Pavel Kolomensky (an attempt to understand the historical legend). Pavel Kolomensky

Once, in a conversation with me, a certain Old Believer wrote to me: The last Old Believer Bishop Pavel Kolomensky was brutally tortured by Nikon, then still the Patriarch...

To which I answered him:

Pavel Bishop Kolomna was not beaten and tortured. Or rather, all this happened to him in the stories of the Old Believers. Avvakum wrote about the “torment and burning” of Paul: “... tormented Bishop Paul of Kolomna; and in the Novgorod region he burned with fire...”, then Semyon Denisov wrote that Paul was burned in a log house.

In “The History of Paul, Bishop of Kolomna” we read: “Then Patriarch Nikon roared like an angry lion and began to beat mercilessly on the cheeks of the Right Reverend; and until then he was beaten, until he was exhausted. And the Right Reverend Paul fell to the ground, as if dead, and, having come into himself a little, rose up, gave thanks to him and stood in silence.”

It is interesting that the Moscow Council of 1666, when deciding the issue of Nikon’s deposition, charged the former patriarch only with the fact that he “stripped the Kolomna bishop from his robes cruelly and betrayed him to severe beatings and punishments.”

This is what the author of the “History” writes about: “Then Nikon was filled with rage, commanded the blessed one to put iron shackles on him and take him to prison behind a strong guard and with the strictest punishment, not allowing anyone to enter him and not giving him food except the assigned guard. , moreover, he was evil and inhuman; commanding him to cause great sorrow and annoyance to Bishop Paul."

Those. We are not talking about beating, but about “handing over for beating and punishment.” Realizing that the council, which needed to condemn Nikon at all costs, dragged everything that could be added to the case, I allow myself to doubt Nikon’s “bestial cruelty”, and think about this conflict in a slightly different way than They usually approach him.

Here it must be stated that two characters came head-to-head (it’s for nothing that Paul was previously the lover of Nikon, who elevated Paul to the Kolomna See). According to the testimony of contemporaries, the Bishop of Kolomna was both cool and stern, and fully corresponded to his patriarch in character. So, when they disagreed on reform, nothing but “war” could result. Nikon had power, and Pavel lost, but if Pavel had power, what would have happened to Nikon? And the same thing - there was such a time, such people were - people accustomed to blood and struggle (both shepherds who quarreled were contemporaries of the time of troubles).

Both Nikon and Pavel were for correction, but if Nikon was a “Grecophile”, then Pavel was a “Russophile”, and in the light of modern knowledge about the peculiarities of liturgical regulations among the Greeks and Russians, it turns out to be a struggle between “sharp-pointed people” and “blunt-pointed people”, i.e. This is a dispute that has no outlet or resolution.

At the Council, Nikon simply could not beat Paul, because there was nothing to beat him for, and it was inappropriate (under the Tsar!) - Paul signed the Council Resolution, although with a significant reservation. When exactly Nikon beat Pavel “to the point of exhaustion” is unclear. Perhaps their fight continued for some time (for all his “animal cruelty,” Nikon continued to argue with his opponents for some time, instead of immediately “rolling them into asphalt”).

And then - defrocking, arrest, exile. Nikon was charged with the fact that he did this unlawfully - by a single decision, but similar cases had happened before, before Nikon, otherwise the patriarch would not have dared to take such actions. They accuse him of punishing him twice for the same thing (and defrocking him and exiling him), but, as I think, he exiled him for something completely different, namely for the fact that Paul, like other leaders of the Old Believers, began an active intra-church activities against the Patriarch.

In the Paleostrovsky Nativity Monastery, Paul is kept “in terrible conditions,” but what kind of conditions these are becomes clear if you know that everyone had free access to the prisoner, which the disgraced man took full advantage of and freely received numerous guests for a year and a half. Then he is transferred to Novgorod, to the Khutyn Monastery, where, as the Old Believers claim, he “took upon himself the feat of foolishness,” or as their opponents say (for example, Bishop Lazar (Baranovich) - a contemporary of the events), he went crazy.

