Letters to A.N. Muravyov

This publication presents letters from St. Philaret of Moscow (Drozdov), addressed to the church writer and historian Andrei Nikolaevich Muravyov, an official of the Holy Synod. The correspondence (24 letters in total) covers the period from 1833 to 1867 and reflects many years of spiritual, personal and official relations between two outstanding figures of the Russian Church of the 19th century. - personal and spiritual issues: discussion of health, travel, prayer life and inner experiences, as well as advice on spiritual improvement, church life and attitude towards one’s responsibilities; - church-administrative affairs: issues of church administration, appointments, activities of religious educational institutions; discussion of censorship, book publishing, church buildings and church restoration; criticism of shortcomings in church life, pointing out the mistakes of bishops and clergy; - theological and historical topics: interpretation of church texts (for example, the Helmsman’s Book, Patericons), discussion of the history of the Church, polemics with Western confessions; - literary and publishing activities: editorial comments on the works of A. N. Muravyov, advice on style and content, discussion of publications, censorship, translation of church texts; - reaction to important events, such as the death of Emperor Nicholas I, natural disasters, political changes. Letter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Sorry about last night. I hesitated to reprimand you, but then I was glad to reprimand when I learned that there was a person with you who probably would not have liked to see a sick person next to his bed in the careless appearance of a monastic cell. Dear Sir Andrei Nikolaevich. I kept wanting to tell you that I felt how truly cruel it was not to answer a letter written by a sick hand, and how this did not have an effect soon after my departure from St. Petersburg, but another thought came to me that the healthy hand would probably want to take revenge for the sick one and would not want to write letters to the hand that, being healthy, did not write an answer. But on the evening of July 26, I learned that in your hand there is the virtue of kindness, i.e. received your letter. I'll tell you how it happened. I received your letter at the same time that after the service, sermon, dinner in Moscow and then, after the exam at the Commercial School, I was folding papers at dusk in order to somehow leave for the Lavra as soon as possible after the next midnight, which is what happened. Here I did not see how the days passed in studies, first church, then academic, then others, how, finally, now, having celebrated the feast of St. Sergius, by the goodness of God and his prayers in the world after dinner, I felt free - and here I am answering you. I met your parent 1 in a pleasant way. He caught me in a somewhat contentious conversation with a wise-cracking person and took my side. I thought that I would talk with him again, but when he visited me for the second time, he found me a vicar with business and, for this reason or for another reason, did not stay with me for long. The adventure of the half-dead woman is recognized differently here too, especially according to the contradictory legends about it. Having believed it as much as possible, I look at it like you. Meanwhile, I have not yet read the note about it, delivered a few days before my departure from Moscow, signed by eyewitnesses. You see that sometimes I am not enough for easy things, to which curiosity alone can attract enough. Patriarch Nikon, in my opinion, did not have any Theocracy of his own. Nikon was not entrusted with its own theocracy - only to God. And the acts collected at the beginning of Helmsman 2, in my opinion, do not belong to the Theocracy. And it was not Nikon who collected them at the beginning of the Helmsman, but his predecessors, for Nikon only finished, and did not produce, the publication of the Helmsman. Here are some small objections to the beginning of your reading of the Helmsman, but if you want to continue, that’s fine. I’m angry about the incorrect composition of the skete’s patericon, if you will, and I’m with you, but I won’t refuse to read it if I have time. The one who made this alphabetical collection of private patericons thought to please you and me with the convenience of reading legends about this or that father; he thought that we would look in the patericon for guidance for our present and future life, and not for the chronology of the past, which is alien to us. His Eminence Hierotheus came to my Lavra for the holiday. He cared about the further progress of his business, but I don’t know what special we can do without having an example from where he was. If there was a line from the Highest Court in his book, it would be useful for the progress of his business. The censorship committee here presented to the Synod an opinion on the description of the Solovetsky Monastery, which the archimandrite wanted to print through secular censorship. Pay attention to this matter to be careful. There is a very indecent article about the relics of St. Philip, which, fortunately, the secular censor did not consider in a secular way, but which the archimandrite very unspiritually appointed for publication. There are also Saints here who are not recognized by anyone except the Solovetsky Archimandrite, and visions that you are kind enough to see for yourself and show to Bishop 3 and Prince Peter Sergeevich 4 so that they can take the trouble to appease the Archimandrite. And that's enough for me for today. Filaret, Metropolitan of Moscow Please accept, Dear Sir Andrei Nikolaevich, my sincere gratitude for visiting me in two letters. I answer the first one first. Thank God that the election of the Bishop of Warsaw 5 was so successful. With all this, it is still quite difficult to derive sufficient benefit from this order. Regarding the discussion of disapproved deacons, it is a pity that the bishops made many mistakes, and, consequently, many amendments were required. These amendments can easily be used in favor of the unworthy and impudent, from whom they wanted to cleanse the service. Haste and arbitrariness have been noticed before in the actions of the Right Reverend Nizhny Novgorod; however, it must