Feodosia Prokopiyevna Morozova (russian: link=no, Феодосия Прокопьевна Морозова; 21 May 1632 – 1 December 1675) was one of the best-known partisans of the

Old Believer 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 be ...

movement. She was perceived as a martyr after she was arrested and died in prison.

Life

She was born on 21 May 1632 into a family of the

okolnichy Okolnichy (russian: око́льничий, ) was an old Muscovite court official position. According to the ''Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary'', directives on the position of ''okolnichy'' date back to the 14th century. Judging by ...

Prokopy Feodorovich Sokovnin. At the age of 17, she was married to the boyar Gleb Morozov, brother to the tsar's tutor Boris Morozov, one of the wealthiest men in Russia and brother-in-law of

Tsar Alexis Aleksey Mikhaylovich ( rus, Алексе́й Миха́йлович, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ; – ) was the Tsar of Russia from 1645 until his death in 1676. While finding success in foreign affairs, his reign saw several wars ...

. Morozova bore one child to Gleb, a son, Ivan. After her husband's early death in 1662, she retained a prominent position at the Russian court as a lady-in-waiting to Tsarina Maria. She also inherited vast wealth, which she administered on behalf of her son Ivan. During the

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 ...

, because Archpriest

Avvakum Avvakum Petrov (russian: link=no, Аввакум Петров; 20 November 1620/21 – 14 April 1682) (also spelled Awakum) was an Old Believer and Russian protopope of the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square who led the opposition to Patriarch N ...

was her

confessor Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways. Confessor of the Faith Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.Old Believers' movement and secretly took monastic vows with the name Theodora. She played an important role in convincing her sister, Princess Evdokia Urusova, to join the Old Believers. They were also joined by fellow noblewoman Maria Danilova. Following Avvakum, she rejected the reforms 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 from ...

insisting he had no authority in the church to alter established practices, identifying such innovations with the corruption of the faith by the

antichrist In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist refers to people prophesied by the Bible to oppose Jesus Christ and substitute themselves in Christ's place before the Second Coming. The term Antichrist (including one plural form)1 John ; . 2 John . ...

. After many misfortunes, the two sisters and Danilova were arrested by order of Tsar Alexis in 1671. They were interrogated and tortured over a long period, but refused to recant. Attempts to reach a compromise led by Patriarch Pitirim were also rejected. While she was under arrest, her son Ivan died. Alexis contemplated having Morozova burned at the stake, but was dissuaded. Instead, she and the others were incarcerated in an underground cellar of the St. Paphnutius Monastery at

Borovsk Borovsk (russian: Бо́ровск) is a town and the administrative center of Borovsky District of Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the Protva River just south from the oblast's border with Moscow Oblast. Population: 12,000 (1969). History ...

, where they endured considerable deprivations. After the appointment of a new Patriarch, Ioakim, they were deprived of all support and were slowly starved. All three succumbed to starvation, in 1675, with Morozova dying on November 2.

Reputation

Avvakum wrote a "Lament for the three martyrs". A hagiography, ''Tale of Boiarynia Morozov'', by an unknown author, gave an account of her life as a martyr. The story circulated widely and miracles were attributed to Morozova by Old Believers. Many Old Believer communities continue to venerate her as a martyr. Nevertheless, her reputation was limited until Morozova's role as a representative of Russian identity and tradition became important to nationalist writers in the 19th century. She became a household name after being discussed by important Russian writers and depicted by

Vasily Surikov Vasily Ivanovich Surikov (Russian: Василий Иванович Суриков; 24 January 1848 – 19 March 1916) was a Russian Realist history painter. Many of his works have become familiar to the general public through their use as illus ...

. She was also taken as a heroine by some radical groups, who saw her as a symbol of resistance to state power. The

People's Will Narodnaya Volya ( rus, Наро́дная во́ля, p=nɐˈrodnəjə ˈvolʲə, t=People's Will) was a late 19th-century revolutionary political organization in the Russian Empire which conducted assassinations of government officials in an att ...

revolutionary movement promoted her, and her virtues were praised by writers of the Soviet era such as

Anna Akhmatova Anna Andreyevna Gorenko rus, А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко, p=ˈanːə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈrʲɛnkə, a=Anna Andreyevna Gorenko.ru.oga, links=yes; uk, А́нна Андрі́ївна Горе́нко, Ánna Andríyivn ...

Varlam Shalamov Varlam Tikhonovich Shalamov (russian: Варла́м Ти́хонович Шала́мов; 18 June 1907 – 17 January 1982), baptized as Varlaam, was a Russian writer, journalist, poet and Gulag survivor. He spent much of the period from 1 ...

and Fazil Iskander, who "symbolically enlisted her in their own causes of resistance". A chapel was constructed in 2002 on the site of the prison where Morozova died.

References

Publications available in English: Publications available only in Russian:

External links

Excerpts from Avvakum's correspondence with Morozova
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morozova 1632 births 1675 deaths Russian nobility Old Believer saints 17th-century Christian saints Deaths by starvation 17th-century Russian people Christian female saints of the Early Modern era 17th-century Russian women