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Letters concerning the Establishment of the Holy Synod (1723)
Eastern Patriarchs, tr. King, 1865
Letter of the Emperor, Peter the First, to the Patriarch of Constantinople, Jeremiah
To the most holy, most wise, and most learned Œcumenical Patriarch of New Rome, Jeremiah, our father in Christ, with due reverence we send brotherly salutation.
As an obedient son of our much-desired orthodox mother, the Catholic Church, ever preserving respect for your all-holiness, as the chief shepherd of the orthodox Catholic Church, and our spiritual father, we judged it necessary to make known to you the following: Forasmuch as among the many cares for the improvement of the kingdom committed to us by God, and of the peoples subject, according to the duty of the authority given us by God, we have turned our eyes and attention both to the ecclesiastical government and to the priesthood; and seeing in it not a few disorders, and its concerns not in due order, we have felt in our conscience, not a vain fear, lest we should appear ungrateful to the all-wise divine Providence, if after having been counted by it worthy of so great prosperity in the improvement of the military as well as of the political order, we should neglect the correction of the ecclesiastical government, and of the priesthood; and that we may not be found without excuse, when the Judge, without respect of persons, shall demand of us account of the so great oversight, committed to us by Him. Therefore, according to the example of the first pious kings in the Old and New Testament, assuming the care and zeal for the correction of the ecclesiastical government and of the priesthood, and not having for this more suitable means than the Synodical Government, after much correct investigation and counsel with the priesthood, and with the laity of our kingdom, we judged proper to establish a Spiritual Synod, of equal power with the Patriarchs, that is, a most high-spiritual, governing assembly for the government of the Russian Church of our royal kingdom, (taken from) worthy consecrated individuals a sufficient number, both of the high-priests and of the superiors of the cenobites; and have by our decree ordered all our subjects, both clerical and laic, to count this government venerable and sufficient, and to be subject to this Synod in all ecclesiastical affairs, as they formerly were subject to the patriarchs of all Russia. And by our order we have commanded the sacred and most holy Synod to govern the holy Church in all things, without any change, according to the dogmas of the holy Orthodox Catholic Church, of the Eastern dogma, and to hold those dogmas as an infallible rule of ecclesiastical government; whereupon they, by oath, within the holy Catholic Church, having kissed the holy cross, and signed with their own hands, bound themselves to this. We are then confident that your all-holiness, as first high-priest of the Orthodox Catholic and Eastern Church, will approve this, and confess as just this our order, and the Spiritual Synod established; and give information concerning it to the other most blessed Patriarchs, both of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem.
And as we have with great pleasure ordered this most holy Spiritual Synod, to hold relation and correspondence with your all-holiness, in all ecclesiastical affairs, we trust also that your all-holiness will be pleased to preserve a correspondence and relation with this Synod, with regard to spiritual affairs, in so far as they contribute to the interest of the Church, as it was formerly preserved with the Patriarchs of all Russia. And if ever they should seek from your all-holiness any good counsel for the benefit and better economy of the Church, we beseech you in such circumstances not to count them unworthy of this, for the common interest of the Orthodox, since we with peculiar pleasure promise your all-holiness to show every submission to your requests.
At the same time, we make known to your all-holiness, also, that the most high God in his unutterable judgments, according to his great compassion toward us, has been pleased to grant unto us his divine mercy, by blessing us and our people, and giving us joy, because on the thirtieth of August, of the present year, the long and cruel war which continued between us and Sweden for upwards of twenty years, received by our successful and victorious arms, a happy termination in the Congress held in the city of Nystat. For by commissioners appointed by both parties, everlasting peace was agreed upon between us and Sweden, and in this manner Sweden ceded to us, that we may for ever hold the places fought for by our arms, on the shore of the Baltic Sea, Livonia, Esthonia, Ingria, and a part of Carelia, and of the principality of Finland, with all the cities and villages and harbors, that is, the most distinguished cities and fortifications in those provinces — Riga, Pernov, Reveli, Derpt, Narva, Viborg, and Kexholm.
And we doubt not that this our agreement of perpetual peace, and the consequent increase to our kingdom, will be agreeable to you, and bring you joy, as one who prays for us, and as chief shepherd. And we hope with consolation that your all-holiness, with all the priesthood, will not fail to send up to the most high God a hymn of praise and thanksgiving for so great divine mercy, poured out upon us, and henceforth beseech his infinite goodness to grant to our kingdom firmness, peace, and tranquillity.
On this account, we are under obligation to render to your all-holiness due gratitude, and worthily to reward you.
Thus, therefore, we ever remain the obedient spiritual son of your all-holiness, our spiritual father, and most high and œcumenical chief and shepherd.
Published in Petersburg, the 30th of September, 1721.
The original letter, in the Russian dialect, His Royal Majesty was pleased to sign with his own hand.