Russian Catholic Church of the Byzantine rite. Parishes and communities of the Russian Greek Catholic Church

The website of the Information Service receives many questions related to joining the Catholic Church, and, in particular, with the question of preserving or changing the rite in this case. For clarification, we turned to the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow, Monsignor Sergei Timashov.

Boris asks: “Hello! I found out such a thing that supposedly during the transition from Orthodoxy to Catholicism, after courses of catechesis, a letter should be sent to the Vatican about permission to become a Catholic of the Latin rite, and why then the abbots do not say anything about this? "

There are several points in this question that require clarification. First of all, it is incorrect to speak of a “transition” as if it were a transition from one parish to another. The Catholic Church, being convinced of the truth and validity of the sacraments in the Eastern Churches, does not question the Christian tradition that these Churches preserve (this is clearly evidenced, in particular, by the documents of the Second Vatican Council). On the other hand, the Catholic Church is convinced that she has been entrusted with the fullness of truth, and therefore she cannot but accept as its members people who, being actually baptized outside the Catholic Church, wish to enter into communion with the Church gathered around the Bishop of Rome. in which, as the same Second Vatican Council teaches, the fullness of the Church of Christ dwells.

Secondly, the desire of those entering into full communion with the Catholic Church to do this precisely in the Latin rite is not at all something obvious - at least for the Church itself. Indeed, according to canon 35 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, “baptized non-Catholics entering into full communion with the Catholic Church should preserve and practice their rite throughout the world and observe it to the best of their ability. Thus, they must be accepted into the Church. sui iuris the same rite, while retaining the right of individuals, communities or regions in special cases to appeal to the Holy See.

As you can see, the Church most urgently recommends the Eastern Christians joining her to remain in their own, that is, in this case in the Byzantine rite, and only if this seems impossible, you can apply to the Holy See to change the rite.

Why is the Church so insistent on the preservation of the rite?

Since we are talking about baptized people, the Church cannot but pay attention to the fact that they already belong to a certain tradition that led them, or their parents or relatives, to the idea of ​​baptism. The beginning of the Christian life is precisely baptism, and not the moment of more or less conscious knowledge of the catechism. Thus, the fact that a person is baptized in some Christian Church or church community means that, by virtue of his personal history, he is already included in some heritage, which is called a rite. The Catholic Church recognizes the existence within itself of the rites of the six traditions, and affirms the equal dignity of the Churches, which are the expression of these rites.

It must be admitted that historically, in many cases, there was an idea of ​​some superiority and perfection of the Latin rite in comparison with others, which very often unconsciously (however, sometimes consciously) led to the desire to convince Christians, realizing the need for Catholic unity, to practice faith precisely in Latin rite. It was these delusions that gradually led the popes in the 19th century to the need to affirm and protect the equal dignity of all rituals, and in fact to prohibit the Latin clergy from luring inexperienced and insufficiently versed Christians into their rite. The equal dignity of the rites is a firm and clear teaching of the Catholic Church, and this teaching, because it was overshadowed by prejudice, needed such disciplinary and canonical protection.

Guided by the desire to protect the equality of ritual and to make it as easy as possible for the way of life in the Catholic faith, The Church does not leave the question of belonging to the rite of the free choice of a Christian. The ceremony is determined at the time of baptism. It is determined either by the parents wishing to baptize the child, or by the adult himself wishing to be baptized.

At the same time, it is important to understand that from the point of view of the discipline of the Church, belonging to the rite is determined by belonging to a certain cultural and spiritual heritage, and not by the belonging of the minister of baptism. Let me emphasize again: the rite is determined by the origin of the baptized person, and not by the church in which the baptism was performed... For example, if Catholic parents, due to their absence within the reach of the Catholic parish, brought a child to be baptized in an Orthodox church, he does not become a member of the Russian Orthodox Church.

However, the fact of a real life meeting with Christ in a Church practicing a different rite than the rite of baptism (for example, in the Latin rite for Orthodox Christians) may constitute a serious motive for the transition to the Church of the Latin rite. However, it is not the Christian himself, and not even the abbot with whom he is associated, but only the Apostolic See, to determine whether this motive is a legitimate reason for changing the rite, according to canon law.

“And what about those who went through the accession before permission was required to change the ritual,” asks Andrey. "What is their status?"

The Code of Canon of the Eastern Churches has been in effect since 1990. Consequently, at least from this time on, no implicit desire to join the Catholic Church in the Latin rite, if it was not expressed to the Apostolic See in the corresponding written request, does not entail any legal consequences. All Christians who were baptized in the Orthodox Church and subsequently received in full communion with the Catholic Church are Catholics of the Byzantine rite, unless they have asked and received permission from the Apostolic See to change the rite.

It should be admitted that for quite a long time the clergy and catechists of Latin parishes, meeting with requests to join the Catholic Church, did not pay their attention and attention to those who came to these provisions of church discipline.

Question: "What is the 'rite' of joining (if a person has already been baptized in the Orthodox Church), is this the '8th sacrament'?"

