievich Chernyshev wrote to the College of Foreign Affairs that the work of church ministers in London was paid worse than labor lackeys, who had free apartments, board and clothes from their masters. The clergy fell into unpayable debts; Under the influence of need and deprivation, some fell into despair and began to drink. Sexton Sila Barkhatov got into a fight with soldiers on the street and was sentenced to a year in prison, where he unexpectedly died two months later. The salary received by the priests of the London embassy church was also not always enough to live in one of the most expensive cities of the world at that time. More than once, Russian ambassadors, starting with Prince Cantemir, petitioned for an increase in the salaries of priests.

3–1. Archpriest Andrei Samborsky (late 1790s)

Archpriest Andrei Samborsky opens a series of extraordinary people who have served as rector of the London Embassy Church. Upon arrival, he soon made acquaintances with people of science and art, and was later elected to the Royal Society of Arts. However, what occupies him most is new scientific methods of farming. Friendly contacts with the English landowners, who developed them in practice, were brought about by Fr. Andrei came up with the idea of ​​teaching these new methods to young men from Russia. He draws up a memorandum addressed to Empress Catherine II, and in 1776, at the behest of the Tsarina, he goes to Kharkov and Belgorod to select young seminarians who want to go to study in England, as well as to recruit psalmists for the London temple. He is a diligent executor of various assignments from the Empress and senior courtiers. There were frequent requests to find a reliable and inexpensive English carriage in good condition.

In 1780, the Empress recalled Fr. Andrei to Russia, and sends him to accompany Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich on a trip to Europe, and then appoints him rector of the newly built Tsarskoe Selo St. Sophia Cathedral in Tsarskoe Selo, for which he lays out an English park. Later, Archpriest Samborsky served as teacher of the law to the sons of Paul, Alexander (the future emperor) and Constantine, and in 1799 he was appointed confessor to Grand Duchess Alexandra, daughter of Paul I, who married the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. After retiring, he lived on his estate near Kharkov, where he did a lot to educate his peasants.

3.2. Gr. Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov

Upon departure Fr. Andrei's rector was appointed the psalmist of the embassy church, Yakov Ivanovich Smirnov, who had come with him from Kharkov and who had served in London the longest - 65 years, of which almost sixty as rector. O. Yakov was a very extraordinary man, well-read, and knew many languages. He was a consultant to William Tooke, former rector of the Anglican Church in St. Petersburg, in his work on the History of Russia in the reign of Catherine II; In London, his translation into English of “Descriptions of the Russian Empire” by Sergei Pleshcheev was successful.

O. Yakov, like his predecessor, was interested in agriculture and carried out many assignments of various kinds. Also, first unofficially, and then ex officio, he looked after young students and cadets from Russia studying in England. Loved helping the British; the letters of recommendation that he gave to the British going to Russia - governesses and philosophers, merchants and scientists - helped them not to get lost in an unfamiliar country.

In addition to his priestly duties, Fr. Yakov Smirnov helped the long-term Russian Ambassador in London, the outstanding diplomat Count Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov (ill. 3.2)

. In 1791, during one of the crises in relations between Russia and England, Fr. The three of Jacob with John Paradise and the secretary of the gr. Vorontsov worked from morning to night for several months to organize a campaign in the press against the war with Russia, which the British government intended to start. The war was averted.

Nine years later, during a new aggravation of Anglo-Russian relations, when all embassy employees were forced to leave England, the priest Yakov Smirnov, by a rescript from Emperor Paul I, was appointed acting Russian envoy (the only case in the history of the Russian Church). And later, in 1807, when England and Russia were at war, Fr. Jacob single-handedly performed the duties of a diplomat, drawing up detailed reports on the political and economic situation of England. If this were discovered, the priest would face prison.

3.3. Coat of arms of the Smirnovs

3.4. Frederick Lord North (later 5th Earl of Guildford) as a young man

3.5. No. 32 Welbeck Street today

3.6. No. 32, Welbeck Street. Church doors

Father Yakov received the rank of archpriest in the thirty-eighth year of priestly service. He was awarded a personal pectoral cross, orders of the Russian Empire, and in 1804 he was granted hereditary nobility (ill. 3.3).

The embassy priest amazed the guests from Russia with his non-priestly appearance. He dressed in the English manner, somewhat old-fashioned; wore a long-skirted frock coat, boots, and a powdered braid. “Young, well-educated English lord!” (journalist Peter Makarov, 1795); “in clothes - a lord of former times... he seemed to me a revived portrait of the Dutch school” (artist Fyodor Jordan, 1830). He loved England very much, but did not forget Russia: “It seemed that I had visited a pious hermit. Russian icons, portraits of Russian tsars, Russian books and the Russian heart” (journalist Nikolai Grech, 1839 - a year before the death of Father Yakov).

In 1827 Fr. James was invited to the dying Frederick, 5th Earl of Guildford, an English politician and first governor of Ceylon (ill. 3.4)

. Lord Guilford in his youth secretly converted to Orthodoxy on Fr. Corfu, and in 1824 he founded the first university in new Greece - the Ionian Academy. Archpriest Yakov confessed and gave him communion.

Six hundred rubles allocated by the Senate for the rent and maintenance of the temple were barely enough for current expenses, and by the beginning of the service of Fr. Jacob's building fell into disrepair. Under him, the Embassy Church moved twice - in 1784 to Great Portland Street, and in 1813 - to a spacious house rented for twenty years at No. 32 Welbeck Street in the Marylebone area (ill. 3.5–3.6).

The Russian Church in London remained at this address for more than a hundred years - longer than anywhere else. Soon, having received the permission of the homeowner and the consent of the residents of neighboring houses, Fr. Jacob demolished the stables in the courtyard of the house and built an Orthodox chapel. The abbot and his family lived in the house itself.

3.7–3.8. Tombstone about. Yakov Smirnov. Barely visible name: Revd James Smirnove

3.9. Prot. Evgeniy Popov

The last three years of Fr. Jacob's life was overshadowed by the onset of blindness. From mid-1837, the cleric of the Paris Embassy Church, Hieromonk Nifont, came to London to help him. At the same time, the Greek parishioners decided to secede, setting up their church in a merchant's house in the City of London. The modest church in the name of Christ the Savior on Finsbury Circus marked the beginning of the largest Orthodox diocese in the British Isles - the Thyatira diocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, uniting more than a hundred parishes.

O. Yakov Smirnov died in 1840 (ill. 3.7–3.8).

Priest Evgeny Popov, Master of Theology at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, was transferred to London from Copenhagen
(ill. 3.9)
. Sociable and active, he soon became a reliable source of information about the state of religion and education in England for the Chief Prosecutors of the Holy Synod and other officials. The correspondence also concerned the fate of people interested in Orthodoxy - William Palmer, Joseph Overbeck and Stefan Hatherly (Gafferly), the first English Orthodox priest after the Great Schism.

