Patriarch Nikon

Nikon (real name Nikita Minin; Russian Никита Минин; born May 7 or May 24, 1605 in Weldemanowo, .. † 17 Augustjul / August 27 1681greg in Yaroslavl ) was a Russian patriarch.

Life

Nikon was born in 1605 when Nikita Minin in the village Weldemanowo not far from Nizhny Novgorod. He was originally married priest and lived after the death of his wife for a time as a monk in a monastery on the White Sea. Nikon in 1647 Metropolitan of Novgorod and in 1652 Patriarch of Russia. His term was marked by two major conflicts: On the one hand he was with Tsar Alexis I (1646-1682) in constant dispute with respect differing opinions on the relationship between church and state; other hand, escalated in his tenure, the clashes with the so-called " Old Believers ", which under the leadership of Protopope ( Archpriest ) Avvakum († 1682) initiated by the Patriarch revision of the liturgical books resisted.

Fallen because of his indomitable character of the Tsar in disgrace, he was, after he had been initiated already in 1658 to retreat, removed from office in 1666 by Council decision of its dignity. Nikon died on August 17, 1681 in Yaroslavl.

Importance

Nikon could rectify the Church Slavonic liturgy books by Greek printing, causing the separation of the Old Believers ( pejorative: Raskolniken ) was triggered by the Russian Church.

Wrongly him the Petersburg of the Academy is published " Nikonsche Chronicle " (Petersburg 1767-1792, 8 volumes) attributed that leads only reason his name because he donated it to the library of the monastery Woskressenskischen.

In the Russian historiography Patriarch Nikon was for a long time on one side mainly assessed across negative; the most important reason for this might well be that he is the author of a failure of the " synallilia " - according to the Byzantine model parent relationship between church and state - was seen and thus at times the autocratic monarchy represented a negative example.

Others

From 1656 to the loss of his dignity Nikon resided in the Moscow Kremlin in the local Patriarch Palace, which was built on his statement. The building has been preserved as a museum to this day; partially recreated faithfully there the establishment of Nikon's term of office.