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History of the Church of Russia

A. N. Mouravieff, tr. Blackmore, 1842

Appendix 2: Of the Coming of the Metropolitan Dionysius

Two years after the departure of the patriarch in May 1591, the voivodes of Smolensk, Prince Andrew Troubetskoy and Niceta Trachanioutoff, informed the Tsar that there had arrived from the city of Tirnoff the Metropolitan Dionysius, accompanied by Callistratus archbishop of Greben in Bulgaria, and many archimandrites and monks of different monasteries, sent by the patriarchs and the whole Œcumenical Council; and at the same time they forwarded the following letter from Dionysius: —

“To the Orthodox, pacific, divinely favoured, and holy Tsar, the Autocrat of All Russia, of Moscow, Kazan, Astrachan, Novogorod, and other countries. Orthodox Tsar, Lord Theodore Ivanovich! I, the humble metropolitan of Tirnoff and Larsca, of the blood of the Cantacuzenes and Palæologi, a friend from the patriarch and the council, the lowest slave of the holy sceptre of thy kingdom, fall on my knees and make my obeisance before thy majesty; and I pray Christ our God to increase thy power, and to strengthen thy kingdom, and to raise thee above all the kings of the earth. Amen.

“I announce to thy majesty my arrival. I am sent by the Most Holy patriarchs, and the whole synod, to bear to thy kingdom their prayers, and their blessing. Inasmuch as by thy order the Patriarch Jeremiah appointed a patriarch in Moscow, he now, for the love and the attention thou shewedst him, has convoked a council of patriarchs, metropolitans, and archbishops, to complete the appointment of the new patriarch, the Lord Job; and for this purpose he has assembled all the metropolitans and patriarchs, excepting the patriarch of Alexandria; and it pleased the Œcumenical synod, and they decreed and all subscribed, to the effect that there should be a fifth patriarch of Moscow, to rank after the patriarch of Jerusalem; and they have sent me as their confidential commissioner to announce to you all the truth; and that they should mention his name in their prayers to God, in like manner as they mention the names of the other patriarchs, throughout all the coasts of the Black sea, and that he should be named as patriarch in the country of Moutansk and in Wallachia, and also by the metropolitan of Kieff. And now I am on my way to the footstool of thy throne, and am the bearer of letters from the Council, and also of a letter concerning his rank and order to the new Patriarch Job. But do thou, O prudent and worthy Tsar, make such dispositions concerning my journey, as may accord with thy royal will. For the which, be with thee our prayers and blessing, and may the Lord give thee peace, health, and long life, and victory over all thine enemies visible and invisible! Amen.”

The monarch gave orders to his voivodes to send on the metropolitan and archbishop with their suite from Smolensk, and despatched Michael Protopopoff as his commissioner to meet them at Mojaisk, and ordered him to question them whilst on the road as to the circumstances of the patriarchs meeting in council? whether they prayed for the Tsar’s health? whether they named the patriarch Job in the litanies? and whether the Turkish Sultan and his pashas knew of it? from what places were the metropolitans, archbishops, and bishops, who were present at the Council? At the same time he ordered suitable supplies of meat and drink to be provided for them by the road. And when they were near Moscow, on the other side the suburbs at the Sparrow hills, the Patriarch Job sent on his own account to meet them, Luke the archimandrite of the Novospass, and Euphemius bursar of the monastery of the Virgin: they were directed first to invite the metropolitan and the archbishop to alight from their carriages to receive the message of the patriarch, and then to give them verbally his benediction, and so to enquire after their health. For their residence there was assigned to them the town lodge of the see of Novogorod.

After about a month, on the twentieth of July, the monarch desired the presence of the metropolitan of Tirnoff, with Callistratus archbishop of Greben and the archimandrites, at his court. They drove to the Kremlin in consequence, and waited till he should shew himself in the Ambassadors’ Hall. From thence they passed by the front entrances of the churches of the Archangel and the Annunciation, for at that time the royal palace extended to the church of St. Nicolas of Holstoun, to the grand stair-case, which was lined with esquires and officers of the Courts of Justice, to the Central or Golden Hall, where the monarch was seated on his throne in his royal robes; and around him stood his boyars and courtiers clad in cloth of gold.

The secretary, Andrew Schelkaloff, first presented the metropolitan, together with the Archimandrites Macarius and Euthemius, as having been sent from the Council, and then the Bulgarian archbishop with the archimandrites from the Holy Mountain and from the Holy Sepulchre, who had come in quest of alms. The monarch arose from his place, and received their blessing; and the Metropolitan Dionysius delivered to him besides the benediction of the patriarch of Constantinople and the other patriarchs.