During the Crimean War (1854–55), Fr. Evgeny traveled every week to one of three port cities where hundreds of Russian prisoners of war were held - Plymouth (more than 350 km from London), Lewes and Sheerness (both about 90 km from London) (ill. 3.10–3.12)

.
He not only took care of the spiritual needs of the prisoners, but also worked a lot about them with the local authorities. In Plymouth, he set up a camp chapel, where two choirs of captured Russians sang during the service. The Grand Duchesses and the Prince of Oldenburg translated Fr. Eugene received significant monetary donations for distribution to those in need of help (ill. 3.13–3.14).
Didn't shy away from Fr. Eugene and danger. Having arrived in Lisbon at the height of the cholera epidemic to baptize the granddaughter of the Russian envoy there, he confessed and gave communion to his maid, who was dying of cholera, and buried her.

3.10. Prison ship "Devonshire" in the port of Sheerness, Sept. 1854

3.11–3.12. Russian prisoners of war on the prison ship "Devonshire" in the port of Sheerness, September. 1854

3.13. Letter of transfer of donation for the needs of prisoners of war

3.14. Letter from prisoner of war F. Kostikov to Prot. Evgeniy

3.15. J. M. Neal dedicated his work “History of the Orthodox Eastern Church” to Emperor Nicholas I

3.16. Page of a volume dedicated to Orthodox worship

3.17. “The History of the Ferraro-Florence Cathedral” by Ivan Ostroumov, translated by the son of Fr. Evgeniy Popov Vasily, future rector of the Embassy Church

Archpriest Eugene had extensive connections in English society, especially among Anglican scholars. He was one of the main consultants to the Anglican priest John Mason Neale, who worked for many years on the multi-volume History of the Orthodox Eastern Church (ill. 3.15–3.16).

In the preface to the publication, the grateful author speaks of “the responsiveness with which he began to answer any of my questions... I have collected at least fifty of his letters with answers, some on four or five sheets, full of information on the question asked.”

O. Evgeniy published articles and notes in Russian spiritual magazines, in particular about the possibility of connecting with the Anglicans (his conclusion in the latter case is negative). For the first time, the Russian church community became acquainted with the religious life of England through the eyes of a benevolent Orthodox eyewitness. His extensive memorandum with proposals for a church-political settlement of the situation of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which was suffering oppression from the Ottoman government, has been preserved in the church archives.

In the mid-1860s, Fr. Eugene, having set about repairing the dilapidated church building, decided to build a new one in the same place. The chapel was crowned with a dome and painted. An academician of painting invited from St. Petersburg worked on the iconostasis. Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, daughter of Emperor Alexander II and wife of the Duke of Edinburgh, who lived in London, provided great assistance in the construction of the new temple.

The Russian chapel on Welbeck Street has survived to this day (ill. 3.18–3.23)

. Nowadays it is an architectural monument, protected by law, but, alas, not used for its intended purpose. For many years, house No. 32 housed the Institute of Radiology, then there was a school of homeopathy, and now the head office of a private medical services company. In the 1980s, the painting of the temple was renewed.

3.18. Embassy Church in Welbeck Street in 1865

3.19. and now (western part)

3.20. Eastern wall of the Embassy Church

3.21–3.23. Interior of the former Russian Embassy Church

3.24. Konstantin Faminsky

3.25. Letter to St. Raphael of Brooklyn Fr. Evgeniy

In 1875, Archpriest Eugene, while in St. Petersburg, died unexpectedly. His son Vasily, also a Master of Theology at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, became the rector of the church. While still studying at the Academy, he translated into English “The History of the Council of Florence” by Ivan Ostroumov (ill. 3.17).

After serving for two years, Fr. Vasily died suddenly from epilepsy. Priest Evgeniy Smirnov, who was appointed rector of the London Assumption Church and served in London for more than 45 years, until his death in 1923, was called to perform his funeral service from the Brussels Embassy Church.

Father Evgeny Smirnov (Fr. Yakov’s namesake) after graduating from the St. Petersburg Academy served for several years as a psalm-reader in the Russian Church in New York. Like Fr. Popov, Fr. Evgeny Smirnov was a talented church writer. He published several books in Russian as well as in English; among the latter is the rite of joining Orthodoxy, and the first history of the missions of the Russian Church. Numerous articles about the life of Christians in the West and projects for uniting churches were published in Russian church magazines. The church archive preserves the correspondence of the London archpriest with Archbishop Tikhon (Bellavin) of Yaroslavl - the future Patriarch and confessor, Equal-to-the-Apostles Nicholas (Kasatkin), Archbishop of Japan, Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod Konstantin Pobedonostsev and other prominent church figures.

At the end of the 19th century. all foreign parishes in Europe were transferred to the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg, and in 1908 their management was entrusted to his vicar, the Bishop of Kronstadt with residence in Rome. Since 1867, a deacon has appeared on the staff of the London Church; the first deacon was the son of Fr. Evgenia Popova Vasily. In 1897, a choir appeared (previously the entire service was sung by psalmists). Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, heir to the throne and future Tsar-Passion-Bearer, asked the Synod to send a church choir to London. A choir of four candidates for theology was sent to the St. Petersburg Theological Academy (candidate is the first academic level in Russian theological schools). Konstantin Faminsky was appointed the first regent of the choir (ill. 3.24).

3.26. Letter from St. Nicholas of Japan

Some of the psalmists of the London church went on to distinguished careers. Alexey Evstafiev graduated from government service as the Russian consul in Boston, having served in the United States for 50 years. Nikolai Longinov became a senator and member of the State Council. There were psalmists who served impeccably in the London Church for many decades: Leonty Litkevich served for 54 years († 1834), Ivan Kvitnitsky - 43 years († 1857), Foka Volkovsky, one of the first choristers - 54 years († 1951), Nikolai Orlov - 46 years († 1916).

Psalmist Nikolai Orlov also served as a professor at the University of London (King's College, Russian) from 1900. He published essays about the Russian and Greek churches, and brochures about Orthodoxy for English readers, and published liturgical books in his English translation - Book of Hours, Festive and General Menaion, Octoechos. This was especially appreciated by the bishops and clergy of the Aleutian Diocese of the Russian Church, who cared for the Orthodox in North America; The Patriarch of Constantinople also thanked Orlov for his translation works.

By the beginning of the 20th century. The London church became the place from which Orthodox publications were sent to all corners of the world. Fr. Evgeniy Smirnov sent numerous books in English to Orthodox churches and seminaries in the USA. To the bishop of the Aleutian diocese, Bishop Raphael of Brooklyn (a Syrian by birth, now canonized as a saint), he sent service books of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in Spanish for Orthodox parishes in South America, published at the expense of the Spanish general who converted to Orthodoxy (ill. 3.25).

4.1. Consent of the embassy to convene a general meeting that established the parish

4.2–4.3. Resolution on the formation of the parish

4.4. The first points of the Parish Charter

4.5. Receipt part of the financial report of the London parish for 1920 (“from the treasury” - i.e. from the government of Admiral Kolchak)

History of the term “catholic”, “catholicity”

The term “catholic”, “catholic church” was the first to be used in Christian theology by the Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer. In his Epistle to the Church of Smyrna he stated:

“Where there is a bishop, there must be a people, for where Jesus Christ is, there will be the Catholic Church.”

Moreover, this term in the Church Slavonic tradition has always been interpreted as a “cathedral” church.

