RELIGIONS
Religions: Christianity
9 century
East Slavs belonged to the most numerous ethnic and linguistic body of people in Europe, Slavs. The Slavs perceived the world as enlivened by a variety of spirits ( Slavic paganism), which they represented as persons and worshipped.There was an evident continuity between the beliefs of the East Slavs, West Slavs and South Slavs. But only two of Russian pagan divinities, Perun (the god of thunder, law and war) and Svarog, are at all likely to have been common to all the Slavs. The Kievan state enumerates 7 pagan divinities: Perun, Volos, Khors, Dazhbog (life-bringing power of the sun), Stribog, Simargl, and Mokosh (the only female deity).
The cosmology of ancient Slavic religion is visualized as a three-tiered vertical structure, or «world tree». At the top there is the heavenly plane, symbolized by birds, the sun and the moon; the middle plane commonly is that of earthly ritual community (khorovod); at the bottom of the structure there is the netherworld.
Because of the geographical location of Rus’ close to the Black Sea and the Near East, Christianity was known on the present territory of Ukraine as early as the 1st century AD. The proximity of the Slav-settled lands to the Greek colonies on the Black Sea must have been an important factor in the spread of Christianity among the Slavic tribes.
After capturing Kiev in 860, the princes Askold and Dyr are said to have embraced Christianity, and Patriarch Photius wrote in one of his letters that in about 864 he had sent a bishop to Rus’. During the reign of Prince Oleg the pagan reaction suppressed Christianity, but it did not disappear completely.
Christianity entered from the West as well, specifically from Moravia, where Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius and their disciples worked as missionaries. Both ‘Slavic apostles’ visited the Crimea on their way to the Khazars.
10 century
There is evidence that during Prince Igor's rule, when signing of the treaty of 944 with the Greeks, some of Igor's deputies took an oath on the Bible while others swore by the pagan deity Perun. After Prince Igor's death in 945 his wife, Princess Olga, was baptized before her voyage to Constantinople in 957.987 And her grandson, Great Prince Vladimir, was baptized in about 987.
At first Vladimir was the leader of the pagan movement in Kiev in order to bind together the Slavic people in the growing centralized state and making Kiev the spiritual centre of East Slavdom.
But, having concluded that Eastern Orthodox Church, then the state religion of the Byzantine Empire, would strengthen the state and increase its prestige among his Christian neighbors, he adopted Christianity and christened all his people.
Before taking decision, Vladimir was listening the ambassadors from neighboring nations. Vladimir rejected Islam, presented by Volga Bulgars, for the prohibition laws as a strain on the Russian soul. The Western Catholic Christianity was rejected already by Vladimir’s ancestors. Judaism was rejected as «the religion which did not even help the Jews to keep their own land». Vladimir finally chose Eastern Byzantine Christianity. For many decades, Russia and Byzantine had close political and commercial relations.
Vladimir began a military campaign in Byzantine in 988. The Prince captured Korsun (Chersonese in the modern Crimea), and demanded to marry Anna, a sister of the Byzantine Emperors Basil II and Constantine VIII, or else he would attack Constantinople. The Emperors agreed, but demanded the baptism of the Prince in return. Vladimir agreed to the conditions, and Vladimir and Anna then married according to Christian tradition.
He destroyed the wooden statues of Slavic pagan gods , and the statue of Perun was thrown into the Dnieper. 988The population of Kievan Rus’ along the main water routes was baptized gradually. The pagan priests (Volkhv), who had little influence in southern Rus’ but in the north—in Novgorod the Great, Suzdal, and Belozersk—incited the people to hostile acts against the Christian priests. For a long time the pagan religion, mostly its rites, was practiced alongside the Christian religion.
Russia became a metropolis of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The 1st-mentioned metropolitan of Rus’ was the Greek Theopemptos. To normalize religious life in his country, Vladimir issued a law assigning a 10th of the state's property ( Tithe) to the church and recognizing various rights of the clergy.
During his Christian reign, Vladimir lived the teachings of the Bible through acts of charity. He would hand out food and drink to the less fortunate, and made an effort to go out to the people who could not reach him. He founded numerous churches, including the Desyatinnaya Tserkov in 989, established schools, protected the poor and introduced ecclesiastical courts.
988, 991 Vladimir baptized Pecheneg princes Metiga and Kuchug, respectively.
12 century
1011 Saint Sophia's Cathedral, Kiev, was founded.Shortly after Vladimir the Great’s death he and his grandmother, Princess Olga, came to be venerated as saints or «equals of the apostles» in Rus’.
The struggle for the Kiev throne among Vladimir’s sons interrupted the ecclesiastical and missionary development in Rus’, and the Greek metropolitan’s jurisdiction ended abruptly.
During the rule of Yaroslav the Wise, Vladimir's son, Christianity spread and grew stronger in Rus’ (he actively suppressed paganism), and the organizational and hierarchical structure of the Rus’ church was established.
Yaroslav issued a book of laws called «Pravda Iaroslava» (Yaroslav's Justice) with a statute defining the rights of the church and clergy. Apart from Constantinople's right to confirm the appointment of the metropolitan, the Rus’ church was autonomous.
1051-65 Yaroslav initiated the sobor of bishops that chose Ilarion as metropolitan of Kiev.
1069 Byzantium sent another Greek metropolitan, Georgios, to head the Rus’ church. But because he would not recognize the sanctity of the local martyrs, Georgios was forced to return to Byzantium. Later bishop Yefrem of Pereiaslav ( a native boyar who had become a monk of the Kiev Cave Monastery) governed the metropoly.
The number of eparchies was augmented at that time: Pereiaslav eparchy, Yuriv eparchy, and Bilhorod eparchy were added.
Yaroslav the Wise founded a primary school and library at the Saint Sophia Cathedral and sponsored the translation of Greek and other texts into Church Slavonic, the copying of many books, and the compilation of a chronicle. Golden Gate, Kiev, were built, named in imitation of the Golden Gate of Constantinople.
The 1st monasteries in Rus’ were formally established during Yaroslav's reign. Saint Anthony of the Caves, founder of the Kiev Cave Monastery, had experienced monastic life at Mount Athos.
1054 The Great Schism split eastern and western churches. The eastern churches developed into the Eastern, Greek, and Russian Orthodox Church - ROC, while the western churches formed into the Roman Catholic Church. The two branches remained on friendly terms until Crusaders of the 4th Crusade captured Constantinople in 1204.