The monarch demanded of him, “Whether God still continued to be merciful to his father and beadsman the Patriarch Jeremiah, and whether he still continued in health and security?” Dionysius replied, “By the mercy of God, and thy royal goodness, the Patriarch Jeremiah is in good health, and continues to pray God for thy holy, great, and royal empire.” He then delivered a message in his name, — How that he, the Most Holy Jeremiah, having by the permission and petition of the sovereign appointed a patriarch in Russia, had convoked a council in Constantinople, and confirmed this appointment by an organic letter, which the metropolitan delivered to the Tsar from the whole synod, together with other private letters from Jeremiah to him and to the religious Tsaritsa. In the letter of the Council it was thus written:

“When the religious and pacific Autocrat, the Tsar of all the land of Russia, of Moscow, Kazan, Astrachan, Novogorod, and of other Orthodox Christians, the Lord Theodore Ivanovich, received our humble person, and manifested by his reception of us how true a faith he had in God, and how great love to the Church of Christ, he enquired of us concerning the dignity of a patriarch, with respect to the manner of his synodical election and to the canons of the Church, and begged that we would appoint and nominate the archbishop of Moscow patriarch, so as to be in all respects like the others; of whom the Œcumenical patriarch of Constantinople was reckoned first in dignity by the first holy Œcumenical Council¹, and the blessed and apostle-like Emperor Constantine, and after him the Orthodox patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem.

“Our Humility saw with our own eyes, and rejoiced at witnessing the grace, the greatness, and the extension given by God to thy kingdom; for there is now only one great monarch who is Orthodox in all the earth, and it would not have been becoming to refuse to accede to his request. But when we understood his wishes, we appointed agreeably to them a patriarch in Moscow, whose name is the Lord Job, and by the grace of God we gave him the patriarchal Chrysobulla², and consented that he, the archbishop of Moscow, should exercise the authority of a fifth patriarch, and in dignity and honour should be reckoned equal with the other patriarchs for ever. This we did on the spot. But when our Humility had arrived at our throne in the city of Constantine, and had made known this affair, together with the counsel and request of the Orthodox Tsar, to the other honourable and most holy patriarchs, it obtained their approbation and their blessing.

“And further our Humility, together with the said patriarchs and the whole Œcumenical Synod, in unity and consent in the Holy Ghost, write and declare by this synodal letter: — In the first place, we acknowledge and ratify the appointment and nomination of the Lord Job, as patriarch in the imperial city of Moscow, and will that in future he shall be reckoned and named with us patriarchs, and shall have his place in the prayers after the patriarch of Jerusalem; and shall reckon the Apostolical throne of Constantinople as the head and beginning³, as do also the other patriarchs. In the second place, we consent that the name and honour of the patriarchate now given, shall not only be given and confirmed in perpetuity to the Lord Job personally, but that the synod of Moscow shall also appoint patriarchs to be the primates of their Church after him, according to those rules which were first adopted in the case of the fellow-servant of our Humility and our beloved brother in the Holy Spirit, Job; and for this end this organic letter is now confirmed, as a perpetual memorial for ever. The year 7098, the month of May.”

And to this letter were affixed the signatures of Jeremiah the Œcumenical patriarch of Constantinople, of Joachim of Antioch, and Sophronius of Jerusalem, and of forty-two metropolitans, nineteen archbishops, and twenty bishops, who assisted at the Council.

After this the Metropolitan Dionysius presented to the Tsar a blessing for his consort also from the patriarch, a portion of the holy relics of the martyr Panteleëmon, and of St. Mary Magdalene; and as a present from himself, a royal crown of gold set with precious stones and pearls, and a clasp of the same kind, and another crown for the Tsaritsa. In like manner the Bulgarian archbishop and the four archimandrites made their reverence to the Tsar with presents of sacred relics. The pious monarch bade them to be seated on a bench, at his right hand, under the middle window; and after sitting a short time he dismissed them with honour to their lodgings, whither provisions of meat and drink were sent to them from the royal table. The metropolitan and archbishop, by the direction of the Tsar, were not invited before the First Festival⁴ of the Saviour to the Most Holy Job, whom they found putting on his robes in the midst of the cathedral of the Assumption, to bless the water; and having paid their salutations to the Icons, they received his benediction. Dionysius then delivered a message from the Œcumenical patriarch, and gave him his letter, and afterwards joined the rest in the procession with the cross. The Tsar, Theodore Ivanovich, on that day made his petitions in the Simonoff monastery to the Most Immaculate Mother of God.

