P. Milyukov

According to the Apocalypse, the power of the Antichrist will continue on earth for two and a half years, i.e. from 1666 to 1669, and then the end of the world will begin: the sun will fade, the stars will fall from the sky, the earth will burn, and, finally, the last trumpet of the archangel will call the righteous and sinners to the terrible judgment.

[…] Under the influence of such fears, phenomena occurred throughout the Russian land, about which news has come down to us regarding the Nizhny Novgorod region. From the autumn of 1668, the fields were abandoned there, they did not plow and did not sow; on the approach of the fateful year 1669, the huts were also abandoned. Gathering in crowds, people prayed, fasted, repented of each other's sins, communed with St. with gifts consecrated before Nikon's innovations, and, having prepared in this way, they awaited the Archangel's trumpet with trepidation. According to an old belief, the end of the world should come at night, at midnight; and so, at nightfall, the zealots of the old piety put on white shirts and shrouds, lay down in coffins dug out of solid wood, and waited for the sound of a trumpet.

Nights, however, passed after nights, the whole terrible year passed, and all fears and horrors turned out to be in vain. The world stood as before, and Nikonianism still triumphed in the world.

Obviously something was not right. Optimists again revived hopes for the triumph of a just cause, for the restoration of the true faith in the true church. The pessimists reviewed the books and prophecies once more and found a mistake in their old calculations. The thing is that The Book of Faith counts the years from Christmas Christ, and Satan was bound for a thousand years on the day of Christ Resurrection. From this moment, and not from the birth of Christ, it is necessary to calculate the year of doomsday. Therefore, the coming of the Antichrist is postponed for the entire period of the Savior's earthly life, for 33 years. He will appear, therefore, not in 1666, as it should have been according to the calculations of the Book of Faith, but in 1699. Two and a half years later, i.e. in 1702 the end of the world will come. […]

This time, the expectations were not in vain: August 25, 1698, i.e. five days before that terrible new year, in which the Antichrist was to appear, Peter returned from a trip abroad. The archers planned to block his way to Moscow and exterminate him along with all the Germans, but this plan remained unfulfilled. Peter arrived in the capital and, without stopping at the Kremlin, without bowing to either Iverskaya or Moscow miracle workers, “to the general surprise,” according to one foreign observer, drove straight to the German settlement to Anna Mons. Then part of the night he drank at Lefort, and spent the rest of the night not in his royal palace, but in the guards barracks, in Preobrazhensky. Surprise turned into horror when the next morning, accepting congratulations on his arrival, the tsar cut off several boyar beards with his own hands. […]

Came in five days and the new year. The tsar, instead of being present, according to the old custom, at the solemn ceremony in the Kremlin that day, accepting a blessing from the patriarch and “hello people” on the new year, spent the whole day at the feast at Shein. His jesters cut their last beards at the loud laughter of those present, while the victims of these jokes scraped at the heart. Then began a severe reprisal against the archers, in which the king took a personal part. Executions alternated with feasts.

All this was too much to confirm the already ready assumption that the king was the expected Antichrist. Clearly, everything that the king did was done with the aim of not being recognized and convicted. The tsar did not go to the Moscow shrines - of course, because he knew that the power of the Lord would not allow him, the accursed, to the holy place. He did not want to bow to the graves of his ancestors and did not see his relatives: it is understandable, because they are strangers to him and, perhaps, they will discover his deceit. For the same reason, he did not appear to the people on the day of the New Year. They could still recognize him by the predicted date of his appearance, so he changed the chronology: he ordered to count the years not from the creation of the world, but from the Nativity of Christ, and at the same time “stole from God” eight whole years, counting from the creation of the world to the Nativity of Christ not 5500 years, as previously thought, but 5508 years. Thus, the year 7208 came out when transferring to a new account not as 1708, as it should, but as 1700. To further confuse the reckoning, he ordered the new year to be counted from January instead of September, completely forgetting that the world could not have been created in January: in January, the apples would not be ripe and the serpent would have nothing to tempt Eve with. Finally, he took on the sign of the Antichrist insidiously: he called himself "emperor" and thus hid his title under the letter m. The fact is that if you throw out this letter and equate the rest of the letters with numbers (according to the Slavic image), then the total will be exactly 666 - the number of the apocalyptic beast.

I. Image
Information from the Holy Scriptures and St. The Church Fathers about the apocalyptic false prophet are so scarce that it is not easy to describe his real appearance.
XIII chapter of the Apocalypse, where St. The Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian mentions two beasts (Rev. 13:1,11), has the most contradictory explanations both among the holy Doctors of the Church and among other interpreters of the Word of God. Some see the pagan Roman Empire in the first beast coming out of the sea, and the Antichrist in the second beast coming out of the earth and having two horns like a lamb. Others see Satan in the second beast, and under its two horns they mean the Antichrist and the false prophet.
However, the interpretation of St. Andrew of Caesarea and most logically, and most likely fits into the general context of the book of Revelation. “If they think that the false prophet will come in his own person,” he explains, “then it will not be inappropriate to take the serpent for Satan, the beast coming out of the sea for the Antichrist, and the real beast ... for the false prophet.” It is this interpretation that must be taken as the basis for all further reasoning.
Upon closer acquaintance with the sacred text of Revelation, it becomes clear that Satan, the Antichrist and the false prophet are a diabolical “trinity”, which is opposed to the divine trinity in everything.
If the devil is, so to speak, an anti-god, and the antichrist, as conceived from Satan and born from an imaginary maiden, is an anti-son, then the false prophet, thus, will represent the anti-spirit.
So, a false prophet is the satanic opposite of the Holy Spirit and an imitation of Him “in all power and signs and lying wonders” (2 Thess. 2:9).
Indeed, the Holy Spirit descended with a noise of flame from heaven to earth (Acts 2:1-4), and the false prophet brings fire down from heaven (Rev. 13:13); The Holy Spirit glorifies the Son of God (John 16:14-15), the false prophet glorifies the Antichrist (Rev. 13:15); The Holy Spirit leads people to worship the Father and the Son (John 4:23-24), the false prophet leads people to worship the Antichrist and the devil (Rev. 13:13-17); The Holy Spirit seals those who believe in the Redeemer (2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 4:30), the false prophet puts an evil mark on the forehead or hand of those who bow to the Antichrist (Rev. 13:16); The Holy Spirit transforms believers into the image of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 3:17-18; Rom. 8:26-30), the false prophet makes people worship the animal icon (Rev. 13:14-15); finally, the Holy Spirit magnifies the work of redemption accomplished on the Cross, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Pet. 1:11), while the false prophet, through the animal icon, magnifies the mortal wound from the sword and the miraculous healing of one of the heads of the beast (Rev. 13:3 ,12).
Our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ did nothing by himself, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father through the Son. “The Son cannot do anything about Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it: even though He does, this Son also does” (John 5:19). “The Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, He testifies of Me,” says the Lord (John 15:26). Similarly, the Antichrist, imitating the Lord Christ, will not create a single sign or miracle himself, but will allow the false prophet to testify about himself. Having stolen for himself “with the help of deceit and sorcery” (St. Cyril of Jerusalem) the royal dignity, however false, the Antichrist will establish his faithful armor-bearer in prophetic dignity, and perhaps in priestly dignity.
And indeed, as the book of the Apocalypse hints, the false prophet will have great power in the harlot church that is subordinate and worships the Antichrist.
Just as the sacred sacrament of chrismation is performed on believers in the true Church, so the false prophet in the false church will seal the apostates with satanic seals, swearing them to the “son of perdition”, just as once in the Orthodox Church the kiss of the cross was performed for fidelity to the Anointed of God, the Christian Tsar. Likewise, the icon of the beast will probably be installed in the temples of God as an “abomination of desolation,” and, therefore, will become the property of the Babylonian harlot.
According to some spiritualized elders, the uncreated fire, which descends once a year on the feast of Easter on the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, will cease to appear with the advent of the “man of lawlessness”. Perhaps the prophetic words: “and fire will make them descend from heaven to earth before men” (Rev. 13:13) will come true in this Jerusalem temple, when the false prophet, in order to avoid temptation among Christians and in confirmation of the alleged God’s chosenness of the Antichrist, will bring down from heaven false fire, demonic.
The key to understanding what kind of moral character and office the false prophet will have lies in the words of the Apocalypse about his origin from the earth, while it is said about the Antichrist that he will come out of the sea.
As for the first beast, the Antichrist, all exegetes unanimously affirm that the sea signifies the many-tossed and greatly agitated sea of ​​life, or rather, as the Angel of Revelation himself explains, the sea is “people and peoples, and tribes and tongues” (Rev. 17:5).
What is the land from which the second beast, the false prophet, will appear?
The word earth contains a fundamental difference between a false prophet and the Antichrist coming out of the sea.
Some interpreters argue that the word land means the land of Israel, that is, they say that the false prophet will be a Jew and will come from Palestine. Others think that the Apostle called “earth” the carnal earthly wisdom, with which the false prophet, as a spiritual weapon, will reap the human harvest for Antichrist. But all these explanations are only partly true. For the Antichrist also has to come from the tribe of Dan, and will be infected with carnal sophistication to no lesser extent than his faithful companion.
According to the Holy Scriptures, the explanation of the meaning of the word earth will, in our opinion, be as follows.
Land of the Revelation of St. The Apostle John the Theologian refers to nothing else than that “wilderness” in which the seer discovered the great harlot (Rev. 17:3). If the Antichrist comes out of the “sea,” out of many peoples, primarily as a political leader, then the false prophet, therefore, must appear primarily as a spiritual figure. The harlot, who sits on many waters (Rev. 17:1) and at the same time dwells in the wilderness, will unite both in the body of the false church.
It is difficult to say whether the false prophet will be invested with some kind of church-hierarchical rank, or will he appear as a simple but powerful false elder from the abyss of the worldly environment?
“Any political force, except for external means - tools of fire and sword, also has internal means of enlightenment and education,” writes N. Vinogradov, one of the interpreters of the Apocalypse. - So - the political force is correct and "lawful"; not otherwise - and the political force is perverted and lawless. The Egyptian pharaoh in the fight against the true God and His people uses the assistance of Jannes and Jambres, the false prophets of their time (Ex. 7:11,22; 2 Tim. 3: Cool. The Babylonian king is accompanied by the Chaldean wise men, the firm support of his state (Dan Chapter 2) The Antichrist, as a political force, will not appear without the accompaniment of his false prophet, whom Etinger ironically calls the court philosopher of the Antichrist” (Vinogradov N. On the final fate of the world and man, p. 92).
The false prophet in his mission will imitate the true prophets of God, with whom the pious Old Testament kings always held council about their power.
The example of the Old Testament kings of Israel was followed by the Orthodox sovereigns of the New Testament era, especially the Byzantine emperors and the Russian tsars, who had clairvoyant elders, ascetics, blessed and holy fools as their closest advisers and companions.
It is quite possible that the false prophet will come from the midst of depraved monasticism of the last time, completely immersed in worldly carelessness and infected with the spirit of covetousness. From this depraved monasticism, false elders and false prophets most often appear, whose behavior, according to Bishop. Ignatius (Bryanchaninova), is "nothing else but soul-destroying acting and the saddest comedy." Such false elders, infected, as a rule, with some heresy or other mortal sin, which they serve instead of God (the sin of sodomy is especially common among them), are especially famous for their false signs, false miracles and false prophecies produced from the devil, with the help of which they succeed in mislead your spiritual children. But, as the same ep. Ignatius about such false elders, “their very way of thinking, their reason, their knowledge are self-delusion and demonic delusion, which cannot but give fruit corresponding to itself in those who are instructed by them.” The apocalyptic false prophet will also appear like a false old man, who by deceit and false miracles will lure people into the network of the Antichrist.
“The false prophet of the last opponent of Christ and the Church, as his accomplice, will act in the spirit and direction of the Antichrist; why does he bear with the latter in the Apocalypse the same name of the beast, but the beast from the earth, that is, the beast endowed with earthly wisdom and will, or the beast that came from a more or less solid, more or less ordered world of education and wisdom. The figurative, distinctive features of this false prophet beast, presented from the point of view of Eastern symbolism: two horns, like a lamb, and the speech of a dragon (Rev. 13:11). These horns, a receptacle of strength and strength, are distinguished by outward modesty and indicate that the false prophet will try to exercise the same power over human hearts and minds as Christ, the immaculate Lamb of God (John 1:29). But the speech of the false prophet - the speech of the dragon-serpent, who once deceived Eve, exposes in him the wisdom of nature, earthly, anti-Christian, demonic (sojiepigeioV) (James 3:15). Leaving the sphere of ordered relations of human life, a beast from the earth or a false prophet will express thoughts that arouse not restless passions, but a plan-like, strictly considered teaching, based on knowledge of human customs and rules, only seasoned with the tinsel sheen of satanic wisdom. This wisdom, apparently preaching Christianity, cuts off in it everything that is supernatural in the history of salvation, in the benefits of faith, in its glorious promises - in a word, everything essential. In the direction and nature of his activity, the false prophet of the mystic, identified (Rev. 19:20; cf. 13:11 and beyond) with the beast from the earth, can be an image of all the false prophets, about whom the Lord generally spoke, denoting their hypocrisy: they come in sheep's clothing, but inside they are ravenous wolves (Matt. 7:15) ”(Vinogradov N. Decree. Op.).
What will be the religion that the false prophet will preach, that religion, apparently Christian, but in which everything spiritual, everything related to spiritual salvation, will be cut off?
The combination of truth with falsehood, and not only exclusively gross evil - this is what will constitute the main basis of the religion of Antichrist!
This religion in St. Scripture is portrayed as “lying against the truth” (James 3:14), “keeping the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:1 Cool, “good will in unrighteousness” (2 Thess. 2:12). unbelievers," warns the chief Paul. "What communion of righteousness with iniquity? Or what communion of light with darkness? What is the agreement of Christ with Belial? Or what part shall I return with the unbeliever? Or what communion of the Church of God with idols?" (2 Corinthians 6) :14-16).
But the religion of Antichrist will unite truth with lawlessness, light with darkness, Christ with Belial, the Church of God with idols, Christians with lawless people. This means that the false prophet will have two horns, like a lamb, and speak like a serpent (Rev. 13:11).

