The correspondence of Ivan IV with his former favorite and friend is interesting and revealing. Kurbsky diligently seeks justification for his betrayal, but at the same time does not forget to attack and expose the king, the church (Josephites), and the political system.
Ivan IV, however, is adamant and does not intend to forgive treason. The tsar's response letter is twenty times larger than the one sent by Kurbsky. Grozny responds to accusations so thoroughly that at times he almost begins to justify himself. The king agrees that his “piety” was shaken in his youth. Ivan the Terrible even agrees that he allowed some “games” (perhaps we are talking about spectacles for the people, often ending in someone’s death), but he did all this so that his subjects would recognize his power as God’s vicegerent, and “not you, traitors."
The purpose of such a tone (as well as the entire emotional coloring of Ivan the Terrible’s speech) is not at all to prove anything (although this is exactly what Kurbsky resorts to, inserting quotes from Cicero into letters and structuring the answer according to all the rules of rhetoric). Rather, Grozny tells Kurbsky what the Pechersk elders did not have time to say, namely, to force the fugitive to look at the crime he committed and lead him to repentance. Grozny exclaims:
“If you are kind and righteous, then why, seeing how the fire flared up in the royal council, did not extinguish it, but kindled it even stronger? […] Aren’t you like Judas the traitor?”
Grozny notes not even that Kurbsky cannot repent, but that he could not before. The lack of humility before God’s local authority (the king) led him to treason - this is the “back” thought of all his answers.
But Kurbsky remains adamant. It is interesting to note how from a state of indecision and hesitation the governor comes to arrogance, asserting that he is right. Even based on the text of the letters, it is clear that Kurbsky discards repentance, replacing it with lengthy reasoning. The further you go, the more reasoning there is.
Grozny is slowly giving in to this inflexibility. The king, with his second letter (which is already an order of magnitude smaller than the first), makes a final warning:
“With humility I remind you, O prince: look how God’s majesty is condescending towards our sins and especially my iniquity...” “Judge for yourself how and what you have done...” “Look inside yourself and reveal yourself to yourself!”
Prince Kovelsky responds to this with his longest letter, practicing rhetorical devices. Grozny no longer honors the traitor with a third answer.
The pious Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke John Vasilyevich of All Russia message to all his Great Russia state against the criminals of the cross, Prince Andrei Mikhailovich Kurbsky and his comrades about their treason
Our God is the Trinity, who was and now is before all times, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, who has neither beginning nor end, by whom we live and move, in whose name kings are glorified and rulers write the truth. Our God Jesus Christ gave the only begotten son of God a victorious and forever invincible banner - the honorable cross - to the first of the pious Tsar Constantine and to all Orthodox kings and guardians of Orthodoxy. And after the will of Providence was fulfilled everywhere and the divine servants of the word of God, like eagles, flew around the entire universe, the spark of piety reached the Russian kingdom. The autocracy of the Russian kingdom, filled with this true Orthodoxy, began by God's will from the Grand Duke Vladimir, who enlightened the Russian land with holy baptism, and the Grand Duke Vladimir Monomakh, who received high honor from the Greeks, and from the brave and great sovereign Alexander Nevsky, who won a great victory over the godless Germans, and from the praiseworthy great sovereign Dmitry, who won the victory over the godless Hagaryans beyond the Don, right up to the avenger of the injustices of our grandfather, Grand Duke Ivan, and to the acquirer of the primordial ancestral lands, of blessed memory of the father of our great sovereign Vasily, and to us, the humble sceptre-holders of the Russian kingdoms. We praise God for his immeasurable mercy bestowed upon us, that to this day he has not allowed our right hand to be stained with the blood of our fellow tribesmen, for we did not desire to take away the kingdom from anyone, but by God’s will and with the blessing of our forefathers and parents, as we were born into the kingdom , so they were brought up, and matured, and reigned by God’s command, and took what belonged to us with the blessing of their ancestors and parents, but did not covet what belonged to others. This is a truly Orthodox Christian autocracy, possessing much power, a command and our Christian humble response to the former boyar, and adviser, and governor, who was before true Orthodox Christianity and our autocracy, but now - an apostate from the honorable and life-giving cross of the Lord and a destroyer of Christians, and who has joined the enemies Christianity, which retreated from the worship of divine icons, and trampled all divine institutions, and destroyed holy temples, desecrated and trampled sacred vessels and images, like the Isaurian, Gnostic and Armenian who united them all in himself - Prince Andrei Mikhailovich Kurbsky, who treacherously wished to become the Yaroslavl prince, - let it be known. Why, O prince, if you consider yourself pious, have you rejected your only-begotten soul? What will you replace it with on the Day of Judgment? Even if you gain the whole world, death will still snatch you away in the end...
You, for the sake of the body, destroyed your soul, despised imperishable glory for the sake of fleeting glory, and, enraged at man, rebelled against God. Understand, unfortunate one, from what height into what abyss you have fallen in body and soul! The prophetic words came true on you: “Whoever thinks that he has will lose everything.” Does your piety consist in the fact that you destroyed yourself because of your selfishness, and not for the sake of God? Those near you and capable of reflection can guess that there is an evil poison in you: you fled not from death, but for the sake of glory in this short-term and fleeting life and for the sake of wealth. If, according to your words, you are righteous and pious, then why were you afraid to die innocently, for this is not death, but retribution? In the end you will die anyway. If you were afraid. death sentence based on libel, having believed the villainous lies of your friends, the servants of Satan, then this is your obvious treasonous intent, as it happened in the past, and it is now. Why did you despise the words of the Apostle Paul, who said: “Let every soul be subject to the ruler who has the authority; there is no power except from God: he who resists power resists God’s command.” Look at it and think about it: whoever resists power resists God; and whoever resists God is called an apostate, and this is the worst of sins. But this is said about all power, even about power obtained at the cost of blood and wars. Think about what has been said, because we did not obtain the kingdom by violence, especially since anyone who resists such power resists God! The same Apostle Paul says (and you did not heed these words): “Slaves! Obey your masters, working for them not only in front of your eyes, as people-pleasers, but as servants of God, obey not only the good, but also the evil, not only for fear, but also for conscience.” But it is God’s will if you have to suffer while doing good.
If you are righteous and pious, why did you not want from me, the obstinate ruler, to suffer and earn the crown of eternal life? But for the sake of transitory glory, because of selfishness, in the name of the joys of this world, you trampled all your spiritual piety, together with the Christian faith and law, and became like a seed thrown on a stone and grew when the sultry sun rose, immediately, because one false word succumbed to temptation, and rejected, and did not bear fruit...
How are you not ashamed of your slave Vaska Shibanov? After all, he retained his piety, stood before the king and before all the people, did not renounce kissing you on the cross, glorifying you in every possible way and calling out to die for you. You didn’t want to be equal to him in piety: because of one insignificant angry word, you destroyed not only your soul, but also the soul of your ancestors, for by God’s will God gave their souls under the power of our grandfather, the great sovereign, and they , having given their souls, served until their death and bequeathed to you, their children, to serve the children and grandchildren of our grandfather. And you forgot all this, by breaking the kiss of the cross with dog-like treason, you joined the enemy of Christianity; and besides, not realizing your own villainy, you speak absurdities with these stupid words, as if throwing stones into the sky, not ashamed of the piety of your slave and not wanting to act like him before your master.
Your scripture has been accepted and read carefully. And since you hid the snake venom under your tongue, therefore, although your letter according to your plan, it is filled with honey and honeycombs, but it tastes bitterer than wormwood; as the prophet said: “Their words are softer than oil, but they are like arrows.” Are you so accustomed, being a Christian, to serving a Christian sovereign? Is this how one should honor a ruler given by God, as you do, spewing poison like a demon?.. Why are you, dog, having committed such an atrocity, writing and complaining! What is your advice like, which stinks worse than feces?..
And when you asked why we killed the strong in Israel, exterminated them, and handed over the governors given to us by God to fight our enemies to various executions, and shed their holy and heroic blood in the churches of God, and stained the church thresholds with the blood of martyrdom, and invented unheard-of torments , executions and persecutions for your well-wishers, who lay down their souls for us, denouncing the Orthodox and accusing them of treason, sorcery and other indecency, then you wrote and spoke lies, as your father, the devil, taught you, for Christ said: “You are the children of the devil and you want to fulfill the desire of your father, for he was from time immemorial a murderer and did not stand in the truth, for there is no truth in him; when he speaks a lie, he speaks his own, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” But we did not kill the strong in Israel, and I don’t know who the strongest in Israel is: because the Russian land is held together by God’s mercy, and by the grace of the Most Pure Mother of God, and by the prayers of all the saints, and by the blessing of our parents, and, finally, by us, our sovereigns, and not by judges and governors, but by ipates and strategists. We did not betray our commanders various deaths, and with God’s help we have many commanders besides you, traitors. And we were always free to give favors to our slaves, and we were also free to execute them...
We didn’t stain any church thresholds with blood; We have no martyrs for the faith; when do we find well-wishers who lay down their souls for us sincerely, and not deceitfully, not those who speak good with their tongues, but plan evil in their hearts, give gifts and praise before our eyes, but waste and reproach behind our eyes (like a mirror that reflects the one who who looks at him and forgets the one who turns away), when we meet people free from these shortcomings, who serve honestly and do not forget, like a mirror, the assigned service, then we reward them with a great salary; the one who, as I said, resists, deserves execution for his guilt. And how in other countries you will see for yourself how they punish villains there - not like here! It was you, out of your evil disposition, who decided to love traitors; and in other countries they do not like traitors and execute them and thus strengthen their power.
But we did not invent torment, persecution and various executions for anyone: if you are talking about traitors and sorcerers, then such dogs are executed everywhere...
When, according to God's destiny, our parent, the pious Queen Helen, was destined to move from the earthly kingdom to the heavenly, we were left with our deceased brother George as orphans - no one helped us; We have only hope in God, and in the Most Pure Mother of God, and in all kinds of prayers, and in the blessing of our parents. I was eight years old at that time; and so our subjects achieved the fulfillment of their desires - they received a kingdom without a ruler, but they did not show any concern for us, their sovereigns, while they themselves rushed to wealth and glory, and at the same time quarreled with each other. And what have they not done! How many of our boyars, and well-wishers of our father and governors were killed! They took the courtyards, villages, and property of our uncles and settled in them. And the mother’s treasures were transferred to the Great Treasury, furiously kicking and poking them with sticks, and the rest was divided. But your grandfather, Mikhailo Tuchkov, did this. In the meantime, Prince Vasily and Ivan Shuisky arbitrarily imposed themselves on me as guardians and thus reigned; those who most betrayed our father and mother were released from captivity and brought closer to themselves. And Prince Vasily Shuisky settled in the courtyard of our uncle, Prince Andrei, and in this courtyard his people, having gathered, like a Jewish host, seized Fyodor Mishurin, a close clerk under our father and guard, and, disgracing him, killed him; and Prince Ivan Fedorovich Belsky and many others were imprisoned in different places; and raised their hand to the church; having overthrown Metropolitan Daniel from the throne, they sent him into captivity; and so they carried out all their plans and began to reign themselves. My only begotten brother, George, who died in God, and I began to be raised as foreigners or the last poor. Then we suffered deprivations both in clothing and in food. We had no choice in anything, but we did everything not of our own free will and not as children usually do. I remember one thing: it used to be that we were playing children’s games, and Prince Ivan Vasilyevich Shuisky was sitting on a bench, leaning his elbow on our father’s bed and putting his foot on a chair, and he wouldn’t even look at us - not as a parent, not as a guardian, and certainly not at all. nor as a slave for masters. Who can bear such pride? How can I count such dishonorable sufferings that I endured in my youth? How many times I was not given food on time. What can I say about the parental treasury that I inherited? They plundered everything in an insidious manner: they said that the boyars’ children were given a salary, but they took it for themselves, but they were not paid for their work, they were appointed not according to their merit; and they took the countless treasury of our grandfather and our father for themselves, and with the money they forged gold and silver vessels for themselves and inscribed the names of their parents on them, as if it were their hereditary property. And all people know that during our mother’s time, Prince Ivan Shuisky had a green fly-fly fur coat made from martens, and moreover, worn ones; so if this was their inheritance, then rather than forging vessels, it would be better to change the fur coat, and forge the vessels when there is extra money. And what can we say about the treasury of our uncles? They took it all for themselves. Then they attacked cities and villages, tortured the inhabitants in various cruel ways, and plundered their property without mercy. How can you count the insults they caused to their neighbors? They considered all their subjects to be their slaves, they made their own slaves nobles, they pretended to rule and give orders, but they themselves broke the laws and caused unrest, they took immeasurable bribes from everyone and, depending on it, they spoke one way or another and did... Is this good? faithful service? The whole universe will laugh at such fidelity! What can we say about the oppression that happened at that time? From the day of our mother’s death until that time, for six and a half years they did not stop doing evil!
When the wives turned fifteen years old, they began to manage their kingdom themselves, and, thank God, our management began successfully. But since human sins often irritate God, a fire broke out in Moscow due to God’s wrath for our sins, and our traitor-boyars, those whom you call martyrs (I will name their names when I find it necessary), as if seizing a favorable time for of their treason, they convinced weak-minded people that our grandmother, Princess Anna Glinskaya, with her children and servants, took out human hearts and cast a spell, and thus burned Moscow, and that we knew about this plan. And at the instigation of our traitors, the people, having gathered according to Jewish custom, with shouts, captured the Great Martyr of Christ Dmitry of Thessalonica, our boyar, Prince Yuri Vasilyevich Glinsky, in the chapel of the church; They dragged him into the cathedral and great church and inhumanly killed him opposite the metropolitan seat, filling the church with blood, and, dragging his body through the front church doors, they laid him in the marketplace like a convicted criminal. And this murder in the holy church is known to everyone, and not the one you, dog, are lying about! We lived then in our village of Vorobyovo, and the same traitors persuaded the people to kill us because we were supposedly hiding from them the mother of Prince Yuri, Princess Anna, and his brother, Prince Mikhail. How can one not laugh at such an invention? Why should we burn our own kingdom? How many valuable things from our parents’ blessing have burned down, the likes of which cannot be found in the entire universe. Who could be so mad and evil as to burn down his own property, angry at his slaves? He would then set their houses on fire, and save himself! Your dog-like betrayal is visible in everything. It’s like trying to sprinkle water on the bell tower of St. Ivan, which is so tall. This is sheer madness. Is this the worthy service to us of our boyars and governors, that they, gathering without our knowledge in such packs of dogs, kill our boyars and even our relatives? And do they really put their souls on our behalf that they always long to send our souls out of this world into eternal life? We are told to sacredly honor the law, but they themselves do not want to follow us in this! Why are you, dog, proudly boasting and praising other traitor dogs for their military valor?..
And that, according to your crazy words, your blood, shed by the hands of foreigners for our sake, cries out to God for us, then since it was not shed by us, it is worthy of laughter: the blood cries out for the one who shed it, and you have fulfilled your duty to the fatherland , and we have nothing to do with it: after all, if you had not done this, you would not be a Christian, but a barbarian. How much more strongly does our blood, shed because of you, cry out to you: not from wounds, and not streams of blood, but considerable sweat, shed by me in many backbreaking labors and unnecessary hardships that occurred through your fault! Also, in exchange for blood, many tears were shed because of your anger, desecration and oppression, many sighed and groaned...
