Were there any evangelical churches in Eastern Christianity?

[HomeschoolDad]

I fully realize there was no “Protestant Reformation” in the Eastern Churches, but were there ever any enduring, established evangelical-type Eastern Christian denominations, without apostolic succession, priestly sacraments, and those things that only Catholicism and Orthodoxy have?

I can easily envision them having icons, not as having any spiritual power in themselves, but as un-graven images, similar to Sallman’s Head of Christ or portraits of the Last Supper that you will find even in “old-time”, rural fundamentalist churches in the South.

In other words, was there ever an equivalent to Baptists or Pentecostals in Eastern Christianity, and do any such sects still exist? (And yes, I know about the Bogomils, Paulicians, and Marcionites. That’s not quite what I’m talking about.)

 

[Bithynian]

enduring, established evangelical-type Eastern Christian denominations

There are some small RO Old Believer communities that have essentially dispensed with the priesthood and the sacraments (except baptism I think). I believe they fall under the umbrella of the ‘Bezpopovtsy’.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

HomeschoolDad:

enduring, established evangelical-type Eastern Christian denominations

There are some small RO Old Believer communities that have essentially dispensed with the priesthood and the sacraments (except baptism I think). I believe they fall under the umbrella of the ‘Bezpopovtsy’.

I’ve heard of them, but I didn’t know they had abandoned sacramental life. I did read a story recently about a Russian Old Believer family who basically went into hermit-like life, though it wasn’t clear whether they had any access to the sacraments. It looks like they probably did not.

For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware of World War II | History| Smithsonian Magazine

 

[CathBoy1]

Great question, I’m interested in this as well.

I’ve heard of them, but I didn’t know they had abandoned sacramental life. I did read a story recently about a Russian Old Believer family who basically went into hermit-like life, though it wasn’t clear whether they had any access to the sacraments. It looks like they probably did not.

Smithsonian Magazine

For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware… ​

In 1978, Soviet geologists prospecting in the wilds of Siberia discovered a family of six, lost in the taiga

Such a sad story, thanks for the link.

 

[OrbisNonSufficit]

Evangelical Orthodox Church - Wikipedia

 

[ReaderT]

I’ve heard of them, but I didn’t know they had abandoned sacramental life

Some of them did, some of them did not - as is the case when any group detaches from the Life-Giving Source, they disintegrate into many smaller groups (not unlike a body decomposing).

Some of them continued Apostolic succession, for example through a Greek Orthodox bishop, and so they have priests, bishops and all sacraments including Eucharist. They’re called Popovtsy (“Priestly”)

Others believed the Russian church had “corrupted”, so the true church of Christ had ceased to exist on Earth and the Apocalypse was near. They are called “Bezpopovtsy” (“Without-Priest”) and they had no clergy or sacraments except Baptism. They ended up with some very weird practices - from Wikipedia:

• Troparion confession (troparschiki): a group that commemorated the tsar in the hymns (troparia);
• Daniel’s confession of the “partially married” (danilovtsy polubrachnye);
• Adamant confession (adamantovy): refused to use money and passports (as containing the seal of Antichrist);
• “Grandmother’s confession” or the Self-baptized: practiced self-baptism or the baptism by midwives (babushki), since a valid priesthood—in their opinion—had ceased to exist;
• “Hole-worshippers” (dyrniki): relinquished the use of icons and prayed to the East through a hole in the wall;
• Melchisedecs (in Moscow and in Bashkortostan): practised a peculiar lay “quasi-Eucharistic” rite;
• “Runaways” (beguny) or “Wanderers” (stranniki);
• “Netovtsy” or Saviour’s Confession: denied the possibility of celebrating sacraments and praying in churches; the name comes from the Russian net “no”, since they have “no” sacraments, “no” churches, “no” priests, etc.

Many became pilgrims and wandered East through the Siberian woods, certain that Christ would return “from the East”. Others prayed towards East through a hole in the wall.

I did read a story recently about a Russian Old Believer family who basically went into hermit-like life, though it wasn’t clear whether they had any access to the sacraments. It looks like they probably did not.

They did not. There were 6 of them and they were hermits for 42 years. One of them is still alive (Agafia):

 

[HomeschoolDad]

Some of them continued Apostolic succession, for example through a Greek Orthodox bishop, and so they have priests, bishops and all sacraments including Eucharist. They’re called Popovtsy (“Priestly”)

Others believed the Russian church had “corrupted”, so the true church of Christ had ceased to exist on Earth and the Apocalypse was near. They are called “Bezpopovtsy” (“Without-Priest”) and they had no clergy or sacraments except Baptism.

This sounds a lot like sedevacantists or “home-aloners” (people who are convinced that there are no valid and/or licit priests available, and who stay “home alone” rather than assist at Mass or receive sacraments from a priest who, even if he is validly ordained, according to them cannot be approached because he does not have faculties).

en.m.wikipedia.org

Evangelical Orthodox Church ​

The Evangelical Orthodox Church (EOC), founded on January 15, 1979, is a small Christian syncretic denomination established by former leaders of Campus Crusade for Christ, who, reacting against the freewheeling Jesus People movement, developed their own synthesis of Evangelicalism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Shepherding Movement principles. On January 14, 1979, the six members of the General Apostolic Council of the New Covenant Apostolic Order (NCAO)—Peter Gillquist, Jack Sparks, Jon Braun, J.R. Ba…

I’ve heard of them. So far as I am aware, even though they were a melange of Orthodoxy and other things, they did seek to possess and preserve liturgy, sacraments, and a valid priesthood and episcopate. Granted, until they received ordination from the Antiochians, they did not have true sacraments (aside from baptism and matrimony), but at least they recognized the concept and sought to have them. I had in mind more Eastern Christians who dispensed with this entirely and worshipped and believed more along the lines of evangelical Protestants.

