Patriarchate Years: 1652-1666
From the biography.
- Nikon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.
- Already at the age of 20 he became a priest. The tragedy in the family - the death of three children - brought him and his wife to the monastery, where he completely devotes himself to God.
- Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, after conversations with him, was subdued by Nikon's education, his piety. He brings him closer to him and in 1652 Nikon was appointed patriarch.
- The first five years Nikon and the tsar were tied real friendship... The tsar trusted Nikon in everything. Even in his absence, he could leave Nikon the right to control Boyar Duma... Nikon supported the tsar in everything, especially in the matter of reunification with Ukraine. Nikon was called "The Great Sovereign", as Filaret was called only in his time.
- The boyars did not like this rise of Nikon, they managed to restore the tsar against him, who removed him from public affairs. Then Nikon abandoned the patriarchate and retired to the New Jerusalem monastery.
- Nikon's character was quick-tempered. He sometimes could not contain his irritation. He lacked the diplomacy that a person of such weight in the country should have.
Church reform of Nikon
Causes:
- Bringing to the uniformity of church rites and orders, that is, to the unification of the church. This was demanded by the centralization of power carried out in the country.
- The official ideology "Moscow - the third Rome" was aimed at making Moscow the center of Orthodoxy. The Greek Church demanded to bring all the rituals, church books to a single Greek model.
- The desire to solve a long-standing problem in Russia: which is higher - church or tsarist power. Strengthening the influence of the church on the state.
The essence of the reform:
- Bringing to the unity of the external, ritual side of the church, the reform did not affect the foundations of religion (for example: it was necessary to be baptized with three, not two fingers, procession against the sun, not the sun).
- Correction according to the Greek models of church books.
- Struggle to strengthen the authority of the church.
Reform progress:
- At first, the tsar supported Nikon, realizing that the unification of the church according to Greek models strengthens the authority of the church and Russia as a whole. The Church Council supported Nikon's reforms.
- However, then the boyars will quarrel between the tsar and Nikon, suggest that he seeks to elevate the ecclesiastical authority over the tsar's.
- The church council of 1666-1667 led to a schism in the church between Nikon's supporters and opponents led by Avvakum. The council, however, decided that the tsar had the advantage in civil matters, and the patriarch in church matters. Here Nikon was deposed, he was deprived of the rank of patriarch and sent into exile as a simple monk in the Ferapontov monastery.
Historical portrait of Patriarch Nikon
Areas of Nikon's activity
| Activities | results |
| Active government activities, support of the king in his politics. | Supports the reforms of Alexei Mikhailovich, foreign policy, especially the process of reunification of Ukraine with Russia. |
| Church reform | 1653 - the beginning of the reform. Bringing the church to the unification of rituals and orders according to the Greek model. He sought to increase the role of the church, to put the power of the patriarch above the royal one, which caused the indignation of the king, which was followed by renunciation and exile. |
| Development of typography | He founded the Patriarchal Library, supported the printing and publication of church literature, and contributed to its translation into Greek. |
| Literary activity | He wrote a number of literary, historical and publicistic works, justifying the need for them church reform Nikon often read sermons of his own composition. |
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
- Nikon's activities contributed to the strengthening of the royal power
- Church reform strengthened the centralization of the church, brought it into unification
- Church reform caused outrage, mass demonstrations. The protest of the monks in the Solovetsky monastery in 1668-1676 was especially strong. Only with the help of the tsarist troops was it possible to suppress the uprising.
- The beginning of the church schism is associated with the name of Nikon; there are representatives of the Old Believers in Russia today, they believe that Nikon encroached on the foundations of the church.