Even after the split Yaroslav strengthened the international role of Kiev Rus’ through dynastic unions - his son Iziaslav Yaroslavych married Gertrude, the daughter of Mieszko II of Poland.
As a European power Kiev Rus’ reached its zenith under his rule.
The Slavs' resistance to Christianity gave rise to a «whimsical syncretism» which in Old Church Slavonic vocabulary was defined as dvoeverie, «double faith».
12 century
1147-54 Izyaslav's, grandson of Vladimir «Monomakh», ordered a synod of bishops to install Cyril of Turov (Kliment Smolyatich, Metropolitan Clement of Smolensk) as the 2nd native metropolitan of Kiev. Under him monastic life underwent a considerable revival. He governed the Rus’ church until about 1154 and subsequently headed the Vladimir-Volynskyi eparchy. This attempt to appoint a Russian metropolitan without the blessing of the Patriarch of Constantinople encountered resistance from some of the Greek hierarchs in the ROC, however.The 12th century was the time of the great Christian sermons in Rus'. Cyril of Turov was probably the most accomplished master of Orthodox theology and the Byzantine style of writing. Of all his works, Cyril's sermon with the triumphant description of spring as the symbol of the Resurrection is one of his best known works.
Though Rome and Constantinople had no ecclesiastical communion with each other from 1054 ( Great Schism), relations between state and church in Rus’ on the one hand and Rome on the other were maintained. Pope Gregory VII granted Prince Iziaslav Mstyslavych royal status. In the 12th century Rus’ princes and boyars contributed financially to the construction of the churches in Poland and Bavaria. Only after 1204, when the Crusaders devastated Constantinople and its sanctuaries, did relations with the West worsen. Greek hierarchs disseminated anti-Latin sentiments.
Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, a grandson of Vladimir Monomakh, still in his youth he was called «Bogolyubsky» («God-loving») for his attention to prayer and his diligence for church services. From Vladimir Monomakh the grandson inherited great spiritual concentration, love for the Word of God.
1147, 1152, 1154 A constant co-worker in the city construction and church building activity of Yuri Dolgoruky, he built with his father: Moscow (1147), Iur'ev-Pol'sk (1152), Dmitrov (1154), and he adorned with churches the cities of Rostov, Suzdal', and Vladimir (white Rus').
1157-60 When his father died, Prince Andrei did not take up his father's throne at Kiev, but rather remained prince at Vladimir. He brought the icon of the Mother of God to Vladimir. During the years 1158-60 was built the Uspenie (Dormition) cathedral at Vladimir, and the Mother of God icon was placed there. 30 churches were built by Prince Andrei during the years of his rule.
1159 Prince Andrei built the church of the Nativity of the Mother of God. He situated here also the city of Bogolyubsky, which became his constant dwelling and the place of his martyr's end.
1162 Andrei Bogolyubsky sent an embassy to Constantinople, lobbying for a separate metropolitan see in Vladimir. Patriarch consented archimandrite Theodore (Feodor) as bishop of Vladimir, but not as metropolitan. At the same time, wanting to uphold the position of Prince Andrei as the most powerful amongst the rulers of the Russian Land, the Patriarch dignified bishop Theodore with the right to wear the «white klobuk» (hierarch's headgarb), which in ancient Rus' was a distinctive sign of churchly autonomy.
1167 The twin brother of Andrei, Metropolitan Rostislav died at Kiev. A new metropolitan was dispatched from Tsargrad, Constantine II. Patriarch refused again for establishing metropolitan see at Vladimir, and demanded to submit to the Kiev metropolitan.
Andrei urged bishop Theodore to journey in repentance to Kiev for the restoration of canonical relations with the metropolitan. It was not accepted, and in accord with the Byzantine morals of the time, metropolitan Constantine condemned him to a terrible execution: they cut out the tongue from Theodore, they cut off his right hand and then they gouged out his eyes. After this he was drowned by servants (by other accounts, he died in prison).
1169-70 At this time of church and political conflict, Andrei Bogolyubsky of Vladimir sacked the city of Kiev. In such a manner Andrei Bogolyubsky was able to attain the unity of the Russian Land under his rule.
It fundamentally changed the perception of Kiev and was evidence of the fragmentation of the Kievan Rus'. By the end of the 12th century, the Kievan state became even further fragmented and had been divided into roughly 12 different principalities.
The West Slavs came under the sphere of influence of the Roman Catholic Church starting in the 12th century.
The West Slavs of the Baltic withstood tenaciously against Christianity until it was violently imposed on them through the Northern Crusades.
13 century
1241-1362 With the initial Mongol onslaught, many churches and monasteries were destroyed; countless clergy were killed; those who survived often were taken prisoner and enslaved. The distress and devastating were just as political and economic in nature as it was social and spiritual. The Mongol forces claimed that they were sent by God, and the Russians believed that the Mongols were indeed sent by God as a punishment for their sins. Princes of Kiev were forced to accept Mongol/Tatar overlordship.At the same time Mongol religious toleration benefited ROC: it was officially exempted from any form of taxation by Mongol or Russian authorities. And permitted that clergymen not be registered during censuses and that they were furthermore not liable for forced labor or military service.
For the 1st time, the church would become less dependent on princely powers than in any other period of Russian history. The Orthodox Church was able to acquire and consolidate land at a considerable rate, one that would put the church in an extremely powerful position in the centuries following the Mongol takeover.
To strengthen the internal structure of the Orthodox Church, metropolitans wanted to spread Christianity and convert those still practicing paganism in the countryside; they traveled extensively throughout the land to alleviate administrative deficiencies and to oversee the activities of the bishops and priests.
The Orthodox Church would become more powerful during the «darker» years of the Mongol subjugation. The Russian people would eventually turn inward, looking to the Orthodox Church for guidance and support. The shock of being conquered by this steppe people would plant the seeds of Russian monasticism, which would in turn play a major role in the conversion of such people as the Finno-Ugrian tribes and the Komi, as well as the colonization of the northern regions of Russia.
1245 The Metropolitan of Kiev, Petro Akerovych, participated in the First Council of Lyon, where he informed Catholic Europe of the Mongol/Tatar threat.
Catholic powers (like Teutonic Knights) launched a series of Crusades against Pskov (not against Mongols), Novgorod, and other towns in northwestern Rus'. Novgorodians fought hard to keep westerners out of the Novgorodian Lands.
