Nikita Pustosvyat (russian: Никита Пустосвят, real name Nikita Konstantinovich Dobrynin (Никита Константинович Добрынин)) (? –

June 11 Events Pre-1600 * 173 – Marcomannic Wars: The Roman army in Moravia is encircled by the Quadi, who have broken the peace treaty (171). In a violent thunderstorm emperor Marcus Aurelius defeats and subdues them in the so-called "miracle ...

, 1683) was one of the leaders of the Russian

Old Believers Old Believers or Old Ritualists, ''starovery'' or ''staroobryadtsy'' are Eastern Orthodox Christians who maintain the liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian Orthodox Church as they were before the reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow b ...

during

Raskol The Schism of the Russian Church, also known as Raskol (russian: раскол, , meaning "split" or "schism"), was the splitting of the Russian Orthodox Church into an official church and the Old Believers movement in the mid-17th century. It ...

Life

The year of his birth is unknown. He was dubbed ''Pustosvyat'' ("hollow saint") by adherents of

Patriarch Nikon Nikon ( ru , Ни́кон, Old Russian: ''Нїконъ''), born Nikita Minin (''Никита Минин''; 7 May 1605 – 17 August 1681) was the seventh Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' of the Russian Orthodox Church, serving officially fro ...

. Nikita was a priest in

Suzdal Suzdal ( rus, Суздаль, p=ˈsuzdəlʲ) is a town that serves as the administrative center of Suzdalsky District in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which is located on the Kamenka River, north of the city of Vladimir. Vladimir is the a ...

and participated in editing of church books under Patriarch Joseph. In 1659, Nikita arrived to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and lodged a complaint about Stefan, Archbishop of Suzdal, accusing him of digression from

Orthodoxy Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Church ...

. When Stefan was acquitted, Nikita denounced him to

Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...

Aleksey Mikhaylovich. The church council of 1666–1667 found him guilty and expelled him from the priesthood. The supporters of the old faith played an important role in the

Moscow uprising of 1682 The Moscow uprising of 1682, also known as the Streltsy uprising of 1682 (russian: Стрелецкий бунт), was an uprising of the Moscow Streltsy regiments that resulted in supreme power devolving on Sophia Alekseyevna (the daughter of th ...

, and the

gained support among the ''

streltsy , image = 01 106 Book illustrations of Historical description of the clothes and weapons of Russian troops.jpg , image_size = , alt = , caption = , dates = 1550–1720 , disbanded = , country = Tsardom of Russia , allegiance = Streltsy ...

'' (praetorian guard). Pustosvyat achieved a July 5, 1682 church debate in the presence of the tsar. The debate, however, ended in vain for him. The ''streltsy'' betrayed Nikita, who was subsequently beheaded.

Life

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Further reading