Avvakum Petrov - short biography. Archpriest Avvakum
Archpriest Avvakum. Old Believer icon
Avvakum, archpriest of the city of Yuryevets-Povolozhsky, is one of the main leaders of the Russian Old Believers of the 17th century. Habakkuk was born before 1610. Coming from a poor family, distinguished by his great erudition and a strict but cheerful disposition, he gained fame quite early as a zealot of Orthodoxy, engaged in exorcism of demons. Strict with himself, he mercilessly persecuted all lawlessness and deviation from church rules, and for this reason around 1651 he had to flee from the indignant flock to Moscow. Here Habakkuk, reputed to be a scientist and personally known to the king, participated in the “book correction” under Patriarch Joseph (d. 1652). But Nikon, who became patriarch after Joseph, replaced the previous Russian inquiry officers with people invited from Ukraine, and partly from Greece. They carried out the correction of Russian church books in a non-national spirit, introduced those “innovations” in liturgical texts and rituals that served as the cause of the schism. Habakkuk took one of the first places among the zealots of antiquity and was one of the first victims of the persecution of opponents of Nikonianism. Already in September 1653 he was thrown into prison and they began to admonish him, but to no avail. Then Avvakum was exiled to Tobolsk, and then, by royal decree, for swearing at Nikon he was sent even further away - to Lena. From here, Archpriest Avvakum was sent to distant Dauria as a priest with a detachment of military men, who were led there by the Yenisei governor Pashkov to erect new forts there. Pashkov founded the forts of Nerchinsky, Irkutsk, Albazinsky and ruled in that region for about five years. Over these years, Avvakum suffered a lot from this cruel governor, who often kept him in prison, starved him, beat him, and oppressed him with work. The archpriest, unbridled in his tongue, often brought upon himself the voivode’s anger with his denunciations.
Avvakum's story about the life of the Russians in this unpleasant country, about their clashes with the natives, provides interesting details. One day Pashkov decided to send his son Eremey to the neighboring Mungal possessions for robbery, and gave him 72 Cossacks and 20 foreigners. Before the start of the campaign, the superstitious governor, instead of turning to the Orthodox priest Avvakum for prayer, forced the pagan shaman to wonder whether the campaign would be successful. The shaman took the ram and began to twist its head while it moaned pitifully until he tore it off completely. Then he began to jump, dance and shout, calling on demons, and, exhausted, fell to the ground; Foam started coming out of my mouth. The shaman announced that the people would return with great booty. Habakkuk was greatly indignant at the belief in barbaric fortune-telling and prayed to God that not a single person would turn back. In his autobiography, the archpriest likes to boast greatly; he often talks about the appearances of saints that happened to him, the Mother of God and the Savior himself, about miraculous power your prayer. She justified herself this time too. The march was accompanied by ominous signs: horses neighed, cows brayed, sheep and goats bleated, dogs howled. Only Eremey, who sometimes stood up for Archpriest Avvakum before his father, asked to pray for him, which he did with zeal. People did not return for a long time. Since Avvakum not only did not conceal his desire for the death of the detachment, but expressed it loudly, Pashkov became angry and decided to torture him. The fire had already been lit. Knowing that people don’t live long after that fire, the archpriest said goodbye to his family. The executioners were already following Avvakum, when suddenly Eremey rode along, wounded and only his friend returning; he brought back the executioners. Eremey said that the Mungal people beat the entire detachment, but one native saved him, taking him to a deserted place, where they wandered through the mountains and forests for a whole week, not knowing the way, and how, finally, a man appeared to him in a dream in the form of Archpriest Avvakum, and showed the way. Pashkov was convinced that through the archpriest’s prayer his son Eremey was saved, and this time he did not touch Avvakum. In general, apparently, Archpriest Avvakum was a man not only of an indomitable spirit, but also of iron health, who easily endured bodily suffering.
In 1660, Tolbuzin was sent as governor to replace Pashkov. Avvakum was allowed to return to Moscow, where his zealous admirers did not forget about him. In addition, Alexei Mikhailovich and the boyar party, which initially supported Nikon's reforms, now entered into a sharp quarrel with the power-hungry patriarch, who openly sought to place his authority above the tsar's. In the fight against Nikon, the tsar and the boyars temporarily decided to take advantage of the leaders of the Old Believers.