Saint Ignatius the God-Bearer. Icon. Monastery of Hosios Loukas, Boeotia, Greece. Saint Ignatius the God-Bearer was the first to use the term “catholicity” in his writings

The teaching of Saint Ignatius the God-Bearer about the Church is based on the ideas expressed by the Apostle Paul about the existence and presence of the Church of God in every locality on earth. This idea is realized through Eucharistic ecclesiology.

According to it, Christ always dwells in the Eucharistic assembly in all the fullness and unity of His body.

The Catholic Church has at least one bishop and one lay Christian.

Thus, during the sacrament of the Eucharist, He is in any local church, as a result of which it becomes part of the universal Church of Christ.

The term “catholic” itself denotes the full church. By complete we mean a church in which there is at least one bishop and one lay Christian. Thus, the Catholic Church is an Episcopal Church.

Eucharist, fresco, XIV century. Monastery Church of the Hieromartyr George, Staro Nagorichane, Macedonia. The fullness and unity of the Catholic Church is determined by the sacrament of the Eucharist

The term in question originated in the 2nd century AD. among the heirs of the apostles. The bishops they appointed were divided into two parts. The first insisted on the episcopal structure of the Christian Church.

The second spoke about the Presbyterian, since supposedly the elders are the followers and successors of the apostles. From this dispute, only the terms have survived to our time - catholic (Episcopal) and Presbyterian churches.

The term "Catholic Church" is found in the Apostles' Creed

The term in question is contained in the text of the Apostles' Creed. It was written no later than the 2nd century.

The exact date of writing the document is unknown. In 381, the Second Ecumenical Council supplemented the Nicene Creed with the words: “... One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.”

After this, the name of the Catholic Church of God became a recognized ecclesiological term, both in the East and in the West.

Icon depicting the holy fathers of the First Council of Nicaea holding the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed

See also the article Faith of the Armenians

In this regard, the Monk Vincent of Larinsky said that for the Church in its universal hypostasis it is necessary to take care to maintain the purity of the faith.

By the way, before the formula of the Council of Constantinople (381) was formed, the Christian Church was simply called holy.

In those days, the entire Church was called catholic; in the Russian Orthodox Church the term “conciliar” was used as a translation from Greek. This was enshrined in the Church Slavonic text of the Creed.

The concept of the term “catholicity” of the church

In theology, there are several interpretations of the term “catholicity.”

The Russian dogmatic interpretation given by Orthodox theologians in the 19th century is as follows: “... it [the Church] is not limited to any place, time, or people, but includes true believers of all places, times and peoples.

Thus, Orthodox Christians in Russia determine the Catholic, Catholic or Ecumenical Church by:

• space. She embraces all people, wherever they are on earth;
• time. The Church was specially designed by the Lord to bring all people to faith in Christ and to exist until the end of the age;
• device. The Church is not connected with any conditions of the civil structure of society. She does not consider them necessary for herself. In addition, it does not associate itself with any language or people.

Saint Paul preached in Athens.
Raphael, 1515. The New Testament Church has a universal character. The New Testament Church has a universal character. It is said about this:

“There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism.”

(Eph. 4:4-5)

Those who have turned to Christ, no matter who they are - Jews or Greeks (1 Cor. 1:24) - form the universal family of nations. In it

“There is no difference between Jew and Greek, for there is one Lord of all, rich for all who call on Him.”

(Rom. 10:12)

Local churches are created to protect and care for believers in a particular area.

Both priests and believers should not tear the Church apart, but build “one Body of the Church” (Eph. 4:4-5).

The head of the Christian Church is Christ. It consists of people in every corner of the earth who have been redeemed and washed by the Blood of Jesus Christ (Rev. 5:9-10).

A person becomes a member of the Universal Church through birth, but he must join one or another local church for his spiritual growth, care and protection.

Bishop Theodore serves the festive Liturgy at the Holy Trinity Monastery of St. Daniel in the city of Pereslavl-Zalessky. Each local church must have at least one bishop and one Christian parishioner

If the Universal Church is under the care of Christ, then each local church has a bishop or several bishops. They govern it and ordain priests. Priests lead parishes or regions of a particular country where there are Christian communities.

At the same time, the Divine Services of the Universal Church are performed everywhere, according to the prediction of the Lord, and not just in one tribe of one people, as is the case in the Jewish Church.

New in blogs

Do Greek priests dream of returning the former name of the church and their foreign influence in Russia?

Before the revolution of 1917, the church in the Russian Empire was called differently, whether they were different sects of the same direction or something else is not clear:

• Orthodox Catholic Greek-Russian Church.
• Russian Orthodox Catholic Church.
• Greek-Russian Church.
• Russian Church.
• Russian church.
• Russian Orthodox Church.
• Orthodox Greek-Russian Church.
• Russian Eastern Orthodox Church.

And in the 18th century there were also

• Russian Church of Greek Law.
• Orthodox Russian Church.

After the revolution, the name “Russian Orthodox Church” and several others - along with the patriarchate - were retained by the church abroad.

There was no patriarchate in Soviet Russia.

In 1943, when Stalin needed it, he forced the bishops to choose a patriarch again and actually created for himself a personal pocket new Soviet church called the “Russian Orthodox Church”, see https://thequestion.ru/questions/312202/vsegda- li-rpc-byla-russkoi

As you can see, it's complete chaos. And leapfrog in the names. How is that? For a thousand years, there was something in the country of imaginary residence, and this something in the political life of this country could not hammer into the heads of the people at least some kind of unified “brand”?!

This is how things stand in the surviving documents and manuscripts!

What faith and “Russian Orthodox” phenomenon are they talking about, and what are religious historians hiding?

In our time, Rosstat has named 47 faiths, combining 90 organizations in one line “other religions” https://ru.wikipedia.org

There are opinions that the quarrel between the priests of the Greek rite in Russia and Greece in recent months, and the diplomatic and espionage scandals, is caused by the fact that the Greek brothers and mentors in the faith decided to regain primacy in the church hierarchy?

The tourist destination in Greece, associated with faith and trips to cells and monasteries, has become fashionable. And the trips of wealthy men in power, and from large capital from Russia to an interesting place, Mount Athos, are a hit of autumn-winter tourism, Russian sinners and hucksters.

Athos, according to rumors, but not according to documents, is a peninsula with a number of monasteries, on which female creatures are not allowed. Even sheep, goats or cows. Only insects and birds violate these limits without asking.

Again, according to rumors, Turkey, whose Ottoman Empire included these lands, allegedly threatens to publish maps and lists on which these places do not appear - for the monks in the last half a thousand years!

Like, this is fiction and falsification of history. There were no monasteries or monastic republics in these remote places. The Greeks want to spoil the “antiquity” of the Turks; this is a long-standing dispute between the antagonistic peoples.

