12
December 1667 A.D. Autocratic Patriarch Nikon Deposed
Jesus Christ came in meekness
and humility, renouncing the emblems of power and status. He did not impose his
ways on anyone or force a form of worship. When his disciples jockeyed for
position, he urged them to serve one another. His followers thorugh the ages
did not always grasp the implication of this teaching or follow it.
A case in point occurred in the
events which led a council to depose Nikon, Patriarch of Moscow, on this day, December
12, 1667. Greek and Russian prelates joined in making the decision, which Tsar
Alexis Romanov demanded. The Tsar was easily able to attain his objective
because the high-handed Nikon was most unpopular.
Mistakes and mistranslations had
crept into the Russian liturgy. For instance, the Russians signed the cross
with two fingers, rather than three as the Greeks did. Nikon insisted on
reform. But many Christians who grew up with
the traditional Russian forms protested the change back to Greek forms. If the
Greeks were so correct, why had God placed most of Orthodoxy under Turkish
rule? Nikon responded in autocratic fashion and, with full state cooperation,
attempted to crush anyone who refused to accept his new service book.
It is not clear why Alexis
stepped in; probably he did so because Nikon tried to shake off state control
of the church. Under pressure from the Tsar, Nikon resigned, but was reluctant
to relinquish his power. He continued to agitate for a restoration of his
authority. In fact, he even returned to Moscow and tried to take up his duties
as if nothing had happened. The Tsar wanted to replace him, but, to avoid
charges that there were two patriarchs, requested that Nikon be formally
deposed.
The synod agreed. Anger, hurt
feelings, and retaliation were apparent in its decision: "Whereas we have
now learned that Nikon lived tyrannically, and not meekly as befits a prelate,
and that he was given to iniquity, rapacity, and tyranny, we debar him, in
accordance with the divine and sacred canons of the evangelizing apostles and
of the ecumenical and local Orthodox councils, from every sacerdotal function,
so that henceforth he shall have no power to perform any episcopal act ... and
we decree with the entire local church council that henceforth he be known as a
common monk called Nikon, and not as patriarch of Moscow; he will be assigned a
place to dwell to the very end of his days, and may it be some old and suitable
monastery, where he can lament his sins in great silence."
Though he was banished to a
monastery on the White Sea, Nikon's reforms were kept. The persecution of Old
Believers that he had instigated continued. Later, the dying Alexis implored
the forgiveness of the man he had ruined. After fourteen years of imprisonment
(which was sometimes very harsh) Nikon was invited back to Moscow by a new
Tsar, but he died along the way. He was buried with full honors.
Bibliography:
1. Avvakum Petrovich. The Life of the Archpriest Avvakum , by himself. Translated
from the seventeenth century Russian by Jane Harrison and Hope Mirrlees. With a
pref. by Prince D.S. Mirsky. London, Hogarth Press, 1963.
2. Fortescue, Adrian. "Nikon." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York:
Robert Appleton, 1914.
3. "Nikon." New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious
Knowledge. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1954.
4. "Nikon." The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church.
Edited by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford, 1997.
5. Various church histories and histories of Eastern Orthodoxy.
Last updated May,
2007.
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