Strigolniki

Thestrigolniki(Russian:стригольники;sg.стригольник,strigolnik) were followers of a Russian religioussectwhich appeared in the mid-14th century, known asstrigolnichestvo(Russian:стригольничество).^[1]They first appeared inPskovbefore spreading toNovgorodandTver.^[2]By the early 15th century, they had disappeared.^[3]Along with theJudaizers,they were one of the major sects in medieval Russia.^[1]^[4]

The origins of the name remain unclear. Some historians believe it has something to do withhandicraftsthat the firststrigolnikiwere engaged in, such as cloth-cutting or hairdressing (it appears that the wordstrigolnikderives from the Russian rootstrig-,which connotescuttingortrimming). Others think the name comes from a specialinitiation ceremony(a specific haircut, orstrizhka), performed by adeaconnamed Karp – a supposed founder of the sect (together with deacon Nikita), yet others think it could mean that these people refused to either grow a beard or cut their beards when they entered churches.

Active participants of the sect were tradespeople and low-rankingclergy.They renounced allecclesiastic hierarchyandmonasticism,sacramentsdone by Russian clergy due to recognizing the Orthodox priesthood as illegitimate:priesthood,communion,penance,andbaptism,which had been accompanied by largefees( "extortions",in their view) to the benefit of the clergy. Criticizing and exposing the venality, vices, and ignorance of the priests, thestrigolnikidemanded the right to a religioussermonforlaymen.Their sermons were full of social motifs: they reproached the rich for enslaving the free and the poor.^[5]They were opposed by a number of high-level Russian bishops.^[6]

Beliefs[edit]

There is some debate if thestrigolnikiwere "heretical", if they were aproto-Protestantmovement among Orthodox Christians, being similar toLollardyor theHussites,or if they merely opposed the priesthood.^[7]^[8]Thestrigolnikimovement has been suggested to have hadiconoclastictendencies, though it is not clear if they came out against the use of icons, it is clearer that they came out against monasticism.^[9]^[10]

Thestrigolnikiopposed the ruling church, refusing to recognize its bishops and priests,^[11]and rejected going to Orthodox churches, instead gathering at separate meetings.^[12]They are also known to have criticized Orthodox priests whom they called "drunkards".^[13]They also repudiated ordainment, believing that simple laymen could perform church service, and the established church rituals.^[14]They also criticized the feudal order.^[14]The nature of the movement is seen from the words ofStephen of Perm:"Of thestrigolnikiilliterate people say: those neither steal nor collect wealth ".^[14]

Karetnikova suggested that thestrigolnikiwere a response to changes in theRussian Orthodox Church,wanting to return from ritualism to the simplicity ofNew TestamentChristianity, emphasizing the spiritual meaning of the sacraments and basing their views primarily on scripture, seeing it as their ultimate authority.^[15]Petrushko on the other hand argued that in the attitude of thestrigolnikiabout the church and church hierarchy, though there are some similarities withBogomilsandCathars,based on surviving sources they did not have a dogmatic system of theology and did not disagree with the church aboutChristologyand onsoteriology,instead most of their disagreements being withecclesiology.Petrushko, judging by the fact thatPhotiusbelieved it possible to return thestrigolnikito the church, their disagreement with Orthodox dogma was not as dramatic as theHeresy of the Judaizers.^[16]

M. V. Pechnikov argued that thestrigolnikimerely rejected the Orthodox priesthood,simonyand confession to clergy, while not denying the sacraments of the church nor most dogma.^[8]

Obolensky has instead suggested that thestrigolnikiwere born fromBogomilorCatharmissionaries inRussiaduring the times ofKievan Rus'.^[17]

Stephen of Permmentioned that thestrigolnikidid not confess their sins to clergy but instead to the ground; however, the meaning of what Stephen meant is not clear.^[16]^[8]

History[edit]

According to anepistlebyStephen of Perm,Karp "began to tell the people: it is neither dignified to sing over the dead, nor to mention them; nor to bring offerings for the dead to the church; nor to have feasts; nor to give alms for the soul of the departed".^[14]