Of course, we are not talking about a sacrament. Anyone who is either baptized in the Catholic Church or entered into it by a formal act is a Catholic. The act of accession is irrevocable and irrevocable, therefore the Church insists that everything possible be done to ensure that this decision is made consciously. The parish rector is responsible for this, and he decides what forms of preparation are needed for this.

Ivan's question: "Is catechesis obligatory upon the transition from the Orthodox Church to the Catholic (accession)"?

Since catechesis is the transfer of faith in preparation for baptism, it is impossible here to speak of catechesis in the proper sense of the word. On the other hand, it is obvious that the very decision to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church must be conscious - not only for the one who asks for it, but also for the Church itself. It should be clear to the community of the Church that a Christian who asks for full communion understands what the Church is and that this is not a momentary decision on his part. Communication is provided into it accept, and this means that only desire is not enough, but active action of the other side is also needed. Thus, what in this case is usually called "catechesis" is actually a period of acquaintance with the teachings of the Catholic Church, acquaintance with the Catholic community as such, so that a person can clearly see where he is going. This entire period is aimed at ensuring greater freedom in the decision to join.

Since full communion obviously presupposes the acceptance of the sacraments, the Church, for her part, must make sure that a person is ready for this acceptance of the sacraments, that he has a correct understanding of his church affiliation, an understanding of confession and communion. Traditionally, this time is several months. In particular, the Church pays great attention to the proper celebration of the Day of the Lord's Resurrection, primarily through participation in the Sunday liturgy.

Related to this is another question from Ivan: “If a person does not want to undergo catechesis (due to lack of time, if he already has faith and knowledge), can he be attached, or is he“ obliged ”to take a course that is unnecessary for him?

The basis for immediate accession to the Catholic Church can only be the imminent danger of death. Any Catholic priest can do this. In all other cases, there is no reason for any particular rush.

It is important to understand that one can only ask to join the Church, it cannot be asked for. An attempt to demand something from the Church is evidence of an insufficiently clear understanding of its nature, and does not indicate that a person has the Catholic faith.

Question: “Does this mean, nevertheless, that the Catholics, who learned about their belonging to the Byzantine rite, now must to start the sacraments in the parishes of the Byzantine rite? "

Appropriate word: are called... Canon 40 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches expresses the strong desire of the Church that the faithful strive to learn more deeply and love their rite. At the same time, insisting on belonging to the rite arising from baptism, the Church assumes the possibility for each individual Christian to come and receive the sacraments in the Catholic Church of any rite.

Information Service of the Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow

Father Doctor Rostislav Kolupaev, “Russia Cristiana”, Italy, for the magazine “Patriyarkhat”

The Apostolic Exarchate for Catholics of the Byzantine Rite (Esarcato Apostolico per i catholici di rito bizantino), the church of its right, was formed at a Council convened on May 28-31, 1917 by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky in Petrograd. The Council considered the following issues: the adoption of the constitutional provisions of the legal, canonical status, the directions of church-state relations, the liturgical and liturgical side and the discipline of the sacraments, the preservation of the purity of the rite from romanization, the norms of the clergy's behavior were developed, all this was reflected in the relevant decrees. Pope Benedict XV on February 24, 1921, confirmed the legality of the actions of Cyrus Andrey Sheptytsky, whose jurisdiction, by virtue of his title of Metropolitan of Kiev, extended to the regions that were part of Russia. On 03/01/1921, the Holy Father approved Protopresbyter Leonid Fedorov (1879 - 1935), appointed by the Exarch, who was endowed with episcopal power with the subordination of all dioceses within the Russian state, with the exception of the dioceses of Little and White Russia within their ethnographic boundaries. The Provisional Government, as the highest legislative and executive body of state power, operating between the February and October revolutions of 1917 in Russia, recognized the decisions of the Council.

The main task of the Russian Greek Catholic Church was to establish mutual understanding with the Russian Orthodox Church, which freed itself from state control and normalized its canonical position at the Local Council of 1917-1918. Leonid Fyodorov was in contact with Patriarch Tikhon (Belavin), whom he met on 08/01/1921. He also communicated with other Orthodox hierarchs, strove for rapprochement with the clergy, tried to spread sound ideas about Catholicism. In large cities of Russia, Orthodox Christians gladly responded to the invitation of Eastern Catholics; congresses were jointly organized, abstracts were read, conversations and disputes were arranged. Parishes and monastic communities arose in Moscow, Petrograd and other cities, but in 1922-1923, as a result of open persecution by the atheist state, the activities of the Catholic Church were generally prohibited, the clergy and laity were physically destroyed as a result of repression, and church property was lost. 12/05/1922 all Catholic churches, both Latin and Byzantine rite were closed, and a little later the exarch was arrested and sentenced to 10 years, 11/12/1923 - Abbess Ekaterina Abrikosova (1882 - 1936) was arrested with the sisters of the Dominican monastery of the Byzantine rite in Moscow , in Leningrad, sister Julia Danzas (1879-1942) was arrested and sent to Solovki.

In 1956, the surviving nuns N. Rubashova and V. Gorodets were released, they lived in Moscow, V. Kuznetsova and S. Eismont settled in Vilnius.

