The main differences between the official Russian Orthodox Church and the Old Believers. The main differences from the New Believer church What is the difference between the Old Believer and Christian churches

The current Orthodox young generation, perhaps with surprise, perceives the concept of Old Believers, Old Believers, and even more so does not delve into what is the difference between Old Believers and Orthodox believers.

fans healthy lifestyle life study the life of modern hermits, using the example of the Lykov family, who lived 50 years away from civilization, until geologists discovered them in the late 70s of the last century. Why did Orthodoxy not please the Old Believers?

Old Believers - who are they

Let's make a reservation right away that the Old Believers are people who adhere to the Christian faith of pre-Nikon times, and the Old Believers worship pagan gods that existed in the folk religion before the advent of Christianity. The canons of the Orthodox Church, as civilization developed, were somewhat modified. The 17th century brought a split in Orthodoxy after the introduction of innovations by Patriarch Nikon.

By decree of the Church, rites and traditions were changed, all those who disagreed were anathematized, and the persecution of adherents of the old faith began. Adherents of pre-Nikonian traditions began to be called Old Believers but there was no unity among them.

Old Believers are adherents of the Orthodox movement in Russia

Persecuted by the official church, believers began to settle in Siberia, the Volga region, and even on the territory of other states, such as Turkey, Poland, Romania, China, Bolivia, and Australia.

The current life of the Old Believers and their traditions

The found settlement of the Old Believers in 1978 excited the entire space of the then existing Soviet Union. Millions of people literally "stuck" to TVs to see the way of hermits, which has not changed much since the time of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers.

At present, there are several hundred settlements of Old Believers in Russia. The Old Believers themselves teach their children, the elderly and parents are in special reverence. The whole settlement works hard, for food all vegetables and fruits are grown by the family, duties are distributed very strictly.

A random guest will be received with benevolence, but he will eat and drink from separate dishes so as not to defile the members of the community. Cleaning in the house, washing and washing dishes is carried out only with well or spring running water.

sacrament of baptism

The Old Believers try to carry out the rite of baptism of babies during the first 10 days, before that they very carefully choose the name of the newborn, it must be in the calendar. All items for baptism are cleaned several days before the sacrament in running water. Parents are not present at the christening.

By the way, the bathhouse of hermits is an unclean place, so the cross received at baptism is removed and put on only after washing with clean water.

Wedding and funeral

The Old Believer Church forbids marriage to young people who are relatives up to the eighth generation or who are connected by a “cross”. Weddings take place on any day except Tuesday and Thursday.

Wedding at the Old Believers

Married women do not leave the house without a headdress.

The funeral is not a special event, the Old Believers do not have mourning. The body of the deceased is washed by people of the same sex, specially selected in the community. Chips are poured into a coffin, a body is placed on it and covered with a sheet. The coffin has no lid. After the funeral, there is no commemoration, all the belongings of the deceased are distributed in the village as alms.

Old Believer Cross and Sign of the Cross

Church rituals and worship take place near the eight-pointed cross.

On a note! Unlike Orthodox traditions, there is no image of the crucified Jesus on it.

In addition to the large crossbar, to which the hands of the Savior were nailed, there are two more. The upper crossbar symbolizes a tablet; a sin was usually written on it, for which the condemned was crucified. The lower small board is a symbol of scales for weighing human sins.

Old Believers use an eight-pointed cross

Important! The current Orthodox Church recognizes the right to exist of Old Believer churches, as well as crosses without a Crucifix, as signs of Christianity.

Orthodox believers use the modern Bible, but only the pre-Nikonian Scripture, which is carefully studied by all members of the settlement.

The main differences from Orthodoxy

In addition to the non-recognition of the traditions and rituals of the modern Orthodox Church and the above differences, the Old Believers:

• make only earthly bows;
• they do not recognize a rosary of 33 beads, using ladders, in which there are 109 knots;
• baptism is performed by three times immersion in water with the head, while sprinkling is accepted in Orthodoxy;
• the name Jesus is spelled Jesus;
• recognize icons only from wood and copper.

Many Old Believers are currently accepting the traditions of the Old Believer Orthodox churches, which has been encouraged in the official Church.

Who are the Old Believers?

More than three centuries have passed since the church schism of the 17th century, and most people still do not know how the Old Believers differ from Orthodox Christians. Let's figure it out.

Terminology

The distinction between the concepts of "Old Believers" and "Orthodox Church" is rather conditional. The Old Believers themselves admit that it is their faith that is Orthodox, and the Russian Orthodox Church is called New Believers or Nikoninans.

In the Old Believer Literature XVII- the first half of the XIX century, the term "Old Believer" was not used.

The Old Believers called themselves differently. Old Believers, Old Orthodox Christians ... The terms "orthodox" and "true Orthodoxy" were also used.

In the writings of the Old Believers of the 19th century, the term "truly Orthodox Church" was often used.

The term "Old Believers" became widespread only towards the end of the 19th century. At the same time, the Old Believers of various accords mutually denied each other's Orthodoxy and, strictly speaking, for them the term "Old Believers" united religious communities, devoid of church and religious unity, on a secondary ritual basis.

fingers

It is well known that during the schism the two-fingered sign of the cross was changed to a three-fingered one. Two fingers - a symbol of the two Hypostases of the Savior (true God and true man), three fingers - a symbol of the Holy Trinity.

The sign of the three fingers was accepted by the Ecumenical Orthodox Church, which by that time consisted of a dozen independent Autocephalous Churches, after the preserved bodies of the martyrs-confessors of Christianity of the first centuries with folded fingers of the three-fingered sign of the Cross were found in the Roman catacombs. Examples of finding the relics of the saints of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra are similar.

It was not in vain that I attached to the article this particular work by the artist Surikov, where the protagonist, Boyarynya Morozova, demonstrates “double-fingeredness”. A little about the painting itself:

"Boyar Morozova"- a gigantic (304 by 586 cm) painting by Vasily Surikov, depicting a scene from the history of the church schism in the 17th century. After the debut at the 15th traveling exhibition in 1887, it was purchased for 25 thousand rubles for the Tretyakov Gallery, where it remains one of the main exhibits.

Surikov's interest in the topic of the Old Believers is associated with his Siberian childhood. In Siberia, where there were many Old Believers, the handwritten “lives” of the martyrs of the Old Believer movement, including the Tale of the Boyar Morozova, became widespread.

The image of the noblewoman is copied from the Old Believers, which the artist met at Rogozhsky cemetery. And the artist's aunt, Avdotya Vasilievna Torgoshina, became the prototype.

The portrait study was painted in just two hours. Prior to this, the artist could not find a suitable face for a long time - bloodless, fanatical, corresponding to the famous description of Habakkuk: "The fingers of your hands are subtle, your eyes are lightning fast, and you rush at enemies like a lion."

The figure of the noblewoman on a sliding sledge is a single compositional center, around which representatives of the street crowd are grouped, reacting differently to her fanatical readiness to follow her convictions to the end. For some, the fanaticism of a woman causes hatred, mockery or irony, but the majority looks at her with sympathy. The hand raised high in a symbolic gesture is like a farewell to old Russia, to which these people belong.

Consensus and talk

The Old Believers are far from homogeneous. There are several dozen agreements and even more Old Believer interpretations. There is even a saying: "Whatever a man is good, whatever a woman, then consent." There are three main "wings" of the Old Believers: priests, bespopovtsy and co-religionists.

Name of Jesus

During the Nikon reform, the tradition of writing the name "Jesus" was changed. The double sound “and” began to convey the duration, the “stretching” sound of the first sound, which in Greek is denoted by a special sign, which has no analogy in the Slavic language, therefore the pronunciation of “Jesus” is more consistent with the universal practice of sounding the Savior. However, the Old Believer version is closer to the Greek source.

Differences in the Creed

In the course of the “book right” of the Nikon reform, changes were made to the Creed: the union-opposition “a” was removed in the words about the Son of God “born, not created.”

From the semantic opposition of properties, a simple enumeration was thus obtained: "born, not created."

The Old Believers sharply opposed arbitrariness in the presentation of dogmas and were ready to go to suffering and death “for a single az” (that is, for one letter “a”).

In total, about 10 changes were made to the Creed, which was the main dogmatic difference between the Old Believers and the Nikonians.

Towards the sun

By the middle of the 17th century, a universal custom was established in the Russian Church to make a salting procession. The church reform of Patriarch Nikon unified all the rites according to Greek models, but the innovations were not accepted by the Old Believers. As a result, the New Believers make a movement during the processions of anti-sun, and the Old Believers make religious processions salt.