1248 The Rome popes attempted also more peaceful means of conversion Rus' to Catholicism: Pope Innocent IV sent 2 cardinals to Prince Aleksandr Nevsky, who famously rejected their appeal to become Catholic.
1255 Prince Daniil of Galich accepted Catholicism.
1261 The Nicaean (Byzantium's most highly populated Greek region) emperor M. Palaeologus recaptured Constantinople from the Catholics (captured at the time of 4th Crusade (1202–1204)).
1261-1453 The Palaeologan period at Byzantium church - church kept much of its former prestige with jurisdiction over Russia as well as the distant Caucasus, parts of the Balkans. At the same time the Palaeologan dynasty was embattled from every side, torn apart by civil wars, and gradually shrinking. The problem of ecclesiastical union with the West in the hope, that a new Western Crusade might be made against the Turks, was also big issue.
This period was a period of an astonishing intellectual, spiritual, and artistic renaissance that influenced the entire Eastern Christian world.
1299The location of the center of the Orthodox Church was moved from Kiev to Vladimir, following the destruction of Kiev. It was significant change - before the Mongols invaded Russian lands, Kiev was the ecclesiastical center.
14 century
~1320 Kiev was conquered by Grand Duchy Lithuanian (see south-west Wars), and since this time, Kiev was the site of a new Catholic bishopric. The Tatars, who also claimed Kiev, retaliated in 1324–25, so while Kiev was ruled by a Lithuanian prince, it had to pay a tribute to the Golden Horde. Only in 1362 Kiev finally became a part of Grand Duchy of Lithuania.~1325 Saint Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow and all Russia moved his see from Vladimir to Moscow. In spite of the move, his office remained officially entitled «Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus» until the autocephalous election of Saint Jonah in 1448. After Peter canonization, his influence was spread all over Moscovy. Accordingly, many churches were dedicated to Peter the Metropolitan in Moscow and other cities of Russia.
1330s-40s Catholic Norway and Sweden launched a Crusade against the Novgorodian land.
1314-92 Sergius of Radonezh - a spiritual leader and monastic reformer of medieval Russia. Together with Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, he is one of the ROC's most highly venerated saints. As an ascetic, Sergius did not take part in the political life of the country. However, he blessed Dmitry Donskoy when he went to fight the Tatars in the signal Battle of Kulikovo field, but only after he was certain Dmitry had pursued all peaceful means of resolving the conflict. He was an inspirational figure to make peace and unite Russian lands under the leadership of Moscow.
middle of the 14th - early the 15th centuryThe 1st Russian heretical sect Strigolniki, established in Pskov and in Novgorod and Tver.
They renounced all ecclesiastic hierarchy and monasticism, sacraments of priesthood, communion, repentance, and baptism, which had been accompanied by large fees to the benefit of the clergy. The Strigolniki demanded the right to a religious sermon for laymen. Their sermons were full of social motifs: they reproached the rich for enslaving the free and the poor.
late 14th century The monastic revival in northern Russia, associated with the name of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, as well as the revival of iconography (painter Andrei Rublyov). It was influenced by centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism, Greek Mount Athos. Saint Stephen of Perm, the follower of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, who converted the Komi to Christianity, continued the tradition of Saints Cyril and Methodius, the 9th-century «apostles to the Slavs,» in translating Scripture and the liturgy into the language or dialect spoken by the native people. He was followed by numerous other missionaries who promoted Orthodox Christianity throughout Asia.
1387 The Grand Duchy of Lithuania became Catholic and united dynastically with the Poles. The Catholic Grand Princes attempted to establish separate metropolitanates in the Russian lands they controlled. The ROC always fought against this, in large part out of fear that the new metropolitanates would be converted to Catholic provinces.
After liberation from Mongols Moscow and Lithuania aspired to become leaders of a Russian state. The church support of Moscow was decisive in the victory of the Muscovites. The western Russian principalities could only obtain the temporary appointment of separate metropolitans in Galicia and Belorussia. Late in the 14th century, the metropolitan residing in Moscow again centralized ecclesiastical power in Russia.
15 century
1439-52 Union of Florence - union between East and West church (Constantinople and Rome). Eastern church signed this document due to political desperation and the fear of facing the Turks again. The official proclamation of the union was postponed until 1452. The Greek metropolitan of Kiev and all Russia, Isidore, was one of the major architects of the Union of Florence. Having signed the decree, he returned to Moscow in 1441 as a Roman cardinal, but was rejected by both church and state, arrested, and then allowed to escape to Lithuania.1448 ROC became autocephalous, administratively independent under a metropolitan of all Russia, residing in Moscow.
1453 Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks. Christians in Muslim caliphate had freedom of worship. It permitted the church to survive as an institution. The prestige of the church was actually increased because, for Christians, the church was now the only source of education and of social promotion.
1458 Rome appointed another metropolitan of «Kiev and all Russia» in territories controlled by Poland. After this the fate of the two churches of all Russia became quite distinct. The metropolitanate of Kiev developed under the control of Roman Catholic Poland.
1470s Muscovite Russia had acquired the consciousness of being the last bulwark of true Orthodoxy. Ivan III married Sofia, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor. The Muscovite sovereign started using the double-headed eagle as his state emblem.
starting 1470s The Heresy of the Judaizers «Zhidovstvuyushchiye» (the Thought of Skhariya the Jew) - religious concept in Novgorod and in Moscow, beginning of a new era of schism in Russia. It may have developed from the earlier Strigolniki religious concept.
Zhidovstvuyuschiye may be loosely translated as «those who follow Jewish traditions».
This was Zacharia, a scholar from Kiev brought to Novgorod from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Zacharia translated a number of Hebrew texts on astronomy, logic and philosophy. «The Belief of Skhariya» denied the Trinity and the divinity of Christ, monasticism, ecclesiastic hierarchy, ceremonies, and immortality of soul.
The Judaizers and their teachings spread to Moscow, where they gained the support of Prince Ivan III.
end of 15th century A split in the ROC for «Non-possessors» (Saint Nilus of Sora), and «Josephites» (Saint Joseph of Volokolamsk).
«Josephites» — connected with the powerful people, were in favor for the greater good of an Orthodox land: the monasteries must be strong and wealthy, that their lands should be vast and in excellent condition, so that the suffering population would always find in these monasteries both spiritual support and material help.