Chronology of the life and work of Patriarch Nikon
| 1605-1681 | The years of Nikon's life (in the world - Nikita Minin) |
| 1649-1652 | Metropolitan of Novgorod. |
| 1652- 1666 | Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. |
| 1653 | The beginning of the church reform, begun on behalf of Alexei Mikhailovich. |
| 1654 | Church Council approved all of Nikon's reforms |
| 1656 | The church council excommunicated all adherents of the old faith. |
| 1656 | Nikon founded the New Jerusalem Monastery. |
| 1658 | Nikon leaves for the New Jerusalem Monastery on the Istra River. |
| 1666-1667 | At the church cathedral there was church schism... Archpriest Avvakum and his supporters spoke out against the reforms, demotion of Nikon, deprivation of the rank of patriarch. Link as a simple monk to the Belozersk Ferapontov Monastery. |
| 1682 | Under Tsar Fyodor Nikon was allowed to return to Moscow to the new Resurrection Monastery. But the seriously ill Nikon died on the way. |
This material can be used when preparing
After the death of Patriarch Joseph, there was practically no doubt about who would become his successor. The sovereign's favorite, Metropolitan Nikon of Novgorod, was, in fact, the only candidate for Patriarchs. Nikon was not just a "sobina friend" of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, he was his like-minded person, an adherent of the idea of a pan-Orthodox kingdom so dear to the sovereign's heart and the consequent church reform on the Greek model. In the days when the question of the new Primate of the Russian Church was being decided, no one yet suspected what a tragedy these reforms would turn out to be for the country and people. Likewise, it was difficult to foresee that the new Patriarch would by no means be content with the role of an obedient executor of the ecclesiastical policy pleasing to the tsar, but intend to exalt the priesthood over the kingdom.Nikon was a richly gifted person, a man of seething energy. However, debates continue to this day about what these colossal efforts were spent on and what the results of Nikon's Patriarchate were. Historians, both secular and ecclesiastical, often give him exactly the opposite characteristics. Some (and not necessarily the Old Believers) consider Nikon to be guilty of the schism and almost all the subsequent troubles of Russia up to the twentieth century. Others, on the contrary, consider the Reformer Patriarch the greatest figure in Russia. history XVII century. Some generally revered him as a saint, for example, Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev), Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky). Such a diametric divergence in assessments, of course, speaks of the uncommon personality of Nikon and the complexity of his reform activities as a historical phenomenon.
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At the age of 12, Nikita fled to the Makaryev Zheltovodsky Monastery. Here he studied, read, comprehended the liturgical charter. However, Nikita did not become a monk: his relatives persuaded him to return home, and Nikita obeyed. At the age of 20, he returned to Father's house and at the insistence of his family he married. At the age of 21, he was elected by the parishioners to the priestly ministry and began to serve in the church of the village of Lyskovo on the Volga, near the Makariev monastery.
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Nikon first appeared at court when the Monk Eleazar of Anzersk took him with him on a trip to Moscow, to Tsar Michael. Through the prayers of St. Eleazar of Anzersky Mikhail Feodorovich gave birth to a long-awaited son and heir - the future Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The grateful sovereign donated funds for the construction of a stone temple on Anzer. The active and energetic Nikon was in a hurry with the construction, but the simple non-possessive Eleazar considered it a luxury and was in no hurry. There was a quarrel, very indicative of Nikon's characterization: it is clear how unbalanced the future Patriarch was and how far he was from monastic dispassion. Quite material in its essence, the matter became the reason for it complete break with a spiritual father.
Having quarreled with Eleazar, Nikon fled from Anzer. He sailed to the mainland, but his boat got caught in a storm. The future Patriarch almost died. The vessel nailed to a small, rocky Kiy-island near the mouth of Onega. Nikon, grateful to God for his salvation, erected a worship cross here, and later, when he became Patriarch, he built his own stavropegic monastery- Holy Cross Kiy-Ostrovsky. Having reached the mainland, Nikon came to the Kozheyezer monastery on Lake Kozhe, lost in the distant northern wilderness. After 3 years, the brethren elected Nikon as abbot of the Kozheezersky monastery.In 1646 the Abbot of Kozheezersk arrived in Moscow on business for the monastery. Here he was introduced to the young tsar and so charmed him that Alexei Mikhailovich appointed him archimandrite to the Novospassky court monastery. Under the new archimandrite, the monastery was richly rebuilt with generous royal donations. Nikon's buildings still adorn the Novospassky Monastery.