II. Embodiment
The experimental model of the Antichrist religion has been created by anti-Christian forces for a long time. And it is so skillful that most of the Christians who call themselves "Orthodox" have not noticed the intricate machinations of the enemy of the human race, who in the near future will appear in the "son of perdition" to seduce them.
The beginning of the Antichrist religion in our time was laid in the USSR in 1922, when a part of the clergy and bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, who called themselves "renovationists", declared their complete loyalty to the theomachist Soviet government, their support for all its revolutionary undertakings and unconditional all subordination to it as a power "from God."
At first, the “Renovationists” did not openly declare any reform of the canonical and liturgical way of life in the Russian Orthodox Church. One of the leaders of Renovationism, “Archbishop” Yevdokim, in his Address to Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), even assured: “Understand: I have not sold anything church, I have not given up one iota. I was only "genuinely honestly loyal" to the civil authority. However, what this “loyalty” actually cost the Church was shown by subsequent events, when the “Renovationists”, having enlisted the full support of the Soviet authorities, began to commit unbridled arbitrariness in many spheres of Church life, not excluding dogmatic ones. In the end, this first attempt to seduce and mislead the faithful, to bend them under someone else's yoke, took such crude forms that the more moderate renovationists had to look for new methods of selecting anti-Christian ideas in order to create the most universal ideology that would meet the requirements of the time in the eyes of the majority of the people. wt.
Upon the death of Patr. Tikhon another "deputy of the patriarchal locum tenens" Metropolitan. Sergius (Stragorodsky), a former renovationist, in 1927 publishes his infamous Declaration on the spiritual unity of the church hierarchy and believers with the Soviet authorities. The main idea of ​​the Declaration was the same as the essence of the renovationist movement: “We want to be Orthodox and at the same time recognize the Soviet Union as our civil homeland, whose joys and successes are our joys and successes, and failures are our failures.” The declaration broadcast: “We, church leaders, are not with the enemies of our Soviet State ... but with our people and with our government”; and further: “Not only people indifferent to Orthodoxy, not only traitors to it, but also the most zealous adherents of it, for whom it is dear, like truth and life, with all its dogmas and traditions, with all its canonical and liturgical order."
The Sergians (as the followers of Metropolitan Sergius began to be called) had the formal canonical legitimacy of their supreme ecclesiastical authority (at least they tried strenuously to mimic it) and did not announce ecclesiastical reforms. Apparently, they tried to outwardly preserve the ritual and dogmatic aspects of Orthodoxy. This was their main difference from the “renovationists”, while maintaining, however, an identical form of relationship with them with the theomachists. Thus, the Sergians declared bowing under the yoke of others with the infidels a new church dogma, without which, in their own words, it is unthinkable to be Orthodox. For Christians, as if on behalf of the Church, the possibility of simultaneously serving Christ and Antichrist without fear of falling away from God forever was proclaimed. From now on, who considers the USSR not a homeland, but a cursed and defiled place (1 Ezra 9:11, Is. 24:5-6), where Satan and the Antichrist reign; who recognizes as impossible the communion of light with darkness; whoever denies the mixing of the Church of God with the idols of communism and the faithful with atheists and open enemies of Christ and the Church, is declared a “political criminal” and is subject, according to the prescription of the Declaration, to physical “elimination”. In Sergianism, there is that content of truth in untruth, about which St. app. Paul as a clear sign of godlessness and God's wrath on the ungodly (Rom. 1:18-20). Let us listen once again to these terrible, ominous words of the Declaration, which essentially equate atheists with Christians in their joint service to the Antichrist: “Not only people who are indifferent to Orthodoxy, not only traitors to it, but also its most zealous adherents, can be loyal to the Soviet government, for whom it is dear, like truth and life, with all its dogmas and traditions, with all its canonical and liturgical order.”
The same vile ideology after the death of Met. Sergius, who became the first Soviet “patriarch” in 1943, was confirmed by the next “patriarch” of the USSR, Alexy I (Simansky), in the past also a renovationist and close ally of Sergius. In his letter to I.V. Stalin, the new “patriarch” assured: “In my forthcoming activity, I will invariably and unswervingly be guided by the principles that marked the church activity of the late patriarch: adherence to the canons and establishments of the church on the one hand, and unchanging loyalty to the Motherland and the Government headed by you on the other” (“Journal of the Moscow Patriarchy”, 1944, No. 6, p. 4Cool. In a word: serve both Christ and Belial, worship both God and idols!
Righteous Hieromartyr Bishop. Mark (Prof. M.A. Novoselov) called the Sergian false church the “Soviet Church”, the case of Metropolitan. Sergius and his like-minded people - "seating his wife on the beast", and the hierarchs who followed them - "church adulterers" ("Letter to a friend" of July 16/29, 1927).
“Metropolitan Sergius trampled not on the outer side, but on the very inner being of Church Orthodoxy,” wrote another St. new martyr ep. Pavel (Kratirov). “After all, the “hosanna” to Christ and the Antichrist, now being performed in Christian churches, touches the very essence of the Christian faith and represents a clear apostasy—falling away from the faith, apostasy from God” (Letter of May 1928).
Sergianism in its purest form represents the holistic preservation of Orthodox rites and the formal adherence to all church canons and dogmas, with only one condition that overthrows everything: that each member of it must recognize the Antichrist as the head of such a “church”.
The same Hieromartyr Paul wrote on this occasion: “From the outside, the body of the Church seems to be whole, and everything is in order, but through the apostasy the head has already been cut off. And no matter how much Mr. Sergius did not shout about loyalty to Orthodoxy, but the most important thing is gone. The result was not a Church, but a church party organization, an orientation; there is not a church ship, but a Sergius boat - a “gas chamber”. (Letter dated April 3, 1928).
The very essence, so to speak, the core of Sergianism lies not in hypocritical loyalty to the God-fighting Antichrist authorities in worldly affairs, with internal disagreement with its deeds, not a forced compromise with one’s own conscience for the sake of the general church “benefit”. In this light, the Declaration of 1927 falls only to the inexperienced as an excuse. In fact, here there is a sincere service to the interests of this power “not only out of fear, but also out of conscience” (to use the expression of Metropolitan Sergius, who alters the meaning of the apostolic word). Sincere from the bottom of my heart love for the Antichrist, with the desire to lay down soul and body for him, love for all the servants of the Antichrist, for the enemies of God, murderers, defilers of the shrine, Satanists-Bolsheviks, the desire to serve them in everything and go through the same field with them - that's the true essence of Sergianism and the religion of the beast!
The acquisition of such feelings of selflessness and heartfelt love for the enemy of the human race for Christians (even those who formally profess the Christian faith) is a very difficult matter. Simple human methods are clearly not manageable here. Therefore, the heresiarchs of Sergianism came to the conclusion that in order to consistently stupefy the people of God (for the whole power of the Church lies primarily in the people), intervention is required at the mystical level, namely, by profaning prayer and the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist with the inclusion of elements of blasphemy against the Divine laws of their commission.
The recipe for acquiring love for the servants of Satan and the Antichrist was offered in 1948 by one of the most odious and crazy representatives of Sergianism, Met. Veniamin (Fedchenkov). Here is what he wrote in his liturgical notes, which he called “Sorokoust in the Motherland”:
“We need to pray for power. Whoever prays, ill-will towards those for whom he prays inevitably disappears, and a good feeling towards them may even appear” (Liturgy 5);
“You need to ask the Lord for the gift of love for power and even ask for the very prayer for them. And this will give more strength to love than any of our desires and efforts...” (Lit. 18);
He began to pray to God for the gift of love for the authorities more than before. And surprisingly: immediately a feeling begins to glimmer in the heart” (Lit. 19);
“...Pray for the love of power... This is God's commandment! And happiness for the soul” (Lit. 21st);
“The authorities require not only cold loyalty, but also reverence, and even love (under any conditions). Undoubtedly: otherwise hidden love” (Lit. 22nd).
What is this, if not the religious delirium of an insane idiot who has finally fallen into demonic delusion?!
But the Sergian heresiarchs were not limited to blasphemy over prayer. Veniamin Fedchenkov tells how he commemorated the names of theomachists and atheists on the proskomedia, which means he took out particles from the prosphora for them and mixed them with the particles taken out for the Orthodox in one bowl: “I commemorate (and on the proskomedia) both Joseph Stalin and George Katkov, and our commissioner Nikita Smirnov, as the apostle (?!) commanded and as my heart demands” (Lit. 32nd).
All that remains is to open your mouth wide in surprise at the unheard-of commandment of the apostle to pray for Stalin?!
Characteristic are the corresponding conclusions that Fedchenkov made at the end of 40, when he finally lost his mind:
“Soviet power and its strength (besides its significance for the Motherland) is of great importance both for the Church and for Orthodoxy... Therefore, we must also pray for the success of our country and power” (Lit. 35);
“Many times I recalled with good feeling the Soviet power and, in particular, Stalin” (Lit. 36th);
“In close contact with her, she turns out to be not only necessary, but also friendly and even helps our Church ... This power is useful to the Church on a global scale, and on an ecumenical-Orthodox scale. We need to support her for this alone” (“Toward the Light.” No. 13, pp. 79, 85-87, 92, 93, 95).
There is no doubt that similar blasphemy was also committed by other “hierarchs” and “patriarchs” of the Moscow pseudo-patriarchy, who set themselves the task of inducing spiritual dope, “the effect of delusion” (2 Thess. 2:11) on the minds and hearts of their flock, forcibly to bind her will to the knowledge of the Truth and God, to turn those who are saved in faith into “perishing because they did not receive the love of the truth for their salvation” (2 Thess. 2:10). The Sergians needed not only to deprive the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist of the grace-filled sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. For from the simple wine and bread used, the desired effect cannot be achieved. They sought to turn him into a conductor of demonic energies, or, as St. Fathers, make such communion “food for demons” (Blessed Jerome).
In connection with this, St. new ep. Victor (Ostrovidov) wrote: “By mixing into one in the great holy sacrament of the Eucharist, contrary to the word of God, “the faithful with the unfaithful” (2 Cor. the meaning of the great sacrament and destroys its grace-filled meaning for the eternal salvation of the souls of Orthodox believers. Hence, worship becomes not only graceless, due to the gracelessness of the clergyman, but it becomes an abomination in the eyes of God, and therefore both those who perform and participate in it are subject to severe condemnation "(Acts of the Bishop Victor on the excommunication of the Sergians, 1928. According to another St. New Martyr, Bishop Varlaam of Maikop, Metropolitan Sergius, pledging to “also “pray” for them (the atheists, - author) in his churches during the bloodless sacrifice at the Holy Liturgy", thereby completing "the union of the Antichrist with the Church of the Evil Ones. The theomachy gave Metropolitan Sergius a place in their state, for which Metropolitan Sergius gave the theomachists a place in the holy melting the saints, he placed the abomination of desolation in a holy place” (Letter from Bishop Varlaam "On Sergianism". 1929).
Thus, the communion of believers with Sergian abomination makes them belong to the body or church of the Antichrist, as St. Theodore the Studite: “Communion of heretical bread and a cup makes the communion belong to the opposing Orthodox part, and of all such communicants constitutes one body alien to Christ” (Philokalia. Vol. IV. M. 1901, p. 624).
However, the Soviet hierarchs made prayers and magpies not only for health, but also for the “repose” of the godless leaders of communism: Lenin, Stalin, Brezhnev, Andropov and other red leaders, thereby imputing unrepentant theomachism to a virtue worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven and abolishing the teachings of the Church about the possibility of salvation only by faith in God.
Love for the anti-Christian Soviet authorities was expressed more than once by the Moscow pseudo-patriarchy and in its conciliar acts. So, in the Appeal of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1945 to the Government of the USSR, the Soviet hierarchs testified that “the Council expresses its sincere grateful feelings to our Government”, “earnestly prays to the Lord ... for the multiplication of strength, health and years of life to our beloved Leader .. Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin” (“ZhMP”, 1945, No. 2, p. 11). And in the letter to Stalin already cited above, “Patriarch” Alexy, on behalf of the entire hierarchy, urged “highly esteemed and dear Joseph Vissarionovich ... to believe in feelings of deep love and gratitude for you, with which all the church workers now led by me are animated” (“ZHMP” 1944. No. 6, p. 4 Cool.
All these "church workers" emphasized the divine origin of Soviet power. Thus, “Patriarch” Sergius declared in 1942 that our Patriarchal Church... hitherto invariably recognizes the Soviet power as God-established in the USSR” (Message of Metropolitan Sergius of September 22, 1942). The “patriarch” following him, Alexy I, called Stalin the “God-given Leader” (“ZhMP”, 1944. No. 2, p. 12), and the “priest” M. Zernov even agreed that from the pages of the official patriarchal magazine he called the bloody tyrant and atheist Stalin “the ideal of people” (“ZHMP”, 1946, No. 1, p. 30), as if forgetting that such a characteristic can only be attributed to the Lord Jesus Christ.

The subsequent Soviet “patriarchs” Pimen and Alexy II expressed themselves in the same spirit and with the same zeal, blessing the bloody “exploits” of the Bolshevik state. In the Patriarchal and Synodal Address on the occasion of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the October Socialist Revolution, it was stated that the beginnings of this revolution are “consonant with evangelical ideals” (“ZHMP”, 1971, No. 7). In a similar Epistle, Pimen proclaimed: “Our Holy Local Church rejoices... with common joy and blesses... the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” (“ZhMP”, 1973, No. 1, pp. 2-3). At the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1971, the “Metropolitan” of Tallinn and Estonia Alexy (Ridiger), the future “patriarch”, in his report called on Orthodox Christians to actively participate in the world revolution: “We,” he said, “are for the transformation of social structures, oppressing peoples and not allowing them to develop freely, for transformation, including, if necessary, revolutionary ways to overthrow the existing regimes of enslavement” (“ZHMP”, 1971, No. 7, pp. 61-62). Having become “patriarch” by the CPSU in 1990, Alexy (Ridiger) did not change his communist-atheistic convictions at all. In his very first keynote interview with the Pravda newspaper, which followed immediately after his enthronement, Ridiger stated: “The entire European civilization has evolved on the moral principles of Christianity. The communist ideology also adopted them, taking a lot from the New Testament” (“Pravda” dated 17.07.1990).
Isn't it the "serpent's words" in the mouths of people who put on the "likeness of the Lamb"?
But even this far from exhausts all the crimes of the Soviet false church. Their list would be incomplete without mentioning that the MP hierarchy openly practices a satanic idolatrous cult. The essence of the ritual is the worship of the ranks of the Sergian “clergy” to the symbolic idols of the “unknown soldier”, “Motherland”, “eternal fire” on solemn days and anniversaries of the “victory” of the Red Army over Hitler and the Christian peoples of Europe, which is accompanied without fail: laying commemorative wreaths, worshiping the five-pointed star-pentogram (the symbol of Satan and the Antichrist) and the hellish fire escaping from it, uttering solemn speeches glorifying the “successes and joys” of the servants of the devil, the communist godless army on earth.

III. Babylonian pillar building
Some interpreters of the Word of God are inclined to see in the Antichrist an absolute atheist-godless. The inner essence of Sergianism is precisely an active example of complete atheism. As early as the beginning of the 19th century, Rev. Seraphim of Sarov predicted that the time would come when “the hierarchs would become so ungodly... that they would no longer believe in the main dogma of the faith of Christ” (Nilus S. On the Bank of the River of God. Vol. 2, p. 157). This prophecy refers without any doubt to the planting of Sergianism in the Russian Church.
What is the most important dogma of the faith of Christ?
Faith in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, as well as faith in the general resurrection of bodies at the Last Judgment of Christ - this is what constitutes the main dogma of Christian teaching, which gives this teaching a special spirituality and transcendence, which is the main difference between orthodoxy and other, untrue faiths . So the Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Corinthians writes: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then neither Christ is risen. But if Christ does not rise, then vain is our preaching, and vain is our faith” (1 Cor. 15:13-14). He who does not believe in the resurrection is an atheist.
The Sergian teaching about the “salvation” of the Church through lies, any compromises and betrayal of her interests into the hands of the enemies of Christ, of course, makes our holy faith in the insurmountability of the Church the gates of hell and in the fact that the Head of the Church and the Steward of her destinies on earth is the Lord Christ Himself, Who alone controls her and truly saves her, completely vain. After all, Sergianism, according to the holy man. ep. Victor, turns the Holy Church from a divine and grace-filled institution into a purely human carnal organization, devoid of the Holy Spirit, ultimately renounces Christ and places all her hope instead of Him on the princes of men. Therefore, Sergianism is disbelief both in our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and in His glorious resurrection and the last resurrection of the dead, in reality representing pure materialism.

All the signs of the apostate activity of the “Moscow Patriarchate” speak only for the fact that it is an example of the apocalyptic harlot church, and the most striking example. All its aspiration is to build the "kingdom of God" (and in fact - the kingdom of Antichrist) on earth, moreover, by godless means. For the “Moscow Patriarchate”, the kingdom of “God” on earth is a communist or any other godless “paradise”, which will reach its highest apogee in the kingdom of the Antichrist.
Back in 1952, the demoniac “Metropolitan” of Kyiv, Nikolai (Yarushevich), in his speech at a conference of all churches and religious associations, depicts the image of building the Tower of Babel with the Antichrist at the head:
“The Soviet Union rises like an impregnable citadel of peace over the muddy waves of a troubled ocean. Our citadel is higher than Mont Blanc and Everest. The first man of the world stands permanently on its watchtower. His eyes are sharp-sighted, his hand is strong, showing people the way of life, his all-encompassing heart beats measuredly, absorbing all the pain of the afflicted, full of calm but tireless anger towards the tormentors and great love for people. He will not allow humanity to be doomed to new torments, recently saved by him ... Glory to the Great Stalin! (Conference of all churches and religious associations in the USSR. Ed. MP. 1952, p. 89).
Revelation of St. app. John the Theologian gives us the following signs of the “Whore of Babylon”, which the so-called harlot embodied. Moscow Patriarchate:
1) A harlot woman “sits on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names” (Rev. 17:3). - This is the merger of the MP with the Soviet atheist power.
2) The harlot “holds a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominations and the uncleanness of her fornication” (Rev. 17:4). – This image speaks of the gracelessness of the “sacraments” of the MP due to the adulterous mixture in its body of truth with lawlessness, the Church with idols, Christians with atheists. For the same reason, the apostle defines her spiritual action as "magic" by which "all nations are led astray" (Rev. 18:23). The “Moscow Patriarchate” is not a Church, but has become “a habitation of demons and a haven for every unclean spirit” (Rev. 18:2).
3) The harlot “did all nations to drink with the wine of the wrath of her fornication” (Rev. 18:23). – Sergian hierarchs preaching communist ideals fostered by atheists at international ecumenical conferences.
4) “The woman is drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses of Jesus” (Rev. 17:6). - Help of the Sergians of the Soviet government in the persecution of martyrs and confessors.
5) “She says in her heart: I sit as a queen, I am not a widow, and I will not see sorrow” (Rev. 18:7). – These words point to its formal “legal succession” from the Russian Orthodox Church. Although the harlot serves the Antichrist and commits fornication with him, she does not renounce Christ in words either, she calls Him her Bridegroom, and herself the “Mother Church”; in everything he relies on the powers of the darkness of this world, hoping to receive long-term earthly prosperity from them.
“It’s absolutely scary,” let’s sum up what was said with the words of the archbishop. Averky, - when people only pretend to pray, not believing in God at all and not wanting to worship God, but bowing in fact to the enemy of God and the enemy of human salvation - the devil ... It is even more terrible when such people find themselves among the clergy when they are invested with holy dignity and are in high hierarchical degrees. Being themselves apostates from Christ in their souls, while maintaining only the appearance of fidelity to Him, they destroy the souls entrusted to them, dragging believers along the path of apostasy. They constitute that “church of the wicked,” about which the Psalmist spoke: “I hate the Church of the wicked, and I will not sit with the wicked” (Ps. 25:5). This “church of the deceitful” at the present time, by the cunning machinations of the enemy of the human race, is not unsuccessfully striving to replace itself and completely replace for the believers the true Church - the true Church of Christ.

Of course, such a “church of the deceitful,” as the current “Moscow Patriarchate,” can no longer be called the Church of Christ, but is, according to the definition of one well-known Russian thinker, “the seductive heresy of anti-Christianity, clothed in the torn robes of historical Orthodoxy” (I. A. Ilyin ).
“Salt envelops” – the Church ceases to be the Church, but becomes a false church, having to accept the Antichrist as its “Messiah”, except for the “small remnant” of true believers” (Arch. Averky).
The heresy of Sergianism is a universal religion, applicable not only to Christianity, but also to any other religion. All searches for the syncretization of world religions by the World Ecumenical Council of Churches will invariably lead precisely to Sergianism, as a cult that allows you to preserve any beliefs and rituals, provided that you worship the Antichrist and recognize his power as “power from God”.
Just as once in the pagan Roman Empire everyone, regardless of what faith he professed, was obliged to render divine honors to the Roman Caesar and make sacrifices to those idols that he worshiped, so in recent times Sergianism will become the religion that will be able to unite everything that has fallen away from God's true humanity under the rule of the Antichrist.
That is why we, true Orthodox Christians, consider Sergianism to be the religion of the beast.
January 22 (February 4), 1996
Sts. New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia
R. Dobrovolsky

The expectations of the Day of Judgment, coming like a thief in the night, permeate the entire Middle Ages, casting their shadow on the art and culture of this era, giving it a unique flavor, sometimes bright, and sometimes ominous, where expectation, hope and fear are merged. Europe with bated breath experienced the year 1000, when people were ready to hear the trumpets of the archangels from heaven and see the coming of the Son of Man in reality. Russia is waiting in fear for the year 7000 (1492). And yet, despite the new dawns and sunsets, despite the assertion of learned theologians that it is not given to a person to know and calculate the day of the Judgment of God, eschatological expectations never completely disappeared in the Middle Ages, but only faded until new formidable events or a new frightening date did not make people again look at the sky with trepidation, predicting the speedy end of history.

