Solovetsky sitting of the reason. "Solovetsky seat

Year of publication: 2009

Country Russia

Rumors about Nikonian church reform spread quickly throughout Russia. In 1657 new liturgical books received in the distant, but famous throughout Russia, the Solovetsky Monastery. The local elders carefully examined the parcel from the capital, sealed the new books in a strong chest, and, as if nothing had happened, continued the divine service according to the old traditions.

In 1665, Moscow realized that the monks had refused to accept the reform. At first, the tsar and the patriarch tried to act by persuasion, after the failure they switched to economic sanctions. The estates and property of the monastery on the mainland were confiscated, but this did not penetrate the monks who were stubborn in loyalty to the old traditions. Then in 1668 a military team went to the islands. The archers began the siege of the monastery on June 22. The first assault attempt did not bring success: the monks met them with a volley of cannons available in the monastery. The archers were forced to begin a siege that lasted for several years.

At first, the siege was rather nominal. Only in the summer did the archers appear on the islands, and wintered on the mainland. On the ice, the Pomors, who sympathized with the faithful inmates, helped the monks to replenish provisions and ammunition. In the summer everything started anew.

In 1673, Alexei Mikhailovich's patience snapped. The new voivode Ivan Mescherinov received an order to start bombing the monastery. This affected not the firmness of the defenders of Solovki, but their Political Views: in 1675 they stopped offering prayers for the health of the "Tsar-Herod", but they did not open the gates to the archers. Despite the fact that the army suffered heavy losses in the skirmishes, Meshcherinov left the siege for the winter and began to dig under the walls. The monks starved, but did not give up and successfully brought down the mines.

True, hunger and fear of punishment forced the most unstable to flee the monastery. On January 18, 1676, the deserter-monk Feoktist gave Meshcherinov an underground passage from the moat of the Onufrievskaya church to the inner White Tower and suggested that it was necessary to walk along it an hour before dawn, when the guards were changing on the walls. On February 1, the archers broke into the monastery. The defenders, taken by surprise, could not give a decent rebuff. Most of them fell in a fierce battle. Of the half-thousand Solovki residents, 60 survived. They were handed over to fierce executions. The monks and elders were quartered, thrown alive into an ice-hole, burned with fire, frozen alive, hung on hooks by the ribs. The 14 survivors were exiled to distant monasteries after cruel abuse. After that, the new abbot with new monks sent from Moscow re-consecrated the monastery and began services according to new rituals.

Solovetsky uprising of monks or " Solovetsky seat”Lasted eight years from June 22, 1668 to February 1, 1676. It broke out as a protest against Patriarch Nikon. Knowing a lot of unpleasant things about the initiator of church reforms, the Solovetsky monks reacted to his innovations not simply, but categorically negatively. Attempts by the emissaries of the tsar and the patriarch to force reform within the walls ancient monastery caused a real mutiny. Rejection of Nikon's innovations was only a pretext for an uprising. In more broad sense, the armed revolt of the monks and the people who joined them was of an anti-clerical and even anti-government character.

Background of the mutiny

In the 17th century, monasteries were not only ecclesiastical and administrative units, but also centers of culture, violently experiencing the events of religious and worldly life country. They actively intervened in social and state processes. Therefore, the open dislike of the inhabitants Solovetsky Monastery To Nikon's reform was not something unusual, the whole of Russia was drawn into religious strife.

The brethren of the monastery, headed by Archimandrite Ilya, as early as 1657, refused to accept the revised liturgical books. Another rector, Bartholomew, already in 1663 again refused to follow Nikon's instructions. Church Cathedral 1666-1667 sent Archimandrite Sergius to Solovki, but he was not accepted there. Instead of an appointee, the monks chose the exiled Nikanor as abbot. He and the treasurer Gerontius pushed the monastery into open disobedience.

Open indignation of the monks

In 1667 the Solovetsky monks sent a petition to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Stating their position of denial of church reform, they declared their readiness to defend their innocence with arms in hand. This was not an empty threat. Most of the 425 inhabitants of the monastery had military skills, weapons, ammunition and other supplies for many years. In addition to monks, fugitive archers and soldiers, townspeople, peasants, as well as surviving "Razins" flocked to the monastery.