Deacon Karp found many followers in Pskov, but had to move to Novgorod to avoidpersecution.Some scholars argue that thearchbishop of Novgorod,Vasily Kalika(1330–1352), ignored the heresy, but that his successors, Moisei (1325–1330; 1352–1359) and Aleksei (1359–1388), took firm measures against the heretics. Beginning in 1382, the sect was opposed by Archbishop Dionysios of Suzdal. In epistles addressed to the clergy and the inhabitants of Novgorod and Pskov, the leadership of the church attempted to discredit the movement and prove its right to earn its income.^[14]Thestrigolnikifaced persecution, being driven from towns or simply killed.^[14]

In 1375, enraged citizens of Novgorod threw three heretics from the bridge into theVolkhov River.^[18]According to the 16th-centuryNikon Chronicle,the justification for this was a literal interpretation of the Gospel (Matthew 18:6): "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it were better for him to have a great milestone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depths of the sea".^[4]The chronicles mention that "the hereticstrigolnikiwere beaten; deacon Nikita and Parishioner Karp and a third man with them were thrown from the bridge ".^[14]

Stephen of Perm wrote a letter toNilus of Constantinoplein 1382 about thestrigolniki.^[8]

However, the teachings of thestrigolnikilived on. They spread widely in Novgorod, in Pskov, and also in Tver, wherebishopsFeodor Dobry and Yevfimiy Vislen came forward with support for the movement. In the early 15th century,Photius,Metropolitan of Kiev and all Russia, denounced the teachings of thestrigolniki.^[5]^[13]

Thestrigolnikidisappeared in the early 15th century due to persecution,^[9]as well as due to disagreement among thestrigolniki.^[3]The last mention of thestrigolnikiwas in 1487.^[8]

References[edit]

^^a ^bPattison, George; Emerson, Caryl; Poole, Randall A. (13 June 2020).The Oxford Handbook of Russian Religious Thought.Oxford University Press. p. 679.ISBN 978-0-19-879644-2.
^B. A. Rybakov,Strigolniki: Russkie Gumanisty XIV Stoletiia(Moscow: Nauk, 1993); David M Goldfrank, "Burn, Baby, Burn: Popular Culture and Heresy in Late Medieval Russia,"The Journal of Popular Culture31, no. 4 (1998): 17–32.
^^a ^bRiasanovsky, Nicholas V. (29 September 2005).Russian Identities: A Historical Survey.Oxford University Press. p. 53.ISBN 978-0-19-534814-9.
^^a ^bMoss, Walter G. (1 July 2003).A History of Russia Volume 1: To 1917.Anthem Press. p. 115.ISBN 978-0-85728-752-6.
^^a ^bN. A. Kazakova and Ia. S. Lur'e,Antifeodal'nye ereticheskie dvizheniia na Rusi XIV-nachala XVI veka(Moscow and Leningrad, ANSSSR, 1955), esp. pp. 34-71.
^Robinson, Michael D. (14 June 2019).Christianity: A Brief History.Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 320.ISBN 978-1-5326-1831-4.
^Belich, James (2022-07-19).The World the Plague Made: The Black Death and the Rise of Europe.Princeton University Press. p. 218.ISBN 978-0-691-22287-5.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e"СТРИГОЛЬНИКИ • Большая российская энциклопедия - электронная версия".bigenc.ru.Archived fromthe originalon 2022-10-07.Retrieved2022-08-21.
^^a ^bMichalski, Sergiusz (2013-01-11).Reformation and the Visual Arts: The Protestant Image Question in Western and Eastern Europe.Routledge. p. 214.ISBN 978-1-134-92102-7.
^Michalski, Sergiusz (2013-01-11).Reformation and the Visual Arts: The Protestant Image Question in Western and Eastern Europe.Routledge.ISBN 978-1-134-92102-7.in the middle of the fourteenth century the Strigolniki heresy broke out in Russia, chiefly in the cities in the north of the country, which gave this movement a proto-Reformation character
^Petrushko 2019 p. 456.
^Голубинский Е. Е.История русской церкви. Том 2: От нашествия монголов до митрополита Макария включительно. Период второй, Московский. Университетская типография, 1900.— С. 398
^^a ^bCrummey 2014,p. 126.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^gRobinson, Michael D. (14 June 2019).Christianity: A Brief History.Wipf and Stock Publishers. pp. 82–83.ISBN 978-1-5326-1831-4.
^Каретникова М. С., Русское богоискательство. Национальные корни евангельско-баптистского движения
^^a ^b ^cPetrushko 2019 pp. 456–57.
^Crummey 2014,p. 125.
^Some scholars see this as an execution after the heretics were condemned by Archbishop Aleskei (r. 1359–1388), but others see it as a lynching. See B. A. Rybakov,Strigolniki,4-11.