The 17th century, the “autumn” of the Russian Middle Ages, is marked by the intensification of eschatological thought, a bright outburst of apocalyptic sentiments. However, many phenomena and processes of the "transitional" century, underlying the deep transformation of Russian medieval culture, date back to the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century, the crisis called by contemporaries the Time of Troubles. This time, full of upheavals, leaves a deep mark on the subsequent events of the Russian “autumn of the Middle Ages”. Turning to the study of the monuments of the era, the historian is faced with a very peculiar expression of the eschatological thought brought to us in the writings of the scribes of the beginning of the century. What did contemporaries see in the ongoing events, how did they assess the new phenomena and disasters that befell the country, what role did eschatological moods play in such an unusual period, which became the prologue of the “transitional” 17th century. - questions important for understanding the culture of this time. We will try to find an answer to some of them.

The year that passed in Russia from June 1605 to May 1606 was very unusual. Outwardly, everything looked prosperous: after the unfortunate reign of the elected autocrat Boris Godunov, the rightful heir, Tsar Dmitry Ioannovich, came to power. To elevate the born sovereign to the throne, the Muscovites killed Boris's successor, the young Fyodor Godunov. However, by that time, the true son of Ivan the Terrible - Tsarevich Dimitri - had already been in the grave for fourteen years. The country was ruled by the only Russian impostor who managed to gain the throne and be crowned: the famous Grishka Otrepiev, a monk who became a tsar and went down in history under the name of False Dmitry I.

Sources say that at the beginning of the XVII century. "great embarrassment" came to Russia. "Trouble" really invaded all areas of life: the political situation was destabilized and the economy went wrong, as historians rightly say, assessing the situation; however, what kind of "Trouble" are the authors themselves talking about? According to one of the scribes, at the beginning of the 17th century, the whole people were confused: when people began to “go deeper with their heads”, “great blood” was shed. And yet, if the socio-economic and political side of the phenomenon has received wide coverage, then the nature of the “great embarrassment” in the self-consciousness of contemporaries has not yet become the subject of serious research. The study of the monuments of the Time of Troubles in the framework of historical phenomenology as a method aimed at reconstruction explanatory procedures the subject of culture, the self-consciousness of a person and an era, seems all the more relevant in relation to the sources of the “transitional” century, the uniqueness of which is determined primarily by the deep evolution of medieval mythologies. It is possible to substantiate the justification of the adaptation of phenomenology to historical science only by specific studies carried out within the framework of this direction. The proposed article is part of this work.

An impostor or a real prince showed up in Russia in 1604? Contemporaries answered this question in different ways. After the overthrow of False Dmitry, letters were sent from Moscow to the cities, indicating that the former tsar was a fugitive monk who planned to destroy Orthodoxy, however, despite the refusal of Maria Nagoya to confirm the authenticity of the “resurrected” and again killed son, despite the transfer of the relics of Tsarevich Dimitri from Uglich to Moscow and his canonization as a martyr, many believed not only in the salvation of the legitimate heir in 1591, but also in the second salvation of the sovereign in June 1606 and supported False Dmitry II. At the same time, many scribes of the Time of Troubles saw the situation as completely different: in their opinion, the reign of the first elected autocrat, Boris Godunov, became the cause of all the disasters associated with Otrepyev. In the wise and poverty-loving king, contemporaries guessed a great sinner, but in the coming of the impostor they saw a punishment that justly befell the wicked ruler.

The invasion of the country by the “son of the Terrible”, supported by the Poles, marked the beginning of a new stage of the great Time of Troubles. Otrepiev, and later other impostors, created their own story of "miraculous salvation", building a mythical biography of the late Dmitry Ivanovich, while numerous legends about the Troubles brought to us the ideas of those who did not believe in various "heirs": in the minds of these people there were other ideas about False Dmitry, who took the throne, was killed by Muscovites and again “resurrected” in 1606. The appearance of the impostor immediately turned into a clash and struggle of fundamentally different myths. And if we are well aware of the “autobiography” created for himself by the fugitive monk (saving him from the murderers sent by Boris in childhood and fleeing to Poland, described at his dying confession, followed by a sudden healing), then the ideas of contemporaries who did not recognize him as the real Dmitry have been studied much worse. The interweaving of such different views around one figure is an amazing phenomenon that determined many events of the Time of Troubles. Let's try to unravel the "riddle of False Dmitry" and understand what the contemporaries of the events, the scribes of the Time of Troubles, saw in the impostor.

"Great pride" of the impostor

Turning to the well-known and one of the most common monuments of the Time of Troubles - "The Tale" by Avraamy Palitsyn, we will meet here the characteristic accusations of the first sovereign of the 17th century: like other scribes, the cellarer of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra describes the pride of Boris Godunov, which left an imprint on all his deeds and in ultimately leading the state to collapse. Turning to the description of False Dmitry, Palitsyn emphasizes, it would seem, the same idea: the new ruler is also obsessed with some kind of pride. However, the "pride" of False Dmitry differs significantly from Borisova - the intentions and intentions of the impostor are called grandiose pride(Tale, 110). What is the expression of this special pride?

Without exception, Palitsyn describes Otrepiev's actions as sinful. One of these cases is a change in titles: “proud in madness”, the defrocking orders to call himself the “most clear”, invincible tsar, “ I think it’s a little ugly, a hedgehog to bear the royal name, but you want to attract the highest and most honest honor» (Legend, 113). The mention of this title is also found in charters. It is known that False Dmitry argued with the Polish side about calling himself emperor: disputes about titles are described in the writings of contemporaries, in particular, in the diary of Marina Mniszek, they are reflected in the surviving correspondence of the sovereign, where he not only defended the need for such an appeal, but also signed accordingly way, while distorting the Latin word to "In perator". However, for Avraamy Palitsyn, this fact seems to be something more. According to the cellarer, a certain husband from the noble rank, clerk Timofei Osipov, “became ripe” for the tsar’s act. A virtuous husband sees a great sin in the act of False Dmitry: “ a person is corruptible and always conquers with external and internal passions, and he has been called an invincible Caesar, and as if God is disgusted by showing himself". Having accepted “jealousy for Bose”, the clerk decides to denounce the tsar and especially prepares for such a case: Osipov fasts and prays, then partakes of the holy gifts, and only after that goes to the royal chambers. Unable to bear the denunciations, False Dmitry betrays the martyr to death (Tale, 113). In a more concise form, other scribes of the Time of Troubles tell the same story. What did Timofei Osipov accuse the tsar of, that this righteous husband “has matured” in the ruler?

The fact that False Dmitry called himself a Caesar is also mentioned by the author of The Tale, How to Raise the Tsar's Throne Boris Godunov. A contemporary of Palitsyn directly says that such an action by an impostor testifies to a very special, amazing pride: according to the scribe, False Dmitry wanted to stay "in the bowels" of Satan himself instead of Judas (who, as you know, was depicted in iconography as sitting in the underworld in the hands of the devil) ; moreover, Otrepiev " having conceded to be also the hundredth itself in the abyss of hell, the most high"and for this" named himself not just a king, but also an invincible Caesar»...

In the writings of John of the Ladder and Abba Dorotheus, widespread in Russia, it is eloquently stated that a person can be saved without divination, without miracles, but without humility. human salvation is impossible. All the more important are the following descriptions of Palitsyn. The “Guardian of Crooked Belief” of defrocking uproots the right faith and establishes heresy in all “strong places and houses”; at the same time, False Dmitry gives very unusual commands, supported by many people: “ it is not known what for the sake of joy, not only, even at his command, the whole synclite, but also forgive everyone, like suitors ... in gold and silver ... walking cheerfully. and not wanting to see anyone walking humbly”(Legend, 112. Hereinafter, the selections in the text of the sources are mine - D.A.). Pride is spreading among people, turning them away from the first and most important virtue leading to salvation - humility of wisdom, in such a way that this happens at the command of the king himself, possessed by "glorious pride." The nature of the impostor's special pride, which determined many of his actions in the description of Russian scribes, remains unclear.

Antichrist "in essence" and Antichrist "in likeness"

The traditions of describing false "princes", and first of all False Dmitry I, in the publicistic monuments of the Time of Troubles have common features. The rasstriga and the accursed heretic are by no means Otrepiev's only "titles": many scribes of the Time of Troubles call the impostor the Antichrist and false Christ. What is behind this name, what is its nature - questions that are not so easy to answer.

The unknown author of “Lament on the Captivity and Final Destruction of the Moscow State” writes a little about False Dmitry, but his characteristics turn out to be very impressive: “ the forerunner of the God-fighting Antichrist, the son of darkness, a relative of perdition, from the rank of monastic and deacon ...» . “Kin of perdition” is a definition that connects False Dmitry with the Antichrist, one of whose names is the son of perdition. Otrepyev here is the forerunner of the Antichrist. However, later, speaking of False Dmitry II, the author, it seems, somewhat changes his characterization of the impostor: the second "son of the Terrible" is defined as " follower ... in the footsteps of the Antichrist, even Tsar Demetrius named himself» . Thus, Otrepiev is identified, if not with the Antichrist himself, then with his forerunner. Clerk Ivan Timofeev defines his idea more clearly: “ according to this, the skimen is fierce from his bed, but the enemy, and not the man, being a verbal being, clothed himself in the flesh of the Antichrist; and like a dark cloud arose from the unluminous darkness...» . Later, reflecting on the “beginning and end” of Otrepiev’s reign, Timofeev exclaims: “ all Satan and the Antichrist appeared in the flesh, he brought sacrifice to himself as a demon!» .

Palitsyn identifies both impostors with the Antichrist: in one form or another, this idea is constantly found in the Tale. If the cellarer invariably calls False Dmitry II a false Christ, then the comments indicating Otrepyev’s connection with the devil are less noticeable to the modern reader, but more extensive and varied. Let's see what the author of the "Tale" says about the very appearance of False Dmitry. Many years, " from the years of holy Vladimir ... even to this day", Pope of Rome -" the all-destructive serpent nestled in the Italian church", trying to subjugate Russia, - writes Palitsyn and continues, - " and the hedgehog cannot be overgrown for many days, and then the devil has inadvertently taken away to the absorption of that saturation arbitrarily bring. And already the end of anger is vomited to see» (Legend, 115). In the appearance of False Dmitry, the scribe guesses Satan's desire to devour the Orthodox country - an old plan of the devil, which this time is very close to its implementation. A little earlier, in the mouth of the “new martyrs” - Pyotr Turgenev and Fyodor Kolachnik - Palitsyn puts the following words addressed to Muscovites: “ Behold, you naturally took the image of the Antichrists and bowed down to the one sent from Satan; and then you will understand, when all perish from it» (Legend, 113).

For the author of the Chronograph of 1617, False Dmitry II seems to be a greater evil: “ In the summer of 7116, the beast is like the theme of the same appearance, or speech and the fiercest of these, rise to the ready for the village of the devil of a dream, the father of lies, Satan himself, came» . The author of the Pskov Chronicle also connects False Dmitry II with the Antichrist, who sent letters and ambassadors to Pskov: “ The same autumn came from a thief to Pskov, as if from a hundred of demons, and his regiment of tormentors ... and navadish on one of the lovers of God and sufferers, who did not want to kneel to bow to Baalov, that is, the forerunner of the Antichrist ...» . In the "History of the First Patriarch Job" we read that some nobles bowed " antichrist sign to false christ Rastriga» .

Otrepiev’s connection with the devil is clearly manifested in the stories about his death, colorfully described in many sources: the earth does not accept the corpse of False Dmitry, demons dance over him, playing their music, and until the body is burned, disasters continue in the country - drought, crop failure . " I have chosen to be the son of a day, and now I myself have chosen to be the son of perdition!”, exclaim contemporaries of the events.

Many scribes specifically narrated about the "fun" arranged by the king, unprecedented on earth, - the "hell with three chapters", whose descriptions are close to the descriptions of the underworld found in medieval writings. The monster built by the river moves and behaves intimidatingly: how he begins to yawn and his eyes blink, and the bells rustle, he bursts out of his mouth with fire, smoke comes out of his ears". According to a contemporary, people appeared from hell: “ and people will come out of it in disguise, pretending to be the devil ... and they will begin to smear people with tar and tar, and they will begin to beat with shepelugs, soaking in tar, and some from hell with water cans squirt water with peat on the world» . The behavior of these mummers imitates the hellish torments with which demons punish sinners who have fallen into their power. The symbolism of Satan and the forces of the underworld overwhelms the descriptions of "hell", which are also found in another monument - "The Legend of the Reign of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich". The hell arranged behind the Moscow River is located in the "great abyss", over which stands a cauldron with resin, and above it - three copper heads. Flames from the larynx, sparks from the nostrils, smoke from the ears, frightening sounds and rattling frighten people, and the long tongue of the copper monster is crowned at the end with an aspid head. In medieval culture, the asp symbolically represented the devil and the Antichrist. The symbolism of the river, the cauldron also refers the reader to another world, the domain of the fallen angels, in which sinners are prepared for numerous and varied torments, described in many monuments of the Middle Ages. The abyss and the river are symbolic designations of the underworld; the fiery river flowing from the West, “burning out” the petty sins of people, but drawing sinners into the lake of fire from which there is no return, is part of the ideas about the posthumous fate of the soul, common in medieval Russia. Hellfire can be placed in a boiling cauldron. Finally, water itself symbolizes unbelief (“The Interpretation of the Apocalypse” by Andrew of Caesarea, the message of the Elder Philotheus, etc.) and in this meaning is found in descriptions of the end of the world and the posthumous ordeals of the soul. The cauldron and the river are attributes of the oprichnina executions of Ivan the Terrible, the analysis of the symbolism of which allowed A.L. Yurganov to put forward an assumption about the eschatological context of oprichnina torture. Located over the abyss near the river “hell”, standing over a cauldron of tar and filled with disguised demons, a very unusual amusement of the “antichrist” king - according to the scribes, it not only marks the place of the future stay of False Dmitry, but also becomes a real hell on earth: the impostor orders to throw Orthodox Christians into his hell " to death " .

These are the most obvious comments identifying False Dmitry (the first, and then the second) with Satan or the Antichrist. What might be behind these descriptions?

“The designation of a person as the Antichrist is typical of medieval controversy,” writes V.N. Peretz, - but, obviously, in each case, identification - "recognition" in a specific person of the "true" ... antichrist, reflected the tense expectation of the end of the world ". This phenomenon is clarified by A.L. Yurganov: “Antichrist... could be both by analogy and in essence. By analogy, the Antichrist (with a small letter) is the one who, for example, lies, tells lies, does all kinds of fornication. The Antichrist is essentially Evil itself...” . What kind of identification occurs among our authors is a difficult question. Considering examples of such a name for False Dmitry, penetrating the sources of the Troubles, T.A. Oparina emphasizes their eschatological basis; assuming here the influence of the writings of Stefan Zizaniy, the historian concludes that "the schemes of the authors of the Kyiv Metropolis were superimposed on the eschatological expectations of Russian literacy of the late 16th - early 17th centuries." Perhaps the opinion of T.A. Oparina about the apocalyptic moods of the era is not sufficiently supported by sources? To answer the question about the nature of the identification of False Dmitry with the Antichrist, it is necessary to understand what the scribes of the Time of Troubles are talking about.

"Abomination of Desolation"

There are many "dark" places in Otrepyev's descriptions. One of the most common topoi that is not clear to the modern reader is the phrase “abomination of desolation”, which is repeated (seemingly in a different context) in many sources of the Time of Troubles. All cases of its use have one thing in common: the topos definition is found in the descriptions of False Dmitry I and the time of his reign. In the “Tale” of Palitsyn, the concept of “an abomination of desolation” characterizes the whole plan of False Dmitry regarding Russia: “and I promised / False Dmitry I / / “strong” - uncle; here is the Pope/" (Tale, 110). Ivan Khvorostinin uses this concept twice: " And so the criminal, the monastic image cast down ... and having the abomination of desolation in his heart ... and desecrate the royal throne". Soon the phrase appears again - this time it defines the sinful act of the impostor, who overthrows the true patriarch from the throne and puts his protege: " And by his power, the first and before his former patriarch and our shepherd Iev is erupted .. and he is introduced, ... Ignatius, an abomination of desolation, in the holy place of our saints, the father sits down» .

The key to understanding the “dark place” is found in the “Vremennik” of the clerk Timofeev. Let us quote the entire passage that speaks of the accession to the throne of False Dmitry. " As if in a simple temple ... a dog with an all-foul bitch and a Latin and a heretic jumped up from the multitude and boldly chaired on the versa of the royal throne! Apparently the whole temple was then filled with a heretic, like wolves, invisibly gloomy clouds of darkness filled with demons ... God's grace, I think, retreat, as if the saying would be fulfilled: “Behold the abomination of desolation, standing in a holy place”; who knows» . What is the reader of this passage supposed to “understand”? All authors clearly refer to something relevant and accessible to the consciousness of contemporaries. Turning to the Holy Scriptures, we find that the “abomination of desolation” is one of the moments of the Apocalypse, preceding the end of the world; this concept is used in the prophecy of Daniel about the end times (Dan. 9: 26-27), later, mentioning Daniel, Christ speaks of the “abomination of desolation” in the prophecy on the Mount of Olives. The Sermon of Olives included in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke is one of the most important apocalyptic prophecies. Seeing the "abomination of desolation", the righteous people must flee and hide, because after it the sorrow of the last days will come, and earthly history will enter the final stage. Undoubtedly, it is necessary to study the alleged quotations of medieval monuments, based on the text of Scripture contemporary to their authors, which, in our case, is primarily the Ostroh Bible of 1581. This is how the words of the prophecy sound here: “ Whenever you behold the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, whoever reads and understands...» . These words look exactly the same in the Gennadiev Bible of 1499. Timofeev quotes Scripture in full, omitting only the reference to Daniel. Quotations by Avraamy Palitsyn and Ivan Khvorostinin are fragmentary.

The definition applied by the scribes to False Dmitry exists in the Old and New Testaments. At the same time, an interesting paradox is revealed in the Ostroh Bible: here, in the book of the prophet Daniel, there is no concept of “an abomination of desolation” - in the first case it is replaced by the words “ disgust and desolation”(Dan. 9: 27, L. 158), and in the second it is generally omitted (Dan. 12: 11. L. 159). Thus, the words of Christ in the Ostroh Bible refer the reader, terminologically, to an “empty place”, referring to Daniel only at the semantic level. Based on this important printed edition of Scripture, the scribe could speak of "the abomination of desolation" by quoting only the prophecy of the Mount of Olives and not the book of Daniel. Of course, the Ostroh Bible is by no means the only version of the Holy Scripture for the 17th century, but let us also pay attention to the fact that Timofeev removes the words “ spoken by Daniel the prophet from his otherwise verbatim quote. The study of the monuments will show that it is the gospel, and not the Old Testament prophecy that is relevant in the sources of the Time of Troubles.