Despite this, Alexei Mikhailovich ordered to take away the crafts and estates of the monastery on the coast of the White Sea and sent the archers to pacify the obstinate monks. On June 22, 1668, a detachment of Voivode Volokhov landed on the Solovetsky Islands. The monastery closed the gates in front of them, and the archers surrounded the monastery with posts and outposts. Thus began the siege of the Solovetsky Monastery for eight long years.

In the first years, the besiegers did not undertake serious military efforts in the hope of a peaceful resolution of the problem. In 1673 the besiegers were instructed to take decisive action against the besieged. Reinforcements began to arrive at the archers standing under the walls of the monastery. And outside the walls of the monastery, the monks no longer determined the strategy of defense. The initiative gradually passed to the laity, which led to an even greater bitterness of the military confrontation.

In 1673, the troops besieging the Solovetsky Monastery were led by the initiative, literate and cruel voivode Ivan Mescherinov. Since that time, the situation in the monastery has greatly deteriorated. The new tsarist commander completely blocked the fortress, blocking all communication routes with outside world, the siege of the monastery became year-round. Thus, the Solovetsky "prisoners" have lost important channels of their support.

Assaults, betrayal and the fall of the fortress

Voivode Meshcherinov, in addition to a skillful siege and competent organization of artillery, arranged undermines and attempted to storm the bastions of the White Sea stronghold. Both sides suffered losses, but Mescherinov constantly replenished his troops, and the besieged were deprived of such an opportunity. The coming year of 1676 at first did not bode well major changes... But on January 18, a monk named Theoktist showed Meshcherinov a secret passage to the monastery. The governor immediately dispatched 50 archers to the fortress.

Taking the gate guards by surprise, the archers killed them in a short and fierce battle. The gates of the monastery were thrown open in front of the besiegers, a stormy stream rushing into the monastery. The pockets of resistance were quickly suppressed by the numerically superior tsarist army. The fortress fell. The surviving defenders envied those killed. All the prisoners were cruelly executed and savagely executed, except for a few people.

Results and significance of the Solovetsky sitting

So the glorious Solovetsky sitting ended sadly. The suffering of the unfortunate inmates did not please Tsar Alexei "the Quietest". He died of a heart attack (at the age of 47) a week after the news of the capture of the Solovetsky Monastery. Voivode Ivan Meshcherinov, instead of the expected honors and awards, was convicted "for exceeding his authority" and imprisoned here, in the Solovetsky prison, on the direct orders of the new Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich.

Despite the defeat, the uprising of the Solovetsky monks led to the strengthening of the traditions of the Old Believers in the north of Russia. The cruelty of the victors did not frighten the local population, but served to increase the moral authority of the martyrs, thereby strengthening many Pomors in their adherence to the old faith. And the Solovetsky Monastery remained one of the main shrines of Russian Orthodoxy, having this glorious page in its history.

The Solovetsky uprising of 1668-1676 became the personification of the struggle of the clergy against Nikon's reforms. This uprising is often called "sitting", since the monks held the Solovetsky monastery, asking the tsar to come to his senses and cancel the reforms. This page Russian history little studied, since there are practically no sources, but at the same time there is enough information to form an objective picture of what is happening in those days. After all, the uprising in the Solovetsky Monastery of the 17th century is unique. This is one of the few cases where the uprising was not driven by social or economic, but religious.

Reasons for the uprising

Nikon's reforms radically changed the Orthodox Church: rituals, books, icons were changed. All this aroused the discontent of the clergy, who were later called “Old Believers”. This was the reason for the Solovetsky uprising. However, this did not happen immediately. Since the mid-1950s, monks have expressed discontent and sent petitions to the tsar with requests to cancel the reforms. The general chronology of the prerequisites and reasons for "sitting" is as follows:

1657 - updated church books for everyone are published in Moscow. These books came to the Solovetsky Monastery in the same year, but they were sealed in the treasury chamber. The monks refused to hold church services according to the new rules and texts.
1666-1667 - 5 petitions were sent from Solovki to the tsar. The monks asked to keep the old books and ceremonies. They emphasized that they were loyal to Russia, but asked not to change religion.
early 1667 - The Great Moscow Cathedral anathematized the Old Believers.
July 23, 1667 - by the tsar's decree the Solovki received a new abbot - Joseph. He was a man close to the tsar and Nikon, which means he shared the views of the reform. The monks did not accept the new man. Joseph was expelled, and not his place was approved by the Old Believer Nikanor.

