The Rise of Russian Orthodoxy — Byzantium, Moscow and the Old Believers

What happens to a faith when the empire that shaped it disappears? After the Great Schism, Orthodox Christianity entered centuries of extraordinary political change. Constantinople remained the ancient centre of the Orthodox world, but beyond Byzantium new Christian societies were developing — and among the most important was Rus’. This documentary follows that story from medieval Byzantium to the age of Peter the Great. We explore the Christianization of Rus’, the Mongol invasions, the survival of the Orthodox Church under the Golden Horde, the rise of Moscow, and the changing relationship between religious and political authority. Then, in 1453, Constantinople fell. The Byzantine Empire disappeared, but Orthodox Christianity survived. Moscow grew increasingly powerful, the Russian Church gained greater independence, and ideas associated with “Moscow as the Third Rome” emerged within a changing Orthodox world. But the relationship between Church and state was never simple. In the seventeenth century, the reforms of Patriarch Nikon divided Russian religious society. Disputes over ritual, books and authority produced the Raskol, as the Old Believers rejected the reforms and preserved inherited practices despite persecution. Figures such as Archpriest Avvakum and Feodosia Morozova became symbols of a religious tradition determined to survive. Then came Peter the Great. Peter transformed Russia’s military, government, elite culture and relationship with Europe. His revolution also transformed the Church. After Patriarch Adrian died in 1700, no successor was appointed. In 1721, the Holy Governing Synod replaced patriarchal government, placing the Church’s highest administration within the new imperial system. Yet Orthodoxy remained. Churches continued worshipping. Monasteries survived. Families continued teaching their children. Old Believer communities preserved their inherited rites. And in Constantinople, Orthodox Christianity continued beneath Ottoman rule long after Byzantium itself had disappeared. This is the story of how a religious tradition survived conquest, political fragmentation, the fall of empires, schism, persecution and radical reform — and of the questions each generation was forced to confront: What must remain? What can change? Who decides? From Byzantium to Moscow, from the Mongols and the fall of Constantinople to Nikon, the Old Believers and Peter the Great, this is the story of the rise and transformation of Russian Orthodoxy. Empires could fall. Capitals could move. Patriarchs could rise and disappear. But Orthodoxy had learned to survive without any single one of them. Topics Covered Byzantine Empire • Orthodox Christianity • Christianization of Rus’ • Mongol invasion • Golden Horde • Alexander Nevsky • Rise of Moscow • Sergius of Radonezh • Fall of Constantinople 1453 • Ottoman Empire • Moscow as the Third Rome • Ivan the Terrible • Russian Patriarchate • Time of Troubles • Patriarch Nikon • Raskol • Old Believers • Avvakum • Feodosia Morozova • Solovetsky Monastery • Peter the Great • Great Northern War • Saint Petersburg • Holy Governing Synod Selected Sources & Further Reading • John Meyendorff — Byzantium and the Rise of Russia • Dimitri Obolensky — The Byzantine Commonwealth • Judith Herrin — Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire • Anthony Kaldellis — The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium • Simon Franklin & Jonathan Shepard — The Emergence of Rus 750–1200 • Janet Martin — Medieval Russia, 980–1584 • Charles J. Halperin — Russia and the Golden Horde • Donald Ostrowski — Muscovy and the Mongols • Steven Runciman — The Fall of Constantinople 1453 • Marios Philippides & Walter K. Hanak — The Siege and the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 • Paul Bushkovitch — Religion and Society in Russia • Georg Bernhard Michels — At War with the Church • Robert O. Crummey — The Old Believers and the World of Antichrist • Avvakum Petrov — The Life Written by Himself — primary source • Paul Bushkovitch — Peter the Great: The Struggle for Power, 1671–1725 • Lindsey Hughes — Russia in the Age of Peter the Great • James Cracraft — The Church Reform of Peter the Great • James Cracraft — The Revolution of Peter the Great Primary sources used for historical context include chronicles, ecclesiastical writings, conciliar materials, correspondence and autobiographical writings. Some events and interpretations discussed in the documentary remain subjects of scholarly debate. #OrthodoxChristianity #RussianHistory #ByzantineEmpire #OldBelievers #PeterTheGreat #HistoryDocumentary