Avvakum had to sail along the Siberian rivers alone with his family and several wretched people in a boat, enduring poverty and danger from the natives. Twice along the way the archpriest spent the winter: in Yeniseisk and Tobolsk. Approaching native Russia, Avvakum saw that worship was performed according to corrected books and rituals. Jealousy flared up in him to expose the “Nikonian heresy”; but his wife and children tied him up, and he became sad. But the archpriest’s wife, having learned from him the cause of sadness, herself blessed him for his feat, and Avvakum boldly began to preach everywhere his favorite two-fingered prayer, a special hallelujah, and an eight-pointed cross on prosphora. Only in 1663 did he reach Moscow. “As if the angel of God received me, the sovereign and the boyars were all happy with me,” writes Avvakum in “Life” (his own autobiography). “I went to Fyodor Rtishchev, he blessed me... for three days and three nights he didn’t let me go home... The Emperor immediately ordered me to be placed in his hand and spoke gracious words: “Are you living well, archpriest?” God told me to see him again!” And I... say: “As the Lord lives, as my soul lives, O Tsar-Sovereign, and henceforth, whatever God wills!” He, dear one, sighed and went where he needed to. And there was something else, too much to say!.. He ordered me to be placed in the Kremlin, on the Novodevichy courtyard, and... walking past my yard, he often bowed low to me; and he himself says: Bless me and pray for me!.. And sometimes all the boyars, after him, would lean out of the carriage towards me.”
Favor towards Avvakum, according to him, extended to the point that after the death of another leader of the Old Believers, Stefan Vonifatiev, he was offered to become the royal confessor if he repented and accepted Nikon’s corrections. But the archpriest remained adamant and submitted petitions to the king, in which he blasphemed everything Nikon had done, equated him with Arius, and threatened the last judgment to all his followers. The petitions of Archpriest Avvakum are written in remarkably lively, strong and figurative language; they had to make a great impression on the minds; it is not surprising that he had intercessors even in the highest society. In addition to Fyodor Rtishchev and Rodion Streshnev, he found sympathy in the Morozov, Miloslavsky, Khilkov, and Khovansky families. The noblewoman Fedosya Morozova showed him special devotion. Through her husband Gleb Ivanovich (through his brother, the famous Boris Ivanovich), she was related to Tsarina Marya Ilyinichna, and through her father (Okolnich Sokovnin) she was related to her. Under the influence of Morozova, Tsarina Maria Miloslavskaya herself and her relatives provided patronage to Archpriest Avvakum. Fedosya's own sister, Princess Evdokia Urusova, also became a spiritual daughter and follower of Avvakum. Morozova was already a widow, and, possessing great wealth, she supported the dissenter with all means. She made her house into a kind of monastery and kept nuns, pilgrims and holy fools there. Avvakum, who almost settled in her house, spread the Old Believer sermon throughout the capital through his followers.
The king left Habakkuk alone, ordering him only to refrain from preaching and petitioning. They even promised to hire him as a clerk at the Printing Yard. But the archpriest lasted no more than six months; again he began to bother the king with petitions, and to confuse the people with preaching against Nikonianism. Following a complaint from the spiritual authorities, Avvakum was sent into exile to Mezen (1664). But he continued to write messages from there. In March 1666, Archpriest Avvakum was transferred closer to Moscow to be subjected to a conciliar trial.
Avvakum was brought to Moscow, where on May 13, after futile exhortations at the council that had gathered to try Nikon, he was cut off and cursed in the Assumption Cathedral, in response to which Avvakum immediately proclaimed an anathema to the bishops. And after this, they did not give up the idea of convincing Avvakum, whose defrocking was met with great displeasure among the people, and in many boyar houses, and even at court, where the queen, who interceded for Archpriest Avvakum, had a “great discord” with the tsar on the day of his defrocking . Habakkuk’s exhortations took place again, already in the face of the East. patriarchs in the Chudov Monastery, but Avvakum firmly stood his ground. His accomplices were executed at this time. Avvakum was only punished with a whip and exiled to Pustozersk (1667). They didn’t even cut out his tongue, like Lazarus and Epiphanius, with whom he and Nicephorus, Archpriest of Simbirsk, were exiled to Pustozersk.