I don’t know how it really was there, only the obstinate bishop of the defrock not only did not stop his activity, but apparently even intensified it, so that the especially persistent “pilgrims” began to be arrested. However, I willingly admit the third version - no one went crazy, and “foolishness” is an excellent excuse for gaining freedom of action (foolish fools in Russia were not only revered, but even feared by the authorities).

The question of how Paul died is open. Old Believers claim that he was either killed, or burned, or both together: “Nikon sent his servants there to the Novgorod borders, where he wandered on foot. There they found him in an empty place, walking and seizing him like wolves on a meek sheep, and killing him to death, and burning his body with fire according to Nikon’s command. And thus Nikon the wolf would bring an end to God’s servant, so that he would not expose him as a criminal.”

But I doubt it. If they had burned it, they wouldn’t have denied it; they would have blamed Nikon for it too. Could assassins be sent to him? It’s unlikely – it’s not the case, it’s not the environment (unless, of course, we assume that the “Nikonians” are some kind of pathological “killer beasts”). Officially, he died “who knows how” - “if the bishop came, he would be amazed and die poor, except to know whether he was devoured by animals or drowned in water.” I don’t know where the story about the assassins sent came from, but semantically this motive is close to the “murder of Tsarevich Dmitry.” The only bishop who objected to Nikon - how could a legend not appear here?

And so, instead of the “canonically coherent” picture of “standing up for the faith,” etc., etc. - a story about disorder and personal ambitions in the Russian Church after troubled times. Nikon was cool, but his opponents were also cool.

However, to the credit of the church authorities of that time, it must be said that they began to burn schismatics only after they began to preach and bless “fires” - mass self-immolations. The savagery of the authorities was fueled by the savagery of the growing schism.

Encyclopedic YouTube

1 / 1

✪ 01.Lecture one: Are the Old Believers the heirs of the Third Rome?

Subtitles

Biography

In June 1651 he was appointed rector of the Pafnutyevo-Borovsky monastery. Pavel was elevated to the abbess by Patriarch Joseph. Paul’s closeness to the Circle of Devotees of Piety should have played a role in this elevation, since the elevation to the abbess of such a famous monastery as the Pafnutyevo-Borovsky Monastery was impossible without prior approval of the candidacy with the tsar and his confessor, Archpriest Stefan Vonifatiev, or Nikon himself (then Metropolitan of Novgorod).

Paul argued his point of view with references to two ancient statutes - “charotein” and “written”. Apparently, the reaction to Bishop Paul's speech was quite stormy. Subsequently, he “cryingly” recalled how “he was tortured at the council, and how insolence and evil things were done to him.” The work presents a dialogue between Bishop Paul and Patriarch Nikon, where the first four times ( pages 6, 7, 8 and 11) draws the second’s attention to the fact that his opinion does not correspond to the catechism of the Orthodox Church.

He was deprived of his episcopal see by Nikon without a conciliar trial (contrary to all church rules) and exiled to the Paleostrovsky monastery. After this, Nikon wrote a slanderous letter to Patriarch Paisius I of Constantinople - allegedly he and John Neronov composed new prayers and church rites, and were corrupting people and separating from the cathedral church. The misled Patriarch of Constantinople condemned the “supporters of innovation.” Bishop Pavel was exiled by Nikon to Lake Onega, to the Paleo-Ostrovsky Nativity Monastery, where he stayed for a year and a half. The conditions of detention were quite difficult, but the saint and confessor had the opportunity to communicate with the laity and priests who flocked to him, receiving advice, consolation and archpastoral blessing from him.

Know... the church of God and remain in it, enduring all attacks to the end; Beware of the meeting of demons, and the meeting of the wicked is also called the Church of God. ( page 16) Stand and uphold the tradition of the holy apostles and holy fathers; Honor the priest, do not remain without him, come to repentance, maintain fasts, avoid drunken drinking, do not lose the Body of Christ. …( page 25)

Some Old Believer sources mention a “great council” (pp. 16-18), convened with the blessing of Bishop Paul in the Kurzhetsky Monastery (near the place of exile of Paul Kolomensky). Eat different points view of whether it took place - as described.

