Latest / The Romanov Dynasty: Rise, Power, and Bloody End — Fexingo History / Tsar Alexis, Patriarch Nikon, and the Great Russian Church Schism
Transcript
- Lucas: We've talked a lot about later Romanovs — Nicholas II, Catherine, Peter the Great — but we haven't really gone back to the dynasty's early consolidation. So today I want to look at Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich, the second Romanov, and a crisis that split Russian society right down the middle: the Raskol, the great church schism. Luna: The Schism — that's the Old Believers, right? Lucas: Exactly. The Old Believers — Starovery in Russian — were those who refused to accept the liturgical reforms imposed by Patriarch Nikon in the 1650s and 60s. But it wasn't just a religious squabble. It was a clash of worldviews, a fight over Russia's identity — should it look to Greek and Byzantine tradition, or hold fast to its own native practices? And it played out in a context of recent national trauma. Luna: Right, the Time of Troubles had ended only a few decades before. Lucas: Yes. By the time Alexis came to the throne in 1645, at age sixteen, Russia was still fragile. His father, Mikhail, had been elected by the Zemsky Sobor in 1613 after the Polish and Swedish invasions. So the new dynasty was not yet secure. And Alexis, though called tishaishii — the 'most quiet' — turned out to be a forceful ruler. He was deeply pious, and when a charismatic monk named Nikon rose to become patriarch, Alexis saw an opportunity to reform the church and centralize authority. Luna: So what exactly did Nikon want to change? Lucas: Nikon was obsessed with correcting Russian liturgical books and practices to match contemporary Greek standards. Russian scribes over centuries had introduced errors, he argued. So he ordered changes like: crossing oneself with three fingers instead of two, saying 'alleluia' three times instead of two, and altering the spelling of Jesus' name. To modern ears that sounds trivial, but to 17th-century Russians, these were sacred gestures. Changing them felt like tampering with salvation itself. Luna: I can imagine how that would cause a massive backlash. Lucas: It did. The opposition coalesced around a fiery archpriest named Avvakum Petrov. He was a brilliant writer and a fanatic — he saw Nikon as the Antichrist. Avvakum was exiled to Siberia, then recalled, then exiled again, but he never stopped writing. His autobiography is one of the great works of early Russian literature. He painted Nikon's reforms as a betrayal of authentic Russian Orthodoxy, and many peasants, Cossacks, and even some boyars agreed. Luna: Where did Tsar Alexis stand in this? He supported Nikon at first? Lucas: He did. Alexis and Nikon were close friends for a time. Nikon even used the title 'Great Sovereign', implying he was co-ruler with the tsar. But Nikon's authoritarian streak alienated the boyars and the clergy. When Nikon overstepped — he walked out of Moscow in protest in 1658 — Alexis didn't stop him. Eventually a church council in 1666-67, with Greek patriarchs present, deposed Nikon but also condemned his opponents. So the reforms were upheld, but Nikon himself was sent to a monastery. Luna: So both sides lost in a way? Lucas: Sort of, but the Old Believers saw themselves as martyrs. The council anathematized them, and the state began a brutal persecution. Avvakum was burned at the stake in 1682. Many Old Believers fled to the forests of the north, or to Siberia. Some practiced self-immolation — mass suicides by fire — to avoid capture. One famous incident was the Solovetsky Monastery uprising, where monks held out for years against the tsar's army before being massacred. Luna: The Solovetsky Monastery — we've mentioned it before in the context of later prisons. That's the same place? Lucas: Exactly. It started as a fortress of faith, then became a symbol of resistance. The siege lasted from 1668 to 1676. The monks were eventually betrayed and slaughtered. The schism never healed. Even today, there are Old Believer communities around the world, preserving the pre-Nikonian rites. They were a constant counter-current to the official church for centuries. Lucas: So this episode really gets into why faith and state were so tangled in Russia. And if that kind of deep history is useful to you — something concrete to think about — the way we keep this show ad-free is through listener support. You can help at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, but it makes episodes like this possible. Luna: And we really appreciate everyone who does. It lets us keep diving into these niche but crucial topics. Lucas: Anyway, back to the schism. It also had huge political consequences. The Old Believers became a rallying point for popular rebellions. In the 1670s, the Cossack rebel Stenka Razin attracted Old Believers with his anti-establishment message. Later, during the Streltsy uprisings of 1682 and 1698, Old Believers were involved. The dynasty learned that religious unity was essential for autocracy. Luna: So Alexis's reign set the stage for Peter the Great's later crackdowns on the church? Lucas: Exactly. Peter abolished the patriarchate entirely and subordinated the church to the state. He had seen how much trouble a powerful patriarch like Nikon could cause. But the Old Believers never disappeared. They survived through the centuries, even into Soviet times. One of the most prominent Old Believer families, the Morozovs, became wealthy industrialists in the 19th century. So the schism created an alternative Russia, one that rejected Westernizing reforms, whether from Nikon or Peter. Luna: Fascinating. And Avvakum's writings — are they still read today? Lucas: Absolutely. His autobiography, 'The Life of Archpriest Avvakum', is considered a masterpiece of 17th-century Russian prose. It's raw, vivid, full of colloquial language and sharp humor, even in the face of torture. He describes his exile to Siberia, his confrontations with authorities, and his visions. It gives us an intimate look at the mindset of a man willing to die for the sign of the cross made with two fingers. Luna: Two fingers versus three — that really was a huge deal. Lucas: It was. To the Old Believers, the three-fingered cross was the mark of the Antichrist because it resembled the Latin cross. They saw themselves as the last defenders of true Orthodoxy. And the state's brutal response — burning people alive — only hardened their conviction. The schism wasn't just a disagreement; it was a trauma that split the Russian soul. And in a way, that division between authority and tradition, between the state and the people, never fully healed. Luna: And it's a thread you can trace all the way to the 1917 revolutions. Lucas: Exactly. The Old Believers often supported the Bolsheviks at first, hoping for a break from the tsarist church. But soon they were persecuted too. So the story of the Raskol is really a story about what happens when power tries to impose uniformity on belief. It rarely works, and the resistance leaves deep scars.