∗ Salting is a movement along the sun, contributing to an increase in vitality and acceleration of spiritual evolution.

Ties and sleeves

In some Old Believer churches, in memory of the executions during the Schism, it is forbidden to come to the service with rolled up sleeves and with ties. Rolled up sleeves are associated there with executioners, and ties with gallows.

Question of the cross

The Old Believers recognize only the eight-pointed cross, while after Nikon's reform in Orthodoxy, four and six-pointed crosses were recognized as equal. On the tablet of the crucifixion, the Old Believers usually write not I.N.Ts.I., but “King of Glory”. On pectoral crosses, the Old Believers do not have an image of Christ, since it is believed that this is a personal cross of a person.

Severe and demanding Hallelujah

In the course of Nikon's reforms, the purely (that is, double) pronunciation of "alleluia" was replaced by a treble (that is, triple). Instead of "Alleluia, alleluia, glory to you God" they began to say "Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to You, God."

According to the New Believers, the triple pronunciation of alleluia symbolizes the dogma of the Holy Trinity.

However, the Old Believers argue that the pure pronunciation along with “glory to Thee, God” is already a glorification of the Trinity, since the words “glory to Thee, God” are one of the translations into Slavic of the Hebrew word Alleluia (“praise God”).

Honors in the service

At services in Old Believer churches, a strict system of bows has been developed, replacements are prohibited. prostrations on the waist. There are four types of bows: “normal” - a bow to the chest or to the navel; "medium" - in the belt; a small prostration - “throwing” (not from the verb “to throw”, but from the Greek “metanoia” = repentance); great bow to the earth (proskineza).

Throwing was banned by Nikon in 1653. He sent out a "memory" to all Moscow churches, which said: "It is not appropriate in the church to throw things on your knees, but to bow to you from the waist."

Hands in a cross

While serving in old believer church It is customary to fold your arms in a cross on your chest.

Beads

Orthodox and Old Believer rosaries are different. Orthodox rosaries can have a different number of beads, but most often rosaries with 33 beads are used, according to the number of earthly years of Christ's life, or a multiple of 10 or 12.

In the Old Believers of almost all consents, the ladder * is actively used - a rosary in the form of a ribbon with 109 "beans" ("steps"), divided into unequal groups. Let us turn once again to the picture of Surikov:

∗ Lestovka — in the noblewoman's hand. Leather Old Believer rosary in the form of stairs - a symbol of spiritual ascent, hence the name. At the same time, the ladder is closed in a ring, which means unceasing prayer. Every Christian Old Believer should have his own ladder for prayer.

Baptism by full immersion

Old Believers accept baptism only by full triple immersion, while in Orthodox churches baptism by pouring and partial immersion is allowed.

monodic singing

After the split of the Orthodox Church, the Old Believers did not accept either the new polyphonic style of singing or the new system of musical notation. The hook singing (znamenny and demestvennoe) preserved by the Old Believers got its name from the way the melody is recorded with special signs - “banners” or “hooks”.

The Old Believers, they are also Old Believers, are adherents of the Orthodox movement in Russia. The movement of the Old Believers was forced, since Patriarch Nikon in the second half of the 17th century ordered a church reform of the Russian Orthodox Church. The purpose of the reform: to bring into line with the Byzantine (Greek) all rituals, services and church books. In the mid 50s of the XVII century, Patriarch Tikhon had the powerful support of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, who put into practice the concept: Moscow - the Third Rome. Therefore, Nikon's church reforms should have ideally fit into this idea. But, de facto, a split occurred in the Russian Orthodox Church.

It was a true tragedy, since some of the believers did not want to accept the church reform, which changed their way of life and idea of ​​faith. Thus the movement of the Old Believers was born. People who disagreed with Nikon fled to remote corners of the country: mountains, forests, taiga wilderness - just to live according to their canons. Often there were cases of self-immolation of believers of the old rite. Sometimes this happened to entire villages when the official and church authorities tried to put Nikon's new ideas into practice. According to the records of some chroniclers, the pictures appeared terrible: a large barn, engulfed in flames, psalms rush out of it, which dozens of people sing in the fire. Such was the willpower and fortitude of the spirit of the Old Believers, who did not want changes, considering them from the evil one. Old Believers: difference from the Orthodox is a very serious topic, which was investigated by some historians in the USSR.