«Non-possessors» - more inward-looking, wary of owning any property at all—never mind peasants—as incompatible with monasticism, and loathe to get involved in politics.
16 century
Sobor of 1503, Sobor of 1504, Sobor of 1531 Sobor (Council) of 1504 condemned heresy of the Sect of Skhariya the Jew, which repudiated some of the dogmas and rites of the ROC. As a result of this sobor, many sectarians were either executed or imprisoned.The Council of 1503 condemned the non-possessors and supported the preservation of Church landowning with the subjection of the Church itself to the Moscow princes. At the Sobor (Council) of 1531 the non-possessors suffered their final defeat.
1510 The monk Philotheus of Pskov addressed Vasily III as «tsar» (emperor), saying: «Two Romes have fallen, but the third stands, and a fourth there will not be». The meaning of the sentence was that the first Rome was heretical, the second—Byzantium—was under Turkish control, and the third was Moscow.
Starting 16th century the Russian tsars always considered themselves as successors of the Byzantine emperors and the political protectors and financial supporters of Orthodoxy throughout the Balkans and the Middle EaSaint Many traditions of medieval Byzantium were faithfully kept. The development of church architecture, iconography, and literature also added to the prestige of the «3rd Rome». But Muscovite political ideology was always influenced more by the beginnings of western European secularism and by Asiatic despotism than by Roman or Byzantine law - the secular goals of the Muscovite state and the will of the monarch always superseded canonical or religious considerations.
1540s Ivan IV (the Terrible) was crowned emperor. In 1551 he solemnly presided in Moscow over a great council of Russian bishops, the Stoglav («Council of 100 Chapters»), in which various issues of discipline and liturgy were settled and numerous Russian saints were canonized.
1566-72 Saint Philip II of Moscow - Metropolitan of Moscow during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. He was one of a few Metropolitans, who was asking to abolish Oprichnina, and it is widely believed that the Tsar had him murdered on that account. He is venerated as a saint and martyr in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Ivan deposed Philip from office by raising incredible charges of sorcery and dissolute living. Philip was arrested and imprisoned, fettered with chains, with a heavy collar around his neck, and was deprived of food for a few days in succession.
In 1569, Philip II was strangled two days before Christmas.
1589 1st Patriarch of «Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia» - the head of the ROC, the metropolitan Job. Confirmed later by the other Eastern Patriarchs, the new Patriarchate obtained the 5th place in the honorific order of the Oriental sees, after the Patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexanderia, Antioch, and Jerusalem.
1595-96 The Union of Brest - the decision of Orthodox bishops in the region of what is modern Ukraine, Poland and Belarus («Rus») to depart from the Orthodox Church and place themselves under the Pope of Rome in order to avoid being ruled by the newly established Patriarch of Moscow. Thus was formed the Unia.
The union was strongly supported by the king of Poland and grand duke of Lithuania, but opposed by Cossack movement for Ukrainian self-rule, by some bishops and nobles of Rus'. The result was «Rus' fighting against Rus» and the splitting of many traditionally Orthodox Christian people from their ancestral Church. Only in 1620 Orthodox hierarchy was consecrated.
The situation in Little Rus before the Union of Brest: A large area in the southwest of the Rus' Empire, Little Rus', became absorbed by Lithuania and Poland after the destruction of Kievan power by the Tartars. In 1386, the kingdoms of Poland and Lithuania were united under a single ruler - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The monarch of the united realm was Roman Catholic, and a substantial minority of the population were Orthodox. These Orthodox were in a difficult situation because the Patriarch of Constantinople could exercise no control in Poland, as the former Byzantine capital had fallen to the Muslim Turks, and the bishops were appointed by the Roman Catholic king of Poland. The authorities in Poland always tried to make the Orthodox submit to the pope to reunify Christianity. With the arrival of the Jesuits in 1564, pressure on the Orthodox increased. Constantinople was under Muslim rule and Moscow had recently been elevated to the status of Patriarchate.
The 1st Protestant churches (Lutheran, Reformed) in Russia appeared in the 16th and 17th centuries in major towns and cities such as Moscow in connection with expatriate communities from western Europe. The Lutheran churches, in particular, represented a sizeable minority in pre-1917 Russia.
17 century
1604-49 In 1604 False Dmitry I publicly converted to Roman Catholicism, in order to attract the support of powerful Jesuits in lieu of the king of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Papacy saw it as an opportunity to increase the hold of Roman Catholicism in Russia.In 1613 the Russians, under the leadership of the Orthodox Church, ended the Time of Troubles by setting up the new Romanov dynasty. Fyodor Romanov as Patriarch of ROC (Filaret) and his son, Michael Romanov as tsar, quickly reestablished absolutism in Moscovy. The ROC had again played a crucial role in protecting the Russian state, but it was not rewarded its independence.
The government, inspired chiefly by Patriarch Filaret, sought to build Russian unity by promoting anti-Catholicism, anti-Protestantism, anti-Polonism and xenophobia and banned the Jesuits from Moscovy, prohibited travel abroad by Russians and ruled that capital punishment will be exacted for the offense of a Russian professing the Catholic church.
starting 1615 An Orthodox hierarchy was reestablished in Kiev. The famous Academy of Kiev ( Kiev-Mohyla Academy), was established. This school served as the theological training centre for almost the entire Russian high clergy in the 17th and 18th centuries.
middle of 17th century Patriarch Nikon (reigned 1652–58) decided to restore the power and prestige of the church by declaring that the Patriarchal office was superior to that of the tsar. He forced the tsar Alexis Romanov to swear obedience to the church.
starting 1653 Raskol - the splitting of the ROC into an official church and the Old Believers movement in the mid-17th century. It was triggered by the reforms of Patriarch Nikon, which aimed to establish uniformity between Greek and ROC practices.
Constants issues in ROC: numerous mistakes in translated from the Greek books, differences between the liturgical practices of the Russians and the Greeks.
Nikon’s solution: to order the exact compliance of all the Russian practices with the contemporary Greek equivalents.
Old Believers resistance reason: why Russia had to accept the practices of the Greeks, who had betrayed Orthodoxy in Florence and had been justly punished by God by becoming captives of the infidel Turks.
Nikon was ultimately deposed for his opposition to the tsar, but his reforms were confirmed by a great council of the church.