A very friendly relationship develops between the tsar and Nikon. Nikon began to accept petitions and hand them over to Alexei Mikhalovich during the meetings that took place in the palace church every Friday. Even boyars began to turn to the archimandrite for patronage. Nikon's influence grew rapidly and soon became enormous. He entered the circle of "devotees of piety" (or "God-lovers") and quickly overshadowed his other leaders. Probably, even then in the relationship between Nikon and the protopope-"zealots", the future leaders of the schism, the first crack lay.
Nikon gained fame in Moscow as a gifted and eloquent orator. He did not receive a systematic education, and apart from an ordinary monastery school he had nothing behind his back. However, he was well-read, had a quick, bright mind, which allowed him to solve church, and later - state, issues. At the same time, Nikon was guided in his activities of a colossal scale and showed energy that was breathtaking in his indomitability. It is not surprising that he began to enjoy exceptionally high confidence in the sovereign.
In 1649, after three years of reign in the Novospassky monastery, Nikon, at the request of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, became Metropolitan of Novgorod. While at the Novgorod see, he received very special powers, and not only ecclesiastical, but also state order... This greatly influenced the formation of that main line in his worldview, which he will try to implement while in the Patriarchate: the superiority of the priesthood over the kingdom. 1649 was the year of the adoption of the new Code, which significantly limited the legal and property rights of the Church. But Metropolitan Nikon received from the tsar the right to continue to judge the clergy and church people in his diocese by his own court, not only on spiritual matters, but also on civil matters. Moreover, the metropolitan received the same exclusive right to supervise the civil court throughout the Novgorod land. Moreover, it was not just an honorable privilege: Nikon actively used this right, strictly controlling the activities of the provincial court. This won him great popularity among the common people in Novgorod, which became even greater in connection with the extensive charitable activities of the Metropolitan. Nikon established almshouses in his vast diocese, fed the poor, buried them in a church cattle.True, this did not prevent the Novgorodians during the riot from giving a lot to the Metropolitan for hiding in his house the hated Tsarist voivode Prince Khilkov. But Nikon, in spite of the beating, served in churches and urged the rebels to change their minds and stop the rebellion. Nikon interceded for his flock before Prince Khovansky, sent from Moscow at the head of a punitive army, and helped to end the matter peacefully. For this he was equally loved as a peacemaker both in Novgorod and in Moscow. The tsar often invited his favorite to Moscow for advice. Arriving in the capital, Nikon amazed Muscovites with the three-part singing of his choir, which was set up according to the Kiev model. Once, the Metropolitan of Novgorod received praise from Patriarch Paisius of Jerusalem himself, which contributed to the fact that Nikon became an active adherent of the Grecophile party.
Nikon skillfully consolidated the tsar's attachment to himself and used it both for the purpose of his elevation and for the sake of implementing his theocratic ideas. Nikon, in general, did not separate one from the other: he felt himself the chosen one, who was called to exalt the priesthood over the kingdom.
Nikon aroused special sympathy for the Tsar with his project of transferring to the Kremlin's Assumption Cathedral the relics of three Moscow Chief Hierarchs, previously buried in other places: St. Patriarch Hermogenes - from the Chudov Monastery, St. Patriarch Job - from Staritsa and, finally, St. Metropolitan Philip - from the Solovetsky Monastery. The Metropolitan of Novgorod personally led a trip to Solovki for the relics of the saint. He was also the author of the text of the letter, written on behalf of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich with repentance for the sin of his "grandfather" - Ivan the Terrible. It already contained quite clear notes of Nikon's new theocratic ideology. Here, for example, one could come across such expressions addressed to the saint: "I bow down before you my royal dignity," "I bow down to the honor of my kingdom," "I cast all my power to your entreaty," etc.
During the trip to Solovki, Nikon's imperious nature also manifested itself. The boyars who accompanied him later complained about the Novgorod ruler, who, not sparing himself, and demanded superhuman efforts from them in this undertaking, forced them to stand all the services, put an unmeasured number of bows, and so on.
