Latvia Becomes a Home for Russian Old Believers
The 17th Century was fateful in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church. On the initiative of Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich and the Patriarch Nikon a reform of the church was begun, which essentially brought about a revision of prayer-books and rites based on Byzantine models, which was supposed to promote the unification of the Orthodox world. It was now necessary to make the sign of the cross with three fingers instead of two, religious processions started to be made towards the sun and not away from it, the spelling of the name Christ was changed, etc. Part of the clergy and the congregation, however, did not support the reforms. >>
18th Century: Latvia Became a Part of Russian Empire
The end of the 17th Century was marked by a strengthening of the struggle for domination of the Baltic region. Denmark, Saxony and Russia formed a coalition against Sweden. At first the war was working in the Swedes’ favour. Denmark and the Rzeczpospo-lita left the war. However, the energetic Russian Tsar Peter I had quickly managed to modernise his army. A crucial event in the progress of the Northern War was the Battle of Poltava (1709), which ended in the utter defeat of the Swedish army. Russian troops besieged Riga as soon as November 1709. >>