On 02/16/1931, Vice-Exarch Sergiy Soloviev (1885 - 1942) was arrested, appointed to this post in 1926 by Bishop Pius Neveu, illegal methods of interrogation were used against him, as a result of which he was under compulsory treatment in a special psychiatric hospital in Kazan.

In 1932, the Orthodox Bishop Bartholomew Remov (1888-1935) joined the Russian Church, he organized an underground men's monastery, in 1933 Pope Pius XII approved him as vicar bishop for Russian Catholics of the Byzantine rite with the title of Archbishop of Sergievsky. At the bishop's apartment, meetings were held with the participation of the hierarchs of the Patriarchal Church of Metropolitans Arseny (Stadnitsky), Anatoly (Grisyuk) and others, where the question of concluding an alliance with Rome in order to overcome the church turmoil was discussed. In February 1935, Archbishop Bartholomew Remov was arrested and shot several months later for his connection with the Vatican.

On 10/09/1939, the next exarch of Russia was the Studite abbot, Father Clementy Sheptytsky (1869-1951), he was appointed by Metropolitan Andrei in Lvov, which was confirmed by Pope Pius XII on 12/22/1941. Given the wartime circumstances, the practical possibilities for the management of the Russian Greek Catholic Church were limited. The exarch did a great deal of theoretical and preparatory work, he analyzed the position of religion in the USSR as a whole, the church-canonical and state-legal state of the Orthodox Church, its lack of freedom in matters of internal life, the destruction of church institutions; the problem of schisms and sects; the state of religious literacy of the people, the possibility of catechesis and religious enlightenment; information was collected about the martyrs and confessors of the faith; explored the prospects for church unity. In 1941, a territorial clarification of the exarchate was introduced - ethnographic Great Russia, Finland and Siberia. In 1942, at the Council of Exarchs in Lvov, the issue of division into Russian and Siberian exarchates was considered. Exarch Klementy Sheptytsky on 05/01/1951 died in prison in Vladimir.

Vice-Exarch Viktor Novikov (1905 - 1979) was sent to the territory of the USSR for missionary purposes, later Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky blessed him to be the Catholic Exarch of Siberia. Novikov was in the rank of bishop, which was not disclosed, being arrested on 6/23/1941 and being in the camp in Dzheskazgan, on 01/01/1950 he secretly ordained deacon, the future bishop of the UGCC Pavel Vasilik (1926 -2004).

The work of Russian Catholics of the Byzantine rite continued among the Russian emigration. Once in Western countries, many Russian people, having experienced a state of freedom of conscience, stopped their religious choice on the Catholicism of the Byzantine rite, which allowed them to enrich their faith with universal unity with the Ecumenical Apostolic See, while preserving the usual traditional forms of religious worship in the so-called Russian synodal rite. The hierarchical and ecclesiastical-administrative ministry among them was carried out by the following people. This is Peter Buchis (1872 - 1951), in 1930-1933 the Apostolic Visitor for Russian Catholics in Central and Western Europe, 02/08/1931 he concelebrated in Rome with Bishop Stanislavsky Grigory Khomyshin during the ordination of Nikolai Charnetsky.

The next one is Alexander Evreinov (1877-1959), bishop from 06.12.1936, for the first time in the history of the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome, he celebrated the solemn liturgy of St. John Chrysostom on the occasion of the celebration of the celebration of the 950th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus, he was co-served by the rector of the Lviv Theological Academy, father Joseph Slipy, and the abbot of the Studites, father Klimenty Sheptytsky.

Archbishop Boleslav Sloskans (1893 - 1981), Latgalian, - former administrator of the Mogilev Roman Catholic Metropolis, member of the Supreme Council for Emigration at the Sacred Consistorial Congregation. He found himself abroad in 1933 after many years spent in Soviet camps and prisons, including in Solovki, where he was with Leonid Fedorov. He was appointed Apostolic Visitor for Russian and Belarusian Catholics in Western Europe on 09.12.1952.

Bishop Pevel Meletyev (1880-1962) was hegumen in the Solovetsky Monastery, in 1920 he was arrested by the Soviet authorities, spent many years in camps, in prisons, in exile, in 1937-1941 he was in the position of a catacomb Orthodox priest. During the German occupation, he participated in the revival of church life in the Smolensk, Bryansk and Mogilev regions, on 7/12/1943 ordained bishop with the title Roslavl, participated in the Council of the Autocephalous Belarusian Orthodox Church in Minsk on 5/12/1944. Then he found himself in the West, lived in Czechoslovakia, Austria, Munich, in 1946 Bishop Paul, together with his sister Abbess Seraphima, reunited with the Catholic Church, from 1948 he settled in Belgium, first in the Sheveton Monastery (Monastere de la Sainte-Croix, Chevetogne, Belgique ), and then from 1951 in Brussels. In 1955 Meletyev ordained the Russian émigré Vasily von Burman to the rank of deacon, the author of the famous book Leonid Fedorov, published by Joseph Slipy in Rome in 1966.

