Sound Bite
The events, people and politics that forged the earliest traditions of Russian Christianity are presented objectively and intensively, describing the rise and dominance of the Russian Orthodox Church, the many dissenters and sectarian groups that evolved over the centuries (and their persecution), the presence of Catholicism and the influx of Protestantism and Judaism and other religious denominations into Russia. Derived from primary resources in Church Slavonic and Russian languages, the history covers the higher levels of ecclesiastical activity including the involvement of tsars and princes, as well as saints and serfs, and monks and mystics.
About the Book
Volume II covers the Patriarchal Era through the reign of the great reformer, Tsar Peter I, and the eventual institution of the synodal system as a replacement for the Patriarchate.
Introduction
The Era of the Partiarchate In explaining the creation of the Russian patriarchate, Russian historians such as Karamzin and Kostomarov attach much significance to the ambition of Boris Godunov, who installed his court favorite Iov (Job) as metropolitan and then adorned him with the title of patriarch although Job was not without ambitious inclinations of his own. Godunov s objective was to route the frail dynasty of Rurik into the channel of his own genealogy. While it cannot be denied that Boris Godunov was ambitious to confirm the upcoming coronation by the mystique of consecration by a patriarch, just as the actual heirs to the throne of the Byzantine emperor had done, the principal reason is much more profound. The idea of a Russian patriarchate evolved from the entire history of the metropolitan s cathedra during the era of Moscovite Russia. It was on everybody s mind. During the final years of the 16th century, Moscow developed a very urgent desire to institute a patriarchate for itself. In 1415, Ukraine had removed itself from the administration of the metropolitan of Moscow and created its own cathedra, and in 1596 the region became completely Uniate. Russian distrust of the Greeks was measurably encouraged by the Jesuits, enemies of Orthodoxy. The Jesuits had promoted the decay of the Hellenic east as one of the motives to convert Eastern Orthodoxy to Unia, and this excited in Moscovites an opposite effect. Moscow prelates now developed a drive to become totally autocephalous, by way of a Russian patriarchate, which....
Information
Vol. I -- From the Earliest Years through Ivan IVVol. III-- The Synodal Era and the Sectarians -- 1725 to 1894 Vol. IV: The Russian Orthodox Church During the 20th Century 1894-1990
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