And that you “saw little of your mother and knew little of your wife, left your fatherland and was always on a campaign against enemies in distant cities, suffered from illness and received many wounds from barbarian hands in battles and your whole body was wounded,” then all this happened then when you, the priest and Alexei dominated. If you didn't like it, why did you do it? And if they did, then why, having created it according to their own will, do you lay the blame on us? And if we had ordered this, then this would not be surprising, for you were obliged to serve according to our command. If you were a warlike man, you would not count your military exploits, but would look for new ones; That’s why you list your abusive deeds, because you turned out to be a fugitive, you don’t want abusive exploits and are looking for peace. Did we not appreciate your insignificant military exploits, even if we neglected your obvious betrayals and opposition and you were among our most faithful servants, in glory, honor and wealth? If it weren’t for these feats, then what kind of executions would you be worthy of for your malice! If it were not for our mercy towards you, if, as you wrote in your malicious letter, you were subjected to persecution, you would not have been able to escape to our enemy. Your abusive deeds are well known to us. Do not think that I am weak-minded or an unreasonable baby, as your bosses, priest Sylvester and Alexey Adashev, brazenly asserted. And do not hope to intimidate me, as they scare children and as they previously deceived me with the priest Sylvester and Alexei thanks to their cunning, and do not hope that now you will succeed. As the proverbs say: “What you cannot take, do not try to take.”
You cry out to God, the rewarder; truly, he fairly rewards for all kinds of deeds - good and evil, but each person should just think about: what kind of deeds does he deserve to be rewarded for? And you value your face highly. But who would want to see such an Ethiopian face?..
And if you want to put your scripture with you in the grave, it means that you have already completely fallen away from Christianity. The Lord commanded not to resist evil, but even before death you do not want to forgive your enemies, as even the ignorant usually do; therefore, the last funeral service will not have to be performed on you.
You call the city of Vladimir, located in our patrimony, the Livonian land, the possession of our enemy, King Sigismund, which finally reveals your dog-like treason. And if you hope to receive many awards from him, then this is as it should be, for you did not want to live under the rule of God and God-given sovereigns, but wanted self-will. That’s why you found yourself a sovereign who, as follows from your evil dog’s desire, does not rule anything himself, but is worse than the last slave - he receives orders from everyone, but he himself does not command anyone...
This strong instruction was given in Moscow, the reigning Orthodox city of all Russia, in the year 7702, from the creation of the world on July 5th (July 5, 1564).
FIRST MESSAGE OF IVAN THE TERRIBLE TO KURBSKY
THE GOOD GREAT GOVERNOR TSAR AND GRAND DUKE OF ALL Rus' JOHN VASILIEVICH MESSAGE TO ALL HIS GREAT RUSSIA THE STATE AGAINST THE CRUDIFILES, PRINCE ANDREI MIKHAILOVICH KURBSKY WITH COMRADES, ABOUT THEIR TREASON
Our God is the Trinity, who was and now is before all times, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, who has neither beginning nor end, by whom we live and move, in whose name kings are glorified and rulers write the truth; Our God Jesus Christ gave the victorious and forever invincible banner of the only begotten word of God - the honorable cross - to the first of the pious Tsar Constantine and to all Orthodox kings and guardians of Orthodoxy. And after the will of providence was fulfilled everywhere and the divine servants of the word of God, like eagles, flew around the entire universe, the spark of piety reached the Russian kingdom. The autocracy of the Russian kingdom, filled with this true Orthodoxy, began by God's will from the great Tsar Vladimir, who enlightened the Russian land with holy baptism, and the great Tsar Vladimir Monomakh, who received high honor from the Greeks, and from the brave great sovereign Alexander Nevsky, who won a great victory over the godless Germans, and from the praiseworthy great sovereign Dmitry, who won the victory over the godless Hagaryans beyond the Don, to the avenger of injustice - our grandfather, Grand Duke Ivan, and to the acquirer of the primordial ancestral lands, the father of our great sovereign Vasily, of blessed memory, and to us, the humble sceptre-holders of the Russian kingdoms. We praise God for his immeasurable mercy bestowed upon us, that to this day he has not allowed our right hand to be stained with the blood of our fellow tribesmen, for we did not desire to take away the kingdom from anyone, but by God’s will and with the blessing of our forefathers and parents, as we were born into the kingdom , so they were brought up and matured, and reigned by God’s command, and took what belonged to us with the blessing of their forefathers and parents, but did not covet what belonged to others. This truly Orthodox Christian autocracy, possessing much power, is the command and our Christian humble response to the former boyar, and adviser, and governor before true Orthodox Christianity and our autocracy, but now - an apostate from the honorable and life-giving cross of the Lord and a destroyer of Christians, and who has joined the enemies Christianity, who retreated from the worship of divine icons, and trampled upon all sacred institutions, and destroyed holy temples, desecrated and trampled upon sacred vessels and images, like the Isaurian, the Gnoetic and the Armenian, who united them all in himself - Prince Andrei Mikhailovich Kurbsky, who treacherously wished to become the Yaroslavl prince , - let it be known.
Why, O prince, if you consider yourself pious, have you rejected your only-begotten soul? What will you replace it with on the Day of Judgment? Even if you gain the whole world, death will still snatch you away in the end; Why did he sacrifice his soul for the sake of his body if he was afraid of death, believing the false words of his demon-taught friends and advisers? And everywhere, both demons all over the world, and those who deigned to become your friends and servants, having renounced us, violating the kiss of the cross, imitating demons, have spread various networks against us and, according to the custom of demons, are watching us in every possible way, every word and step , mistaking us for incorporeal ones, and therefore they bring numerous slander and insults against us, bring them to you and disgrace us to the whole world. For these atrocities, you give them many rewards from our own land and treasury, mistakenly, you consider them servants, and, filled with these demonic rumors, you, like a deadly viper, became enraged at me and destroyed your soul, and rose up to destroy the church. Do not think that it is fair to be angry with a person and oppose God; It’s one thing to be a man, even dressed in royal purple, and another thing to be a god. Or do you think, you damned one, that you will protect yourself? No way! If you have to fight with them, then you will have to destroy churches, trample on icons, and kill Christians; If you don’t dare with your hands anywhere, then you will bring a lot of evil there with the deadly poison of your intent.
Imagine how, during a military invasion, horse hooves trample and crush the tender bodies of babies! When winter comes, even more atrocities are committed. And isn’t your evil dog’s intent to change similar to the evil fury of Herod, who appeared as a murderer of infants? Do you consider it piety to commit such atrocities? If you object that we are also at war with Christians - Germans and Lithuanians, then this is not at all the same. Even if there were Christians in those countries, then we are fighting according to the customs of our ancestors, as has happened many times before; but now, as we know, there are no Christians in these countries, except for small church ministers and secret servants of the Lord. In addition, the war with Lithuania was caused by your own betrayal, ill will and frivolous negligence.
You, for the sake of your body, destroyed your soul, despised imperishable glory for the sake of fleeting glory, and, enraged at man, rebelled against God. Understand, unfortunate one, from what height into what abyss you have fallen in body and soul! What was said to you has come true: “Whoever thinks that he has will lose everything.” Does your piety consist in the fact that you destroyed yourself because of your selfishness, and not for the sake of God? Those near you and capable of reflection can guess that there is an evil poison in you: you fled not from death, but for the sake of glory in that short-lived and fleeting life and for the sake of wealth. If, in your words, you are righteous and pious, then why were you afraid to die innocently, for this is not death, but a good gift? In the end you will die anyway. If you were afraid of a death sentence based on slander, having believed the villainous lies of your friends, the servants of Satan, then this is your obvious treasonous intent, as it happened in the past, and it is now. Why did you despise the words of the Apostle Paul, who said: “Let every soul be subject to the ruler who has authority; there is no authority except from God: he who resists authority resists God’s command.” Look at this and think about it: whoever resists power resists God; and whoever resists God is called an apostate, and this is the worst of sins. But this is said about all power, even about power obtained through blood and wars. Think about what has been said, because we did not obtain the kingdom by violence, especially because whoever resists such power resists God. The same Apostle Paul said (and you did not heed these words): “Slaves, obey your masters, working for them not only in front of your eyes, as people-pleasers, but as servants of God, obey not only the good, but also the evil, not only for fear , but also for conscience." It is God’s will if you have to suffer while doing good. If you are righteous and pious, why did you not want me, the obstinate ruler, to suffer and earn the crown of eternal life?
But for the sake of transitory glory, selfishness, the joys of this world, you trampled all your spiritual piety, along with the Christian faith and law, became like a seed thrown on a stone and grew when the sultry sun rose, immediately, because of one false word, you succumbed to temptation, and rejected, and did not grow fruit; Because of false words, you became like a seed that fell on the road, for the devil plucked from your heart the true faith in God and devoted service to us that had been sown there and subjugated you to his will. Therefore, all divine scriptures instruct that children should not resist their parents, and slaves should not resist their masters in anything except faith. And if you, having learned from your father, the devil, weave all sorts of things with your lying words, as if you were running away from me for the sake of faith, then - as my Lord God lives, my soul lives - in this it is not only you, but also your like-minded people, demonic servants, they can't blame us. But most of all we hope for the incarnation God's word and his most pure mother, the Christian intercessor, with the mercy and prayers of all saints - to give an answer not only to you, but also to those who trampled the holy icons, rejected the Christian divine secret and retreated from God (you amicably united with them), convict them with a word, and proclaim piety, and declare that grace has shone.
How are you not ashamed of your slave Vaska Shibanov? After all, he retained his piety, standing before the king and all the people, at the threshold of death, he did not renounce kissing you on the cross, glorifying you in every possible way and volunteering to die for you. You didn’t want to be equal to him in piety: because of one insignificant angry word, you destroyed not only your soul, but also the souls of your ancestors, - for by God’s will, God gave their souls under the power of our grandfather, the great sovereign, and They, having given their souls, served until their death and bequeathed to you, their children, to serve the children and grandchildren of our grandfather. And you forgot all this, having violated the kiss of the cross with dog-like treason, you joined the enemies of Christianity; and besides, without thinking about your own villainy, you speak absurdities with these stupid words, as if throwing stones into the sky, not ashamed of the piety of your slave and not wanting to act like him before your master.
Your scripture has been accepted and read carefully. And since you hide snake venom under your tongue, although your letter, by your cunning, is filled with honey and honeycombs, it tastes bitterer than wormwood; as the prophet said: “Their words are softer than oil, but they are like arrows.” Are you so accustomed, being a Christian, to serving a Christian sovereign? Is it right to honor the ruler given by God, as you do, spewing poison according to the custom of demons? You wrote the beginning of your letter, reflecting on the Navat heresy, thinking not about repentance, but - like Navat - about what is higher human nature. And when you wrote about us: “among the Orthodox and among the most luminous,” then this is so: as in the past, so now we believe with true faith in the true and living God. And as for the words “opposite, having a leper conscience,” then here you are reasoning in Navatian and not thinking about the words of the Gospel.<...>
Is this really a “leper conscience” - to keep your kingdom in your hands, and not allow your slaves to dominate? Is it “against reason” to not want to be under the power of your slaves? And is this “blessed Orthodoxy” - to be under the authority and obedience of slaves?
It's all about worldliness; in the spiritual and ecclesiastical, if there is some small sin, it is only because of your temptation and betrayal; besides, I am a man: after all, there is no man without sin, only God is sinless; and not like you - you consider yourself above people and equal to angels. And what can we say about godless peoples! There, after all, their kings do not own their kingdoms, but as their subjects tell them, they rule. Russian autocrats initially own their state, and not their boyars and nobles! And in your embitterment you could not understand this, considering it pious for the autocracy to fall under the power of a priest known to you and under your villainous control. And this, according to your reasoning, is “wickedness,” when we ourselves have the power given to us by God, and do not want to be under the power of the priest and your villainy? Is it “contrary” to think that your malicious intent then - by God’s mercy, and the intercession of the Most Pure Mother of God, and the prayers of all the saints, and parental blessing - did not allow you to destroy yourself? How much evil I suffered from you then, further words will tell you about all this in more detail.
If you remember that something was wrong in the church service and that there were games, then this was also because of your insidious plans, for you tore me away from a calm spiritual life and, like a pharisaist, saddled me with barely the burden they endured, but they themselves didn’t lift a finger; and therefore the leadership of the church was not firm, partly because of the concerns of the royal rule, undermined by you, and sometimes - in order to avoid your insidious plans. As for the games, only condescending to human weaknesses, for you have captivated many people with your insidious plans, I arranged them so that he would recognize us, his sovereigns, and not you, traitors, just as a mother allows her children to have fun V infancy, for when they grow up, they will abandon them themselves or, on the advice of their parents, they will turn to someone more worthy, or just as God allowed the Jews to make sacrifices - as long as they brought them to God, and not to demons. What are you used to doing for fun?
Was it because I “appeared to the contrary” that I did not allow you to destroy yourself? Why, against reason, did you consider your soul and the kiss of the cross as nothing, because of the imaginary fear of death? You advise us what you don’t do yourself! You reason like a Navatian and a Pharisaic: in a Navatian way because you demand more from a person than human nature allows,
in a pharisaical way because, without doing it yourself, you demand it from others. But most of all, with these insults and reproaches, which you began in the past and are still continuing, raging like wild animals, you are creating your treason - is this your zealous and faithful service, to insult and reproach? Like those possessed by demons, you tremble and, anticipating God’s judgment, and before it, with your evil and unauthorized verdict, with your superiors, with the priest and Alexei, you condemn me like a dog. And by this you have become opponents of God, as well as all the saints and reverends, glorified by fasting and deeds, you reject mercy for sinners, and among them you will find many who have fallen, and who have risen again (it is not shameful to rise!), and who have given their hand to the suffering, and from the abyss those who mercifully took away their sins, according to the apostle, “for brothers, and not counting them as enemies,” but you turned away from them! Just as these saints suffered from demons, so I suffered from you.