During Nikon's journey to Solovki, Patriarch Joseph died in Moscow. Nikon returned to the capital already practically as the successor of the deceased Primate, only a formal election remained. No one doubted that the Tsar's favorite would become the new Primate of the Russian Church. True, a group of protopopes from the circle of "zealots" (including Ivan Neronov, Avvakum Petrov, Loggin, Daniel and other future leaders Old Believer schism), having fasted for a whole week, they offered the tsar's confessor Stephen Bonifatiev to the Patriarchate. Already in this venture, both the personal dislike of the protopoles to Nikon and the ambitiousness and lust for power of the “God-lovers”, who did not want to lose the leading position in the Church, which they actually usurped into the Patriarchate of the ousted Joseph, were manifested in this venture. But Stephen refused the honor of being elected to the Patriarch. Nevertheless, the sovereign ordered to draw up a list of 12 candidates, among whom, of course, was Nikon. And although there were no direct instructions from the tsar, the participants in the Consecrated Council on July 22, 1652 chose him to the Patriarchate, knowing well the mood of Alexei Mikhailovich and wishing to please him.
However, almost immediately after the election, the first promising surprises began: Nikon several times refused to come from his Novgorod courtyard to the Assumption Cathedral for the solemn ceremony of naming the Patriarchate, which was to be held with the participation of the tsar. Finally, Nikon was brought in by force. He began to renounce the Patriarchal dignity, citing his alleged incapacity and foolishness. This behavior was, in general, quite traditional. An equally traditionally elected Patriarch was persuaded to accept authority over the Church. But then Nikon behaved in a very unusual way: he refused not ritually three times, but so decisively and for a long time that in the end he forced the tsar to ask, literally beg his "friend's friend" to accept the Patriarchate. As a result, something out of the ordinary happened: Alexei Mikhailovich knelt before the elected Primate. The young tsar revered Nikon so much and wanted to see him at the head of the Russian Church that he literally bowed to Nikon's feet. The Elected Patriarch shed tears when he saw this picture, but accepted the Patriarchate only after the tsar promised to observe the dogmas and canons of Orthodoxy unbreakably and obey him in everything, Nikon, as archpastor and father. The sovereign, the boyars and the Consecrated Council swore allegiance to that on the Gospel. And only then did Nikon agree to become the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. Moreover, as Nikon himself wrote later, he allegedly warned the tsar that he agreed to be in the Patriarchate for only three years, and if the tsar was not in his obedience, he would leave the Primary See. This is how Nikon later explained his departure from Moscow.Already in this episode with the election to the Patriarchate, that line in Nikon's ideology, which became the most significant for him, was fully manifested: the rise of the priesthood over the kingdom, the strengthening of the Patriarchate. This is most likely what happened in Nikon's life. main goal, while his famous reforms were only a means of achieving that theocratic ideal to which Nikon strove with all his being.
On July 25, 1652, the enthronement of the new Patriarch took place, and 47-year-old Nikon (Minov) became the new Primate of the Russian Church.
05 / 10 / 2004
Patriarch Nikon(worldly name Nikita Minin (Minov); May 7, village - August 17, Yaroslavl) - Moscow Patriarch, who had the full official title "By the grace of God, the great lord and sovereign, archbishop of the reigning city of Moscow and all great and small and white Russia and all northern countries and Pomoria and many states, Patriarch" from July 25 (August 4) to December 12 (22) of the year with the title "Great Sovereign".
The future patriarch was born in May 1605 in a village near Nizhny Novgorod (now the Perevozsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region). On May 24, the boy was baptized and named Nikita in honor of the Monk Nikita the Stylite. His parents were peasants, father - Mina and mother - Mariama... The idea that they are Mordvinians has taken root in the literature. For the first time this conjecture was expressed, not supported by references to sources, the writer PI Melnikov-Pechersky in his "Sketches of the Mordovians" (1867). According to the testimony of Archpriest Avvakum, who grew up in the same area, Nikita's father was a Cheremis, that is, a Mari, and his mother was a “mermaid” (Russian). Nikon himself considered himself Russian [ ]. Synodiki mid XVII century the names of three brothers Nikita (Simeon, Nikifor and Gregory), Vasily's paternal grandfather and Gabriel's maternal grandfather are reported. Nikita's mother died shortly after his birth and a certain Ksenia took care of the boy. Soon, my father married a second time. According to Shusherin, the stepmother with her children hated Nikita, starved him, beat him and tried to kill him.
