Приложение 1

Case 1784 “Correspondence of Prince. Vyazemsky with Melgunov regarding the relics of Dmitry of Rostov" (State Archive at the M.I.D. in St. Petersburg, VII category, No. 2655). “Just these days, a rumor came to me that in your region there are new plants, which, although they are incredible to reasonable people in terms of their natural composition, can give rise to unfounded rumors among the ignorant. The fact is that in Rostov, when opening the relics of the wonderworker Demetrius, some people were shown him and the head, but since such revelations had not been made to anyone before 724, then curiosity prompts me to humbly ask Your Excellency to notify whether this increase took place during your tenure as viceroy; and if before and when, exactly, is unknown to us, you order, my Gracious Sovereign, to find out in the most secret manner, without the slightest publicity, from what exact time, and at which bishop, and of the monastery where the relics of this Saint rest, the abbot, began to make such revelations 725, and after intelligence about it, let me know what you would like to satisfy my extreme curiosity. Otherwise, I remain with the true and perfect always with respect, Your Excellency, M. G., my humble servant.” Letter without signature (from the Prosecutor General, Prince A. A. Vyazemsky to A. P. Melgunov). My dear Lord, Prince Alexander Alekseevich! Having received a secret letter from V.S. that has reached you, my Gracious Sovereign, regarding new plants, setting up for an opportunity to investigate about them, go to that region myself under the guise of observing the Rostov fair, as I have never seen it; where these days, very secretly without the slightest publicity, about everything that Your Excellency deigned to write, I made reconnaissance, using all possible methods to satisfy my curiosity, and thereby correspond to Your Excellency! But there were no such revelations and additions, about which Your Excellency deigned to notify me, and during the entire period of my administration, and not before, such new developments and revelations never happened and do not exist now, as you deign to see from the note attached. But so that, according to the direct authority in the monastery and the current abbot, where the relics of St. Demetrius is put to rest, the same kind of testimony could not come out as was the case with the former Archimandrite Paul, that is, this Pleasant of the Hands and other things described in the note, then to protect against this, for the need for me to be this monastery in the full department of the diocesan bishop, to whom already from the Holy Synod, due to the disturbances that occurred in this monastery in church gatherings, this part was entrusted to looking. Consequently, when everything else is entrusted to the department of him, the Bishop, then, by convenience on the spot, any abuse will be stopped more quickly. In other matters, I have the honor to remain with my true and perfect respect and devotion to V.S., my humble servant M.G., Your Excellency. (Letter from Melgunov to Prince Vyazemsky). Melgunov's note about the relics Secret intelligence revealed it! The relics of St. resting in Rostov in the Yakovlevsky Monastery. Demetrius is the head of neither the whole nor part of it, as well as the other parts available in the shrine, for the zealous pilgrims for that saint and for the depositors of the outward opening at first there was no viceroyalty. And all those who come and come, usually, according to the order made at the beginning of the manifestation of those relics, are applied to the forehead (sic) of this saint through a veil, with which the forehead, each head, and likewise the face are covered and sewn up, and on top of it the bishop’s cap is placed on the outside of the head, through which it is in no way possible for anyone to see him in his being. But these parts of the discovery cannot be made externally, for the reason that only the appearance of these remains was also intact during the testimony of those relics by former synodal members, and the lips, lower and upper, the cartilage of the nose, and the face then appeared taken by the earth, for which both the head and the face of this saint were hidden from everyone and sewn up with a veil, but only that place on the veil placed near the forehead, where pilgrims apply from phlegm, now it is blackened and somewhat pressed in, from which the appearance of this blackened place can appear to ordinary people as a sign of part of the forehead. In addition to this, according to the previous institution in that monastery, two joints, separated from one of the saint’s fingers, are shown externally in a small silver reliquary, to which pilgrims always visibly apply themselves. And first of all, during his stay in that monastery of Archimandrite Paul (which was from 765 to 769), this Archimandrite, due to his dissipation, and also due to his direct power in that monastery, since he was not in the department of the diocesan bishop, used various grave monks at the tomb of St. Demetrius, and especially entrusted the supervision to the then monk Israel, not in the least corresponding to this title, which, regarding that archimandrite, was self-willed and took precedence over the others after that very archimandrite’s death in 769; and during that time, some pilgrims who were zealous for the saint were sometimes shown the hands and parts of the legs of the relics of that saint, which were in a large shrine, from under the former robe in which the saint was buried and now lies in it, and to others only that robe; but when and to whom, exactly, this happened, it is impossible to find out and find out, because no one knows exactly how it happened in secret, not only from other outsiders, but even from the monks of that monastery. And just as the current Archimandrite Amphilochius is not a member of the Hierarchical Department, and therefore the internal leadership of the monastery depends directly on the will of him, the Archimandrite, alone, then, according to the custom introduced by the former Archimandrite Paul, can things now happen in secret that happened before under that Archimandrite Paul, but this, however, cannot be known and reached with precision. The words crossed out: “that upon the discovery of this saint’s relics, everything contrary to current rumors was revealed.” The words crossed out: “they also show the head, supposedly, of Demetrius the Wonderworker.” Obviously, Melgunov took the prince’s playful metaphor regarding the head of the Ugodnik literally.