On Athos, not so long ago, the imperial rite of accession to the throne was held for a dear guest from Russia - President V.V. Putin. And now the Greeks want greater earthly benefits from male parishioners. Look:

The Greek Embassy does not comment on the complaint of Russian priests. In recent days, several publications have appeared in the Russian media that the Greek consulate is refusing to issue visas to Russian priests or issuing monthly visas rather than three-year ones, like for tourists, see RIA Novosti https://ria.ru/religion/20180809/1526248351 .html

Priests of the Russian Orthodox Church spoke about problems with Greek visas. According to the priests, the Greek side either refuses to issue a visa or issues only short-term permission to travel to the country. Clergy associate this with their ministry in the RBC Church, see https://www.rbc.ru/society/07/08/2018/5b69e9ea9a79474ce88a7fd0

The Greeks lashed out at Russia and insist on their “antiquity” and importance?! The Greek Foreign Ministry considered Moscow's response to the expulsion of Russian diplomats to be unfounded and again accused Russia of interfering in internal affairs. This was reported in a statement by the Greek Foreign Ministry, RIA Novosti reports.

Greece, as a sovereign state with a long history, “demands respect and equality of relations with every third party,” the statement said. Athens in this context advocates a friendly policy of coexistence with Moscow.

In the department of Fr. Russia received a response to the expulsion of Greek diplomats, see https://lenta.ru/news/2018/08/10/greek_diplo/

Under such false conditions, does the “Russian” organization of the Russian Orthodox Church have the right to the title and name, if the name was given to it by the “tyrant and murderer” Joseph Stalin?

The bearer of the right to their language and culture - the Russian people DID NOT GIVE THE RIGHT to put their NAME in the name of the alien nomads of the GREEK RITE.

Note that in the USSR there was no Russian Communist Party, or Russian Communist Party. Because the demon of communism was an alien invader, and the invaders were afraid to give this name “RUSSIAN”, they knew that it would not work, and the bearded Jew from London Karl Marx could not be convincing to Russian society, even affected by the rottenness of Commintern propaganda.

The training manual for future shepherds (shepherds) of human flocks and communities is silent about the NAME and NICKNAME of the church.

In the thick volume there is nothing about what name those who came to Rus' with the cross and faith called themselves?! And, supposedly, for 1000 years they sat in the souls and in the churches of “baptized” Rus'?

Look, Pospelovsky D.V. The Orthodox Church in the history of Rus', Russia and the USSR. Tutorial. Moscow 1996 https://www.odinblago.ru/rpc_v_istorii_rusi/

So, the question is acute: what kind of church did Pushkin and Gogol go to? Who baptized Stalin, Ulyanov-Lenin, Pushkin and Gogol? And were they baptized at all?

Firstly, they could not read the propaganda of foreign agents in Russian. Since, many decades later, the Bible was printed in RUSSIAN TRANSLATION.

And secondly, A.S. In his youth, Pushkin wrote many wonderful satires on “Christian nonsense”: Gabrieliad, “The Tale of the Pope and his worker Balda.” “Pushkin in his life was never the personification of Christian virtues. This is evidenced by his lifestyle in his youth, and the memories of his contemporaries, and, more importantly, the confessions of the poet himself, the most eloquent of which are “Memories” (1828), “In vain I run ...” (1836) and a number of other poems of the end 1820s - early 1830s.

In his indifferent attitude towards the church and church rituals, Pushkin was far from alone. A. Panchenko rightly notes that in the life of Onegin, Lensky, and even the “Russian soul” of Tatyana, who represent the Russian cultural nobility of the early 19th century, the church did not play a significant role .

“Looking around the poetic landscapes and poetic interiors of the novel, St. Petersburg or village, we will not find either a temple or an icon,” he writes and continues: “...judging by “Eugene Onegin,” a man of Pushkin’s circle appears before us in a placenta of religious and church indifference . He does not show disloyalty to Orthodoxy, nor does he show zeal. This is also typical for other works of the poet, if their characters belong to the same circle.” https://magazines.russ.ru/voplit/2004/3/ras4-pr.html

The publication of 1876 ended the sixty-year epic of Russian translation of the Bible in the 19th century. The Synodal translation became its natural result. Taken from https://zudotworez.pravorg.ru/den-pravoslavnoj-knigi/russkij-perevod-biblii/

• See the material from the President newspaper: “The Russian Orthodox Church will spend 65 million on the next inquisition” https://www.prezidentpress.ru/news/5291-rpc-potratit-65-mln-na-ocherednuyu-inkviziciyu.html

And also, who is the mythical Sergius of Radonezh? If the church, now the Russian Orthodox Church, did not have its own name until the 19th century?

– The irony is that the religious organization called “Russian Orthodox Church” is one of the youngest in Russia, since it was created only in 1943 by order of Stalin, it is younger than even Jehovah’s Witnesses.

– The Russian Orthodox Church is an internal project of the KGB, created with specific ideological and political objectives: to praise communism, “fight for peace”, provide cover for foreign intelligence, etc.

Even the name of this church was invented by Stalin personally: before the revolution, the church in Russia was called the Orthodox Russian (sometimes Greek-Russian) Church. But he didn’t like the word “Russian,” because it reminded him of the Russian Empire, and the word “Soviet,” as even he understood, was too much.

Not everything is going smoothly for the ROC MP in canonical terms: the last pre-revolutionary Patriarch Tikhon anathematized the Bolsheviks and everyone who would cooperate with them, and this anathema has not yet been lifted. One of the so-called apostolic rules states that a clergyman cannot receive authority from secular authorities.

Contemporaries, armed with gadgets, think little about the name of the Russian Orthodox Church and its history. Yes, and to be honest, even on the Internet there is very little information about this. The official website of the Russian Orthodox Church is also very laconic.

For, there is nothing to say, but the falsifications are quickly exposed by the vigilant “Thomas and Fomenki” https://otvet.mail.ru/question/75375041

The history of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Middle Ages is shrouded in even greater mystery. The Russian Orthodox Church began to be called by its modern name only in 1945, when Joseph Dzhugashvili granted the victorious people, not recognized by the Bolsheviks since 1917, “opium for the people.”

Until 1917, the Russian Orthodox Church was officially called the Russian Greek Catholic Church or the Russian Orthodox Church of the Greek Rite. It is interesting that the word “catholic” in Old Russian can also be read as “Catholic”.

When and how the Church appeared in Rus' is not known for certain, as well as what type it was.

Here we will not go into detail about the fact that all the terms of the Russian Orthodox Church in service and in everyday life consist entirely of Latin, and mostly Greek words. Let's take a look at slightly different rudiments of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Many researchers have drawn attention to the similarities in the architecture of Russian Christian churches and mosques, as well as the similarities in religious approach. This is not surprising, given that both Christianity and Islam were created on the basis of the same religion, Judaism.

If you look at the ancient Christian churches of Russia, you will notice the variety of crosses crowning them. It must be assumed that this is not at all a flight of creative thought of the ancient builders, but very accurate data on the identification of these temples, because in religious buildings it is the symbols that are given the primary role and improvisation is unacceptable there.

But how to explain such a variety of crowning crosses on churches and how to explain crosses with Muslim crescents?