be said that in the Nizhny Novgorod and Tambov dioceses there is a lot of violence in the clergy and there is no shortage of chicanery; Therefore, it was natural for the bishops to firmly grasp the emergency situation in order to cope with those for whom ordinary measures were not strong enough. It’s good that you read the Helmsman, and that you encountered questions along the way, that’s how it should have been. This is how we have the Helmsman, and, unfortunately, almost insurmountable obstacles prevent us from presenting it in its best form. That your trip did not take place in the middle of September, I am not angry because of the calculation that you would have passed through Moscow when I was sick in the Lavra, where I stayed from September 15 to 26. The Reverend Favorsky is not doing well. Summer and the Makaryevskaya Fair made Moscow rather empty, and the fires made it frightened and immersed in its worries. The sent archimandrite collected several thousand rubles in Nizhny. I have received a collection from churches and clergy, but have not yet gotten around to counting it. What a pity that in the meantime Jerusalem is beset by a new earthquake disaster! “Who understands the mind of the Lord!” (Rom.11:34) I move on to the second letter. In my request to stay in Moscow for the winter, I don’t see anyone’s sadness or joy, but simply a consequence of need and coincidence of circumstances. I asked permission not to go to St. Petersburg, being in such a state of health that I was not sure whether I would have the strength to get to the Lavra to receive the Emperor. And now often the feeling of weakness and pain brings me the thought: “It’s good at least that I don’t have to travel far.” May your idea of ​​coming to Moscow in winter mature and be fulfilled. You are welcome. In the idea of ​​​​the return of the icon of St. Nicholas to Simonov, I also do not see what you see, i.e. neither my humility, nor the victory of the archimandrite, with whom I do not think of fighting. I revealed to the Holy Synod an incorrect and dubious action; the Holy Synod ordered it as justice and precaution required. Then the wrong action was stopped, the forgery was not discovered, I give my opinion to stop the precaution, which is not absolutely necessary. If it is bad to proclaim a fictitious miracle, it is also bad not to recognize real healing. At first I was careful that the first bad thing would not happen, then I was careful that there would not be a second one. I look at the deeds, and not at the archimandrite, if he thinks to find his victory in this, let him triumph. If they really want to give prosecutors to the consistories, let them give them without me, so that when discussing this they do not make me the defender of the bishop’s autocracy, while I would defend the hierarchical rights in the course of affairs and the benefits of the clergy subordinate to the consistories. By saying this, am I not annoying you as if I were the chief prosecutor? Sorry, let the true light show you the best. Dear Sir Andrei Nikolaevich! My thin eyes, even through my glasses, did not understand everything well in your two letters, especially in the second, but my soul, I hope, understood yours well. But what’s not good is that I’ve been silent for so long and so that your return does not find me unrequited, I’m afraid of its approach, while I wish it. We must quickly destroy the reason to fear and give ourselves the freedom to desire. Thank God that you are consoled by Lavra. In the news of this there are drops of consolation for me, which my wandering deprives me of. I wish that it is easy to write that you are writing about your short journey, and that it will be of benefit to those reading. I took care of the ruins of the bishop's house in Rostov even when it was called Yaroslavl. But fate did not want me to see these, but wanted to quickly give me other worries. But what to do with these ruins? Is it necessary to spend several hundred thousand rubles to establish a district school here? About the Reverend Augustine 6 there is a lot of words that are hard to say. A strong will is not all that is needed for useful action. Regarding the rector of the academy Polycarp 7 You accuse me of slackening, while others consider me to be his persecutor. Show me the road between these extremes - I will immediately follow it, but here I must add: if allowed. It is not surprising that poor Eminence Meletius 8, exiled to a harsh climate, did not leave his office. Under other circumstances, I think he would have acted differently. Now he is no longer in Irkutsk; it would be a pity if His Eminence Innocent 9 is not quite insistent on the demand of the place. Which, given his character, is not impossible. It is necessary for local bishops to be active before their vicars can be useful. I thank your venerable parent for remembering me. Will these lines find you with him to convey to him this gratitude and the fact that in moments that are better than others, I sometimes remember him and you before Him, before whom memory is better than all other memories both for the one who remembers and for the remembered. Would you like to say something about me? At the beginning of last month I was in the Sergius Desert. It's great there. There I saw your brother 10 and boasted that I would write news to you about him, and you see how vainly he boasted. There is nothing more to say. “The days are lost in vanity” (Ps. 77:33). Meanwhile, reading and writing hurt my eyes. Come, sit down, talk; Besides the fact that it will be pleasant for me to listen, my eyes will rest. The orderly protocol of the Council of 1660 is better than an inflated council act. And Elder Epiphanius is most curious in his fairy tales, in which he thinks for the whole Council and brings to light the Greeks, who read unprecedented sayings from his book. As for the manuscript about the Armenian Church, it is not yet interesting, but only makes one suspect that something interesting should be written. She refers to thirty selected chronicles that lie in Etchmiadzin 11 not opened, and most often she copies it from a book that is not at all rare - from our catechism - and appends to these extracts the name of the Armenian Church. The Armenians previously proved their common faith in the Greek Church because, as they say, it is