The Travels of Macarius, Patriarch of Antioch
Paul of Aleppo
The travel diary of Paul, archdeacon of Aleppo, who went with his father, Patriarch Macarius of Antioch, to Moscow in the 1650s. He was present while Patriarch Nikon changed the Russian rites and reports what Nikon and Macarius said and did.
Read the text at archive.org ↗Volume 1 of the same translation ↗
Paul wrote in Arabic as a visitor from the Greek-speaking East, and he took the side of the reform: Russian customs that differed from those of Antioch seemed to him mistakes to be corrected. He records sermons and synods of Nikon that he attended, and he also notes that some of the Russian clergy refused the changes in their hearts and were afraid to say so. See Nikon’s Reforms and the Old Believer Schism.
Cited in
- 1652 to 1667, firm date