1686 The Moscow Patriarchate obtained a part of the Metropolis of Kiev (left-bank Ukraine), which until then comprised the Orthodox population on the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, — from the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Relations with the West, especially after the 17th century, were often vitiated in the East by the incredible corruption of the Turkish government, which constantly fostered diplomatic intrigues.
18 century
Church reforms of Peter Great:1)Peter used the model of Protestant Europe;
2) Peter abolished the Patriarchate;
3) In 1721 Peter transformed the central administration of the church into a department of the state - «Holy Governing Synod», which was modeled after the state-controlled synods of the Lutheran church in Sweden and Prussia and was tightly controlled by the state.
4) Peter issued Spiritual Regulation ( Dukhovny Reglament) that served as bylaws for all religious activities in Russia;
5) Peter’s ecclesiastical advisers were Ukrainian prelates, graduates of the Kievan academy, who introduced in Russia a Western system of theological education;
6)Peter established an office of Procurator and the Chief Procurator - the official title of the head of the Most Holy Synod, effectively the lay head of the ROC, and a member of the Tsar's cabinet;
7)The legal division of Russian society by a rigid caste system was taking place. The clergy was one of the castes with its own school system, and there was little possibility for its children to choose another career;
The Spiritual Regulation of Peter the Great remained in force until the very end of the Russian Empire (1917).
The Synodal Era includes the rise of the dissenters and sectarians.
Church reforms of Catherine the Great:
1) Religious pluralism - ROC was forced to stop seeking new converts in Muslim lands. Catherine II sought to foster stability to the far reaches of the Russian empire. Catherine professed a belief that every Russian subject had to have a religion, but it did not necessarily have to be Russian Orthodox Christianity;
2) Secularization of Church lands: monastic lands were effectively nationalized, with some one million peasants on monastery land becoming state serfs practically overnight;
3) The salaries of all ranks of the clergy were paid by the state instead of the Church, resulting in the clergy effectively becoming employees of the state;
4) The closure of monasteries and convents, and the concentration of monks and nuns in a smaller number of larger establishments;
5) The large numbers of German settlers were invited to Russia, including Mennonites, Lutherans, Reformed and also Roman Catholics.
~1759-1833 Saint Seraphim of Sarov - one of the most renowned monastic figures in Russian Orthodox history. He served as confessor to faithful and to pilgrims and was reputed to work some wonders. He was acclaimed a saint by the ROC in 1903 and proposed as a standard for spirituality.
1722-94 Saint Paisius Velichkovsky - an Eastern Orthodox monk and theologian, responsible for the renewal of monastic life in the 18th century, on Mount Athos, Romania and Imperial Russia; helped spread staretsdom or the concept of the spiritual elders («startsy») to the Slavic world. He is a pivotal figure in Orthodox Church history.
starting 1770s Russian Freemasonry - society that united some 14 lodges and about 400 government officials. Most Russian lodges were attracted to the Swedish Rite. In 1782 Russia was presented as the 8th province of the Rite of Strict Observance. Spooked by the French Revolution, Catherine clamped down Freemasons in the late 1780s. Her son Paul interdicted all Masonic assemblies in 1799.
1794 Russian monks settled on Kodiak Island - the 1st Orthodox communities were established in Alaska and on the West Coast, as the extreme end of the Russian missionary expansion through Siberia.
The rule of Pavel I:
Paul I was easing policy towards the Orthodox Church.
1798 Paul I became a Grand Master of Knights Order of Malta. The Order was dispersed, following Napoleon's taking of Malta, and a large number of refugee Knights sheltered in St Petersburg.
1797 The foundation of the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy, the part of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
19 century
19th century The liberation the Balkan churches from the Turkish yoke:The reasons for the disintegration of Turkish domination in the Balkans: the ideas of the French Revolution, the nationalistic movements, and the intention to bring back Christianity. The Balkan churches freely developed both their national identities and their religious life. Russia supported the rise against the Turks to fight for «faith and homeland».
~1812-1876 Russian Synodal Bible - the 1st Orthodox Church Bible. The Russian Bible Society was founded with the consent of Alexander I, to prepare a Bible in the vernacular. The work was undertaken by Philaret, rector of the Theological Academy of Saint Petersburg (afterward metropolitan of Moscow), and other members of the faculty of the academy. The Society translated, printed and distributed Holy Scripture in over 40 languages.
DOB1782-1867 Metropolitan Philaret - Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna and the most influential figure in the ROC for more than 40 years ( time of 3 emperors: Alexander I, Nicolai I, Alexander II).
The Metropolitan believed that it was his duty to educate about the Church's teachings and traditions. His 1823 Catechism has been an influential book in Russia and in other countries for nearly 200 years. Saint Philaret himself was one of the forces behind the spiritual revival in 19th century Russia.
Metropolitan Philaret tried to regain some of the Church's freedom to administer its own affairs, regarding Church and State as 2 separate entities working in harmony.
1801The Russians annexed Georgia, suppressed Georgia’s autocephaly, and the church was governed by a Russian exarch until 1917, when the Georgians reestablished their ecclesiastical independence.
The church of Georgia was the witness of one of the most ancient Christian traditions. It received autocephaly from its mother church of Antioch as early as the 6th century and developed a literary and artistic civilization in its own language.
1826-28 Armenia was incorporated into the Russian Empire (Treaty of Turkmenchay) signed between Russia and Persia following the Russo-Persian War. Russia was viewed as a protector of the Christian subjects in the Ottoman Empire, including the Armenians.
Even being dependant from the state, ROC kept its self-awareness, promoted education, theological research, biblical translations, and missionary work. In each of its 67 dioceses, the ROC created a seminary for the training of priests and teachers. 4 theological academies, or graduate schools, were established in major cities (Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kiev, Kazan). They provided a generally excellent theological training for both Russians and foreigners.
The prophetic ministry of the «startsy» - the spiritual elders, who acted as living examples of the standards of the spiritual life or as advisers and confessors. They attracted large masses of the common people and also intellectuals. The startsy of Optino - Leonid (1768–1841), Makarius (1788–1860), and Ambrose (1812–91) - were visited not only by thousands of ordinary Christians but also by the writers N.Gogol, L.Tolstoy, and F.Dostoyevsky.
1863-64 After suppressing the Polish Insurrection the Russian government took decisive steps to eradicate Polish autonomy and influence and the power of the Catholic church in Right-Bank Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania.
