43. Религиозные споры в Русской Церкви. Стригольники и жидовствующие

Just as false teachings and heresies appeared in the Greek Orthodox Church, so in the Russian Church from its very foundation various church perplexities and disputes arose. The culprits of these disputes were the opponents of the Church, who stubbornly defended their wrong opinions and, over time, gradually prepared the ground for a schism. In the second half of the 14th century, Karp Strigolnik and Deacon Nikita (defrocked) appeared in Pskov, who began to teach that bishops and priests are appointed for a fee (for a bribe), and therefore one should not accept any sacraments from them. Going further in their delusion, the Strigolniki denied the hierarchy, church rites (as if the laity could teach; one must repent, crouching to the ground, without a priest; the Eucharist must be understood in a spiritual sense), Ecumenical Councils, even the Gospel Scriptures and the resurrection of the dead. Preaching such a destructive doctrine, they were excellent at being hypocritical and seemed to the people to be fasters and ascetics. From Pskov the false teachers moved to Novgorod, where they found many followers. Here, at first, they acted against the Strigolniks with cruel measures: after a church curse, the people grabbed Karp and Nikita and drowned them in Volkhov. But meek measures turned out to be more effective: the messages of the Patriarchs of Constantinople Nile and Anthony and the admonitions of Metropolitan Photius calmed the agitation of minds. Nevertheless, the opinions of the Strigolniks are still repeated in some schismatic sects. A century after the Strigolniks, an even more harmful heresy of the Judaizers appeared in Novgorod. In the second half of the 15th century, in 1470, the Jew Skhariya, famous for his learning and familiar with cabalism and astrology, came to Novgorod. Under the guise of Jewish teaching, he began to spread disbelief in the fundamental truths of Christianity and taught that God is one and does not have a Son and the Holy Spirit, who are consubstantial and co-throne with Him, that the Messiah has not yet come, and if he comes, he will not be God, but a simple man, like Moses, David and other prophets. At the same time, the dignity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Mother of God, and saints was humiliated, the sacraments were rejected, and holy icons, relics, fasts, monasticism and other institutions and accessories of the Orthodox Church were mocked. Some went so far as to deny the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the dead and the future life. Favoring passions and licentious morals, the heresy of the Judaizers quickly spread and captivated many clergy. Among them were, for example, the Sofian archpriest Gabriel, priests Alexei and Dionysius. The last two later occupied a prominent position in the rank of cathedral archpriests in Moscow, where the heresy of the Judaizers also began to spread, so that, finally, among her followers she had a strong clerk at the court, Kuritsyn, and other boyars, and even penetrated into the royal family, where her patron was the daughter-in-law of Grand Duke John III, the mother of the declared heir to the throne, Elena 69. Things got to the point that, through the machinations of the Judaizers, one of the secret adherents of the sect, Simonov’s Archimandrite Zosima, was elected and elevated to the throne of the Metropolitan. The first to rebel against heresy was Gennady, Archbishop of Novgorod. With messages to the Grand Duke, Metropolitan and bishops, he gave such publicity to the matter that Zosima himself in 1491 was forced to convene a council in Moscow to judge heretics. The council condemned them: some heretics were sent to prison, others were sent to Novgorod for correction 70 . Zosima himself pretended to be Orthodox and even denounced heretics. The heresy subsided, but not for long: Gennady’s strict measures caused only outward repentance in the heretics, and they, having fled from Novgorod, again began to spread their false teaching; and Zosima and Kuritsyn remained in Moscow. Soon it found a new favorable reason for its spread: at the end of the 15th century, in 1492, the 7th thousand years had passed since the creation of the world. Both in Greece and in Russia, many were confident that with the end of this thousand there would be the end of the world; the fateful year passed, and the end of the world did not follow; The heretics therefore began to laugh at the expectations and, in general, the faith of the Orthodox. Then the Monk Joseph, abbot of Volokolamsk, came to Gennady’s aid. To reassure the Orthodox, a council was convened in Moscow in 1492, at which it was decided to continue the Easter service, and Archbishop Gennady compiled it for 70 years. Following this, a remarkable work by the Monk Joseph appeared, directed against the heresy of the Judaizers, under the name “The Enlightener.” Since heretics rejected all the most important dogmas of Orthodoxy, The Enlightener is an almost complete and systematic presentation of theological teaching. In particular, he deals in detail with the issue of monasticism, which was mainly attacked by heretics. At the same time, the Monk Joseph boldly denounced Metropolitan Zosima, calling him a traitor Judas and the forerunner of the Antichrist. After this, Zosima no longer had the opportunity to remain at the metropolitan see, and he was forced to retire. But even with the removal of Zosima, the heresy of the Judaizers did not stop: clerk Theodore Kuritsyn and Princess Elena secretly supported them. The heretics even had favorable prospects for the future, when Grand Duke John III not only proclaimed him heir, but also in 1498 crowned his grandson Demetrius, the son of Helen, for the great reign. Soon, however, circumstances changed. John recognized the machinations of Helen's supporters, canceled the appointment of Demetrius and declared his son Vasily Ivanovich, born from his second wife Sophia Paleologus, as his heir. From then on, the heresy of the Judaizers began to weaken and decrease in the number of its adherents. The final defeat was inflicted on her at a council convened at the insistence of the Monk Joseph in Moscow in 1504. The most guilty of the heretics were condemned to burning; others were sent into exile and sent to monasteries. At the beginning of the next year, the patroness of the evil heresy, the unfortunate Princess Elena, also died in prison. – One of the reasons for the success of the heresy of the Judaizers was the extraordinary cunning of the heretics. They maintained and spread their false teaching in strict secrecy, observed outward piety, and seemed meek and self-controlled. If they saw a person who was firm in Orthodoxy, then they themselves pretended to be Orthodox and tried to influence him gradually, even often denouncing the opinions that they held in their souls. “Archbishop Gennady ordered them to be placed on horses, 14 miles from Novgorod, face to tail, to have their clothes turned inside out, and to be put on birch bark, pointed hats with basting tassels, with crowns made of hay and straw, with the inscription: “Behold is Satan’s army.” In this form they were transported through the streets. Everyone who met them spat on them and exclaimed: “Behold, the enemies of God, the blasphemers of Christ.” Finally, the helmets they were wearing were burned. You might be interested in: