Mankind has filled its history with many unique, mysterious, terrifying events. One of the brightest incarnations of such incidents was 1666. These were the mystical 12 months during which the European world was seized by panic and various unrest based on religious grounds. What exactly happened in this “terrible” year?
Waiting for the Apocalypse
Christianity played a huge role in the worldview of European man of the XVII century. He connected all the events of his life with the favor or anger of God. The future of humanity was then determined by the prophecies and predictions of church leaders. The idea of the end of the world occupied a central place in them. The apocalypse always fluttered, but at the same time, attempts were made to calculate its exact date. The prophets and fortune tellers, as they themselves thought then, managed to do this.
Initially, it was believed that the end of the world should come after the first millennium from the birth of Christ, that is, at the end of 999. People with all responsibility prepared for the apocalypse, actively prayed and tried to do as many righteous acts as possible. All perishable was sold or handed out for nothing, the rich sacrificed their huge accumulations to monasteries. On the last night of the outgoing year, many people crowded in temples to meet the terrifying end of the world with righteous dignity. It is dawn. But the end of the world never came.
Then the prophets announced a new date - 1666. With his arrival, Europe was seized by horror in anticipation of the end of the world. After all, it was at this time that the invasion of sinful peoples of a non-Christian, and therefore unclean faith, was to be accomplished. Following them, according to legend, the Antichrist will appear, who will begin the hunt for the righteous. All will end with his death, the victims will be resurrected and the Last Judgment will come, at which it will be decided who will find peace in paradise, and who will be tormented in hell.
Europe cringed in fear. This time she was in no hurry to confess and correct her sins. She sacrificed a huge number of "sinful" souls in order to save her own. Bonfires were burning, burning "black forces". Religious fanatics expressed the hysterical mood of the people, everywhere proclaiming the imminent arrival of a new Messiah.
"Brutal" number
Why did fortune tellers choose the year 1666 for the end of human existence? This prophecy is attributed to Anastasius Gordios, the Greek religious author. At that time, many clergymen in their writings reflected on the symbolism of this significant date. The number 666 has always been considered apocalyptic. On this date, a thousand, that is, the year of the first prediction, and the so-called "number of the beast" - three sixes are connected. However, its interpretation by religious authors is somewhat different. Anastasius Gordios, for example, linked a thousand to the split of the church, and three sixes to the pope. In conjunction, this date signified the submission of Rome to the authority of the Antichrist.
All kinds of tragedies, be it natural disaster, social uprising or interethnic wars, were perceived as signs announcing the imminent end. In particular, the year 1666 was remembered in history as the year of a large-scale fire in the capital of England and a grandiose religious split in Russia.
English Apocalypse
At that time, London was the largest city in England with a large population density. It was mainly wooden, residential buildings were located very closely to each other. Thus, ideal conditions were created for the rapid spread of fire. The local fire in the baker’s house turned into the Great Fire of London - one of the largest tragedies of the time.
There are different opinions about the occurrence of fire. Most boil down to the fact that the fire did not occur on its own, it was arranged by the enemy-minded French and Dutch, because England was at war with these peoples. Many interpreted this tragedy as another sign of the imminent completion of all things and the approaching of the fateful Last Judgment.
Course of events
The fire in London began on September 2, a hot Sunday afternoon, and lasted three days. Windy weather contributed to the lightning spread of fire. From the bakery, he spread to neighboring houses. All attempts to extinguish the fire were meaningless: wooden buildings crowded the city. The indecisive mayor of the city was afraid to destroy neighboring houses and chose to hide in his house. There was nothing left for people to do but flee.
The city was seized by a panic in which conflicting rumors of political and religious conspiracies multiplied. Most of the efforts of the authorities did not go to extinguish the fire, but to eliminate riots. King Charles II himself took the situation into his own hands. Many houses were blown up, fire strips were created. On Wednesday, a fire in London was still stopped.
Disaster consequences
Thriving London before was destroyed. One disaster was eliminated, and even more widespread followed: the townspeople were left homeless over their heads. The authorities have been solving this problem for ten years. London was rebuilt according to old drawings, but fire-fighting measures were improved, the buildings became stone. The main temple of the city, St. Paul's Cathedral, and other churches that were burned in the great fire of London, were reconstructed under the leadership of the outstanding architect Christopher Ray.
Apocalypse in Russia
In the Moscow state during this period, too, was restless. Public unrest took place in it, based on the church reforms of Patriarch Nikon. Powerful Russian Orthodoxy shook, dividing the people into two ideological groups. Contemporaries then followed the events were perceived as a kind of local variation of the end of the world, which everyone expected, but not as much as in Europe. The reason for this is not the courage and courage of the Russian people, but a different chronology, because in Russia then it was 5523 from the creation of the world, where no apocalyptic events were foreseen.
Church Reforms
In 1666, an important religious event took place in Russia: a Council was convened to discuss the ongoing church reform. Patriarch Nikon considered the Russian religious rites and orders obsolete and focused on modern Greek dogmas. First of all, he urged all true Orthodox to be baptized, not with two fingers, but with three. Initially adopted in Russia, bifurcation symbolized the unity of the human and spiritual in Jesus, while the triplefather - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The authorities approved the innovations, from now on all the old religious texts and rites were considered non-Orthodox. But she condemned Patriarch Nikon, the former close king. He was deprived of his dignity and sent into exile. It was believed that he claimed more power than was assigned to him; was cruel and self-governing.
Religion is a rather conservative thing, therefore, among the people, such cardinal changes were negatively accepted. Thus began the split of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th century. People either accepted the new rules or became illegal. Religious contradictions spilled over into a popular revolt.
Many people basically refused to follow “heretical” dogmas, were ready to sacrifice themselves for “true” Orthodoxy. They began to be called Old Believers. They were persecuted by the authorities. For the Old Believers, the end of the world nevertheless came. They believed that the Antichrist in the person of Nikon and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich came to power and preys on their righteous souls.
Later, almost all the adherents of the old order were nevertheless forced to accept Orthodoxy according to a new model. Otherwise, they would suffer the fate of the famous Old Believer Protopope Habakkuk. He and his companions were sentenced to burning. However, this did not mean that heretics were completely destroyed. Old Believers existed after the split of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th century. Since his followers advocated the preservation of old traditions, it was thanks to them that many aspects of ancient Russian culture survived to our days.
The birth of the king
This year another important event took place in the Moscow state: on September 6 (according to the new style) the future Tsar Ivan 5 Alekseevich Romanov was born. Unfortunately, due to numerous diseases, he did not leave a noticeable trace in the history of Russia. He was diagnosed with scurvy and eye disease. He was a sovereign only formally, but in practice he was not at all interested in state affairs, he tried to devote all his time to his family. Ivan 5 Alekseevich Romanov died in 1696 at the age of 30.
A few more events
What other noteworthy and outstanding events took place at this time? Here is some of them:
- Newton discovered a dispersion of light.
- The Paris Academy of Sciences was founded.
- Samuel Pips announced the world's first blood transfusion, which was tested on dogs.
- Austrian troops occupied Hungary.
- In France, a peasant uprising took place.
- Poland and Turkey fought for the right bank of the Dnieper.
- The Afghans rebelled against the Mongols.