Pustozersk

Today we will discuss tobacco. Is it acceptable for Orthodox people? (Source: ruvera.ru) First, to debunk a few myths - Old Believers are not like Mormons. Drinking coffee, tea, alcohol, etc, are fully accepted as long as it stays away from addiction and drunkenness. For a while, some priestless abstained entirely from coffee, but they eventually declared drinking coffee acceptable and not sinful. But tobacco is different, historically. Tobacco, before the Raskol,  was prohibited by Patriarch Philaret in 1634 for all use. It was considered a mocking of incense, a foul smoke and a prayer to the Devil. It was also believed to slowly kill the user (Who would have thought?) and some towns imprisoned users.  In 1697, Peter the "Great", a famous westernizer and Nikonian, lifted all bans. He encouraged the importation of tobacco, giving Britain a monopoly in the country. He was a known smoker. He demanded all his acquaintances smoke. Peter used it as incense in...

Many know about the Latin church's social teaching, as advocated by Leo XIII. In Rerum Novarum, he argued for distributism over modern capitalism and over fascism and communism. Of course, the opinions of the Latin pope are irrelevant to Old Believers, but this raises a question: Is there an Orthodox social teaching? An ideal economic, and political system? In this article, we'll explore the history and possibility of an Old Believer advocated system. Maybe Communism; Or, was the Russian Revolution Ran on the Funds of Old Believer Capitalists? Credit to Starove.ru for the above image No, of course not. It seems some Russian revisionists have gotten the bright idea that Old Believers held a vendetta against the Romanovs, and so the richest ones, such as the Morozov family, funded Lenin and the Bolsheviks. This doesn't square with history: The Old Believers were Nicholas II's most loyal subjects due to the 1905 religious freedom decree, and when he abdicated,...

Today, we'll discuss the icon of the Only Begotten Son. The above icon is from Nevyansk, a famous Old Believer icon painting town, known for its more elaborate and ornate icons.  Examples of these types of icons go back to at least the 16th century, but probably further. The components of the icon are mostly ancient in origin. This is a hymnographical-allegorical depiction of the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Father has two angels to either side, and holds his fingers in the two-finger sign of the cross.  As I have discussed, this depiction is canonical. Here, we have an angel bearing on each side a moon, demonstrating the eclipse that occurred during the Crucifixion. The other angels hold orbs with Сть , standing for Спаситель , meaning Savior. This is an image of the Holy Trinity, at a focal point of the icon - here, the viewer looks at the Holy Trinity with reverence. This is the icon of the Theotokos of the Sign. It is rather common as an icon, ...

The Kerzhenets Sketes were many monasteries eatablished in the Kerzhenets forest of the Nizhny Novgorod region of Russia by Old Believers. They were home to many holy monks, priests, and laypeople, and their history spans hundreds of years. Their history begins in the earlier 1700s, founded by Hieromonk Abraham and monk Euthymius Potemkin. Most of the monasteries were Priested, but several were priestless. Thousands of Old Believers, monastic and otherwise, lived there. First, we'll discuss the Komarovsky Skete, one of the larger ones existing in Kerzhenets. The Komarovsky Skete was founded by an Old Believer called Komar. In it's heyday there were 48 monasteries, and many churches. These slowly decreased but at one point there were 2,000 people living there, in a profoundly prosperous monastery, both spiritually and literally. The Skete was beglopopovtsy for the most part, not priestless. One of the famous monasteries there was the Ignatiev Monastery. Ignatiu...

Russian Grapes by Andrei Denisov is a venerable text describing Russian saints. The following is a brief excerpt about St. Paul of Kolomna. (Translation by myself) The leader of Christ's holy army of the 17th century came from the common people of Bezhe, the lowest of the low, but was the holy shepherd of Christ's flock, the guard defending generosity, the golden pipe of piety, the vessel chosen to be the Archbishop of Kolomna. This treasure of zeal, this undefeatable hardness, this lamp on a hill brighter than all. The Nikonian church created books of treachery on the pulpit, ostensibly ancient, but containing novelties condemned by the ancients. Nikon seeked to be a shepherd alone, the great sovereign and hierarch of the Church. One boldly dissented: Paul of Kolomna, supreme in holiness, seeing the cloak of a sheep shrouding the wolf, Nikon, and proudly stating the ancient piety of the Church. The other hierarchs submitted and signed the innovations on the new books, for...

It is now December 25th! Christ is born!

Hello, I am not going to post during the Nativity Fast. Sometimes my work on blog posts distracts me from spiritual works, and I am attempting to conquer a terrible sin. Lord have mercy on me. Posting will resume January 7th. I will be adopting a 400 Jesus Prayer a day rule, amongst other things. I encourage anyone reading to do this. Prayer conquers death and sin.