Why are you, dog, having committed such a crime, writing and complaining! What is your advice like, which stinks worse than feces? Or, in your opinion, did your evil-minded like-minded people act righteously when they threw off their monastic robes and fought against Christians? Or are you preparing to answer that it was a forced tonsure? But it’s not like that, not like that! As John Climacus said:
“I have seen those forcibly converted to monks who became more righteous than those who took monastic vows voluntarily.” Why didn’t you follow this word, if you are pious? There were many who were forcibly tonsured and better than Timokha, even among the kings, but they did not desecrate the monastic image. For those who dared to cut their hair, this did not benefit them - they faced an even worse death, spiritual and physical, as was the case with Prince Rurik Rostislavich of Smolensk, who was tonsured on the orders of his son-in-law Roman of Galich. And look at the piety of his princess: when he wanted to free her from forced tonsure, she did not want a transient kingdom, but preferred an eternal one and accepted the schema; He, having taken off his hair, shed a lot of Christian blood, plundered holy churches and monasteries, tortured abbots, priests and monks, and in the end did not retain his reign, and even his name is forgotten.<...>
How could you not understand that a ruler should neither commit atrocities nor submit wordlessly? The Apostle said: “Be merciful to some, distinguishing them, but save others through fear, pulling them out of the fire.” Do you see that the apostle commands us to save through fear? Even in the times of the most pious kings one can find many cases of the most severe punishments. Do you, in your crazy mind, believe that a king should always act the same way, regardless of time and circumstances? Shouldn't robbers and thieves be executed? But the crafty plans of these criminals are even more dangerous! Then all kingdoms will fall apart from disorder and internecine strife. What should a ruler do if not sort out the disagreements of his subjects?<...>
Is it really “against reason” to conform to circumstances and time? Remember the greatest of kings, Constantine: how, for the sake of the kingdom, he killed his son, born to him! And Prince Fyodor Rostislavich, your ancestor, how much blood shed in Smolensk during Easter! But they are numbered among the saints.<...>For kings should always be careful: sometimes meek, sometimes cruel, the good - mercy and meekness, the evil - cruelty and torment, but if this is not the case, then he is not a king. The king is terrible not for good deeds, but for evil. If you want not to be afraid of power, then do good; and if you do evil, be afraid, for the king does not bear the sword in vain - to intimidate the evildoers and encourage the virtuous. If you are kind and righteous, then why, seeing how the fire flared up in the royal council, did you not extinguish it, but kindled it even more? Where you should have destroyed the evil plan with reasonable advice, there you sowed even more chaff. And the prophetic word came true on you: “You have all kindled a fire and are walking in the flame of your fire, which you kindled for yourselves.” Aren't you like Judas the traitor? Just as for the sake of money he became furious with the ruler of all and gave him up to be killed, being among his disciples and having fun with the Jews, so you, living with us, ate our bread and promised to serve us, but in your soul you stored up anger against us. Is that how you kept the kiss of the cross, wishing us well in everything without any cunning? What could be more vile than your insidious intent? As the wise one said: “There is no head more evil than the head of a serpent,” and there is no evil more evil than yours.<...>
Do you really see pious beauty where the kingdom is in the hands of an ignorant priest and traitorous villains, and the king obeys them? And this, in your opinion, is “against reason and a leprous conscience,” when the ignorant is forced to remain silent, the villains are repulsed and a king appointed by God reigns? You will not find anywhere that a kingdom led by priests has not gone bankrupt. What did you want - what happened to the Greeks who destroyed the kingdom and surrendered to the Turks? Is this what you advise us? So let this destruction fall on your head!<...>
Is this really the light - when priests and crafty slaves rule, but the king is a king only in name and honor, and not at all with power? better than a slave? And is this really darkness - when the king rules and owns the kingdom, and the slaves carry out orders? Why is he called an autocrat if he himself does not rule?<...>
Will you say that when I turn over a single word, I still write the same thing? But this is the reason and essence of your entire evil plan, for you and the priest decided that I should be a sovereign only in words, and you and the priest should be in deed. That’s why it all happened that you still haven’t stopped plotting your villainous plots. Remember, when God delivered the Jews from slavery, did he place a priest or many stewards before them? No, he appointed one king to rule over them - Moses, and ordered not him, but his brother Aaron, to become a priest, but he forbade him to engage in worldly affairs; when Aaron got busy with worldly affairs, he led people away from God. Conclude from this that it is not proper for clergy to take on the affairs of government.<...>
Look at all this and think what kind of government there is under multiple commands and multiple powers, for there the kings were obedient to the dioceses and nobles, and how these countries perished! Is this what you would advise us to do in order to come to the same destruction? And is it piety not to rule the kingdom, and not to keep the evildoers in check, but to give in to the plunder of foreigners? Or will you tell me that they obeyed the saint’s instructions? This is good and useful! But it is one thing to save your soul, and another thing to take care of the bodies and souls of many people; Hermitage is one thing, monasticism is another, priestly power is another, and royal rule is another. Hermitage is like a lamb that resists no one, or a bird that does not sow, does not reap, and does not gather into the barn; The monks, although they have renounced the world, nevertheless already have responsibilities, obey the statutes and commandments - if they do not observe all this, then their life together will be upset; Priestly power requires strict word prohibitions for guilt and evil, allows glory, and honors, and decorations, and the subordination of one to another, which is not appropriate for monks; The royal power is allowed to act through fear and prohibition and curbs and to strictly curb the madness of the most evil and treacherous people. So understand the difference between hermitage, monasticism, priesthood and royal power. And is it proper for a king, if he is struck on the cheek, to offer the other? This is completely out of the question! How can a king rule the kingdom if he allows himself to be dishonored? And this is appropriate for priests. Understand therefore the difference between royal and priestly power! Even among those who have renounced the world, you will encounter many severe punishments, although not the death penalty. How much more severely should the royal government punish evildoers!
“Your desire to rule the cities and regions where you are is also unacceptable. You yourself saw with your dishonest eyes what ruin there was in Rus', when every city had its own chiefs and rulers, and therefore you can understand what it is.<...>
How do you call such traitors well-wishers? Just as once in Israel the conspirators, treacherously and secretly conspiring with Abimelech, the son of Gideon from his mistress, that is, from his concubine, killed in one day seventy sons of Gideon, born from his legitimate wives, and placed Abimelech on the throne, you, like a dog, following their treasonous habit, they wanted to destroy the legitimate kings worthy of the kingdom, and to place on the throne, although not the son of a concubine, but a distant royal relative. What kind of well-wishers are you and how are you ready to lay down your soul for me if, like Herod, you wanted to take my milk-sucking baby out of this world by cruel death and place me in the kingdom of a foreign king? So are you ready to lay down your soul for me and wish me well? Would you do this to your children: would you give them a scorpion instead of an egg and a stone instead of a fish? If you are evil, then why do you know how to do good to your children, and if you are considered kind and warm-hearted, then why don’t you do the same good to our children as to your own? But you also learned from your ancestors to cheat: just as your grandfather Mikhail Karamysh, together with Prince Andrei Uglitsky, plotted treason against our grandfather, the great sovereign Ivan, so your father, Prince Mikhail, with the Grand Duke Dmitry the grandson, plotted many troubles and prepared the death of our father , of blessed memory to the great Sovereign Vasily, likewise your mother’s grandfathers - Vasily and Ivan Tuchki - spoke insulting words to our grandfather, the great Sovereign Ivan; Likewise, your grandfather Mikhailo Tuchkov, at the death of our mother, the great Queen Elena, spoke a lot of arrogant words about her to our clerk Elizar Tsyplatev, and since you are a brood of vipers, that’s why you spew such poison. With this I have sufficiently explained to you why, according to your evil mind, I “became the opposite, understanding” and “meaning, having a leper conscience,” but do not invent, for in my country there are no such things. And although your father, Prince Mikhail, suffered a lot of persecution and humiliation, he did not commit such treason as you, dog.
And when you asked why we killed the mighty in Israel and the commanders given to us by God to fight our enemies, we subjected them to various executions, shed their holy and heroic blood in the churches of God, and stained the church thresholds with the blood of martyrdom, and invented unheard-of torments and executions and persecution for your well-wishers, who lay down their souls for us, blaming the Orthodox and accusing them of treason, sorcery and other indecency, then you wrote and spoke lies, as your father, the devil, taught you, for Christ said: “You are children of the devil and want fulfill the desires of your father, for he was from time immemorial a murderer and did not stand in the truth, for there is no truth in him; when he speaks a lie, he speaks his own, for he is a liar and the father of lies." But we did not kill the strong in Israel, and I don’t know who the strongest in Israel is, because the Russian land is held together by God’s mercy, and by the grace of the Most Pure Mother of God, and by the prayers of all the saints, and by the blessing of our parents, and, finally, by us, our sovereigns , and not by judges and governors, and especially not by ipates and strategists. We did not put our commanders to death, but with God’s help we have many commanders besides you, traitors. And we were always free to give favors to our slaves, and we were also free to execute them.
We did not shed any blood in the churches of God. Victorious and holy blood in present time it is not visible in our land, and we do not know about it. And the church thresholds - as far as our strength and intelligence and the faithful service of our subjects are sufficient - shine with all sorts of decorations worthy of God's church, with all sorts of donations; after we got rid of your demonic power, we decorate not only the thresholds, but also the platform and vestibule - foreigners can see this too. We do not stain church thresholds with blood; We have no martyrs for the faith; when do we find well-wishers who lay down their souls for us sincerely, and not deceitfully, not those who speak good with their tongues but plan evil in their hearts, give gifts and praise before our eyes, but revile and reproach us behind our eyes (like a mirror that reflects the one who who looks at him and forgets the one who has departed), when we meet people free from these shortcomings, who serve us honestly and do not forget, like a mirror, the entrusted service, then we reward them with a great salary; the one who, as I said, resists, deserves execution for his guilt. And in other countries you will see for yourself how they punish villains - not in the local way. It is you, out of your evil disposition, who decided to love traitors, but in other countries they do not like traitors and execute them and thereby strengthen their power.
But we did not invent torment, persecution and various executions for anyone; If you remember traitors and sorcerers, such dogs are executed everywhere.
And the fact that we have slandered the Orthodox, then you yourself have become like a deaf asp, for, according to the prophet, “the deaf asp stops his ears so as not to hear the voice of the exorcist, otherwise he will be cursed by the wise, for the Lord crushed the teeth in their mouth and crushed the lions’ jaws.” "; If I’m lying, then from whom can I expect the truth? What, in your evil opinion, no matter what the traitors do, they cannot be exposed? Why should I kiss them? What do I want from my subjects? The authorities, or their thin rags, or to get enough of them? Isn't your invention worthy of laughter? To hunt hares you need many dogs; to defeat enemies you need many warriors; Who, having reason, would execute his subjects without reason!
Above, I promised to tell you in detail how cruelly I suffered because of you in my youth and am suffering to this day. This is known to everyone (you were still young in those years, but, however, you can know this): when, by God’s will, having exchanged purple for a monastic robe, our father, the great Sovereign Vasily, left this mortal earthly kingdom and entered the eternal times to the kingdom of heaven to stand before the king of kings and lord of sovereigns, we remained with our brother, the holy saint George. I was three years old, my brother was one year old, and our mother, the pious Queen Elena, remained a most unhappy widow, as if she were in the middle of a flame: foreign peoples came to war against us from all sides - Lithuanians, Poles, Crimean Tatars, Astrakhan, Nogai, Kazanians, and from you, traitors, I had to endure various hardships and sorrows, for Prince Semyon Belsky and Ivan Lyatsky, like you, a mad dog, fled to Lithuania, and wherever they ran, enraged - both to Constantinople, and to the Crimea, and to their feet, and from everywhere they went to war against the Orthodox. But nothing came of it: through God’s intercession and the Most Pure Mother of God, and the great miracle workers, and through the prayers and blessing of our parents, all these plans crumbled into dust like the conspiracy of Ahithophel. Then the traitors raised our uncle, Prince Andrei Ivanovich, against us, and with these traitors he went to Novgorod (that’s who you praise and call well-wishers, ready to lay down their souls for us), and at that time they abandoned us and joined our uncle, to Prince Andrey, many boyars led by your relative, Prince Ivan, the son of Prince Semyon, the grandson of Prince Peter Golova Romanovich, and many others. But with God's help this conspiracy did not come true. Isn't this the kindness for which you praise them? Is it not because they laid down their souls for us that they wanted to destroy us and put our uncle on the throne? Then, as befits traitors, they began to cede to our enemy, the Lithuanian sovereign, our estates, the cities of Radogoshch, Starodub, Gomel - are they so benevolent? If there is no one in their land to train so that they can destroy the glory of their native land, then they enter into an alliance with foreigners - just to destroy the land forever!
When, according to God's destiny, our parent, the pious Queen Helen, was destined to move from the earthly kingdom to the heavenly, we were left with our brother George, who reposed in God, orphans - no one helped us; We had only hope in God's mercy, and in the mercy of the Most Pure Mother of God, and in the prayers of all the saints, and we trusted only in the blessing of our parents.
I was eight years old at that time; and so our subjects achieved the fulfillment of their desires - they received a kingdom without a ruler, but they did not show any concern for us, their sovereigns, while they themselves rushed to wealth and glory and quarreled with each other. And what have they not done! How many of our boyars, and our father’s well-wishers, and governors were killed! They took the courtyards, villages, and property of our uncles and settled in them. And our mother’s treasures were transferred to the Great Treasury, furiously kicking and poking with sticks, and the rest was divided. But your grandfather, Mikhailo Tuchkov, did this. This is how Princes Vasily and Ivan Shuisky arbitrarily imposed themselves on me as guardians and thus reigned; those who most betrayed our father and mother were released from captivity and brought closer to themselves. And Prince Vasily Shuisky settled in the courtyard of our uncle, Prince Andrei, and in this courtyard his people, having gathered, like a Jewish host, seized Fyodor Mishurin, a close clerk under our father and with us, and, disgracing him, killed him; and Prince Ivan Fedorovich Belsky and many others were imprisoned in different places; and they raised their hand against the church: having overthrown Metropolitan Daniel from the throne, they sent him into prison; and so they carried out all their plans and began to reign themselves. My only begotten brother, George, who reposed in God, and I, began to be raised as foreigners or the last poor. Then we suffered deprivations both in clothing and in food. We had no choice in anything, but we did everything not of our own free will and not as children usually do. I remember one thing:
It used to be that we were playing children's games, and Prince Ivan Vasilyevich Shuisky was sitting on a bench, leaning his elbow on our father's bed and putting his foot on a chair, but he wouldn't look at us - neither as a parent, nor as a guardian, and certainly not as a slave to his masters. . Who can bear such arrogance? How can I count such countless sufferings that I endured in my youth? How many times I was not given food on time. What can I say about the parental treasury that I inherited? They plundered everything in an insidious manner: they said that the boyars’ children were given a salary, but they took it for themselves, and they were not paid for their work, they were appointed not according to their merit; and they took the countless treasury of our grandfather and our father for themselves, and with the money they forged gold and silver vessels for themselves and inscribed the names of their parents on them, as if it were their hereditary property. And all people know that during our mother’s time, Prince Ivan Shuisky had a green fly-fly fur coat on martens, and on worn ones at that; so if this was their inheritance, then rather than forging vessels, it would be better to change the fur coat, and forge the vessels when there is extra money. And what can we say about the treasury of our uncles? They took it all for themselves. Then they attacked cities and villages and, subjecting the inhabitants to various cruel tortures, plundered their property without pity. How can you count the insults they caused to their neighbors? They considered all their subjects to be their slaves, they made their own slaves nobles, they pretended to rule and give orders, but they themselves broke the laws and caused unrest, they took immeasurable bribes from everyone and acted and spoke depending on it.
They lived like this for many years, but when I began to grow up, I did not want to be under the power of my slaves, and therefore I sent Prince Ivan Vasilyevich Shuisky away to serve, and ordered my boyar, Prince Ivan Fedorovich Belsky, to be with me. But Prince Ivan Shuisky, having gathered many people and sworn them in, came with troops to Moscow, and his supporters, the Kubenskys and others, even before his arrival captured our boyar, Prince Ivan Fedorovich Belsky, and other boyars and nobles and, exiling Beloozero, they killed, and Metropolitan Joasaph was driven out of the metropolis with great dishonor. Likewise, Prince Andrei Shuisky and his like-minded people came to our dining room, went on a rampage, captured our boyar Fyodor Semenovich Vorontsov before our eyes, dishonored him, tore off his clothes, dragged him out of our dining room and wanted to kill him. Then we sent Metropolitan Macarius and our boyars Ivan and Vasily Grigorievich Morozov to them to tell them not to kill him, and they reluctantly obeyed our words and exiled him to Kostroma, and they pushed the metropolitan and tore his robe with decorations on him, and the boyars they shoved each other. Are they the well-wishers who, contrary to our command, grabbed the boyars we liked and beat them, tortured them and exiled them? Are they so willing to give up their souls for us, their sovereigns, if they come against us in war, and before our eyes they capture the boyars with a host of Jews, and the sovereign has to deal with his slaves and the sovereign has to beg his slaves? Is it good to be so faithful? military service? The whole universe will mock such loyalty! What can we say about the oppression that happened at that time? From the day of our mother’s death until that time, for six and a half years they did not stop doing evil!
