Strigolniki

Some historians believe it has something to do with handicrafts that the first strigolniki were engaged in, such as cloth-cutting or hairdressing (it appears that the word strigolnik derives from the Russian root strig-, which connotes cutting or trimming).

[14] Karetnikova suggested that the strigolniki were a response to changes in the Russian Orthodox Church, wanting to return from ritualism to the simplicity of New Testament Christianity, emphasizing the spiritual meaning of the sacraments and basing their views primarily on scripture, seeing it as their ultimate authority.

Petrushko, judging by the fact that Photius believed it possible to return the strigolniki to the church, their disagreement with Orthodox dogma was not as dramatic as the Heresy of the Judaizers.

[16] M. V. Pechnikov argued that the strigolniki merely rejected the Orthodox priesthood, simony and confession to clergy, while not denying the sacraments of the church nor most dogma.

Some scholars argue that the archbishop of Novgorod, Vasily Kalika (1330–1352), ignored the heresy, but that his successors, Moisei (1325–1330; 1352–1359) and Aleksei (1359–1388), took firm measures against the heretics.

In epistles addressed to the clergy and the inhabitants of Novgorod and Pskov, the leadership of the church attempted to discredit the movement and prove its right to earn its income.

[18] According to the 16th-century Nikon Chronicle, the justification for this was a literal interpretation of the Gospel (Matthew 18:6): "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it were better for him to have a great milestone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depths of the sea".

They spread widely in Novgorod, in Pskov, and also in Tver, where bishops Feodor Dobry and Yevfimiy Vislen came forward with support for the movement.