Sources[edit]

Crummey, Robert O. (6 June 2014).The Formation of Muscovy 1300 - 1613.Routledge. p. 126.ISBN 978-1-317-87200-9.

[oxford-1] Pattison, George; Emerson, Caryl; Poole, Randall A. (13 June 2020).The Oxford Handbook of Russian Religious Thought.Oxford University Press. p. 679.ISBN 978-0-19-879644-2.

[2] B. A. Rybakov,Strigolniki: Russkie Gumanisty XIV Stoletiia(Moscow: Nauk, 1993); David M Goldfrank, "Burn, Baby, Burn: Popular Culture and Heresy in Late Medieval Russia,"The Journal of Popular Culture31, no. 4 (1998): 17–32.

[Riasanovsky-3] Riasanovsky, Nicholas V. (29 September 2005).Russian Identities: A Historical Survey.Oxford University Press. p. 53.ISBN 978-0-19-534814-9.

[Moss-4] Moss, Walter G. (1 July 2003).A History of Russia Volume 1: To 1917.Anthem Press. p. 115.ISBN 978-0-85728-752-6.

[:0-5] N. A. Kazakova and Ia. S. Lur'e,Antifeodal'nye ereticheskie dvizheniia na Rusi XIV-nachala XVI veka(Moscow and Leningrad, ANSSSR, 1955), esp. pp. 34-71.

[6] Robinson, Michael D. (14 June 2019).Christianity: A Brief History.Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 320.ISBN 978-1-5326-1831-4.

[7] Belich, James (2022-07-19).The World the Plague Made: The Black Death and the Rise of Europe.Princeton University Press. p. 218.ISBN 978-0-691-22287-5.

[:3-8] "СТРИГОЛЬНИКИ • Большая российская энциклопедия - электронная версия".bigenc.ru.Archived fromthe originalon 2022-10-07.Retrieved2022-08-21.

[:1-9] Michalski, Sergiusz (2013-01-11).Reformation and the Visual Arts: The Protestant Image Question in Western and Eastern Europe.Routledge. p. 214.ISBN 978-1-134-92102-7.

[10] Michalski, Sergiusz (2013-01-11).Reformation and the Visual Arts: The Protestant Image Question in Western and Eastern Europe.Routledge.ISBN 978-1-134-92102-7.in the middle of the fourteenth century the Strigolniki heresy broke out in Russia, chiefly in the cities in the north of the country, which gave this movement a proto-Reformation character

[11] Petrushko 2019 p. 456.

[12] Голубинский Е. Е.История русской церкви. Том 2: От нашествия монголов до митрополита Макария включительно. Период второй, Московский. Университетская типография, 1900.— С. 398

[FOOTNOTECrummey2014126-13] Crummey 2014,p. 126.

[Robinson-14] ^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^gRobinson, Michael D. (14 June 2019).Christianity: A Brief History.Wipf and Stock Publishers. pp. 82–83.ISBN 978-1-5326-1831-4.

[autogenerated20130218-1-15] Каретникова М. С., Русское богоискательство. Национальные корни евангельско-баптистского движения

[Petrushko_2019_page_456—457-16] Petrushko 2019 pp. 456–57.

[FOOTNOTECrummey2014125-17] Crummey 2014,p. 125.

[18] Some scholars see this as an execution after the heretics were condemned by Archbishop Aleskei (r. 1359–1388), but others see it as a lynching. See B. A. Rybakov,Strigolniki,4-11.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

Beliefs[edit]

History[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Sources[edit]