The Most Holy Jeremiah, after having announced to the Patriarch Job by a synodal letter the confirmation of his election, desired that mutual prayers and commemorations should be made in all the churches of Russia, in which he was to be named first himself, according to his precedence, and Job was to come after the patriarch of Jerusalem. He exhorted him to the maintenance of unity in the Apostolic Church, and recommended to him the Metropolitan Dionysius, as of the blood of the emperors the Cantacuzenes and Palæologi, who in former time held the sceptre of Constantinople. In his private letter the patriarch entreated him to do whatever he could with the Tsar’s Grace, and endeavour both by word and deed to obtain for him that extraordinary aid which the monarch had promised at his departure; as besides the Tsar of Russia there was no one who was able to restore the patriarchate from its ruins. On the festival of the Assumption, the metropolitan officiated together with the primate of Moscow, and afterwards dined at his table.

The visit of the metropolitan to the Boyar Godounoff was much later than that which he paid to the patriarch; for it was only on the fifth of October that Dionysius announced, through the secretary of embassy Schelkaloff, that he had a message and a letter for Boris Feodorovich. Godounoff informed the Tsar of it, and begged permission to receive him. The interpreter Svastine Demetrieff accompanied the metropolitan, who rode into Boris’ court-yard past the cathedral church, and alighted from his horse on the pavement at the foot of the stairs. He was met and received at three several times by the boyar’s people in dresses of ceremony; at the gates, on the stair-case, and in the entrance hall; after which, on his reaching the doors of the central apartment of the mansion, Godounoff himself, in a dress of flowered silk, presented himself to receive the blessing of the prelate, and enquired after his health. Dionysius delivered to him the compliments⁵ and benediction of the Œcumenical patriarch, and presented to him in his name a portion of the relics of the great martyr Panteleëmon, and some myrrh; and as a slight acknowledgment from himself, two pieces of satin worked with gold, a steel sabre, and two valuable vases. The boyar accepted the relics, but declined the presents; saying, “Great Lord, Metropolitan Dionysius, it does not become us to receive gifts from you; we ought rather to impart to you of those things with which God hath blessed us.”

But the metropolitan humbly entreated the boyar not to do him such a discourtesy as to refuse his presents, and Boris yielded so far as to order the two valuable vases only to be accepted; and then having taken his own seat, he desired the metropolitan to be seated on the large bench at his right hand: and after they had sat a short time, the boyar dismissed the metropolitan, begging him not to take it amiss that he had not invited him to a repast, which he was prevented from doing by the press of state business with which he was engaged; but he would send him provisions from his own table to his residence. Boris then accompanied the metropolitan to the spot where he had received him at the first, and his attendants conducted him on from thence to the entrance, the stair-case, and the gates.

The metropolitan also delivered two letters to Godounoff, one from the Council, with nearly the same contents as that written to the Patriarch Job, but with these remarkable additional expressions; that “the whole Council rejoiced at the appointment of the patriarch of Moscow, at the wish of the holy Tsar, and at his, Godounoff’s, desire; and that it was meet, that in such a Christian country there should be a patriarch at the court of the Orthodox Tsar.” In his private letter the Most Holy Jeremiah wrote thus:

“To the most glorious, most illustrious, most honourable, most exalted, the great nobleman and master of the horse, the Lord Boris Feodorovich, the beloved son of our Humility in the Holy Ghost,—Grace, and peace, and mercy, be with thy Lordship from Almighty God our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent herewith a synodal letter respecting the patriarchate of Russia; besides this we have written in the name of the synod of prelates to our Orthodox Tsar, that he will grant us an alms and royal bounty, as much as it seemeth good to him, according to the grace given him of God; and if he send to us six thousand pieces of gold for the erection of a patriarchal church and residence at Constantinople, he will become a new founder of the patriarchate. And for this reason we write to thy Greatness⁶ that thou mayest look upon our necessity, and interest thyself with the Orthodox Tsar and his consort, that this good work may be accomplished, and the buildings completed. And so the patriarch will reside in them; and the poor bishops will glorify God, and we will pray Him for the Orthodox Tsar and his Tsaritsa, as the new founders of the new patriarchate.

“It is very well known to you, my Lord, that the Orthodox Autocrat and his consort promised to render us effectual aid: now the time is come for us to receive their royal bounty. For this reason we have selected and sent to the holy Tsar and to thy Lordship, a man of ability and experience, and of very noble blood, being descended from the former emperors of Constantinople, the Most Reverend the Lord Dionysius, metropolitan of Tirnoff, and primate of All Bulgaria, the brother and fellow-minister of our Humility, whom we love in the Holy Ghost; and he has been selected for this office in our own patriarchal presence, by the whole of the sacred synod. Wherefore do thou receive him, as thou didst receive our Humility; and shew him thy affection, and the regard thou bearest to the great Church, as a lover of Christ, and merciful: and the thing of which we write to thy excellency do thou perform, and thou shalt receive it back seventy times seven fold from God, with our prayers for ever. (He has moreover a message which he will deliver to thy Lordship: I have sent thee, by him, my blessing, some of the relics of St. Panteleëmon, and some myrrh.”)

