Heresy of the Judaizers

The Heresy of the Judaizers (Russian: ересь жидовствующих,

romanized: yeres zhidovstvuyushchikh)[1][2] was a religious
movement that emerged in Novgorod and later Moscow in the
second half of the 15th century which marked the beginning of a
new era of schism in Russia.[3] Initially popular among high-
ranking statesmen and even the royal court, the movement was
persecuted by the hegumen Joseph Volotsky and the archbishop
Gennady of Novgorod. The Russian Orthodox Church viewed the
Judaizers as heretics and several councils of the church condemned
them.[4]

Some scholars see them as a Russian variant of the pre-

Reformation era.[5] Some also suggest that the pejorative label of
"Judaizers" was given to scare off potential members.[6][7] Any
filiation with the strigolniki, who appeared in the 14th century,
remains conjectural, but highlights the religious situation in
Novgorod at the time.[8]

Terminology and beliefs

The term zhidovstvuyushchiye (Russian: жидовствующие), as it is Execution of the Judaizers in 1504,
miniature from the Illustrated
known in the sources, is derived from the Russian word жид (zhid,
Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible
from Judea, an older Russian term for Jew which is now
considered pejorative).[9] Zhidovstvuyuschiye may be loosely
translated as "those who follow Jewish traditions" or "those who
think like Jews". The hegumen Joseph Volotsky, the main critic and persecutor of this thought, considered
the founder of this religious movement to be a certain Skhariya (also known as Zakhariya or Skara;
Russian: Схария, Захария, Скара). This was Zacharia ben Aharon ha-Cohen, a scholar from Kiev
brought to Novgorod by Mikhailo Olelkovich from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1470. Zacharia
translated a number of Hebrew texts on astronomy, logic and philosophy.[10]

Their nickname arbitrarily presupposed their adherence to "Judaism", even though most of Skhariya's
followers had been ordinary Russians of Russian Orthodox faith and low-ranking Orthodox clergy and had
never confessed Judaism. Almost all we know about their religious beliefs is found in accounts left by their
accusers. This makes it rather difficult to determine the exact beliefs of the adherents, since the aim of the
accusers was to blacken the name of the "sect" and crush it. According to most accounts though, the Belief
of Skhariya renounced the Holy Trinity and the divine status of Jesus, monasticism, ecclesiastic hierarchy,
ceremonies, and immortality of soul. Some adherents also professed iconoclasm. The adherents also
promoted the idea of "self-authority", or the self-determination of each individual in matters of faith and
salvation. The priests Denis and Aleksei, who converted from Russian Orthodoxy to Judaism, were
considered ideologists of this heretical movement.[11]

History
In the late 15th and early 16th century, this religious movement spread over Moscow. In 1480, even Grand
Prince Ivan III himself invited a few prominent adherents to visit the city. The Grand Prince's behavior
could be explained by the fact that he had sympathized with ideas of secularization and the struggle against
feudal division. Thus, the Skhariyans enjoyed the support of some high-ranking officials, statesmen,
merchants, Yelena Stefanovna (wife of Ivan the Young, heir to the throne) and Ivan's favorite deacon and
diplomat Feodor Kuritsyn. The latter even decided to establish his own club in the mid-1480s.

Despite the growing popularity of this religious movement in Novgorod and Moscow, Ivan III was wary of
the fact that it could irreversibly infiltrate broader masses of ordinary people and deprive him of ecclesiastic
support in his foreign policy. Indeed, a denial of the Trinity and the divinity of Christ would destroy
Christianity, while the adherents' opposition to the clergy and the secular authorities would have
undermined the entire society. This made Ivan III renounce his ideas of secularization and ally with the
clergy.[1]

Persecution

The struggle against the adherents was led by hegumen Joseph Volotsky and his followers (иосифляне,
iosiflyane or Josephinians) and Archbishop Gennady of Novgorod.[12] After uncovering adherents in
Novgorod around 1487,[13] Gennady wrote a series of letters to other churchmen over several years calling
on them to convene sobors ("church councils") with the aim "not to debate them, but to burn them." Such
councils were held in 1488, 1490, 1494 and 1504. The councils outlawed religious and non-religious
books and initiated their burning, sentenced a number of people to death, sent adherents into exile, and
excommunicated them. In 1491, Skhariya the Jew was executed in Novgorod by the order of Ivan III.
More adherents were executed with Gennady's approval, including archimandrite Kassian of the Iuriev
Monastery (who had allowed a number of adherents to hide there), Nekras Rukavov (they first tore out his
tongue and then burnt him at the stake), a Pskovian monk Zakhar and others.[14]

By the end of the 15th century, some of the adherents remained under the protection of Yelena Stefanovna
and her son tsarevich Dmitry (grandson of Ivan III). However, in 1502 Dmitry was stripped of his title
(transferred to Vasili III – son of Ivan III and Sophia Paleologue). As soon as Ivan III died in 1505, Yelena
and Dmitry were arrested and imprisoned, leaving the adherents vulnerable to attacks from the authorities.
In 1504, diak (secretary) Ivan-Volk Kuritsyn, Dmitry Konoplev and Ivan Maksimov were burnt at the
stake.[15] Other adherents were banished, imprisoned, or excommunicated. Feodor Kuritsyn's adherents'
club ceased to exist.