Outside the Old Believer environment, the figure of Bishop Paul found itself in the shadow of his more famous contemporaries - Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Patriarch Nikon and Archpriest Avvakum and rarely attracted the attention of scientists. As priest Sergius Kulemzin notes, “in our church historical literature, news about Bishop Paul is extremely scarce. This is due to the fact that for a long time“, right up to the end of the synodal period, the topic of the schism and its leaders (to whom Bishop Paul indirectly belonged) was either kept silent or presented in a deliberately tendentious manner.”

The first secular historian to pay attention to Bishop Paul was Mikhail Pogodin, who in 1854 published in the magazine “Moskvityanin” the article “Note on the homeland of Patriarch Nikon and his opponents,” where he called on young scientists: “How important and useful for science You can also do this by getting acquainted with written literature and beginning to carefully collect information about our historical figures. What do we know in general about some... Bishop Paul? .

In 1938, the French scientist Pierre Pascal published the book “Archpriest Habakkuk and the Beginning of the Schism,” where he tried to reconstruct the biography of Bishop Paul.

Literature

Urushev D. A. Bishop Pavel Kolomensky and his role in the formation of Old Believer ideology. Graduate work. M.: RSUH, 2001. P. 37.
Urushev D. A. On the biography of Bishop Pavel Kolomensky // Old Believers in Russia (XVII-XX centuries): Collection. scientific works. Vol. 3. Answer. ed. and comp. E. M. Yukhimenko. M.: Languages of Slavic Culture, 2004. pp. 21-22.
The story of the suffering and death of the Hieromartyr Paul, Bishop of Kolomna
Calendar of the Old Orthodox Pomeranian Church for 2006. Publication of the Unified Council of the Ancient Orthodox Pomeranian Church.

Pavel Kolomensky(mind. April 3 (13) listen)) - bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, bishop of Kolomna and Kashira.

He actively supported opponents of the reforms of Patriarch Nikon, but at the same time did not separate from the Patriarchal Church. He is revered by the Old Believers as a saint in the guise of a martyr.

Biography [ | ]

Paul's family moved to the village of Kirikovo, where the Nizhny Novgorod priest Anania, considered one of the best confessors and the most educated person, came to serve. In the second half of the 1620s, John Neronov came to Ananias to study, meeting and making friends with the son of the second Kirikovo priest, the future bishop.

Paul argued his point of view with references to two ancient statutes - “charotein” and “written”. Apparently, the reaction to Bishop Paul's speech was stormy. Subsequently, he “cryingly” recalled how “he was tortured at the council, and how insolence and evil things were done to him.” The work presents a dialogue between Bishop Paul and Patriarch Nikon, where the first four times draws the attention of the second to the fact that his opinion does not correspond to the catechism Orthodox Church.

According to Archdeacon Pavel of Aleppo, “the Bishop of Kolomna, being of an obstinate disposition, did not want to accept and approve that act, nor to lay his hand, not to mention give his testimony.” In fact, the formulation adopted at the Council: to rule “against the old and Greek books” (that is, according to ancient non-heretical models) satisfied him. The signature of Bishop Pavel of Kolomna and Kashira is under the acts of the Council, among others. Here his special opinion about bowing is stated: “And what he said at the Holy Council about bowing, and that charter of the Charatean for justification was laid down here, and another in writing.” The authority that Bishop Paul enjoyed in the Church initially prompted Nikon to resort to peaceful persuasion in order to convince Bishop Paul to change his mind about reforms. Simeon Denisov relayed the dispute that occurred between the Patriarch and Archpastor Kolomna. According to Old Believer legend, this dispute ended with Nikon tearing off Pavel’s robe and beating him without mercy with his own hands. The presentation of the incident in the documents of the official church is somewhat more careful: the Great Moscow Council of 1666 blamed Nikon for being “the only one... except for any Local Council, at which his sins must be revealed... After the deposition of Paul, Bishop of Kolomna, he was stripped from his robe I betrayed cruelty and severe beatings and punishments, and I betrayed myself to distant imprisonment...”