Archbishop Andrei Katkov (1916 - 1995), was born in Irkutsk, later in exile in Harbin, where the Catholic Exarchate of Manchuria was created in the Russian diaspora, led by Belarusian Marians. Katkov entered this order and was sent to study in Rome in 1939, became a priest in 1944, was sent to work in refugee camps threatened with forced extradition to the USSR, then served in Great Britain and Australia in the Russian parishes of the Byzantine rite. Hieromonk Andrew was summoned to Rome by Pope John XXIII and on 11/14/1958 was appointed bishop coadjutor of the Byzantine rite, from 1960 - Plenipotentiary Visitor, from 23/06/1961 awarded the title of Russian Apostolic Exarch (Esarc ap. Di Russia). In August 1969, Vladyka Andrei Katkov, at the invitation of the Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church Nikodim (Rotov), ​​visited the USSR and was officially received by the Moscow Patriarchate. In Omsk he met with the Orthodox Archbishop Nikolai (Kutepov). During this visit, in different cities of Russia and Ukraine, Katkov visited Orthodox churches, where he was greeted according to the hierarchical order, the rectors and worshipers approached under the blessing, the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate kissed him reverently. During a visit to the Pskov-Caves Monastery, with an abundant crowd of worshipers, the governor, in the presence of His Grace Bishop Andrei Katkov, proclaimed many years to Pope Paul VI. At the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Vladyka Andrey prayed at the shrine of St. Sergius of Radonezh, and in Odessa he met with Patriarch Alexy I (Simansky) who was resting there, who presented him with a rosary and a panagia.

The next Plenipotentiary Visitor of the Congregation of Eastern Churches for the leadership of the Russian Catholic ministry in the world was appointed in 1978 Protopresbyter Georgy Roshko (1915-2003), in 1955 he was in Moscow met with Patriarch Alexy I (Simansky) and Metropolitan Nikolai (Yaroshevich).

To coordinate the work of various Russian Greek Catholic parishes operating in different countries, Congresses of the clergy and laity were held: in Rome in 1930 and 1933 (Bishop Nikolai Charnetsky took part) and in 1950, in 1956 - in Brussels.

At this time, the situation in the Soviet Union developed as follows. The Russian exarchate arose thanks to the care of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the years of communist persecution, in joint suffering for Christ, brought them closer together. So, during the liquidation of the UGCC, its metropolitan, bishops, clergy, monastics and faithful went through the Gulag camps and exiles, thousands of people left their prayers, pain, tears, blood of martyrdom and confession of faith in Russia, many died and were buried here. From 1945 to 1963, Kir Joseph Slipy (1892 - 1984) was a prisoner in Siberia, Mordovia and Kamchatka, on 02/04/1963 in Moscow he secretly ordained Bishop Vasily Velichkovsky (1903 - 1973), thereby restoring the hierarchy in the Catacomb Church.

The revival of the Russian exarchate follows the legalization of Catholic structures in Russia. In Siberia, thanks to the attention of the Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph Vert (born 1952), an ordinary in Novosibirsk, who arrived here in 1991, several Catholic parishes of the Byzantine rite were opened. Since 1992, the papal prelate Joseph Svidnitsky (born 1936), the former Roman Catholic dean of central Siberia, began to provide pastoral care for the believing Greek Catholics deported from Galicia; in 1995, a parish of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos was created in Omsk, which received legal registration on June 30, 1999. This parish was served by a priest, Father Sergei Golovanov (born 1968), a graduate of the Ivano-Frankivsk seminary, until 2005 - dean. Today the region is served by the priests of the congregation of the Word Incarnate (VE) and the nuns of the Sisters of the Servant of the Lord and the Virgin Mary, they have a single province, including structures in Ukraine and Russia (Monastic Family of the Incarnate Word) (SSVM).

Registered are Catholic parishes of the Byzantine rite of the Ukrainian tradition in Novokuznetsk and Prokopyevsk, Kemerovo region. Since 1959, during the years of the underground, the spiritual life here was led by Father Vasily Rudka (1912 - 1991), now the Redemptorist priests (CSsR) and sisters from the Congregation of St. Joseph the Betrothed of the Blessed Virgin Mary work in this region, they came from Ukraine.

Divine services are held in communities in Tomsk and Kopeisk, the Chelyabinsk region and in various cities of the Tyumen region. Most of the parish priests are graduates of Western Ukrainian seminaries.

In the Russian tradition, divine services are held in the parish of the Martyrs Olympia and Laurentia, operating at the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Novosibirsk. The temple in the crypt of the cathedral was created on the initiative of the Jesuit priest Alexei Strichek (born 1916), who devoted his whole life to serving in the Russian apostolate with Russian emigrants in France. Today the parish rector is Father Michael Desjardins (SJ). Jesuits in Novosibirsk serve in the Byzantine rite and in their monastery church. The female monastic community of Carmelites in Novosibirsk also adheres to the Russian liturgical tradition. In Moscow, the first officially recognized as a religious group was the community of Sts. Apostles Peter and Andrew from 16.3.2000. This community was founded by Father Andrey Udovenko, now Oy Protopresbyter - Dean of Moscow. The second community in honor of St. Met. Filippa was established in 1995; until the spring of 2002, the Italian priest Stefano Caprio was its rector. In Moscow there is also a pastoral center "The Family of St. Lazarus", and at the parish of St. Ignatius of Antioch operates a nunnery. Since 2001, communities in St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod have declared their existence. The parish in Obninsk, Kaluga region was officially approved in 2004, now Fr. Valery Shkarubsky, who comes from Kiev, he also leads the Moscow Ukrainian and Russian-speaking communities ("svschm. Leonid"). Individual believers live in other cities of Russia.