The advent of False Dmitry marks the establishment in Russia, in the holy place of the Orthodox Church, "the abomination of desolation"; these days, in accordance with the prophecy, mark the coming of the end of the world. Speaking of False Dmitry, the clerk Timofeev states: “ and then nothing more than the Antichrist himself who sees him, is unworthy of a being on the throne, rather than a king!"... What is the "abomination of desolation", what do medieval authors write about?

“Places from the book of the prophet Daniel ... are considered very dark and therefore they are translated differently,” we read in the Explanatory Bible, “The abomination of desolation, as they assume, has become among the evangelists something like a terminus technicus to designate the idols set in the temple .. ... but what exactly the Savior meant when he predicted about the abomination of desolation in Jerusalem, it is difficult to say. At the beginning of the 20th century, the motive is recognized as difficult to understand; Was it so in the 17th century? We need to understand how Russian scribes interpret the "dark place" of prophecy.

In The Tale of the Demon Zerefer, the devil is called by three names: "ancient malice", "darkened charm" and - "abomination of desolation". In the same sense, the phrase is used by a contemporary of Palitsyn, the author of “The Tale of How to Raise the Tsar’s Throne Boris Godunov”: False Dmitry, according to him, decides to stay “ in ancient malice, in the abomination of desolation, in the haughty hundreds in the bowels» . In the “Chronicle of Hellenic and Roman”, which has spread in Russia since the middle of the 15th century, we read: “ So the prophet says this about the Antichrist ... and his name is in the number of otai and John in the revelation of this "abomination of desolation" the Lord called» . Finally, in the popular eschatological monument of Russia, "The Word on the End of the World", the son of perdition is also called by this name.

The incomprehensible phrase turns out to be, respectively, one of the characteristics of Satan or the Antichrist. The devil, hell can be understood in the writings of the church fathers known in Russia as emptiness, the absence of God, just as darkness is only the absence of light. Ephraim Sirin writes: As if the darkness is inconsistent in essence, but there is passion in the air, as Saint Basil says, we are impoverished by light» . Fallen spirits that have lost grace are emptiness and corruption; in the Life of Andrei the Holy Fool, the devil is not without reason called " rotten abomination» . The name of Satan “the abomination of desolation” has a certain connection with this idea, however, the conceptual field of the phrase is not limited to such a representation: such a name of the devil is used in cases where it is said about desecration of a holy place, which corresponds to the prophecy of Christ, speaking of the abomination of desolation, "standing in a holy place." If the “abomination of desolation” itself is understood as one of the names of Satan and the Antichrist, then it is applied in very special situations.

In 1644, the Cyril Book was published in Moscow, which incorporated many works popular in Russia. One of them, created in the Kyiv Metropolis at the end of the 16th century and commenting on the “Word” of Cyril of Jerusalem (after whom the collection is named), opens the book. The "abomination of desolation" is specifically discussed here. This is nothing more than the sign predicted by Christ himself (the sixth in accordance with the interpretation) of the near end of the world. To explain its meaning, the interpreter, first of all, needs to define what a holy place is: “ Understand, you too, in every place where the Christian church is in the altar, the throne is a holy place, on it the priests offer sacrifice to God, drain the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. For in Christian churches there are two holy places in the altars, an altar and a throne» . Having given such an explanation to the “holy place”, one can also interpret the very sign predicted by the Savior: “ heed the abomination of desolation, as heretics do not have an altar, and when they remain in Christian churches, they destroy, and throw out from the altar ... the altar.... Tokmo in the altar at the place of sanctification, the abomination of desolation is delivered like a corpse» . In the eschatological tradition, the "abomination of desolation" is a sign of the last days, the time when the church will be desecrated - the Antichrist will be established in the holy place.

It was not for nothing that I. Khvorostinin associated the establishment of the “abomination of desolation” with the patriarchal throne: such an understanding did not arise in the 17th century, earlier the metropolitan’s throne was also perceived as a holy place. A similar example is found in accusatory letters of Joseph Volotsky, written at the end of the 15th century and directed against Metropolitan Zosima. "Deadly serpent," exclaims Joseph, abomination, desolation in a holy place, an apostate of Christ ... the first apostate in the saints in our land, the forerunner of Antichrist» . A heretic who occupies the throne of a metropolitan or patriarch also desecrates a holy place, just as the pernicious son himself will do it. Note that in the short version of the epistle, where it is not the metropolitan who is accused, but the heretics of Novgorod who are Judaizers, the concept of “the abomination of desolation” is not used: with the absence of a “holy place”, this definition becomes impossible, even in relation to great sinners.

Let us turn again to the dark place of the Tale. “And I promised / False Dmitry I / it is not false for them to write down, hedgehog all of Russia to lead to the Antichrist under the blessing and those who do not partake of the abomination of desolation, put all to death on unleavened bread", - writes Palitsyn. The "abomination of desolation" turns out to be connected here with the pope and "unleavened communion" - and not without reason.

The attitude towards Catholics in medieval Russia was extremely negative, anti-Catholic (as well as anti-Uniate and anti-Protestant) writings are included in a variety of collections created in the Orthodox state. The "damned heretics" fell away from the faith long ago, with the acceptance of the heresy by Pope Formosus and Peter the Hunnivogo. The sins of Catholics are numerous, and they are caused, first of all, by the pride of the pope, who imagines himself superior to all the patriarchs (which is associated with ideas about the special role of the Apostle Peter and the Roman see, not accepted by the Orthodox Church). If earlier the pope was "of the same wisdom" with the patriarchs, then later he " arbitrariness» . Among the most condemned "Latin heresies" are the four-pointed cross - "kryzh" untrue, the filioque dogma and - "unleavened" communion. The last accusation grows out of a seemingly insignificant fact: Catholics bake communion bread from unleavened, yeast-free dough, without using leaven (“kvass”) and salt in it. Such breads are the unleavened bread that Palitsyn speaks of. Why is this so important?

Disputes about unleavened bread have a long history - already at the end of the first millennium, they become a serious contradiction between Rome and Constantinople, then passing into Slavic literature. The difference in the most important rite is described at length in a polemical work by Metropolitan Leo (beginning of the 11th century): referring to the Old Testament, the head of the Russian Church argued that any change in the commandment leads people to death - good deeds are based on faith, and unleavened communion destroys it from the inside. There are a lot of justifications for this idea: leavened barn is “animal” and Christ’s, and unleavened is dead, Jewish, using unleavened bread it is necessary to observe the old rites, to make sacrifices as it was under the Old Testament; Jesus ate leavened bread at the Last Supper, and only with it can one celebrate the Eucharist, one who communes with unleavened bread "will not live." The evidence that the Gospel refers specifically to leavened bread is sophisticated: was the bread that the Savior broke after the resurrection leavened, if at that time the Jews were supposed to use unleavened bread at the meal? No, after all, such breads had to be eaten only in Jerusalem, while the Lord was at that moment in Emmaus, which is 65 stages away from Jerusalem... Interpreting the words of the apostle: ”, the author of the monument embarks on difficult arguments that we are actually talking not about “old kvass”, but about the malice shown by old kvass (since kvass is twofold - one is old, evil, the other is new, good), and not about unleavened bread, but about the mortification of sin, which is signified by unleavened bread (since the latter are dead without kvass and signify death): the apostle's words contain the idea that people should be "dead to the sinful movement." Finally, “we, leavened by the ancestral sin, through his mortification on the cross of Christ, have become without leaven, i.e. dead to sin, and thus leavened, i.e. burned, through communion with Him”... Other discrepancies in dogma (including the filioque) are only briefly mentioned in the epistle: unleavened bread is the most important “change of faith,” because, according to the Eastern Church, Western Christians were deprived of the saving rite of the Eucharist through them. “This serves as a hallmark of both confessions, ours and yours,” the metropolitan affirms.

Russian authors have repeatedly addressed the problem of "leavened" and "leavened" bread. In the story about the choice of faith by Prince Vladimir, included in The Tale of Bygone Years, it is the rite of unleavened communion that is presented as the key disagreement between the Greeks and the “Latins”: this is the only “sin” of the Catholics, which the chronicler considered truly important and included in his story about the adoption of Christianity. . The difference between bread and unleavened bread, fundamental for Russian theologians, became the subject of descriptions almost every time when it came to the pulpit of St. Peter; this happened, in particular, after the conclusion of the union of the 15th century, when Metropolitan Isidore, who arrived in Russia, was condemned and rejected by the Russian Orthodox Church. The recognition by the Uniates of both variants of making bread for the Eucharist turned out to be unacceptable in Russia: the miracle of transubstantiation takes place only on yeast bread, the sacrament itself is impossible with unleavened bread. In the 16th century, Elder Philotheus specifically described the essence of the Western rite: although Catholics say that unleavened communion symbolizes “purity and passionlessness,” in fact they lie, hide the devil “inside themselves” - unleavened bread marks the heretical idea that Christ did not receive human flesh from the virgin Mary. Moreover, Christ himself and the apostles ate leavened bread at the Last Supper at a time when Jews were supposed to eat only unleavened bread, and that is why the supper was called the mystery. The renunciation of the "heretical" rite of unleavened communion is specifically included in the "Announcement" on the transition to the Orthodox faith, created for Catholics in the 17th century: " And what is good is soulless, and without salt - without a mind"! - is confirmed here. Thus, Catholics they create the body of Christ soullessly and madly» .

Medieval Russian thought saw in the Roman pope the forerunner of the Antichrist, and here the role of unleavened bread turned out to be really fundamental. At the end of the 16th century, an eschatological work, popular in Russia, was created - “The Annunciation of the Antichrist” by Stefan Zizania. The Ukrainian theologian asserts a well-known and important idea: the difference between bread and unleavened bread is similar to the difference between a person and a corpse. Dough without sourdough and salt is dead! The Pope "puts" dead bread on the altar, and this is nothing more than a desecration of the throne - the holy place of the altar. The introduction of unleavened communion is the "abomination of desolation" predicted by Christ. The true significance of unleavened bread for the Russian Middle Ages can hardly be overestimated: through them the Western Church is already defiled, the Antichrist, having appeared in the world, must spread the Catholic rite to the Orthodox Church, and then the Savior's prophecy will come true throughout the Christian world - the end of the world will come. It is the one who introduces unleavened communion in the last Orthodox state (which, after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Russia recognized itself as the “third Rome” and “second Jerusalem”), and will become the son of perdition. Then there will be no more salvation: but oh, death is not yet, until he himself comes, and the abomination of daily desolation will be done with him and fulfilled» .

Only now are Palitsyn's descriptions beginning to clear up for us: what the Pretender must do is not without reason connected with the Pope, the forerunner of Antichrist. It is to him that False Dmitry promises to do a truly terrible thing in Russia: “ those who do not partake of the abomination of desolation, put all to death with unleavened bread". The defrocked monk, in the view of Palitsyn and his contemporaries, should become the very son of perdition.

Tracing the history of the concept, we will see that in the 17th century a very interesting evolution takes place with it: over time, a completely different meaning begins to be put into the words of the prophecy. It is precisely the eschatological plan that plays a decisive role in this - at the end of the 17th century, the former interpretation was categorically rejected by the Nikonians. Refuting the schismatics and proving that the coming of the Antichrist did not happen and will not happen in the near future (which radically changes medieval ideas), the Nikonians actualize a different understanding of the “abomination of desolation”; the eschatological context turns out to be unacceptable, it must be replaced by another one. Criticizing and “exposing” the Old Believers, Dmitry Rostovsky quotes the same “Word” of Cyril of Jerusalem, without referring to it, but refuting everything that was said there about the sixth sign of the end of the world. He argues that the prophecy on the Mount of Olives does not imply the future coming of the Antichrist, but the deeds of the Romans; the establishment of the “abomination of desolation” in a holy place is not a desecration of shrines and by no means a sign, but the erection of the “idol” of Caesar in the temple that happened a long time ago. Stefan Yavorsky, whose “anti-eschatological” work was regularly republished throughout the 18th century, preaches the same ideas. Even earlier, Yuri Krizhanich called the author of the “Book of Faith” a “string”, who, by his own audacity, “placed” the Antichrist number 666 - 1666: what until recently was a formidable and immutable truth has now received a new characteristic - “ prophesied by breath from Satan je » . Apocalyptic expectations, characteristic of the Middle Ages, are henceforth the lot of schismatic Old Believers. The eschatological context is destroyed everywhere by the Nikonians, and an important concept from the prophecy of Christ is involved in this process: from now on, the Second Coming does not need to be expected “like a thief in the night”, it will not happen soon, and Orthodox people should not guess about the timing.

The conceptual evolution that took place with the term in the transition to the New Age fundamentally changes the medieval understanding of the gospel words. For many, the place from the prophecy becomes "dark". The picture was quite different at the beginning of the 17th century.

"Jews", "righteous sun"

There are many motifs in the descriptions of False Dmitry I that require a hermeneutic approach, although such fragments do not always seem “dark” to our contemporaries.

During the reign of False Dmitry, not everyone was sad about what was happening: in the description of Palitsyn, many people, on the contrary, had fun. However, this fun is very peculiar: in the description of the cellar, the Cossacks rejoice, and they have fun about nothing more than “ about the death of christians". Palitsyn puts curious speeches into the mouths of enemies: “ and crying in troubles and all those who mourn || I rebuke them, and the Jews call them, saying: “As it suits the king, and he does this, but you, Jews, complain about that» (Legend, 113). These speeches can be understood literally: for example, M.A. Govorun believes that the “Tale” reflects the really aggravated relations between Russians and Jews during the Time of Troubles. However, we will try to clarify what is behind these phrases and why it is important for Palitsyn to say about the name of people "Kids".

In medieval Russia, the concept of Zhids is associated with the idea of ​​cruel heretics who rebel against the Truth and torture Christians. This word is used more than once by Palitsyn's contemporaries. The author of the Pskov Chronicle applies the following definition to rebels, robbers, murderers who embarrass the people: “ and all that damnation of the rebels and the chiefs of the Jewish assembly started on good people in order to take their estate», « and rushing around the house, looking for a hunt to find and be satisfied with human blood, like the former tormentor, or rather the second Jews ...» . Like the "second Jews" they rage and torment: " the Pskovites, like the second Jews, having become furious, having and dungeons of good people, tormenting evil ...» . These ideas are based on sacred history and go back not only to the descriptions of the torments accepted by Christ, but also to stories about the cruelty of the Jews in relation to the Old Testament saints. Archpriest Avvakum likens the Nikonians to the Jews: I’m not lying, because the Jews were angry, just like you: they rubbed Isaiah with a saw; Jeremiah was thrown into the feces; Naufey was stoned ... in the end, they killed the son of God himself»; « I want everyone, but they will suffer, just like we, and we, like Christ, from you, new Jews» . The cruelty attributed to the "Jews" is connected with the idea of ​​their apostasy: not recognizing the Savior and crucifying Him, the Jews did not turn to faith with the truth. "Jew", an important concept of medieval Russia, denotes, first of all, a heretic who does not accept Christ and hates Him.

Let us turn again to Palitsyn. According to him, forbidding people to cry and mourn, the servants of False Dmitry call them Jews for disobedience, opposition to their master: just as the “Kids” do not accept Christ, the opponents of False Dmitry reject the new sovereign. Calling Jews people who did not accept the power of False Dmitry, his allies, in fact, identify the king with the Lord himself ( “As it suits the king, and he does such things, but you, Jews, complain about everything"). This is not the only statement of such a thought: Palitsyn's phrase itself has a topos nature, and this topos reveals the meaning of what was said in a special way. " O Jews are villains... What is good for our righteous sun, and he creates, as if he wants”, exclaim the supporters of False Dmitry in the original edition of the Tale. Turning, in particular, to the “Words” of Serapion of Vladimir, we find here an important statement: “ Oh fools! All God creates, as if he wants... » . This idea goes back to Scripture and the works of the Holy Fathers. In the topos motif, the impostor finds himself in the place of the Lord.

In the text of the original edition of the Tale, a new element appears that requires hermeneutic analysis: according to the author, the Cossacks call False Dmitry "the righteous sun" (" What is good for our righteous sun, and he does as he wants”) (Tale, 263). Such an assimilation is typical for various sources describing Otrepyev. Analyzing this word usage, B. A. Uspensky comes to curious observations: such a phrase was first recorded in journalistic sources at the beginning of the 17th century in relation to False Dmitry (testimony of Konrad Bussov about the similar name of the king, etc.), and subsequently becomes the object of ardent condemnation. One of the papers on this subject states: think about this, beloved brethren, in no way call each other a righteous sun, lower than the king of the earth, no one from the rulers of the earth For that is the name of God, and not of corruptible man...» . In liturgical texts, only Christ is really referred to as the “righteous sun.” Turning to the sources of Troubles, we see that here, too, “the righteous sun” is the name of the Lord. Khvorostinin uses this phrase when describing the baptism of Russia: " from that time, the righteous sun Christ, by the lordship of the Euangels, preached our land to Hosea» . The author of the Chronograph of 1617 uses the same combination when speaking about the end of the Troubles and the election of Romanov: “ Pack the sun of truth with a bright ray of grace to us ascension, they saw all the light is great, sweet silence is a free day. For the Lord our God has taken away all our reproach ...» . In a message to the Georgian king (1589), Patriarch Job likens Feodor Ioannovich to the righteous sun (“ figuratively like the sun”), calling it the “vessel of good manners” of the righteous sun - Christ. . Thus, in the journalism of the Time of Troubles, this concept is the name of God himself. Later he calls Christ and Habakkuk the "righteous sun": Tortured, the heavenly bridegroom is reached. Anyhow, God will make them go through this vain age and appropriate the bridegroom of heaven into his chamber, the righteous sun, shine, our hope!» . The first name of a person recorded by the sources as the “righteous sun” refers to False Dmitry. According to tradition, this means that the king takes the name of the Lord himself.