When we turned fifteen years old, we began to govern our kingdom ourselves, and, thank God, our management began successfully. But since human sins often irritate God, a fire occurred for our sins through God’s wrath in the reigning city of Moscow, and our traitor-boyars, those whom you call martyrs (I will name their names when I find it necessary), as if having received a favorable time for their betrayal, they convinced weak-minded people that it was as if our mother’s mother, Princess Anna Glinskaya, with her people and servants, took out human hearts and burned Moscow with such witchcraft and that we knew about this plan of theirs. And at the instigation of our traitors, the people, having gathered according to Jewish custom, with shouts, captured our boyar, Prince Yuri Vasilyevich Glinsky, in the chapel of the church of the Great Martyr of Christ Demetrius of Thessalonica; They dragged him into the cathedral and apostolic church of the Most Pure Mother of God and inhumanly killed him opposite the metropolitan seat, filling the church with blood, and, dragging his body through the front church doors, they laid him in the marketplace like a convicted criminal. And this murder in the church is known to everyone, and not the one you, dog, are lying about! We lived then in our village of Vorobyovo, and the same traitors persuaded the people to kill us because we were supposedly hiding from them the mother of Prince Yuri, Princess Anna, and his brother, Prince Mikhail. How can one not laugh at such an invention? Why should we burn our own kingdom? How many valuable things from our parents’ blessing have burned down, the likes of which cannot be found in the entire universe. Who could be so mad and evil as to burn down his own property, angry at his slaves? He would then have set fire to their houses and saved himself. Your dog-like betrayal is visible in everything. It’s like trying to sprinkle water on the bell tower of St. Ivan, which is so tall. This is sheer madness. Is this the worthy service to us of our boyars and governors, that they, gathering without our knowledge in such packs of dogs, kill our boyars, and even our relatives? And do they really put their souls on our behalf that they always long to send our souls out of this world into eternal life? We are told to sacredly honor the law, but they themselves do not want to follow us in this! Why are you, dog, proudly boasting and praising other traitor dogs for their military valor? Our Lord Jesus Christ said: “If a kingdom is divided, it cannot stand.” Who can wage war against enemies if his kingdom is torn apart by internecine strife? How can a tree bloom if its roots are dry? So it is here: until there is proper order in the kingdom, where will military courage come from? If the leader does not constantly strengthen the army, then he is more likely to be defeated than victorious. You, having despised all this, praise only courage; and what courage is based on is not important to you; It turns out that you not only do not strengthen courage, but you yourself undermine it. And it turns out that you are a nonentity; in the house you are a traitor, and you don’t understand anything in military affairs, if you want to strengthen your courage in self-will and in internecine warfare, but this is impossible.
At that time there was a dog in our courtyard, Alexey Adashev, your boss, who in the days of our youth, I don’t understand how, rose to the top of the bodyguards; We, seeing all these betrayals of the nobles, took him from the dung and equalized him with the nobles, hoping for his faithful service. What honors and riches did we not honor him with, and not only him, but also his family! We will tell you further what kind of faithful service he repaid us for this. Then, for advice in spiritual matters and the salvation of my soul, I took priest Sylvester, hoping that the man standing at the throne of God would protect his soul, and he, having trampled on his priestly vows and his dignity and the right to stand with the angels at the throne of God, to which the angels strive to bow, where the lamb of God is eternally sacrificed for the salvation of the world and never perishes, he, who was honored with seraphim service during his lifetime, trampled all this insidiously, and at first he seemed to begin to do good, following the divine Scripture. Since I knew from the divine Scripture that it is proper to obey good teachers without hesitation, and to him, for the sake of his spiritual advice, I obeyed with my own will, and not out of ignorance; he, wanting power, like Elijah the priest, also began to surround himself with worldly friends. Then we gathered all the archbishops, bishops and the entire sacred council of the Russian metropolitanate and received forgiveness at the council from our father and pilgrim, Metropolitan of All Rus' Macarius, for the fact that in our youth we laid opals on you, boyars, and also because you, our boyars opposed us; They forgave you, their boyars, and all other people for your guilt and promised not to remember this in the future, and so they recognized you all as faithful servants.
But you did not give up your insidious habits, you returned to your old ways and began to serve us not honestly, simply, but with cunning. In the same way, priest Sylvester became friends with Alexei, and they began to consult secretly from us, considering us unreasonable: and so, instead of spiritual matters, they began to discuss worldly affairs, little by little they began to subordinate you, boyars, to their will, taking you out from under our power , they taught you to contradict us and in honor you were almost equal to us, and the small children of the boyars were likened to you in honor. And so, little by little, this evil grew stronger, and they began to return to you the estates and cities and villages that were taken from you according to the code of our grandfather, the great sovereign, and which should not be with you, and those estates, as if scattered by the wind, lawlessly distributed, violating the code of our grandfather, and thereby attracted many people to themselves. And then they brought their like-minded person, Prince Dmitry Kurlyatev, into our council, pretending that he cares about our soul and is engaged in spiritual affairs, and not in cunning; Then they and their like-minded people began to carry out their evil plans, not leaving a single place where they did not have their supporters assigned, and so they were able to achieve their goal in everything. Then, with this like-minded person, they deprived us of our ancestors of this power and the right to distribute honor and places among you, our boyars, and took this matter into their own jurisdiction and discretion, as you please and please, then they surrounded themselves with friends and exercised all power according to of their own free will, without asking us anything, as if we did not exist - all decisions and regulations were made according to their own will and the desires of their advisers. If we even offered something good, they were displeased with it, and even their worthless, even bad and nasty advice was considered good.
So it was in external affairs, and in internal ones, and even in the smallest and most insignificant, right down to food and sleep, we were not given free rein in anything: everything was done according to their wishes, but they looked at us like babies.
Is it really “contrary to reason” that an adult did not want to be a baby? Then it became a custom: if I try to object to even the very last of his advisers, I am accused of impiety, as you just wrote in your clumsy letter, and if the last of his advisers addresses me with an arrogant and rude speech, not as a ruler and not even as a brother, but as an inferior - then this is considered good by them; whoever obeys us even in the smallest way, does it our way, will suffer persecution and great torment, and if anyone irritates us or brings us any grief, then wealth, glory and honor will come to him, and if I do not agree, destruction to the soul and ruin to the kingdom. And so we lived in such persecution and oppression, and this persecution grew not day by day, but hour by hour: everything that was hostile to us multiplied, but everything that was to our liking and calmed us was diminished. That’s how Orthodoxy shone then! Who can list in detail all the oppressions to which we were subjected in everyday affairs, during travel, and during rest, and in church service, and in all other matters? This is how it was: they pretended that they were doing it in the name of God, that they were doing such oppression not out of deceit, but for our benefit.
When, by the will of God, with the crusader banner of the entire Orthodox Christian army for the protection of Orthodox Christians, we marched against the godless people of Kazan, and by God’s ineffable mercy we won victory over this godless people, and with the entire army returned unharmed, what can I remember about the good done to us the people you call martyrs? And here's what: like a prisoner, they put him in a ship and transported him with a small number of people through a godless and unfaithful land! If the hand of the Almighty had not protected me, the humble one, I would probably have lost my life. This is the kindness towards us of those people you are talking about, and so they sacrifice their souls for us - they want to hand us over to foreigners!
When we returned to the reigning city of Moscow, God, increasing his mercy towards us, then gave us an heir - the son of Dmitry; when, a little time later, I, as happens with people, became very ill, then those whom you call well-wishers, with priest Sylvester and your boss Alexei Adashev, reeled like drunken people, decided that we were already in oblivion, and, forgetting our good deeds, and even more so - their souls and the fact that they kissed the cross to our father and us - not to look for another sovereign other than our children, they decided to place our distant relative Prince Vladimir on the throne, and they wanted to destroy our baby, given to us from God , like Herod (and how not to destroy them!), having made Prince Vladimir king. After all, the ancient saying, although worldly, but fair, says: “The king does not bow to the king, but when one dies, the other takes power.” This is the kind of goodwill we enjoyed from them during our lifetime - what will happen after us! When, by God's mercy, we learned everything and fully understood and this plan crumbled into dust, priest Sylvester and Alexey Adashev and after that did not stop cruelly oppressing us and giving evil advice, under different pretexts they drove out our well-wishers, indulged Prince Vladimir in everything, persecuted our Queen Anastasia with fierce hatred and likened her to all the wicked queens, but did not even want to remember about our children.
And after that, the dog and long-time traitor, Prince Semyon of Rostov, who was accepted by us into the Duma not for his merits, but by our mercy, treacherously betrayed our plans to the Lithuanian ambassadors, Pan Stanislav Dovoino and his comrades, and reviled us, our queen and our children; We, having investigated this crime, punished him, but mercifully. And after that, priest Sylvester, together with you, his evil advisers, began to provide this dog with all kinds of protection and help him with all sorts of benefits, and not only to him, but to his entire family. And so from then on, a time of ease came for all the traitors, and from then on we suffered even more oppression: you were also among them, it is known that you and Kurlyatev wanted to drag us into litigation over Sitsky.
When the war with the Germans began, which will be written in more detail later, priest Sylvester and you, his advisers, severely reproached us for it; when we, our queen or our children fell ill for our sins, all this, according to them, was done because of our disobedience to them. How can one not remember the difficult journey from Mozhaisk to the reigning city with our sick queen Anastasia? Because of just one inappropriate word! Prayers, visits to holy places, offerings and vows for spiritual salvation and physical recovery and for the well-being of us, our queen and children - all this, according to your insidious intent, was deprived of us, and they did not even remember about medical help against illness.
And when, being in such cruel sorrow and not being able to bear this burden, which exceeded human strength, we, having investigated the betrayals of the dog of Alexei Adashev and all his advisers, lightly punished them for all this: they were not sentenced to death, but sent to prison. different places, priest Sylvester, seeing that his advisers had lost everything, left of his own free will, but we let him go with a blessing, not because we were ashamed of him, but because I want to sue him not here, but in the next century, before the lamb God, whom he always served, but, despising, through the cunning of his disposition, he caused me harm; in my future life I want to sue him for all my mental and physical suffering. Therefore, I have still allowed his child to live in prosperity, but he does not dare to see us. Who, like you, will say such absurdity that one should obey the priest? Apparently, you say that because you are weak of hearing and do not know how the Christian monastic rule should be, how one should submit to mentors, which is why you demand for me, as if for a minor, a teacher and milk instead of solid food. As I said above, I did not do Sylvester any harm. As for the worldly people who were under our power, we punished them according to their betrayals: at first we did not condemn anyone to death, but we ordered everyone who was not at one with them to avoid them; this command was proclaimed and confirmed by the kiss of the cross, but those whom you call martyrs and their accomplices despised our order and violated the kiss of the cross and not only did not recoil from these traitors, but began to help them even more and in every possible way look for a way to return them to their previous position, to form even more insidious conspiracies against us; and since unquenchable anger and rebellion were revealed here, the guilty received a punishment worthy of their guilt. Is it not because, in your opinion, I “turned out to be resistant to reason, understanding” that I did not submit to your will then? Since you yourself are unscrupulous and oathbreakers, ready to cheat for the sake of the shine of gold, then you advise us to become the same. I will say therefore: Judas’s curse is such a desire! From him, God, deliver our souls and all Christian souls. For just as Judas betrayed Christ for the sake of gold, so you, for the sake of the pleasures of this world, forgetting about your souls and breaking the oath, betrayed Orthodox Christianity and us, your sovereigns.
In the churches, contrary to your lies, there was nothing like that. As I said above, the guilty were punished for their misdeeds; everything was not as you lie, inappropriately calling traitors and fornicators martyrs, and their blood victorious and holy, and calling our enemies strong, and apostates our commanders; I just told you what their goodwill is and how they lay down their souls for us. And you cannot say that now we are slandering, for their betrayal is known to the whole world: if you want, you can find witnesses to these atrocities even among the barbarians who come to us on trade and embassy matters. That's how it was. Now even those who were in agreement with you enjoy all the blessings and freedom and grow rich; their former deeds are not remembered to them, and they remain in their former honor and wealth.<...>
I don’t turn light into darkness and I don’t call sweet things bitter. Isn't this, in your opinion, light and sweetness if slaves dominate? And is this darkness and bitterness, if the sovereign given by God reigns, as is written in detail above?<...>
About the guilt of our subjects and our anger at them. Until now, the Russian rulers were not accountable to anyone, but were free to favor and execute their subjects, and did not sue them to anyone; but if it is appropriate to talk about their wines, this is mentioned above.<...>
And what you wrote that these representatives conquered and subjugated the proud kingdoms under whose rule your ancestors were, then this is true if we are talking about the Kazan kingdom alone; Not only did you not fight near Astrakhan, but you weren’t even thinking about it. And as for abusive courage, I can again accuse you of foolishness. Why do you boast, puffing up with pride!
After all, your ancestors, fathers and uncles were so wise and brave, and cared about the matter, that your courage and ingenuity, only in a dream, can be compared with their merits, and these brave and wise people not under compulsion, but of one’s own free will, overwhelmed by the fervor of battle, not like you, drawn by force to battle and grieving about it; and such brave people for thirteen years before we came of age were unable to protect Christians from the barbarians! I will say in the words of the Apostle Paul: “I will be like you, boasting of madness, because you force me to this, for you, fools, endure power when you are eaten, when you are beaten in the face, when you are arrogant; I say this with annoyance.” Everyone knows how cruelly the Orthodox suffered from the barbarians - both from the Crimea and from Kazan: almost half of the land was empty. And when we reigned and, with God’s help, began a war with the barbarians, when for the first time we sent our governor, Prince Semyon Ivanovich Mikulinsky and his comrades, to the Kazan land, when you all started saying that we were sending him as a sign of disfavor, wanting to punish him, and not for the sake of business. What kind of courage is this if you equate service with disgrace? Is this how we should conquer the proud kingdoms? Have there ever been such trips to the Kazan land when you did not go under duress? But it was always as if they set off on a difficult journey! When did God show mercy to us and conquer us to Christianity? barbarian people, then even then you were so unwilling to fight with us against the barbarians that, because of your reluctance, more than fifteen thousand people did not come to us! Are you destroying proud kingdoms by instilling crazy thoughts in the people and dissuading them from battle, like Janusz of Hungary? After all, even when we were there, you always gave bad advice, and when the supplies sank, you offered to return after staying for three days! And you never agreed to spend extra time to wait favorable circumstances, not sparing their heads, not thinking about victory in battle, but strived for only one thing: either to win quickly, or to be defeated, just to return home as quickly as possible. For the sake of a speedy return, you did not take the best warriors with you, which is why a lot of Christian blood was shed later. But when taking the city, weren’t you planning, if I hadn’t stopped you, to destroy the Orthodox army in vain by starting the battle at the wrong time? When the city was taken by God's mercy, you did not set about establishing order, but rushed to plunder! Is this the conquest of the proud kingdoms of which you, boasting, foolishly boast? To tell the truth, it is not worth any praise, because you did all this not by choice, but as slaves - under coercion and even with grumbling. It is worthy of praise when one fights on one's own impulse. And so you subjugated these kingdoms to us that for more than seven years fierce military clashes did not stop between them and our state!