Avvakum sat for 14 years on bread and water in an earthen prison in Pustozersk, tirelessly continuing his preaching, sending out letters and district messages. Finally, his daring letter to Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, in which he reviled Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and scolded Patriarch Joachim, decided the fate of Avvakum and his comrades. On April 1, 1681 they were burned in Pustozersk. Old Believers consider Avvakum a martyr and have icons of him. 43 works are attributed to Archpriest Avvakum, of which 37, including his autobiography (“Life”), were published by N. Subbotin in “Materials for the History of the Schism” (vols. I and V). Avvakum’s doctrinal views boil down to the denial of Nikon’s “innovations,” which he connects with “Roman fornication,” i.e., with Catholicism. In addition, Habakkuk in St. The Trinity distinguished three essences or beings, which gave the first denouncers of the schism a reason to talk about a special sect of “Habakkukism,” which in fact did not exist, since Habakkuk’s views on St. The Trinity was not accepted by the Old Believers.
Archpriest Avvakum is known as an ardent opponent of book liturgical reforms XVII century, Patriarch Nikon, and also as a strict archpriest of Yuryevets-Povolsky. Archpriest Avvakum, whose biography is rich in events, was born in 1620 (1621) into a rather unprovided, even, one might say, poor family. He was brought up surrounded by strict morals and harsh rules. Real name - Avvakum Petrovich Kondratyev. Archpriest Avvakum himself became a very early devotee of Orthodoxy, which, however, glorified him. There are known facts about him conducting rituals to exorcise demons. Archpriest Avvakum is truly considered the founder of free speech, figurative literature, as well as confessional prose. As many as 43 works are attributed to him, including the “Book of Conversations”, “Book of Reproofs”, “Book of Interpretations”. Also the most famous work is “The Life” of Archpriest Avvakum, the translation of whose books is popular among relevant circles today.
Insane severity and merciless persecution of any deviation from church statutes and rules played a negative role. This forced Protopop to flee from the indignant residents of Yuryevets-Povolsky to the safety of Moscow in 1651. Already in his new place, he was considered a scientist and participated in the reform - “book right”, carried out under Patriarch Joseph, after whose death, in 1652, Nikon became the new patriarch. He replaced Moscow inquiry officers with Ukrainian scribes. This is where colossal differences in approaches to reform arose. Avvakum advocated correcting church literature based on Old Russian Orthodox manuscripts, and Patriarch Nikon advocated correcting church literature based on Greek liturgical books. Avvakum was sure that such publications would be distorted and not authoritative. He wrote a petition (complaint) to the king together with Archpriest Daniil from Kostroma. There he sharply criticized the point of view of Patriarch Nikon. Avvakum became one of the first victims of the ardent persecution of Nikon's opponents. Already in September 1653, he was put in prison and unsuccessfully tried to persuade him to accept the new book reform. So Avvakum Petrovich went into exile in Tobolsk, after which he spent 6 whole years in the army of governor Afanasy Pashkov. After Nikon lost his influence at the court, Avvakum was returned to Moscow in 1663. For the first few months, the king himself showed a predisposition towards him.
But Habakkuk did not have to feast for long. After all, he was not an opponent of Nikon, but of church reform in general. On indirect advice from the tsar, Avvakum Yuryevich joined the new reformed church. He managed to follow the new rules for only a short time. After which he began to criticize the bishops more stubbornly and loudly. In connection with this, in 1664 Avvakum was exiled to Mezen for a year and a half. And in 1666 he was again returned to Moscow, where on May 13 in the Assumption Cathedral he was stripped of his hair and cursed at mass. In response, Avvakum imposed an anathema on the bishops. And from 1667, for 14 years, he sat on a starvation ration - on bread and water in the cold earthen prison of Pustozersk. And there Avvakum still sent out his messages and letters.
At one point, he made a grave mistake - he wrote a rather harsh letter to Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich. This message presented tactless criticism of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Patriarch Joachim. And so, the boiling point was reached, and Avvakum and his comrades were burned in a log house in Pustozersk. The life of Archpriest Avvakum was over.
In April 1682, Avvakum Petrov, the founder of the Old Believers movement, was burned. His religious doctrine is reflected in several dozen works. In his youth, he was Nikon's closest ally, but subsequently opposed church reform and, even under the threat of death, did not renounce his views. Habakkuk demanded unquestioning adherence to church rules, and for this reason he was forced to flee from the indignant flock. He sent petitions to the sovereign without fear of disgrace.
1. In his youth, he was a member of the “Circle of Zealots of Piety.” The mainstay of the “zealots” program was compliance with the decrees of the Stoglavy Council of 1551. This circle included the future Patriarch of Moscow Nikon. Due to disagreements, the circle disbanded in 1652.
