Fedoseevtsy
branch of the priestless faction of the Old Believers
The Fedoseevtsy, also Fedoseyans (Russian: федосеевцы, феодосиевцы, romanized: fedoseevtsy, feodosievtsy), sometimes anglicised as Theodosians, were a dissident religious movement formed in Imperial Russia that has become one of the denominations among the Bespopovtsy (the priestless Old Believers), along with the Pomortsy, the Beguny and the Filippovtsy.
The movement was established in the 1690s in Novgorod. It was founded by the ex-deacon Feodosy Vasilyev (1661–1711) and originated by Old Believers (mostly peasants and inhabitants of posads) in Northwest Russia. The Fedoseevtsy disapproved of a certain group within the Bespopovtsy, namely the Pomortsy, who had been diverging from the strict principles of the Old Believers and adopted the custom of praying for the Tsar (моление за царя). Initially, the Fedoseevtsy were irreconcilable towards serfdom in Russia and observed strict asceticism by negating the institution of marriage.
By 1706, Vasilyev had announced a formal split from the Pomortsy although they continued to have good relations for the most part.
The group grew over time, and after Vasilyev’s death, members were to be found in Poland, Livonia and Wallachia, as well as Novgorod and Pskov.
In the late-18th century, the Fedoseevtsy centred on a group led by Ilya Kovylin (1731–1809) with its all-Russian "headquarters" at Preobrazhenskoye Cemetery, in Moscow. With the development of social inequality among the Fedoseevtsy, their doctrine gradually began to lose its elements of social protest. In 1848, they adopted the custom of praying for the Tsar.
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This entry incorporates text from “Fedoseevtsy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.