During Alexander's II reign the Russification of west territories of Russia intensified. The Catholic church was abolished. The non-Russian language publications, books and theatre were prohibited. The growth of radical populism provoked government repressions, which in turn escalated antigovernment terrorism. Faced with this situation, the government prepared administrative and constitutional reforms that aroused hopes among west territories liberal circles. But Alexander's assassination put an end to these projects and hopes.
The history of Russian evangelical Protestantism was anticipated Molokan, Dukhobor, Stundists, Tolstoyan rural communes etc.
The 1st Russian Baptist communities arose in 3 widely separated regions of the Russian Empire (Transcaucasia, Ukraine, and Saint Petersburg) in the 1860s-70s.
When conservative tsar Alexander III ascended in 1881 to the throne, his former tutor and the Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod Constantine Pobedonostsev launched an energetic campaign against the heterodoxy based on a combination of repressive and educational measures. This campaign turned out to be a failure mostly due to passiveness of the official Church which was paralyzed by the strict control of the state.
DOB1829-1909 John of Kronstadt - Orthodox archpriest and a member of the Synod of the ROC. He was known for his mass common confessions, numerous miracles and charitable work, as well as for his monarchist, chauvinistic, anti-Semitic and anticommunist views. The grave of John became a place of pilgrimage.
Missionary expansion also continued, particularly in western Asia, Japan, and Alaska.
20 century
The rule of Nicholas II:1)The eve of the 20th century must have appeared as 2 different worlds occupying the same physical space:
1st was the «outside» world of a growing bourgeoisie, the rise of popular culture, positivism, and materialism, quantum mechanics, the theory of relativity, the cinema, the cars, the airplanes etc.
2nd - mysterious «inside» world: F.Nietzsche and Z.Freud, Theosophy, Spiritualism etc.
The upper middle class and the intelligentsia responded by undertaking intense spiritual searches that took them in untraditional directions, namely to religious philosophies, orthodox and unorthodox, speculative mysticism, and occult and esoteric philosophies of every kind. Occultism was a popular intellectual fashion of the period.
2) October manifesto of 1905 declared the freedom of religion. It clause outraged the ROC because it allowed people to switch to evangelical Protestantism, which they denounced as heresy.
3) After 1905 tsar Nicholas II attempted to establish all-ROC Council, reestablish the church’s independence, lost since Peter the Great, and eventually to restore the Patriarchate.
4) Grigori Rasputin (1869-1916) - a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who befriended the family of Tsar Nicholas II and gained considerable influence in late imperial Russia.
At the time of deepening of conflict between State Duma and Holy Synod the phenomenon of Rasputin related to popular in elite manifestation of Russian ascetism and mysticism. Tsar Nicholas met Rasputin in 1906 , and immediately recognized him as a man of pure faith.
Rasputin became increasingly unpopular at the end of World War I. He was assassinated by a group of conservative noblemen.
1910-30 The Ottoman Empire's treatment of its Christian subjects varied during its history. During the golden age of the empire, Christians and Jews were considered protected under Ottoman law ( the millet system). During the decline and fall of the empire, the Christian minorities suffered a number of atrocities: the ethnic cleansing of Bulgarians in 1913 and the Armenian Genocide, Greek Genocide and Assyrian Genocide, all of which occurred during the last few decades of the empire under the influence of Pan-Turkism.
October Revolution:
1) The World War I and the Russian Revolution created turmoil in Russia. Patriarch (Tikhon, Metropolitan of Moscow) was elected only in 1917, days after October revolution, after a period of about 200 years of the Synodal rule in the ROC.
2) The Bolshevik government considered all religion as the «opium of the people»;
3) A decree of 1918, depriving the church of all legal rights, including that of owning property. The Petrine Synodal higher church authority and the Ober-Procurator were abolished forever;
4)At decree of 1922 - the confiscation of all valuable objects preserved in the churches;
5) The schism between the «Renovated» and «Living Church»:
Living Church was faithful to the Patriarch - these bishops and clergy were tried and executed.
The Renovated Church betrayed Patriarch, admitted married priests to the episcopate and permitted widowed priests to remarry.
6) The Russian Revolution provoked a massive political emigration, predominantly to western Europe and particularly France. It included eminent churchmen, theologians, and Christian intellectuals, such as Bulgakov, Berdyayev, and Zenkovsky. In 1922 Patriarch Tikhon appointed Metropolitan Evlogy as head of the émigré churches, with residence in Paris.
The rule of Joseph Stalin:
1)In late 1920s and ’30s the church suffered a bloody persecution that claimed thousands of victims. By 1939 only few Orthodox bishops and 100 churches could officially function; the church was practically suppressed.
2) Stalin revived the ROC at the time of World War II 1941-45, to intensify patriotic support for the war effort. The church received permission to convene a council in 1943, that elected Sergius Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus'. The Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary which had been closed since 1918 was re-opened.
3)After World War II the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian autonomies were again suppressed. After World War II communist regimes were established in the Balkan states. There were no attempts, however, to liquidate the churches entirely.
The era of Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev:
Nikita Khrushchev's anti-religious campaign of 1958-64 - the last large-scale anti-religious campaign undertaken in the Soviet Union. The aim of campaign was to achieve the atheist society that communism envisioned. Also Soviet government wanted to reduce the stature and membership of the church, grown up at the time of World War II.
It was carried out by mass closures of churches, monasteries, convents, seminaries. The campaign also included a restriction of parental rights for teaching religion to their children; a ban on the presence of children at church services; a ban of all services held outside of church walls; renewed enforcement of the 1929 legislation banning pilgrimages; disallowed the ringing of church bells and services in daytime. Non-fulfillment of these regulations by clergy would lead to disallowance of state registration for them. The state carried out forced retirement, arrests and prison sentences to clergymen, who criticized atheism or the anti-religious campaign.
The harsh measures against the church were continued through the Brezhnev era.
1970sIn the 1970s a broad movement of national dissent began to spread throughout the Soviet Union, which was largely suppressed by KGB by the end of the 1970s.
Perestroika and collapse of Soviet Union:
1)In 1988 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Kievan Rus': government-supported celebrations took place in Moscow and other cities; many older churches and some monasteries were reopened; a ban on religious propaganda on state TV was finally lifted.
2)The communist governments throughout eastern Europe collapsed, effectively dissolving state control over churches and bringing new political and religious freedoms into the region.