The Metropolitan Dionysius requested also, during his visit to the Boyar Godounoff, permission to pay his reverence to the Wonder-worker St. Sergius, in his Lavra of the Life-giving Trinity; and he went thither shortly afterwards, with the consent of the Tsar. The like honours were shewn to him as had been shewn to the patriarch, both as respected the table and the offering of alms, in accordance with directions sent by the boyar through the commissioners to the archimandrite and the bursar. Also, gifts were presented to them: from the archimandrite, five Icons framed and overlaid, forty sables, money, and wooden vessels made at the monastery; from the bursar, with all the rest of the brethren, two Icons with frames, a sable cloak, one piece of damask silk, and one of watered, and a silver ewer. Presents were made in like manner to all who had come with the metropolitan; that is to say, to Jeremiah archimandrite of St. Sabba, to the two archimandrites Macarius and Eustathius, to Cyrill the archdeacon, and to Damascene bursar of the monastery of the Archangel, to Neophytus archimandrite and Joachim prior of the monastery of Panteleëmon on mount Athos, to Gregory archimandrite of Khilendar, to Methodius of the Transfiguration, to the Archimandrite Damascene from the mountain Meteorsky, to Athanasius of the monastery of the Holy Ghost, and to Sophronius a monk of the Vatopedsky monastery, together with other priests: for the Lavra of the great Wonder-worker Sergius was inexhaustible in its liberality, and yielded not even to royalty itself in the magnificence of its presents.

Towards the close of that year, the Tsar desired the presence of the metropolitan at his court, for the purpose of having his audience to take leave; and Dionysius drove into the city in a sledge, and alighted at the entrance of the palace, between the churches of the Archangel and the Annunciation, and proceeded from thence to the Golden Hall of the Sign Manual; where the Tsar Theodore was waiting ready to receive him seated on his throne, and surrounded by his boyars.

After he had received his blessing, the secretary Andrew Schelkaloff, announced in the sovereign’s name to the metropolitan that the Tsar invited him to the royal table. Dionysius, having most humbly returned thanks for all the grace and favour of the pious Autocrat, left the presence, to wait till the banquet should be served in the Hall of Audience, which looked towards the river and was ornamented with carpets of cloth of gold; but the table was spread in the central Golden Hall. On that same day there dined together with the metropolitan at the monarch’s table certain noble Circassians from Piati-Gori, the Prince Yansoch, and his suite; dishes of various meats were sent from the Tsar, first to the highest boyars, and then to the metropolitan. Before them cups, ladles, and dishes, blazed with gold. The pages who served were dressed in coats of cloth of gold, and were decorated with gold chains. After the dinner was finished, a quantity of the royal mead was sent to the metropolitan’s residence, by the hand of the Page Basmanoff and the clerks of the kitchen. Besides this, the monarch presented the metropolitan, on his departure, with a piece of black Venetian velvet, three pieces of damask, three of satin, a double-handled tankard and cup of silver, four score sables, and six score marten skins, and 100 roubles in money; the whole to the value of 310 roubles; besides this, an Icon of the Most Immaculate Mother of God, with carved frame-work made with hinges that the two halves might shut up, copes of damask silk ornamented with gold, and the clasps to them set in pearls: from the Tsaritsa he also received similar presents, to the value of 180 roubles. His two archimandrites also, Macarius and Euphemius, and the archdeacon, and the other archimandrites from the Holy Mountain, and the monks and attendants, all received presents.

Soon after this, on the 19th of December, the metropolitan received an invitation, at the desire of the monarch, from the archimandrite and brethren of the Choudoff monastery, and was met and received by them with honour at the Holy Gates; and after the Office of the Vigil, the prior complimented him in a speech, in which he thanked him for all the great labours he had undertaken, and invited him for the next day to dine at the table of the brethren in the refectory, on which occasion he presented him with the usual gifts.

More than a month after he had had his audience of leave, the Tsar desired the metropolitan to have an audience to take leave of the Patriarch Job, in the presence of the secretary of embassy, Andrew Schelkaloff; and Dionysius, with his archimandrites and monks, went in consequence to the court of the patriarch, passing through the cathedral, where he heard a Moleben to the great Wonder-workers, Peter, Alexis, and Jonah. This being the first audience of leave granted by the patriarch, it was ordered with all possible pomp and ceremony, in order the more to impress upon the Greek stranger the greatness of the Russian primate. The court itself was lined with Streltsi. In the entrance hall, and up the stairs, were drawn up the patriarch’s esquires, and the clerks of his chancery, in dresses of ceremony. Two of these met the metropolitan on the top of the stairs from the corridor, and in the entrance-hall at the doors of the saloon he was met and received a second time by Athanasius Maligine, secretary of the Chamber of Judgment, and by the patriarch’s own secretary, John Shebarshine.

