The first widespread heretical movement in Ancient Russia was strigolism. The name strigolnik comes from the rite of tonsure at initiation into the sect. Strigolnichestvo originated in Novgorod around the middle of the XIV century, and then spread to Pskov, where it flourished in the first quarter of the XV century. Strigolniki condemned simony (the appointment of priests for money), opposed monastic land ownership. The most extreme heretics did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. They denied the clergy and monasticism, and preached the direct connection of man with God. Of all the church's sacraments and rites, strigolniki recognized only confession. But they confessed not to the clergy, but to the land (Kazakova N. A., Lurie Ya. S. Anti-feudal heretical movements in Russia of the XIV-beginning of the XVI century. Moscow-L., 1955). The rite of strigolnikov has caused various explanations, but most researchers rightly see it as an echo of the ancient pagan cult of Mother Earth, which was formed by Christian traditions (for more information, see: Afanasyev A. N. Poetic views of the Slavs on nature, Moscow, 1994, Vol. 1; Smirnov S. I. Confession to the Earth. Sergiev Posad, 1912; Rybakov B. A. Strigolniki: Russkiye gumanisty XIV veka [Strigolniki: Russian Humanists of the XIV century]. The antiquity of this cult is confirmed by the "Tale of Bygone Years". In the homily against the Latins (!) Prince Vladimir, after his baptism in Korsun in 988, is told: "Pack up the earth and say matter. Yes, if they have the earth mother, then the father they have the sky, from time immemorial God created the sky, the same earth. So to say: "Our Father, who art in heaven-si". And if in your mind the earth is mother, why do you spit on your mother? Yes semo yu lobzaete, and paki desecrate?"(A Tale of bygone years. 2nd ed. of St. Petersburg, 1996). All this reasoning should be considered as an Old Russian insertion in the teaching, directed not against the Roman Church, which d ... Read more