Solovetsky uprising. The Church Schism of the 17th Century in Russia and the Old Believers Speech of Fighters for the Old Faith

In 1652, the fifth Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Joseph, died, and Metropolitan Nikon of Novgorod, a favorite of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich the Quietest, was elected in his place. The newly minted patriarch forced the tsar to give a written promise not to interfere in any spiritual affairs and set about reforming church rites and books.

Nikon replaced earthly prostrations with waist ones, introduced baptism with three fingers, and corrected icons according to Greek patterns. Soon the Patriarch convened the Moscow Council, at which it was decided that all those who are baptized with two fingers during the service should immediately be anathematized.

Nikon's reforms caused widespread criticism among adherents of the old church traditions, but all those who disagree were quickly persecuted by the former metropolitan. For example, the patriarch's opponent, Archpriest Avvakum, was thrown into the monastery cellar for three days, and then exiled to Tobolsk. “They reproach me that I didn’t submit to the patriarch, but I scold him for writing, yes, I bark, they pull my hair, and push me under my sides, and they trade for a chain, and they spit in my eyes,” wrote the archpriest.

“Nikon is a person who arouses disgust in me,” Catherine II will say later. - I would be happier if I had not heard about his name ... Nikon and the sovereign tried to subjugate himself: he wanted to become a pope ...

Nikon brought confusion and division into the domestic church, peaceful before him and integrally united. Trippers was imposed on us by the Greeks with the help of curses, torture and death penalty... Nikon made a tyrant and torturer of his people from Alexei the tsar-father.

From old books

The monks of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Solovetsky Monastery actively opposed Nikon's reforms. They hid Nikon's new missals and continued to hold services based on old books. Archimandrite Ilya became the initiator of large-scale propaganda of the Old Believers, but a few years later he died, and Bartholomew, who stood on the side of the patriarch-reformer, took his post.

Bartholomew tried to introduce the books and icons of Nikon, but the religious community of the Solovetsky Monastery criticized the new archimandrite. Soon Bartholomew arrived in Moscow, where he spoke about the disobedient monks.

At the same time, several petitions were sent to the capital from the Solovetsky Monastery. One said that Bartholomew was a drunkard who needed to be removed immediately, and the second said that riots were starting in the monastery.

The Moscow Cathedral decided to look into the situation and sent the Yaroslavl-Spassky Archimandrite Sergius to the Solovetsky Monastery, accompanied by archers. Returning to the capital, Sergius reported that the local brethren were raising a cry against new books and rituals. Then the Moscow Cathedral appointed Archimandrite Joseph to the recalcitrant monastery, who immediately told the Solovetsky Old Believers that he intended to hold services in accordance with the new canons. The monks again did not submit and drove Joseph out of their monastery.

"Theft and rebellion to be eradicated by any means"

Angry Alexei Mikhailovich forbade the delivery of bread to the rebels, and in 1668 he sent a detachment of archers under the command of the solicitor Ignatius Volokhov to the Solovetsky Monastery.

However, the monks with the laymen who were on their pilgrimage armed themselves, sat down under siege and did not let the royal troops approach them. According to historians, enough food was stored inside the monastery to last for a whole decade.

Deciding that Volokhov was not coping with his task, the angry tsar replaced him with the governor of Ievlev. However, Ievlev turned out to be no better than his predecessor, and then Alexei Mikhailovich sent Ivan Meshcherinov to the Solovetsky Monastery. The king ordered the voivode "to eradicate theft and rebellion by any means."

"Warmen will scatter like sheep"

By order of Ivan Meshcherinov, the archers launched an armed attack against the monks. In response to the actions of the governor, one of the rebels, the former archimandrite of the Savva-Storozhevsky monastery Nikanor, blessed his comrades to fire cannons. “If you hit the shepherd, the soldiers will scatter like sheep,” he told the monks, urging them to shoot at Meshcherinov.

Soon discord began inside the Solovetsky Monastery: some monks insisted that they should continue to pray for Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, while others considered the ruler a Herod, unworthy of prayer. Because of these disagreements, several rebels left the fortress and took the side of Meshcherinov.

Betrayal and the end of the siege

By 1675, the number of archers had increased significantly, and the governor Meshcherinov intensified his attempts to pacify the rebels, but all of them again turned out to be futile.

