www.byzcath.org Forums Mysteries: The Life of Worship Old-Ritualists Forum Antiquity of the Old Rite

Hi, I have a question about Old Believer Russian Christianity.

Since scholarship has determined the Russian practices were older, does this mean that Greek practices were actually changed and the Russian Old Rite was the original form? Or is it more confusing and lots were changed since the acceptance of Christianity in Russia?

No, the old Russian rite itself evolved after begin received from Constantinople in the 10th century. The Byzantine rite did not become (more or less) fixed until the 14th century, so talking about "original form" is a squirrelly concept. There probably were divergences from the beginning, and a variety of localized usages, because no two sets of liturgical books were exactly alike.