Shusherin in his story relied on the memories of the patriarch himself and persons from his entourage. Sometimes they were frankly legendary. For example, there is a legend about a certain Tatar or Mordvin who predicted Nikita's patriarchate. The life of Metropolitan Hilarion says that the Patriarchate of Nikita Minov, in addition to Mordvin, was predicted by the Nizhny Novgorod priest Ananias (father of Suzdal Metropolitan Hilarion).
Before the patriarchate[ | ]
At the insistence of his parents, he married and was ordained a priest. Around 1626, he was appointed a priest of one of the Moscow churches, at the request of Moscow merchants, who learned about his erudition.
Becoming at the head of the brethren of the Novospassk monastery, Nikon became a member of the informal circle of clergy and secular persons, which Professor N.F. Kapterev calls a circle "Zealots of piety"... The main ideologists of this group - the confessor of Alexei Mikhailovich, Archpriest of the Annunciation Cathedral Stephan Vonifatyev, Boyar F.M. Rtishchev and Archpriest of the Kazan Cathedral Ioann Nero the clergy, the planting of enlightenment. The practice of church preaching from the ambo, "unanimity" in divine services, which had been forgotten in Moscow, was introduced. great attention was given to correcting translations of liturgical books.
He began to visit the king in the palace every Friday for talks and advice not only on spiritual matters, but also on state matters.
Reform activity[ | ]
Church Cathedral of 1654
(Patriarch Nikon presents new liturgical texts) A.D. Kivshenko, 1880
For many years collecting Greek and Byzantine texts and seriously participating in the discussions of the "Circle of Zealots of Piety" (which also included Archpriest Avvakum) Orthodox rituals and books in line with the Greek.
The rootedness both among the people and among a significant part of the priesthood of the opinion about the "superiority" of Russian piety over Greek, and Moscow piety over Kiev, which appeared in North-Eastern Russia after the Greeks signed the Florentine Union with the Catholics, the fall of Constantinople, the polonization of Lithuania and the conquest of Kiev by Lithuania (cf. the thesis "Moscow is the Third Rome"), as well as the harshness of the reformers themselves led to the split of the Russian Church into supporters of Nikon ("Nikonians") and his opponents Old Believers, one of whose leaders was Habakkuk.
Construction [ | ]
One of the activities of Patriarch Nikon was the founding of monasteries in Russia. In 1653, the first wooden buildings of the Iversky Monastery were built on the island of Valdai Lake. In 1655, the stone Cathedral of the Assumption was laid.
Disgrace and eruption from the priesthood[ | ]
The letter signed by all the bishops of the Russian Local Church of the Great Moscow Cathedral, as well as the hierarchs (patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops, bishops) of the Greek local churches dated December 12, indicates the crimes due to which Nikon was expelled from the patriarchate and priesthood by the court of the local cathedral of the Russian Church :
1. Nikon vexed (offended) the tsar when he left the flock and retired to the Resurrection Monastery, only because the tsarist official hit the patriarch's servant.
2. Nikon did not humble himself and did not repent, but performed ordinations in a new place, built new monasteries, which he called "inappropriate words and vain names": New Jerusalem, Golgotha, Bethlehem, Jordan, thereby he cursed the divine and mocked the saints, glorifying himself the patriarch of New Jerusalem, kidnapping by robbery, and if he had the strength, he would have taken away a third of the kingdom.
3. Anathematized the patriarchs Paisius and Macarius, who came to judge him, calling them Anna and Caiaphas, and the royal ambassadors who were sent to him to summon him to trial, named Pilate and Herod.