Then the monk Feoktist came from the Solovetsky Monastery to the tsar's troops, who had betrayed their comrades. Feoktist undertook to lead a detachment of archers into the fortress. On the night of January 22, 1676, 50 archers, together with the Solovetsky traitor, entered the monastery through a bricked-up window under dryer at the White Tower.

The tsarist troops began to massacre the rebels. “At present, we do not have sufficient information to indicate the exact number of those executed, but the fact of numerous and cruel executions, preserved for a long time in the people's memory, is beyond doubt,” write researchers of the Old Believers Elena Yukhimenko and. - According to the census conducted in September 1668, at the very beginning of the siege in the Solovetsky Monastery there were about 670-700 people, by the end of the "sitting" in the monastery, according to some sources, there were 300 people left, according to others - 500 (losses should also be taken into account among the besieged, and there were defections).

After the capture of the monastery, by June 1676, when Meshcherinov submitted the “painting” to the newly sent archimandrite Macarius, only 14 chernets taken from the monastery were listed as alive. According to Old Believer sources, from 300 to 500 people died in the monastery; 500 Solovyans who suffered for the old faith are commemorated in the Old Believer Synod.

After 1676, the monastery was settled by a new brethren, composed of monks from various Russian monasteries.

Contemporaries wrote that the bloodthirsty Meshcherinov "hung with the corpses of monks all the trees around the monastery." But soon the suppressor of the uprising was accused of stealing the monastery treasury, and then he became the first prisoner of the Solovetsky prison after the destruction of the Solovetsky monastery by him.

“The main driving force of the Solovetsky uprising at both stages of the armed struggle was not the monks with their conservative ideology, but the peasants and Balti - temporary residents of the island who did not have a monastic rank. Among the Balti there was a privileged group, adjoining the brethren and the cathedral elite. These are the servants of the archimandrite and the cathedral elders (servants) and the lower clergy: sexton deacons, kliroshans (servants). The bulk of the Balti were workers and working people who served the intra-monastic and patrimonial economy and were exploited by the spiritual feudal lord. Among the workers who worked “for hire” and “under a promise”, that is, for free, who vowed to “atone for their sins with charitable work and earn forgiveness”, there were many “walking”, fugitive people: peasants, townspeople, archers, Cossacks, yaryzhek. It was they who made up the main core of the rebels.

Exiles and disgraced people turned out to be a good "fuel material", of which there were up to 40 people on the island.

In addition to the working people, but under his influence and pressure, part of the ordinary brethren joined the uprising. This is not surprising, because the black elders, by their origin, were “all peasant children” or people from the settlements. However, as the uprising deepened, the monks, frightened by the decisiveness of the people, broke with the uprising.

An important reserve of the insurgent monastic masses were the Pomeranian peasantry, working in the salty, mica and other crafts, who came under the protection of the walls of the Solovetsky Kremlin. [Frumenkov 3 - 67]

“The testimonies of Elder Prokhor are characteristic in this regard: “There are three hundred people in the monastery in all, and more than four hundred people from Beltsy, they locked themselves in the monastery and sat down to die, but the images do not want a builder. And it became with them for theft and for capitonism, and not for faith. And many Kapitons, blacks and Beltsy, from low-lying cities came to the monastery de Razinovshchina, they excommunicated their thieves from the church and from the spiritual fathers. Yes, they also gathered in the monastery fugitive Moscow archers and Don Cossacks and boyar fugitive serfs and pink state foreigners ... and all the root of evil gathered here in the monastery. [Likhachev 1 - 30]

“There were more than 700 people in the insurgent monastery, including over 400 strong supporters of the struggle against the government by the method of peasant war. The rebels had at their disposal 990 cannons placed on towers and a fence, 900 pounds of gunpowder, a large number of handguns and edged weapons, as well as protective equipment. [Frumenkov 2 - 21]

Stages of the uprising

“The uprising in the Solovetsky Monastery can be divided into two stages. At the first stage of the armed struggle (1668 - 1671), the laity and monks came out under the banner of defending the "old faith" against Nikon's innovations. The monastery at that time was one of the richest and economically independent, due to its remoteness from the center and the wealth of natural resources.