2. Avvakum Petrov laid the foundation for the genre of autobiography. “The Life of Archpriest Avvakum, written by himself” is replete with everyday details, it is written in simple and understandable language. The author talks a lot about his family, which does not correspond to the canons of life. “They also sent me to Siberia with my wife and children. And when there is a need on the road, there is a lot to say, but only a small part to remember. The archpriest gave birth to a baby; the patient was in a cart and taken to Tobolsk; for three thousand versts and thirteen weeks they dragged half the way with carts and water and sleighs,” this passage, for example, does not fit into the norms of the hagiographic genre at all.
3. The priest performed rituals to exorcise demons and was distinguished by extreme severity. For example, he refused to bless parishioners who dared to shave their beards. Habakkuk called them “fornicators.” Because of his severity, in 1651 he had to flee to Moscow from the residents of Yuryevets-Povolsky - they threatened him with violence. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich settled him in the very center of the city and treated Avvakum with respect. “When walking past my yard, he often bowed low with me, and he himself said: bless me and pray for me! And at another time, Murmansk, taking off his hat from his head, dropped it while riding on horseback! And he would lean out of the carriage towards me,” the clergyman wrote.
4. Archpriest Avvakum opposed Nikon’s church reform, for which he was exiled and spent 6 years in the army of Afanasy Pashkov. Pashkov forced him to work extremely hard, deprived him of food and beat him until he lost consciousness. Despite this, the clergyman did not seek reconciliation with the church. His two young sons died in exile.
5. The archpriest was offered to become the royal confessor if he abandoned criticism of Nikon’s reforms. He refused this offer.
Boyarina Morozova visits the archpriest in prison. (wikipedia.org)
6. In 1663, Avvakum was allowed to return to Moscow. The return became a difficult ordeal: Avvakum had to swim along the Siberian rivers alone with his family; there was no food for several days. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich showered him with generous gifts and advised him to abandon criticism of the church, but the archpriest still made harsh statements. A new exile followed, but Avvakum continued to persist in the fight against church innovations. Then he was anathematized and exiled to the Pustozersky prison. “And I sent two messages to the king from Pustozerye: the first is small, and the other is large. He talked about something. He also told him in a message a certain sign of God, shown to me in prison. Also from me and from the brothers the deacon’s condescension was sent to Moscow, a gift to the faithful, the book “The Answer of the Orthodox” and a denunciation of apostate fornication. The truth about church dogma is written in it,” says the “Life.”
Avvakum spent 14 years in Pustozersk. Living conditions were extremely difficult. Here the archpriest worked on his compositions, which his associates distributed throughout Russia.
Archpriest Avvakum. (wikipedia.org)
7. The point of no return was the archpriest’s letter to Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, written in a harsh tone. After this message, Habakkuk was executed by burning.
Archpriest Avvakum Petrov(25 November 1620–14 (24) April 1682)
Holy Hieromartyr and Confessor Archpriest Habakkuk Petrov was born on November 20, 1621 in the village Grigorovo, Nizhny Novgorod, in the family of a priest. Having lost his father early, he was raised by his mother, “ great faster and prayer book" Married a fellow villager Anastasia Markovna, which became his faithful helper to salvation" At the age of 21 he was ordained a deacon, at 23 a priest, and eight years later he was “consecrated to the rank of archpriest” (archpriest - senior priest, archpriest) of the city of Yuryevets of the Volga region.
The gift of a preacher, the gift of healing the sick and possessed, the willingness to " to lay down one's soul for one's sheep“attracted numerous children from all walks of life to him. But harsh denunciations of the arbitrariness of local authorities and the moral depravity of the flock caused discontent and embitterment, as a result of which he was more than once beaten almost to death and persecuted. Seeking protection in Moscow, he became close with circle of zealots of piety, headed by the royal confessor Fr. Stefan Vonifatiev. The future patriarch also joined the circle Nikon.
The goal of the lovers of God was to streamline church services, publish correct liturgical and spiritual-educational literature, as well as improve the morals of the then Russian society. Having become patriarch, Nikon began to act in the opposite direction. Instead of correction, he began to change the books and the order of worship according to modern Greek models published in Catholic Venice. When the lovers of God learned about this, they, in the words of Archpriest Avvakum, “ my heart went cold and my legs trembled».
Icon "The Hieromartyr Archpriest Avvakum". Russia, Moscow (?), last quarter of the 17th - early 18th centuries. State Historical Museum, Moscow Nikon's reforms found Avvakum in Moscow, where he served in the church Kazan Mother of God on the Red Square. The struggle for patristic tradition was led by the “fiery archpriest.” Nikon’s supporters did not disdain the most cruel means: torture, starvation, burning at the stake, everything was used to propagate the “ventures” of the despot patriarch. Avvakum was put “on the chain”, then exiled with his family to Tobolsk, then even further east, to Dauria (Trans-Baikal Territory), under the command of “ fierce commander» Pashkova.