a big Church; now they are doing the same with Russia. And how? They condemn the Monophysites and recognize one nature. And when they write it out of our catechism, then they speak of two natures, but, speaking as one of the same faith, they do not unite with the Eastern Ecumenical Church. They prove to us that we do not sing the Trisagion to the Most Holy Trinity, as if they know better what we are doing than we do ourselves. Isn’t it interesting that they have a large harvest of patriarchs and that the Okochuvanke convent has its own bishop? Is the whole diocese here? But what has been said should be understood this way, because a monastery belonging to some diocese is not said to have its own bishop. Wouldn’t it be better to propose to Mr. Lazarev 12 to order to review the 30 Etchmiadzin chroniclers, is there a worthy translation and publication for the benefit of science and to the honor of the Armenian nation and the publisher? The trouble with you is my laziness, Gracious Sir Andrey Nikolaevich, or, if you want to speak more leniently, my weakness. I thought at the end of July I would be able to easily talk with you in living letters or, as Homer ordered Gnedich to speak, in winged words. But your letter received last night forces me to drag dead words across this paper today and give them the wheels of a postal cart instead of wings. Saint Mitrofan will not be angry with you for postponing the journey for the sake of obedience. By obedience with love you must reconcile yourself with the position of a superior, who, they say, did not accept it by choice. And you will better get used to the dry work of office, doing it for the sake of obedience with love. And I accept your written notebooks, not without obedience, but I cannot vouch for the speed of returning them. This summer does not live up to my expectations, except for the trip to Rostov, which is better than expected. In the Feodorovsky Monastery, the churches, especially the cathedral, have been well restored. I was nowhere else there, and only in the church did I see a certain person in the clothes of a novice, whom the abbess called a depositor. The Goritsky monastery or cathedral is pitiful because it wanted to be too important. The place is beautiful, but it's hard to figure out what to do with it. And the Most Reverend Parthenius 13, to whom I proposed this question, did not say anything. In the Danilov Monastery, one reliquary of relics is good; however, he and Nikitsky are unenviable 14. I like everything about Rostov, except for the unbearable lake, which gives a tin-like appearance everywhere and spoils the soil and buildings. I spent two days under the shelter of Saints Jacob and Dmitry with great consolation. The churches of the bishop's house are worthy of regret, but I loved them more than the Goritsky Cathedral, and I would like to invent the Vicariate of Rostov to support them. It seems to me that the vicar and the fair would support this ancient bishop's house without a great burden on the treasury. The Rostov Cathedral is good and holds up well, but not as excellent as you said. Your books have been given to the archimandrites and archpriest. But, to return to talking about this summer since returning to Rostov, I am for the most part not healthy; and I undergo treatment with little success, and do little, and walk little, although this is also a position assigned by the doctor. Therefore, I cannot guarantee the speedy execution of your instructions. I am also happy about the establishment of a monastery in Warsaw, although there, it seems, they do not quite believe my benevolence, as they explained to one Moscow person in the presence of the Right Reverend 15. But I don’t attribute this to his soul for a minute. Was it reported to the Holy Synod about the healing of a young girl from weakened legs by St. Tikhon and from paralysis of the eye by St. Mitrofan? Senator Pyotr Ivanovich Ozerov himself saw how, during a prayer service at St. Mitrofan, the girl suddenly turned to her mother and said something, and the mother made a movement of delight, and it turned out that this was a moment of insight. Probably the Lord will still console His Church by glorifying Tikhon. This gives me, who have never been to Zadonsk or Voronezh, an opportunity to dream (for it would be impudent to wish) what if the Holy Synod had sent me? The Christian philosophy of Abbe Boten did not captivate me, that is, did not force me to read to the end. Look how he, wanting to place faith in the Resurrection of Christ, rejects the evidence of the truth of this event and says that it had no witnesses except the Risen One himself. This means breaking the lower floor in order to force you to move to the upper one. But how will the upper one stand when the lower one is broken, if, by misfortune, the abbot succeeded in this? As you wish, I believe the Apostles more than the abbot, who specifically call themselves witnesses of the resurrection of Christ (see Acts 1:22). There was no vacancy for Golovin at the academy, and if there had been, I don’t know if someone else would have been preferred. And you will agree that the academy should choose a person who is best for the academy, and not who is better for one outsider. This reasoning is not very good for ending a letter with, but it happened, and you will not make me regret saying what I think. May the Lord keep you in peace. I have pain on both sides of my throat, similar to someone breaking into a locked door. They explain to me that this is the beginning of the current illness, and they tell me that I need to stay at home. What do you want? If the pain decreases, I wish to fulfill my promise to be at the academy. But I still can’t promise. Let me note that if you come to me at 12 o'clock, you will be late for the academy. At 12 or a little, it seems that you need to be there. Yesterday evening gave me the opportunity to comfortably reflect that enemies can harm a person less than friends. Whether the enemy finds an opportunity, whether he invents a plan to strangle a person with a long conversation during a sore throat, it is possible for a friend. Would you like to stop by on the way to the Holy Synod to pick up the letters, so as not to interrogate a mute person about them? Although, Dear Sir Andrey Nikolaevich, I am very forgetful and suffer