In the “newly corrected liturgical books” brought to the monastery, the Solovki discovered “ungodly heresies and crafty innovations,” which the monastery theologians refused to accept. The struggle of the exploited masses against the government and the church, like many speeches of the Middle Ages, took on a religious veneer, although in fact, under the slogan of defending the "old faith", the democratic sections of the population fought against state and monastic feudal-serf oppression. V.I. drew attention to this feature of the revolutionary actions of the peasantry crushed by darkness. Lenin. He wrote that "... the appearance of political protest under a religious veneer is a phenomenon characteristic of all peoples, at a certain stage of their development, and not of Russia alone" (vol. 4, p. 228)". [Frumenkov 2 - 21]

“Apparently, initially, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich hoped to take the monastery by starvation and intimidation, blocking the delivery of food and other necessary supplies. But the blockade dragged on, and a peasant war flared up in the Volga region and in the south of Russia under the leadership of S. T. Razin. [Sokolova]

“In 1668 the tsar ordered the siege of the monastery. An armed struggle began between the Solovki and government troops. The beginning of the Solovetsky uprising coincided with the peasant war that flared up in the Volga region under the leadership of S.T. Razin". [Frumenkov 2 - 21]

“The government, not without reason, feared that its actions would stir up the entire Pomorie, turn the region into a continuous region of popular uprising. Therefore, the first years of the siege of the rebellious monastery was carried out sluggishly and intermittently. In the summer months, the tsarist troops landed on the Solovetsky Islands, tried to block them and interrupt the connection of the monastery with the mainland, and for the winter they moved ashore to the Sumy prison, and the Dvina and Kholmogory archers, who were part of the government army, disbanded for this time to their homes.

The transition to open hostilities exacerbated the social contradictions in the camp of the rebels to the extreme and accelerated the demarcation of the fighting forces. It was finally completed under the influence of the Razintsy, who began to arrive at the monastery in the autumn of 1671. [Frumenkov 3 - 69]

“The participants in the peasant war of 1667-1671 who joined the insurgent mass. took the initiative in the defense of the monastery and intensified the Solovetsky uprising.

The runaway boyar serf Isachko Voronin, the Kemsky resident Samko Vasiliev, Razin chieftains F. Kozhevnikov and I. Sarafanov came to lead the uprising. The second stage of the uprising began (1671 - 1676), at which religious issues receded into the background and the idea of \u200b\u200bstruggle for the "old faith" ceased to be the banner of the movement. The uprising takes on a pronounced anti-feudal and anti-government character, becomes a continuation of the peasant war led by S.T. Razin. The Far North of Russia became the last hotbed of the peasant war. [Frumenkov 2 - 22]

“In the “interrogative speeches” of people from the monastery, it is reported that the leaders of the uprising and many of its participants “do not go to the church of God, and do not come to confession to the spiritual fathers, and the priests are cursed and called heretics and apostates.” To those who reproached them for their fall into sin, they answered: "We will live without priests." Newly corrected liturgical books were burned, tore, and drowned in the sea. The rebels “set aside” the pilgrimage for the great sovereign and his family and did not want to hear more about it, and some of the rebels said about the king “such words that it’s scary not only to write, but also to think.” [Frumenkov 3 - 70]

“Such actions finally scared away the uprising of the monks. On the whole, they break with the movement and try to divert the working people from the armed struggle, take the path of treason and plotting against the uprising and its leaders. Only the fanatical supporter of the "old faith", the exiled archimandrite Nikanor, with a handful of adherents, hoped to cancel Nikon's reform with the help of weapons until the end of the uprising. The leaders of the people resolutely cracked down on the reactionary-minded monks who were engaged in subversive activities: they put some in prison, others were expelled outside the walls of the fortress.

The population of Pomorye expressed sympathy for the rebellious monastery and provided it with constant support with people and food. Thanks to this help, the rebels not only successfully repulsed the attacks of the besiegers, but also made bold sorties themselves, which demoralized the government archers and inflicted great damage on them. [Frumenkov 2 - 22]