Using the concept of Judaism and the combination the sun is righteous, put into the mouths of the allies of False Dmitry, Palitsyn claims one thought - False Dmitry called, proclaimed the Savior himself. For a medieval person, this could mean only one thing: the Antichrist was established on the throne of the God-protected kingdom.

"Time of Times and Half Time"

Narrating the first impostor, the scribes of the Time of Troubles filled their story with many symbols, conveying important thoughts to the reader, and often building a complex system of evidence of their own ideas on a symbolic level and thus explaining what was happening to contemporaries. Let us pay attention to the characteristic definitions that the impostor receives in the monuments of the Time of Troubles. Here is how the author of “Lament on the Captivity and Final Destruction of the Muscovite State” describes the death of False Dmitry, “the son of darkness, a relative of death”: “ Merciful, our God the Trinity, do not let this enemy go to the end pour out all-evil poison, soon spreading his demonic intrigues. And his soul will be torn out of him in anger...» . We also meet similar concepts in the Chronograph of 1617: “... and boasting / False Dmitry / to the whole Greek country, hedgehog to extinguish in it the piety of Christ and his holiness; but do not let him the power of Christ sure do it» . Similar turns are also found in the letters of the Time of Troubles. Due to the frequent repetition of such phrases in the sources, they seem to be nothing more than a general rhetorical device; this is often true, but the images used here are of a symbolic nature, and the nature of the symbol is capable of revealing, revealing the original meaning, which gives a very special meaning to the entire context. We encounter a similar situation when referring to the descriptions of False Dmitry: talking about him, some scribes of the Time of Troubles do not limit themselves to using topoi, but directly point to the source of their words. We are talking about the "Tale" by Avraamy Palitsyn and "Vremennik" by Ivan Timofeev.

Speaking about the coming to Russia of Marina Mnishek, the bride of False Dmitry, Timofeev comments on this event in the following way: “ fire like heresy to rage, not like a queen, but a human-shaped asp, coming to Christianity, breathing, like, like those of women in the Revelation of the Theologian lies: “One|| one, the wicked, the pious, although drown from the mouth with water "". In order for the comparison to become clear, Timofeev urges readers to recall the Revelation of John the Theologian. We will also turn to him. Asp (serpent, dragon), pouring water from the mouth on the righteous wife (Church), is an important motif of the prophecies: in the last times, according to the evangelist, the serpent-devil will be cast out of heaven by the archangel Michael and, once on earth, will begin to persecute the wife Church. Here is what Revelation says about it: and when he saw the snakes, as if he was cast down to the ground, chasing the wife ... And let the snakes out of their mouths after the wife like a river, so that she would be drowned in the river"(Rev. 12: 13-15. L. 68). It is with the serpent-devil that the author of Vremennik compares the impostor's bride. However, Timofeev does not quote Scripture literally: the scribe combines the images existing there into something new. Marina Mniszek is called not only "asp", but also "wicked wife", which refers the reader to another image of the prophecy - the Harlot (Rev. 17). According to Revelation, it is not the "wicked woman" but the Serpent who will try to drown the righteous woman; likening "Christianity" (Church) and Marina-aspis to two virgins, Ivan Timofeev creates an image, although moving away from the text of Scripture, but bright and understandable to readers who know biblical prophecy well.

Why, when describing False Dmitry, does Timofeev turn to the Revelation of John the Theologian about the end of the world? Did images appear in other sources that resemble the words of prophecy by chance? Let us turn to Palitsyn's Tale. Here is how Abraham argues about the reign of Otrepiev: “... The devil delighted to devour that satiety/Orthodox Russia/ arbitrarily bring. And already the end of anger is vomited to see. But the time of times and half the time is not yet fulfilled, according to the revelation of John the Theologian. In the same way, the Lord does not reject us yet» (Legend, 115). We see that in her descriptions, False Dmitry Palitsyn, like other authors, creates an image that approaches Revelation, where the devil spews water on the Church, wanting to drown it; in addition, the scribe speaks of final vomiting, which echoes the Chronograph of 1617. However, the creator of the Tale uses more symbols than other scribes, due to which the meaning of what was said is revealed more deeply. Palitsyn writes about "time of times and half time".

In the eschatological tradition, the mentioned period corresponds to three and a half years - the period that the Antichrist is destined to rule in the last days. At the same time, this definition itself is directly related to the number of years allotted until the end of the world. Here is what the prophet Daniel says about the end of earthly history: And I heard from a man clothed in purple... and I swore that she lives forever, as in time, and in time, and in half time"(Dan. 12: 7. L. 159). However, Palitsyn (like Timofeev) does not mention Daniel: according to the cellar, his descriptions are based on a different source - the Revelation of John the Theologian. Turning to him, we see that the scribe is quoting a passage from the same place in the prophecy, the same description of the serpent spewing water on the "wife" - the Church. " And two wings were given to the wife, let the great eagle soar into the wilderness in her place, and let the beshe be fed that time of times and half a time, from the face of the serpent", - writes the evangelist, and continues: " And let the serpents pour water out of your mouth after the woman... "(Rev. 12: 14-15. L. 68). "A time of times and half a time" has the same meaning here as in the book of Daniel. The prediction of the time of the end is directly related to the "outpouring of water" - the attempt of the devil in the last days to destroy the Church and come to power on earth.

Through symbols ascending to the Revelation of John the Theologian, the description of False Dmitry is revealed to readers in a special way. The evil that the impostor “poured out”, “vomited up” in Russia is likened to the water vomited by the Serpent on the Church in the last days; like the devil himself, Otrepiev is trying to extinguish the grace of Christ. An ancient evil is ready to be embodied in the country through an unrighteous king, and the prophecies are closer than ever to being fulfilled. And yet, the last times are not coming: the time measured by the Lord - “a time of times and half a time” - has not yet passed, and the Serpent-Satan cannot fulfill his plan.

After the overthrow of False Dmitry, it becomes clear that the worst fears did not come true. However, this does not at all transfer the expectation of the end of the world to an indefinite future: with the accession of the Shuisky Troubles does not end, and the coming of the pernicious son, which Otrepyev did not become, continues to be expected with no less tension. A new impostor appears in the country, and the story of False Dmitry continues. In the new "prince" the scribes immediately guess the Antichrist, advancing on the state and wishing to establish his power on Earth. Palitsyn initially calls False Dmitry II a false Christ; " At the ready ... the village of the devil's dreams will come the father of lies Satan himself”, exclaims the author of the Chronograph of 1617; the second impostor is called the antichrist by the author of the Pskov Chronicle, which does not mention False Dmitry I. The new "heir" develops the myth created by his predecessor. The former myth is also preserved by its opponents, perceiving a false tsar seeking to seize the throne of an Orthodox country, in accordance with the coming of the pernicious son predicted in Revelation.

The reign of False Dmitry, whom the Muscovites “madly” kissed the cross, becomes a real disaster: the visions spreading throughout the country not without reason say that the Lord is ready to “finally” destroy Russia. The sin of the society that swore allegiance to Otrepiev is terrible; that victory is not given to the devil is the inexpressible mercy of God. " For this reason, it is better for us, who see, to pay attention, and for the immeasurable sovereign mercy, thank him”, - Palitsyn sums up his descriptions (Legend, 115). Eschatological sentiments are growing rapidly during the reign of Otrepyev. Having supported and brought to power the “son of Ivan the Terrible”, and then seeing how the long-awaited sovereign behaves and what the long-awaited sovereign does, many contemporaries realized with horror: a man was established on the throne by flattery, in which the son of perdition himself could incarnate. After the overthrow of the ruler, it was time to think again, thank the Lord and repent, but the appearance of the second impostor, again supported by the Russian people and again rushing to the throne, made it clear that a new threat loomed over the whole ungrateful world.

Eschatological expectations

Expectations of the end of the world in the near future are characteristic of medieval culture. After the terrible seven thousandth year has passed, the concept of the end of the world in the "eighth century", that is, in the new, eighth millennium, arises. The world is dilapidated and old, it is inexorably approaching its end. Contemporaries understand what a difficult time they had to live: “ like a real oubo aged eyelid, and these evil days"! It seems that a little more history will reach its culminating point: the coming of the Antichrist will happen. After 1492, only the exact date remains unknown: “ And as if we see a person who has grown old, and it’s like we’ll soon die to have it, because the end of summer has come to him, but which days and hours, we don’t know. also about the coming of Christ, and about the end of this world, we understand» . People should prepare for severe trials and the imminent Last Judgment.

In the 17th century, the eschatological perception of what is happening becomes, perhaps, unprecedentedly “stable”: the end of the world is constantly expected in connection with both the chronology and certain events. For the first time this happens at the very beginning of the century, during the Time of Troubles, as evidenced by the numerous signs and visions that have spread at that time; soon eschatological expectations are resurrected again - in connection with the reforms of 1653-1654 and the Church Schism. At the end of the century, the Antichrist is seen in Peter I, and the signs of the End are seen in his reforms. Finally, a special place is occupied by the expectations of the Second Coming, connected with the approach of 1666. " And after the completion of the number of years, one thousand six hundred and sixty-six, it is not indecent, and we have salvation from these wines, but not to suffer some evil, according to the predetermined ones, the fulfillment of the Scriptures of the testimonies: as the day of Christ will come, like the apostle”, - says the Book of Faith, published in Moscow in 1648. The coming of the Antichrist must take place in 18 years, and then the readers of the Book will see the very son of perdition: “ and is it not fitting to be ready, if anyone reaches those times, to fight with the devil himself» . Medieval consciousness is ready to see in what is happening the events of the coming Apocalypse and awaits the Day of Christ like a thief in the night. Famous words of Christ it’s not yours to understand the hours and years that the father put in his vladzy"do not confuse people at all: after all, the time of the Second Coming is hidden from" perverse people”, and“ to their own ”, if not openly directly, then it is given to understand according to the predicted signs.

One of the important and popular works that calculate the time of the end of the world according to signs is the already mentioned “Kazan about the Antichrist” by Stefan Zizania, published in 1596 in parallel in Russian-Lithuanian and Polish. This work is a lengthy commentary on the “Words” of Cyril of Jerusalem about the last times. In 1644, translated into Russian "Kazan" (without mentioning Stefan, so the work is attributed to Cyril himself), is included in the famous "Kirill's Book". What is it “given to understand” to your people about the end of the world? Although the Antichrist did not appear in 1492, he should be expected shortly after the year 7000: after all, on the eighth day Christ appeared to the disciples, on the “eighth century” (millennium) the Second Coming of the Savior should also take place. Even Solomon predicted that in the "eighth century" the death of "this age" would occur and a new time would begin. The “Tale” is echoed by the “Book of Faith”: “ as if after seven thousand years his arrival will be ... after seven days the world will be completed, and after seven thousand years the death will be. And about this we should pay attention» . All signs of the end of the world, predicted by Christ on the Mount of Olives, are explained and described in the "Tale". There is very little left until the End: as soon as the Antichrist spreads the Catholic “abomination of desolation” in Orthodox churches and fierce times come, people will only have to wait for the sign of the Lord in heaven. At the end of the century, the Nikonians will prove the impossibility of the imminent Coming of Christ, referring to the same prophecy, in particular, relying on the fact that the Gospel has not yet been preached to all languages ​​and peoples; in medieval culture, this sign is interpreted in a different way: “ a thousand years had not yet been completed from the birth of Christ. The gospel was preached not a little to all the world", and then through the Ecumenical Councils" roofing felt all over the world ... all the people have been notified» . The Day of Judgment is just around the corner, it really needs to be expected like a thief in the night, thinking about salvation and trusting in the Lord.

The accomplished signs are spoken of in many sources. Events that foreshadow the imminent end are easily found in history, and one of such events is the separation of the Catholic and Orthodox churches - the falling away of the Roman pontiff himself “from the true faith”.

« All the power from those times to the royal and hierarchal pope attracted on himself, in a koupe both the king and the saint called, - states the "Book of Faith", - Is this not a clear forerunner of the Antichrists". Don't wait long for the end of the world: The Lord will not touch the promises ... these are the days of our years and months, like sleepy days pass, and like a canopy towards evening, may the terrible and great coming of Christ come soon» . "Vicar of Peter" is included in the eschatological model and the authors of the Time of Troubles. In the “Tale” of Palitsyn about the pope, the “straight” Antichrist, it is said in connection with False Dmitry: “ From the years of Saint Vladimir, who baptized the Russian land, even to this day, the all-destructive serpent, nestled in the Italian church, always rejects the heavenly stars, not only in Europe, the fourth part of the universe, but also in the east and south and north does not rest drives» (Legend, 115). The image of the serpent-devil, overthrowing the stars from heaven, is found in ancient Russian literature (this is how, for example, Andrei Kurbsky describes Satan) and goes back to Revelation: “ And another sign appeared in heaven, and the great serpent, having seven heads, had ten horns, and seven crowns on its heads. And his trunk is older than a third of the stars of heaven, and I put it in the ground ..."(Rev. 12: 3-4. L. 68). The “fourth part of the universe”, over which the power of the pope is extended, also has analogies in Revelation (Rev. 6: 8. L. 66). The descriptions of the Pope of Rome, "the system of the Antichrist," approach on a symbolic level the descriptions of Satan. Where could such an idea come from? In the West, in Protestant theology, there is an idea that the Antichrist is not a specific person, but a succession of successive popes. It is possible that these ideas, having penetrated into Russia through the writings of Ukrainian-Belarusian theologians, were reflected in such descriptions (T. A. Oparina suggests that two important eschatological concepts about the Pope-Antichrist and the end of the world in the "eighth century" were perceived Russian authors precisely from the work of Stefan Zizania). One way or another, this idea is clearly in tune with the Russian medieval ideas about the true Catholic Church “fallen away” from the faith and heretic popes.

However, in Palitsyn's Tale, the emphasis is shifted to False Dmitry: since for many years the power of the pope cannot extend to Russia, the devil " admiring to the absorption of that saturation self-willedly brought". It is False Dmitry who must carry out the plan of the devil and bring Russia to his power by introducing unleavened communion in Orthodox churches. This attempt nearly fails. and already chaashe the end of anger is vomited to see”) (Tale, 115). If for the author of The Book of Faith the existence of the pope, the forerunner of the Antichrist, confirms the nearness of the End, then for the writers of the Time of Troubles, the impostor turns out to be the most important figure associated with eschatological expectations.

Antichrist must accept all evil and full of pride Satan to turn people away from God. The new tsar, in Palitsyn's description, not only seeks to spread the "abomination of desolation" throughout the country and eclipse Christ's piety, but also turns people away from humility that saves the soul, forcing them to rejoice "who knows what joy." It is not for nothing that the author of the Tale says that such things are done by False Dmitry in grandiose pride: the pride of False Dmitry has a very special nature because it is higher and stronger than human. The "glorious pride" of the king is the pride of Satan, who dreams of coming to power through the son of perdition and eclipsing Christ's piety all over the world. And yet, by God's grace, the end of the world does not come, and the devil does not pour out his malice "to the end." False Dmitry is not destined to become the “final” Antichrist, but due to the apocalyptic perception of events, they see him as the Antichrist in essence, and not in the likeness, which any fornicator and liar can be.

The image created by Palitsyn and other authors of the Time of Troubles really brings the impostor closer to the “ultimate” Antichrist of the last times. Here, a legitimate doubt may arise: could the contemporaries of the Time of Troubles see the Antichrist in a specific person, a defrocked monk, whom the authors themselves often call Otrepiev? To answer this question, you need to understand who the Antichrist was supposed to be in the minds of medieval people.

son of doom

In the Middle Ages, there were different interpretations of what the nature of the pernicious son was. According to one of them, the Antichrist is only the phantom flesh of Satan. The fact that the son of perdition will be similar to Christ in everything, but this likeness will not be genuine, but illusory, is a fundamentally important idea: the devil is weak, his pride is based on real impotence, all the miracles performed by the Antichrist will be only ghostly visions - not to walk on water , nor move a mountain in fact he is not capable. In some cases, this idea was extended to the idea of ​​the nature of the pernicious son; this happens, for example, in one of the popular eschatological works of ancient Russia - "The Legend of the End of the World and the Antichrist." The birth of Christ from the virgin Mary was genuine, it is affirmed here, for the Lord created Adam, and only He can create human flesh, the birth of the Antichrist will be like the birth of the Savior, it will also come from a virgin, but the devil is not able to create like God: "Be born" Satan " haunted by a damsel»; « but if the devil takes flesh, and the one in the ghost how could the flesh not be created". Fallen angel in Antichrist the dreamer of the flesh will perceive the vessel of his being» .

The idea that an unclean spirit cannot create a body for his son formed the basis of another idea - that the Lord himself created the flesh of Antichrist. Until the end of time, the “mean and filthy” shell is kept bound in hell: only before the end of the world, when the time comes for the fulfillment of ancient prophecies, the son of perdition will enter it and reign on earth.

Both interpretations known in Russia are determined by one important thought: Satan is powerless, like a monkey he strives to be like God, but in reality he carries only emptiness and “abomination of desolation”. The ideas about the power of the devil that existed in Europe are completely alien to Russian medieval culture: when in the 1620s, after a special process, the “Teacher Gospel” by Cyril Tranquillion-Stavrovetsky was burned in Moscow, one of the main points of accusation was precisely the non-canonical representation of the unclean. Intimidating sinners, Cyril colorfully, on four pages, describes the terrible hellish torments, which are "run" by a fierce devil, whose image resembles a picture from a science fiction novel of the New Age. Beelzebub, of every creature is the most terrible, brash and fierce”, pales here in comparison with Leviathan, the “great fish” of the fiery sea, which is huge like the greatest mountain or like a thousand mountains, spews thunder and fire from its mouth, smoke from its ears, and “sapanya” from its nostrils, fanning hellish fire. The Russian theologian finds a well-aimed definition for such descriptions, which are absolutely incorrect and heretical from his point of view – he simply “pities” their author: “ weeping, Kiril raved...» .

