Russian and Other Orthodox Churches.
The patriarchate of Moscow and all Russia is the largest Orthodox church today by far, having survived a difficult period of persecution after the Russian Revolution of 1917. It occupies the fifth place in the hierarchy of autocephalous churches, followed by the patriarchates of the Republic of Georgia, Serbia (Republic of Yugoslavia), Romania, and Bulgaria. The nonpatriarchal churches are, in order of precedence, the archbishoprics of Cyprus, Athens (Greece), and Tiranë (Albania; established 1937, this see was suppressed during Communist rule), as well as the metropolitanates of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and America
ENCYCLOPEDIA: VLADIMIR, Saint
(c.
956–1015), grand prince of Kiev, whose baptism made Orthodox Christianity the
official religion of Russia. Born in Kiev, Vladimir was a pagan at the
beginning of his reign, which was at first devoted to consolidating his
territories into a unified Russian state. In exchange for helping the Byzantine
emperor Basil II suppress a rebellion, Vladimir was allowed to marry the
emperor's sister, Anne (963–1011), at which time (988) he accepted
Christianity. Allied to Byzantium by religious and family ties, Vladimir introduced Byzantine civilization into Russia by building churches, suppressing
paganism, and making social reforms. Nonetheless, he remained open to Western
influences, which are reflected in his
legislation. 
J.Me., REV. JOHN MEYENDORFF,
B.D., D.Litt.
ENCYCLOPEDIA: NIKON
(1605–81), patriarch of Moscow and all Russia and initiator of a series of liturgical reforms that led to a major schism in the Russian Orthodox church. A married priest in Moscow for ten years, Nikon, after his wife died, became a monk and was eventually elevated to the positions of archbishop of Novgorod (1649) and patriarch (1652). Enjoying the friendship of Czar Alexis I, he affirmed the absolute superiority of the church over the state and swore the czar to obedience. Nikon proceeded to establish an opulent patriarchal court that rivaled the czar’s. At the same time, he undertook to make Russian liturgical practices conform to the contemporary usage of the Greek church. Through these reforms, which included a revision of all liturgical books, he believed that Russia would become the spiritual as well as the political bulwark of orthodoxy.
Several
leading members of the clergy and millions of the faithful rejected the
reforms, however, and the resulting schism of so-called Old Believers weakened
the church in its relations with the government and led to the development of
numerous anti-institutional sects. The opposition to Nikon’s reforms was based
in part on unenlightened conservatism, but also on the belief that Russia, after the Turkish conquest (1453) of Constantinople, should no longer be bound by the
example of the Greek church. Nikon’s authoritarian and arbitrary methods
intensified the opposition. When the czar was in Poland (1654–56), Nikon served
as coruler and alienated the boyars and other state officials. The czar was
finally persuaded to depose him in 1658, and Nikon retired to a monastery, but
his reforms were confirmed by the Great Council of Moscow
(1666–67). J.Me., REV. JOHN MEYENDORFF,
B.D., D.Litt.
ENCYCLOPEDIA: FILARET
(1782–1867),
one of the most prominent leaders in the Russian Orthodox church in the 19th
century. Originally named Vasily Drozdov, he took the name Filaret when he
became a monk in 1808. A noted preacher and biblical scholar, he promoted the
translation of the Bible, previously available only in Church Slavonic, into
modern Russian. As the metropolitan of Moscow (1821–67), he was an influential
member of the Holy Synod. His Catechism (1823) became a standard school
textbook. He also drafted the manifesto of 1861, signed by Czar Alexander II,
which emancipated the Russian
serfs. J.Me., REV. JOHN MEYENDORFF,
B.D., D.Litt.
ENCYCLOPEDIA: ICON,
in art, a painted image of a religious figure or event, especially a painted panel that is characteristic of the Eastern Christian church. The term icon is derived from the Greek eikenai, “to be like.”
During the early Christian period, after the 4th century, the term was applied to all religious art, including mosaics, bas-reliefs, and paintings. Few early painted icons survive, but a small group of 6th- and 7th-century encaustic (wax) paintings on wooden panels, from the monastery of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai, show realistic, lifelike faces animated by large eyes and intense expressions. For private devotions, small icons were made, frequently in the form of miniature mosaics such as Saint John Chrysostom (early 14th cent.) in the Dumbarton Oaks Collections, Washington, D.C.
The iconoclastic movement starting in the 8th century, which condemned icons as idolatry, led to the destruction of much religious art throughout the Byzantine Christian world, and it was not until the next century that icons were restored to their former position of honor in religious observance. Painted icons of Christ, the Virgin, and various saints—often grouped into an iconostasis, or large screen—became the primary religious images of the Byzantine, Greek Orthodox, and Russian Orthodox churches. To avoid the taint of idolatry, they were created with a formalized, deliberately stylized aspect that emphasized otherworldliness rather than human feeling or sentimentality. Gold-leaf backgrounds were common, and strongly geometric designs—emphasizing either angularity or long sinuous curves—were favored. Although painters of icons usually remained anonymous, two exceptions, Andrei Rublev and Theophanes the Greek, are known. These artists, active in the late 14th and early 15th centuries in Russia, represent the supreme achievement in icon painting, and their work combines spiritual grace and technical excellence in a synthesis that was never again equaled.
ENCYCLOPEDIA: RUBLEV, Andrei
(c. 1360–c. 1430), Russian artist, the greatest icon painter of Russia. Little is known of his life except that he eventually became a monk. He typically executed large cycles in collaboration with one or two other artists, frequently with the great Byzantine painter Theophanes the Greek, who may have been his teacher. Rublev is known to have collaborated in 1405 on the icons of the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Moscow and in 1408 on the frescoes and icons of the Cathedral of the Dormition at Vladimir; several of these icons are believed, on stylistic grounds, to be his alone. The only work authenticated as entirely his, however, is the celebrated icon of the Old Testament Trinity (c. 1410, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow), picturing Abraham's three angels grouped in a two-dimensional arrangement. Rublev's style is characterized by deep, pure colors, flowing curved lines, gentle expressions, and a sense of intense spirituality. The first truly Russian painting style, it represents a refinement of the traditional, more angular Byzantine style and was widely imitated for two centuries.