Rytovo is one of the traditional centers of
Old Believers in Russia. The Uspensky (Dormition) church in Rytovo is one of few Old Believers' churches which had not been closed during the
Soviet times. The parish and the church were established in the end of the 19th century by the famous Old Believer Bishop
Arseny Shvetsov of the
Urals. From 1966 to 2005, the prior of Rytovo was Livery (Gusev), brother of Alimpy (Gusev), who served as the First Hierarch of the
Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church from 1986 to 2003. ==References==