Nikolay Kapterev

Many of his works are being referred to by the Old Believers when explaining and defending their point of view of the Schism in the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 1887 Kapterev started publishing "Patriarch Nikon as a Church reformer and his opponents" in the "Orthodox Digest."

This may become understandable, given the fact that Kapterev actually destroyed the scientific basis of the theory on the Schism of 1666-67, held by the official Russian Orthodox Church.

He proved that the rites, anathemized as a result of the Church reforms, such as the sign of the Cross with two fingers, the twice hallelujah, etc.

In Russian academic circles the scientific achievements of Kapterev were highly esteemed; in 1888 was awarded with the Small Uvarov Prize of the Imperial Academy of Sciences for his "The character of Russia's relationship with the orthodox East in the 16th and 17th century."

In 1891 he published "The relationship of Dosifei, Patriarch of Jerusalem, with the Russian government," for which he was finally granted a Doctor's degree.