Before the 1917 revolution, the official church in the country was called differently: Orthodox Catholic Greek-Russian Church, Russian Church, Russian Church, Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Catholic Church, Greek-Russian Church, Orthodox Greek-Russian Church, Russian Eastern Orthodox Church, and in the 18th century also the Russian Church of Greek law, the Orthodox Russian Church. After the revolution, the name “Russian Orthodox Church” and several others - along with the patriarchate - were retained by the church abroad. In Soviet Russia there was no patriarchate, and the church, which was barely surviving, was governed by individual bishops and the “locum tenens” patriarch; it did not have a single leadership. In 1943, when Stalin needed it, he forced the bishops to choose a patriarch again and actually create a new Soviet church for themselves called the “Russian Orthodox Church”, see https://thequestion.ru/questions/312202/vsegda-li- rpc-byla-russkoi

Look at greed: The Moscow Patriarchate is not afraid of “mock and rust” https://www.atheism.ru/library/Averushkin_2.phtml

Our state is legally separated from religions of any kind. But through the media and meetings of the country’s leadership with cult figures, they constantly want to instill in us something else, a love of obscurantism, as the baptized Ulyanov-Lenin wrote.

The struggle for clients and pilgrimage tourism to holy places outside Russia is intensifying. The feeding trough is getting thinner, many are hiding behind the name of God, or spy diplomats, hinting at antiquity and seniority.

But, in fact, if we restore history and honor the memory, then the “foreign agent” who “baptized Rus' with fire and sword” under the brand of “Orthodoxy”, and now the Russian Orthodox Church, must regain the old forgotten names, especially Joseph Stalin “tyrant” and murderer,” and we live in an era of triumph of democracy and progress.

Andrey Arkhipov,

deputy editor-in-chief of the newspaper "President"

Differences between the terms “conciliar” and “catholic”

In Ancient Rus', the Christian Church was called “conciliar” or universal. This direct translation spread in the 11th century. It was then that one local church, the Roman Church, declared itself to be the fullness of the Church.

As a result, a schism occurred in 1054, placing other local churches in the position of schismatic societies. At the same time, the Roman Church appropriated the name Catholic to itself, that is, it began to be called by the name that all other local churches could be called.

Coat of arms of the papacy: triple tiara and keys. In the 11th century, one local church, the Roman Church, declared itself to be the fullness of the Church.

Translators of church books in Russia were faced with a question: how to translate the term “catholicity” in this case? The Orthodox needed to preserve the purity of the postulate that each local Church expresses the fullness of the universal Church.

At the same time, the Church of Constantinople was already called catholic. That is why they decided to use the word “conciliarity,” although it is not identical to the word “catholicity.”

Any local church can be called a cathedral. The Church in general in Christianity is called universal. It is impossible to call a local church universal, just as it is impossible to call a part general. Catholicism or universality is manifested even in the smallest community.

In order for a congregation to become a church, the presence of Christ is necessary, and for this, in turn, a bishop is needed - the guarantee of the presence of Christ among His flock. This is why all local churches are equal and identical to each other. Their prototype is the Heavenly Church, described in the “Revelation” of St. John the Theologian.

As for the term “conciliarity,” which is used in Russian Orthodoxy, it must be understood in such a way that each local church is part of the One Catholic Church. Despite the fact that local churches are independent and valuable in themselves, they are united as the Body of Christ.

Thus, in Russian Orthodoxy, “conciliarity” is an attempt to return the term “conciliarity” to its meaning that was given to it before the schism of the churches in 1054.

STOLE ORTHODOXY

Orthodox Rus', before and after the adoption of Christianity

The name Orthodox itself was assigned by Christian hierarchs in the 11th century (1054 AD) during a split into the Western and Eastern churches. The Western Christian Church, centered in Rome, began to be called Catholic i.e. Ecumenical, and the Eastern Greek-Byzantine Church with its center in Constantinople (Constantinople) - Orthodox i.e. Faithful. And in Rus', the Orthodox adopted the name of the Orthodox Church, because... Christian teaching was forcibly spread among the Orthodox Slavic peoples.

There is an error in the very phrase “Christian Orthodoxy.” Correctly, the Russian Orthodox Church should sound like “Orthodox Autocephalous Church of the Byzantine sense.”

Orthodoxy is not a religion, not Christianity, but FAITH!

Modern scientists, historians and theologians of the Russian Orthodox Church argue that Rus' became Orthodox only thanks to the baptism of Rus' and the spread of Byzantine Christianity among the dark, wild, mired in paganism of the Slavs.

This formulation is very convenient for distorting history and belittling the significance of the most ancient culture of all Slavic peoples.

The word “Orthodoxy” is not in the Bible. It is a fact.

It is not found in other, non-Slavic languages ​​either.

But Wiki, like the priests, insist that Orthodoxy = ὀρθοδοξία = Orthodoxy.

Let's try to figure out what Orthodoxy and Orthodoxy are!

For example, translated into English, Orthodoxy is identified with the Eastern Orthodox Church!

By the way, there are a whole lot of these so-called Orthodoxies! Let's say there is the Orthodox Catholic Church. Is this some type of Orthodox Catholic Church?

How do you like the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church)

Here is another striking example: Russian Orthodox Church is the Russian Orthodox Church, but Orthodox Judaism is no longer, as you might think, Orthodox Judaism, but Orthodox Judaism, as it should be!

This means that Orthodoxy is not Orthodoxy! Orthodoxy is “orthodoxy.”

And then everything falls into place!

Orthodoxy

Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia

Orthodoxy (tracing paper from the Greek ὀρθοδοξία - literally “correct judgment”, “correct teaching” or “correct glorification”[1]) is a direction in Christianity that took shape in the east of the Roman Empire during the 1st millennium from the Nativity of Christ, under the leadership and under the main the role of the see of the bishop of Constantinople - New Rome.

Orthodoxy (tracing paper from Greek ὀρθοδοξία - literally “correct judgment”, “correct teaching” or “correct glorification”

Tracing paper (linguistics)

Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia

Tracing paper (from the French calque - copy)

“Tracing paper” is a copy, i.e. IDENTICAL

Orthodoxy (tracing paper from Greek ὀρθοδοξία - literally “correct judgment”, “correct teaching” or “correct glorification”

Is the Orthodox Catholic Church also the Orthodox Catholic Church?

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

Well, so is Orthodox Judaism, so is Islam...

Are they all Orthodox?

:)))

This is what happens when you lie)))

The Greek-Catholic Orthodox (Right Faithful) Church (now the Russian Orthodox Church) began to be called Orthodox Slavic only on September 8, 1943 (approved by Stalin’s decree in 1945).

The name Russian Orthodox Church was adopted as official only in the fall of 1943. The Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) was registered as a religious organization on February 27, 2003. And before that, the name of the Christian church in Russia, before its abolition by the communists, sounded as follows: “Greek-Catholic Church” (Universal Church of the Greek Rite). After Nikon’s reform and the replacement of the word “orthodox” with the word “Orthodox” in the liturgical books, in 1700 new words were added to the name of the official church: “Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church.” And the name of the official church, known today, “Russian Orthodox Church”, appeared by decree of Stalin in 1943 and was approved at a local council held by officers of the NKVD of the USSR.

I advise you to carefully read the preamble to the federal law on freedom of conscience and on religious associations, adopted on September 26, 1997. Please note the following points in the preamble:

«Recognizing the special role of Orthodoxy in Russia...

and further respecting Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and other religions

…»

Thus, the concepts of Orthodoxy and Christianity are not identical and carry completely different concepts and meanings.