greatly from this, however, there was no need to tell me another time about postal Thursday in Volokolamsk. Even before your letter, which was received this hour, I thought that tomorrow was the third Thursday, and on the first I wanted to send you at least a few lines, not seeing the opportunity to send myself, so that you would not wait in vain. I was given exactly the amount of health I needed for the duration of the necessary movement. Fatigue and cold, accumulated, but overcome by need, finally took their toll. In the last days before the feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, I asked the Right Reverend Dionysius 16 to replace me on the feast, but on the feast I came to life, felt better on that day, but the next day, while celebrating in the Androniev Monastery, I caught a cold in my eye, while I settled down to go to Voskresensk the next morning. I didn't want to put it off. I closed my eyes and drove off. And that’s why I didn’t see churches even on the road to Voskresensk. What more review do you require from me? I am less in a hurry now about the marble for the Holy Sepulcher, because this year it is no longer possible to get marble and use it. They have found a new type of marble, which Campioni prefers to the previously known one, but others argue against it. I don’t know how to resolve this, and today I was supposed to send a question about this to the sculptor Vitali, but I forgot, and this remains until tomorrow morning. An estimate of 2,500 rubles was made to cover the walls three arshins high, the entrance arch and its front part. I have not offended you, that is, I have not written to Kaluga until now 17. I’ll try to write, and if I forget to give a report, you can interrogate me again. It’s good that solitude allows you to do what you want and need. May God bless your activities, especially those that have spiritual benefit as a goal. Apparently, I can’t come to interfere in the conversation between you and your venerable parent. Be a witness to him of my respect and gratitude for his memory of me. This is enough, on Wednesday after the all-night vigil, and tomorrow, Thursday, is a holiday, and we must not write to you, but pray for you, if the Lord grants it with love and with the desire for every good. Dear Sir Andrey Nikolaevich! One should not let a good occasion pass without saying to you: peace. I answered your letter. If I can have something else from you, it would be good to find out from you, if you know anything, about the time of the Sovereign Emperor’s arrival in Moscow, whether directly to Moscow or past it to Borodino and from there to Moscow. I received orders to be in Borodino, but I don’t know when to be there or what will be needed there. It’s not very convenient to make arrangements at random. It would be nice to know what is being done with the publication of rules. Was the Greek text shown to Academician Graefe and how did he respond? The case allows us to hope for a favorable review, and if there were comments, it is advisable to know in order to see the truth or show it. How is the case of the Chudovskaya Church ended? Ask Ivan Akimovich, who saw it. And I am beginning to see the Providence of God in this matter. Slowness and confusion were necessary for it to happen. If I had first known the truth, what costs would be required, I would not have considered it possible and would have abandoned the case. If the matter had been done sooner, I would not have known how to pay. And now I’m amazed that more than 100,000 rubles were given for one iconostasis, and we are still not too difficult. Thanks be to God and Saint Alexy. Being constrained by things and people, the treatment makes me somewhat upset. I feel that it is necessary and not without benefit, but it reduces the amount of work that is required of me. In the Synodal sacristy everything is coming to an end, and it seems there will be as much as space allows. For your curiosity, I will tell you one of my daily adventures. Having examined the Don School, I went to the cathedral monastery church and sent to the Right Reverend Aaron 18 to report whether he could receive me. After spending a lot of time in the cathedral with the archimandrite and the brethren, I came to the bishop. He received me wearing a silk hat with a silk band. There was a heavy oily smell in the rooms from the floor, which, however, had been painted a long time ago, because it is not the Eminence’s custom to ventilate rooms. The rooms are well decorated, but everything is in disarray: there is dust and rubbish everywhere, there are books on all the chairs, so I couldn’t find a place to sit. The archimandrite says that this always happens. The archimandrite expressed a desire to have me as a resident instead of the Reverend. Aaron, Rev. Mikhail, formerly of Orenburg, living there in need and poverty, and I cannot blaspheme the desires of the archimandrite, without, however, wishing for a worse home for the Reverend Aaron. There are unpleasant stories about the fires in the Simbirsk province. If true, this does not seem to be Russian fire. May God grant that the truth is better than stories. Now I’m looking at the Lavra, then preferably to Borodino for the consecration of the church and making the contribution of the Sovereign Heir, and also to Voskresensk, where they promised to finish the matter by the beginning of August. But our time is not for travelers: it is damp and not warm. From the true Sun, I wish you light to your mind and warmth to your heart with love. May St. Sergius bestow God’s blessing on your soul, dear Andrey Nik[olaevich]. And I thank you that, reverently remembering his day, you also remembered my humility. I stayed in the Lavra from June 27 to the 7th day of this month and did not see how time passed in exams, examinations, in ordinary divine services and in private ceremonial services for holidays and for ordinations. I’ll tell you an adventure on the eve of the holiday. The time was very dry and hot. So the half-caftan I wore at the prayer service, soaked with sweat, was not suitable for use when I had to go to the all-night vigil. During the all-night vigil, at the beginning of the reading of the kathisma, I took my usual place among the people. The governor comes and asks in his ear for permission to leave because there is a fire