Patriarch Nikon

Nikon (secular name - Nikita Minov) church and political leader of Russia in the 17th century, patriarch of the Russian Church (1652–67). Born into the family of a Mordovian peasant. At the age of 19 he became a priest in his village. In 1635 he went to the Solovetsky Monastery and was tonsured a monk. Since 1643 Nikon was the abbot of the Kozheozersky monastery. In 1646 Nikon attracted the attention of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich with his energy and courage. In 1652 he was elevated to the rank of patriarch. Nikon actively participated in solving political issues, persuading the king to end the war with Poland and advocating the struggle with Sweden in the Baltic. The failure in the struggle for access to the sea was blamed on the patriarch. Putting forward the thesis "priesthood above the kingdom," he tried to oppose the power of the patriarch to the power of the king. The gap occurred in 1658, when Nikon, leaving the patriarchate, went to the New Jerusalem Resurrection Monastery founded by him in the Moscow region, hoping that the tsar would return him. But this did not happen, he was ordered to remain in the monastery. When Nikon came to Moscow on his own in 1664 and tried to take the patriarchal seat again, he was sent back. The Church Council of 1666–67, confirming the reforms carried out by Nikon, removed him from the rank of patriarch. Nikon was exiled to the Ferapontov Belozersky Monastery. In 1681, Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich allowed Nikon to return to the New Jerusalem Monastery. He died on the way.