“The entire civilian population of Solovki was armed and organized in a military way: divided into tens and hundreds with the appropriate commanders at the head. The besieged greatly fortified the island. They cut down the forest around the pier so that no ship could approach the shore unnoticed and fall into the zone of fire of the fortress guns. A low section of the wall between the Nikolsky Gates and the Kvasoparennaya Tower was raised with wooden terraces to the height of other sections of the fence, a low Kvasoparennaya Tower was built on, and a wooden platform (peal) was arranged on the Drying Chamber for the installation of guns. The courtyards around the monastery, which allowed the enemy to secretly approach the Kremlin and complicate the defense of the city, were burned. Around the monastery it became "smooth and even." In places of a possible attack, they laid boards with stuffed nails and fixed them. Guard duty was organized. A guard of 30 people was posted on each tower in shifts, the gate was guarded by a team of 20 people. The approaches to the monastery fence were also significantly strengthened. In front of the Nikolskaya Tower, where most often it was necessary to repulse the attacks of the tsarist archers, trenches were dug and surrounded by an earthen rampart. Here they installed guns and arranged loopholes. All this testified to the good military training of the leaders of the uprising, their familiarity with the technique of defensive structures. [Frumenkov 3 - 71]

“After the suppression of the peasant war under the leadership of S.T. Razin's government took decisive action against the Solovetsky uprising.

In the spring of 1674, a new governor, Ivan Meshcherinov, arrived in Solovki. Under his command, up to 1000 archers and artillery were sent. In the autumn of 1675, he sent a report to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich outlining the plans for the siege. Streltsy dug under three towers: Belaya, Nikolskaya and Kvasoparennaya. On December 23, 1675, they attacked from three sides: where there were diggings, and also from the side of the Holy Gates and the Seldyanaya (Arsenal) tower. “The rebels did not sit idly by. Fortifications were erected in the monastery under the guidance of the fugitive Don Cossacks Piotr Zapruda and Grigory Krivonog, experienced in military affairs.

In the summer-autumn months of 1674 and 1675. hot battles unfolded under the walls of the monastery, in which both sides suffered heavy losses. [Frumenkov 2 - 23]

The religious and political movement of the 17th century, as a result of which a part of the believers who did not accept the reforms of Patriarch Nikon, separated from the Russian Orthodox Church, was called a schism.

Also at the divine service, instead of singing "Alleluia" twice, it was ordered to sing three times. Instead of circumambulating the temple during baptism and weddings in the sun, circumambulation against the sun was introduced. Instead of seven prosphora, five prosphora were served at the liturgy. Instead of an eight-pointed cross, they began to use four-pointed and six-pointed. By analogy with the Greek texts, instead of the name of Christ, Jesus, the patriarch ordered Jesus to be written in newly printed books. In the eighth member of the Creed ("In the Holy Spirit of the true Lord") removed the word "true".

Innovations were approved by church councils of 1654-1655. During 1653-1656, corrected or newly translated liturgical books were published at the Printing Yard.

The dissatisfaction of the population was caused by violent measures, with the help of which Patriarch Nikon introduced new books and rituals into use. Some members of the Circle of Zealots of Piety were the first to speak out for the "old faith", against the reforms and actions of the patriarch. Archpriests Avvakum and Daniil submitted a note to the tsar in defense of double-fingering and about prostrations during divine services and prayers. Then they began to argue that the introduction of corrections according to Greek models defiles the true faith, since the Greek Church has departed from the "ancient piety", and its books are printed in Catholic printing houses. Ivan Neronov spoke out against the strengthening of the power of the patriarch and for the democratization of church administration. The clash between Nikon and the defenders of the "old faith" took on sharp forms. Avvakum, Ivan Neronov and other opponents of the reforms were severely persecuted. The speeches of the defenders of the "old faith" received support in various strata of Russian society, ranging from individual representatives of the highest secular nobility to the peasants. Among the masses, a lively response was found by the sermons of the schismatics about the advent of the "end time", about the accession of the Antichrist, to whom the tsar, the patriarch and all authorities allegedly already bowed down and carry out his will.

The Great Moscow Cathedral of 1667 anathematized (excommunicated) those who, after repeated exhortations, refused to accept new rites and newly printed books, and also continued to scold the church, accusing it of heresy. The cathedral also deprived Nikon of his patriarchal rank. The deposed patriarch was sent to prison - first to Ferapontov, and then to Kirillo Belozersky Monastery.

Carried away by the preaching of schismatics, many townspeople, especially peasants, fled to the dense forests of the Volga region and the North, to the southern outskirts of the Russian state and abroad, founded their communities there.

From 1667 to 1676, the country was engulfed in riots in the capital and on the outskirts. Then, in 1682, the Streltsy riots began, in which the schismatics played an important role. The schismatics attacked monasteries, robbed monks, and seized churches.