One such researcher in the 1980s was Professor Boris Sitnikov, who taught at the Novosibirsk Pedagogical Institute. Every summer he and his students traveled to the Old Believer settlements in Siberia and collected the most interesting material.

Old Believers of Russia: difference from the Orthodox (highlights)

Specialists in church history there are dozens of differences between the Old Believers and the Orthodox in matters of reading and interpreting the Bible, conducting church services, other rituals, everyday life and appearance. And also note that the Old Believers are heterogeneous. Among them, various currents stand out, which still add differences, but already between the adherents of the old faith themselves. Pomortsy, Fedoseyevtsy, Beglopopovtsy, Bespopovtsy, Priests, Spasovian sense, Netovshchina and many others. We will not go into detail, as there is not enough space in one article. Let's take a brief look at the main differences and discrepancies between the Old Believers and the Orthodox.

1. How to be baptized correctly.

Nikon, during his reform of the church, forbade being baptized according to the old custom with two fingers. Everyone was ordered to make the sign of the cross with three fingers. That is, to be baptized in a new way: with three fingers folded into a pinch. The Old Believers did not accept this postulate, they saw in it a fig (fig) and completely refused to be baptized with three fingers. The Old Believers still make the sign of the cross with two fingers.

2. The shape of the cross.

The Old Believers still have a pre-reform form Orthodox cross. It has eight ends. Two small crossbars are added to our usual cross at the top (straight) and at the bottom (oblique). True, according to some researchers, some rumors of the Old Believers recognize other forms of crosses.

3. Earthly bows.

The Old Believers, unlike the Orthodox, recognize only earthly bows, and the latter - waist ones.

4. Pectoral cross.

For the Old Believers, this is always an eight-pointed cross (as described above) inside a four-pointed one. The main difference is that there is never an image of the crucified Jesus Christ on this cross.

5. During the service, the Old Believers keep their arms crossed on their chests, while the Orthodox lower them at the seams.

6. The name of Jesus Christ is spelled differently. There are discrepancies in some prayers. One scholar-historian counted at least 62 discrepancies in prayers.

7. Almost complete rejection of alcohol and smoking. In some Old Believer rumors it was allowed to take three glasses of alcohol on big holidays, but no more.

8. Appearance.

In the Old Believer Church you will not meet, as in our Orthodox, girls and women with scarves on their heads, in hats or scarves tied in a knot at the back. The woman is strictly in a scarf, stabbed with a pin under her chin. No bright or colored clothing is allowed. Men - in old Russian shirts outside, always with a belt dividing the two parts of the body into the lower (dirty) and upper (spiritual). AT Everyday life it is forbidden for an Old Believer man to shave off his beard and wear a tie (Judas noose).

By the way, of all the Russian tsars, the Old Believers especially hated Peter the Great because he forced them to shave off their beards, took the Old Believers into the army, taught people to smoke (there was a saying among the Old Believers: "Tabachnik is a clerk in hell") and other things, according to the Old Believers, overseas diabolical things. And Peter the Great really appreciated the soldiers who fell into the army from the Old Believers. One interesting case is known. A new frigate was to be launched at the shipyard. Something went wrong on the technical side: either the log got stuck, or something else. The king, who has powerful health and body strength, jumped up himself, grabbed a log, and helped solve the problem. Then he drew attention to a strong worker who worked for three and, not being afraid of the king, helped to lift the log.

The king offered to compare the silushka. He says: "Here I will hit you in the chest, if you stand on your feet, then I will allow you to hit me and you will have a royal gift." Piotr swung and hit the kid in the chest. Someone else would fly off, probably five meters head over heels. And he just swayed like an oak tree. The autocrat was surprised! He demanded a retaliatory strike. And the old believer hit! Everyone froze! And the guy was from the Old Believers of Peipsi. The king could hardly stand it, swayed, stepped back. The sovereign awarded such a hero with a silver ruble and the post of corporal. Everything was explained simply: the Old Believers did not drink vodka, did not smoke tobacco, ate, as it is now fashionable to say, organic products and were distinguished by enviable health. Therefore, Peter I ordered the youth from the sketes to be taken into the army.