And yet, ideas about the impotence of Satan were far from always transferred to the Antichrist: the third, and most common interpretation, represents the son of perdition not as a devil incarnated, but as a man - a real, living man of flesh and blood. Born of a woman descended from the tribe of Dan, he will absorb all the evil of the world and receive all the power of Satan. Discussing the names of the Antichrist, John Chrysostom writes: and Jesus calls the man of sin; Jesus says the son of perdition, and then he will perish. Who is this; oobo is Satan; no way: but a certain person accepts all his actions"! In the tenth sign of the “Word” of Cyril of Jerusalem, it is said about the pernicious son: “ not from kings, nor from royal lineage will he restrain the kingdom, but by deceit will the power delight". "Who is this"? - asks the author of the comments Stefan Zizaniy, and answers: a person who “ Satan will teach himself a disciple, who, according to his will, will begin to act by himself» . We also encounter the same reasoning in another popular eschatological work, The Tale of Christ and the Antichrist by Hippolytus, Pope of Rome, where the son of perdition is by no means interpreted as an hypostasis of the unclean, but as a “son of the devil”, a “vessel of satan”. In the Tale of the Deliverance of Ustyug the Great, which describes the siege of the city during the Time of Troubles, it is directly stated that the devil took possession of the monk Gregory, who was going to destroy the Orthodox faith throughout Russia.

This is the common opinion that speaks of the human nature of the Antichrist. Let the personality and name of the king be known to his contemporaries, the name of the pernicious son will also have, and until the last times it will remain a secret. All the evil of the world and all the hatred of hell can be embodied in a fugitive defrocked monk, and then the prophecy of Christ will come true in 1605...

The reign of False Dmitry I in the context of the Time of Troubles

The sources of the Time of Troubles attracted by us were created and edited after the death of False Dmitry, when it was clear that the “final” Antichrist did not come out of the first impostor, and, nevertheless, his descriptions correlate with biblical prophecies about the pernicious son. There is no contradiction here. With the death of Otrepiev, the Troubles do not stop, and along with it, eschatological expectations are preserved - and grow. The time to judge for contemporaries has not yet come. A second impostor appears in the country, and they immediately begin to call him a false Christ, foreigners flood the country, threatening signs spread everywhere. The descriptions of these days in many sources make us recall the descriptions of the end of the world known in Russia. Speaking about the troubles of the last period of the Troubles, which came after the overthrow of Shuisky, the author of the Chronograph of 1617 concludes: “ and then there would be great despondency and rebellion in the whole land of Rus' ... punishment for the sake of the infidels and rape of the military. If those days had not ceased, then all flesh would not have been saved according to the saying» . What source is cited here? Turning to the Holy Scriptures, we will see that the scribe refers readers to the same Olivet Sermon, which speaks of the disastrous times that will come before the end of the world: “ There will be great sorrows then, but Jacob was not from the beginning of the world, hitherto, who could be. And if these days had not ceased, all flesh would not have been saved"(Matt. 24: 21. L. 14). The author of the Chronograph quotes the Gospel word for word. According to the Savior, earthly history will end with a “great tribulation”, followed by the end of the world and the Second Coming will follow.

Speaking about the attempts of False Dmitry II to seduce people to his “charm” and thereby tear them away from the right faith, Palitsyn, as it seems at first glance, brings his descriptions closer to well-known apocalyptic motives. "... False Christs and false prophets will arise, and they will give great signs and wonders, as if to deceive, if possible, the elect”, we read in the prophecy of the Mount of Olives (Matt. 24: 24. L. 14); Here is how, in turn, Abraham writes about the attempt of the second impostor to seduce Metropolitan Philaret: “ But I would be led to a false Christ ... advising the enemy, so that others will be deceived, and if you want to swear to your charms» (Legend, 123). After the tribulation of the last days, the last signs of the coming end will take place: kill those days in sorrow, the sun will darken and the moon will not give its light... "(Matt. 24: 29-30. L. 14); at Palitsyn, at the end of the first part of the Tale, we meet: “ and then the sun is darker, hedgehog is all piety», « and instead of the moon, many fires of the field and forest illuminate the night ..."(Legend, 120-121, 122). Many other fragments of the Tale also have certain similarities with the eschatological writings popular in Russia. Whatever the nature of these topos motifs in the monuments of the early 17th century, it is obvious that with the death of the first impostor, the expectations of the end of the world do not disappear from the consciousness of people, but continue to develop at a new stage of the Time of Troubles. There is a surge of threatening visions and signs in the country, many of which predict the imminent death of the entire state if people do not turn to repentance.

As long as the apocalyptic perception of events persists, everything that happens during the Time of Troubles is perceived by contemporaries as a sign of the coming End. T. A. Oparina makes, in particular, such an assumption regarding the “Vremennik” by clerk Timofeev: “interpreting the fact of the execution of the Pretender, the author believed that in this role, as an invulnerable false Christ, False Dmitry I sacrificed himself, as if allowing him to be killed, which means that he will return in a different guise. Perhaps, we can state one thing with certainty: a clear and general "gradation", the systematization of events did not exist at that time, it did not exist before, and will not arise in the future. A unified idea is alien to the consciousness of the Middle Ages, and in Scripture and in Tradition there are different ideas about the events of the apocalypse, allowing different interpretations of events. This phenomenon manifests itself almost every time when ideas about the imminent end spread in society: during the period of eschatological expectations, many see the “final” Antichrist in one of their contemporaries, while others remember the exact Biblical prophecies. Half a century after the events of the Time of Troubles, not only the Nikonians, but also Avvakum and other teachers of the schism warn people against seeing a pernicious son in any particular person: the Antichrist must come from the tribe of Israel, from the tribe of Dan and reign, while the rest of the apostates - only forerunners of the "ultimate" Antichrist. And yet, many consider the son of Nikon’s death, and then Peter I. Recalling the reign of the impostor, Palitsyn claims that his contemporaries “ already chaashe the end of anger is vomited to see» (Legend, 115). The "new martyrs" described in the "Tale" predict a quick death from the messenger of Satan to all those who swore allegiance to the king (Tale, 113). Finally, clerk Timofeev claims that people " then nothing more than the Antichrist himself who sees him, unworthy of being on the throne, rather than the king!»With the death of Otrepiev, the ideas about the coming end of the world do not lose their relevance, gaining strength with the appearance of the second impostor and finding their expression in the monuments of the early 17th century: for scribes who created and edited their works after the Time of Troubles (as Palitsyn and Timofeev did) and at the new stage, it was important to show how close the country came to destruction, and from what misfortune the mercy of the Almighty saved people.

Undoubtedly, not all contemporaries of the Time of Troubles were the bearers of the myth reflected in the journalistic sources of this time: many people continued to see the saved prince in both the first and second impostor; a serious and terrible split is taking place in society, not much inferior, perhaps, to the future split of the church. The phenomenon of the Time of Troubles manifests itself in many respects here, forcing us to recall the words of the author of the New Tale about the throne of the Russian state: to that place to vacillate, and to those who dwell on it be troubled, and to deepen their heads, and shed great blood» . Concluding a brief analysis of the impostor tsar, we begin to see what an important role the expectations of the Lord's day and the coming of the pernicious son associated with the figure of False Dmitry played for the creators of the monuments. The sources of this time are endowed with a special symbolic depth, the disclosure of which brings us closer to a better understanding of the past: it is here that the uniqueness of the era, freed from modern interpretations, its mythical reality, is revealed to modern man, enriching his knowledge of the history of bygone centuries.

So, with the advent of 1492, the date of the coming of the day of the Lord was predicted in 7007, 7777 and other years, and finally was postponed to the eighth millennium. See about it: Pliguzov A.I., Tikhonyuk I.A.. Epistle of Dmitry Trakhaniot to the Novgorod archbishop Gennady Gonzov about the sevenfold number of years // Natural science representations of Ancient Russia. M., 1988. S. 67, 68; Sakharov V.A. Eschatological writings and legends in ancient Russian literature and their influence on folk spiritual verses. Tula, 1879, p. 57, etc.

2 A new story about the glorious Russian kingdom // Russian Historical Library (RIB). T. 13. St. Petersburg, 1909. 192.

The reason for such one-sidedness is the unconditional primacy of the explanatory paradigm in the historical science of the 20th century: the heteronomous trend in humanitarian research determines the most important currents of historical thought of the past century. See about this: Yurganov A.L. Source study of culture (end) // Russia XXI. M., 2003. No. 4. S. 65-66.

On the theoretical and methodological foundations of historical phenomenology, see: Yurganov A.L. Experience of historical phenomenology // Karavashkin A.V., Yurganov A.L. Experience of historical phenomenology. The hard way to the obvious. M., 2003. S. 312-334.

See about this: Antonov D.I. Boris Godunov. Pride and Humility in Medieval Russia // Russia XXI. No. 1. M., 2004. S. 171.

Popov A. Yurganov A.L. Monarch About the demon Zerefer // Monuments of ancient Russian literature, published by Count Grigory Kushalev-Bezborodko. Issue. 1. St. Petersburg, 1860. S. 204. Kazan'e about the Antichrist. Vilna, 1569. L. 41b-42. Their faith is not much corrupted with us: they serve more unleavened bread ... God did not betray them, but commanded them to serve with bread ... From the "Book of Conversations": Fifth Conversation // PLDR. XVII century. Book 2. M., 1989. S. 422.

Blessed Serapion's word about lack of faith // PLDR. XIII century. M., 1981. S. 452.

In addition to the "righteous sun", False Dmitry could be called the "red sun". Drawing on folklore material (later records), Maureen Perrie concludes that this name is based on the popular idea of ​​a “good ruler”, as well as the idea of ​​death and resurrection (the death and “rebirth” of Tsarevich Dmitry is a folklore image sun). Note that to prove the existence of such ideas among the people at the beginning of the 17th century. not so easy; at the same time, such an interpretation contradicts the direct statements of the authors of the Time of Troubles, in whose writings these concepts reach us. See: Perrie Maureen. Christ or Devil? Images of the First False Dimitry in Early Seventeenth-Century Russia // Structure and Tradition in Russian Society. Helsinki, 1994. P. 105-108.

"Life" of Avvakum // PLDR. XVII century. Book. 2. S. 381. Ibid. Sakharov V.A. Decree. op. P. 24. The difference in interpretations of the nature of the Antichrist became one of the grounds that allowed V. A. Sakharov to attribute the "Legend of the End of the World" as belonging not to Hippolytus of Rome, but to another author. See about it:

Mountains of unburied corpses, animals doing evil to people, churches turned into stables, disasters during the day and disasters at night, and other images that fill the Tale are found in numerous descriptions of the last days in monuments popular in Russia. Compare: Legend, S. 120 (L. 38ob-39), S. 121 (L. 40), S. 122 (L. 41-42), S. 123 (L. 44-44ob) and “Word about end of the world ": Sreznevsky I.I. Decree. op. pp. 84, 87; Abba Dorotheus' teaching about the end times: Ephraim Sirin, Abba Dorotheos. Teachings. M., 1652. L. 302-302v. and etc.

Oparina T.A. Decree. op. S. 121.

"Vremennik" by Ivan Timofeev. S. 88.

What year do the events described in the historical source refer to?

“When this warrior and voivode, Prince Mikhail Vasilievich Skopin-Shuisky, obeyed the tsar and came to Moscow, the son Alexei was born to the boyar Ivan Mikhailovich Vorotynsky. And less than two months after his birth, Prince Mikhail became a godfather, and the wife of Prince Dmitry Ivanovich Shuisky, Princess Marya, daughter of Malyuta Skuratov, became the godfather. And on the advice of the nodal traitors, she conceived a malicious intent ... And after the merry feast, Princess Marya offered a cup of drink to her godfather and congratulated her godson.

And in that bowl - a fierce drink is prepared, a drink of death.

1. 1591
2. 1610
3. 1646
4. 1730

Task 2

What is the name of the document, an excerpt from which is presented below?

"St. 1. People are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social differences can only be based on common good. Art. 2. The goal of every political union is to secure the natural and inalienable rights of man. These are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.”

1. Table of ranks
2. habeas corpus act
3. Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
4. Cathedral code

Task 3

In what year was the document, an excerpt from which is presented below, compiled?

“... we must have care for the integrity of our entire state, which for the sake of it we have decided to do this charter, so that this is always in the will-governing sovereign, to whom she wants, he will determine the inheritance, and to a certain one, seeing what indecency, he will cancel again ... For the sake of this, we command that all our faithful subjects approved this charter of ours on such a basis that anyone who is opposed to this, or otherwise interprets it, he ... will be subject to the death penalty and the church oath.

1. 1584
2. 1605
3. 1682
4. 1722

Answer:

1 point for each correct answer.

A total of 3 points for the tasks.

In tasks 4-6, select several correct answers from the suggested ones.

Enter your answers in the table.

Task 4

Which of the concepts, phenomena appeared in Russian society in the 18th century?

1. recruit
2. tax
3. penny
4. Assembly
5. collegium
6. reiter

Task 5

Which of the historical figures was a participant in the war that led to the creation of the Republic of the United Provinces?

1. Gilbert de Lafayette
2. William of Orange
3. Georges Danton
4. Guillaume Kal
5. Fernando Alba
6. James Watt

Task 6

Which of the battles took place during the Russian-Turkish wars?

1. battle near the village of Lesnoy
2. capture of the fortress of Izmail
3. battle of Klushino
4. Battle of Larga
5. battle of Rymnik
6. Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf

Answer:

2 points for a completely correct answer for each task; 1 point for an answer with one mistake (one of the correct answers is not indicated or one incorrect answer is given along with the indicated correct answers).

Total for tasks 6 points.

Task 7

Here is a list of events that took place in three cities. Indicate the names of these cities and correlate the corresponding events with them. Enter all the information in the table.

1. adoption of the Council Code
2. death of Paul I
3. the beginning of the work of the Legislative Commission under Catherine II
4. the final defeat of the troops of I. Bolotnikov
5. construction of the Admiralty
6. foundation of metallurgical manufactories by A. Vinius

Answer:

Total for the task 9 points.

Task 8

What, from a historical point of view, unites the elements listed in the series? Give the most accurate answer.

8.1. C. Montesquieu, D. Diderot, J. D'Alembert, F. Voltaire.

8.2. Makariev Monastery, Irbit, Astrakhan, Svensky Monastery.

Answer:

8.1. French enlighteners.

8.2. Centers of fair trade in Russia in the 17th–18th centuries.

Total for the task 4 points.

Task 9

Give a brief justification for the series (what unites the listed elements from a historical point of view) and indicate which of the elements is superfluous on this basis.

9.1. E.R. Dashkova, B.I. Morozov, A.G. Orlov, G.A. Potemkin.

9.2. Semenovsky, Preobrazhensky, Pavlogradsky, Izmailovsky.

Answer:

9.1. Statesmen of the era of Catherine II; extra element - B.I. Morozov.

9.2. Names of guards regiments in Russia; the extra element is Pavlogradsky.

2 points for each correct answer.

Total for the task 4 points.

Task 10

Arrange the following events in chronological order.

A) the first convocation of the Estates General in France

B) adoption of the Charter on cuts and purchases

B) Peace of Westphalia

D) the establishment of the patriarchate in Russia

D) Norman conquest of England

E) Grand Embassy to Europe

Answer:

4 points - completely correct sequence. 2 points - a sequence with one error (i.e., the correct sequence is restored by rearranging any two characters). 0 points - more than one error was made.

Total for the task 4 points.

Task 12

Establish a correspondence between the events of domestic and foreign history that occurred in the same century. Write in the table the selected numbers under the corresponding letters.

Answer:

4 points - completely correct match.

2 points - one mistake was made.

0 points - more than one error was made.

Total for the task 4 points.

Task 13

Determine the missing names in the text, names, dates, indicated by serial numbers. If necessary, with serial numbers, explanations are given about the nature of the required insertion. Enter the necessary inserts under the corresponding numbers in the table.

In the era of Peter I, new textbooks appeared, the most famous of them - "Arithmetic" (1 - author's surname), according to which they studied almost the entire XVIII century. Instead of the Church Slavonic, a civil type was introduced, similar to the modern one, and (2 - name) numbers. In 1702 the first printed newspaper began to be published. (3 - name), which reported on events abroad, on the construction of new enterprises. In 1700, the tsar ordered that the beginning of the year should not be 1 (4 - month), and on January 1 and at the same time introduced the reckoning from the Nativity of Christ, and not from (5 - biblical story event).

Under Peter I, the creation of the first museum in Russia began - (6 - name), which marked the beginning of the formation of historical and natural-science collections. Of great importance for the development of science in Russia was the creation of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, opened in (7 - year).

Unique in its architectural appearance is St. Petersburg, which became the capital of the state in (8) year. The city was not only the favorite brainchild of the king, but also a symbol of his reign, an expression of the era of transformation. Peter I invited the famous Italian architect (9 - surname) who built the Tsar's Summer Palace in the new capital, building

twelve colleges and (10 - title) Cathedral.

Answer:

1 point for each correct insert.

A total of 10 points for the task.

Task 14

Review the diagram and complete the tasks.

14.1. The fortress, marked on the diagram with the number _____, was taken by Russian troops in 1696.

14.2. With the unsuccessful assault by the Russian army of the fortress, indicated on the diagram by the number ______, the Northern War began.

14.3. The city, indicated on the map by the number ____, was founded in 1703.

14.4. The leader of the uprising, the area of ​​​​which is indicated on the diagram, was ____________________.

14.5. The territories indicated by hatching on the diagram were annexed to Russia under the terms of the ______________________ peace treaty.

Answer:

2 points for each correct answer.

A total of 10 points for the task.

Task 15

Identify the historical figures to whom the following fragments of the text are dedicated. Match them with the corresponding fragments and associated images. Fill in the table: in the second column of the table write down the name of the figure, in the third column of the table write down the number of the corresponding fragment of text.

Fragments of texts

1) “There were not very many monks, no more than twelve people ... When the cells were built and fenced with a fence, not very large, they put a gatekeeper at the gate, but he himself built three or four cells with his own hands. And in all the other monastic affairs that the brethren needed, he participated: sometimes he carried firewood on his shoulders from the forest and, breaking it and chopping it, cutting it into logs, carried it around the cells. Around the church there were many logs and stumps everywhere, but here various people sowed seeds and grew garden greens. But let us return again to the abandoned story about the feat of the monk ... how, without the laziness of the brethren, he served as a bought slave: he chopped firewood for everyone, as was said, and crushed grain, and grinded it with millstones, and baked bread, and cooked food, and the rest I prepared the food needed by the brethren; shoes and clothes he cut and sewed; and from the source that was there, he drew water in two buckets and carried it uphill on his shoulders and set it for each cell.