on Pereyaslavskaya Street. I said: “God help me,” and let him go without asking any questions, so as not to cause confusion among those nearby and further among the people. When the time approached for reading about the miracles of St. Sergius, it seemed to me that those who were lodging in our hotel and were now in the church might suffer a loss if a fire was close to the hotel or touched it. However, I mentally committed the matter and the day to the care of St. Sergius and began to read. Those ahead listened. The church remained full. When I finished reading and then the second kathisma was being read, I, putting on the polyeleos, thought about how to sing with undisturbed peace: Praise the name of the Lord. Just before the start of the polyeleos, the governor comes, showers me with a strong fire smell and says: “The danger has passed, one house has burned down, the other is burning out.” I said: “There needs to be one of our people watching.” He answered: “It’s done,” and we went in peace to praise the name of the Lord and to please St. Sergius. The next day I learned that the people from the refectory church, having learned about the fire, mostly left. They said about the cause of the fire that the owners of the thatched house, having come from guests, did not think of going to the all-night vigil, but for some reason they lit the stove and went out into the street - probably to idly watch the passing pilgrims. The house caught fire behind them. Archimandrite Yakovlevsky, who was coming to us for the holiday during the fire, said that he passed by the fire with difficulty, and then saw the comforting sight that in front of every house on Pereyaslavskaya Street, threatened by fire, there was a man with an icon in his hands. The fire was stopped by the Lavra fire brigade under the leadership of the governor. The posad police officer arrived at the place with only a pipe and no water when the governor was already leaving after the danger had passed. But the Moscow adventure. I had already told the governor-general in charge that since I needed to go to the Lavra, if a decree on the marriage was issued without me, 19 I would be pleased to notify me immediately, and I would hurry. Having received no news, I hurried, however, on the morning of the 7th day to return to Moscow. On Saturday, having celebrated in the Kazan Cathedral, I read the marriage manifesto in the bulletins and am concerned that if the decree does not work out, then it will be strange to hear a prayer in church for the Grand Duchess and her betrothed groom, when everyone knows from the bulletins that the marriage has taken place. Just before the service of the bell, I receive the decree of the Holy Synod, I write to the administrator of the post of Governor General, I indicate on the package that the matter is very necessary, I give orders to the Synodal office and consistory and calmly prepare for the service. At 10 o'clock in the evening they say that the minister sent to the acting Governor-General heard that he is in Borodino, that no one is authorized to open my package and that he will be sent on Monday to Borodino. It’s good that the servant was smart enough to find out and retell this. At night I wrote to the civil governor: “The summons has been given.” Senators and officials were present at the prayer service, but not in large numbers. I don’t really have a translation of Peter the Great’s charter. Is it because of my poor memory that I considered my intention fulfilled and it lies with me in St. Petersburg? I don’t think so either, but in order to use everything possible to stop the matter, I leave it to you to look through the papers in my room, and especially in the drawer of my desk. At the same time, I ask that if you open the seal anywhere, put the seal back on. I don’t praise Archimandrite Plato for not saving the draft sheet. I think that these days I will send you a draft for correcting erroneous passages in the book “On Heresies and Schisms in the Russian Church” 20 . Is it possible to show Count Nikolai Alexandrovich 21, and I also ask you to tell me whether the corrections seem satisfactory to you? I hope you already know that the Censorship Committee found no doubt about releasing your book. Thank you for sending me the copy. Your most humble servant and Bogomolets While you, Dear Sir Andrey Nikolaevich, are probably complaining about my long silence, I would like to boast that I am not writing to you too late, because it has only been seven days since I received your letter of November 8th. Just don’t complain about the delivery person, who was with me a little earlier, but did not see me sick. The death of Lord Seraphim 22, although his life before that did not seem quite vital, produced in me a feeling of orphanhood. I found consolation in the fact that not long before he wrote a letter to me, which upon receipt made me happy, being the first after my departure from St. Petersburg. The letter was not written by his hand, but he added the word Bogomolets to the last formulas, and I accepted this from him as the last gift of prayer and blessing. The appointment of a successor to him calmed me down more. Meanwhile, I invited the clergy of the diocese entrusted to me to perform a fourty-day church commemoration for him, which I began in my home church the day before his burial, and Moscow began on the very day of his burial. As if to express this favor, he saw me a few days later in a dream, at first as usual, and then during the dream itself I had the consciousness that I was seeing the deceased, while others who were right there, in the altar of the Kazan Cathedral, did not see him. May the Lord restore it to the Church written in Heaven. To send you a continuation of the translation of the history of the Patriarchs of Jerusalem, I take care as much as I can, but the inactivity of some translators is still not inferior to the insistence. Palmer 23, they say, is again in St. Petersburg. I wonder what else he wants and with what success. Thank you for the reminder and encouragement to write to His Eminence Kamchatsky 24. You will receive a letter to him and please forward it. And I decided to send the money for the Kenai mission through the synodal chief prosecutor, so that this need would be taken into account. I had asked for money for the bell before receiving your letter, and since it did not agree with the will of the testator, I said that it is advisable to adhere to the will of the testator, who refused money not for the bell, but for decorating the church. I remember that I previously suggested that if any decoration was recently made in the church, it should be pointed out so that it could be placed in the account of the bequeathed amount, which would give the right to give it another purpose. However, I am now giving this matter a new movement. Your manuscript, Dear Sir Andrey Nikolaevich, was sent via the economist on the 24th day of the last month, as our postal book says. Now I don’t know if there is any slowness in my office, otherwise I remember that there was no slowness behind me. The illness, which, I remember, I mentioned to you in a letter when sending the manuscript, continues and does not allow me to enter the Lavra. Let my soul obey God (Ps. 61:6). Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow May the Lord extend blessings and protection over your journey, beloved in the Lord Andrey Nik[olaevich], as it has been until now. I received your letter, written in Rome during Holy Week, in Moscow on the day of Pentecost. Both pleasant and bitter. It’s bitter, because I was already complaining to myself for my infrequent letters to you, and now I find out that you haven’t received a single one of those either. I wrote to you on February 21, March 22, April 4, and I have information that each of these letters was handed over to Lev Grigorievich Senyavin in due time and accepted with a promise to forward it immediately. I will send this with a special request for immediate attention. But it was pleasant for me to travel with you around Rome and free myself from the caring thought of what you will see there and how you will see it, and to see the beginning justification by experience of the hope that your journey will be useful not only to you. Perhaps it will not be superfluous for you to know that, walking with you through Rome and the catacombs, I do not think of intensifying the contradictions that we encounter, but of reconciling you. Having read, for example, that you were pleased to see the pope without vain pomp, I took a pencil and surrounded the word vain with capacious signs, inviting you through this to renounce this reproach, which, although it may find someone to blame, but, I hope, not in Gregory XVI, not by the will of following the custom of his predecessors. In explaining the underground church, in which I was glad to find a high place and a co-altar, I would offer you and Father Mark 25 my guess about the northern church, which, as you say, is called the porch of the catechumens. It seems incredible to me that this is part of a church for women, who, standing in it, could use singing and speaking from a real church. But why is there a meal here that you want to recognize as an altar? To be an altar to her would be very far from the Throne. I think this is a female communion place. You know that in ancient times the Holy Gifts were distributed to the people under two types separately. Therefore, due to the multitude of those receiving communion, it was necessary to use many clergy. And so it was natural, after the consecration of the Gifts in the main church, to separate for that part of the church where the female sex stood, the Most Holy Body into a special paten and the Most Holy Blood into a special chalice, and with them to send a presbyter and a deacon or two deacons, who, for the convenience and safety of distribution, needed a special meal in the women's section of the church. I think this is clear. However, about the Roman catacombs, of course, it is more convenient to make correct guesses in Rome than in Moscow. Please see that I read your two travel letters with some amusement. By the way, I was pleased to receive them from Rome and to be sure that these are word for word Roman letters, in which there is nothing that, if born later, would belong more to memory and reflection than to a living direct impression. Would you forbid me to read these letters to my acquaintances, but I dare not print them without your permission. It's spring. According to your assumption, I should have been in Kyiv. And I, having been called to renovate a newly established settlement 70 miles away, did not find enough health in myself for this journey and refused. It's damp and cold here. The birch is turning green, but the apple and linden trees are still dead. In other places the floods were great and not harmless. However, we, who know you and often remember you, are protected by the merciful God, and comfortably continue our earthly visit. I would like to know whether you are in better health than before and whether you are going out today or staying at home. Yesterday I could not see you, because in the morning I walked through the cathedrals with Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich 26 under the snow and through the snow, and my feet became angry for this. I saw Prince Sergius Mikhailovich 27 and fulfilled your instructions. He's staying in town until half of next week - so you'll find time to see him. Filaret, Metropolitan of Moscow Hello, dear Andrey Nikolaevich in the Lord, spiritually and physically on the day of your Angel and for many days and years. May he preserve and grow the faith that he sowed in your heart with his grace, and may it bear the fruits of life and good deeds. With his wise Providence, may he direct the path of your life, as best for your salvation, but also as best for serving his Kingdom and promoting the good of your neighbors, may your eternal good increase. My word is usually late, although my thought is not so late. I did not have time to write to you from Moscow and with difficulty escaped on the 23rd day, having previously been busy for six days in a row, among other things, with sacred rites, celebrating St. Mitrofan at the all-night vigil, and on the very day listening to the liturgy at five o’clock in the morning, in order to hide from the city before the siege of my house by those who came, and to this day I live in the Lavra and look at the monastery, so that I could spend a few more days there later. I don’t like the title of the book, Letters about Rome and Italy, not because it’s simple, but