A terrible consequence of the split was burning - mass self-immolation. The earliest report of them dates back to 1672, when 2,700 people set themselves on fire in the Paleostrovsky Monastery. From 1676 to 1685, according to documented information, about 20,000 people died. Self-immolations continued into the 18th century, and in some cases at the end of the 19th century.

The main result of the split was a church division with the formation of a special branch of Orthodoxy - the Old Believers. By the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries, there were various currents of the Old Believers, which received the names of "talks" and "consent". The Old Believers were divided into clergy and non-priests. The priests recognized the need for the clergy and all church sacraments, they were settled in the Kerzhensky forests (now the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod region), the regions of Starodubye (now the Chernigov region, Ukraine), the Kuban (Krasnodar Territory), the Don River.

Bespopovtsy lived in the north of the state. After the death of the priests of the pre-schism ordination, they rejected the priests of the new appointment, therefore they began to be called priestless. The sacraments of baptism and repentance and all church services, except for the liturgy, were performed by elected laity.

Patriarch Nikon had nothing to do with the persecution of the Old Believers - from 1658 until his death in 1681, he was first in voluntary, and then in forced exile.

At the end of the 18th century, the schismatics themselves began to make attempts to get closer to the church. On October 27, 1800, Edinoverie was established in Russia by decree of Emperor Paul as a form of reunification of the Old Believers with the Orthodox Church.

The Old Believers were allowed to serve according to the old books and observe the old rites, among which the greatest importance was attached to double-fingeredness, but Orthodox clergy performed worship and rites.

In July 1856, by decree of Emperor Alexander II, the police sealed the altars of the Pokrovsky and Nativity Cathedrals of the Old Believer Rogozhsky cemetery in Moscow. The reason was denunciations that liturgies were solemnly celebrated in churches, "tempting" the faithful of the synodal church. Divine services were held in private prayer houses, in the houses of the capital's merchants and manufacturers.

On April 16, 1905, on the eve of Easter, a telegram from Nicholas II arrived in Moscow, allowing "to print the altars of the Old Believer chapels of the Rogozhsky cemetery." The next day, April 17, the imperial "Decree on Religious Tolerance" was promulgated, which guaranteed freedom of religion to the Old Believers.

In 1929, the Patriarchal Holy Synod formulated three resolutions:

- "On the recognition of the old Russian rites as saving, like the new rites, and equal to them";

- "On the rejection and imputation, as if not the former, of reprehensible expressions relating to the old rites, and especially to the two-finger";

- "On the abolition of the oaths of the Moscow Cathedral of 1656 and the Great Moscow Council of 1667, imposed by them on the old Russian rites and on Orthodox Christians who adhere to them, and to consider these oaths as if they had not been."

The Local Council of 1971 approved three resolutions of the Synod of 1929.

On January 12, 2013, in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, the first liturgy after the schism according to the ancient rite was celebrated.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources in

The beginning of discontent

"By the middle of the 17th century. The Solovetsky Monastery became one of the richest and most independent Christian monasteries in Russia. Located on the islands of the White Sea, surrounded by a strong stone wall, supplied with a large amount of military supplies and having a strong archery garrison, the monastery was an invulnerable border fortress that covered the entrance to the port of Arkhangelsk. Due to its remoteness from the center, it was weakly connected with the Moscow Patriarchate and the Novgorod Metropolis, to which it was once subordinate. On the vast territory that belonged to the monastery - the islands and the sea coast, there were large enterprises that brought in a lot of income at that time. The monastery owned fisheries, salt pans, mica mines, leather huts, and potash factories. But the end of the century was marked by a major popular uprising. [Sokolova]

The Solovetsky uprising broke out on the crest of popular uprisings in the 17th century. in the summer of 1648 there was an uprising in Moscow, then in Solvychegodsk, Veliky Ustyug, Kozlov, Voronezh, Kursk. In 1650, uprisings broke out in Pskov and Novgorod. In the early 1960s there was a commotion over the new copper money. These disturbances were called "copper riots". The Solovetsky uprising of 1668 - 1676 was the end of all these unrest and the Peasant War led by Stepan Razin, but discontent in the monastery appeared much earlier.