When your dog power with Alexei ended, then these kingdoms submitted to us in everything, and now more than thirty thousand warriors come from there to the aid of Orthodoxy. This is how you destroyed and subjugated proud kingdoms to us! And this is how we care and worry about Christianity, and such is the “resistance of reason,” according to your malicious intent! This is all about Kazan, and on the Crimean land and on the empty lands where animals roamed, cities and villages are now built. What is your victory on the Dnieper and Don worth? How much evil deprivation and destruction you have caused to Christians, but no harm to your enemies! What can I say about Ivan Sheremetev? Because of your evil advice, and not by our will, this disaster happened to Orthodox Christianity. Such is your zealous service, and thus you destroy and subjugate to us the proud kingdoms, as I have already described above.
You talk about German cities as if they were given to us by God’s will thanks to the wisdom of our traitors. But how did you learn from your father, the devil, to speak and write lies! Remember, when the war with the Germans began and we sent our servant Tsar Shigaley and our boyar and governor Mikhail Vasilyevich Glinsky and his comrades to fight against the Germans, then how many reproachful words we heard from priest Sylvester, from Alexei and from you is impossible to recount in detail. Whatever bad happened to us, it all happened because of the Germans! When did we send you for a year against German cities(you were then in our estate, in Pskov, for our own needs, and not on our instructions), we had to send messengers more than seven times to our boyar and governor, to Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Shuisky, and to you, only then did you finally go with a small number of people and after many of our reminders, we took over fifteen cities. Is this your effort if you take cities after our messages and reminders, and not according to your own desire? How can one not remember the constant objections of priest Sylvester, Alexei Adashev and all of you against the campaign against German cities and how, because of the insidious proposal of the Danish king, you gave the Livonians the opportunity to gather forces for a whole year. They attacked us before winter time, how many Christian people were killed! Is it the efforts of our traitors and your goodness to destroy the Christian people! Then we sent you with your commander Alexei and many soldiers; You barely took only Viljan and at the same time killed many of our people. How scared you were of the Lithuanian troops then, like little children! But you went to Paida reluctantly, on our orders, exhausted the troops and achieved nothing! Is this your efforts? Is this how you tried to take possession of the hardest German cities? If it were not for your vicious resistance, then, with God’s help, all of Germany would already be under the Orthodox. At the same time you raised up the Lithuanian and Gothic people and many others against the Orthodox. Is this “the effort of your mind” and is this how you sought to strengthen Orthodoxy?
And we do not exterminate you with all generations, but reprisals and disgrace await traitors everywhere: in the country where you went, you will learn more about this. And for your service, which was mentioned above, you are worthy of many executions and disgrace; but we also mercifully punished you - if we had punished you as you should have, then you would not have been able to leave us for our enemy, if we did not trust you, you would not have been sent to our outlying city and you would not have escaped smog. But we, trusting you, sent you to that patrimony of ours, and you, according to dog custom, betrayed us.
I do not consider myself immortal, for death is the common lot of all people due to Adam’s sin; Although I wear purple, I nevertheless know that by nature I am just as susceptible to infirmities as all people, and not as you philosophize heretically and order me to rise above the laws of nature.<...>
You accuse people of persecution, but you, the priest and Alexei did not commit persecution? Didn’t you order the people of the city of Kolomna to stone our adviser, Bishop Theodosius of Kolomna? But God preserved him, and then you drove him off the throne. What can we say about our treasurer Nikita Afanasyevich? Why did you plunder all his property, and kept him imprisoned in distant lands for many years, in hunger and poverty? Would anyone be able to fully list your persecution of church and secular people, there were so many of them! Everyone who remained even slightly submissive to us was subjected to oppression from you.<...>
You did not suffer evil or unjust persecution from me, we did not bring troubles and misfortunes upon you, and if there was any small punishment, it was only for your crime, for you entered into an agreement with those who betrayed us. We did not raise false slander against you and did not attribute to you betrayals that you did not commit; for your actual misdeeds, we imposed on you a punishment corresponding to your guilt. If you cannot recount all our punishments because of their multitude, then can the whole universe list your betrayals and oppressions in public and private affairs that you inflicted on me through your malicious intent?<...>What kind of fierce and irreconcilable hatred did I have for you? We have known you since your youth, at our court and in the council, and even before your current betrayal, you tried in every possible way to destroy us, but we did not subject you to the punishments that you deserved for your evil. Is it our malice and irreconcilable hatred, if, knowing that you were plotting evil against us, we kept you near us in honor and in prosperity, which your father did not receive? After all, we know in what honor and wealth your parents lived and what awards, wealth and honors your father, Prince Mikhail, had. Everyone knows how you compare to him, how many village managers your father had and how many you have. Your father was a boyar of Prince Mikhail Kubensky, for he was his uncle, but you were our boyar: we awarded you this honor. Haven't honors, wealth and rewards been enough for you? You were benefited by our favors more than your father, but in courage you were inferior to him and, unlike him, committed treason. But if you are like that, what are you dissatisfied with? Is this your kindness and love for us, if you have always carefully placed snares and obstacles against us and, like Judas, were preparing to destroy us?
And that, according to your crazy words, your blood, shed by the hands of foreigners for our sake, cries out against us to God, then, since it was not shed by us, it is worthy of laughter: the blood cries out against the one by whom it was shed, and you have fulfilled your duty to the fatherland, and we have nothing to do with it; because if you had not done this, you would not have been a Christian, but a barbarian. How much more strongly does our blood, shed because of you, cry out to you: not from wounds and not streams of blood, but considerable sweat, shed by me in many backbreaking labors and unnecessary hardships that occurred through your fault! Let it not be blood, but many tears were shed because of the evil, insults and oppression perpetrated by you, how much I sighed in heartfelt sorrow, how much reproach I suffered because of this, for you did not love me and did not grieve with me about our queen and children. And this cries out to my God against you: this is incomparable with your madness, for it is one thing to shed blood for Orthodoxy, and another to desire honor and wealth. Such a sacrifice is displeasing to God; he would rather forgive someone who hung himself than someone who died for the sake of vanity. My grievance is that instead of shedding blood, I suffered all sorts of insults and attacks from you; everything that was sown by your obstinate malice does not cease to live and incessantly cries out to God at you! You questioned your conscience not sincerely, but falsely, and therefore did not find the truth, thinking only about military exploits, and did not want to remember the dishonor inflicted on us; That's why you consider yourself innocent.
What “blessed victories” have you accomplished and when have you gloriously overcome?” When we sent you to our patrimony, to Kazan, to bring the disobedient to obedience, instead of the guilty you brought the innocent to us, accusing them of treason, and to those against whom you was sent, did not cause any harm. When our enemy, Crimean king, came to our patrimony of Tula, we sent you against him, but the king was afraid and returned back, and only his governor Ak-Magomet-ulan remained with a few people; You went to eat and drink with our governor, Prince Grigory Tiomkin, and only after the feast did you go after them, and they had already left you safe and sound. Even if you received many wounds, you did not achieve any glorious victory. But how come, near our city of Nevel, with fifteen thousand people, you could not defeat four thousand, and not only did you not win, but you yourself, wounded, barely escaped from them, achieving nothing? Is this a glorious victory and a glorious victory, worthy of praise and honor? And other things happened without your participation - this is not your praise!
And that you saw little of your parent and knew little of your wife, left your fatherland and was always on a campaign against enemies in distant cities, suffered from illness and received many wounds from barbarian hands in battles, and your whole body was wounded - then all this happened then when you, the priest and Alexei dominated. If you didn't like it, why did you do it? And if they did, then why, having created it according to their own will, do you lay the blame on us? And if we did so, then this is not surprising, for you were obliged to serve at our command. If you were a warlike man, you would not count your military exploits, but would look for new ones; That’s why you list your abusive deeds, because you turned out to be a fugitive, not striving for abusive exploits, but seeking peace. Did we not appreciate your insignificant military exploits, even if we neglected your betrayals and opposition known to us, and you were among our most faithful servants in glory, honor and wealth? If it were not so, then what kind of executions would you deserve for your malice! And if it were not for our mercy towards you, and if, as you wrote in your malicious letter, you were subjected to persecution, then you would not have been able to escape to our enemy. Your military exploits are well known to us. Do not think that I am weak-minded or an unreasonable baby, as your bosses, priest Sylvester and Alexey Adashev, brazenly asserted. And do not hope to intimidate me, as they scare children and as they previously deceived me with the priest Sylvester and Alexei thanks to their cunning, and do not hope that now you will succeed. As the proverbs say: “What you cannot take, do not try to take.”
You cry out to God, the rewarder; truly, he fairly rewards for all kinds of deeds - good and evil, but each person should just think about: what kind of deeds does he deserve to be rewarded for? And you value your face highly. But who would want to see such an Ethiopian face? Has anyone met an honest person who has blue eyes? After all, even your appearance betrays your insidious character!<...>
You reminded us of Saint Fyodor Rostislavich - I gladly accept him as a judge, although he is your relative, for the saints know how to do good after death, and they see what happened between you and us from the beginning to the present, and therefore they will judge fairly. And how, contrary to your evil, merciless plans and desires, did the Holy Reverend Prince Fyodor Rostislavich, through the action of the Holy Spirit, raise our Queen Anastasia, who was already at the gates of mortals, whom you likened to Evdokia? And from this it is especially clear that he is not helping you, but showing us, unworthy, his mercy. So now we hope that he will help us more than you, for “if you were the children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham, and God can even create children for Abraham from stones; after all, not all who descended from Abraham are considered his descendants, but only those who live in the faith of Abraham."
According to vain plans, we do not decide or do anything and do not place our feet on a shaky foundation, but, as far as we have the strength, we strive for firm decisions and, resting our feet on a solid foundation, we stand unshakably.
We did not expel anyone from our land, except those who betrayed Orthodoxy. Those killed and imprisoned, as I said above, received punishment through their own fault.<...>
I am not proud or boastful of anything, and I do not think about any pride, for I fulfill my royal duty and do not do anything that is beyond my strength. Rather, it is you who are puffed up with pride, for, being slaves, you appropriate to yourself the rank of hierarch and king, teaching, forbidding and commanding. We do not invent any intrigues to torture Christians, but on the contrary, we ourselves are ready to suffer for their sake in the fight against enemies, not only to the point of bloodshed, but even to death. We reward our subjects with good for good and punish with evil for evil, not wanting this, but out of necessity, because of their evil crimes, they are punished.<...>
You wrote absurdities about the Crown priests, barking like a dog, or spewing poison like a viper: parents would not cause such suffering to their children - how can we, kings who have reason, fall into such wickedness? You wrote all this out of your own evil, dog-like intent.
And if you want to put your scripture with you in the grave, it means that you have already completely fallen away from Christianity. The Lord commanded not to resist evil, but even before death you do not want to forgive your enemies, as even the ignorant usually do; therefore, the last funeral service should not be performed on you.
The city of Vladimir, located in our patrimony. You call the Livonian land the possession of our enemy, King Sigismund, which finally reveals your canine identity. And if you hope to receive many awards from him, then this is as it should be, for you did not want to live under the authority of God and us, the sovereigns given by God, to listen and obey us, but wanted to live according to your own will. That's why you found yourself a sovereign who - as follows from your evil dog's desire - does not rule anything himself, but is worse than the last slave - he receives orders from everyone, but he himself does not command anyone. But you will not find consolation there, for there everyone takes care of himself. Who will protect you from violence or protect you from offenders, if even orphans and widows do not heed the court that you, the enemies of Christianity, convene!<...>
This strong instruction was given in Moscow, the reigning Orthodox city of all Russia, in the year 7072 from the creation of the world, on the 5th day of July (July 5, 1564).
KURBSKAYA'S MESSAGE
KURBSKY'S MESSAGE
To the King, most glorified by God, and moreover in right Lavia I will appear to the Lord, but now sin for the sake of our resistance will be found, of course, yes, he understands, conscience about kazhennu property, but it is not found in godless pagans. And I won’t let my tongue say more about this in a row at, But persecution For the sake of what is most bitter from your power and because of the many sorrows of my heart, I am tempted to utter a little.
To the Tsar, glorified by God and, moreover, among the Orthodox who appeared bright, but now - for our sins - who has become the opposite (let those who understand understand), having a leper conscience, which you will not find among godless peoples. And more<сказанного>I forbade my tongue to speak about all this in order, but because of the grave oppressions from your power and from the great grief of my heart, I dare to tell you,<хотя бы>little.
About what, king, strong in O Israel beat Thou art, and the commander, given by God to thy enemies, thou hast torn them apart with various deaths, and their victorious holy blood into the churches A X of God etc Thou art an olyal, and thou hast stained the Pragues of the Church with the blood of martyrdom, and on thy good-willed ones, who lay down their souls for thee, unheard ovated from You intended centuries of torment, and death, and persecution, with betrayals, and sorcery, and other inappropriate acts of the Orthodox and vainglory with zeal turn light into darkness, and darkness into light, and call bitterness sweet, and bitterness sweet? What did they do against you and what about gnѣ yours Are you representatives of Christianity? Didn’t the arrogant ones destroy the kingdoms and create them at your side in everything? V worksѣ were our forefathers? Were not the cities of Germany given to you by the diligence of their understanding from God? Is this true for us, the poor? repaid ecu, destroying us all together? Or are you immortal, the Tsar, and have you been seduced into an unimaginable heresy, yet you don’t even want to appear to the unwashed? Judges And the hope of Christians, the God-begotten Jesus, who wants to judge the universe in truth, and especially not to be offended by the proud persecutor, and willingly Shall I torture their sins until they are blind, as words say? He is my Christ, seated on the throne of the cherubim at the right hand of the Power licest Via in the highest, the judge between you and me.
Why, O king, did you exterminate the mighty people in Israel, and subject the commanders given to you by God to fight your enemies to various executions, and shed their victorious holy blood in the churches of God, and stain the church thresholds with the blood of martyrdom, and for your well-wishers, his soul for you? who have laid down torment, death, and oppression unheard of since the beginning of the world, having slandered the Orthodox in treason and sorcery and other lewdness, and with diligence trying to turn the light into darkness and call the sweet bitter, and the bitter sweet? What did the Christian intercessors do to you and how did they anger you? Didn't they destroy the proud kingdoms and turn them into obedients to you in everything, to which our ancestors were previously enslaved? Has not God given you the strongest German fortresses thanks to their wisdom? Did he reward us, the unfortunate ones, for this by exterminating us and all our loved ones? Or do you, king, imagine that you are immortal, and have fallen into an unprecedented heresy, as if you do not have to appear before the incorruptible judge and Christian hope, the God-first Jesus, who will come to administer fair judgment over the universe and certainly will not bypass the proud oppressors and will exact for everything and their smallest sins, as they say<божественные>words? It is he, my Christ, who sits on the throne of the Cherubim at the right hand of the greatest of the highest, the judge between you and me.
And I did not suffer such evil and persecution from you! And what troubles and misfortunes did you not bring upon me! Of which lies to her and you did not inflict treason on me! And all the various misfortunes that happened to you in a row, for the multitude of them, I cannot express, more gently mountains estyu my soul is still embraced. But together the whole river is of course: I would have been deprived of everything and driven away from God’s earth by you I am. AND behind You have repaid my goodness to me and my evil, and for my love you have repaid me with implacable hatred. My blood is like water shed for you, cries out on you to my God. God is a spectator of hearts: in my mind I am diligent in my thoughts, and my conscience is a witness to ideas, and claims, and crimes, cleverly O Brotherhood, and not with yourself, and not knowing what I am guilty of and have sinned against you. Before your army I went and went, and no one or youѣ even more stia I didn’t bring it, but were the victories bright with the help of the angel of the Lord for your glory and never your regiments to strangers? regiment ridge volume I turned, but I created more glory than victory to praise you. And this is not in one year, nor in two, but in many years I worked hard Xia with much sweat and patience, as little I gave birth to three, and I did not know my wife, and the remains of my fatherland, but always V distant and window s your cities took up arms against your enemies and suffered natural diseases, of which my Lord Jesus Christ is witness; moreover we increase the frequency I was wounded by barbarian hands in various battles, but my whole body was crushed by wounds. And to you, the king, all this will come to nothing.
