Check.Church

Old Believers

Eastern Orthodox · 1666–1667 · Russia; diaspora (Americas, Australia)

Russians who held the pre-Nikonian rite — the two-finger cross, the old service books — against reforms aligning Russian practice with the Greeks; anathematized in 1666–67, they divided into priested (popovtsy) and priestless (bespopovtsy) concords under centuries of persecution. Reconciliation annotations: the toleration edict of 1905, and the ROC's rescinding of the anathemas in 1971.

Old Believers was formed between 1666 and 1667, as a process rather than a single event. Old Believers continues today. Old Believers's institutional line runs back through Russian Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy to the post-apostolic church. No body on this tree is the assembly of Acts 2; where a body claims that, the claim appears in the claimed-lineage layer.

Between the post-apostolic church and Old Believers stand 2 divisions along the institutional line, counting separations and disputed forks, not mergers, renewals or national organizations.

At a glance

Formed
Between 1666 and 1667, as a process rather than a single event
Family
Eastern Orthodox
Region
Russia; diaspora (Americas, Australia)
Key figures
Avvakum Petrov, Patriarch Nikon (opposing)
Cause tags
Doctrine, Governance
Also known as
Old Ritualists; Starovery

What it separated from

On the tree

Old Believers and its institutional line back to the post-apostolic churchAD 33The church at Pentecost: On divine groundThe church at Pentecost: on divine groundtoday10042443145198810541666The post-apostolic church (The spine)The post-apostolicchurchDepartureChurch of the East (Church of the East)Church of the EastChurch of the EastThe conciliar church (The spine)The conciliar churchDepartureThe Chalcedonian church (The spine)The Chalcedonian churchDepartureOriental Orthodoxy (Oriental Orthodox)Oriental OrthodoxyOriental OrthodoxRussian Orthodox Church (Eastern Orthodox)Russian Orthodox ChurchEastern OrthodoxEastern Orthodoxy (Eastern Orthodox)Eastern OrthodoxyEastern OrthodoxRoman Catholicism (Catholic)Roman CatholicismNot gatheredOld Believers (Eastern Orthodox)Old BelieversEastern Orthodox

Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2. Dashed gray boxes mark the institutional line after the apostles, shown as departure; no line of descent is drawn from Pentecost. A verdict appears on a box once its section is published.

Sources

Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-31.