The processes of the revival of church life in Russia prompted part of the clergy to gather on 23-25 ​​August 2004 at the parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Sargatsk to discuss urgent issues, internal problems and vision of the prospects for church development. They turned to Pope John Paul II with a request to normalize the canonical and administrative status of the exarchate. In a letter addressed to the Prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches to Patriarch Musa Ignatius I, Cardinal Daud, dated 26.8.2004, it was reported that there were 15 parishes, communities and monastic institutions in Russia. The accepted documents were transferred to Rome on 28.8.2004 through Cardinal Walter Kasper, who was in Moscow on the occasion of the return of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.

On 20.12.2004 Pope John Paul II appointed Bishop Joseph Wert as an ordinarius (ordinarius pro fidelibus Ritus Byzantini in Russia), as announced by the Apostolic Nuncio in the Russian Federation Archbishop Antonio Mennini on 22.02.2005 in Novosibirsk at a meeting of Catholic priests of the Byzantine rite serving in the Russian Federation. In addition to streamlining the situation in the European part of Russia and in his own diocese, Bishop Werth created church districts corresponding to the territories of the Roman Catholic dioceses of St. Clement in Saratov and St. Joseph in Irkutsk, the coordinator of the latter is Hieromonk Theodore (Andrey) Matsapula (VE). Hieromonk Andrey Startsev (VE) coordinates the district corresponding to the territory of the Preobrazhenskaya diocese in Novosibirsk.

The Church emerged in Poland in 1924 as an attempt to attract Polish Orthodox believers into communion with the Holy See. Currently, this church is called neouny in Poland. It operates in parallel with the two dioceses of the UGCC in Poland. The number of believers is several thousand.

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7. Orthodoxy in Rus'