because it gives the reader the wrong idea, which is harmful to the book, that it’s written about Rome without having been in Rome. There would be a lot of untruth in the title Letters from Rome. Actually, few letters were sent from Rome. The title Roman and Italian Letters would be fair and complete. However, there are no legal calendars for naming your written creation. No one except journalists will judge you if you say Roman letters with some damage, although there are also Venetian, Neapolitan, Florentine and others. I don’t know about the decree of Demetrius’ Saturday, except our Russian tradition. Perhaps the commemoration by St. Sergius of those who fell in the Battle of Mamaeva was the beginning of a general commemoration? Memorial Day, perhaps, was determined by the first convenience upon returning from the campaign. Or, perhaps, after the death of Dmitry Donskoy, on the nearest Saturday near the Angel (the usual day of remembrance of the dead in the week, because on this day our Lord abided in the departed) they decided to remember him and his companions, and, as everyone, by the way, also remembered their relatives, the commemoration became universal. Thank you and Lev Grigorievich for fulfilling my request. Invoking God's blessing on you and on your works, I remain in the hope of reading the Roman and Italian letters, which I have not yet read. Your humble Bogomolets and servant February 25, 1846 Moscow I received your letter, beloved in the Lord And[rey] Nik[olaevich], this morning and in the evening I begin to answer. God will bless your care so that you will be held accountable for the accusations you have seen in the West. As you, according to the Apostle, reason with yourself, 28 trying not to flatter yourself, then, according to the same Apostle, you can hope that you will not be condemned. You do not denounce the Church of the great Saints, but honor it - you denounce the fact that what is alien has been brought into the Church by vanity and, according to the ancient expression, breathes secular pride. That this denunciation is from a layman is even worse: the suspicion of bias is not as strong as it would be against a writer of clergy. And if we, who belong to this rank, either do not have the opportunity, or are too lazy to say something useful for our brethren, who are sometimes kidnapped by alien cunning and, out of ignorance, indulge in theft, let it be expressed at least through a worldly person according to the outer rank. If you do not want to speak and write in defense of Orthodoxy in the rank of layman, you are welcome in the clergy rank. But I will hasten to what you tell me to hurry with. I read both letters. What is said about the feast of Corpus Christi in Rome, while maintaining reverence for the shrine, is so natural for an eyewitness that to keep silent about this would be biased people-pleasing. It is enough that stricter comments that would be fair have not been made. What is the basis for establishing a holiday for a shrine that was revered, but for which a special holiday was not established in the century of the Apostles and Ecumenical Councils? What is the rationale for establishing an annual holiday for a sacrament that is celebrated on all holidays and almost all days? Why on the Thursday after All Saints' Week, and not on Maundy Thursday, the day the sacrament was established? What consistency is there in the ordination of carrying the Body of Christ in the procession of the cross and putting it aside without the use for which it was given, and immediately beginning a new liturgy for the celebration of the Body of Christ? Thank you for your edifying thoughts on Vesuvius. It is with pleasure that I walk with you through the Kassin monastery and its history. Should the strong influence of the Jesuits be credited with the right not to be present at processions and even at the procession of the Corpus Christi, at which the Pope does not have the right not to be present unless illness prevents him? Is it not because, on the contrary, that Jesuitism, according to its original establishment, was not entirely spiritual, but a semi-spiritual order, a company (Compania Jesu), a partnership and abandoned all splendor? Would you like to delve into this? Why do you call the Benedictines and two other orders strictly monastic, to the exclusion of others? If this is true, then it would not be superfluous to explain. The correct expression of the clergy will be understood only by those who at the same time remember the other one from which it was forged: Clerus regularis. The expression secular clergy seems to us to be inconsistent with itself, because with us the secular is opposed to the spiritual. Difficulty in words comes from the unequal state of things. It is not our thing that requires a new word. Shouldn’t we call Clerus regularis the statutory clergy, who live under the statutes of orders in monasteries, and Clerus secularis – the secular clergy, who live and serve among the laity? Are the parish priests in the procession really wearing surplices? And if you saw it like that, was it also in the cassocks? I have not had the opportunity to delve into the details of the full and incomplete Western vestments. Is the altar luxurious or magnificent? Piety gives the Altar the appropriate splendor - luxury, like vice, can, it seems, remain in homes. Look through the notebooks for small notes in pencil. In order not to be a careless executor of your instructions, perhaps I am becoming affectionate. Having encountered the expression “wonderful object, charming view,” the reader joins the impression received by the viewer and the writer. But if such expressions are repeated frequently, can they produce a good effect? One, two and three are wonderful - consequently, there is no distinction between objects, and this does not satisfy the description. And just as the wonderful is the opposite of the ordinary, the frequent repetition of the wonderful gives suspicion of an effort to exaggerate. It seems to me that the Kassin monks devote time to divine services and cell prayer and it would hardly occur to them to devote time to Andrei Nik[olaevich], or if they did, he would not accept this dedication, but would simply ask to devote a short time to him. I apologize for this thought of mine. Regarding the Arabic inscription