In the White Dining Hall the Patriarch Job himself was seated in his place on a large bench; whilst at an interval of about six feet on his left, on another similar bench, sat Gelasius metropolitan of Sarai and Podonsk, and Metrophanes archbishop of Riazan, and below them the clergy of the cathedral; while from the higher bench to the pillar were ranged on a lower form the archpriests and other officers of the churches of the Mother of God and the Archangel. On another bench, to the right hand side of the patriarch, sat the Archbishops Jonah of Vologda and Arsenius of Elasson, with the archimandrites and hegumens; while in that part of the hall which belonged to the dignitaries of state, were placed the courtiers of the Tsar’s court, the officers of the courts of justice, and esquires of the patriarch; all chosen men, and all in dresses of ceremony.

On the entrance of the metropolitan the patriarch arose, and having read the Ἄξιον, made the customary prayer, and gave his benediction to Dionysius; and then said, “Whilst thou hast abode in the great empire of our pious Tsar, hast thou continued in good health and safety? and art thou free from all kind of difficulties?” Dionysius replied, “By the mercy of God, the bounty of the Tsar, and thy blessing, we are well, and in perfect ease and contentment.” After this all the Russian prelates and archimandrites received the blessing of the Greek, and he in his turn received theirs; and after he had been blessed by the patriarch, he seated himself near at a little distance from him at his right hand, on another bench. Then the Most Holy Job arose, and made a speech, in which he recounted to the metropolitan the whole course of events, from the very first beginning, with respect to his own election and appointment, the counsel of the Tsar, and the determination of the patriarch; and lastly, Dionysius’s own coming, with the synodal letters; and concluded by saying, that letters should also be delivered to him for the patriarch and the council.

In his turn, the metropolitan entered into a long explanation of the acts of the council of the patriarchs; that they had examined the precedents afforded by antiquity, and had particularly considered how in ancient times the Orthodox Emperor Constantine, when he desired to have a patriarchate in his imperial city of New Rome, had conferred with the pope of Rome, and the patriarch of Alexandria; and so Metrophanes was appointed the first patriarch of Constantinople; and that having found in this a precedent, they immediately wrote a letter to confirm the establishment of a patriarchate in Moscow, and had sent him, Dionysius, to Wallachia to the voivode with the intelligence, in order that the bishops under his authority might also subscribe this letter, which they did with pleasure. Dionysius then advised “that they should in future act in concert in all spiritual matters with the Œcumenical patriarch, according to the custom of the other three; and that on account of their distance from Constantinople, the Most Holy Job should choose to represent him some one of the Greek metropolitans or archbishops, who was capable, and should cause him to reside constantly near the Œcumenical patriarch, for councils and other spiritual business; for that it was usual for the other patriarchs also to have commissioners to act in their stead residing with the Œcumenical patriarch at Constantinople.”

But the Most Holy Job replied to this proposal, that he must first consult with the Orthodox Tsar and the sacred synod, and would then do whatever was most proper. And then he gave the metropolitan his blessing, with a Panagia, and dismissed him; charging him at the same time to bear his blessing and duty to the Œcumenical patriarch, and his blessing and respects to the other patriarchs and the synod.

About the middle of February, the Tsar ordered that the metropolitan should be suffered to depart on his journey, and that the Esquire Nelioub Parthenieff should conduct him as far as Chernigoff, together with ten other esquires, twenty Streltsi, and a company of carabineers, which was to be replaced by a larger force from the Voivode Prince Gregory Zvenogorodsky at Briansk. At Pochep ten more Streltsi were added to the former twenty. Nelioub was ordered to take carriages for them in the towns and villages at the rate of one carriage for two persons, according to the usual orders given to the mayors and voivodes; also to purchase provender for the twenty horses of the metropolitan on the road, with the money which had been allowed him for that purpose, and if that were insufficient, then to take it without paying in the villages, and enter it in a book, which he was to transmit to the Embassy Office. An order was sent from the Tsar to the Paphnutieff monastery at Borofsk, that the monks should be assembled from the other religious houses, and all together give a public meeting and reception to the metropolitan of Tirnoff, in the same manner as if he were primate of All Russia; that supplies of provisions and mead suitable to his rank should be furnished, and handsome gifts presented to him, inasmuch as all the Russian bishops, who were in Moscow at the time that Dionysius took his leave, and even the two hegumens of the monasteries of St. Cyrill and St. Joseph, had severally presented him with gifts to be kept as tokens of remembrance.

