History of The Russian Orthodox Church - 17th Century

17th Century

The beginning of the 17th century proved to be a hard time for Russia. The Poles and Swedes invaded Russia from the west. At this time of trouble the Russian Church fulfilled its patriotic duty before the people with honor, as it did before. Patriarch Germogen (1606–1612), the leader of an insurrection against invading Poles, and later starved to death imprisoned, was the spiritual leaders of the mass levy led by Minin and Pozharsky. The defense during the siege of Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra from a Polish-Lithuanian irregular army between 1608 and 1610 has been inscribed forever in the chronicle of the Russian state and the Russian Church.