Without a Council Court (contrary to all church rules), Nikon deprived him of his episcopal see and exiled to the Paleostrovsky Monastery. After this, Nikon wrote a slanderous letter to Patriarch Paisius I of Constantinople - allegedly he and John Neronov composed new prayers and church rites, and were corrupting people and separating from the cathedral church. The misled Patriarch of Constantinople condemned the “supporters of innovation.” Bishop Pavel was exiled by Nikon to Lake Onega, to the Paleostrovsky Nativity Monastery, where he stayed for a year and a half. The conditions of detention were quite difficult, but the saint and confessor had the opportunity to communicate with the laity and priests who flocked to him, receiving advice, consolation and archpastoral blessing from him.

Know... the church of God and remain in it, enduring all attacks to the end; Beware of the meeting of demons, and the meeting of the wicked is also called the Church of God. (p. 16)
Stand and uphold the tradition of the holy apostles and holy fathers; Honor the priest, do not remain without him, come to repentance, maintain fasts, avoid drunken drinking, do not lose the Body of Christ. ... (P. 25.)

Some Old Believer sources mention the “Great Council” (pp. 16-18), convened with the blessing of Bishop Paul in (near the place of exile of Pavel Kolomensky). There are different points of view as to whether it took place as described.

Burning of Pavel Kolomensky. 19th century miniature

The Great Moscow Council of 1666-1667, which judged Nikon, charged him with the deposition and death of Bishop Paul: “But you, Nikon, without a council, Bishop Paul of Kolomna, contrary to the rules, overthrew and cursed him and sent him into exile and tortured him there, and then your overthrow will be charged as murder.”

Memory [ | ]

Among the followers of the Old Rite, the veneration of Bishop Paul as a saint began immediately after his death and continues to this day. The Old Believer tradition has a great many “Tales” about Bishop Paul, but separating the legendary information in them from the actual historical narrative presents considerable difficulty. Dmitry Urushev complains that “A lot of fables and fantasies are piled up around the names of Bishop Paul. He happened to be the hero of absolutely incredible Old Believer legends and arbitrary historical fabrications. It’s all the more annoying that a lot of indisputable and reliable information is known about the bishop.”

Outside the Old Believer environment, the figure of Bishop Paul found itself in the shadow of his more famous contemporaries - Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Patriarch Nikon and Archpriest Avvakum and rarely attracted the attention of scientists. As priest Sergius Kulemzin notes, “in our church historical literature, news about Bishop Paul is extremely scarce. This is due to the fact that for a long time, right up to the end of the synodal period, the topic of the schism and its leaders (to whom Bishop Paul indirectly belonged) was either kept silent or presented in a deliberately tendentious manner.”

In 1938, the French scientist Pierre Pascal published the book “Archpriest Habakkuk and the Beginning of the Schism,” where he tried to reconstruct the biography of Bishop Paul.

Literature [ | ]

Calendar of the Old Orthodox Pomeranian Church for 2006. - Publication of the Unified Council of the Ancient Orthodox Pomeranian Church.
The story of the suffering and death of the Hieromartyr Paul, Bishop of Kolomna.
Urushev D. A. On the biography of Bishop Pavel Kolomensky // Old Believers in Russia (XVII-XX centuries): Collection. scientific works. - Vol. 3. / Answer. ed. and comp. E. M. Yukhimenko. - M.: Languages of Slavic culture, 2004. - P. 21-22.