2) “Here I am entrusting my throne in Kyiv to my eldest son and your brother Izyaslav; obey him as you obeyed me; let him be yours instead of me; and I give Svyatoslav Chernigov, and Vsevolod Pereyaslavl, and Vyacheslav Smolensk. And so he divided the cities between them, bequeathing them not to cross the boundaries of the destinies of other brothers and not to expel them, and he said to Izyaslav: “If anyone wants to offend his brother, you help the one who is offended.” And so he instructed his sons to live in love.

3) “The law of God ... teaches us to devote the seventh day to him; why on this day we were glorified by the triumph of the Christian faith, and on which we were honored to receive the sacred world anointing and the Royal wedding on our Ancestral Throne, we consider it our duty ... to confirm throughout our Empire about the exact and indispensable fulfillment of this law, commanding everyone to observe in order to no one, under any circumstances, dared to force the peasants to work on Sundays, especially since for rural products the six days remaining in the week, according to an equal number of them, are generally shared, both for the peasants themselves and for their work in favor of the next landowners, with good management, they will be sufficient to satisfy all economic needs.

4) “From the Great Don Army to the city of Kharkov to Colonel Gritsk and all the petty bourgeois petitions. This year, in the 179th year of October, on the 15th day, by decree of the great sovereign and according to his letter, the great sovereign, we, the great army of the Don, went out from the Don Donets to him, the great sovereign, to serve, because the sky, the great sovereign, the princes did not become even from them, the traitors of the boyars, and we, the great army of the Don, stood for the house of the Most Holy Theotokos and for Evo, the great sovereign and for all the mob. And you, ataman hammer, Colonel Gritsko, with all the city people and townspeople, would become with us, the great army of the Don, for the house of the Most Holy Theotokos and for Evo, the great sovereign, and for all the mob, so that we all from them, traitors boyars, do not perish in the end.

5) “He went on a campaign, taking with him many warriors: Varangians, Chuds, Slavs, I measure, all, Krivichi, and came to Smolensk with Krivichi, and took power in the city, and planted his husband in it. From there he went down, and took Lyubech, and also planted his husbands. And they came to the mountains of Kyiv, and he learned that Askold and Dir reign here. He hid some of the soldiers in the boats, and left the others behind, and he himself proceeded, carrying the baby Igor. And he swam to the Ugorskaya mountain, hiding his soldiers, and sent to Askold and Dir, telling them that “we are merchants, we are going to the Greeks from him and Prince Igor. Come to us, to your relatives." When Askold and Dir arrived, everyone else jumped out of the boats, and he said to Askold and Dir: “You are not princes and not of a princely family, but I am of a princely family,” and showed Igor: “And this is the son of Rurik.” And they killed Askold and Dir ... "

Answer:

1 point for each correct answer item.

A total of 10 points for the task.

Task 16

Before you is a fragment of a historical source. Read it and complete the tasks below.

“At the same time, the impious Lithuanian king rose to the Orthodox Christian faith (1) and raised up great wrath and malice. He came to the limits of the Moscow state under the city of Smolensk and ruined many cities and villages, destroyed churches and monasteries. The pious people living in the city of Smolensk decided rather to die in martyrdom than to evade Lutheranism, and many died of hunger and accepted a violent death. (…)

And that follower of the Antichrist, who called himself Tsar Demetrius, on the sly advice of the damned Lithuanian army, began to destroy many areas with omnivorous fire and create great violence to the reigning city. But people ... did not understand the hostile slyness of the royal, they wanted to accept the prince (2) tsar to the Muscovite state. And for the sake of its simplicity and because of the imperfection of the mind of the god-chosen king (3) deposed from the throne, and excommunicated from the kingdom, and forcibly clothed in the monastic rank, and sent to the king near Smolensk, and the Polish and Lithuanian hetman with his army was let into the reigning city of Moscow.

16.1. Write in what year the siege of Smolensk began.

16.2. Write the name of the settlement where the headquarters of "Tsar Demetrius" was located.

16.3. Write in what year they overthrew "God's chosen king."

16.4. Name the names of the participants in the events indicated in the text by serial numbers.

16.6. What is “Lutheranism” about which the author of the text writes, and is he using this term appropriately?

16.8. On the basis of the text, indicate three reasons that "people wanted to accept the Polish prince as king and overthrew the god-chosen king."

Answer:

Total for the task 17 points.

Maximum for work 85 points.

One of the most striking emotional responses to the disasters that befell Russia in the Time of Troubles was the Lament for the Captivity and Final Destruction of the Muscovite State. Anonymous "Lament" arose, according to the assumptions of S.F. Platonov in the summer-autumn of 1612 in one of the provincial cities, probably in Kazan. The text of "Lament" was used by the compiler of the so-called "Kazan legend", a compilation dated by M.N. Tikhomirov in the same months of 1612, to which S.F. Platonov relates the creation of "Lament". The "Lament" itself early gets all-Russian distribution: in the 30-40s.XVIIin. its abbreviated edition is included in the collection compiled by the inhabitants of Veliky Ustyug in 1672-1674. is part of the Moscow historical compilation about the Time of Troubles. ATXVIIin. "Lament" was attached as the final chapter to "The Tale of Avraamy Palitsyn".

By its nature, “Lament” resembles the works of the 13th-14th centuries, in which ancient Russian scribes tried to understand the reasons for the “death of Russia” during the Tatar-Mongol invasion. Most of all, separate fragments of the “Lament” are close to the “Lay about the destruction of the Russian land”, because in the beginning of the “Lament” its unknown author sings a real laudatory song of Russia and its beauty.

However, in this respect the author of Lament goes much further than the author of The Lay on the Destruction of the Russian Land. And the main reason is that, according to the deepest conviction of the author of Lament, by the beginning of the 17th century Russia had become a true God-chosen state. Therefore, the epithets and concepts that are used in the "Lament" to characterize Russia are not so much related to the description of its beauty, but serve as confirmation of its God's chosenness, and the Russian people are declared the only true "Christian people".

The importance of Moscow as a God-chosen city is especially emphasized. The capital of Russia, Moscow, is a “highly famous and gloriously reigning city”, “the eye of the earth itself”, “the universe lordship”. It is here in the Assumption Cathedral that the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God is kept, and therefore Moscow is the only city in the world under the patronage of the Mother of God - “The Most Pure Lady of Our City and Heritage”. And the Protection of the Mother of God, spread over Moscow, repeatedly saved the capital of Russia from various misfortunes. As a result, the author of Lament calls Moscow “the daughter of the New Zion”, as if developing the series of ideals-images that arose in Russia in the 16th century, deepening their Old Testament analogies.

It is worth recalling that the very concepts of "Zion", "Israel", "Jerusalem" go back to biblical symbolism. So, “New Jerusalem”, according to the Revelation of John the Theologian, is a holy city, “new, descending from God from heaven”, a symbol of purity and truth, “for the power of God has illuminated it” and “the saved peoples will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honor into it” (Rev. 21:2, 23-24). “Israel” in the Bible is the people chosen by the Lord.

Equally profound is the image of “Zion”, the holy mountain in Jerusalem, which is interpreted in the Bible as “Jerusalem above” (Heb. 12:22), as a symbol of the presence and blessing of God (Ps. 129:5; 132:13; Is. 8 :18; 24:23; Heb. 12:22; Rev. 14:1). Consequently, Moscow, called "New Zion", in this case is perceived as a city chosen by God, the same as ancient Jerusalem. The image of the “daughter (daughter) of Zion” also goes back to the Bible - to the book of the prophet Jeremiah (6:2,23; 13:21, etc.). This image is used by the prophet Jeremiah as a symbol of an unfaithful daughter who violated the laws established by the Lord the Father. Therefore, the Lord threatens the unfaithful "daughter of Zion" with numerous punishments for her sins.

Thus, Moscow, as the “daughter of the New Zion”, is a God-chosen city that has forgotten about the Lord and is mired in sins. The use of this image made it possible for the author of Lament to mourn over the sinfulness of Moscow while at the same time emphasizing the idea of ​​her being chosen by God.

As can be seen, the text of the Lament shows that the idea of ​​a special God-chosen fate of Russia, expressed earlier in the teachings of Moscow - New Jerusalem, Russia as the Third Rome and others, by the beginning of the 17th century had become not only generally accepted, but also the main line in all religious and philosophical constructions of Russian thinkers of this period. And the Old Testament symbolism, the likening of Russia to the Old Testament Israel, became the most widespread in the minds of people and in the religious and philosophical thought of the border.XVI-17th century

Recognizing the God-chosenness of Russia, the author of Lament is all the more shocked because “how quickly” the Russian state “succumbed to ruin and was destroyed by omnivorous fire!”. After all, this means that punishments and punishments on Russia could only be sent by the Lord Himself. Moreover, God's punishments are so great that even "the only savior and constant guardian" of Russia, the Mother of God, "left us." Consequently, the idea of ​​the “death of Russia”, which seems to be already a thing of the past, again becomes the main reason for religious and philosophical reflections.

The answers to the numerous rhetorical questions posed by the author of Lamentation are quite traditional - "for our sins, God's great wrath has poured out." However, the author of Lament does not stop at a simple statement of this fact, but gives a detailed description of these sins, as if showing a terrible picture of the moral imperfection that reigned in Russia. In his opinion, the disasters that befell Russia were caused by the Providence of God "for untruth, and for pride, and for extortion, and for deceit, and for other evil deeds." A little lower, the picture of sinfulness is supplemented: “... Truth has become impoverished in people and untruth has reigned, and all kinds of malice, and hatred, and immeasurable drunkenness, and fornication, and insatiable acquisitiveness, and hatred of one’s brothers has multiplied, for kindness has become impoverished and malice has been exposed, and we were covered with lies.”

In this case, the author of Lament does not accidentally use the concept of "we" - "and we covered ourselves with lies." The fact is that such global upheavals could only be caused by the global sinfulness of the entire Russian society. The idea of ​​global, universal sin is one of the main ideas of Lament. It was for universal sins that the “forerunner of the God-fighting Antichrist”, the “son of darkness”, the “kinsman of perdition” - False Dmitry I, appeared in Russia, with the appearance of which the beginning of the Time of Troubles proper is associated.

However, the author of Lament, speaking about “why the lofty Russia fell and why such a strong pillar collapsed,” also points to specific culprits. They turn out to be Russian tsars, moreover, all tsars without exception. With this thesis about the special guilt of all Russian tsars, “Lament” differs significantly from other works in which the causes of the Time of Troubles were analyzed. Indeed, in this case, Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich is also guilty, who was usually excluded from the list of the guilty, for he was glorified as a “virtuous” ruler.

The very appearance of such a thesis is quite understandable. It was the tsars who were considered in Russia to be the true Anointed of God, to whom the Russian people entrusted both the management of themselves and the creation of the “pillar of piety” of “great” Russia. Therefore, the kings are personally responsible for the “destruction” of such a “strong pillar”. That is why the author of Lament considers it possible to raise numerous accusations against the Russian tsars.

The thesis about the special guilt of all Russian tsars is a new phenomenon in the history of Russian religious and philosophical thought, testifying to a certain crisis of well-established, traditional ideas about the role of the sovereign in Russian society. The concept of "king" to one degree or another began to lose its sacredness, its religious and mystical meaning. In any case, the Time of Troubles, with its anarchy and the dominance of various impostors, seriously shook the ideas of the Russian people about the tsars as the Anointed of God.

However, the author of Lament, while painting terrible pictures of the “ruin” of Russia, does not fall into absolute historical pessimism. According to his firm conviction, the Lord did not turn away from his chosen people, but sent a test to Russia so that the Russian people would be cleansed of sins, return to the true faith, and thereby deserve eternal salvation in “Heavenly Jerusalem”.

Therefore, the author of "Lament" seeks to show the way out, the way to save the perishing state. So, on the pages of "Lamentation" a vivid image of Patriarch Hermogenes appears - "an unshakable pillar of piety, an amazing guardian of the Christian faith, a strong hard diamond, a philanthropic father, a wise clergyman." It is through the mouths of Patriarch Hermogenes that the words are pronounced, which indicate the path to the salvation of Russia - nationwide repentance.

And as an example of true Orthodox behavior that gives rise to hope in the heart of the author of Lament, he points to the heroic defense of Smolensk, whose inhabitants “decided to die in martyrdom rather than to change the Orthodox faith.” Consequently, there were still people in Russia who were able to atone for universal sins by their martyrdom and thereby set an example for others. It is these others that the author of “Lamentations” calls upon to accept “the fear of God in their hearts”, and by universal repentance to ask for God's mercy.

“Lamentation for the captivity and the final ruin of the Muscovite state” was heard in Russia and received the widest, all-Russian distribution. In the 1620s, it was read in churches during the annual festive service to the icon of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. Later, "Lament" was included in various manuscript collections dedicated to the Time of Troubles.

Foreword and comments by S.V. Perevezentsev, preparation of the text by A.S. Yermolina.

Published by: Monuments of Literature of Ancient Russia. EndXVI- StartXVIIcenturies. - M., 1987. S. 130-146. Translation by S.K. Rossovetsky.

Crying for the Captivity and the Final Ruin of the Moscow State

Where do we begin to mourn, alas! such a fall of the glorious, lucid, great Russia? What source will fill the abyss of tears, our sobs and groans? Oh, what troubles and sorrows our eyes happened to see! We pray to those who listen to us: “O Christ-named people, sons of light, children of the church, born from the bath of life! Open the ears of your mind and feelings, and together we will compose a verbal organ, we will sound a lamentable trumpet, we will cry out to “He who lives in unapproachable light”, to the “King of kings and the Lord of lords”, to the Cherubic Lord with the sorrow of our hearts, beating ourselves in the chest and exclaiming : "Oh, alas! woe! How did such a pillar of piety collapse, how was the God-planted vineyard devastated, whose branches with many-leafed glory ascended to the clouds and the bunch, ripe for everyone in sweetness, exuded inexhaustible wine? Which of the faithful will not cry or who will not sob, seeing the death and final fall of such a multinational state, filled with the Christian holy faith of the Greek, from God given the law and shining like the sun in the firmament of heaven, and likened to amber with a brilliance? Created for many years, how quickly it succumbed to ruin and was destroyed by omnivorous fire!

All people who are pleasing to Christ know the height and glory of Great Russia, how it was exalted and how terrible it was for the Basurmans, the Germans and other peoples. A glorious creation for those who saw it - the main cathedral church was built, and in it are picturesque holy icons (1), as well as pillars of piety, and after death pouring out rivers of miracles to the Orthodox! (2) What were the royal luxurious chambers, decorated with gold inside and painted with multicolored paints! How many treasuries were filled with marvelous royal crowns, bright royal purples and purples, and precious stones, and all precious pearls! What were the houses of the nobles - with two and three roofs, boiling with wealth and honor! Glorious great kings owned this most luminous and marvellous state, noble princes were proud of it, and in everything, - boldly say, - it was distinguished by such a perfect dispensation, and surpassed all in light and glory, like a bride prepared for a beautiful marriage to the groom! (3)

However, I will resort to the usual prayer. O Christ the King! O Savior and the Word of God and God! Alas! O! O city, in which and in which the glorious words of God were proclaimed, the voice of the great king and God! O All-Pure Mother of God! How about yours, the highly eminent and gloriously reigning city of Moscow, the eye of the earth itself, the lordship of the universe, alas! gone? About the Honest and Most Pure Lady of Our Mother of God, the city (4) and the legacy in which the most glorious, brighter than the sun shining in your glorious temple is the likeness of your most pure body, sealed by the most bright Luke the Evangelist (5) your image with your eternal baby, our God, in your arms , radiating mercy, like a bright dawn, and abundantly giving healing to everyone! O! Oh, in it, after all, your great and all-sung honored name with your son the Lord our God and Savior Jesus Christ is always sung and glorified in an angelic and reverent way! O above all, the queen, the Mother of God and the mistress of all things, above the word sanctified, above the thought, the undoubted Mother of God and above nature, Ever-Virgin and Mother! Alas! How, the only savior and constant guardian, left us? What kind of disasters and sieges did not deliver us before (6), but now why, merciful, did not help? Or - how is it, first of all, an intercessor, now, for the sake of herself and her image, how did she not save the people of the same tribe? And how did we close the womb of your philanthropy or, which is hard to imagine, the cathedral church, which on earth shone like a sun-like sky in the heavenly places and was like a second paradise for Orthodox piety for the sake of it? She experienced troubles, ruin and desolation, and in it, after all, with the ecumenical holy fathers - alas, oh! - the sacred sacraments were performed for the salvation of the whole world! And the beauty of singing in the Trinity to the glorified God, oh! and icons of miraculous saints, now thrown and trampled on the ground, and torn away from their adornments with laughter! O! Until now, those who have taken on the angelic form of monasticism have been revered and inviolable, and now how many of them suffered from vile murderers, how many defiled pure virgins and foreign lands are filled with many captives! Alas, our powerful princes and boyars and all Christ-loving people everywhere, by God’s permission from foreigners and in internecine warfare, fell without counting, their blood was full of fetters and axes and other weapons, and together with innocent babies they bitterly died various deaths! Oh, how to think about it and how to talk about what has been done with us and is now being done by the providence of God for iniquity, and for pride, and for extortion, and for deceit, and for other evil deeds, about which the prophets proclaim with weeping: O crafty malice, from where did it pour out to cover the earth? “But because of their lies, you subjected them to disasters and brought them down when they were proud. Why did they fall into ruin? They suddenly disappeared and perished for their iniquities, as if the dreams of an awakened one. "For the reverent have disappeared from the face of the earth, for the truth has become impoverished in people and untruth has reigned, and all kinds of malice, and hatred, and immeasurable drunkenness, and lust, and insatiable acquisitiveness, and hatred of I have multiplied my brethren, for kindness has failed and malice has been exposed, and we have been covered with lies (7). ". And after all this, His wrath is not turned away, but His hand is still high.