Byzantine monk Belisarius 532 AD. Long before the baptism of Rus', this is what he wrote in his Chronicles about the Slavs and their ritual of visiting the bathhouse: “Orthodox Slovenians and Rusyns are wild people, and their life is wild and godless, men and girls lock themselves together in a hot, heated hut and wear out their bodies... »

We will not pay attention to the fact that for the monk Belisarius the usual visit to the bathhouse by the Slavs seemed something wild and incomprehensible; this is quite natural. Something else is important for us. Pay attention to how he called the Slavs: Orthodox Slovenes and Rusyns.

For this one phrase alone we must express our gratitude to him. Since with this phrase the Byzantine monk Belisarius confirms that the Slavs were Orthodox many thousands of years before their conversion to the Judeo-Christian faith.

Chetyi Menaion 1714 Read the last 2 lines

https://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf…

Christians became Orthodox in the 17th century during the reform of Patriarch Nikon (before Nikon there was still dual faith - Orthodoxy and Orthodoxy), who ordered changes to be made in the chronicles. When the Church split in 1054, the western one began to be called “Roman Catholic, Ecumenical” with its center in Rome, and the eastern “Greco-Facolic, Orthodox (Orthodox)” with its center in Constantinople (Constantinople). (“orthodoxy” - “orthodoxy” in Greek).

Before the revolution of 1917, the Orthodox Catholic Greek-Russian Church. Afterwards it began to be divided into Old Church and Renovationist.

The name Russian Orthodox Church was adopted in the fall of 1943, which was joined by renovationists who self-liquidated in 1946.

After 2000 years of Christianity, it is natural to ask the question: “Has it solved at least one global problem for humanity?”

No, but it has also given rise to many sects and warring peoples.

So why are we being dragged with Christianity into the 21st century?

Today, a whole army of well-fed, shiny “spiritual shepherds”, dressed in gold-embroidered clothes, calls on hungry, sick people to humble themselves, fast, pray, believe and wait for the “kingdom of heaven.” Here and now they live in satiety and contentment, and they lie to us in order to enslave us for their own sake.

An alien religion is hostile.

“Orthodox” are all Israelis, although most often they don’t even suspect it. For the “Orthodox” the holy land is not Rus', not the homeland, but Israel.”

Stoleshnikov

In fact, true Orthodoxy is not a religious cult. It was a teaching about how the world around us works and how to interact with it correctly. This was not “prejudice,” as they tried to convince many people during the USSR, when the existence of God was denied. This was not a backward and primitive cult of “idolaters,” as the modern Russian Orthodox Church is trying to convince us.

This was real reliable knowledge about the world around us.

Three Signs of the True Church

The properties of the truth of the Church are unity, holiness, and apostolicity. One of the manifestations of the property of the unity of the Church is its “catholicity” or “conciliarity”.

The catholicity of the Church is given from above, from Christ, and is transmitted to all local churches exclusively through the sacrament of the Eucharist. The external criterion of conciliarity is the adoption of joint decisions at Ecumenical Councils.

Saint Cyril the Philosopher. Icon 1654. Saint Cyril discovered three properties of the catholicity of the Church

It was at the Ecumenical Councils that all Christian dogmas and canons were adopted. Saint Cyril points out three properties of the catholicity of the Church:

• its versatility;
• universal, or conciliar teaching of dogmas;
• general, or conciliar, healing of sins and acquisition of virtues.

Saint Cyril identified three properties of the catholicity of the Church.

If some local church does not recognize the catholicity (conciliarity) of the church, it cannot be recognized as Christian, because thereby it denies the sacrament of the Eucharist. For example, Saint Polycarp taught that when you come to another city you must ask where the Catholic Church is located.

The fact is that heretics often also call their houses of worship churches, but true Christians are not allowed to pray in them. This realizes the universality of the principle of catholicity.

Polycarp in a 17th-century engraving. Saint Polycarp of Smyrna, when coming to another city, you must ask where the Cathedral Church is located

The Catholic Church teaches all dogmas conciliarly, that is, at Ecumenical Councils. Heretics do not do this, making decisions on their own. Sins are healed or condemned together.

Catholicism makes it impossible for a person to be recognized as a heretic by the decision of the head of one local church or community. False teachings must be condemned by all Church Fathers, all clergy and people.

The Orthodox Church is recognized as catholic according to 3 criteria

The Orthodox Church corresponds to the above characteristics and is recognized as catholic or conciliar because:

• has a hierarchy possessing the apostolic succession of grace;
• preserves unchanged the symbols and dogmas approved at the Ecumenical Councils;
• complies with the obligations adopted at the Ecumenical Councils to “teach dogma” and “heal all kinds of errors” only in a conciliar manner.

During his stay on earth, Jesus Christ spoke about the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven - the Kingdom of God. It is invisible and spiritual. To achieve this kingdom, He founded the Holy Church on earth.

She has two natures: Divine and human. The divinity of the Church is manifested, among other things, through its catholicity as the Body of the Lord. The external manifestation is church rituals and hierarchy.

Last Supper. Icon. Nowadays. The catholicity of the Christian Church is manifested in the sacrament of the Eucharist, which was established by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper

Unfortunately, people often sin and put the visible part of the Church in its place. This is manifested in the promotion of national principles in church life. It is for this reason that, for example, autocephaly was proclaimed in the Bulgarian and Georgian Churches.

In this regard, it should be noted that the Church of Christ knows no national and state borders.

It is catholic, that is, united, and dividing it into local churches cannot violate this principle, because it is based on Eucharistic apostolic succession. Falling away from this principle means falling away from Christ.

That is why it is necessary to always remember that any national autocephalous Church must act not as a completely separate unit, but as part of the one Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church.

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“Orthodoxy or death?”: The Russian Church is the last hope of the Greek world

The fall of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Synod of the Greek Church from Orthodoxy does not put an end to the entire Greek world

The events of the last two years have brought unprecedented turmoil into the Orthodox world. Neither the 15th century, when the Patriarchate of Constantinople first fell away from Orthodoxy, joining the Roman Catholic Church as a result of the Union of Florence in 1439, nor the Russian Church Schism of the second half of the 17th century, nor the numerous church divisions of the 20th century, shook Orthodox unity to such an extent.

It’s paradoxical, but true: it was the Ukrainian question that turned out to be the “time bomb” that first undermined the Russian Empire, then the Soviet Union and finally World Orthodoxy (as a single organism consisting of Local Churches).

However, it would be too much of a simplification to say that it was Ukraine and the Ukrainian schismatic nationalists who turned out to be the powerful destructive force that broke what was impossible to break in principle, according to Christ Himself:

I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it

(Matthew 16:18).

These words of the Savior have been cited quite often lately. But we must understand that they are addressed to the Church of Christ, the Divine-Human organism, and not to any specific historical Local Church. Alas, over the two millennia of New Testament Christian history, there have been more than once downfalls up to the complete collapse of various Local Churches, and the modern architecture of the Orthodox world is a product of the 20th century, a time of many church divisions, including Ukrainian.