Apparently, already in 1646, dissatisfaction with the government was felt in the monastery and its possessions. On June 16, 1646, Abbot Ilya wrote to lead to the kissing of the cross lay people of various ranks, archers and peasants in the monastic estates. An oath form was soon sent from Moscow. The monastics pledged to faithfully serve the sovereign in it, to want him well without any cunning, to inform about any osprey and conspiracy, to perform military work without any treason, not to adjoin traitors, not to do anything arbitrarily, en masse or conspiracy, etc. This shows that the danger of "ospreys", conspiracies and betrayals was real.

Gradually accumulating dissatisfaction with Patriarch Nikon resulted in 1657 in the decisive refusal of the monastery, headed by its then archimandrite Ilya, to accept newly printed liturgical books. The disobedience of the monastery took on various forms in the following years and was largely determined by pressure from below by the laity living in the monastery (primarily laborers) and ordinary monks. The following years were filled with numerous events, during which the monastery, torn apart by internal contradictions, on the whole nevertheless refused to submit not only to the ecclesiastical authority of the patriarch, but also secular power king." [Likhachev 1 - 30]

In July-August 1666, at the order of the tsar and the Ecumenical Patriarchs, a “Conciliar Decree on the Acceptance of Newly Corrected Books and Orders” was sent to the Solovetsky Monastery. In response petitions, the Council, brethren, "Balti" and laity promised to submit to the royal power in everything, but asked only "not to change the faith." But disagreements became more and more noticeable in the monastery: the bulk of the brethren, opposing Nikon's innovations, also expressed their dissatisfaction with the monastic administration, demanding the removal of hegumen Bartholomew. Relying on servicemen and black people, they expressed more and more radical ideas of resistance. At the same time, a small group of monastic brethren stood out, which was inclined towards a compromise with the authorities and the adoption of church reform.

In October 1666, the monastery refused to receive Archimandrite Sergius of the Yaroslavl Spassky Monastery, sent by the Moscow Cathedral to investigate the Solovki monks by petition. In February 1667, a special investigator, A. S. Khitrovo, arrived in Sumy prison, one hundred and fifty kilometers from the monastery, for a “detective case”. The summoned elders and monastic servants did not appear for interrogation. In response to disobedience, on December 27, 1667, a royal decree was issued, which prescribed “patrimonial villages of the Solovetsky Monastery, and villages, and salt and all sorts of crafts, and in Moscow and in the cities, courtyards with all sorts of factories and reserves, and salt to unsubscribe to us , the great sovereign, and from those villages, and from the villages, and from all kinds of crafts of money, and all sorts of grain supplies, and salt, and all sorts of purchases from Moscow and from cities, they were not ordered to pass into that monastery. [Sokolova]

Participants of the uprising

Exiles and disgraced people turned out to be a good "fuel material", of which there were up to 40 people on the island.

Stages of the uprising

In the “newly corrected liturgical books” brought to the monastery, the Solovki discovered “ungodly heresies and crafty innovations,” which the monastery theologians refused to accept. The struggle of the exploited masses against the government and the church, like many speeches of the Middle Ages, took on a religious veneer, although in fact, under the slogan of defending the "old faith", the democratic sections of the population fought against state and monastic feudal-serf oppression. V. I. Lenin drew attention to this feature of the revolutionary actions of the peasantry crushed by darkness. He wrote that "... the appearance of political protest under a religious veneer is a phenomenon characteristic of all peoples, at a certain stage of their development, and not of Russia alone" (vol. 4, p. 228)". [Frumenkov 2 - 21]

“In 1668 the tsar ordered the siege of the monastery. An armed struggle began between the Solovki and government troops. The beginning of the Solovetsky uprising coincided with the peasant war that was flaring up in the Volga region under the leadership of S. T. Razin. [Frumenkov 2 - 21]

“Participants in the peasant war of 1667-1671 who joined the insurgent mass. took the initiative in the defense of the monastery and intensified the Solovetsky uprising.

The runaway boyar serf Isachko Voronin, the Kemsky resident Samko Vasiliev, Razin chieftains F. Kozhevnikov and I. Sarafanov came to lead the uprising. The second stage of the uprising began (1671 - 1676), in which religious issues receded into the background and the idea of \u200b\u200bstruggle for the "old faith" ceased to be the banner of the movement. The uprising takes on a pronounced anti-feudal and anti-government character, becomes a continuation of the peasant war led by S. T. Razin. The Far North of Russia became the last hotbed of the peasant war. [Frumenkov 2 - 22]

“Such actions finally scared away the uprising of the monks. On the whole, they break with the movement and try to divert the working people from the armed struggle, take the path of treason and plotting against the uprising and its leaders. Only the fanatical supporter of the "old faith", the exiled archimandrite Nikanor, with a handful of adherents, hoped to cancel Nikon's reform with the help of weapons until the end of the uprising. The leaders of the people resolutely dealt with the reactionary-minded monks who were engaged in subversive activities: they put some in prisons, others were expelled outside the walls of the fortress.