From Chernigoff the Voivode Gregory Borisoff was to send and escort the metropolitan and his archimandrites to the frontier with thirty men of his own esquires and one hundred armed Streltsi. But he had not yet reached Chernigoff, when the courtier Matthew Proesteff was sent after him, bearing letters and presents for the patriarchs, which he was ordered to deliver to the metropolitan; and besides this, Boris Godounoff ordered him to deliver in his name tokens of remembrance for the patriarch of Jerusalem to Damascene the bursar of the Lavra of St. Sabba, who, together with his archimandrite and other superiors of monasteries from Mount Athos, had accompanied Dionysius.

The monarch, in a long letter addressed “To the Most Holy Pastor in God, Jeremiah, Teacher of the Commandments of Orthodoxy, Curator of the preaching of the Gospel, firm pillar of Orthodoxy for all Christians, and patient sufferer for Christ,” again set forth all the history of his own counsel respecting the institution of the patriarchate. That in past time “for our sins, Old Rome fell away through the Apollinarian heresy, and the Roman Church and the whole of Italy were filled with the unsound doctrines of Pope Formosus, and after him of Peter the Stammerer; and since then, through the agency of Pope Christopher, the Church of Rome finally and altogether separated herself from our holy and Orthodox faith; on which account the Most Holy Sergius, patriarch of Constantinople, having first accurately examined into the faith of the heterodox Christopher, forbade, by the advice of the Œcumenical patriarchs, that the popes of Rome should be any longer commemorated in the Greek Churches. So the Pope Eugenius also, imitating the impiety of his predecessors, assembled a double-minded eighth council; but Mark, metropolitan of Ephesus, exposed and refuted his corrupt tradition; while in all our kingdom of Russia, by the grace of Christ, the holy Christian faith shines as the sun in the heavens, and sends forth its holy rays throughout all the world, agreeing in all things with the four Œcumenical patriarchs, even as we received it originally from our pious ancestors, those great monarchs who holily rest in God, even from the times of apostle-like Prince Vladimir, the illuminator of the land of Russia; for these reasons it was fitting, for the honour of our holy and pure Greek faith, that the exalted throne of the great Wonder-workers, Peter, Alexis, and Jonah, in the capital city of Moscow, should be raised to the patriarchal dignity.”

Further on, describing the fulfilment of his royal wishes, and the election of Job, he says, “Since in ancient times Silvester, the Œcumenical patriarch of Constantinople, was honoured with that dignity by the holy Œcumenical council and by the apostle-like Emperor Constantine, it has been here synodically ordained that thou shouldest be named the first, and in the place of the Pope, O Jeremiah, by the mercy of God archbishop of New Rome, and Œcumenical patriarch, and next to thee the patriarch of Alexandria, and then the patriarch of the royal city of Moscow, the capital of our vast dominions, and after him the patriarchs of Antioch and Jerusalem.” And this was thus circumstantially stated by the pious monarch, because in the Letters sent from Constantinople the patriarch of Moscow had been placed after all the others, which probably was the cause of the metropolitan being so long detained in Moscow, before he was admitted to an audience with the Most Holy Job; for the Tsar insisted strongly that his Church should take precedence of those of Antioch and Jerusalem; and he was only just willing to yield the second place to Alexandria, because her primate still bore the name of Pope, and the title of Œcumenical Judge.

Theodore further made mention how he had dismissed with great presents the Most Holy Jeremiah to Constantinople; “that the great throne of the Church of Constantinople, the mother of all the Churches in the universe of the one Orthodox faith, might not be left without an able shepherd; and that the rational sheep of Christ’s flock might not be devoured by ravening wolves; also, in order to obtain a synodical confirmation of the patriarchate of All Russia, and that in all the four Œcumenical patriarchates of the Greek empire, prayers might be offered up for the Tsar’s health, and that he might have a son. And the God of all mercies for the prayers of his priests will loosen perhaps the bonds of barrenness, and give him heirs to his house.”