The Bishop of Kolomna, the only one of the hierarchs of the Russian Church, who took the side of the Old Believers during the formation of the schism. Belonging from the very beginning of Nikon’s reform activities to the number of people hostile to him (he was in close relations with Archpriest John Neronov, one of the main leaders of the schism), P. openly expressed his commitment to antiquity at the Moscow Council of 1654, insisting that church the books were left as they were. Although he signed the council’s definition regarding the need to correct the books, he made a reservation in which he denied the possibility and need to change the rules on bowing. The Patriarch deprived him of his episcopal see and sent him into prison. According to Lazar Baranovich, P. went crazy; the final circumstances of his life are unknown. According to schismatic stories, Nikon exiled him to the Novgorod Khutyn monastery, where the abbot “tormented” him, and he himself “played the fool” and was then killed by Nikon’s messengers. Semyon Denisov in “Russian Grapes” says that P. was exiled to the Paleostrovsky monastery, from where he was sent to Novgorod, where he was burned in a log house. According to Archpriest Avvakum, P. was burned.

- from April 25, 1490...
- Bishop of Kolomna...
Big biographical encyclopedia
- in 1444, the 8th Bishop of Kolomna, was present at the council...
Large biographical encyclopedia
- from the abbots of the Ugreshsky monastery, he was ordained bishop of Kolomna in 1491, and in 1496 he participated in the election of the Trinity-Sergius abbot Simon to Moscow metropolitan and in 1498 in the crowning of his grandson...
Large biographical encyclopedia
- Bishop of Kolomna. On July 12, 1419, he was consecrated Bishop of Kolomna by Metropolitan Photius of Kyiv and All Rus'. He ruled the diocese until 1441. The year of death is unknown. Literature: Markov N.M., priest...
Large biographical encyclopedia
- Bishop of Kolomna. Very little information has been preserved about the Right Reverend Athanasius. According to some sources, it is assumed that he was consecrated as a bishop by the saint, Metropolitan Alexy...
Large biographical encyclopedia
- Bishop of Kolomna. No information has been preserved about the time of Bishop Varlaam’s appointment to the Kolomna See. In 1441 he was already a participant in the Council from the Kolomna diocese...
Large biographical encyclopedia
- Bishop of Kolomna, consecrated in 1339 from the archimandrites of the Vladimir Nativity Monastery, deceased. in 1392. Karamzin, V, pr. 137 and 254; Soloviev, "History of Russia", XI, 284, 360, 371, 372; Stroev, “Lists of hierarchs,” 662 and 1029...
Large biographical encyclopedia
- Bishop of Kolomna, ruled the diocese approx. 1450. N. D. "900th anniversary of the Russian hierarchy", 46, and "Hierarchy of the All-Russian Church", 23...
Large biographical encyclopedia
- Bishop of Kolomna, consecrated on October 17, 1652 from the abbot of the Borovsky Pafnutiev Monastery, was at the council in 1654, deposed in December of the same year and exiled to the Paleostrovsky Monastery, where he died. Stroev, "Lists of hierarchs."...
Large biographical encyclopedia
- Bishop of Kolomna. The surviving information about the Right Reverend Paul is sparse. He was the archimandrite of the Vladimir Nativity of the Theotokos Monastery...
Large biographical encyclopedia
- Bishop of Kolomna. He ruled the Kolomna diocese around 1450. Literature: Ambrose, Archbishop. History of the Russian hierarchy: in 7 hours - M., 1807-1815, part 1, p. 244. N. D. Nine hundredth anniversary of the Russian hierarchy 988-1888...
Large biographical encyclopedia
- Bishop of Kolomna and Kashirsky. In 1651 it was mentioned by the abbot of the Pafnutiev Borovsky Monastery. On October 17, 1652 he was consecrated Bishop of Kolomna and Kashira...
Large biographical encyclopedia
Large biographical encyclopedia
- Bishop of Kolomna, the only one of the hierarchs of the Russian Church who, during the formation of the schism, took the side of the Old Believers...
- Bishop of Kolomna, the only one of the hierarchs of the Russian Church who, during the formation of the schism, took the side of the Old Believers...
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron

"Paul Bishop of Kolomna" in books

Kolomensky Bridge

From the book Bridges of St. Petersburg author Antonov Boris Ivanovich

Kolomna Bridge Located opposite Volodya Ermak Street. The length of the bridge is 27.93 m, width - 2.28 m. It is named after the old district of St. Petersburg - Kolomna, where this bridge is located. In 1906, a wooden bridge on pile supports with metal spans was built here.