The last event in many ways became the pretext for the beginning of the siege of the monastery. The king took Joseph's exile as a riot and sent an army.

From the epoch of Peter 1 to the present day, the Solovetsky "sitting" is also attributed to economic reasons. In particular, such authors as Syrtsov I.Ya., Savich A.A., Barsukov N.A. and others argue that Nikon cut funding for the monastery and that it was for this reason that the monks began an uprising. There is no documentary evidence for this, therefore, such hypotheses cannot be considered seriously. The bottom line is that such historians are trying to present the monks of the Solovetsky Monastery in the form of "snatchers" who cared only about money. At the same time, attention is paid in every possible way from simple fact- the uprising became possible only due to the religious reforms of Nikon. Tsarist historians took the side of Nikon, which means that everyone who did not agree was accused of all sins.

Why the monastery was able to withstand the army for 8 years

The Solovetsky Monastery was an important outpost of Russia in the war with Sweden in 1656-1658. The island on which the monastery is located is close to the borders of the state, therefore a fortress was erected there, food and water supplies were created. The fortress was fortified in such a way that it could withstand any siege from Sweden. As of 1657, 425 people lived in the monastery.

The course of the uprising

May 3, 1668 Alexei Mikhailovich sends the archers to pacify the Solovki. The army was led by the solicitor Ignatius Volokhov. There were 112 people under his command. When the army reached Solovki on June 22, the monks closed the gates. The "sitting" began.

The plan of the tsarist army was to siege the fortress so that the defenders surrender themselves. Volokhov could not storm the Solovetsky Monastery. The fortress was well fortified and 112 people were not enough to conquer it. Hence the sluggish events of the beginning of the uprising. The monks sat in the fortress, the tsarist army tried to organize a siege so that famine would come in the fortress. In Solovki there was a large supply of food and the local population actively helped the monk. This "sluggish" siege lasted 4 years. In 1772, Volokhov was replaced by the governor Ievlev, who was subordinate to 730 archers. Ievlev tried to tighten the blockade of the fortress, but failed.

In 1673, the tsar made a decision - to take the Solovetsky monastery by storm. For this:

Ivan Meshcherinov was appointed commander, who arrived at the fortress through the White Sea in early autumn 1673.
During the assault, it was allowed to use any military methods, as against a foreign enemy.
Each insurgent was guaranteed a pardon, in the event of a voluntary surrender.

The siege continued throughout the year, but there were no serious assault attempts. Late September 1674 frosts began early and Meshcherinov took the army to the Sumy prison for the winter. During the wintering period, the number of archers was doubled. Now about 1.5 thousand people took part in the assault.

September 16, 1674 one of the most important events of the uprising in the Solovetsky Monastery happened - the rebels held a Council to stop the pilgrimage for the Tsar Herod. There was no unanimous decision and the Council divided the monks. As a result, all who decided to continue their prayers for the tsar were expelled from Solovki. It should be added that the first "Black Cathedral" in the Solovetsky Monastery took place on September 28, 1673. Then it was also established that Alexei Mikhailovich was mistaken, but prayers would help clear his mind.

By May 1675, 13 townships were established around the Solovetsky Monastery (embankments from which it was possible to fire at the fortress). The assaults began, without success. From July to October, 32 of those born died and another 80 were injured. There are no data on losses in the tsarist army.

On January 2, 1676, a new assault began, during which 36 archers were killed. This assault showed Meshcherinov that it was impossible to capture Solovki - the fortress was so well fortified. Defectors played a decisive role in subsequent events. Theoktist, who was expelled from the citadel for wanting to continue praying for the Tsar Herod, told Mescherinov on January 18 that the Bloy Tower had a weak point. The tower had a dryer window, which was covered with bricks. If you break a brick wall, you can easily get inside the fortress. The assault began on February 1, 1676. 50 archers entered the fortress at night, opened the gates and the monastery was captured.