After ten years of wandering in incredibly difficult conditions of Siberia, where he lost two young children, the sufferer is summoned to Moscow and convinced to accept Nikon’s innovations. But Habakkuk remains adamant. Another link, now to the north. Before the council of 1666, Avvakum was again brought to Moscow, to the Borovsky Monastery, and for ten weeks he was persuaded to give up the fight, but in vain.
“I believe this, I confess this, I live and die with this,” the holy warrior of Christ answered the tormentors.
Icon "The Hieromartyr Archpriest Avvakum". Beginning XX century Lawlessly stripped of his hair and anathematized, together with his like-minded priests Lazarus, deacon Theodore and monk Epiphanius he was sent to distant Pustozersk, located near the North Sea, to the region of permafrost, where he languished in an earthen pit for 15 years. Deprived of the opportunity to preach orally, Habakkuk writes and, through faithful people, sends messages, interpretations and consolations to the children of the Church of Christ throughout Rus'. Nowadays more than 90 works of the saint are known, and almost all of them were created during the years of imprisonment in Pustozero. Here he wrote the famous “Life”.
Archpriest Avvakum. Guslitsy, beginning XX century Heeding the calls of Archpriest Avvakum, everyone larger number Russian people stood up to defend the old faith. Patriarch, a zealous supporter of innovations Joachim began to demand the execution of the holy confessors. After the death of the king Alexey Mikhailovich his young son ascends to the Russian throne Theodore. Archpriest Avvakum sends a petition to the new king calling on him to return to his grandfather’s piety. The order came in response:
burn Pustozersky prisoners “for the great blasphemy against the royal house.”
April 14, 1682, on the day of remembrance of the holy new martyrs Anthony, John and Eustathius, on Friday Holy Week, the sentence was carried out. People gathered for the execution and took off their hats. When the fire began to gain strength, a hand with two fingers flew above the flames and the mighty voice of the holy martyr Habakkuk began to be heard with farewell words that became a testament and prophecy:
Orthodox! If you pray with such a cross, you will never perish. If you leave this cross, your city will be covered with sand, and then the world will end! Stand in faith, children! Do not give in to the flattery of the servants of the Antichrist...
Avvakum Petrov (Petrovich) is the archpriest of the city of Yuryevets-Povolzhsky, one of the first and most remarkable figures of the Russian Old Believers (“schism”). Avvakum was born around 1620 in the village of Grigorov, Knyagininsky district, Nizhny Novgorod province, into the family of a priest. Having lost his father early, he married at the age of 19 at the direction of his mother, finding in his wife a later faithful friend of his long-suffering life. Around 1640, Avvakum Petrovich was appointed priest of the village of Lopatits, and then transferred to the city of Yuryevets, from where he had to flee to Moscow, due to the embitterment of parishioners and local authorities for harsh denunciations of various vices. In Moscow, thanks to his friends, the royal confessor Stepan Vonifatiev and the archpriest of the Kazan Cathedral Ivan Neronov, Avvakum was involved in the correction of liturgical books, which the then Patriarch Joseph continued according to more ancient old printed Slavic originals.
Archpriest Avvakum, Old Believer icon
Since 1652, after the death of Joseph, the work of book correction was continued by the new Patriarch Nikon, but now according to Greek models. Many immigrants from Little Russia, students of the Kiev-Mohyla Bursa, who were then considered (but hardly rightly) more educated than the local Moscow scribes, were involved in the revision of book texts, to the detriment of Russian reference workers. Nikon made one of the main investigators Arseny the Greek, a person from the East, a morally extremely suspicious person. Earlier, during his life in Turkey, Arseny the Greek, under pressure from the Ottomans, temporarily renounced Christianity and accepted the Muslim faith, even being circumcised. Now this recent renegade has been made one of the leaders of the reform with the goal of giving the Russian church “correct” liturgical texts. New inspectors also began to introduce strange features, unusual for Great Russians, into church rituals, changing the vestments of the clergy, the decoration of churches, appearance liturgical acts. Nikon initially insisted that his foreign employees were better educated than the Great Russians. However, the falsity of these statements became clear very soon. It became noticeable that the patriarch’s people themselves did not know which texts were more reliable. New editions of books under Nikon were published almost every year, and each updated edition changed not only the previous Russian text, but very often also those “edits” that were made in the books by the patriarch’s employees shortly before.