What evil and what persecution I have not suffered from you! And what troubles and misfortunes he did not bring upon me! And what sins and betrayals did he not bring upon me! But I cannot even count in order all the various troubles you have caused, for there are many of them and my soul is still overwhelmed with grief. But in the end I will say about everything together: I was deprived of everything and expelled from the land of God by you without guilt. And you repaid me with evil for my good and for my love with irreconcilable hatred. My blood, like water shed for you, cries out against you before my God. God reads in hearts: I constantly thought in my mind, and took my conscience as a witness, and searched, and in my thoughts I looked back at myself, and did not understand, and did not find - in what way I was guilty and sinned before you. He led your regiments and performed with them and did not bring any dishonor to you, he only won glorious victories with the help of the angel of the Lord for your glory and never turned your regiments back to other people’s regiments, but, on the contrary, gloriously prevailed for your praise. And all this was not one year or two, but for many years he worked tirelessly and patiently by the sweat of his brow, so that he could see little of his parents, and was not with his wife, and was far from his fatherland, in the most distant fortresses fought against your enemies and suffered from bodily torment, of which my Lord Jesus Christ is a witness; I received especially many wounds from the barbarians in various battles, and my whole body is covered with wounds. But you, king, don’t care about all this.
But hotѣ X re cabbage soup all my military deeds, which I did for your praise, but for this reason I did not speak, for n God knows better. He is there for everyone sim a bribe-giver, and not only for this, but also for a cup of icy water. Again, to the king, I will say to you: you will not see my face again until the day Scary court. And don’t think of me as being silent about this: until the end of my life I will continually cry out at you with tears in front of you without initial I believe in the Trinity, and I call upon the help of the Cherubic Lord Mother, my hope and intercessor, the Lady Theotokos, and all saints, from beloved of God, and my sovereign Prince Fyodor Rostislavich.
I wanted to list in order all my feats of arms that I performed for your glory, but that’s why I don’t name them.<их>that God is theirs<еще>knows better. He will reward you for all this, and not only for this, but also for a cup of cold water. And again, king, I tell you at the same time: you will no longer see my face until the Day of Judgment. And do not hope that I will remain silent about everything: until the last day of my life I will constantly denounce you with tears before the beginningless Trinity, in which I believe, and I call for the help of the Cherubic Lord, Mother - my hope and intercessor, the Lady Theotokos, and all the saints , God's chosen ones, and my sovereign, Prince Fyodor Rostislavich.
Tsar, do not think and do not philosophize with thoughts like those already lost and beaten those who were imprisoned and driven away without truth are innocent of you. Do not rejoice in this, but instead boast in this: those cut by you at the throne coming Sovereign; They ask for vengeance on you, but those who were imprisoned and driven away by you without truth from the earth cry out to God against you day and night! More and more boasting in go in your joy and in this fleeting world, you are planning painful vessels for the Christian race, what or swear, trampling on the angelic image, a coordinating caresser and a companion of the meal, your mute boyar and gu bitelem souls yours And body, and their children act more than the Crown sacrifices. About this even to here.
Do not think, king, and do not imagine in your delusion that we have already perished and were destroyed by you without guilt and were imprisoned and expelled unjustly. Do not rejoice in this, as if boasting about it: those executed by you at the throne of the Lord stand, crying out for vengeance on you, while those imprisoned and unjustly expelled from the country by you cry out day and night to God, denouncing you. Although you constantly boast in your pride in this temporary and fleeting life, you invent the most painful executions for Christian people, moreover, you outrage the angelic image and trample on it, together with the flatterers who echo you and your comrades of your demonic feasts, your like-minded boyars, who are destroying your soul yours and body, who sacrifice their children, surpassing the priests of Cronus in this. And I’ll end all this here.
And this scripture, with tears from wet, in coffin I command With by yourself put, coming mi on court With by you God my Jesus. Amen.
And I will order you to put this letter, soaked in tears, in your grave with you, before going with you to the judgment of my God Jesus. Amen.
Written in city Volmѣ re sovereign mo his Augustus Zhigimont the king, from him I hope to be greatly rewarded and consoled from all sorrows. by their grace his state, rather than helping God.
Written in the city of Volmer,<владении>my sovereign king Sigismund Augustus, from whom I hope to be granted and consoled in all my sorrows by his sovereign mercy, and especially by the help of God.
And I heard from the sacred scriptures that the devil wanted to be allowed into the Christian race th destroyer, from fornication the conceived God-born Antichrist, who has now seen the Singlet, everyone knows that he was born from delusion, like carrying whispers in ears it is false to the king and sheds Christian blood like water, and has already destroyed the mighty in Israel, like an accomplice to the Antichrist: not with better like this By Takati, O king! In the first law of the Lord it is written: “Moabites, and Amishites, and bastards, up to ten generations, shall not enter the church of God. enters", And about chaa .
I know from the Holy Scriptures that the devil will send a destroyer of Christians to the Christian race, the God-fighter Antichrist, conceived in fornication, and now I see an adviser<твоего>known to everyone, born of adultery, who today whispers lies in the royal ears and sheds Christian blood like water, and has already destroyed<стольких>strong in Israel, according to their deeds<он подобен>To the Antichrist: it is not proper for you, king, to indulge such people! In the first law of God it is written: “A Moabite and an Ammonite and a bastard up to the tenth generation does not enter the church of God,” and so on.
... in Orthodoxy Rev.ѣ tlu I will appear, now or grѣ X for the sake of our resistive arr.ѣ Tesya... - Kurbsky here refers to the retreat of Tsar Ivan IV from true piety, to which he was previously converted through the efforts of his confessor, the Annunciation priest Sylvester, Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow and other “very kind and reverend men, venerable in presbytery” (see this ed.). Mentioning that the tsar appeared “blessed” “in Orthodoxy,” Kurbsky, in all likelihood, hints at big role Ivan IV in convening the Church Council of the Stoglavy and holding church reforms during the years of his pious reign together with the so-called “Chosen Rada”. At the meetings of this council in January-February 1551, the church hierarchs heard and considered royal issues, which contained a broad program of church reforms aimed at strengthening church deanery and Christian piety. Based on these royal questions, the council participants adopted resolutions strictly regulating church and monastic life, worship and Christian morality in Russian society. Tsar Ivan’s retreat from observing a number of resolutions of the Stoglavy Council after the death of Queen Anastasia and the fall of the “Chosen Rada” by Kurbsky was considered a betrayal of Orthodoxy. This accusation of Ivan IV of betrayal of his original “blessed Orthodoxy” caused the greatest indignation of the tsar, who insisted that it was he who remained faithful to the “blessed Orthodoxy” of the beginning of his reign (the time of the Hundred Head Council).
... strong in Israel beat ecu, And governor... various deaths terminated ecu... - This refers to the most prominent associates and commanders of Ivan IV in the first years of his reign, who were subjected to various disgraces and executions by order of the tsar. The use of the name “Israel” in relation to Russia was associated with the idea of the “chosenness of God” of Orthodox Rus', popular among publicists of the 15th-16th centuries.
... blood their in churches of God spilled ecu, And martyrdom blood Prague church stained ecu... - On the night of January 30-31, 1564, Prince M. P. Repnin-Obolensky was killed in the church “near the altar itself” and Prince Yu. I. Kashin-Obolensky “at the very church ceremony” (see this ed. ). Both murdered princes were prominent boyars of Ivan IV and constantly participated as governors in military battles of the time of Ivan IV, including the victorious campaign against Kazan in 1552.
... soul its behind cha believing... - Here Kurbsky alludes to the well-known Gospel text: “Greater love has no one to have, but whoever lays down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
... unheard of from Vѣ ka flour, And of death, And persecution intended ecu... - We are talking about numerous executions and persecutions that followed the sudden death of the head of the government of Tsar Ivan IV, the okolnichy A.F. Adashev in December 1560. Kurbsky subsequently colorfully described these executions and persecutions in his “History” (see this edition and commentary to it).
... changeѣ us, And sorcererѣ properties, And other unlike oblygaa Orthodox... - The accusation of treason served as one of the main forms of accusations brought against the disgraced Ivan the Terrible. Along with the standard accusations of treason against subjects under Ivan IV, the disgraced were charged with sorcery, that is, witchcraft. Tsar Ivan, in a reply message to Kurbsky, wrote: “... and if you remembered treason and sorcery, otherwise such dogs are executed everywhere” (see this ed., p. 38). From Kurbsky’s “History” you can learn that before Prince Andrei escaped from Russia and before he wrote the First Letter to Ivan IV, with the help of the accusation of witchcraft, the Polish woman Maria, who had converted to Orthodoxy from Catholicism, nicknamed Magdalene, close to A.F., was slandered and executed. Adashev (see this ed.). Kurbsky does not cite other similar cases in his “History”, but they probably took place in Russian reality, since Tsar Ivan did not refute this accusation in his response Message to Kurbsky, but, on the contrary, seemed to confirm it (see the text of the above quote from the Tsar’s Message in this comment).
... fussing with diligence St.ѣ T in tmu translate, And tmu V St.ѣ T, And sweet nicknamed bitterly, And bitter sweet? - This text by Kurbsky somehow goes back to bible book the prophet Isaiah, where it reads: “Woe... to those who put light in darkness and light in darkness, who put bitter things sweet and sweet things bitter” (Is. 5:20), however, the order of rhetorical oppositions and repetitions in the published list of Kurbsky’s Message to Tsar Ivan is different than in the biblical text. Exactly the same order of rhetorical oppositions and repetitions, as noted by B. N. Morozov, is in the list OIDR, No. 197, also listed RNB, Main collection, Q. IV, No. 280. In all other copies of Kurbsky’s Message to Ivan the Terrible in the first edition known to us, the words “and darkness into light” and “bitter is sweet” are omitted (see: Morozov B. N. 1) Kurbsky’s first message to Ivan the Terrible in the collection... P. 286; 2) Kurbsky’s first message to Ivan the Terrible in the library... P. 485). The indicated text of the prophet Isaiah Kurbsky also used in a message to the Polish nobleman Kodiyan Chaplich, written on March 21, 1575 (see this edition; see also: Rykov YU. D. On the question of the sources of Kurbsky’s First Message to Ivan IV // TODRL. L., 1976. T. 31. P. 239). The order of rhetorical oppositions and repetitions in this epistolary work by Kurbsky completely coincides with the order of rhetorical oppositions and repetitions in the published list of Kurbsky's Message to the Tsar and lists OIDR, No. 197 and Q. IV, No. 280 (see about this: Morozov B. N. 1) Kurbsky’s first message to Ivan the Terrible in the collection... P. 286). In this regard, it can be assumed that the commented passage in the published list and in the lists OIDR, No. 197 and Q. IV, No. 280 are closer to the archetype than the other lists. The differences between the text in Kurbsky's letters to the Tsar and to Kodiyan Čaplic from the biblical prophetic text are explained by the fact that Kurbsky quoted this text from memory in both cases. Kurbsky included the above text in the Message, obviously with a hint that Tsar Ivan would face inevitable grief in the light of this prophetic statement.
... Christianity representatives? - The word “representatives” is used here by Kurbsky to mean Christian defenders, or warriors fighting in the front ranks against enemies.
He pre-pride whether kingdoms ruined And handy in everyone you their created... - We are talking about successful conquest under Ivan IV by Russian troops of the Tatar Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, respectively, in 1552 and 1556.
... at like this before V worksѣ were forefathers our? - The word “work” in this case means “slavery”, “bondage”, “subordination”. In the commented text, Kurbsky means that as a result of constant raids on Rus' by military detachments of Kazan and Crimean Tatars, many thousands of Russian people have been captured since ancient times, and then used or sold into slavery in eastern slave markets (see: Schmidt WITH. ABOUT. Prerequisites and first years of the “Kazan War” (1545-1549) // Proceedings of the Moscow State Historical and Archival Institute. M., 1954. T. 6. P. 220, etc.).
He very hard whether hail Germanic... youѣ are given bysha? - We are talking about the successful conquest by Russian troops of a number of Livonian fortified cities (“hard cities”) in the first years of the Livonian War.
... universally destroying us? - By general destruction, Kurbsky meant the disgrace and execution of representatives of the feudal class along with the entire family or clan, including relatives. The disgrace of the head of the “Chosen Rada”, the okolnichy A.F. Adashev in 1560 led to the disgrace and execution of many of his relatives and people close to him. The brother of the head of the “Rada”, voivode D.F. Adashev, together with his young son Tarkh and father-in-law P.I. Turov, the Satin brothers, who were related to A.F. Adashev through his wife Anastasia, nee Satina, a relative of the Adashevs, voivode I. F. Shishkin, together with his wife and children, and other relatives and in-laws of the Adashevs died among the first victims of tsarist terror on the eve of the introduction of the oprichnina (see this edition and commentary to it). The family of the leading figure of the “Chosen Rada”, the governor, boyar Prince D.I. Kurlyatev-Obolensky, was also subjected to nationwide destruction. In October 1562, Ivan the Terrible, according to Kurbsky and other sources, forcibly ordered Prince Dmitry to be tonsured a monk along with his entire family - his wife and children. Kurbsky regarded this tonsure as “unheard of lawlessness” (see this edition, as well as PSRL. M., 1965. T. 29. P. 301). During the years of the oprichnina of Ivan the Terrible, the nationwide destruction of disgraced families became a kind of “norm” of the tsar’s terrorist policy, and Kurbsky, as it were, prophetically predicted in his 1564 Message the mass executions and disgraces of the nobility in oprichnina times.
... unwashed Judges... - “Incorruptible” means “incorruptible.” The expression “unwashed Judge” is used repeatedly in a number of original and translated works of Maxim the Greek, and therefore it may be traced back to them. As is known, Kurbsky always considered this learned monk and writer to be his “beloved” spiritual “teacher” and constantly read his works. The collection of works by Maxim the Greek was at the disposal of Prince Andrei even during his stay as viceroy in Yuryev (see: RIB. T. 31. Stb. 495).
... who wants judge universe V the truth... - This passage goes back to biblical texts (cf. Acts 17:31; Ps. 9:8-9; 95:13; 97:9).
... Not swearing... torture before Vlas sins their, like words verb? - Wed. Ps. 67, 22.
... grey-haired on throne cherubimste right hand Powers majesty in exceedingly high... - Wed. Heb. 13; 8, 1. A similar text is contained in Maxim the Greek’s translation of this apostolic letter, and it was also used, with a slight variation, by Maxim the Greek in his “Confession of the Orthodox Faith” (see about this: Rykov YU. D. On the question of the sources of Kurbsky's First Message to Ivan IV. pp. 239-240).