Lastly, touching the coming of Dionysius, he declared to them “that they had settled the order of commemoration in full synod according to their former determination, that is to say, that the patriarch of Moscow should stand third; and for the future, he desired of the Most Holy Jeremiah, that he would inform by letter his brother and fellow-minister, the newly-created Patriarch, Job, and his successors in like manner after him, whenever it should have pleased God that any one of the Most Holy patriarchs filling one of the great thrones should depart from this transitory and corruptible world to the other and future world of endless bliss, and would announce to him the name of his successor; which same thing they would also take care to do by him on the part of the empire of Russia, and the successors of the first patriarch, Job, would notify their own accession to the patriarchs of Constantinople, in order that in all cities and places of the Greek empire and in all the four patriarchates the patriarch of Moscow might be named with the same honour as the other Œcumenical patriarchs, in like manner as they also would be commemorated throughout the whole empire of Russia. He further expressed his wish that for the future in our great Catholic Church there should be unity of counsel, and agreement with the four Œcumenical patriarchs, at the election of the great patriarchs; and that they should rightly hold our holy Orthodox faith in all things, all together, and for ever, according to the tradition of the Apostles, and the canons of our holy, great, and divinely-inspired fathers.”

The monarch also wrote three separate letters in the same sense, to Meletius patriarch of Alexandria, recently appointed in the room of Silvester who was dead, to Joachim of Antioch, his former guest, and to Sophronius of Jerusalem. The Most Holy Job also wrote on the same subject to the Œcumenical patriarch, only making use of a few different expressions respecting the pope, saying that “formerly there were in all the world five patriarchs; but that the pope of Rome had fallen away from true piety, and had loved darkness rather than light, and had drawn nigh unto the host of fallen angels.” Job also firmly insisted on the point of the degrees of precedency among the patriarchs, placing himself third, next after the patriarch of Alexandria, for which he grounded himself on the constitution of the synod; and he requested that they should make mutual commemorations of each other in all places, and also that there should be unity of counsel, will, desire, and agreement, among the patriarchs respecting the holy, undefiled, Orthodox faith; that they might all labour and provide together for the holy Churches of God, and offer in them one united prayer to God; keeping firmly to all that was enjoined by the apostolical traditions, and by the seven Œcumenical councils, and regarding it as unchangeable for ever. He also informed the Most Holy Jeremiah, that he had used his influence with the Tsar and the Tsaritsa, to induce them to assist in the building and ornamenting of his patriarchal church, and charged him earnestly to pray that they might be blessed with issue. He wished for the prelate “that he might be enabled to hold his venerable head above all among the foreign nations, and that having completed his course in peace and quietness, he might receive an eternal inheritance of unspeakable rejoicing in the haven of God.” At the conclusion of his letter he begged his acceptance of forty sables.

With respect to the building of the church, the pious monarch wrote a separate letter to the Patriarch Jeremiah. “Your Holiness, in conjunction with the whole Episcopal Council, has informed us in your petition, that the ancient patriarchal residence having been taken out of your hands, and the cells for the religious, which Orthodox princes had erected, having been also taken away and ruined, you have in consequence looked out for and purchased a church with a mansion and spacious apartments attached to it, for 6,000 pieces of gold; that for this sum you are still in debt; and you have begged our royal majesty to render you assistance to enable you to pay for this new residence, which you have bought for the patriarchate; that so I may become the rebuilder of the Church of God. We, for our parts, have not neglected this application of your holiness; and for the re-establishment of the Church of God, and the building a residence for the patriarch, we have sent you by the Metropolitan Dionysius an Omophorion (that is, a pall) with a pearl fastening, a cup of gold for holy water, and a towel worked with seed pearls, for the decoration of the Orthodox Church, and your Holiness’ own person; also for the building itself, eighty score of sable skins, sixty score of marten skins, ten ermine skins, and fifteen poods of walruss ivory. But do thou, O Œcumenical patriarch, after having received these contributions from us, zealously employ thyself in setting up a house to the honour of the Mother of God, and a patriarchal residence. We have also sent by the metropolitan, for the acceptance of Meletius the patriarch of Alexandria, an episcopal mitre, a golden cup for holy water, an epigonatium embroidered with seed pearls, and eight score sables; the same presents also for the patriarchs of Antioch, and of Jerusalem. And do thou, O Most Holy Jeremiah, forward these our packages and letters to them. As to what thou wrotest to us of the many injuries which the monks of the sacred monastery on the Holy Mountain had sustained from the unbelieving Hagarenes, that we should look favourably upon them, and render them some assistance, that they might be relieved from their great necessity, we, for the sake of thy petition, have received them graciously, and having bestowed on them our royal bounty, have sent them back to you again.”

