Feodosiia Morozova

Morozova, Feodosiia Prokof’evna 

Born in 1632, in Moscow; died Nov. 2 (12), 1675, in Borovsk. Boyarina; a leading figure along with the archpriest Avvakum in the schism within the Russian Orthodox church.

The daughter of P. F. Sokovnin, an aristocrat of high rank (oko/’nichii), Morozova was also related to M. I. Miloslavskaia, the wife of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich. In 1649 she married the boyar G. I. Morozov, brother of B. I. Morozov; she was wid-owed in 1662. Around 1670 she secretly became a nun, taking the name of Theodora.

Because of her adherence to the old faith and her defiance of the tsar and the patriarch, Morozova was arrested on the night of Nov. 16, 1671; her great wealth was also confiscated. During the winter of 1673 she was tortured along with her sister, Princess E. P. Urusova, and M. G. Danilova, wife of a colonel in the streVtsy (semiprofessional musketeers). Later Morozova and her confederates were sent to Borovsk, where she died of starvation in an earthen dungeon.

On Morozova’s death, the archpriest Avvakum, one of the leaders of the Old Believers, wrote his profoundly felt Word of Lamentation for Three Penitents. At the end of the 1670’s her biography was written by an anonymous author who had secretly visited her in Borovsk during her imprisonment. Morozova was the subject of drawings and paintings by V. I. Surikov, V. G. Perov, A. D. Litovchenko, and K. V. Lebedev, among other artists.

REFERENCES

Tikhonravov, N. S. “Boiarynia Morozova: Epizod iz istorii russkogo raskola.” Russkii vestnik, 1865, vol. 59, no. 9.
Zabelin, I. E. Domashnii byt russkikh tsarits v XVI i XVII stoletii, 3rd ed. Moscow, 1901.
Mazunin, A. I. Povest’o boiaryne Morozovoi (pamiatnik literatury XVIIv.). Leningrad, 1965 (Abstract of a dissertation.)

A. I. MAZUNIN