 

[ReaderT]

This sounds a lot like sedevacantists or “home-aloners” (people who are convinced that there are no valid and/or licit priests available, and who stay “home alone” rather than assist at Mass or receive sacraments from a priest who, even if he is validly ordained , according to them cannot be approached because he does not have faculties).

Interesting - so how do they go about their lives, knowing the “Gates of hell” have apparently prevailed since there are no true priests left?

 

[Alexandria2020]

I fully realize there was no “Protestant Reformation” in the Eastern Churches, but were there ever any enduring, established evangelical-type Eastern Christian denominations, without apostolic succession, priestly sacraments, and those things that only Catholicism and Orthodoxy have?

There’s a Pentecostal group called the Indian Pentecostal Church of God (IPC) based in India. Started by a pastor called KE Abraham in the early 20th century, and he was born to Syriac Orthodox (Jacobite) parents. Lots of their members are former Eastern Catholics and Oriental Orthodox.

Indian Pentecostal Church of God - Wikipedia

 

[HomeschoolDad]

HomeschoolDad:

This sounds a lot like sedevacantists or “home-aloners” (people who are convinced that there are no valid and/or licit priests available, and who stay “home alone” rather than assist at Mass or receive sacraments from a priest who, even if he is validly ordained , according to them cannot be approached because he does not have faculties).

Interesting - so how do they go about their lives, knowing the “Gates of hell” have apparently prevailed since there are no true priests left?

I don’t think they ever really elaborate much of an answer. Home-aloners maintain that even if there are validly ordained priests, they either are not truly Catholic, or even if they are, they have no faculties from the Church — unlike traditionalists who practice their faith outside of diocesan frameworks (sedevacantist or not), they do not invoke an “emergency situation”, epikeia, salus animarum supreme lex est, and so on. They just say “even if there are valid priests, we can’t seek them out, there is no valid authority (they would tell you that all bishops and even the Pope have apostasized) so we just have to stick to prayer, study, fasting, penance, spiritual communion, and the things that don’t require priests or bishops”. I’m not sure how they deal with baptism and matrimony.

I would say that some of them think we are living in the very last days before Christ’s return. If there is anyone who can better articulate the home-aloner position (I don’t imagine there are any home-aloners on this forum), I’d welcome the (name removed by moderator)ut.

 

[PilgrimMichelangelo]

If there is anyone who can better articulate the home-aloner position (I don’t imagine there are any home-aloners on this forum), I’d welcome the (name removed by moderator)ut.

I am not a home aloner, but in my internet wanderings I stumbled across this group, called Catacomb Catholics:

https://www.betrayedcatholics.com/catacomb-catholics/

They seem to think that both Traditionalist and Orthodox Sacraments are invalid, that one should pray at home, doing those devotional practices one can without a priest, etc.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

HomeschoolDad:

If there is anyone who can better articulate the home-aloner position (I don’t imagine there are any home-aloners on this forum), I’d welcome the (name removed by moderator)ut.

I am not a home aloner, but in my internet wanderings I stumbled across this group, called Catacomb Catholics:

Catacomb Catholics | Betrayed Catholics

They seem to think that both Traditionalist and Orthodox Sacraments are invalid, that one should pray at home, doing those devotional practices one can without a priest, etc.

This sounds like a real fever swamp.

 

[PilgrimMichelangelo]

Yeah. A little too culty for me.

As Gollum would say: “Not nice at all, precious. Very nasty place, filled with enemies.”

By which I mean the invisible enemy who has deluded these souls into cutting themselves off from the Sacraments and the Church.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

Yeah. A little too culty for me.

As Gollum would say: “Not nice at all, precious. Very nasty place, filled with enemies.”

By which I mean the invisible enemy who has deluded these souls into cutting themselves off from the Sacraments and the Church.

I would think of them more as “good people making bad decisions”.

 

[PilgrimMichelangelo]

I would think of them more as “good people making bad decisions”.

Yes. Rereading my post came off as a little harsh which is why I edited it.

In the Eastern Christian tradition, it is taught that where people are cutting themselves off from the rest of the Church and becoming their own spiritual guides the demons are at work. Especially in the case of cutting oneself off from the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion.

All the flags were raised when I saw this site.

Lord help us all.

 

[dochawk]

There are some small RO Old Believer communities that have essentially dispensed with the priesthood and the sacraments

“dispensed with” is not a good way to put it (at least from their perspective).

They believe that the priesthood ended with the Nikonian reforms. “Abandoned” this way, they plow on as best they can.

Some of them continued Apostolic succession, for example through a Greek Orthodox bishop,

The irony here is that Patriarch Nikon’s reforms were largely adapting to modern greek practice under the believe that slavic practice had drifted . . . but we now know that pre-nikonian Russian practice was closer to greek practice in the time of SS C&M than that of the greeks at the time!

Many became pilgrims and wandered East through the Siberian woods, certain that Christ would return “from the East”.

I don’t agree with their conclusion about the end of the priesthood, but expecting the immediate return of Christ is not unreasonable given the premise . . .

This sounds a lot like sedevacantists or “home-aloners”

The comparison is apt, if not exact.

for those interest in this, there is actually a forum on byzcath:
http://www.byzcath.org/forums/ubbthreads.php/forums/23/1/old-ritualists-forum