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At the beginning of the 14th century, Moscow became the actual capital of the metropolis. Vladimir remained the official residence of the Metropolitans of Kiev and All Russia, but Metropolitan Peter spent the last years of his life in Moscow. In fulfillment of his wishes, in 1326, the white-stone Assumption Cathedral was laid in the Moscow Kremlin. A century and a half later, on the same site, the Italian architect Aristotle Fioravanti built a new majestic temple - the cathedral of the Moscow metropolitans. During the reign of Ivan I Kalita, the unification of the Russian lands around Moscow took place. The metropolis was also moved here. In the second half of the XIV century, Moscow became the center of the armed struggle against the Mongol-Tatar yoke. An important role during this period in the church and political life of Russia was played by a contemporary of St. Sergius of Radonezh, Metropolitan Alexy of Moscow.Already in adolescence, he, the son of a boyar, desired a monastic life and at the age of twenty he was tonsured. In 1354, Patriarch Philotheus Kokkin of Constantinople approved Alexy as Metropolitan of All Russia, although this was done as an exception: there was a rule - ethnic Greeks were appointed to the Russian Metropolitanate. Under Prince Ivan II of Moscow, Saint Alexy was in fact in charge of foreign policy. The Metropolitan contributed to the creation of a union of Russian principalities to oppose the Golden Horde, which by that time had significantly weakened. The Monk Sergius of Radonezh was a younger contemporary and spiritual friend of Saint Alexis. He, too, came from a boyar family and from childhood was distinguished by deep piety. After the death of his parents, he, together with his older brother Stefan, went to the forests near Moscow and, twelve miles from the village of Radonezh, set up a cell, and then a small church in the name of the Holy Trinity. Unable to withstand the harsh conditions, Stephen left his brother and moved to the Moscow Epiphany Monastery. After several years of living alone, the Monk Sergius began to receive disciples. In 1354 he was ordained a hieromonk and appointed abbot of the monastery he created. The glory of the Monk Sergius, who was rewarded with the gift of clairvoyance and miracles, grew day by day. Among his admirers were princes, boyars, bishops and priests. Before the decisive battle for advice and blessing, the venerable prince Dimitry Donskoy also came to the Monk Sergius. The Russian army under his command was to resist the invasion of the Mongol Khan Mamai. At this critical moment for Russia, the state and the Church united. The Monk Sergius blessed Dmitry Donskoy, predicted victory for him, and gave him two monks to help him - the schema monks Andrey Oslyabya and Alexander Peresvet. Both monks, together with the Grand Duke and his army, heroically fought against the troops of Mamai, and on September 8, 1380, the Russian army won a victory at the Kulikovo field. This historic battle marked the beginning of the liberation of Russia from the Tatar-Mongol yoke. The veneration of the Monk Sergius began during his lifetime and continued after his death. They began to call him the “abbot of the Russian land”. The monastery he founded quickly grew and acquired the same significance for Muscovite Rus as the Lavra of Saints Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves had for Kievan Rus. To this day, the Trinity-Sergius Lavra of St. Sergius remains the first monastery of the Russian Church, where dozens of bishops, hundreds of clergy and thousands of laity gather in the days of the memory of the monk. A new period in the life of the Russian Church began under Metropolitan Jonah. After being elected to the Moscow Metropolitanate, he, being Russian by birth, had to go to Constantinople for confirmation. However, at first this was prevented by political circumstances, and then the Patriarchate of Constantinople concluded a union with the Latins. Under these conditions, Grand Duke Vasily II convenes a Council to appoint the Metropolitan of All Russia without the consent of Constantinople. As a result, in 1448, Jonah became a metropolitan. Thus, in fact, the beginning of the autocephaly of the Russian Church was laid. Subsequent Russian metropolitans were appointed without the approval of Constantinople. The political power of Russia continues to grow. In the period from the middle of the 15th to the end of the 16th century, one after the other, the ancient principalities of Yaroslavl, Rostov, Novgorod, Tver, Pskov, Ryazan joined Moscow. In 1472, Grand Duke John III Vasilyevich married the Greek princess Sophia Palaeologus, which in the eyes of the Russian people gave him additional legitimacy as an Orthodox autocrat, heir to the Byzantine emperors. At the beginning of the 16th century, the theory of Moscow of the 3rd Rome was developed, formulated in particular by the elder of the Pskov Spaso-Eliazarov Monastery, the monk Philotheus.  "The first Rome fell from wickedness, the second (Constantinople) from the dominance of the Hagarian, the third Rome - Moscow, and the fourth will never happen." The middle of the 16th century in the history of the Russian Church was marked by disputes between "money-grubbing" and "non-possessor", supporters and opponents of monastic land tenure. By this time in Russia there were many monasteries, which were subdivided into cenobitic and special nuns. In communal monasteries, the emphasis was on ascetic deeds, obedience, congregational prayer and charity; In singular - on "smart doing" and withdrawal from the world. The statutes of those and other monasteries prescribed non-covetousness, however, both cenobitic and special monasteries could own land, villages, peasants, and receive income. Dioceses and parishes also owned the land. The main ideologist of church land tenure at the beginning of the 16th century was the Monk Joseph of Volotsk. He believed that the ownership of land and real estate provides the Church with independence from secular authorities and opens up the possibility of charitable work. “During a famine, Joseph widely opens the granaries of the monastery, feeds up to seven hundred people a day, and gathers up to fifty children abandoned by their parents in the orphanage he has set up. When there is no bread, he orders to buy, there is no money - to borrow and "dawati manuscripts" - "so that no one leaves the monastery without yadshi." The monks murmur: "They will overwhelm us, but they will not be fed." But Joseph persuades them to be patient. " Georgy Fedotov. Saints of Ancient Russia The monk Nil of Sorsk was the ideological enemy of Joseph Volotskiy. He suggested that "the monasteries should not have villages, but the monks should live in the deserts and feed themselves on handicrafts." The Monk Nile belonged to that spiritual tradition, which in Byzantium of the XIV century was personified by the Athos monks-hesychasts. In his youth, he visited Athos and upon his return to Russia he founded a small hermitage on the Sore River, where he spent his whole life, engaged in ascetic labors and literary activities. The Moscow Cathedral of 1503 sided with Joseph Volotsky. After the death of the monk, already in the 16th century, he was solemnly canonized. The name of Nil Sorsky was included in the calendar only at the beginning of the 20th century. Characteristic is the fate of the spiritual heir of the "non-possessors" - the Monk Maximus the Greek. When the Grand Duke Vasily III turned to Constantinople with a request to send a scientist to compare translations of the Explanatory Psalter and other books, the choice fell on the monk of the Athos Vatopedi monastery Maxim. Since he did not know Russian, he translated into Latin, and from Latin the interpreters - court translators - into Russian: this method, of course, could not provide high quality translation. After finishing his work, Maxim wanted to return to Greece, but he was assigned to take care of the Explanatory Apostle and the Slavic liturgical books: the comparison revealed numerous errors. Over time, Maxim learned Russian and got involved in a dispute between money-grubbing and non-money-grubbing, decisively taking the side of the latter. This activity caused dissatisfaction at the court. They began to look for errors in the translations, and heresies in his statements. All this led to the condemnation of Maxim the Greek at the Council Maxim asked to be released back to the Vatopedi monastery, but instead was excommunicated and exiled first to the Joseph-Volotsk monastery (the main stronghold of the "money-grubbing"), and then to the Tver Otroch monastery. Only 22 years later, at the end of his life, he received permission to settle in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where he died and was