Consequences and outcome

The preliminary investigation of the monks was carried out right in the monastery. The main instigators of the uprising were recognized as Nikanor and Sashko, who were executed. The rest of the rebels were sent to various prison. The main result of the Solovetsky uprising is that the stratification in the church took root, and from that time the Old Believers officially appeared. Today it is generally accepted that the Old Believers are almost pagans. In fact, these are people who opposed Nikon's reforms.

"Solovetsky sitting"

Church Cathedral 1666-1667 became a turning point in the history of the split. As a result of the decisions of the council, the gap between the ruling church and the schismatics became final and irreversible. After the cathedral, the split movement became widespread. It is no coincidence that this stage coincided with mass popular demonstrations in the Don, in the Volga region and in the North. The question of whether the schism had an antifeudal orientation is difficult to resolve unambiguously. Mainly people from among the lower clergy, taxing townspeople and peasants took the side of the split. For these strata of the population, the official church was the embodiment of an unjust social order, and "ancient piety" was the banner of struggle. It is no coincidence that the leaders of the schism gradually moved to the position of justifying protests against the tsarist government. Raskolnikov could also be found in the army of Stepan Razin in 1670-71. and among the rebellious archers in 1682

At the same time, an element of conservatism and inertia was strong in the Old Believers. "It is up to us: lie it like that forever and ever! - taught Archpriest Avvakum, - God bless: suffer for folding your finger, do not reason too much!" A part of the conservative nobility also joined the split. The boyars Feodosya Morozova and Princess Evdokia Urusova became the spiritual daughters of Archpriest Avvakum. They were sisters. Theodosya Morozova, widowed, became the owner of the richest estates. Avvakum wrote with admiration and surprise about the boyaryn: "How so! There were thousands of Christians, there were a thousand and two hundred houses for the plant ..." But her house became a haven for Old Believers. After Theodosia took the secret tonsure and became nun Theodora, she openly began to profess the old faith. She defiantly refused to appear at the wedding of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich with Natalya Naryshkina, despite the fact that the tsar sent his carriage for her. Morozova and Urusova were taken into custody. The patriarch interceded for the noblewoman, asking her to release her, but Alexei Mikhailovich replied, "I would have done this a long time ago, but you do not know the ferocity of this woman. How to tell you how much that Morozova swore and now swears! She did a lot of work to me and showed me inconveniences. if you do not believe my words, if you please try it yourself; call her to you, ask, and you yourself will recognize her firmness, start torturing her and taste her pleasures. "

The sisters were admonished by the highest church hierarchs, but Morozova, when asked to receive communion according to the new service books, answered: "The enemy of God, Nikon, vomited with his heresies like vomit, but now you are licking his filth; it is obvious that you are like him." Feodosia Morozova and Evdokia Urusova were tortured, but they could not get the renunciation old faith... Then they were sent to Borovsk, where they were put in a dungeon. Habakkuk encouraged the women as best he could, but their fate was sad - the sisters were starved to death.

Some of the monasteries took the side of the Old Believers, in particular one of the most revered Orthodox monasteries - the Solovetsky Monastery. The monks of the monastery, in which Nikon could not get along as a simple monk, did not accept church reforms during his time as a patriarch. When the newly printed books were sent to the monastery, they were hidden, without binding, in the state chamber, and then at the general meeting it was decided not to accept the current service books. The then Archimandrite Elijah spoke with tears to the pilgrims who made a pilgrimage to the famous monastery: "See, brothers, recent times: new teachers have risen, they turn us away from the Orthodox faith and paternal tradition and tell us to serve on latskik pots on new service books. "Several monks hesitated and did not want to sign the verdict on the refusal of newly printed service books -" so the archimandrite shouted at us with his advisers, as wild beasts: “Do you want to serve the Latin heretical service! We won't let the living out of the meal! "We got scared and put our hands on it."

N.M. Nikolsky, author of The History of the Russian Church, believed that the reluctance to accept new service books was due to the fact that the majority of the clergy simply could not retrain: “The rural clergy, illiterate, who learned services by ear, had to either refuse new books, or give way to new priests, for it was unthinkable to retrain him.

Most of the city's clergy and even monasteries were in the same position. The monks of the Solovetsky Monastery expressed this in their verdict bluntly, without any reservations: divine liturgies to serve according to the old service books, according to which we first studied and got used to, but now we, old priests, cannot keep our weekly queues according to those service books, and we will not be able to study according to the new service books for our old age ... "And again and again As a refrain, the words were repeated in this verdict: "We are priests and deacons are weak and hate literacy, and are inert to the doctrine," according to the new books, "we blacks are inert and unresponsive, no matter how much a teacher, and not get used to ..."

