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Galleries
 The
Archpriest Avvakum Petrovich Kondrat'ev, Hieromartyr and Confessor of the Holy
Orthodox Faith
Today,
in the western world, the prophet Habakkuk is one of the least known writers
of the Holy Bible. It was quite the opposite in seventeenth-century Russia.
Because the liturgy of the Slavic Orthodox Church includes numerous passages
from his writings (particularly during the morning worship service of Matins),
Habakkuk is one of the most familiar prophets of the Old Testament. For this
reason, Avvakum (Church Slavonic for “Habakkuk”) was once a popular name for
sons born into Russian priestly families. The best known “Avvakum” of the
Russian Church is the Priest-Martyr and Confessor of the Faith, Avvakum
Petrovich Kondrat’ev, 1620-1682, founder and patron saint of the Old Believer
Russian Orthodox Church. It is perhaps no coincidence that there is a certain
similarity between the time in which the two authors lived and their response
to these circumstances as recorded in their writings. One hundred and
twenty-five years ago, the author of the renowned Catholic Bible Dictionary
described the time of the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk as one tragically
marked with the “national vices [of] insatiable ambition, greed, cruelty,
drunkenness and idolatry.” These the prophet Habakkuk condemned with defiant
courage. Much of Fr. Avvakum’s writings are equally fiery denunciations of
those whom he believed guilty of faithless compromises to the false
ecclesiastical edicts of his own day. A spiritual hero and literary genius,
Fr. Avvakum’s life (and his martyrdom in April 1682) have been an inspiration
to millions of Orthodox faithful. This number includes not only those
immediately associated with the Old Believers, but to countless others who see
his iron-firm refusal to make the smallest concession in the faith as a
seventeenth-century reiteration of the zeal and courage that characterized the
early Christians. Indeed, his writings verify that he and his followers saw
themselves as the elect, martyrs for the faith, witnesses to the truth of the
Gospel in the face of virtually certain death. “Take heed,” Father Avvakum
wrote, “you who listen to me: Our misfortune is inevitable, we cannot escape
it. If God allows scandals, it is that the elect be revealed. Let them be
burned, let them be purified, let them who have been tried be made manifest
among you. Satan has obtained our radiant Russia from God, so that she may be
made crimson with the blood of martyrs.”
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 Old
Believers - Zealous Champions of an Ancient Iconographic Tradition
In
order to bring the Russian Orthodox Church into total subservience to the
Russian state – in reality, to himself – in the first years of the 1700s Peter
the Great replaced the Moscow patriarchate with a synod patterned on those
ruling the churches in Protestant Western Europe. In order to further
“modernize” the Russian Church he also demanded that the nation’s
iconographers abandon the centuries-old directives governing the manner in
which icons had to be painted and, instead, to copy the styles popular among
western European artists. Hostage to the Tzar’s wishes, the state church was
unable to resist his directives. The only opposition to his whims came from
the Old Believers who, in the same way that they had totally rejected every
attempt to alter the manner in which their liturgies were celebrated,
absolutely refused to accept the Tzar’s iconographic innovations. The Old
Believer’s opposition to the Tzar’s ukaz eventually resulted in the
preservation of countless ancient icons. No matter to which portion of Arctic
Russia or Siberia they were exiled, Old Believers continued to paint their
icons according to the ancient traditions. They also maintained their practice
of searching for ancient icons in order to copy them and, frequently, to clean
and restore them. From Byzantium the first Russian Christians had adopted the
practice of casting metal icons and crosses, many of them small enough to be
worn. This custom continued into the seventeenth century with Old Believers as
its only proponents. However, in 1723, Peter the Great made the casting and
possession of metal icons a crime. (Old Believers assumed that the Tzar wanted
the copper in their icons to cast into bullets and cannons – to kill other
Christians – themselves in particular.) Despite the Tzar’s prohibition, the
tiny Old Believer monasteries continued producing both crosses and icons, many
of them beautifully finished with brilliantly coloured enamel. In addition to
those worn around one’s neck, folding travelling icons, usually diptychs, were
especially popular. Those depicting patron saints were often given to soldiers
and travelers for protection. Larger crosses were placed on the outside walls
of Old Believer homes, usually beside the front door. Others were fastened to
grave crosses or wrapped in cloth and put into the coffins of loved ones. At
baptism, an Orthodox believer receives a small cross, which he or she wears
for the rest of their life. One type of small cross was so much favoured by
Old Believers that it has become known as “the Old Believer’s Cross.” Bearing
several of the abbreviations found on the Slavonic icon of the crucifixion,
the distinctive scroll-like ornamentation on its outer edge represents the
wings of the seraphim. In this sketch the “Old Believer Cross” is surrounded
by representations of the seraphim and the abbreviation ST’ for Svatuiy’ -
“holy” the endlessly repeated chant of the seraphim as recorded in Isaiah 6:3.