But if you dig a little deeper, you can see that the destruction of the unity of Orthodox civilization began not with local independent schisms generated by the Russian revolutionary unrest of 1917, but smoldered for a long time precisely in the cradle of Orthodoxy - the Greek world. And the “world fire” that has broken out in our days is not an unexpected “natural disaster,” but the result of long liberal-renovationist reforms, coupled with the totalitarian idea of ​​Eastern papism and Greek ethnic nationalism, which are fundamentally contrary to the idea of ​​Ecumenical Orthodoxy.

Let's try to figure out where this deviation from patristic Orthodoxy came from, which gave rise to many church schisms and unrest, and ultimately led to the current crisis in the Orthodox world. And also whether centers of resistance to this liberal-renovationist crisis have been preserved in the Greek world.

Phanar on the Road to Apostasy

As already mentioned, the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which was once the Local Church of the great Christian Empire - the Roman Empire (Byzantium), fell away from Orthodoxy already in the middle of the 15th century. Then this happened for military-political reasons: the Empire was on the verge of collapse, and military support in the fight against the Ottoman Turks was expected from the Western Christian Catholic world in Constantinople. But no real serious assistance was provided, and in 1453 the old Constantinople fell (the new Constantinople became the young Orthodox Russian State, which less than a century later became the Kingdom).

Entry of Mehmed II into Constantinople. Photo: Benjamin-Constant/Globallookpress

Nevertheless, already under Ottoman rule, the Church of Constantinople renounced the recent Florentine Greek Catholic Union, once again becoming Orthodox. With one important aspect to which other Local Churches, including the Russian Church, “turned a blind eye.” The bishops of the Patriarchate of Constantinople did not publicly repent for their deviation from Orthodoxy, but, having broken with the Roman Catholics and “to be faithful” once again anathematized them, they again imagined themselves to be the center of the Orthodox world.

Nobody objected. Unless the Orthodox majority considered the Church of Constantinople and its Primates “first among equals.” The Phanariots themselves, who were under Turkish rule and had received generous help from Moscow for centuries, did not publicly voice what they thought about themselves. Among equals, so among equals, only we, of course, are much more “equal.” Although at some times this Hellenic ethnic pride manifested itself even before modern history.

This was the case in 1686, when the Phanar agreed with the transfer of the Kyiv Metropolis to the omophorion of the young Moscow Patriarchate, but prepared a tomos (decree) about this so ambiguously that 333 years later, as they say, “it took back its words.” This was the case in 1872, when, after recognizing the autocephaly of the Greek Church, the Phanar anathematized the Bulgarian bishops for church nationalism - ethnophyletism (this would be quite fair if the Greeks themselves were devoid of nationalist sentiments). This happened in the 20th century, when the Phanariots, sensing the weakness of the persecuted Russian Church, attacked its heritage.

By the way, back in 1913, the adviser to the Constantinople embassy B.S. Serafimov reported to the Russian ambassador M.S. Girs in Constantinople about how he was received on Athos, where by that time most of the monks were of Russian origin, but the hierarchy of the Holy Mountain carried out openly Russophobic policy:

The cold, almost impolite reception of Kinot, the attempt to remove me from St. Andrew's monastery, the demonstrative persecution of Russian monks, the threats transmitted through our monks to deal with me by force; solemn vows before the icon of the Mother of God to defend their rights to the last drop of blood and not allow any power on Athos other than Greek, and the unimaginable noise raised in Greek newspapers.

One of the organizers of this Russophobic campaign was the notorious church adventurer, liberal-renovationist and ecumenist (and also, according to a number of sources, a member of the English Masonic lodge) Meletius (Metaxakis). In 1918, he became the first hierarch of the Greek Church, but two years later he was overthrown and even defrocked. For political intrigues against the Greek monarchy, ecumenical flirtations with Anglican Protestants, as well as “a number of church offenses, including causing a schism.”

But already in 1921, under pressure from the West, Metaxakis was not only returned to the episcopal rank, but also “elected” him as Patriarch of Constantinople. In reality, this “election” was a real coup, initiated by the same “Western partners.” This is how a number of sources describe this shameful event for the Church of Constantinople:

In 1921, a new Ecumenical Patriarch Germanos was elected in Istanbul (16 out of 17 members of the Synod voted for him). But a certain delegation came to the newly elected Patriarch and said that “Meletius has the opportunity to contribute 100 thousand dollars to the needs of the Patriarchate,” therefore national interests require that he be elected Patriarch. “For the good of the people, I accepted this offer,” writes Germanos. Soon, in order to elect Meletius, the composition of the Synod of Constantinople was completely replaced, which elected him Patriarch.

All this happened under the conditions of the occupation of Constantinople by Entente troops, and Patriarch Meletius clearly expected to gain not only ecclesiastical, but also political power over the territories of the former Ottoman Empire. But this did not happen, and Metaxakis switched to the diaspora, subjugating Greek parishes in America, invading the canonical territory of the Russian Church in Poland and Estonia, and finally, in 1923-24, he attempted a liberal-renovationist calendar revolution throughout the Orthodox world.

Calendar revolution and Old Calendar schism

Meletius (Metaxakis) and the Anglican Archbishop Lang. Photo: www.pravoslavie.ru

In May-June 1923, Patriarch Meletius (Metaxakis) convened the “Pan-Orthodox Sanhedrin” in Constantinople (which Turkish troops had not yet entered). This meeting claimed the status of a “Pan-Orthodox Council”, but in reality it was attended by representatives of an absolute minority of Local Churches. Nevertheless, his key liberal-renovationist decision was ultimately accepted by many. We are talking about calendar reform, the transition from the ancient Julian calendar to the New Julian calendar (basically coinciding with the Western Gregorian).

At the same time, Metaxakis tried to push through decisions that were much more dubious from the point of view of Orthodox canon law: the possibility of second marriage for the clergy, reduction of posts, and the like. However, such radical measures did not find support in other Local Churches, but almost all of them switched to the new calendar, with the exception of the Jerusalem, Russian, Serbian and Georgian. But even in the Greek world, a movement of conservative resistance to this liberal-renovationist reform began, called the “Old Calendarist” or “Old Calendarist”.

Already in 1924, Greek Orthodox traditionalists and opponents of liberal-renovationist reforms created the “Society of Orthodox,” which became the center of the church counter-revolution. This society included many laymen and clergy (including Athonite monks), and some bishops supported the Old Calendarists. Especially many lay people joined the Old Calendar movement after in 1925, on the day of the Exaltation of the Cross, during a service performed by the Old Calendar priest John Floros in the suburbs of Athens, the Cross of the Lord appeared in the sky.

Appearance of the Cross to Greek Old Calendarists in 1925. Fresco in one of the Old Calendar churches. Photo: pravoslavie.ru

The official Greek Church, sensing the danger of a schism, began active propaganda against the Old Calendarists, accusing them of sectarianism. In response, no less harsh accusations were poured into the Greek hierarchy (mainly of apostasy and Freemasonry). As a result, in 1926 the Athens Synod declared the Old Calendarists “separated from the Church.”