On church cathedral 1666-1667 Nikandr, one of the leaders of the Solovetsky schismatics, chose a line of conduct other than Avvakum. He pretended to agree with the decisions of the council and received permission to return to the monastery, but upon his return he threw off the Greek klobuk, put on the Russian one again and became the head of the monastic brethren. The famous "Solovetskaya petition" was sent to the tsar, setting out the credo of the old faith. In another petition, the monks threw a direct challenge to the secular authorities: "Tell us, sir, to send your king's sword to us and from this rebellious life, send us to this serene and eternal life." S. M. Soloviev wrote: “The monks summoned the worldly power to a difficult struggle, exposing themselves as defenseless victims, without resistance bowing their heads under the tsar's sword. under the sword was met with shots. Such an insignificant detachment, which was at Volokhov, could not defeat the besieged, which had strong walls, a lot of supplies, 90 guns. "

The siege - "Solovetsky sitting" dragged on for eight years from 1668 to 1676. At first, the authorities could not send large forces to the White Sea due to the movement of Stenka Razin. After the suppression of the riot under the walls of the Solovetsky Monastery, a large artillery detachment appeared, and the shelling of the monastery began. The besieged responded with well-aimed shots, and Abbot Nikandr sprinkled the cannons with holy water and said: “My dear ladies, we have hope in you, you will defend us!” But in the besieged monastery, disagreements began between the moderates and supporters of decisive action. Most of the monks hoped for a reconciliation with the royal power,

The minority, headed by Nikandr, and the laity - the "baltsy", led by the centurions Voronin and Samko, demanded "to put aside my prayer for the great sovereign", and they said such words about the king himself that "it is scary to not only write, but also think." In the monastery they stopped confessing, taking communion, they refused to recognize the priests. These disagreements predetermined the fall of the Solovetsky Monastery. The archers did not manage to take it by storm, but the defector, the monk Theoktist, showed them a hole in the wall, which was blocked by stones. On the night of January 22, 1676, in severe blizzard, the archers took apart the stones and entered the monastery. The monastery's defenders perished in an unequal battle. Some of the instigators of the uprising were executed, others were sent into exile.

This is how we saw the events of those distant times, this is how today's historians and historiographers see them, but, of course, there are still many mysteries and blank spots, and therefore interest neither in Patriarch Nikon nor in his reforms runs out.

Patriarch Nikon Cathedral church reform

The middle of the 17th century is marked in the life of the Russian Orthodox Church important event- the religious reform of Patriarch Nikon. Its consequences played a significant role in the further history of Russia. By unifying the ceremonial side of worship and thereby playing a positive role, it became the reason religious split in society. Its most striking manifestation was the uprising of the inhabitants, which was called the Solovetsky sitting.

Reason for reform

By the middle of the 17th century in church life countries, the need has ripened to make a change in the liturgical books. Those in use at that time were copies of translations of ancient Greek books that came to Russia along with the establishment of Christianity. Before the advent of typography, they were copied by hand. Scribes often made mistakes in their work, and over the course of several centuries, significant discrepancies with the primary sources arose.

As a result of this, the parish and monastic clergy had different leadership for the performance of the services, and they all conducted them in different ways. This state of affairs could not continue. As a result, new translations from Greek were made, and then reproduced in print. This ensured the consistency of the church services... All previous books have been declared invalid. In addition, the reform also provided for a change in the commission of the former - two-fingered was replaced by three-fingered.

The emergence of a church schism

Thus, the reform affected only the ritual side of church life, without affecting its dogmatic part, but the reaction of many layers of society turned out to be extremely negative. There was a split between those who accepted the reform and its ardent opponents, who argued that the established innovations destroy true faith and therefore they come from Satan.

As a result, the schismatics cursed and he, in turn, anathematized them. The matter took an even more serious turn due to the fact that the reforms came not only from the Patriarch, but also personally from (the father and, consequently, opposition to her was a rebellion against state power, and this always had sad consequences in Russia.