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 The
Sign of the Cross - The Royal Seal of Christ
Blessing
oneself with the Sign of the Cross is an ancient Christian custom. References
to it appear in writings dating back to 240 A.D. and it is possible that it
was practised since the earliest days of Christianity. St. Cyril, Bishop of
Jerusalem (d. A.D. 386) wrote: Let us, therefore, not be ashamed of the Cross
of Christ; but though another hide it, do thou openly seal it upon thy
forehead, that the devils may behold the royal sign and flee trembling far
away. Make then this sign at eating and drinking, at sitting, at lying down,
at rising up, at speaking, at walking: in a word, at every act. Initially the
Sign of the Cross was made with the thumb, usually on the forehead but
sometimes on the lips and chest. This small Sign of the Cross was in common
use by the end of the 4th century. By the 6th century, people were using the
first two fingers, held together to make a large Sign of the Cross, touching
the forehead, chest, and shoulders. Like so many other aspects of ancient
Christianity, every detail of this gesture was given a symbolic meaning. The
two fingers were understood to represent the two natures of Christ, the human
and the divine. In addition, the precise manner in which the fingers were held
formed the so-called “Christogram,” – IC XC, the ancient abbreviation of the
Greek words for “Jesus Christ,” i.e., the first and last letters of each of
the words “IHCOYC XPICTOC”. The use of three fingers became popular in the 9th
century when the thumb and first two fingers were held outstretched together
to symbolize the Trinity, while the remaining two fingers were bent to signify
Christ's two natures. By the end of the Middle Ages, the Western Church had
adopted the practice of making the large Sign of the Cross with an open hand
and touching the left shoulder before the right. Ancient Rus’ received the
two-fingered Sign of the Cross from Byzantium and retained it when the
three-fingered usage became popular in the Greek-speaking Orthodox world. In
1656 Patriarch Nikon issued an edict demanding that the Russian Church adopt
the Greek usage in making the sign of the Cross and excommunicating all who
used the ancient form. The resistance to this directive was immediate and
adamant and quickly became the focal point of the conflict between the
followers of Patriarch Nikon and the opponents of his innovations, those whom
we now know as “Old Believers.” To this day, the “Two-Finger Sign of the
Cross” remains the best known liturgical characteristic of the Old Believer
Russian Orthodox Church. In addition to its association with the abbreviation
for “Jesus Christ,” Old Believers explain the symbolism of this manner of
making the Sign of the Cross in this way: The index finger and the middle
finger symbolize the Human and Divine Natures of Christ. The middle finger is
slightly bent to indicate that the Son of God bent the Heavens and came down
to us, as sung in Psalm 18:9 “The heavens were bent, so that he might come
down…” The thumb and the remaining two fingers are joined together to
symbolize the Holy Trinity. The prayer used in making this Sign of the Cross
is the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a
sinner.”
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 Quotations
From the Writings of the Archpriest Avvakum Petrovich Kondrat'ev
The
quality of Fr. Avvakum’s prose has assured its endurance. Virtually every Old
Believer has read his autobiography, if not most of his writings. Some of his
quotes are as familiar to them as their best loved passages of Scripture. The
corner ornamentation on this text recalls the following passage from his
autobiography: “They took the priest Lazarus and cut his tongue out of his
mouth; there was a little blood, and it soon stopped flowing. And he went on
speaking, without a tongue. Then, placing his right hand on the scaffold, they
cut it off at the wrist, and as the severed hand lay on the ground, the
fingers disposed themselves for the Sign of the Cross according to tradition –
and the right hand remained there for a long time for people to see, making
its profession of faith - poor thing! I myself marvelled at this; the
life-less condemning the living.
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◊ Gallery
Two - When the Wall Opens Again - Past Tragedy - Future Glory
◊ Gallery
Three - The Saviour and the Gospels: Christ, the Mother of God, and the Cross
◊ Gallery
Four - Fathers and Saints of the Universal Church
◊ Gallery
Five - Saints and Historians of the Church of Ancient Rus'
◊ Gallery
Six - Metropolitans, Confessors and Patriarchs of the Ukrainian and Russian
Church
◊ Gallery
Seven - Popes and Patriarchs
◊ Gallery
Eight - Churches
◊ Gallery
Nine - Texts
◊ Gallery
Ten - Free Designs
◊ Gallery
Eleven - About Us
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Copyright FGK 2005
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