The dominance under Nikon in correcting the books of foreigners alien to Russia aroused sharp opposition from prominent national church leaders, including Avvakum Petrovich. The new investigators declared the former great Russian saints (Sergius of Radonezh, Cyril of Belozersky, Joseph of Volotsky, Nil of Sorsky, etc.) almost heretics who did not know true faith. The most important national councils (like Stoglav, held under Ivan the Terrible) were now equated almost to heretical gatherings. Russian patriots, not without reason, began to fear the perversion of purity ancient faith and piety. It was clear that Nikon himself started the reforms most of all for ambitious purposes: this rude, ignorant, but energetic, ruthless and ambitious man wanted to present himself as the creator of some great spiritual renewal (which the Russian Church, in fact, did not need) in order to then surpass with the authority of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich himself - then still an inexperienced young man.
Possessing rare energy and enthusiasm, being a staunch supporter of Russian national principles, Avvakum Petrov was the first to make the most decisive protest, which he did not stop until the end of his life, despite severe persecution first from Nikon, and then from the general secular and spiritual authorities. Already in September 1653, Avvakum was thrown into the basement of the Andronievsky Monastery for opposing the patriarch, and then exiled to Tobolsk. Here, too, he did not cease to “zealously scold Nikonov’s heresy,” as a result of which he was transferred even further, to Yeniseisk, and then placed under the command of the rude and cruel governor Afanasy Pashkov, who had instructions to conquer Dauria (Trans-Baikal region). Avvakum Petrov spent six years in the Daurian land, reaching Nerchinsk, Shilka and Amur. For exposing the actions of the governor, he was repeatedly subjected to severe hardships and torture.
Avvakum's journey through Siberia. Artist S. Miloradovich, 1898
Meanwhile, in Moscow, Patriarch Nikon, who openly challenged the tsarist authority, was defeated in a battle with secular authority. However, the boyars surrounding Alexei Mikhailovich, pushing aside Nikon himself, did not want to reject his “reforms.” Having begun the struggle with the Poles for Little Russia, the tsar then cherished the utopian hope of very soon expelling the Turks from Europe, liberating and uniting the whole Orthodox world. Nikonianism, which replaced Russian Orthodoxy by Orthodoxy non-national , seemed useful for this ghostly project. The church “reform” was in line with the interests of the Moscow authorities, but they needed to finally remove Nikon, who was too presumptuous in his personal claims, from the patriarchal throne. It was decided to use some Old Believer leaders against him. Among them, Avvakum was allowed to return to Moscow in 1663, but a year later this intractable patriot, not inclined to play the role of a toy in the wrong hands, was exiled from the capital to Mezen, where he remained for a year and a half.
In 1666, during the trial of Nikon with the participation of the eastern patriarchs bribed by the Moscow government, Avvakum Petrov was brought to Moscow. The council that took place there (which personally condemned Nikon for trying to become higher than the tsar, but approved and finally approved his reforms) tried to persuade Avvakum to abandon his Russian-national opposition. But Avvakum remained adamant and in 1667, together with other patriots - priest Lazar and clerk Theodore - he was exiled to the Pustozersky prison on Pechora. After a 14-year imprisonment full of severe hardships, during which he never ceased to teach like-minded Old Believers through messages, Avvakum Petrov was burned. The pretext for execution was a letter from Avvakum to Nikon’s admirer Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, where the author again sharply condemned church “reforms” and argued that the deceased Alexei Mikhailovich was now suffering in the next world. The burning took place in Pustozersk on April 1, 1681. Habakkuk and his comrades courageously accepted their martyrdom.
Burning of Archpriest Avvakum. Artist P. Myasoedov, 1897
The personality of Avvakum Petrov, the most prominent figure of the Russian Old Believers, who even now lives by its traditions, provides an example of heroic standing for an idea. Avvakum was one of the greatest figures of ancient Russian literature. More than 37 works are attributed to him, mostly of theological and polemical content, including an autobiography (“life”) that is stunning in style and description of the torments he experienced. Some of Habakkuk's writings are now lost. Instead of the image of a “fanatical obscurantist,” Avvakum Petrov appears in his books as an educated man of that time with a responsive soul and a sensitive conscience.
Books from Avvakum Petrov:
“Materials for the history of the Russian schism” by N. Subbotin (the biography of Avvakum is given in the preface).