Kolomna Pond

From the book Traditions of the Russian People author Kuznetsov I. N.

Kolomna Pond In the city of Kolomna there is a pond that remains, just like in other places, on the sinkhole of a church. The old-timers of Kolomna are sure that in this pond, on the famous holidays, a bell can be heard ringing. From the sewage thrown out from the slaughterhouses, the pond to one side of it

Danilushka Kolomensky

From the author's book

Danilushka Kolomensky He is from the peasants. His life story is sad and touching - this is the story of how strong natures fall and freeze in our country. Danila Ivanovich, or, simply, Danilushka, a native of the Moscow Province, Kolomensky Uyezd, the village of Lykova, which belonged to B. He

Chapter 10. Bishop Paul

From the author's book

Chapter 10. Bishop Paul The first Russian saints who endured torment and death for loyalty to ancient Orthodox piety and the old church rite, was the hieromartyr and confessor Paul, Bishop of Kolomna and Kashirsky. Unfortunately, little is known about him. We do not know,

Kolomna Kremlin

From the book 100 Great Treasures of Russia author Nepomnyashchiy Nikolai Nikolaevich

Kolomna Kremlin Kolomna was first mentioned in chronicles in 1177 as a border town Ryazan Principality. In 1301 it was annexed to the Moscow Principality. And over the course of several centuries, Kolomna became one of the main southern defensive lines

Kolomensky Island

From the book Legendary Streets of St. Petersburg author Erofeev Alexey Dmitrievich

Kolomensky Island Kolomensky Island is located between the Moika, Kryukov Canal, Griboyedov Canal, Fontanka, Neva and Pryazhka. Before the founding of St. Petersburg, together with the modern Kazansky, Pokrovsky and Spassky islands, it was part of Perevozin Island, which then

KOLOMENSKY ISLAND

From the book Petersburg in street names. Origin of names of streets and avenues, rivers and canals, bridges and islands author Erofeev Alexey

KOLOMENSKY ISLAND Kolomensky Island is located between the Moika, Kryukov Canal, Griboyedov Canal, Fontanka, Neva and Pryazhka. Before the founding of St. Petersburg, together with the modern Kazan, Pokrovsky and Spassky islands, it was part of Pervushkin Island, which then

Kolomna Diesel Locomotive Plant

From the book Big Soviet Encyclopedia(KO) of the author TSB

Chapter 5. Mitrofan Kolomensky

From the book Life of Sergius of Radonezh author Kloss Boris Mikhailovich

Chapter 5. Mitrofan Kolomensky About early years There is no data on Mitrofan’s life, but with certain grounds he can be considered a tonsure of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. In 1504, sources record Mitrofan as the archimandrite of the Andronikov monastery and confessor

Holy Hieromartyrs Marcellus, Bishop of Sicelia, and Philagrios, Bishop of Cyprus

From the book of the Lives of the Holy Glorious and All-Praised Apostles author Filimonova L.V.

Holy Hieromartyrs Marcellus, Bishop of Sicelia, and Philagrios, Bishop of Cyprus Saints Marcellus and Philagrios were ordained bishops. They were contemporaries of the holy martyr Pankratius of Tauromenia. The relics of St. Philagrios are on the island

Theodore, Bishop of Rostov and John, Bishop of Suzdal - transposition of relics

From the book Russian Saints. June August author author unknown

Theodore, Bishop of Rostov and John, Bishop of Suzdal - transposition of relics Saint John, Bishop of Suzdal, in all likelihood, was born within the boundaries of the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod principality at the beginning of the 14th century. He took monastic vows in his youth. In 1350

Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna

From the book Russian Saints. March-May author author unknown

Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna Saint Innocent (Veniaminov), Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna, was born on August 26, 1797 in the village of Anginskoye, Irkutsk diocese, into the family of a poor clergyman. In holy baptism he was named John. Apostle of America and