How can I not be horrified, like yours, Christ, I will not be surprised at long-suffering! O Christ-named race, like a leaf and flower already disgraced, having accepted the cup of undiluted righteous anger of a bitter universal sacrifice! Alas! O heaven, how did you not tremble, and the earth did not shake, and the sun did not darken, seeing this? how did you endure, seeing such a nationwide death? how has it not yet been ashamed of such a disaster, and in the bowels of the earth has not betrayed itself to obscurity, and has not left everything in darkness, as it was at noon during the torment of the Savior? (8) Oh, "who will give water to my head and a source of bitter tears" inexhaustible to my eyes, to mourn the daughter of the new Zion (9) - our glorious reigning city of Moscow, like the mournful prophet (10), who in ancient times mourned the troubles of Jerusalem? So, I put my finger on my mouth, casting myself down into the abyss of humility and expecting from above, as befits after contrition, divine consolation, about which the Creator of the sun above us said: “If I strike, I will heal again,” for “I am not completely angry and not forever indignant," our philanthropic Lord God.

So I will begin my short conversation with the God-chosen flock, with the verbal sheep of the gentle shepherd of the Savior Christ.

That is why lofty Russia fell and such a strong pillar collapsed. The kings who lived in it, instead of raising the ladder of saving words to God, which are born from the truths contained in the books, accepted God-hating gifts: demonic intrigues, magic and sorcery. And instead of spiritual people and sons of light (11), they loved the children of Satan, who lead away from God and undoubted light into darkness. And they did not allow the ear of their mind to perceive truthful words, however, for the sake of hatred, they heard slander against the nobles clearly, and because of it the blood of a multitude of people was shed like a river. And instead of the invincible scepter of God-imitating meekness and truth, they loved pride and malice, because of which even the one that was previously bright as the morning dawn fell from the highest heaven and lost its angelic lordship and glory. In addition, Sodom and Gomorrah were girded with incurable scabs from the great noble people, from the wise to the common people - and in short, from the head to the feet, and covered with countless other demonic ulcers (12). And for this, in the beginning, by hunger, for the sake of curbing, they were punished by God - but they did not in the least turn from the path of death to the path of salvation (13).

After that, such punishment and such wrath arose, which are worthy of considerable surprise, moreover, and tears. And after all, not a single apostolic book, not the lives of the saints, and neither philosophical, nor royal books, nor chronographs, nor annals, and no other books have told us about such an execution over any monarchy, nor over a kingdom or principality, which took place over the highest Russia!

The forerunner of the God-fighting Antichrist (14), the son of darkness, the kinsman of perdition, appeared from the rank of monastic and deacon, and at first the bright angelic rank rejected and rejected himself from the fate of the Christian, like Judas from the most pure assembly of the apostles. And he fled to Poland and there he filled the tablets of his heart with countless godly heresies and, betraying his dark soul even more into the hands of Satan, instead of the holy Christian faith of the Greek law, he loved the Lutheran faith of the gods. And he shamelessly called himself Tsar Demetrius, the son of the ever-memorable Tsar Ivan, claiming that he had escaped the hands of murderers. And he asked for help from the Lithuanian king to go with the army to Great Russia. The king of Poland and the pans are glad of him, and the cardinals, and their archbishops, and bishops rejoiced much that the sword was raised against Christian blood, since neither darkness has anything in common with light, nor Belial (15) with Christ. And they gave Lithuanian troops to help this accursed one, and he dared to shamelessly come to the borders of the Muscovite state, to the cities of Seversky (16), calling himself Tsar Demetrius. The inhabitants of that side were tempted by vain thoughts and went mad with their minds, and bandaged with cowardice, and accepted him as a true king, and raised the sword against their brothers, Christ's soldiers. And, like rivers, Christian blood was shed on both sides - for the sake of our sins, God's great wrath spilled out, but resistance to his righteous judgments is impossible, so he allowed this accursed one to reign in great Russia. When he accepted the scepter and the royal throne, many of the inhabitants of the reigning city and the surrounding cities and villages unmistakably recognized in him the enemy of the cross of Christ, Grishka Otrepyev, and not Tsarevich Dimitri, however, fearing countless deadly tortures, they did not dare to expose him, but secretly about him whispered into the ears of Christians.

The same accursed one did not unleash any troubles and malice on Great Russia! He overthrew the saints who ruled over the fathers (17), excommunicated many pastors and mentors from the flock, shed a lot of Christian blood, and, not being satisfied with such demonic poison, took the girl Marinka as his wife of the Lutheran faith (18). And, not being ashamed in the least and not fearing the immortal God, he led her, unbaptized, into the cathedral apostolic church of the Most Holy Theotokos and crowned her with a royal crown. And after that he wanted to destroy the Orthodox Christian faith and the holy churches, start Latin churches and establish the Lutheran faith.

Our merciful triune God did not completely allow this enemy to pour out all-evil poison and soon frustrated his demonic intrigues. And his soul was painfully torn out of him, and he accepted a shameful death at the hands of the faithful (19). After his accursed death, all the inhabitants of Great Russia hoped that not only in modern times such temptations would be eradicated, but those of our future descendants who learn about this from books would be very surprised, and that there would be no more such enemy intrigues. But for the sake of our sins, of all Orthodox Christianity, again under the same name of Tsar Demetrius, another enemy appeared (20) and seduced the foolish and insane people obsessed with drunkenness of the same side, and he took the same aforementioned Marinka the harlot to his bed, and gathered an army against the God-fearing and holy oil anointed Tsar and Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich of All Russia (21), who was from the root of the holy noble Grand Duke Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky.

The king of Lithuania joined his evil plan and sent his furious army. And he destroyed many cities and villages, and destroyed the great holy laurels, and incorruptible after the Assumption, the revered bodies of the saints from the reverently arranged tombs he cast out and betrayed to the last reproach. And countless Orthodox were put to the sword, and torrents of blood were shed. And not because of this insatiable bloodshed, great-power Russia fell into ruin, but many enemies appeared, and innumerable misfortunes fell upon her. And many of the robbers and insatiable bloodsuckers declared themselves kings and took various names for themselves: one will be called Peter, another Ivan, nicknamed Augustus, another Lavrenty, another Gury (22). And because of them also much blood was shed and countless nobles died by the sword. But the lofty right hand of God defeated them all, and their fleeting pre-disastrous glory dissipated like smoke and scattered like dust. But all the same, many cities and villages became impoverished, and the good soldiers of Christ perished innumerably.

At the same time, the impious Lithuanian king rose up against the Orthodox Christian faith and raised up great rage and malice. He came to the limits of the Moscow state under the city of Smolensk and ruined many cities and villages, destroyed churches and monasteries. The pious people living in the city of Smolensk decided rather to die in martyrdom than to evade Lutheranism, and many died of hunger and accepted a violent death. And the city was captured by the wicked king (23). And who is not filled with tears and pity for such a fall? Many holy churches and monasteries were destroyed, without a number of Orthodox died by the sword, without submitting and not going to join the lawless, many lost heart and were captured! When this insatiable bloodsucker, the Polish and Lithuanian king, was near the city of Smolensk, then the enemy of the cross of Christ, who called himself Tsar Demetrius, stood under the reigning city of Moscow with the damned Lithuanians. Many of the Russian people, because of their cowardice, for the sake of covetousness and robbery, joined him and shed Christian blood like water.

In addition, domestic enemies rose up against the Orthodox Christian faith: from the royal court Mikhailo Saltykov, from the family of the merchant Fedka Andronov and others with them, whom I do not name for the sake of their multitude (24). And for the sake of a fleeting vain earthly glory, they deprived themselves of their future endless life and eternal bliss. And they agreed to be ambassadors to the wicked king, as if from a reigning city, to ask the king's son to be sovereign in Great Russia. And they made up a villainous conspiracy, and with royal messages and their treacherous speeches they seduced the reigning city of Moscow, promising to put the prince after baptism on the royal throne in Great Russia. And they prompted the king to send a furious and impudent hetman with an army, and shed a lot of Christian blood, and came with him under the reigning city of Moscow.

And that follower of the Antichrist, who called himself Tsar Demetrius, on the sly advice of the accursed Lithuanian army, began to destroy many areas with omnivorous fire and create great violence to the reigning city. But the people living in Great Russia did not understand the hostile slyness of the king, they wanted to accept the king's son as tsar in the Muscovite state. And for the sake of their simplicity and because of the imperfection of the mind, the God-chosen tsar (25) was overthrown from the throne, and excommunicated from the kingdom, and forcibly clothed in a monastic rank, and sent to the king near Smolensk, and the Polish and Lithuanian hetman with his army was admitted to the reigning city ​​of Moscow.

The unshakable pillar of piety, the wonderful guardian of the Christian faith, a strong hard diamond, a philanthropic father, a wise clergyman, His Holiness the Patriarch Hermogenes (26), seeing that the people of God in Great Russia are in great confusion and are completely dying, taught them a lot and, instructing them how to act , said: “Children of my flock, listen to my words! Why do you needlessly fall into confusion and entrust your souls to the unfaithful Poles? Is it possible for you, intelligent sheep, to join the evil wolves: you are meek in the name of Christ, these are bold in the name of Satan. You yourself know that our Orthodox Christian faith of the Greek law has long been hated by foreign countries! How can we be reconciled with these foreigners? It would be better for you to think about how, with tears and sobbing in public, with wives and children, resort to uncut hope, to the all-merciful in the Trinity glorious God and ask for mercy and bounty from His most generous right hand, may He give you a good mind so that you will benefit to their souls, but to the reigning city and surrounding cities, they brought peace, not rebellion!

Some of the Orthodox Christians sweetly listened to his good speeches, while many others, seized by vain thoughts, opposed their wondrous pastor with inappropriate speeches. And the wicked Polish and Lithuanian people treacherously penetrated the reigning and famous city of Moscow, crept, like destructive wolves, into the fence of Christ's flock and began to do a lot of violence against Orthodox Christians and set up churches inside the reigning city.

Then - woe, woe! alas, alas! Oh oh! - a great misfortune has happened, and a storm of many rebellions has risen, rivers of blood have been shed! Faithful people, those who did not see this Great Russia ruin, come closer, and I will briefly tell your God-loving hearing about the fall and the final ruin of such a lofty and glorious kingdom.

When these destructive wolves settled in the reigning city of Moscow, they did not immediately pour out the poison of their malice, but, waiting for a convenient time, they consulted with traitors to the Christian faith and enemies of the Muscovite state, with Mikhail Saltykov and Fedka Andronov on how to destroy the reigning city of Moscow and shed Christian blood. And when their wicked conspiracy was accomplished, the accursed ones prepared their impudent demonic hands and planned to tear apart the sheep of Christ with weapons, and swallow the grapes, and crush the city itself in order to extinguish the glory of the Christ-named reigning city.

When the time of the holy Great Lent came and Holy Week came, the accursed Poles and Germans, who entered with them into the reigning city, prepared themselves for the impious massacre and cruelly, like lions, rushed, setting fire first in many places the holy churches and houses, then raised the sword against Orthodox Christians and began to kill the Christian people without mercy (27). And they shed, like water, the blood of the innocent, and the corpses of the dead covered the earth. And everything was stained with the blood of many people, and with omnivorous fire they destroyed all the holy churches and monasteries, and fortifications, and houses, the stone churches were plundered and the beautiful icons of His Lord and Mother of God and His saints from the appointed places were thrown to the ground and countless booty, all kinds of precious things filled their hands. And they plundered the royal treasures, collected over many years, which it would not be good to look at like they are! And the tomb of the blessed and healing bringing the body of the great Basil, Christ for the sake of the holy fool (28), was cut into many parts; and the bed that was under the tomb was moved from its place; and in the place where his blessed body lies, stalls were made for the horses, and, resembling women (29), shamelessly and fearlessly in the church of the saint they create fornication abomination. The innocently murdered Orthodox Christians were not honored with a burial, but their bodies were thrown into the river. And they shamed many women and corrupted virgins; of those who escaped their hands, many died on the roads from frost, hunger and various hardships.

And which Christian is not filled with weeping and wailing? Who will not be horrified to hear of such grief and sorrow for his brothers, who are kindred in spirit? Who is not instructed by so many troubles, not grieving over his riches, but over the destruction of the holy churches and the destruction of the pillar of piety, weeping over the holy Christian faith? O pious, Christ-like, loving people! Bow your ears, and let us accept the fear of God in our hearts and begin to ask for mercy from the all-merciful God with inconsolable tears and sighs and groaning! Let us scatter the heavy burden of our sins with repentance and alms and other good deeds, so that our merciful God of philanthropy, for the sake of His philanthropy, spares the remnant of the Christian race and removes our enemies from us and destroys them with an evil crafty conspiracy, and the rest of the Russian kingdoms, cities and villages would be protected by peace and all grace filled. And he will not hand us over to enemies for plunder and captivity, because our God is merciful and philanthropic: on the repentant at any time he pours out the abyss of his mercy and, according to Scripture, “is not completely angry, and is not forever indignant,” but with a bit and a bridle, that is, with sorrows and troubles, tests us so that we become children of light and inhabitants of heavenly Jerusalem and enjoy an endless future life and heavenly blessings. Let there be peace to the whole rational herd, Great Russia to Orthodox Christians, in the name of Christ.

NOTES:

1. This refers to the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, which housed the main Orthodox shrines, including the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God.

2. This refers to the fact that the holy relics of the Moscow metropolitans, canonized by the Church - Saints Peter (XIV century), Cyprian, Photius, Jonah (XV century) and others were kept in the Assumption Cathedral.

4. In these emotional lines, it is emphasized that Moscow in the Russian spiritual tradition was revered as a city under the heavenly protection directly of the Most Holy Mother of God.

5. We are talking about one of the authors of the Gospels - Luke, who in the Orthodox tradition was also considered a famous icon painter. In particular, the icon-painting image of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, revered as the main shrine in the Muscovite state, was attributed to his hand.

6. Here we mean various invasions of foreign peoples on Moscow: 1395 - the invasion of Tamerlane; 1480 - invasion of Akhmet, Khan of the Great Horde; 1521 - the invasion of the Crimean Khan Mohammed Giray. According to the Orthodox people of that time, during these invasions, Moscow was saved from ruin by the intercession of the Mother of God after popular prayers before Her Vladimir icon. Therefore, in memory of each of these events, church holidays were established in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. These holidays are still important milestones in the life of the Russian Orthodox Church.

7. In this case, the author of "Lament" not by chance uses the concept of "we" - "and we covered ourselves with lies." The fact is that such global upheavals could only be caused by the global sinfulness of the entire Russian society. The idea of ​​global, universal sin is one of the main ideas of Lament.

8. The misfortunes of Muscovites are compared to the sufferings on the cross of Jesus Christ (cf. Luke 23:44-45, Matt. 27:51). According to the Gospel, during the crucifixion of Christ, darkness fell, lasting from the 6th to the 9th hour - according to the old Russian account of hours in the middle of the day.

9. Zion here is a symbol of God's chosen place. The image of the "daughter of Zion" is taken from the prophets Isaiah (1, 8, etc.) and Jeremiah (6, 23, etc.).

10. This refers to the biblical prophet Jeremiah.

11. Here by "spiritual people" and "sons of light" we mean Russian Orthodox people.

13. This refers to the terrible famine that struck Russia and claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in 1601-1603.

14. The “forerunner of the Antichrist” is called the impostor False Dmitry I. The following is a story about the deeds of False Dmitry I, who in those days was considered by everyone to be a runaway monk Grigory Otrepyev. In modern science, the origin of False Dmitry I is the subject of debate.

15. Belial- one of the symbolic names of Satan.

16. Seversky land in Russia was called the lands of the ancient Novgorod-Seversky principality, with the cities of Putivl, Bryansk, Pereyaslavl, etc.

17. We are talking about Patriarch Job, brought down by False Dmitry from the patriarchal throne. (Chief of the fathers - translation from Greek "patriarch".)

18. This refers to the daughter of the Sandomierz governor Marina Mnishek, who became the wife of False Dmitry I and, therefore, the Russian queen.

19. False Dmitry I was killed in May 1606 during the uprising of Muscovites. The impostor's death was terrible. Fleeing from persecution, he jumped out of the palace window, but broke his leg and was shot dead. Then the corpse of the impostor was dragged to Red Square and thrown into the mud in the middle of the market rows. Three days later, his body was buried in a field outside the Serpukhov Gates. Some time later, fearing the witchcraft power of even the murdered impostor - strange blue lights burned over his burial place at night - his corpse was dug up, burned at the stake, the ashes were mixed with gunpowder and fired from a cannon in the direction from which False Dmitry I came to Moscow.

20. This refers to another impostor - False Dmitry II, who appeared in Russia in 1607.

21. We are talking about Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky, who ascended the royal throne after the assassination of False Dmitry I in 1606 (reigned until 1610). The Shuisky clan was one of the offshoots of the Rurikovich family (from the dynasty of the Suzdal princes), which is why the author of Lament calls Vasily Ivanovich a descendant of Alexander Nevsky. By belonging to the Rurikovichs, Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky proved the legitimacy of his claims to the royal title.

22. An enumeration of the names of numerous impostors is given, with the name Gury unknown from other sources.

23. Heroic defense of Smolensk in 1609–1611. lasted 18 months.

25. This refers to Vasily Shuisky, who was deposed from the throne in 1610, forcibly tonsured a monk and sent to Poland.

26. Patriarch Hermogenes(c. 1530–1612) headed the Russian Orthodox Church in 1606–1612 After the Poles and Lithuanians were allowed into Moscow, it was Patriarch Hermogenes who stood up for the defense of the state and Orthodox shrines, initiated and led the popular resistance to foreign invaders. The Poles starved the saint to death. In 1914 Hermogenes was canonized as a saint.

27. According to other sources, the burning of Moscow took place on March 19, 1612, on Tuesday of Holy Week. For the author-preacher, it was important to indicate not a specific date, but to emphasize that the Poles and Germans committed murders, robberies, violence and sacrilege at the end of Lent, a few days before the main Christian holiday - Easter.

28. This refers to the tomb of the famous Moscow holy fool Basil the Blessed, located in a special aisle of the Pokrovsky Cathedral (another name is St. Basil's Cathedral) on Red Square.

29. The author is referring to the shaved ("effeminate") faces of foreign invaders, among whom were immigrants from different European countries, hired by the Polish king Sigismund III for a trip to Russia. For Russian residents, this kind of men was unusual and unacceptable - in those days, Russian men did not shave their beards.