A concise history of the Russian Orthodox Church / Kent Neil.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kent, Neil, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Religion.

Russkai︠a︡ pravoslavnai︠a︡ t︠s︡erkovʹ--History.

Russkai︠a︡ pravoslavnai︠a︡ t︠s︡erkovʹ.

Russkai︠a︡ pravoslavnai︠a︡ t︠s︡erkovʹ zagranit︠s︡eĭ--History.

Russkai︠a︡ pravoslavnai︠a︡ t︠s︡erkovʹ zagranit︠s︡eĭ.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (128 pages)

Place of Publication:

United States : Academica Press, [2022]

Summary:

"Orthodox Christianity is one of the world's major religions, and the Russian Orthodox Church is by far its largest denomination. Few know its history and spiritual richness, however. Neil Kent's comprehensive new book fills that gap. The Russian Orthodox Church's Eastern roots, including its dogma, canons, and practices, are explored, along with the political and military contexts in which it carried out its mission over the centuries. Hemmed in between the Catholic powers of pre-Reformation Europe in the West, the Mongol steppe empires to the East, and the Islamic civilizations to the South, Russia and its Church found themselves in a difficult position during the Middle Ages"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

A Concise History of the Russian Orthodox Church

Neil Kent

A Concise History of the Russian Orthodox Church

Academica Press Washington ~ London

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Kent, Neil (author)

Title: A concise history of the Russian orthodox church | Neil Kent

Description: Washington : Academica Press, 2022. | Includes references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020056523 | ISBN 9781680539059 (hardcover) | 9781680539066 (paperback) | 9781680539073 (e-book)

Copyright 2022 Neil Kent

Chapter 1Introduction 1

Establishment of Christianity in the Roman Empire 2

The Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom or Hagia Sophia 3

Early Church Fathers 4

Conflicts within the Early Church 4

Rise of Monasticism 6

Chapter 2The Early Kievan Church 11

Establishment of the Metropolitan See of Kiev 11

Saints Boris and Gleb 11

Saint Hilarion 12

The Cathedral of Saint Sophia in Kiev 13

The Great Schism 13

Kiev's Monastery of the Caves 14

Threats from West and East 15

Chapter 3The Russian Church During and After the Tatars 17

The Mongol Conquest 17

Saint Alexis the Wonderworker of All Russia 18

Saint Sergei of Radonezh 18

Theophanes the Greek 19

Andrei Rublev 19

Dionisii 20

Failure of the Council of Florence to Reunite Christendom 20

Chapter 4Conflict and Reform 23

Controversy over Monastic Wealth 23

The Judaizing Heresy 24

Saint Nil Sorsky 26

Saint Maximus the Greek 27

Tsar Ivan the Terrible and the Martyrdom of the Innocents 28

The Solovetsky Monastery 28

Establishment of the Patriarchate of Moscow 29

The Councils of Brest 30

The Time of Troubles and the Tribulations of the Church 31

The Reforms of Patriarch Nikon 32

Chapter 5The Beginning of the "Babylonian Captivity" 35

Peter the Great and Russian Orthodoxy 35.

The Cathedral of Saints. Peter and Paul, St. Petersburg 35

The Alexander Nevsky Monastery 36

The Petrine Reforms and the Abolition of the Patriarchate 36

Ecclesiastical Reaction andthe Revival of Monastic Life to marry Peter III 39

Establishment and Development of Religious Academies 40

Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk 41

Missionary Work of the Clergy 41

Spiritual Revival, the Philocalia, and Saint Seraphim of Sarov 42

Chapter 6Spiritual Revival and the Threats of Secular Liberalism 57

Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow 57

Our Lady of Kazan Cathedral 58

Saint Isaac's Cathedral 59

Petr Chaadaev 59

Alexander Pushkin 60

Aleksei Komiakov 61

Fyodor Dostoyevsky and the Phenomenonof the Elder in Late Nineteenth-Century Russia 62

Nikolai Gogol 63

Saint Ignatius Bryanchaninov 63

Apostate Seminarians 65

Missionary Work to the Borders of the Empire and Beyond 66

Chapter 7Church Reform and Reestablishment of the Patriarchate 71

Vladimir Soloviev 71

Saint John of Kronstadt 72

Nikolai Leskov 74

Anton Chekhov 75

Orthodox Composers 76

The First World War 77

Hilarion 78

Nikolai Berdiaev 78

Saint Maksim Sandovich 79

Revolution and the Convocation of the Council of 1917 80

Independence of the Georgian Orthodox Church 81

Saint Seraphin of Vyritsa 81

Chapter 8Soviet Persecution 83

The Persecution of the Church Commences 83

Patriarch Tikhon's Attempts to Preserve Church Integrity 84

The Second World War and Church Revival 89

Abrogation of the Union of Brest 90

Khrushchev and Renewed Persecution of the Church 90

Nikodim, Metropolitan of Leningrad 91

Father Alexander Men 91

Chapter 9The Diaspora of the Russian Orthodox Church 93

Sergei Bulgakov 96

The Orthodox Theological Institute of Paris 97

Saint John the Baptist Monastery, Essex 98.