3) Post-Soviet period 1990s:
Metropolitan Alexy presided over the partial return of Orthodox Christianity to Russian society after 70 years of repression, transforming the ROC to something resembling its pre-communist appearance; some 15,000 churches had been re-opened. The ROC also sought to fill the ideological vacuum left by the collapse of Communism.
4)The ROC branches in Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Moldova and Ukraine since the 1990s enjoy various degrees of self-government.
Religions: Islam
9 century
The penetration of Islam into the Khazar state began in the 7th century thanks to the Arab merchants. The Khazar rulers viewed Islam as the religion of their enemies of the Arabs, and Islam was not established in Khazaria as the state religion. For a long time Islam remained the religion of the lower classes and Arab traders.10 century
919 - 922 Volga Bulgaria of the early period was under the protectorate of Khazaria and its political influence. In an effort to get rid of the Khazar dependence, Bulgaria entered into an alliance with the Baghdad Caliphate. Volga Bulgaria sent an embassy to the Baghdad Caliph with a proposal to send the clergy to the country's conversion to Islam. Islam is the state religion of Volga Bulgaria since 922.With the adoption of Islam by the Itil Bulgaria, the previous runic writing was replaced by Arabic, and the foundations of the Bulgarian written culture and the formation of scientific and philosophical thought were laid. The number of mosques, and with them schools, began to grow rapidly. In Bulgaria, talented scientists appeared in various fields of science: mathematics, astronomy, medicine, history, etc.
In the cities of Bulgar, Suvar, Billyar, Kazan large centers of science were formed, which spread the views of famous Arab philosophers and scientists. Volga-Kama Bulgaria in the 10-13th centuries occupied a territory from the Volga-Kama interfluve in the north to the Samara bow in the south (now it is the territory of Tatarstan, Chuvashia, Ulyanovsk, Samara regions).
13 century
After the victory on the river Kalka (1223), the Mongols defeated the southern Bulgarian cities and the capital Bilyar. The Mongol army passed the whole country: all the cities and fortresses were destroyed. After that, they freely went to the Russian land.In 1224, Genghis Khan divided his state into 4 ulus, according to the number of sons. 1st son received land in the northwestern outskirts of the empire, 2nd son, Chagatay-Central Asia (Chagatai ulus) 3rd son - Western Mongolia and Dzungaria. The 4th son is central Mongolia. Chagatai ulus occupied the territory of modern Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and also Semirechye in Kazakhstan.
1312 From the mid-13th through the 15th centuries, the descendants of Genghis Khan began to convert to Islam. When Khan Uzbek in the Golden Horde, Islam became the state religion. The religious policy of Uzbek, with a loyal attitude towards all religions, was aimed at strengthening the role of Islam in public life and politics.
1430 The collapse of the Golden Horde began: the Crimean Khanate, the Kazan Khanate, the Siberian Khanate formed. The Golden Horde broke up into the Great (1433-1502) and Nogai (1440-1634) Horde. The Great Horde, the successor of the Golden Horde, claimed suzerainty over Muscovy. Kazan Khanate (1438-1552) - Middle Volga;
Astrakhan Khanate (1459-1556) - Lower Volga; Nogai Horde (1440-1634) - between the Volga and the Urals, as well as modern western Kazakhstan; Crimean Khanate (1443-1783) - modern Crimea, southern Ukraine, Krasnodar Territory; Siberian Khanate (1490-1598) - from the Ural Mountains to the rivers Nadym and Pima.
At the end of the 15th century, the attempts of the Moscow grand Princes began to establish control over Kazan. In 1552, Ivan 4 the Terrible conquered Kazan, and in 1556 the Astrakhan Khanate. In 1582-1598 the Siberian Khanate was conquered. Gradually, other Islamic states were annexed to Orthodox Tsarist Russia by military means.
After the conquest of the Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberian Khanates, the influence of Islam in these areas sharply decreased. Muslims were subjected to Christianization right up to the beginning-middle of the 18th century.
The Islamization of the peoples of the Western Caucasus is associated with military-political activity in this region of the Ottoman Empire and its vassal - the Crimean Khanate.
18 century
By the end of the 18th century, the position of Islam in the Western Caucasus had become stronger: in 1717, the Ottoman sultan ordered the Crimean Khans Devlet-Giray and Kaza-Giray to spread Islam among the Adygs; Turkic peoples of the Western Caucasus converted to Islam in the middle and end of the 18th century. Many Adygian clans, who refused to accept Islam, went to the Cossack villages along the rivers of the Kuban and the Terek.1788 Creation of the OMDS in Russia - the Orenburg Mohammedan spiritual meeting led by the mufti. The composition of the OMDS and the candidacy of the muftis were approved by the emperor. Most muftis were elected from Kazan Tatars. In the 19th century, the Ministry of Spiritual Affairs determined that the mufti should be elected by a Muslim society.
19 century
From the end of the 18th century in the Caucasus, the idea arose of reviving and reviving Islam, when Caucasians could throw off the Russian yoke. In 1834, the movement of jihad and the fight against the infidels was led by Shamil, during which the teachings of muridism reached enormous influence in the Caucasus. Only with the end of the Caucasian War in 1864, the influence of Muridism was significantly reduced.In the 19th century, among the Russian Muslims (Volga and Crimean Tatars), the Jadidism movement developed. Jadidism was a movement for the dissemination of enlightenment, the development of Turkic languages and literature, the study of secular disciplines, the use of scientific achievements, and the equal rights of women.
20 century
1970-90s 1917 - appeal «To all the working Muslims of Russia and the East» - the Muslim population was intended to support the formation of Soviet power. The Bashkir, Tatar, Turkestan and other republics were established for the Muslim peoples. After a short period of encouraging Islam, from the mid-1920s, the Soviet government switched to the direct suppression of Islamic religious life and culture. About ~ 12 thousand mosques were closed and destroyed, in the years of the Stalinist terror from 30 to 50 thousand Muslim clerics were killed. During the Second World War there was a weakening of religious oppression of Muslims.In the late 1970s and early 1980s, there was an intensification of Muslim religious and nationalist sentiments in the southern republics of the USSR, aided by the war in Afghanistan and the Islamic revolution in Iran. The KGB noted that among the Tajik and Uzbek youth, Wahhabi teaching was widespread. In 1992, after perestroika, the collapse of the Muslim Spiritual Administration into regional spiritual administrations occurred.
