Discovering Russian Orthodoxy: The Old Believers

Semyon Kvasha , RBTH – April 2013 RBTH presents a brief history of the Russian religious movement of the Old Believers, which appeared in the 17th century as an attempt to protest against the Orthodox Church’s reform. Russia’s religious movement called the Old Believers became well-known in the 17th century when its representatives fled the country. They suffered persecution by the authorities, rejected marriage and church sacraments, were the driving force behind Russian capitalism at the beginning of the 20th century – and they have survived to the present day