Such were, are and remain the Old Believers, who keep their customs and traditions. Old Believers: the difference from the Orthodox - indeed, interesting topic There is much, much more to be written about this. For example, we have not yet told that two sets of dishes were kept in the houses of the Old Believers: for themselves and for strangers (guests). It was forbidden to eat from the same dish with non-Christians. Archpriest Avvakum was a very charismatic leader among the Old Believers. We recommend that everyone interested in this topic watch the Russian TV series Schism, which tells in great detail about Nikon's church reform and its consequences.

In conclusion, we only add that the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) only in 1971 completely abolished the anathema against the Old Believers, and the denominations began to take steps towards each other.

Peace to this house!!! Thoughts were mixed up from what has been going on in my head for a long time, so I began to write with meaning, so that they would understand, but everything is mixed somersault. I know for sure a lot of those who are wealthy (rich in money and their quantity) and live in peace with their families, they are all grateful to the Lord and do as their ancestors bequeathed. When they have problems, they give up all their affairs and keep fasting, all the problems go away on their own, after which they continue to live the same life that they lived. I know many people who did not honor the faith of their ancestors, they are not here and not there, but when trouble came and they began to do fasts as they should, prayers also helped them, after which most returned to their former atheism, and not to the previous level returned, I don’t know more than one who can dispute this, but you. The Almighty forces guide each of you, but not everyone goes the right way or to the end as expected. Knowledge and technology are given to make life easier for you, but the fact is that people do not use it correctly, mostly atheists, who sooner or later turn earthly paradise into a hellish land. I'm not going to poke your finger at these places, you already know them well, try to clear them today, the anti-God state in which all the savings will not be able to do this. As it was from time immemorial, the Proper People presikal and cleaned with their own deeds, so it remained, but there are few of them left on earth and they leave these places far. At the expense of your church, it has not been God's for a long time, the places where the Lord still remains of their few. I will explain how to find it and how to distinguish it from places that are not true. First, any temple for people where the power of the Lord is, it is not built randomly. The Temple of the Heavens of the Lord is built only by people who are clean and after a long fast, during the construction they should not have any evil deeds, and even more so of a different religion. So the hand-paintings in it and those who have the right to write as well as the construction of the temple after a long fast are not illuminated pictures. Which of you will show such a temple? Some idol worshipers today. Icons from the shop are just pieces of paper with pictures, and only the anti-God will intoxicate you with the fact that it is enough to baptize. You are all funny today. The Old Believers have clean prayer houses, the Holy Spirit is present in them. Not one hears what the Elders say. The population has no mind in this day. Christians have long since departed from the Lord. Today most non-atheists are not the Children of God. They cut themselves off from doing the right thing. Some Slaves are with the Slaves today. They turned themselves from the children of the Lord into Slaves. You all have jobs, slaves. It's not about talent. Not one does not want to work, but to work in a queue. Laugh at you or you will laugh yourself. Pray Ask the King of the Lord to come, I can't come I'm in chains. I speak on his behalf. To the Glory of the Heavens of God. The Lord is with us.

More than three centuries have passed since the church schism of the 17th century, and most still do not know how the Old Believers differ from Orthodox Christians.

Terminology
The distinction between the concepts of "Old Believers" and "Orthodox Church" is rather conditional. The Old Believers themselves admit that it is their faith that is Orthodox, and the Russian Orthodox Church is called New Believers or Nikonians. In the Old Believer literature of the 17th - the first half of the 19th century, the term "Old Believer" was not used. The Old Believers called themselves differently. Old Believers, Old Orthodox Christians ... The terms "orthodox" and "true Orthodoxy" were also used.
In the writings of the Old Believers of the 19th century, the term "truly Orthodox Church" was often used. The term "Old Believers" became widespread only towards the end of the 19th century. At the same time, the Old Believers of various accords mutually denied each other’s Orthodoxy and, strictly speaking, for them the term “Old Believers” united religious communities, devoid of ecclesiastical and religious unity, on a secondary ritual basis.

fingers
It is well known that during the schism the two-fingered sign of the cross was changed to a three-fingered one. Two fingers - a symbol of the two Hypostases of the Savior (true God and true man), three fingers - a symbol of the Holy Trinity.
The sign of the three fingers was accepted by the Ecumenical Orthodox Church, which by that time consisted of a dozen independent Autocephalous Churches, after the preserved bodies of the martyrs-confessors of Christianity of the first centuries with folded fingers of the three-fingered sign of the Cross were found in the Roman catacombs. Examples of finding the relics of the saints of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra are similar.