Religions: Judaism
9 century
In the 8th-9th centuries the Khazars adopted the Jewish religion, which helped them to occupy an independent position between the fighting parties: Byzantium and the Caliphate. Judaism was professed by the Tsar, the Tsar's entourage and his family. The rest of the Khazars confessed Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and pagan cults.10 century
The history of Eastern European Jews is associated with the Khazar state in the North Caucasus. Jewish merchants - radanity, traded under the auspices of the Khazar rulers. They spoke several languages, including Slavic.11 century
At the end of the 10th century, the Khazar Khaganate was defeated by the troops of the Kiev Prince Svyatoslav, and the Jewish communities in Eastern Europe fell under the rule of the Princes of Ancient Russia.12 century
1113 During Svyatoslav Izyaslavich, Jewish trade flourished, causing resentment among Christians. In 1113 in Kiev, after the death of the money-loving Prince, unrest occurred in the Jewish Quarter.13 century
Kiev Jews transferred from Hebrew to Old Russian biblical books by Joseph Flavius, a cycle of legends about Solomon, etc. The Tatar-Mongol invasion of 1240 destroyed the first Jewish community.14 century
During the Tatar-Mongol invasion, the Jews were either exterminated or fled to Lithuania or to the Southern Crimea.15 century
Poland opened the doors to Jews expelled from Spain. In Novgorod, a sect of «Jews» appeared after Novgorodians invited a representative of Lithuania to reign. Together with him a suite arrived in Novgorod, which included several Jews, one of whom was a learned Jew Sharya (see «Rebellions).16 century
After the condemnation of the heresy of the «Jews», Ivan the Terrible issued a decree banning Jews from living in Russia, and to merchant Jews, even foreign nationals, entry to Russia. This royal decree was the first open step in the struggle of Russia against Jewry.17 century
During the Russian-Polish wars, Jews defended themselves together with the Poles. The prisoners were sent to Novgorod, Smolensk, Kazan, Little Russia. It was the beginning of the 1st Jewish communities in central Russia. Jewish merchants appeared in Moscow, creating competition for Russian merchants. The trade regulations of 1667 forbade foreigners to trade at retail. In 1676 a decree appeared forbidding Jewish merchants from coming from Smolensk. This is how the prototype of the future «Pale» appeared.18 century
The annexation of a large part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in which Jews constituted a significant proportion of the population with a special legal status. Catherine 2 introduced the Pale of Settlement and interest rates to universities for Jews. If a Jew converted to Christianity, these norms ceased to apply to him. Devil was called the border of the territory of the Russian Empire, outside of which, from 1791 to 1915, the permanent residence of Jews was prohibited.19 century
The stereotypes of «Jewish exploitation» and «religious fanaticism of the Jews» were the cause of the tightened policy towards the Jews. 1881-82 - Jewish pogroms in ~ 166 cities of Russia. The shock of the pogroms and the new wave of restrictions led to their inclusion in the revolutionary struggle. At the same time, the number of the Jewish population in the period 1795-1897 increased by ~ 6.7 times, reaching almost ~ 6 million. The 2nd wave of pogroms took place in 1903-05. Mass emigration of Jews began, ~ 2 million Jews left the country.20 century
The February Revolution of 1917 lifted restrictions for Jews. In the 1st years after the October Revolution, Jews from other countries migrated to the USSR. 1930 - formation of the Jewish Autonomous Region Birobidzhan. During the Great Patriotic War, almost half of the Soviet Jews were exterminated by the fascists. In 1948, the USSR 1m recognized the state of Israel. In 1953, relations with Israel were severed after the initiation of the «Doctors' Case» in the USSR. In 1968, relations broke again after the 6-day war, and Jews were allowed to emigrate from the USSR. The 2nd wave of emigration began after perestroika in 1989.Religions: Buddhism
9 century
698-926 Bohai State (Primorye and Amur). The Bohai, whose culture was greatly influenced by neighboring China, Korea and Manchuria, practiced Buddhism in one of the Mahayana movements.Tuva (located in the upper reaches of the Yenisei, on the border with Mongolia): until the middle of the 9th century, the territory of Tuva was part of the Turkic and Uigur kaganates. Together with the ancient Turks, Buddhism came to Tuva.
11 century
Tuva: at 11-12, the Mongol-speaking tribes began to come to the territory of Tuva. In the 13th century under Khubilai Khan, Buddhism in Mongolia and the lands under its control entered its heyday.16 century
Buryatia, Kalmykia: in present-day Russia, Buddhism became widespread in 16-17 centuries from Mongolia through the nomads of Kalmyks (Oirats) who settled in the northern Caspian region (Kalmykia) and on the lands of present-day Buryatia (Buryatia).17 century
Kalmykia: Buddhism in the Volga began with the arrival of nomads of Oirat-Mongols from Central Asia. In 1608, the Oirat ambassadors met with Vasily Shuisky in Moscow. In the Volga region, the 1st and the only Buddhist Kalmyk Khanate in Europe (1640-1771) was established as Russian autonomy. In 1655, the Dalai Lama granted Shukur-Daichin the title of Khan. Shukur-Daichin recognized the protectorate of the Russian Tsar.18 century
During the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, Buddhism received official recognition as one of the state religions. Tibetan Buddhism was spreading in Buryatia. In 1764, Catherine II established the post of Pandita Hambo Lama, the head of the Buddhists of Eastern Siberia and Transbaikalia. In 1766, the Buryat lamas recognized Catherine as the embodiment of White Tara on earth.19 century
Kalmykia: after the liquidation of the Kalmyk Khanate in 18v, Kalmykia became one of the regions of Tsarist Russia. Buryatia: after the construction of the Trans-Siberian railway. Highways population of Siberia increased by ~ 71%, the land and administrative reforms caused a split in the Buddhist church. Tuva: after the conquest of Tuva by the Manchus in 18th century, Buddhism became especially widespread. At the beginning of the 20th century, Tuva became a protectorate of Russia.20 century
In 1915, a Buddhist temple was opened in Petrograd, the 1st in Europe. In the first years after the October Revolution, the new government supported the Buddhists, but already in the 1930s, the Buddhists were persecuted, the monasteries were closed and ravaged. In 1945, the authorities again allowed the Buryat Buddhists to practice their faith, and the Ivolginsky Datsan was opened, where the residence of Lama, the head of the Buddhists of Russia, was located. Since the beginning of perestroika, many Buddhist groups have been registered. Back to top
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