buried. Here to this day remain his holy relics, found already in our time, when the Monk Maxim was glorified in the face of saints. In 1547, Moscow Metropolitan Macarius crowned 16-year-old Ivan IV Vasilyevich, later called the Terrible, to the throne. The first years of the Grand Duke's reign were marked by major military and political successes: in 1552 Kazan was taken, four years later Astrakhan, then Polotsk. The people rallied around the tsar, whom they saw as a sincere defender of the Orthodox faith and a guarantor of state integrity. However, shortly after the death of Metropolitan Macarius, a sharp turn in the activities of the tsar comes. Ivan IV left Moscow and settled in the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, where he created a kind of monastery headed by himself. At the beginning of 1565, the tsar established the oprichnina. The task of this punitive organization was to identify any possible political conspiracies and the destruction of the conspirators. The executions began. Many boyars and their families were suspected of treason and exiled. Their property passed into the hands of Ivan the Terrible and the guardsmen. The external distinction of the tsar's oprichniks was a dog's head and a broom attached to the saddle and meant that they gnaw and sweep traitors. By the will of the autocrat in 1566, the Solovetsky hegumen Philip from the boyar family of the Kolychevs was elected metropolitan of Moscow. First, alone with the tsar, and then publicly, Saint Philip began to express his disagreement with the division of the country into oprichnina - the royal boyars, and the zemstvo - all the other boyars with their courts. The Metropolitan protested against the atrocities of Ivan the Terrible. In March 1569, on the Week of the Cross, when the Metropolitan stood in his place in the Kremlin's Assumption Cathedral, the formidable tsar entered the cathedral along with the guardsmen. According to custom, he approached the Metropolitan for the blessing, but the Metropolitan did not give the blessing, saying to him: "Even the Tatars and Pagans have a law and truth, but in Russia there is no pity for the innocent." These words infuriated the Terrible Sovereign, and he ordered the beginning of the prosecution of the saint. In the fall of 1569, during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy by the saint, the guardsmen burst into the Assumption Cathedral. The guilty verdict was read out. The vestments of the Metropolitan were torn off and they were taken out of the Kremlin on the logs. The saint was imprisoned in the Tver Otroch monastery, and the Kolychevs were tortured and executed. In December, on the personal order of Grozny, Malyuta Skuratov strangled Saint Philip. Subsequently, the metropolitan was canonized, and his relics were placed in the Kremlin's Assumption Cathedral. The terrible tsar was replaced on the Russian throne by Fyodor Ioannovich, who was distinguished by his weak health, meekness and piety. During his reign, a historic event for the Russian Church took place - the establishment of the patriarchate. The first Moscow Patriarch was St. Job. In 1590, the Church Council in Constantinople approved the Russian Patriarchate and assigned the Patriarch of Moscow the fifth place in the diptychs after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. During the patriarchate of St. Job, the ruling dynasty of Rurikovich was suppressed: Tsarevich Dimitri was killed in Uglich, and Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich died a few years later. The throne passed to the boyar Boris Godunov, but in 1605 he was captured by an impostor posing as the miraculously saved Tsarevich Dimitri. The unrest that began lasted for several years, and in 1609 the troops of the Polish king Sigismund III entered Russia. Resistance to the Poles was led by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Hermogenes. In 1611 he blessed the creation of the people's militia. For this, he was imprisoned by the Poles in the Chudov Monastery, but even from captivity, he continued to send messages, urging the people to unite and stand up for the protection of Holy Orthodoxy. In February 1612, the patriarch, starved to death, died in prison. And in October, the people's militia led by Minin and Pozharsky liberated Moscow. The Poles were expelled from the Kremlin, where the militia entered, accompanied by the ringing of bells, carrying banners and banners. In 1613, Mikhail Fyodorovich Romanov was elected to the kingdom, and the father of the tsar, boyar Fyodor Romanov, became the Metropolitan of Moscow and the "named patriarch". Under Boris Godunov, he was forcibly tonsured into a monk with the name Filaret. The king's father and spiritual mentor took an active part in governing the state. He created his own court on the model of the royal court and received direct control of the Patriarchal Region, which included more than 40 cities. Filaret was called "the great sovereign",  under him the Patriarchate turned into a powerful center of power, in fact, parallel to the royal one. This largely predetermined the conflict between the tsar and the patriarch in the middle of the 17th century and the abolition of the patriarchate at the beginning of the 18th century. On the initiative of the second tsar from the Romanov dynasty - Alexei Mikhailovich - the young and energetic Novgorod Metropolitan Nikon was elevated to the patriarchal throne. For more than ten years, the tsar and the patriarch had a warm friendship. However, in 1658 Nikon fell out of favor. Alexei Mikhailovich stopped coming to the services he performed. Instead of trying to improve relations, Nikon voluntarily and demonstratively left the patriarchate and retired to the New Jerusalem monastery. The council of 1660 decided to elect a new patriarch. Nikon did not accept this decision. Subsequently, Nikon even expressed that this council should be called not only the Jewish host, but also demonic, because it was as if it was not convened according to the rules: what the tsar wanted, they did it. Metropolitan Macarius. History of the Russian Church. Finally, in 1666, a council was convened in Moscow with the participation of Patriarchs Paisius of Alexandria and Macarius of Antioch. Nikon answered evasively questions asked to him, challenging the rights of the Eastern patriarchs and calling Greek church canons heretical. After many days of painful debate, Nikon was deposed, defrocked and sent to repentance in a monastery. The name of Patriarch Nikon is associated with one of the most tragic pages in the history of the Russian Church - the emergence of a schism. Becoming patriarch, Nikon continued the "book fair" begun by his predecessors. However, in correcting the liturgical texts and church customs, he went much further. The two-fingers traditional for Russia - the sign of the cross with two folded fingers, was replaced by the three-fingers, in accordance with the Greek practice widespread in those years. The protopope John and Avvakum, who were popular among the people, spoke out against the Nikon reform. They led a movement that later became known as the "Old Believers". The church schism did not stop even after Nikon left the patriarchate and even after his deposition, since the Great Moscow Cathedral of 1667 approved the reform carried out by Nikon. For a while, the Solovetsky Monastery became one of the strongholds of the Old Believers. Back in 1658, its abbot, Archimandrite Elijah, set up a cathedral in the monastery, which rejected newly printed books. In 1667, Aleksey Mikhailovich sent troops to Solovki to pacify the revolt. The siege of the monastery lasted for eight years and went down in the history of the Old Believers as the "Solovetsky Standing". During the siege, most of the monks died from hunger and disease, the rest were exterminated. Soon after the victory over the schismatics, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich died, and the Old Believers saw God's punishment in this. From that time on, the Old Believers stood up in opposition to the government, which subjected them to severe persecution. Archpriest Avvakum, along with other leaders of resistance to "Nikonianism" in 1681, was burnt alive in a huge log cabin. The Old Believers responded to this execution with mass self-immolations. In the 18th-19th centuries, the Old Believers spread throughout Russia and went beyond its borders. The Old Believers fell apart into many denominations, of which the main ones are priests and bespopovtsy. The former have a hierarchy and priesthood, the latter do not. In 1971, the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church canceled the oaths for the old rituals, stressing that "the salvific value of the rites is not contradicted by the diversity of their external expression." A sad division, however, persists to this day.