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh 99

The Russian Orthodox Monasteryof Saint Panteleimon, Mount Athos 99

Russian Monastery of Jerusalem 100

Chapter 10The Church Revives 101

Architectural and Artistic Revival of the Church's Fabric 102

Councils of Bishops in 2000 and 2004 102

Restitution of Church Property 103

The Hierarchy of the Church Today 104

Metropolitan Kallistos 105

Metropolitan John 106

Jean-Claude Larchet 106

Father John Behr 106

Patriarch Kirill 107

Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) 108

Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) 108

President Vladimir Putin 109

The Patriarchal Military Cathedral of the Resurrection 111

Patriarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church 111

Index 113

Illustrations - A Concise History of the Russian Orthodox Church

The Baptism of Saint Prince Vladimir, Viktor Vasnetsov (1890)

Cathedral of the Dormition in the Monastery of the Caves, Kiev

Saint Sergei of Radonezh by Sergei Kirillov (1993)

Transfiguration, icon by Theophanes the Greek (15th century)

Virgin of Vladimir, icon by Andrei Rublev (1400)

Christ the Redeemer by Andrei Rublev

Christ's Harrowing of Hell by Dionisii (c. 1495-96)

Saint Philip II, Metropolitan of Moscow, icon

Solovetsky Monastery

Patriarch Philaret

New Jerusalem Monastery

Alexander Nevsky Monastery, St. Petersburg

Palace of the Most Holy Synod, St. Petersburg

Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk

Saint Philaret of Moscow.

Saint Nicholas of Japan

Saint John of Kronstadt

Davidov Pustyn Monastery of the Ascension, Novyy Byt

Metropolitan Tikhon of Moscow

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

Chapter 1 Introduction

Establishment of Christianity in the Roman Empire

The Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom or Hagia Sophia

Early Church Fathers

Conflicts within the Early Church

Rise of Monasticism.

All Christian Churches trace their origins to the life of Jesus Christ, and His Death and Resurrection, over two thousand years ago. For adherents of Christianity, these are the central events in the history and salvation of mankind.

Yet over the millennia, Christians have separated themselves from each other, not only by virtue of the political, cultural, and social diversities that distinguish them, but with differences of dogma, doctrine, and religious customs that developed over this long period. Already in the early centuries of the first millennium AD, the Church in the Eastern regions of the Roman Empire had developed characteristics that defines it to this today, in distinction to the Latin tradition that characteriz

In the East, by contrast, Orthodoxy, has long since been the principal Christian faith, despite threats to its existence from Arab, Mongol, and Turkish conquests

attacks from Poland-Lithuania, Sweden, and Germany

and rule by militant atheistic communism. Now, in contrast to the atrophying practice of Christianity in the West, Orthodox Christianity in the East, especially in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Georgia, and parts of the former Yugoslavia, has experienced an ext

Throughout the first three centuries of Christianity, adherents of the faith suffered persecutions at the hands of Roman emperors and within the communities in which they lived. It was only in the early fourth century that their situation changed dramatically. In 312 AD, Emperor Constantine ceased persecuting Christianity and soon established it as the state religion of the Roman Empire, supplanting various forms of paganism that had characterized the empire and the republic before it.

Yet already by this time, factions were undermining the unity of the Church. In 325 AD, Constantine convoked an episcopal council of some 318 bishops, the heirs to the Apostles, who oversaw the rites and beliefs of the Church, as well as the priests who performed its sacraments. This was the Council of Nicea, then a Greek-speaking city in northwestern Anatolia, in what is today Turkey. The Nicene Creed, which emerged from the council, has ever since been the central expression of belief of virtu

Nicea was one of a number of early Church councils informing the dogmas, doctrines, and canons that still serve as the foundation blocks of all Christian churches to this day. Along with later ones, it also helped to define, often in open conflict, the relationship between Church and State.

According to the synoptic gospels of the Bible, Jesus had said: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." In line with this, and as formulated by the Emperor Constantine, the relationship was perceived as one of harmony and complementarity. Constantine spoke of a "symphony" between the two, which, although it later occasionally broke down, would be reconfirmed in the ninth century, in the reign of Emperor Basil I (867-886 AD). In the reality of a

From the fourth century AD until the conquest of the Byzantine Empire by the Turks, the Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom or Hagia Sophia, in Greek, was and in some respects, still is the greatest of all Orthodox Churches, the Mother Church of the Byzantine Empire. Moreover, it has for centuries been the symbol for the faithful dreaming about an Orthodox Revival in Constantinople, today's Istanbul, in what is now an overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey.

This most famous and venerable of all Orthodox churches was built by order of the Emperor Justinian I ("the Lawgiver") in 532-537. It is a vast and imposing stone edifice, with joints of brick and mortar, including elements of sand and ceramics. Its central feature is its nave, crowned by a vaulted central dome, in turn surrounded by smaller ancillary domes, richly decorated with icons. It served as the seat of eastern Christianity from the time of its completion until the fall of the Byzantine.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Neil, Kent A Concise History of the Russian Orthodox Church

ISBN:

9781680539073