The Nikonian Dmitri of Rostov and "Martin of Armenia"

Today we will discuss a Nikonian saint who spent his life forging documents to slander the Orthodox Church. Dmitri of Rostov. I am not seeking to slander him (Lord have mercy on him), but rather present the facts.

I am going to assume familiarity with the 17th century Nikonian schism.

We will begin with some biographical information. Dmitri of Rostov was born in 1651 moved to Kiev at an early age, often venerating Saints in Uniate churches in Ukraine. He was strongly against Peter the "Great", but was a strong advocate for Nikonianism and Tsar Alexei. He was generally westernizing, given that he was from Ukraine, where the Uniate influence was strong. He wrote an opera, as well.

Beyond that, he was very against the Old Believers. He wrote a polemic, "Investigating the Bryansk Faith", against the Old Believers.

So the above isn't egregious. It isn't contrary to Sainthood, per se, in the Nikonian church. But Dmitri also wrote "The Synodic Act of the Heretic of Armenia, the Martyr Martin".

For background, non-Orthodox bishops for years had accused Russians of being "Armenian heretics" for crossing themselves with two fingers. In 1656, Patriarch Macarius of Antioch made this accusation. 

A decision was made after the brutal martyrdom, kidnapping, and torture of the Orthodox failed, after the robbers' council of 1666-1667. It was decided to double the taxes of the Old Believers, and to create forgeries. Shortly before his death, Dmitri created the most infamous one. Here, I'd like to note that the ROC (MP) has renounced the forgery, but not Dmitri of Rostov.

The story Dmitri imagined, in his forged document

He wrote that a heretic from Armenia, called Martin, moved to Russia and said he was the relative of Patriarch Luke of Constantinople, in the 12th century. He then began to spread Armenian heresy, monophysitism combined with Latinism.

He claims that from Martin came the two-fingered sign of the cross, and the Jesus Prayer rather than the invocation of the Holy Trinity during it.

In the document, Martin is condemned by the nonexistent Councils of Kiev and Constantinople, and burned at the stake for heresy, specifically the two-fingered sign of the cross.

This document Dmitri said was a translation from the 12th century.

Needless to say, the above is a proven forgery.

But the Nikonian used it in arguments against the Old Believers, who knew it a forgery from the beginning, until 1917.

Dmitri was canonized.

The following was(and is) part of the Akathist to him.

The storm of heresies, from the underworld through Aria in Greece, was revived in the latter days by the machinations of Martin the Armenian and through the [Old Believers] in the Fatherland, still attempts to silence and destroy the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. You, the good shepherd, for the love of your sheep, you drove away these soul-destroying wolves, you tamed the storm of insanity, and you taught the faithful to say to the Trinitarian God: Alleluia.

Nikonians only began to admit the falsity of this account in the late 19th century. But many saints in that communion speak of Martin the Armenian.

And remember the main reason it is an undoubted forgery - the sign of the cross was made with two fingers in Constantinople and Russia before "Martin the Armenian" allegedly existed.