…AND whom evil And persecution from you Not enduredѣ X!... And from Earth Bozhia tuna by you driven away I am. - After the unsuccessful battle of Nevel in 1562, Kurbsky (who was wounded) displeased the tsar and at the end of 1562 - beginning of 1563 he was appointed governor of Yuriev Livonsky (now Tartu), which meant exile similar to the one to which he was subjected previously the head of the “Chosen Rada” A.F. Adashev (sent shortly before his death by the governor to Fellin (Viljan, now Viljandi)). The sending of the boyar M. Ya. Morozov to the Yuryev governorship in 1564 was also considered by Kurbsky’s associates T. Teterin and M. Sarykhozin as a punishment in their letter to M. Ya. Morozov, written in Volmar, probably with the participation of Kurbsky (see: Skrynnikov R. G. Reign of Terror. St. Petersburg, 1992. pp. 47-48). Kurbsky mentioned his troubles and misfortunes a little earlier also in his First Message to the Elder of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery Vassian Muromtsev, written in Yuryev even before his escape: “... again the misfortunes and troubles from Babylon (i.e. Ivan IV) are boiling over us many are starting” (see this ed.). Tsar Ivan himself admitted that Kurbsky had many “treasonous affairs,” which was reflected in his correspondence with Kurbsky and in the monuments of Russia’s diplomatic relations with Poland. In the Message of 1564, Ivan the Terrible denied his intention to execute Kurbsky, stating that he fled, afraid of the false “mortal renunciation” that he received from his friends by “evil lies” of them. At the same time, the tsar admitted that he was very dissatisfied with Kurbsky and was angry with him. Kurbsky in his Third Message to the Tsar wrote: “If someone does not run away for the sake of persecution, he would be his own murderer.” Kurbsky’s reasons were, of course, not groundless: in 1579, Ivan the Terrible, in a letter to Stefan Batory, wrote without mincing words that Kurbsky “destroyed us, that he wanted our death, and we, having found him for the sake of it, wanted to execute him” (see. present edition).
Page 16. AND behind good my repaid mi ecu evil, And behind love my - unapologetic hateѣ there is. - Wed. Ps. 108, 3-5; 37, 20-21; 34, 12; Life 44, 4; Jerem. 18, 20. The word order of the commented passage exactly corresponds to the word order of the passage only in the list OIDR, No. 197 and in list Q. IV, No. 280, in all others known lists Kurbsky's first message, 1st edition, the word order in this text is different (see: Morozov B. N. 1) Kurbsky’s first message to Ivan the Terrible in the collection... P. 285-286; 2) Kurbsky’s first message to Ivan the Terrible in the library... P. 485). The text “For my good I repaid me with evil and for my love - with uncompromising hatred” can also be read in the Epistle (“Complaint”) of the Kamenets-Podolsk monk Isaiah to his enemy the Greek Metropolitan Joasaph, the closeness of this text to the passage of the list of the Epistle of Kurbsky from the collection OIDR, No. 197, the American scientist E. Keenan considered one of the main evidence of the closeness of the list OIDR, No. 197 to the archetype of Kurbsky’s message (see: Keenan E. L. The Kurbskii-Groznyi Apocrypha. The Seventeenth - Century Genesis of the “Correspondence” Attributed to Prince A. M. Kurbskii and Tsar Ivan IV. Cambridge, Mass., 1971. P. 28-29, 154). The new, earliest list of Kurbsky's Message published here testifies in favor of the opinion of E. Keenan. The textual relationship established by this scientist between these passages in Kurbsky and the monk Isaiah is undeniable. The texts of the Epistle of Kurbsky and the “Complaint” of Isaiah, in addition to general order words in this passage are brought closer to each other by the presence of the common epithet “irreconcilable” before the word “hatred”, for this epithet is not found in a similar biblical text.
Blood my, like water spilled behind cha, cries out on cha to God my. - Wed. Life 4, 9; Ps. 78, 3. A text close to this passage is found again in the “Complaint” of the Kamenets-Podolsk monk Isaiah (see: Keenan E. L. The Kurbskii-Groznyi Apocrypha. P. 28-29, 154), however, if Kurbsky had all the proper grounds to write in his Epistle to the Tsar about the blood he shed, then the monk Isaiah, obviously, could not write like that, and this circumstance, as rightly noted in the scientific literature, says about the obvious secondary nature of the text of Isaiah’s “Complaint” in comparison with Kurbsky’s Epistle (see: Andreev N. E. Imaginary topic. On the speculations of E. Keenan // New magazine(The New Review). New York, 1972. No. 109. pp. 270-271).
God - hearts viewer: in mindѣ my adjѣ wife ideas... And Not naidoh V how in front of you guilty And having sinned. - The expression “God is a spectator of hearts” goes back to the biblical text (cf. 1 Samuel 16:7). An expression similar to the text of Kurbsky’s Message is found in the Volmar letter of T. Teterin and M. Sarykhozin to boyar M. Ya. Morozov: “... and in this, sir, God is willing to the hearts of the viewer. He sees everyone’s guilt and rightness of heart” (Messages of Ivan the Terrible. P. 537). A reflection of the biblical text can also be found in the writings of the famous Russian publicist of the 16th century. Abbot Joseph of Volotsky, who in one of his messages wrote that “the terrible and all-seeing eye of the heavenly king sees all people’s hearts and weighs their thoughts” (Messages of Joseph Volotsky / Prepared texts by A. A. Zimin and Y. S. Lurie. M. ; L., 1959. P. 184). E. Keenan noted the presence of a similar passage in the “Complaint” of the Kamenets-Podolsk monk Isaiah, which textologically completely coincides with the above-mentioned text by Kurbsky ( Keenan E. L. The Kurbskii-Groznyi Apocrypha. P. 28-29). The reading “before you” in the commented passage of Kurbsky’s Epistle is more logical and consistent, judging by the context, than the reading “before him” found in Isaiah (see: Zimin A. A. Kurbsky's first message to Ivan the Terrible... P. 190). At the same time, it should be noted that in the commented passage of Kurbsky’s Epistle the expression “guilty and having sinned” is not found in other known lists of this Epistle. The only exceptions are list Q. IV, No. 280, where this reading is available, and the list OIDR, No. 197, where this reading is conveyed as “guilty and having sinned” (Correspondence of Ivan the Terrible with Andrei Kurbsky. P. 353. L. 6 vol., various readings. R). All this again speaks of the special closeness of the published list to the list OIDR, No. 197 and list Q. IV, No. 280 (the example was not noted by B. N. Morozov). In the “Complaint” of the Kamenets-Podolsk monk Isaiah, the word “guilty” corresponds with the word of Kurbsky’s Epistle “guilty” (see: AbramovichD. AND. TO literary activity Mnikha of the Kamyan resident Isaiah // Monuments of ancient writing and art. St. Petersburg, 1913. Issue. 181. P. 7). From this example the primacy of the published text of Kurbsky’s Message is again visible, as well as the texts of the list OIDR, No. 197 and List Q. IV, No. 280.
Prev army yours walking And origins... we worked hard many sweats And terpѣ niya... - Kurbsky s early age was on military service. In 1549, he took part in the campaign against Kazan with the rank of captain, and on August 13, 1550, he was appointed governor of Pronsk. Since these times, Kurbsky has constantly performed military service in the voivodeship ranks. Detailed and vivid coverage of their military activities during the victorious campaign against Khanate of Kazan in 1552 and in initial period Livonian War book. Andrei left it on the pages of his “History” (see this edition).
... like few And rozshea me spѣ X... - We are talking about the mother of Prince Andrei Kurbsky, who was the daughter of the okolnichy M.V. Tuchkov, who received the boyar rank shortly before January 1533 (see: 3 imine A. A. Formation of the boyar aristocracy in Russia in the second half of the 15th - first third of the 16th centuries. M., 1988. P. 240). After Prince Andrei fled to Lithuania, his mother was thrown into prison by Ivan the Terrible, where she died. Kurbsky's mother was related to Tsarina Anastasia Romanovna. See comment about this. to the Third Epistle of Kurbsky to Ivan the Terrible (present ed.).
... And wives mine Not Poznań... - We are talking about the first wife of Prince Andrei Kurbsky, Princess Euphrosyne Kurbskaya. She apparently entered into marriage with Prince Andrei Kurbsky around 1553. She had a young son from Kurbsky, unknown to us by name. During Kurbsky's stay in Yuryev's governorship, Princess Euphrosyne was in Livonia. The legendary story of the Latukhin Degree Book has been preserved, how Prince Andrei, on the eve of his escape from Yuryev, came to say goodbye to his wife (see: Ustryalov N. Tales of Prince Kurbsky. St. Petersburg, 1868. P. XV). Kurbsky did not take his wife with him, obviously because of her pregnancy, as we know from the reports of the Livonian chronicler F. Nienstedt (see: Collection of materials and articles on the history of the Baltic region. Riga, 1883. T. 4. P. 36 ). According to the German guardsman G. Staden, Kurbsky fled to Lithuania to King Sigismund Augustus, having previously settled his wife and children (see: Staden G. About Ivan the Terrible's Moscow. Notes of a German guardsman / Trans. I. I. Polosina. L., 1925. P. 87). After Kurbsky fled abroad, Princess Euphrosyne, along with her young son and mother-in-law, were thrown into prison by Ivan the Terrible, where they died (see this edition). The name of Princess Euphrosyne of Kurbskaya was recorded in the feed books of the Yaroslavl Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery, where the monks arranged “food” for her twice a year - on June 10 “for her repose” and on June 19, apparently for her birthday (see: Historical acts of Yaroslavl Spassky Monastery. Supplement. Feed book. M., 1896. P. 25).
... we increase the frequency bykh wounds from barbaric hands V various battles, crushed or wounds all Tѣ lo my themѣ Yu. - Kurbsky’s testimony about his numerous wounds during various battles is confirmed by historical sources. Kurbsky received one of his wounds in the battle near Tula with the troops of the Crimean Tatars in June 1552, when he was seriously wounded in the head and other parts of the body. Kurbsky received another very serious injury during the assault on Kazan on October 2, 1552, when he, severely chopped by Tatar sabers, fell unconscious to the ground along with his war horse (see: PSRL. M., 1965. T. 29. P. 203, as well as present. ed.). Another famous wound of Kurbsky occurred near Nevel in 1562 during the battle with the Poles (see this edition). Perhaps Kurbsky was wounded in other military battles.
... Sunѣ m sim bribe-giver, And Not just Sim, But And behind cup cold water. - Kurbsky is referring to the words from the Gospel (Matthew 10:42) that the one who accomplishes even a small deed - giving someone a “cup of cold water” to drink - will not be left without a “bribe” (reward); therefore, he also hopes to receive a reward from God for his “military deeds.” Kurbsky later used this gospel story about God repaying a reward even for a cup of ice water in his “History of the Grand Duke of Moscow”, where he, speaking about the “newly beaten martyrs” of Ivan the Terrible, noted: “It is unlikely that Christ will not reward them and decorate their crowns such martyrs, even if you promised to pay a bribe for the cup of cold water?” (see this ed.). The term “giver of bribes” used by Kurbsky in the commented passage goes back to the apostolic text, which says that Christ “is a bribe-giver to those who believe in him” (Heb. II, 6). Parallels to the word “bribe-giver” are also found in the Apocalypse of John the Theologian (see Apocalypse 22:12). Kurbsky’s contemporary and teacher Maxim Grek in his writings called Christ “the richest briber” (see: Works of Maxim Grek. Kazan, 1859. Part 2. P. 411). The theme of the Gospel story about retribution and the cup of icy water is noticeably reflected in the words of John Chrysostom, including those that were placed as part of the “Book of Paradise”, received by Kurbsky from the elder of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery Vassian Muromtsev upon his arrival his in Yuriev Livonsky for vicegerental service in 1563 (see: Kalugin IN. IN. Andrei Kurbsky and Ivan the Terrible: (Theoretical views and literary technique ancient Russian writer). M., 1998. P. 25). Thus, Kurbsky could learn this topic about the “bender of bribes” Christ and about the “cup of cold water” from the most different sources, including biblical ones, which is generally characteristic of his literary style. The American scholar E. Keenan discovered interesting textual parallels between the Epistle of Kurbsky and the “Lamentation” of the Kamenets-Podolsk monk Isaiah in the above passage. Based on the undoubted similarity of these texts, E. Keenan concluded that Kurbsky’s Epistle had as its source the text of Isaiah’s “Lamentations”, written in 1566, and this circumstance makes the dating of Kurbsky’s Epistle to 1564 impossible (See: Keenan E. L. Kurbskii-Groznyi Apocrypha. P. 22-26, 197, n. 16). Contrary to the opinion of some authors, Kurbsky’s text in the commented passage is more consistent and understandable than in Isaiah’s “Lamentations.” Kurbsky hopes to receive a bribe for his military deeds. The Kamensk-Podolsk monk imprisoned in the Rostov prison also hopes to receive a bribe, but his context is completely different. Isaiah writes in his Lamentations: “I envision death, I contemplate immortality. If I see the speculator’s sword, I impute heaven, and Christ, our true God, has rewarded everyone with this, and not only this, but also for a cup of cold water: remember therefore all those who have pleased God, in which way you have improved salvation...” (see: Abramovich D. AND. On the literary activity of the Kamyan resident Isaiah. P. 7). Isaiah undoubtedly has a meaning to the text, but it is not as clear and understandable as Kurbsky’s. One of the probable understandings of this text is that the imprisoned Isaiah, in his dying anticipation, is thinking about immortality and is inclined to consider the coming executioner's sword as an equivalent guarantee of receiving salvation in heaven. So, the context of the above passage in Isaiah’s “Lamentations” is completely different and not as clear as that of Kurbsky in the Epistle, and therefore it is obvious that this text of Isaiah could not be a literary source for Kurbsky. Kurbsky had enough literary sources even without Isaiah’s “Lamentation.”
... before days Scary ships... - The Last Judgment - according to Christian doctrine, the judgment of living and dead people, which will occur after the end of the world during the Second Coming of the Son of God Jesus Christ. After this judgment, the righteous will receive eternal life in heaven, and sinners will be condemned to eternal torment in hell (see: Matt. 25, 31-46; John 5, 28-29).
... prince Fedora Rostislavich... - This refers to the ancestor of Prince A. M. Kurbsky, Smolensk Prince Fyodor Rostislavich, who received the Yaroslavl principality as a dowry in 1294. In 1463, this prince was canonized Yaroslavl princes and the church as a saint. Subsequently, when the Yaroslavl principality became part of the Russian centralized state, Prince Fyodor Rostislavich became an all-Russian saint.
... dead And beaten from you innocently And sharpened And driven away without truth. - We are again talking about the lawless disgraces and executions of Ivan the Terrible that began after the fall of the “Chosen Rada”, which were not based on judicial proceedings based on “truth”, i.e. the law.
... timesѣ chenyya by you at throne coming Sovereign, revenge on cha ask... to God are crying out on cha day And night! - Kurbsky uses biblical texts here, hinting to Tsar Ivan IV of God’s severe retribution, which inevitably awaits the tormentors for shed blood and committed lawlessness (cf. Luke 18:6-8; Deut. 32:43; Rev. 6:9; Ps. 9, 13; 17, 48; 37, 20; 57, 11; 78, 10, etc.; see about this: Rykov YU. D. On the question of sources... P. 239). In the manuscript, “of the Lord” is written above the line above the word “Mistress.”
... trampling angelic image... - “Angelic image” in Russia has been allegorically called monasticism since ancient times. Kurbsky here means, in all likelihood, the forced monastic tonsure on the orders of Ivan IV of such persons as the boyar Prince D. I. Kurlyatev, members of his family and the Streltsy head T. I. Teterin; forced monastic vows contradicted the principle of voluntary acceptance of the monastic rank (see this edition and commentary to it).
