| In his Confession of a Heathen (1918)
Alexander Blok writes, `But I am a Russian, and Russians always have the
Church on their minds. Few are indifferent towards her, some hate her intense,
others love her - but always with pain in their hearts.'
For many refugees the Russian-Orthodox Church has played an important part in their lives. The church was often their only tie with good old Russia. Even confirmed atheists visited Russian-Orthodox churches once they were in exile, for nostalgic reasons and to meet compatriots. In the West the Russian-Orthodox Church
used to be called Greek-Orthodox or Greek-Catholic Church. In this book
I use the present-day terminology.
The Russian-Orthodox Church is a part
of the autocephalous (independent) Churches of the Byzantine Churches,
which consist of the old patriarchates of Constantinopel, Alexandria, Antiokhia
and Jerusalem, the younger patriarchates of Russia, Servia, Romania, Bulgaria
and Georgia, and the non-patriarchal Churches of Cyprus, Greece, Poland,
Czechoslowakia and Albania.
The Russian-Orthodox Church in the 18th and 19th century In those days the Russian Church brought forth several prominent clergymen, who's conceptions and way of life commanded respect from everyone. Staretsi were elderly monks who lived an austere life, to whom conventuals and ordinary believers could turn for counciling and comfort. The staretsi were there for everyone, no matter what social positions they had. Particularly the staretsi of the monastery of Optina Pustin, who were visited by Gogol, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, earned a good deal of respect. In the West the starets Amvrosi became immortal in the character of the monk Zosima, in Dostoevsky's The Karamazov Brothers. The muzhik Grigori Rasputin pretended to be a starets. The Russian-Orthodox clergyRussia knew 66 dioceses. The hierarchy was formed by 3 metropolitans, 14 archbishops and 50 bishops.Every diocese had a consistory (diocese council) with a layman as secretary, who was nominated by the Supreme Procurator and appointed by the Holy Synod. The Russian-Orthodox clergy consisted of the black clergymen, conventuals who wore black frocks, and the white clergymen, who by the way didn't wear white but brown frocks. High ecclesiastical positions were reserved for the members of the black clergy, of which the highest group was formed by the bishops, who could be enthroned archbishop and metropolitan. The bishops were followed by the archimandrites (abbots) and igumens (priors). The lowest group was formed by the monks, who usually lived according to the strict regulations of St. Basileios the Great (330-379), the spiritual father of Orthodox monasticism. The monks had to pray for hours, fast on water and bread, and were only allowed a few hours of sleep. The white clergy consisted of popes (priests), deacons (chaplains) and the lower clergy. The highest rank a pope could reach was protopope or protoerej (protopresbyter). The protopope was responsible for the supervision of the clergy of a certain area, like a deacon in the Roman-Catholic Church. Every parish was headed by a pope. The deacon was his assistant. The pope and the deacon were called `father'. The lower clergy consisted of the psalmodist, the carilloneur and the sacristan. The pope and the deacon had to be married, because unmarried men weren't allowed to hold these offices in those days. A member of the white clergy was only allowed to marry once, and when the pope died his wife used to enter a nunnery. A pope who became a widower often was forced to enter a monastery. During the last years before the Revolution it became however a good habit to leave widowers in their office. The church Russian-Orthodox churches are
usually square, with a large, often onion- shaped dome in the center and
four smaller domes around it. The bell tower isn't attached to the church.
Inside the church are no pews; the prayers are standing, and during the
prayer they now and then kneel.
The sacramentsThe Russian-Orthodox Church knows seven sacraments, which in Russian are called tayinstvo. The sacraments are: Baptism, Christmation, Eucharist, Repentance, Holy Orders, Marriage and Anointing of the Sick.Baptism is done by plunging the person to be baptized entirely under water (baptism by sprinkling is forbidden). A child is baptized within forty days after birth. An adult has to forswear the devil, after which the miropomazanie (Christmation) is carried out. Besides being a part of Baptism, Christmation is also a part of ordination, the crowning of a tsar and the consecration of a church, and has always the form of a Cross. One of the most important sacraments - the `secret of secrets' - is the Eucharist, the transsubstantiation. By means of liturgies the leavened bread and the wine, which is diluted with warm water, is turned into the Body and Blood of Christ. The Eucharist is the centre of the Russian Liturgy. During the communion the lays become pieces of consecrated wafer and wine. Repentance (confession) is a part of the prescribed repentance, and that's why it's called pokayanie, which in fact means `penitence'. Repentance doesn't go into details like confession in the West. After repentance the believer is absolved, after which he kisses the Book of the Gospels (or the icon of the Saviour) and the Cross. Repentance is preceded by a preparation of a couple of days, which in Russian is called govenie. This preparation makes (made?) quite an impact on the believer, especially on the younger ones. The Holy Orders are another highlight
of the sacraments of the Russian-Orthodox Church. There are three major
orders in the Church: Deacon, Priest and Bishop. Archbishops, Metropolitans
and Patriarchs have the same orders as bishops. The deacon is the assistant
of the priest at the Liturgy. Only a bishop has the power to ordain, and
the consecration of a new bishop must be performed by three or at least
two bishops, never by one alone.
IconsUsually the walls of a Russian-Orthodox church are covered with icons. The most important wall is the iconostas, which is entirely covered with icons. Behind the iconostas is the actual sanctuary. All prayers are drawn up in Church Slavonic, derived from the language Cyrillus and Methodius used for their translations. The Russian Liturgy distinguishes itself by a tremendous power, which makes an unforgetable impression on everyone.The Russian art of the Kievian period
also has connections with the Church. The religious painters who followed
the Byzantine style, usually used two forms: fresco's and icons. Initially
all religious painters were Greek masters, only much later Russians started
to paint fresco's and icons.