“After the suppression of the peasant war under the leadership of S. T. Razin, the government moved to decisive action against the Solovetsky uprising.

In the summer-autumn months of 1674 and 1675. hot battles unfolded under the walls of the monastery, in which both sides suffered heavy losses. [Frumenkov 2 - 23]

The fall of the monastery

“Due to the severe blockade and continuous fighting, the number of the defenders of the monastery also gradually decreased, the stocks of military materials and food products were depleted, although the fortress could be defended for a long time. In the monastery on the eve of his fall, according to the defectors, there were grain reserves for seven, according to other sources - for ten years, cow's butter for two years. Only vegetables and fresh produce were lacking, leading to an outbreak of scurvy. 33 people died from scurvy and wounds. [Frumenkov 3 - 73]

“The Solovetsky Monastery was not taken by storm. He was betrayed by traitorous monks. The defector monk Theoktist led a detachment of archers into the monastery through a secret passage. Through the tower gates they opened, the main forces of I. Meshcherinov poured into the fortress. The rebels were taken by surprise. The massacre began. Almost all the defenders of the monastery died in a short fight. Only 60 people survived. 28 of them were executed immediately, including Samko Vasiliev, the rest - later. [Frumenkov 2 -23]

“The reprisal against the rebels was extremely severe. According to the traitor Feoktist, Meshcherinov "hanged some thieves, and dragged many by the monastery onto the lip (that is, the bay), froze." The executed were buried on the island of Babia Luda at the entrance to the Bay of Prosperity. The corpses were not buried: they were pelted with stones.” [Likhachev 1 - 32]

“The defeat of the Solovetsky Monastery took place in January 1676. This was the second blow to the popular movement after the defeat of the peasant war by S. T. Razin. Soon after the suppression of the uprising, the government sent trustworthy monks from other monasteries to Solovki, ready to pray for the tsar and the reformed church.

Solovetsky uprising 1668 - 1676 was the largest anti-serf movement of the 17th century after the peasant war under the leadership of S. T. Razin.

Key dates and events: 1648 - "salt" riot; 1662 - "copper" riot; 1667--1671 -- an uprising led by S. Razin.

Historical figures: Alexei Mikhailovich; Stepan Razin.

Answer plan: 1) the reasons for popular demonstrations; 2) features of popular performances in the 17th century. ; 3) "salt" rebellion; 4) "copper" rebellion; 5) the uprising of S. Razin; 6) speeches of the Old Believers; 7) the significance of the popular movements of the 17th century.

Material for answer: Contemporaries called the 17th century "rebellious". The main reasons for popular uprisings were: the enslavement of the peasants and the growth of their duties; increased tax burden; strengthening of red tape and bureaucracy; attempts to limit Cossack liberty; church schism and the persecution of the Old Believers.

All this led to the participation in the protests against the authorities not only of the peasantry (as it was before), but also of the Cossacks, the urban lower classes, archers, and the lower strata of the clergy. The participation of the Cossacks and archers, who had not only weapons, but also experience in conducting military operations, gave popular performances of the 17th century. the nature of a fierce struggle that led to great loss of life.

The most serious performances began in the middle of the century. On June 1, 1648, Alexei Mikhailovich was returning from pilgrimage from the Trinity-Sergius Monastery to the Kremlin. A crowd of Muscovites tried to file a complaint with him against the Moscow mayor, the head of the Zemsky order, L. S. Pleshcheev, who was accused of embezzlement, red tape, pandering to wealthy citizens, and raising the price of bread and salt. The performance was so powerful that the tsar was forced to hand over Pleshcheev to the massacre of the people. The boyar B. I. Morozov, the tutor of Alexei Mikhailovich and the de facto head of government, was dismissed and expelled from Moscow. Following Moscow, uprisings broke out in Kursk, Kozlov, Yelets, and Tomsk.