19th-century groups
In the early 19th century, a number of communities appeared in Tula, Voronezh and Tambov, which
followed Jewish traditions and halacha. They were also called zhidovstvuyuschiye and were persecuted
severely in the times of Nicholas I. Since the beginning of the 20th century, they have been also called
iudeystvuyuschie, from iudeystvo, a neutral term for the Jewish religion. Now they are generally considered
a part of Jewish people and some of them have immigrated to Israel. These groups, however, are not linked
to the teaching of Skhariya.

See also
Christianity portal

Jewish Christians
 Non-possessors

References
1. Vernadsky 1933.
2. Kornblatt, Judith Deutsch (20 February 2004). Doubly Chosen: Jewish Identity, the Soviet
Intelligentsia, and the Russian Orthodox Church (https://www.google.com/books/edition/Dou
bly_Chosen/nPPaN-jkrcUC?hl=en&gbpv=0). Univ of Wisconsin Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-
299-19483-3.
3. Langer 2021, pp. 93–95.
4. Robinson, Michael D. (14 June 2019). Christianity: A Brief History (https://www.google.com/b
ooks/edition/Christianity_A_Brief_History/pJafDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0). Wipf and Stock
Publishers. p. 320. ISBN 978-1-5326-1831-4.
5. Langer 2021, p. 96.
6. Crummey, Robert O. (6 June 2014). The Formation of Muscovy 1300 - 1613 (https://www.go
ogle.com/books/edition/The_Formation_of_Muscovy_1300_1613/MMwFBAAAQBAJ?hl=en
&gbpv=0). Routledge. p. 126. ISBN 978-1-317-87200-9.
7. Patai, Raphael (26 March 2015). Encyclopedia of Jewish Folklore and Traditions (https://ww
w.google.com/books/edition/Encyclopedia_of_Jewish_Folklore_and_Trad/m3qsBwAAQBA
J?hl=en&gbpv=0). Routledge. p. 453. ISBN 978-1-317-47171-4.
8. Treadgold, Donald W. (24 May 1973). The West in Russia and China: Religious and Secular
Thought in Modern Times (https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_West_in_Russia_an
d_China/Fg04AAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0). CUP Archive. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-521-08552-6.
9. Immonen, Visa. "The stratigraphy of a life: An archaeological dialogue with Leo Klejn."
Archaeological Dialogues (2003), 10: 57-75, Cambridge University Press. For more on the
origins of the word see Henrik Birnbaum. Essays in Early Slavic Civilization/Studien zur
Fruhkultur der Slaven W. Fink, 1981. pp 26-36.
10. Janet Martin, Medieval Russia, p. 290
11. Fennell, John Lister Illingworth (1962). Ivan the Great of Moscow (https://www.google.com/b
ooks/edition/Ivan_the_Great_of_Moscow/U2ppAAAAMAAJ). Macmillan. p. 325.
12. John I. L. Fennell, Ivan the Great of Moscow (London: Macmillan, 1961), 329; David M
Goldfrank, "Burn, Baby, Burn: Popular Culture and Heresy in Late Medieval Russia", The
Journal of Popular Culture 31, no. 4 (1998): 17–32; Andrei Pliguzov, "Archbishop Gennadii
and the Heresy of the 'Judaizers'" Harvard Ukrainian Studies 16(3/4) December 1992: 269-
288.
13. Vernadsky 1933, p. 439.
14. E. E. Golubinskii, Istoriia Russkoi Tserkvi (Moscow: University Typography, 1900), vol. 2, pt.
1, p. 582.
15. Golubinskii, Ist. Russk. Tserk, vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 582

Bibliography
"Жидовствующие" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/ru:%D0%AD%D0%A1%D0%91%D0%9
5/%D0%96%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D1%83%
D1%8E%D1%89%D0%B8%D0%B5_). Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in
Russian). 1906.
Langer, Lawrence N. (15 September 2021). Historical Dictionary of Medieval Russia (https://
www.google.com/books/edition/Historical_Dictionary_of_Medieval_Russia/Y8I6EAAAQBA
J?hl=en&gbpv=0). Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 93–95. ISBN 978-1-5381-1942-6.
 Vernadsky, George (1933). "The Heresy of the Judaizers and the Policies of Ivan III of
Moscow" (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2855886). Speculum. 8 (4): 436–454.
doi:10.2307/2855886 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F2855886). ISSN 0038-7134 (https://www.w
orldcat.org/issn/0038-7134).

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