... children their moreover or Kronov victims dѣ exist. - Kronos - according to Greek mythology, a bloodthirsty titan who devoured his children. He was the father of the supreme Olympian deity Zeus. The “Cronus Priests” are the servants of Kronos. In the commented passage, we are obviously talking about the new royal entourage, who, with the help of their children, are destroying the body and soul of the king. One of these “destroyers” was, obviously, the influential boyar A.D. Basmanov, whose son Fedor was involved in unnatural love affairs with the tsar, thanks to which Fyodor had the opportunity to bring “everyone under the wrath of the tyrant” (see: New news about Russia in the time of Ivan the Terrible. The Legend of Albert Schlichting / Translated by A.I. Malein. L., 1934. P. 17; cf. Alexander Guagnini, Description of Muscovy / Translated from Latin, introductory article and commentary by G. G. Kozlova, M., 1997, p. 97; Staden Henry. About Ivan the Terrible's Moscow. P. 96). One of the victims of F.A. Basmanov, beloved by the Tsar, was the young governor, Prince D.F. Ovchinin, who came from a noble boyar family of the Obolensky princes. This prince was strangled by the hounds of Ivan IV because “in the midst of quarrels and abuse with Fyodor, the son of Basman... he reproached him with a dishonest act” (New news about Russia in the time of Ivan the Terrible. The Legend of Albert Schlichting. P. 17; cf.: Guagnini Alexander. Description of Muscovy. P. 97).
Written in city Volmѣ re... - Volmer, or Volmar (now Valmiera in Latvia) is a city in Livonia, which, together with the territory of Livonia, came under Polish rule in 1561. Kurbsky was in Volmera from the first days of May 1564, after his escape from Yuryev on the night of April 30, 1564.
... sovereign my Augusta Zhigimont king, from worthless aboveѣ Yusya a lot of granted to be... by grace his state... - August Zhigimont - Polish king Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1571), who from 1548 was also the Grand Duke of Lithuania. He actively participated in the struggle for the Baltic states during the Livonian War, and achieved the transition of Livonia to the protectorate of Poland and Lithuania. He played an important role in the conclusion of the Union of Lublin in 1569, which led to the formation of a unified Polish-Lithuanian state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was the last representative of the Jagiellonian dynasty that ruled Poland. Kurbsky’s “hope” for a rich grant from King Sigismund II Augustus “by his sovereign grace” was by no means groundless. As researchers have established, Kurbsky, even before his escape, entered into secret correspondence with the Vitebsk governor, Prince N. Yu. Radziwill and sub-chancellor E. Volovich. After receiving Kurbsky’s consent to go into the service of King Sigismund II Augustus, the Lithuanian hetman Prince N. Yu. Radziwill sent Kurbsky a letter with promises of decent support for him in Lithuania, after which a royal letter was sent to Kurbsky with a promise to grant him lands (see more details: Skrynnikov R. G. Reign of Terror. pp. 183-185). Already on July 4, 1564, King Sigismund II Augustus fulfilled his promise and generously granted Kurbsky the maintenance of the city of Kovel with rich Kovel lands in Volyn, as well as extensive estates in Lithuania in return for the Yaroslavl lands he had lost in his homeland. Later, on February 25, 1567, Kovel and the Kovel lands were approved for Kurbsky and his male offspring on fief rights forever as a reward for Kurbsky’s valiant service in the ranks of the Polish army, which fought with the troops of Ivan IV (see: Ustryalov N. Tales of Prince Kurbsky. St. Petersburg, 1868. pp. XVI-XVII). Thus, Kurbsky’s “hope” for a rich award from his new “sovereign” came true.
Page 18. AND I hear from sacred scriptures, wanting from the devil launched be... God-born Antichrist. .. - Antichrist literally translated from Greek means the enemy of Christ. According to biblical legends, the Antichrist must appear immediately before the Second Coming of Christ and the Last Judgment; he will fight the true Christ and destroy Christians, but then he will perish terrible death from God. The appearance of the sensual Antichrist is described with particular completeness in the Apocalypse of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian.
... viewѣ X or now singlit, Sunѣ m Vѣ Houses... aki coverbal dѣ scrap Antichrist... - Mentioning in this passage a certain “singlit,” that is, a royal boyar, or adviser, who, like the Antichrist, was born “from fornication” and who, through his false whispers into the royal ears, shed a lot of Christian blood and destroyed the “mighty in Israel,” Kurbsky, obviously reminds the king again that the coming of the Antichrist and the Last Judgment are already close. According to biblical ideas, in " last times“Many antichrists will appear, that is, people who deny the true God, who are similar to the Antichrist himself (see 1 John 2:18). “Singlit,” named by Kurbsky in this passage, is one of the predecessors of the biblical Antichrist, who is similar to him in his deeds. Kurbsky does not give a specific name to this “singlit”, since he is “in the know” in Russia. At one time, N. G. Ustryalov suggested that the anonymous “singlit” seems to mean the “tsar’s favorite of that time” F. A. Basmanov, who “was famous for the courage of the commander, but was hated by the people as the worst oprichnik” ( Ustryalov N. Tales of Prince Kurbsky. P. 340). More plausible is the opinion of R. G. Skrynnikov, according to which the illegitimate nobleman means the famous boyar A. D. Basmanov, one of the initiators and leaders of the future royal oprichnina (see: Skrynnikov R. G. Reign of Terror. P. 178). In favor of the opinion of R. G. Skrynnikov, it can be additionally noted that Kurbsky himself later in his “History” wrote about the boyar A. D. Basmanov, that he was a “glorious stewer” or a “maniac” and the “destroyer” of the tsar and the entire “Svyatorusskaya” land." According to Kurbsky, boyar A.D. Basmanov was subsequently stabbed to death by his son Fyodor, and in this regard, Kurbsky emphasizes with sarcasm: “What he prepared for the brothers, he soon tasted!” (see this ed.). It seems that these words of Kurbsky fit well with the characteristic of the “singlit” destroying the “strong in Israel”, which is given in the commented passage, and confirm the likelihood of R. G. Skrynnikov’s assumption.
... Not prettier like this indulge... - In the list of the Manuscript Department of the Library of the Moscow Main Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, No. 461/929, this passage reads as “not worth reading such things.” In other lists of the second type of the first group of the Message of Kurbsky of the first edition, which includes lists OIDR, No. 197 and the Manuscript Department of the Library MGAMID, No. 461/929, contains the reading “not suitable for such honor.” Special reading is given only by the list from the collection of A.I. Khludov, No. 246, where this passage looks like this: “It is not good for you to be such an indulger,” but this reading was probably corrected according to some list of the Messages of the second group, such as the list of the collection Manuscript Section of the Library MGAMID, No. 352/801 (see: Correspondence of Ivan the Terrible with Andrei Kurbsky. P. 355. L. 8 vol., various readings). In the published list, due to a paper break, only “don’t f...tak” was preserved. The last reading can presumably be restored in meaning as “not good for such indulgence,” and this reading is typical for the text of the copies of Kurbsky’s Message of the second edition (see: Correspondence of Ivan the Terrible with Andrei Kurbsky. P. 11).
IN law Lord's first written: "Moabiteen, And amanitin, And bastards before ten genera in church God's Not enters"... - Wed. Tue 23, 1-3. "Moabite" and "Ammonite" are the inhabitants of Moab and Ammon, ancient states Middle East II-I millennia BC e., located in the area Dead Sea. The ancestor of the Moabites and the state of Moab was the son of the biblical Lot Moab, born from an incestuous relationship between Lot and his eldest daughter. The ancestor of the Ammonites and the state of Ammon was another son of the biblical Lot, Ben-Ammi, born from Lot’s incestuous relationship with his youngest daughter. The commented passage was inserted into the text of Kurbsky’s Message, apparently with the aim of reinforcing the validity of Prince Andrei’s statement that it was “not suitable” for Ivan IV to “indulge” in the affairs of an illegitimate nobleman, which he could consider the “Singlit” A.D. Basmanov (see. : Skrynnikov R. G. Reign of Terror. P. 178, as well as commentary. higher). The American scientist E. Keenan noted that the text of the above passage of Kurbsky’s Message has “striking similarities” with the Message of Prince S.I. Shakhovsky to Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, written in connection with the expected marriage of his daughter Princess Irina (see: Kritika. Cambridge, Mass ., 1973. Vol. 10. No. 1. P. 21). According to the well-known opinion of E. Keenan, Prince S.I. Shakhovskoy is the most likely author of Kurbsky’s First Message to Tsar Ivan the Terrible (see: Keenan E. L. 1) Kurbskii-Groznyi Apocrypha. P. 31-45, 73-76; 2) Kritika. Cambridge, Mass., 1973. Vol. 10. No. 1. P. 21). The published copy of Kurbsky's Message, dating from the end of the 16th century, completely removes the problem of the alleged authorship of Prince S.I. Shakhovsky by E. Keenan due to its antiquity, because at the end of the 16th century. Prince Semyon was too young to be a writer.
A. M. Kurbsky was a member of a circle of people who played a prominent role during the reform period mid-16th century century, to which Kurbsky himself gave the name “elected Rada”. In the early 60s. many of the members of the “chosen council” fell into disgrace and were persecuted; Kurbsky could have expected similar reprisals. Appointed governor of Yuryev (Tartu), shortly before annexed to the Russian state, Kurbsky took advantage of this to flee to Polish Livonia in the summer of 1564. But, having “departed” for the Polish king and finding himself among the Lithuanian-Russian nobility, Kurbsky wanted to justify his departure and addressed Ivan IV with a message in which he accused the tsar of unheard-of “persecutions” against the faithful governors who had conquered the “proud kingdoms” of Russia.
Ivan the Terrible responded to Kurbsky with a message already known to us “to the entire Russian kingdom”; a heated debate ensued between opponents who had a good command of the pen. Unlike the epistolary monuments of the late 15th - early 16th centuries, which were initially created as real messages to specific individuals and only then became available to a wide circle of readers, the correspondence between Kurbsky and Grozny from the very beginning was of a journalistic nature. Of course, the tsar answered Kurbsky in his message, and Kurbsky answered the tsar, but neither one nor the other, obviously, intended to really convince their opponent that they were right. Both of them wrote primarily for their readers, witnesses of their peculiar duel, and in this sense their correspondence was similar “ open letters"Writers of modern times.
Kurbsky's literary positions in this correspondence clearly and undoubtedly differed from those of his opponent. In his ideological views, the emigrant prince was close to the non-covetous people of the first half of the 16th century. Closer to Kurbsky was Maxim the Greek (whom Kurbsky knew before his flight and deeply revered); Kurbsky's sublime rhetoric, the complexity of his syntax - all this is reminiscent of Maxim the Greek and those classical examples that the former Greek-Italian humanist imitated.
Kurbsky’s first message to Grozny was a brilliant example of rhetorical style - a kind of “Ciceronian” speech, expressed as if in one breath, logical and consistent, but completely devoid of any specific details: “Why, king, you beat the strong in Israel and the governor , from God given by you to your enemies, you dissolved them with various deaths, and you shed their victorious, holy blood in the churches of God, and you stained the church Pragues with the blood of martyrdom, and on your voluntary ones and souls for you, they lay down torments and deaths unheard of for centuries, and Did you intend persecution...? Didn’t the proud kingdoms ruin them and make them your assistants in everything, while our forefathers were in their work before? Weren’t the German cities, which were already solidified by the diligence of their intelligence, given to you by God?”
The king's answer, as we know, was by no means carried out in such a strict manner. In his message “to the entire Russian kingdom,” Ivan the Terrible also resorted to pathos and “high” style, but did not shy away from clearly buffoonish techniques. To Kurbsky’s words filled with sorrow: “... you will no longer see, I think, my face until the day of the Last Judgment,” the king replied: “Who, after all, wants to see such an Ethiopian face?” Grozny included in his message, as we know, purely everyday scenes - a description of his orphan childhood, boyar willfulness, etc.
To Kurbsky, such a mixture of styles, the introduction of “rough” vernacular, seemed blatant bad taste. In his second message to Ivan the Terrible, he not only rejected the tsar's political arguments, but also ridiculed his literary style. It is shameful, he explained to Ivan IV, to send such works to “learned and skillful men” and especially to “a foreign land, where some people are found not only in grammatical and rhetorical, but also in dialectical and philosophical scholars.” It seemed indecent to him to mention the royal bed on which Prince Shuisky was leaning, and another place where it was said that Shuisky, until he plundered the royal treasury, had only one fur coat - “the fly is green on martens, and even those are old.” “There are also stories about beds, padded jackets and other countless, truly supposedly frantic women’s fables; and so barbaric,” Kurbsky sneered.
Before us is a kind of literary polemic about how literature should be structured. But if in a political dispute Kurbsky turned out to be a strong opponent of the tsar, then in a literary dispute he could hardly be considered a winner. He undoubtedly felt the power of the tsar’s “barbaric” arguments and discovered this in his work, written in a completely different, narrative-historical form. It was “The History of the Grand Duke of Moscow,” a book written by Kurbsky during the Polish “kinglessness” of 1573 and had a direct political goal: to prevent the election of Ivan IV to the Polish throne.
Kurbsky constructed his story as a kind of parody of life: like hagiographers, he seemed to answer the question of “many bright men” about his hero: how did it happen that the Moscow Tsar, previously “kind and deliberate,” reached such a villainy? To explain this, Kurbsky, as in the Lives, talked about the ancestors of the main actor, but not about their virtues, but about “evil morals”: about the forced tonsure of the first wife of Vasily III Solomonia Saburova and about his “lawless” marriage with Elena Glinskaya, about the imprisonment of the “holy husband” Vassian Patrikeev, about the birth of the “present” John in “crime” and “voluptuousness” and about his “robbery deeds” in his youth.
Kurbsky tried to build his work as a strict style and refined narrative, designed for readers experienced in grammar, rhetoric, dialectics and philosophy. But the author still could not fully maintain this stylistic unity and, in at least two cases, resorted to the example that he so sharply rejected - the creation of everyday scenes and the use of vernacular. Condemning the Lithuanian lordship, which did not show sufficient belligerence in the first years of the Livonian War, Kurbsky described how the “rulers” of the Lithuanian land, having poured into their mouths “the dearest various wines,” basked “on their beds between the thick feather beds, then, having barely slept through the afternoon, with their heads tied up, hungover, barely alive and waking up.” Without noticing it, Kurbsky was describing here precisely the subject that seemed to him inappropriate in “high literature” - “bed”! Kurbsky fell into the same sin when, clearly responding to descriptions of Grozny’s childhood, he gave his own version of the same events. He argued that “the great proud gentlemen, in their language, boyars,” who raised Ivan, not only did not offend him, but, on the contrary, pleased him “in every pleasure and voluptuousness,” and added that he would not talk about everything that “he did.” “The young king, but still wants to “announce” one thing: “... he began to shed the first wordless blood, throwing them from the high rapids, and according to their language from the porches, or from the towers.” The expert in grammar and rhetoric did everything not to stoop to the everyday concreteness of “violent women”: he turned dogs or cats into abstract “wordless” ones, and made “rapids” out of porches - and still could not resist a living detail, which turned out to be, by the way, to say, as popular in the literature of modern times as the stories of Ivan the Terrible about “beds and padded warmers.”
!!! The correspondence consists of 3 letters from Kurbsky and 2 from Ivan the Terrible.
The correspondence expressed the common motives of the struggle between the tsar and the boyars during the formation of the ideology of autocracy. The correspondence is the brightest document of the epistolary-journalistic genre of its time, expressively characterizes Ivan the Terrible as a bookworm, an expert Holy Scripture and a talented writer, as a polemicist and ideologist of tsarist power. Opponents do not hope to convince each other that they are right. The letters, rather, were written for contemporary witnesses and are open and journalistic in nature.