Anti-Old Calendarist persecutions began with the participation of the Greek authorities and police officers, which resulted in a real split and the creation of a parallel hierarchy in the 1930s (three bishops left the Greek Church and joined the Old Calendarists). Like any schism, the Old Calendar very quickly began to divide within itself, soon turning into a whole series of hierarchies that did not recognize each other.

Conservative "internal opposition" in the Greek Church

As a result, a conservative “internal opposition” formed in the Greek Church, the brightest representative of which was one of the most famous Orthodox theologians of the second half of the 20th century, Archimandrite Epiphanius (Theodoropoulos). He hoped to the last for the repentance of the student of Patriarch Meletios (Metaxakis) and the teacher of today's Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew (Archondonis), Patriarch Athenagoras (Spirou), sending him messages filled with sincere sorrow:

You've already gone too far. Your feet touch the streams of the Rubicon. The patience of thousands of pious souls - clergy and laity - is constantly being exhausted. For the love of God, turn back! There is no need to create schisms and divisions in the Church. Trying not to notice differences, you will achieve one thing - you will break the unity and cause cracks to appear in the soil, until now solid and monolithic. Realize this and come to your senses!

Of course, we were no longer talking about calendar reform, but about much more serious deviations from patristic Orthodoxy. Thus, Patriarch Athenagoras, like Patriarch Meletius, was elevated to the throne of Constantinople as a result of a political coup (in 1949 he was parachuted to Istanbul from America by the personal special flight of US President Harry Truman). And he immediately began preparing the next “Pan-Orthodox Council,” which was supposed to bring the liberal-renovationist reforms of the 1920s to their logical conclusion.

Future Patriarch Athenagoras and US President Harry Truman. Photo: Keystone Pictures USA / Globallookpress

Looking ahead, I would like to remind you that this idea was realized only in 2021, but due to the refusal of part of the Local Churches, including the Russian, to participate in the Crete Council, it never made decisions dangerous for Orthodoxy, and itself received an insignificant status. However, it was from this moment that Patriarch Bartholomew began to take revenge on the Russian Church, which ultimately led to the anti-canonical lawlessness of the last two years.

But let's return to Patriarch Athenagoras (Spira). His most significant act was his meeting in Jerusalem with Pope Paul VI (the first meeting of the primates of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches since 1439), after which the mutual anathemas of the Orthodox and Roman Catholics, imposed back in 1054, were lifted. This caused bewilderment among many conservative theologians, in particular the famous Serbian saint of the 20th century, St. Justin (Popović), the author of several works denouncing ecumenism.

Meeting of Patriarch Athenagoras and Pope Paul VI in Jerusalem in January 1964. Photo: Keystone Pictures USA / Globallookpress

In the Greek Church itself, the majority of bishops at that time were opponents of the liberal-renovationist ecumenical course of the Phanar, although they were not ready to act as a united front against it. This is confirmed by one of the letters of the previously mentioned Archimandrite Epiphanius (Theodoropoulos) to Patriarch Athenagoras.

Your Holiness, wake up! The fullness of the Church, believing not in form, but in essence, barely tolerates your actions. Do not be deceived and do not be deceived: neither the people of the Church nor the pastors of the Church share your convictions. I don’t know how things are in other Local Churches, but in the Greek Church there are hardly more than six or seven of your followers among the bishops. The rest of the bishops are watching your actions with inner sorrow, but do not speak out publicly, waiting “for the time”...

A similar situation continues today, when the Synod of the Greek Church and its first hierarch, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Jerome, come out in support of the lawless actions of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, and the majority of Greek bishops are silent, waiting “for the time being.” And only two hierarchs of the Greek Church - Metropolitan Seraphim of Kythira and Antikythira and Seraphim of Piraeus - fearlessly speak out in defense of Orthodox canon law against the recognition of Ukrainian schismatic-nationalists as an “autocephalous Church”, and their leaders, masked impostors, as “Orthodox bishops”.

Thus, as it became known last week, on October 15, 2021, Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus publicly expressed deep gratitude to Metropolitan Seraphim of Kythira and Antikythira, as well as all members of the Greek Church who refused to recognize the autocephaly of the Ukrainian schismatic OCU (also known as the HCU): “the schismatics, deposed, anathematized and unordained."

At the moment, it is difficult to say how many bishops of the Greek Church will refuse to recognize and enter into Eucharistic relations with the OCU-HCU. However, the active and uncompromising activity of the namesake metropolitan Seraphim gives hope that the conservative opposition in the Greek Church not only exists, but is also capable of publicly fighting for patristic Orthodoxy.

The relevance of dialogue with Old Calendarists

Now regarding the Greek Old Calendar movement. As already mentioned, today it is very fragmented. Nevertheless, among the numerous Old Calendar hierarchies, the relatively moderate “Church of True Orthodox Christians of Greece” stands out. This largest Greek Old Calendar jurisdiction unites several dozen bishops, more than 300 clergy, about 300 parishes and more than 100 monasteries and monasteries.

Moreover, the well-known Athonite monastery of Esphigmen is adjacent to this Old Calendar Synod, the monks of which, back in the 1970s, refused to perform liturgical commemoration, and, accordingly, to obey the Patriarchs of Constantinople as ecumenists and liberal renovationists. It was in this monastery that the slogan “Orthodoxy or death!” was proclaimed, which, due to some strange misunderstanding, was recognized as extremist in Russia. Of course, the point was that without Orthodoxy Christians would face inevitable spiritual death.

Yes, there are questions regarding the canonical status of the Old Calendarists, including whether the apostolic succession of their clergy can be recognized. But the fact remains: they received their hierarchy largely thanks to the Russian Church Abroad, which for a long time was in Eucharistic communion with these Greek Old Calendarists.

The Council of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad on August 13, 1983, proclaimed an anathema to ecumenism. Photo: www.pravoslavie.ru

And precisely because in the current conditions, when the hierarchy of the Greek Church is rapidly moving away from Orthodoxy, it is worth starting a dialogue with this jurisdiction (often called the “Synod of Chrysostom”). Of course, not about their canonical recognition, but at the level of academic church-historical and theological-canonical discussions. Including with the involvement of conservative theologians from the same Greek Church.

In practice, the initiator of this dialogue could well be the same Russian Church Abroad, which, on the one hand, is a self-governing Church within the Moscow Patriarchate, and on the other, many of its clergy are personally familiar with the clergy of the Greek Old Calendarists. In conditions when the Russian Church can become the only center for the preservation of canonical Orthodoxy, this dialogue would be very useful.

Unfortunately, during the last century Orthodox traditionalists have been listened to infrequently. But right now, when the Patriarchate of Constantinople is committing canonical crime after canonical crime, trying to drag other Local Churches into this, it is the Moscow Patriarchate that can lead the Orthodox conservative, or rather, traditionalist resistance.

Yes, this will require a certain ecclesiological (church-political) courage, similar to that which in 2007 already led us to reunification with the Russian Church Abroad. But to demonstrate to the traditionalist majority of the Orthodox world and, first of all, the Greek world that there is a Church that does not claim Eastern papist power and is devoid of ethnic pride, but has refused liberal compromises, is not only possible today, but must.