History

In the 1920s, several Orthodox parishes in Poland converted to Catholicism. At the same time, the Latin bishop of Sedlec, Henrik Przezdziecki, using the favorable environment for the conversion of Orthodox Christians to Catholicism, repeatedly came up with the initiative to create a new union of Orthodox Christians with the Holy See. With the support of the papal nuncio Achille Rati (future Pius XI), 14 parishes were created in Poland in 1927, led by Jesuits who served in the Byzantine rite.

In 1931, the Holy See appointed the Ukrainian Bishop Nicholas Charnetsky as an ordinary for the Byzantine rite believers who use the Church Slavonic language and live in Poland. In the same year, the Latin bishop of Lutsk, Adolf Shelenzhek, founded a special seminary in Lutsk for future priests of the new union. Before the outbreak of World War II, this seminary trained over twenty priests. In 1937, the neouniate church had 71 clergy. At this time, the Vilna archdiocese, the Pinsk diocese, the Sedletsk diocese, the Lutsk diocese and the Lublin diocese functioned in the church.

During the Second World War, most of the neo-Uniatic parishes ceased their activities and most of the believers returned to Orthodoxy. In 1947, there were 4 parishes in the neouniate church, three of which ceased to exist due to the forcible resettlement of the Ukrainian population to the western parts of Poland. Until the 1980s, the only neouniatic parish of St. Nikita the Martyr operated in the settlement of Kostomloty in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship.

From the Polish Orthodox Church.

In 1985, at the church of St. Nikita the Martyr in Kostomloty, a convent of the Little Sisters of Jesus began to operate. In 1998, a monastic house of the Marian Fathers was founded in the same settlement.

In 2007, there were 11 parishes of the Neouniate Church in Poland in Poland, which are under the jurisdiction of the Latin bishop of Sedlec.

Literature

• Roman Skakun. "New Unia" in the Other Commonwealth (1924-1939) // Ark. Science collection from church history / ed. O. Boris Uudzyak, Igor Skochilas, Oleg Turiy. - v. 5. - Lviv: Vidavnytstvo "Місіонер" 2007. - pp. 204-247.
• Stokolos N.G. Neounia as an experiment of general policy to the Vatican in Poland (1923-1939). // "Ukrainian Historical Journal". 1999 - part 4 (427). - S. 74-89.
• Florentyna Rzemieniuk, "Kościół Katolicki obrządku bizantyjsko-słowiańskiego (neounia)", Lublin 1999.
• Jan Szczepaniak, “Polskie władze państwowe wobec akcji neounijnej w latach 1918-1939”, “Charisteria Titi Górski oblata. Studia i rozprawy ofiarowane profesorowi Tytusowi Górskiemu ", Kraków, s. 241-254.
• Zofia Waszkiewicz, "Neounia - nieudany eksperyment?", "400-lecie zwarcia Unii Brzeskiej (1596-1996). Materiały z sesji naukowej zorganizowanej w dn. 28-29. 11. 1996 ", pod red. S. Alexandrowicza i T. Kempy, Toruń 1998, s. 115-146.
• Bożena Łomacz, "Neounia", "Więź" nr 1 (291) ze stycznia 1983 r., S. 82-90.
• Mirosława Papierzyńska-Turek, “Akcja neounijna i kontrowersje wokół rozumienia polskiej racji stanu”, Ta że, “Między tradycją a rzeczywistością. Państwo wobec prawosławia 1918-1939 ", Warszawa 1989, s. 404-441.
• H. Wyczawski, "Ruch neounijny w Polsce w latach 1923-1939", "Studia Theologica Warsoviensis" 1970/8, s. 409-420.