Saint Simeon, Bishop of Polotsk, Bishop of Tver (+ 1289)

From the book Russian Saints author (Kartsova), nun Taisiya

Saint Simeon, Bishop of Polotsk, Bishop of Tver (+ 1289) His memory is celebrated on February 3. on the day of repose and on the 1st Week after the feast of Sts. Apostles Peter and Paul (June 29) together with the Council of Tver Saints. Saint Simeon was a bishop in Polotsk, but was forced

Kolomensky Danilushka

From the book Holy Simplicity. Stories about the righteous author Zobern Vladimir Mikhailovich

Kolomna Danilushka Danilushka was originally from the village of Lykova, Kolomna district. His father was a wealthy peasant, a rich man and an inveterate schismatic, who had a chapel in his home. His mother was considered a great reciter of old spiritual books. For some reason, Danilushka

Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow and Kolomna

From book Orthodox Easter. Holy Resurrection of Christ author Pecherskaya Anna Ivanovna

Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow and Kolomna Christ is risen! No matter how many times we have repeated it now, we still do not get tired of repeating it, and we hope that you do not get tired of hearing the same word so often: “Christ is risen!” What wonderful word! How does it change from

Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, who actively supported opponents of the reforms of Patriarch Nikon during the schism.

Pavel Kolomensky (died April 16 (3 Old Style) 1656) - bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, who actively supported opponents of the reforms of Patriarch Nikon during the schism.

Born in the village of Kolychevo, Knyagininsky district, Nizhny Novgorod region, in the family of a rural priest. He took monastic vows at the Makarievsky Zheltovodsky Monastery, and from 1636 became the monastery treasurer. According to some historical data, it is known that Bishop Paul permanently lived in the city of Kolomna. In the second half of the 1640s, Hieromonk Pavel entered the Moscow Circle of Devotees of Piety, along with Archpriest Avvakum, Archimandrite (future Patriarch) Nikon, Bishop Hilarion of Ryazan (future persecutor of the “schismatics”) and others. Since 1651, abbot of the Pafnutievo-Borovsky monastery. In 1652 he was one of 12 contenders for the patriarchal throne. At the insistence of Alexei Mikhailovich, Nikon becomes patriarch. In the same year, Nikon elevated Paul to the rank of Bishop of Kolomna and Kashira. In 1653, repressions began against opponents of Nikon's reforms. In 1654, to legitimize his actions, Patriarch Nikon convenes a council with carefully selected participants, among whom was Pavel Kolomensky. At the council, Paul openly spoke out in defense of the “old books,” and under the council resolutions, instead of signing, he wrote: “If anyone takes away from the faithful customs of the holy catholic church, or adds to them, or corrupts them in any way, let him be anathema.” Nikon beat Paul at the council, tore off his robe, deprived him of his episcopal see without a council trial, and exiled him to the Paleostrovsky monastery. Some Old Believer sources mention a “great council” convened with the blessing of Bishop Paul in the Kurzhetsky Monastery (near the place of exile of Paul Kolomensky). In 1656, Pavel was transferred under stricter supervision to the Novgorod Khutyn Monastery, where he was apparently killed. The official explanation sounded like this: “no one saw how the poor man died: he was kidnapped by animals or fell into the river and drowned.” Old Believer sources claim that Paul began to act like a fool for Christ’s sake (the only one in church history example of a holy fool-bishop). Traditionally, holy fools were considered inviolable in Rus', and their words were listened to both by the people and by those in power, right up to the tsar. Having learned about this, Nikon allegedly sent assassins, Bishop Pavel Kolomna was burned in the log house on April 3 (old style) 1656.

The Moscow Council of 1666-1667, which judged Nikon, charged him with the deposition and death of Bishop Paul: “But you, Nikon, without a council, Bishop Paul of Kolomna, contrary to the rules, overthrew and cursed him and sent him into exile and tortured him there, and then your overthrow will be charged as murder.”