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Biography of Nikita Minov NikonName: Nikita Minov NikonBirth Date: 1605 Death Date: August 27, 1681 Place of Birth: Gorki, Russia Nationality: Russian Gender: Male Occupations: patriarch Nikita Minov Nikon Nikita Minov Nikon (1605-1681) was patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church from 1652 to 1666. He enacted the reforms of Church books and practices which resulted in a split, or schism, in the Russian Orthodox Church.Nikon was born in the village of Veldemanovo in the province of Nizhni Novgorod (now Gorki) of peasant parents. When he was 12 years old, he ran away from home to escape the ill treatment of his stepmother and entered a monastery. But his parents persuaded him to leave the monastery and to marry.In 1624 Nikon became a priest in the village of Kolychevo but within 2 years was called to a parish in Moscow. When three of his children died, Nikon sought repentance and solitude. He renounced his wife and family and lived as a monk and hermit from 1634 to 1646. In 1646 Nikon met Czar Alexis, whom he favorably impressed. In the same year Alexis appointed him abbot of …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…come. In 1666 Nikon was tried by a Russian Church council for repudiation of patriarchal duties and offense to the Czar. He was convicted, deprived of the patriarchate and the rank of bishop, and exiled to a remote monastery. Alexis' successor, Feodor III, recalled Nikon from exile, but the former patriarch died on his way back to Moscow on Aug. 27, 1681.Nikon's reforms, however, survived. The Church council that convened in 1666 affirmed the changes. The opponents had to submit or defy the Church openly. Numerous priests and whole monasteries refused to accept them, and the result was a permanent cleavage among the Russian believers. Further Reading The best study of Nikon is William Palmer's monumental The Patriarch and the Tsar (6 vols., 1871-1876). A general survey of religious dissent in Russia is F.C. Conybeare, Russian Dissenters (1921). The position of dissenters is vividly portrayed in The Life of the Archpriest Avvakum Written by Himself (1924). |