Solovetsky Monastery Uprising
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Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
) was an uprising of Old Believer monks, known as the Raskol
Raskol
Raskol |schism]]') was the event of splitting of the Russian Orthodox Church into an official church and the Old Believers movement in mid-17th century, triggered by the reforms of Patriarch Nikon in 1653, aiming to establish uniformity between the Greek and Russian church practices.-The Raskol:...
, of the northern Solovetsky Monastery
Solovetsky Monastery
Solovetsky Monastery was the greatest citadel of Christianity in the Russian North before being turned into a special Soviet prison and labor camp , which served as a prototype for the GULag system. Situated on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea, the monastery braved many changes of fortune...
against the Tsar's policies. The uprising involved the siege of the Solovetsky Monastery
Solovetsky Monastery
Solovetsky Monastery was the greatest citadel of Christianity in the Russian North before being turned into a special Soviet prison and labor camp , which served as a prototype for the GULag system. Situated on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea, the monastery braved many changes of fortune...
by the Tsar's forces over the years from 1668 to 1676.
The uprising started in the summer of 1668, when the high-ranking clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
of the monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
rose in opposition to Patriarch Nikon
Patriarch Nikon
Nikon , born Nikita Minin , was the seventh patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church...
’s ecclesiastic reform soon after his defrocking
Defrocking
To defrock, unfrock, or laicize ministers or priests is to remove their rights to exercise the functions of the ordained ministry. This may be due to criminal convictions, disciplinary matters, or disagreements over doctrine or dogma...
. The majority of regular monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s came out against the centralization of the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
and the Russian government, which had been reinforcing this centralization. Lay brother
Lay brother
In the most common usage, lay brothers are those members of Catholic religious orders, particularly of monastic orders, occupied primarily with manual labour and with the secular affairs of a monastery or friary, in contrast to the choir monks of the same monastery who are devoted mainly to the...
s, monastic workers, and pilgrims (пришлые люди, or prishliye lyudi) protested against the feudal oppression and monastic serfdom
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
regulations in particular. Around 450-500 rebels took part in the Solovetsky Monastery Uprising, which began under the slogan of the struggle for the "old faith" in connection with the Old Believers
Old Believers
In the context of Russian Orthodox church history, the Old Believers separated after 1666 from the official Russian Orthodox Church as a protest against church reforms introduced by Patriarch Nikon between 1652–66...
movement (see Raskol
Raskol
Raskol |schism]]') was the event of splitting of the Russian Orthodox Church into an official church and the Old Believers movement in mid-17th century, triggered by the reforms of Patriarch Nikon in 1653, aiming to establish uniformity between the Greek and Russian church practices.-The Raskol:...
).
On June 22, 1668, a Streltsy
Streltsy
Streltsy were the units of Russian guardsmen in the 16th - early 18th centuries, armed with firearms. They are also collectively known as Marksman Troops .- Origins and organization :...
unit under the command of I.Volkhov arrived at the Solovetsky Islands
Solovetsky Islands
The Solovetsky Islands , or Solovki , are an archipelago located in the Onega Bay of the White Sea, Russia. The islands are served by the Solovki Airport. Area: ....
to suppress the rebels. The monastery locked itself up and refused to let the Streltsy in. The uprising was supported by local peasant
Peasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
s and workers (работные люди, or rabotniye lyudi), which would allow the monastery to withstand more than seven years of siege
Siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...
without experiencing any serious difficulties with supplies and other necessities. Besides the regular food assistance from the outside, many visiting workers, runaway soldiers, and even Streltsy made their way onto the island and joined the rebels. In the early 1670s, a large number of Stenka Razin
Stenka Razin
Stepan Timofeyevich Razin Тимофеевич Разин, ; 1630 – ) was a Cossack leader who led a major uprising against the nobility and Tsar's bureaucracy in South Russia.-Early life:...
’s supporters joined the monastery uprising, which would liven it up even more.
The besieged would often sally out of the monastery under the leadership of elected sotnik
Sotnik
Sotnik or Sotnyk was a military rank among the Cossack starshyna , Strelets Troops in Muscovy and Imperial Cossack cavalry , the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, the Ukrainian Galician Army, and the Ukrainian People's Army.-Military rank:Literally it means commander of hundred men in most Slavonic...
s, such as the runaway boyar
Boyar
A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....
kholop
Kholop
Kholops were feudally dependent people in Russia between the 10th and early 18th centuries. Their legal status was close to that of serfs.- Etymology :The word kholop was first mentioned in a chronicle for the year of 986. Its etymology is unclear...
I.Voronin, monastery peasant S.Vasiliev. The runaway Don Cossacks
Don Cossacks
Don Cossacks were Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don.- Etymology and origins :The Don Cossack Host was a frontier military organization from the end of the 16th until the early 20th century....
P.Zapruda and G.Krivonoga supervised the construction of new fortification
Fortification
Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
s. By 1674, there had already been some 1000 Streltsy and a large number of guns outside the walls of the Solovetsky Monastery. The siege was now headed by voyevoda I.Mescherinov. The rebels had been successfully defending themselves until the betrayal of a monk named Feoktist, who showed Streltsy an unprotected window of the monastery’s White Tower. This quickened the end of the uprising, which would be suppressed with an incredible brutality in January of 1676. Only 60 rebels out of 500 survived the seizure of the monastery. Large supplies of food stored in the monastery still sufficient to withstand the siege if it would have continued for several more years were discovered in the monastery after the uprising was suppressed. All of the remaining insurgents were later executed with the exception of a few people.