Old Believers or Old Ritualists are Eastern Orthodox Christians who maintain the liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian Orthodox Church as they were before the reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow between 1652 and 1666. Resisting the accommodation of Russian piety to the contemporary forms of Greek Orthodox worship, these Christians were anathematized, together with their ritual, in a Synod of 1666–67, producing a division in Eastern Europe between the Old Believers and those who followed the state church in its condemnation of the Old Rite. Russian speakers refer to the schism itself as raskol (раскол), etymologically indicating a "cleaving-apart".
Vasily Surikov's Boyarynya Morozova (1887), depicting the defiant Feodosia Morozova during her arrest. Her two raised fingers refer to the dispute about the proper way to make the sign of the cross.
Boyaryna Morozova showing two fingers, painting by Surikov – detail, sketch 04 from Tretyakov gallery
A 6th-century icon, the Christ Pantocrator, depicting Christ giving a blessing. Two digits appear straightened, three folded. The Old Believers regard this as the proper way of making the sign of the Cross.
Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church paschal procession in Guslitsa, Moscow region, 2008
Patriarch Nikon of Moscow
Nikon, born Nikita Minin was the seventh Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' of the Russian Orthodox Church, serving officially from 1652 to 1666. He was renowned for his eloquence, energy, piety and close ties to Tsar Alexis of Russia. Nikon introduced many reforms, including liturgical reforms that were unpopular among conservatives. These divisions eventually led to a lasting schism known as Raskol (schism) in the Russian Orthodox Church. For many years, he was a dominant political figure, often equaling or even overshadowing the Tsar. In December 1667, Nikon was tried by a synod of church officials, deprived of all his sacerdotal functions, and reduced to the status of a simple monk.
Detail of Patriarch Nikon in painting, c. 1660–1665
Nikon's residence at the New Jerusalem Cloister is representative of his austere aesthetic views.
Painting of Nikon with clergy
Aleksey Kivshenko. Patriarch Nikon and Epifany Slavinetsky revising service-books.