Avvakum, Archpriest (1621–1682)

Russian Orthodox cleric and writer. He was a key figure in the religious and literary history of Russia. Avvakum was the leader of the ‘Old Believers’, those who rejected the church reforms initiated by Patriarch Nikon, and who still today form a separate sect of the Russian Orthodox Church (the Raskolniki).

Avvakum was arrested in 1653 and exiled to a remote region. During the last 12 years of his life, spent in an underground prison, he issued numerous instructions to his followers and produced his autobiography Zhitie protopopa Avvakuma/The Life of the Archpriest Avvakum. In addition to their theological content, his writings make innovative use of vernacular Russian. Unrepentant to the last, he was burnt at the stake in 1682.