Consensus and talk
The Old Believers are far from homogeneous. There are several dozen agreements and even more Old Believer interpretations. There is even a saying: "Whatever a man is good, whatever a woman, then consent." There are three main "wings" of the Old Believers: priests, bespopovtsy and co-religionists.

Jesus
During the Nikon reform, the tradition of writing the name "Jesus" was changed. The double sound “and” began to convey the duration, the “stretching” sound of the first sound, which in Greek is denoted by a special sign, which has no analogy in the Slavic language, therefore the pronunciation of “Jesus” is more consistent with the universal practice of sounding the Savior. However, the Old Believer version is closer to the Greek source.

Differences in the Creed
In the course of the “book right” of the Nikon reform, changes were made to the Creed: the union-opposition “a” was removed in the words about the Son of God “born, not created.” From the semantic opposition of properties, a simple enumeration was thus obtained: "born, not created." The Old Believers sharply opposed arbitrariness in the presentation of dogmas and were ready to go to suffering and death “for a single az” (that is, for one letter “a”). In total, about 10 changes were made to the Creed, which was the main dogmatic difference between the Old Believers and the Nikonians.

Towards the sun
By the middle of the 17th century, a universal custom was established in the Russian Church to make a salting procession. The church reform of Patriarch Nikon unified all rituals according to Greek models, but the innovations were not accepted by the Old Believers. As a result, the New Believers make a movement during the processions of the salting, and the Old Believers make the processions of the salting.

Ties and sleeves
In some Old Believer churches, in memory of the executions during the Schism, it is forbidden to come to the service with rolled up sleeves and with ties. Popular rumor associates rolled up sleeves with executioners, and ties with gallows. However, this is only one of the explanations. In general, it is customary for Old Believers to wear special prayer clothes (with long sleeves) for services, and you can’t tie a tie on a kosovorotka.

Question of the cross
The Old Believers recognize only the eight-pointed cross, while after Nikon's reform in Orthodoxy, four and six-pointed crosses were recognized as equal. On the tablet of the crucifixion, the Old Believers usually write not I.N.Ts.I., but “King of Glory”. On pectoral crosses, the Old Believers do not have an image of Christ, since it is believed that this is a personal cross of a person.

Severe and demanding Aliluyah
In the course of Nikon's reforms, the purely (that is, double) pronunciation of "alleluia" was replaced by a treble (that is, triple). Instead of "Alleluia, alleluia, glory to you God" they began to say "Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to You, God." According to the New Believers, the triple pronunciation of alleluia symbolizes the dogma of the Holy Trinity. However, the Old Believers argue that the pure pronunciation along with “glory to Thee, God” is already a glorification of the Trinity, since the words “glory to Thee, God” are one of the translations into Slavic of the Hebrew word Alleluia (“praise God”).

Honors in the service
At services in Old Believer churches, a strict system of bows has been developed, it is forbidden to replace bows with bows. There are four types of bows: “normal” - a bow to the chest or to the navel; "medium" - in the belt; a small prostration - “throwing” (not from the verb “to throw”, but from the Greek “metanoia” = repentance); great bow to the earth (proskineza). Throwing was banned by Nikon in 1653. He sent out a "memory" to all Moscow churches, which said: "It is not appropriate in the church to throw things on your knees, but to bow to you from the waist."

Hands in a cross
During the service in the Old Believer Church, it is customary to fold your arms in a cross on your chest.

Beads
Orthodox and Old Believer rosaries are different. In the Orthodox rosary there can be a different number of beads, but most often a rosary with 33 beads is used, according to the number of earthly years of Christ's life, or a multiple of 10 or 12. "("steps"), divided into unequal groups. Lestovka symbolically means a ladder from earth to heaven.

Baptism by full immersion
Old Believers accept baptism only by full triple immersion, while in Orthodox churches baptism by pouring and partial immersion is allowed.

monodic singing
After the split of the Orthodox Church, the Old Believers did not accept either the new polyphonic style of singing or the new system of musical notation. The hook singing (znamenny and demestvennoe) preserved by the Old Believers got its name from the way the melody is recorded with special signs - “banners” or “hooks”.