The Russian-Orthodox Church Outside of RussiaThe Russian diaspora is ecclesiastically divided into four groups or `jurisdictions'. The largest and most important movement is the Russian-Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (in France: église Orthodox Russe à l'étranger), which was founded in 1921 in Sremsky-Karlovci. A second movement, also consisting of emigrés, preferred to keep in touch with the Patriarchate of Moscow. This movement, which since the end of the twenties declared its solidarity with the Soviet regime, was rather small, but since the glasnost and the perestroyka its following has increased.The other two movements were formed by the bishops who initially were members of the Synod of Sremsky-Karlovci, but went their own way in 1926. The `Parisian movement' was headed by Metropolitan Evlogi (Vasili Grigorievsky, 1898-1946). In 1930 he was excommunicated by Metropolitan Serge of Moscow, because he had the guts to pray for the persecuted Christians in Russia. Serge stated that no Christians were persecuted in Russia. Because he and his Church were isolated since then, Evlogi decided to join the Oecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinopel. (Which still exists. Since 1612 the Oecumenical Patriarchate is settled in the Istanbul quarter of Fener. There are only about 80,000 Orthodox in Turkey itself, but in the rest of the world there are millions of them.) In 1934 the schism between his Church and the Synod was mended, but some time later Evlogi receded from this decision, and in 1945 he once more declared his Church subsidiary to the Patriarch of Moscow. Shortly afterwards Evlogi died it became clear that his flock wasn't happy with Moscow's rule. His successor, Metropolitan Vladimir (Viacheslav Tikhonitsky), let the Church turn back into the arms of the Oecumenical Patriarchate. That lasted until 1965, when the Patriarchate was forced by Moscow to reject the Russian exarchate. The Russian Churches Outside of Russia had to join the Patriarchate of Moscow. This was unacceptable for the Parisian movement, and it declared itself autonomous. In 1971 the Church was once more welcomed by the Oecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinopel, which hasn't changed since then. The fourth movement consists of the Metropoly
of Northern America, which was founded by Metropolitan Platon of New York
(1866-1934), who just like Metropolitan Evlogi in 1926 had separated his
Church from the Russian-Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. During the `reunion'
conference of 1935 in Sremsky-Karlovci Platon's successor Theophilus rejoined
the Karlovci jurisdiction, but in 1946, at the Synod of Cleveland, a schism
occurred among the Russians in America. Five of the nine bishops present
at this Synod decided to remain subject to the Russian-Orthodox Church
Outside of Russia, while the other four, including Metropolitan Theophilus
himself, decided to submit to the Moscow Patriarchate. In 1970 Moscow granted
the Metropoly of Northern America not just autonomy, but also autocephaly,
after which the Church was allowed to call itself `Autocephalous Orthodox
Church in America' (the `OCA'), but this grant of autocephaly has not yet
been recognized by the Oecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinopel and the
Russian-Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. The OCA has not only Russian,
but also Albanian, Bulgarian and Romanian parishes.
ChinaAfter the October Revolution of 1917 the work of the Russian-Orthodox missions abroad increased enormously. Most emigrés left via the north, west and south, but many were driven eastwards via Siberia. Among them were many clergymen. In 1939 there were still more than 200,000 Russian refugees in China, who founded a Russian-Orthodox university in Harbin, Manchuria. After 1945 the situation changed dramaticly. The communist government of China ordered all non Chinese missionaries to leave the country. The five Russian-Orthodox bishops and their hundreds of fellow workers were no exception to the rule.Many of them were `repatriated' to the Soviet-Union, where they, after twenty-five long years, ended up in prisons and hard labour camps; only few could escape to America. United States of America and CanadaIn Northern America are more than three million Orthodox and more than forty Orthodox dioceses. The first Russian-Orthodox clergymen settled in Alaska in 1794 (Russia only sold Alaska to the United States in 1887). Bishop Veniyamov worked there until 1868. He translated the gospel of Matthew as well as the Liturgy into Aleutian. In 1845 he founded the monastery of Sitka and in 1859 he was granted a suffragan bishop.The monastery has been closed for a long time, but was reopened in 1973. In the second half of the 19th century
the Russian emigration to North-America got into its stride. The diocese
was moved from Sitka to San Francisco in 1872, and in 1905 it moved to
New York. The future Patriarch Tikhon was Archbishop of North-America from
1898 to 1907. After the October Revolution the number of Russian immigrants
increased considerably.
In the United States the Church has about
11 cathedrals, more than 100 churches and 16 monasteries. In Canada: 2
cathedrals, 20 churches and 2 monasteries. Apart from that: churches, cathedrals,
monasteries missions in Argentinia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil,
Chili, Danmark, Germany, France, Greece, Great-Britain, Iran, Israel, Italy,
Morocco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Paraguay, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland,
Uganda, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
The Russian-Orthodox Church Outside of
Russia is the only Church that canonized Nicholas II, his children, his
wife, and her sister Elizabeth Feodorovna; the other Churches thought this
was too risky.
The Orthodox Church of America is entirely
autocephalous. The members of this Church are mainly descendants from Russian
emigrants, who don't speak Russian any more.
The Netherlands The Russian-Orthodox Church
in Holland exists since the beginning of the 18th century, when Tsar Peter
the Great and his train stayed in Amsterdam and Zaandam to learn naval
architecture and shipbuilding.
When Anna Pavlovna (1795-1865) became
Queen of Holland, she had a Russian-Orthodox chapel equiped in her palace,
but later a church was build, in the 1e Sweelinckstraat 54, where it still
is.
A. Russian Freemasons Who Escaped Abroad B. Last Resting Places C: Families of Rurik Stock |