Constant wars exhausted the royal treasury. To replenish it, it was decided to mint a coin not from silver, as before, but from copper. As a result, the money depreciated sharply. This caused discontent among the population. In July 1662, having destroyed the estates of some of the boyars and officials close to the tsar, crowds of townspeople rushed to the out-of-town royal palace in the village of Kolomenskoye. In anticipation of the arrival of troops, the king was forced to promise the rebels the abolition of copper money. The townspeople headed back to Moscow, but on the way they met a new crowd of thousands, and the procession to Kolomenskoye resumed. Meanwhile, government troops approached, and the unarmed crowd was put to flight. The reprisals against the participants of the speech began. The instigators of the riot were hanged in the center of Moscow, the participants were cut off their hands, feet, tongues, flogged with a whip, sent into exile. Nevertheless, the circulation of copper money was canceled.

The largest popular performance of the XVII century. there was an uprising of Cossacks and peasants led by S. T. Razin.

The introduction of the Council Code of 1649, the search for and reprisals against fugitive peasants, the ruin of many villagers, townspeople and soldiers led to an outflow of people to the outskirts of the country, primarily to the Don. By the mid 1660s. a large number of refugees from the central regions have accumulated here. Many local Cossacks also remained poor. A beggarly existence forced 700 Don Cossacks, led by ataman Vasily Us, in 1666 to go towards Moscow with a request to the government to accept them into the royal service. After the refusal of the king, the peaceful campaign turned into an uprising, in which, in addition to the Cossacks, thousands of peasants took part. Soon the rebels withdrew to the Don, where they joined the detachments of Ataman S. T. Razin (1630-1671).

The first stage of Razin's speech (1667-1669) is usually called the "campaign for zipuns." Razin's detachment blocked the main trade artery of the South of Russia - the Volga, capturing merchant ships of Russian and Persian merchants. The rebels captured the Yaitsky town, and then defeated the fleet of the Persian Shah. Having taken possession of rich booty, in the summer of 1669 Razin returned to the Don and settled with his detachment in the Kagalnitsky town. The people reached out to the successful leader of the rebels from everywhere. Feeling the strength, Razin announced his intention to march on Moscow, promised "to beat all the princes and boyars and all the Russian gentry (nobility)."

In the spring of 1670, the second stage of the performance began, when the differences captured Tsaritsyn and approached the well-fortified Astrakhan, which surrendered without a fight. Having dealt with the governor and nobles, the rebels formed a government headed by atamans Vasily Us and Fyodor Sheludyak. The success of the rebels served as a signal for the transition to the side of Razin of the population of many Volga cities: Saratov, Samara, Penza, etc. Among the participants in the speech were representatives of the peoples of the Volga region: Chuvash, Mari, Tatars, Mordovians. Most of them were attracted by the fact that Razin declared each participant in the uprising a Cossack (that is, free). The total number of rebels was up to 200 thousand people.

In September 1670, the rebel army besieged Simbirsk, but could not take it and retreated to the Don. The punitive expedition against Razin was led by the governor, Prince Yu. Baryatinsky. Fearing reprisals, wealthy Cossacks seized Razin and handed him over to the authorities. After torture and trial, the leader of the rebels was quartered near the Execution Ground in Moscow.

However, the uprising continued. Only a year later, in November 1671, the tsarist troops managed to occupy Astrakhan and completely suppress the uprising. The scale of the reprisals against the Razintsy were enormous. In Arzamas alone, up to 11 thousand people were executed. In total, up to 100 thousand people were killed and tortured. Russia has not yet known such massacres.

The church schism for the first time led to mass religious uprisings. The movement of the Old Believers united representatives of various social strata, who in their own way understood adherence to the traditions of their faith. The forms of protest were also varied - from self-immolation and starvation, refusal to recognize Nikon's reform, evasion of duties to armed resistance to the tsarist governors. Only in 20 years (1675-1695) up to 20 thousand Old Believers died in mass self-immolations.

The largest armed uprisings of fighters for the faith were the Solovetsky uprising of 1668-1676, the performance on the Don in the 1670s-80s. The uprising of the monks of the Solovetsky Monastery was especially brutally suppressed. However, the performances of the Old Believers continued until the end of the century.

Thus, the strengthening of oppression, the enslavement of the peasants, attempts to eliminate the remnants of Cossack self-government, the struggle of the tsarist and church authorities against the schismatics led to mass popular uprisings, the main results of which were individual concessions to the government.