4. Nikon wrote personal letters to the patriarchs, in which he wrote about Tsar Alexei that the Tsar was "a Latin persecutor, tormentor and offender, Jeroboam and Uzziah" and that the Russian Church fell into Latin dogmas, most of all blaming Paisius Ligaris for this.
5. Nikon, without a conciliar consideration, personally deprived Bishop Paul of the Kolomna dignity, fiercely, pulled off Paul's mantle, and that “into ulcers and punishments betray the grievous”, which made Paul lost his mind and the poor perished: either he was torn to pieces by beasts, or fell into the river and died.
6. His spiritual father Nikon beat him mercilessly for two years and inflicted ulcers on him, after which the patriarchs themselves saw Nikon's confessor "utterly relaxed."
For these crimes Nikon was expelled from the priesthood: not only from the patriarchal dignity, but from the episcopal rank and became a simple monk.
Monk Nikon, after the cathedral trial and eruption, was exiled to the Ferapontov Belozersky monastery; after the death of Alexei Mikhailovich, the Apostle and the 17th Kathisma was transferred under stricter supervision in 1681 of the Great Moscow Cathedral and repeatedly kissed his right hand.
In 2013, the tomb of Patriarch Nikon was opened by archaeologists, but only an empty sarcophagus was discovered - the tomb had previously been plundered.
Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Nikon (in the world Nikita Minich) was born in 1605, in the family of a peasant from the village of Veldemanovo (now the Nizhny Novgorod region, Perevozsky district). As a young man Nikita went to the Makaryev Zheltovodsky Monastery. In a few years he will become a priest. Shocked by the death of his children, he convinces his wife to go into a monster, and he himself on the White Lake, in the Anzersky skete, takes monasticism under the name of Nikon. In 1642 Nikon moved to the Kozheozerskaya desert and soon became its abbot. Since 1646, he became known to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, at whose request he was soon appointed archimandrite of the Moscow Novospassky monastery. In 1648 Nikon was the Metropolitan of Novgorod.
In 1652 Nikon transported the relics of St. Metropolitan Philip to Moscow from the Solovetsky Monastery (Comm. 23 December SS). At this time, Patriarch Joseph dies in Moscow, and Nikon is elected his successor.
Even under Patriarch Joseph, in order to streamline church life, a circle of zealots was formed in Moscow, headed by the tsarist confessor Stephen Bonifatiev. Nikon shared the views of the zealots. The tsar himself, adhering to the zealots in the general formulation of the task, had, however, a special view on the method of its implementation, since he was inclined to attach political significance to the church reform. Alexei Mikhailovich considered it necessary to closely unite the Russian Church with the Greek and Little Russian, and this, in his opinion, could be achieved by harmonizing Russian church practice with Greek models.
The tsar and the patriarch were tied by a real friendship. While still an archimandrite, Nikon went to the king's palace every Friday, and they sat up for a long time at a frank conversation; the king himself often visited him. When Nikon became patriarch, the tsar sometimes spent whole days with him in suburban monasteries.
The first important order of Nikon, and at the same time the beginning of the church reform, was the order (in 1653) to "do in the church" instead of "kneeling" bows "in the belt" and to be baptized with "three fingers". The council convened by Patriarch Nikon in 1654 decided to correct the liturgical books based on ancient manuscripts. The council of 1656 approved Nikon's missal and cursed those who were baptized with two fingers.
Nikon's opponents raised the tsar against the patriarch. Nikon resigned from his rank and went to the Resurrection Monastery. At the cathedral held in Moscow in 1666, Nikon was sentenced to defrocking and exiled to the Ferapontov Monastery, and then to a heavier imprisonment - to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich decides to transfer Nikon to the Resurrection Monastery, and at the same time he intercedes before Eastern patriarchs about Nikon's permission and about his restoration to patriarchal dignity. The authorization letter no longer found Nikon alive: he died on the way, in Yaroslavl, on August 17, 1681, and was buried in the Resurrection Monastery as a patriarch.