Thus the grace and munificence of the Tsar extended itself also to the monasteries of Mount Athos. He wrote to the Primus, that is, the senior archimandrite of the Great Lavra, on the Holy Mountain, informing him that he had sent him by Neophytus, archimandrite of the monastery of Panteleëmon, for the repose of the soul of his father of blessed memory, 500 roubles in money, and rich copes, to be expended in that monastery; and he desired that the Primus would look to the building, and if Neophytus should not arrive with the things committed to his charge, that he should then entrust the building in the monastery of Panteleëmon to Gregory, archimandrite of the religious house of Chilandara; and that he would himself send a fresh supply of money for the building of the church, with vessels and ornaments, as soon as he should learn that the building was finished. The monarch also gave to the Archimandrite Neophytus, and to Christopher the other archimandrite from Jerusalem, the superior of the solitary Lavra of the Holy Sabba, letters in his own name, to permit them in future to pass through his territories, whenever they pleased, for the purpose of collecting alms.

The Boyar Godounoff also informed the Œcumenical patriarch of the royal bounty, and entreated his prayers for the fruitfulness of his sister, the Tsaritsa Irene; “that numerous branches from the royal stock might flourish, as the future hopes of the empire of Russia, and of all faithful Christians.” He also thanked him for all trouble he had been at, in connection with the establishment of the patriarchate of Moscow. After he had enumerated the royal gifts to the other patriarchs, he desired also himself “to compliment his great master and lord, his father, instructor, and the Saviour of his soul with a present of forty sables; and his wife Maria, he said, begged him to accept a linen kerchief, and his son Theodore a cup of silver gilt, with a cover; and so he entreated him “not to forget him in his prayers, that God might be merciful to him, and do that for them, which He, in His holy will, saw would be best.”

The boyar wrote in a similar style “To the Most Holy Sophronius, by the mercy of God, patriarch of the great city of Jerusalem, guardian of the Life-bearing Sepulchre of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Church of His holy Resurrection, the Pastor and Teacher of the Commandments of Orthodoxy, the true wrestler against the enemies of God, the valiant defender of religion,” and informed him of the establishment of a patriarchate in Russia; and of the bounty of the Tsar; and begged of him to offer up the usual prayers for fruitfulness in child-bearing. He then told him, that he had sent by the monk and bursar Damascene to the Life-bearing Sepulchre of Christ and the Church of His Resurrection, a chalice of crystal set in gold, with amethysts, rubies, and emeralds, three golden dishes, a golden lamp for the Sepulchre of our Lord, set with amethysts and rubies, and a golden thurible, with eight score sables, for oil and frankincense, that the lamp might not want for oil as long as it pleased God. He also sent by Damascene to the Most Immaculate Virgin in Gethsemane, vessels for the use of the Church, a chalice, a disk, and a silver thurible; also 500 pieces of gold for the edifice, to be expended in buying a vineyard or farm, in order to establish for the future a daily service in the Church of the Most Immaculate Mother of God in Gethsemane, and to keep a light ever burning. “And we have desired,” he wrote, “Damascene to confer with thee on all, both for the holy place itself, and for the establishment of the service and the light. But if the farm or vineyard should cost more than the above sum, do thou, Most Holy Sir, my lord and teacher, write me word how many more gold pieces are required, and I will send them immediately. I have also sent you, by the same person, forty sables from myself; my wife Maria, humbly entreats you, O great lord, to accept a piece of linen, my son Theodore a gilt cup, my daughter Oxynia an Ikon, being a representation of the Saviour, and a piece of linen. And do thou kindly receive these things from us; that so, for the sake of thy holy prayers, the Lord may do with us according to His mercy, as shall seem best to His holy will.”

The letter of the boyar to Damascene, the bursar of St. Sabba’s monastery of the Archangel, dated March 1592, is worthy of remark. After having enumerated to him all the offerings and presents to the patriarch, he writes: “We have ordered that all these things should be given to thee, venerable Sir, in the presence of the Metropolitan Dionysius; also that the 500 pieces of gold, for the Church of Gethsemane, should be delivered to thee; and do thou shew those gold pieces to the metropolitan. But all that which has been given to thee above this sum, do thou, O venerable Sir, keep to thyself, and shew it not; but apply it to the building of the house of the Mother of God, as I have directed thee.”

Might there not be in this mysterious order some secret commemoration for the soul of the Tsarevich Demetrius? For the boyar did not entrust this money either to the Metropolitan Dionysius, or to Christopher the archimandrite of the Lavra, or to the patriarch of Jerusalem himself; but ordered that the offerings and presents only should be delivered to him, and that he should be consulted respecting the purchase of a farm, for the benefit of the Church, at Gethsemane; and in the event of the money proving insufficient, promised him a further supply. That therefore, which was given by him to the bursar, was destined to be applied for some other special purpose.

Thus terminated the great embassy of the metropolitan of Tirnoff, from the council of the Œcumenical patriarchs, for the purpose of confirming the establishment of the patriarchate of Moscow and All Russia.

THE END.

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