Solovetsky seat. Briefly about its reasons

All of Russia at that time was involved in religious strife. The revolt, called the Solovetsky sitting, is the response of the inhabitants of the Solovetsky monastery located on the sea to the attempts of the authorities to force the installation of a new reform in it. It began in 1668.

To pacify the disobedient, on May 3, a detachment of archers under the command of the Tsar's governor Volokhov landed on the island, but was met cannon volleys... It should be noted that this monastery was established here not only as a center of spiritual life, but also as a powerful defensive structure - an outpost on the path of Swedish expansion.

The Solovetsky seat presented a serious problem for the government also by the fact that all the inhabitants living within the walls of the monastery, and there were 425 of them, had sufficient military skill. In addition, they had weapons, cannons and a significant amount of ammunition at their disposal. Since in the event of a Swedish blockade, the defenders could be cut off from the outside world, large supplies of food were always stored in the basements of the monastery. In other words, it was not an easy task to take such a fortress by force.

The first years of the siege of the monastery

We must pay tribute to the government, for several years it did not take decisive action and counted on a peaceful outcome of events. A complete blockade of the monastery was not established, which allowed the defenders to replenish supplies. In addition, they were joined by many other schismatics from among the peasants and fugitive participants in the uprising of Stepan Razin, which was only recently suppressed. As a result, the Solovetsky seat gained more and more supporters from year to year.

After four years of fruitless attempts to break the resistance of the rebels, the government sent in a larger military formation. In the summer of 1672, 725 archers landed on the island under the command of the governor Ievlev. Thus, a numerical superiority appeared on the side of the besiegers of the fortress, but even this did not give any tangible result.

Intensification of hostilities

It couldn't go on like this for long, of course. Despite all the courage of the defenders of the monastery, the Solovetsky seat was doomed, since it was impossible for a separate, even if numerous, group of people to fight the entire state machine. In 1673, by order of the tsar, the voivode Ivan Mescherinov, a resolute and cruel man, arrived to suppress the revolt. He had the strictest order to take the most active action and put an end to monastic willfulness. Another reinforcement arrived with him.

With his arrival, the position of the besieged has deteriorated significantly. The voivode established a complete blockade of the fortress, blocking all channels of communication with the outside world. In addition, if in previous years, due to severe frosts in winter, the siege was lifted and the archers went to the Sumy prison until spring, now the blockade lasted all year round. Thus, the Solovetsky seat was deprived of the conditions of its life support.

Attempts to storm the monastery

Ivan Mescherinov was an experienced and skillful commander and organized the siege of the fortress in accordance with all the rules of military art. Artillery batteries were installed around the walls of the monastery, and tunnels were made for its towers. He made several attempts to storm the fortress, but they were all repulsed. As a result of active hostilities, both the defenders and the besiegers suffered significant losses. But the trouble is that the government had the opportunity to compensate for the losses of its troops as needed, but the defenders of the fortress did not have it, and their number was constantly decreasing.

Betrayal that caused defeat

At the very beginning of 1676, an attack on the monastery was once again undertaken, but it was unsuccessful. However, the hour was approaching when this in its own way heroic Solovetsky seat would be finally destroyed. The date January 18 became a black day in his history. A traitor named Feoktist, showed the voivode Mescherinov secret passage who could get into the monastery. He did not miss the opportunity, and took advantage of it. Soon a detachment of archers burst into the territory of the fortress. Caught by surprise, the defenders failed to provide adequate resistance, and many were killed in a short but fierce battle.

Those who survived faced a sad fate. The voivode was a cruel man, and after a short trial, the leaders of the rebellion and its active participants were executed. The rest ended their days in distant prisons. This was the end of the famous Solovetsky sitting. The reasons that prompted him - the church reform and the tough state policy aimed at its implementation, will bring discord into the life of Russia for many years to come.

Growth and expansion of the Old Believers

During this period, a completely new stratum of society appeared called Old Believers, or otherwise - Old Believers. Pursued by the government, they will go to the Trans-Volga forests, to the Urals and Siberia, and, overtaken by the persecutors, they will voluntarily die in the fire. Rejecting the king's power and authority official church, these people will devote their lives to preserving what they recognized as "ancient piety." And the monks of the rebellious monastery on the White Sea will always be an example for them.