Patriarch Nikon of Moscow and All Russia. He headed the Diocese from 1652 to 1666. Carried out reforms in the church, which led to a schism.
early years
Nikon (in the world Nikita Minov or Minin) came from a simple peasant family.
The future patriarch was born in the village of Veldemanovo near Nizhny Novgorod in 1605. The mother died shortly after giving birth, and the father later remarried.
The relationship with his stepmother did not work out - she often beat him and deprived him of food. The parish priest taught Nikita to read and write. At the age of 12, Nikon became a novice at the Makaryev Zheltovodsky Monastery, where he remained until 1624.
His parents convinced him to return home and get married. Then Nikita became a priest in the village of Lyskovo, but the merchants, who had heard about his education, asked him to move to one of the Moscow churches.
In monasticism
In 1635 Nikita's children died, after which he persuaded his wife to take tonsure at the Alekseevsky monastery. At the age of 30, he himself becomes a monk under the name Nikon in the Holy Trinity Anzersky skete of the Solovetsky monastery. After a quarrel with the Monk Eleazar Anzersikm over the need for Nikon to celebrate the liturgy and manage the household in the skete, the monk fled from there to the Kozheozersky monastery.
In 1643 Nikon became abbot there. In 1646 the first meeting of Nikon and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich took place. The abbot of the Kozheozersky monastery made a favorable impression on the ruler and, at the instructions of the monarch, remained in Moscow. At the behest of Alexei Mikhailovich, Patriarch Joseph ordained Nikon to the archimandrite of the Novospassky monastery.
Thus, Nikon entered the unofficial circle of "devotees of piety", the purpose of which was to increase the role of religion in the life of the inhabitants of the Moscow state, improve the morality of the population and the clergy, and spread education. Special attention was paid to the correct translation of the liturgical books. In 1649 Nikon became Metropolitan of Novgorod and Velikolutsk.
Patriarchate
Patriarch Joseph died in April 1562. The members of the circle of "zealots of piety" at first wanted to see Stefan Bonifantyev, the tsar's confessor, as patriarch, but he rejected the offer, most likely because he understood that Alexei Mikhailovich wanted to see Nikon in this dignity.
After Alexei Mikhailovich asked Nikon to be ordained, on the initiative of the latter from the Solovetsky Monastery, the relics of St. Metropolitan Philip were transferred to Moscow. On July 25, 1562, Nikon's enthronement took place, during which he demanded that the tsar promise not to interfere in church affairs.
Reform activity
The main reason for the reforms was the need to unify rituals and strengthen moral principles clergy. Nikon also wanted to see Russia as the center of world Orthodoxy, as the country expanded ties with Ukraine and the territory of the former Byzantium. Nikon's power and ambition dictated to him the desire to be close to the king.
The Patriarch remembered the close relationship between Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich and Filaret and even wanted to surpass his predecessor. However, Nikon did not take into account that the former patriarch was the father of the tsar, which gave him a significant advantage over Nikon.
In fact, the reforms did not touch the essence of Orthodoxy. It was about how many fingers to cross, in which direction to make the procession, how to write the name Jesus, etc. Nevertheless, the transformations caused widespread discontent among the masses. The split of the Russian Church took place.
Construction of monasteries
On Nikon's initiative, many monasteries were built, such as the Onega Cross, Iversky and New Jerusalem. The stone Cathedral of the Assumption was laid in 1655.
Opal
In 1666 Nikon was defrocked as patriarch for his willful actions. By the decision of the cathedral court, Nikon became a simple monk of the Ferapontov Belozersky monastery. After the death of Alexei Mikhailovich, he was transferred to the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery under stricter supervision.
The new tsar, Fyodor Alekseevich, treated Nikon with condescension. Together with Simeon of Polotsk, he pondered a plan for the creation in Russia of four patriarchates and a papacy headed by Nikon. The idea was not developed. Nikon died in 1681. Fyodor Alekseevich insisted on a patriarchal funeral for the monk, although he did not receive the approval of Joachim, the patriarch of Moscow.