of the supposed Peter's Chair, I clearly remember that there was a short article in the "Bulletin of Europe", and as I have the custom of not taking care of magazines, I cut out the sheet with this article and put it in the book instead of a bookmark. What can I tell you about Rosen? Mentors for the academy and seminary are determined by the St. Petersburg authorities, and they don’t ask me about it, and now there are no vacancies. If he is a trustworthy person, intercede for him with those in power - we welcome good people. When did you write to me about the Italian book? Using enhanced glasses, I read your three microscopic letters again, but I don’t find this. I'll try to look for books. St. John of Damascus in his article on virginity does not in the least favor the opinion of the new philosophists. He says that the birth of children could have been different from what it is now if there had not been a fall. But this does not lead to a new opinion. Then he clearly says that after the crime was committed and death came, Adam knew his wife. The letter on this subject has been supplemented, and expressions that you found did not eliminate objections have been clarified. They want to print it. But maybe I’ll send you a corrected list earlier. An article about Lutherans can be published in a magazine in Russian, not without benefit for one’s own people, but since this will not escape Lutheran eyes, it is better, as I said, to arm it with weapons according to the type of opponents, that is, with the testimony of the Holy Scriptures. Or maybe it’s not a bad thing, so as not to unnecessarily disturb those who do not disturb us, when it is more necessary to repel those who attack us. May the Lord be your helper and abide. Before him, you will remember me. To Andrey Nikolaevich a kiss of peace and love with a wish for health. The description of the Church of St. Sophia is being printed, and special copies will be presented to you. Listen to an account of some of the insolences that the censor and I allowed ourselves. The square does not seem to us to be a symbol of death, and the oval - of resurrection. And the Church of Sophia was certainly not built according to Egyptian symbolism. The censor decided to exclude the reference to Egypt from the text, and I decided to skip all the symbolic explanation of the church drawing. This one, out of humility, renamed the royal robe given to the Patriarch as sakkos, sackcloth. This is the reason not to return this renaming to the king. The guess that the small omophorion is an ancient bishop's omophorion, and the large one passed down from the king, is hasty. This can be seen by looking at the gradualness in vestments. The deacon wears the yoke of Christ on one frame - an orarion, the priest on both - an epitrachelion, the bishop on both frames in front and back and dresses with a cross - this is an omophorion, and, obviously, a large one, not a small one. On the most ancient icons there are always bishops in large omophorions, but never even in small ones. This is a sign that the small omophorion is a new invention for convenience. And in the sacristies of the ancient small omophorions there are nowhere to be found. Therefore, we had to omit your guess about the originality of the small omophorion. We also allowed ourselves to use several expressions through omission to reduce the continuation of your anger at those who entered the former Christian church with their heads covered. If you do not agree with our opinions, you can restore the passages we omitted in the full publication of your trip. However, we are grateful to you for the description of the St. Sophia Church, and, without a doubt, everyone for whom sacred Orthodox antiquity means something will be grateful. The number of columns in one place of the article has been corrected in accordance with your letter of August 2. Due to the usual changeability of human affairs, we are sometimes happy and sometimes sad. One week they prayed gratefully for the end of the war and sadly for the repose of the soul of the presented Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich 29 . And multi-church Moscow continues to deal with churches, although this is not the same as before, it is now free under the influence of laws. Over the course of eight days, I attended three renovations of churches, including the Archangel Michael Church in Chudovo, which you will see upon your return. We received letters from unknown people by city mail expressing gratitude for the restoration of this church without damaging the antiquity. Is Athos Reverend? Is Athens pitiful? Does the Stylite of Athens look at the sky? I hope to hear something from you about this. And[rey] Nik[olaevich], peace and great mercy of God, may your mercy towards your neighbor be not small. Today in a dream I saw you returning and was delighted and at the same time said: “The trouble is that you found me very guilty of my long silence.” You see that even in my dreams I remember my guilt, but for so long I have not been able to correct myself. If the fact that I have not had letters from you for a long time is done as a punishment for me, then I accept it as righteous. Only let this be sufficient for your justice - may mercy come to tell me good news about you. Since I have been silent, I have more than once had not only several days of weakness, but also many days due to difficult matters and circumstances. The lamp and vestments you requested have been sent to you through the Constantinople embassy. The work of the icons is getting close to being able to be sent. One thing has not been done: the cover on the tomb of St. Andrew the Apostle. There was no one in the monasteries who could embroider his face with silk, as you wished. I think I’ll put off worrying about this until you return. Will the English, who take all the Greek ships, get spoiled? This will be your concern. Here the matter is now underway about the conversion of the Sergius Church, at your direction, to the courtyard of the Russian Monastery on Athos. It is necessary to contradict parishioners who find the church necessary for themselves. And is it easy to set up a courtyard, if you look at the example of the Right Reverend Iliopolsky, who, having bought a house for the Antioch courtyard, still cannot pay the debt and has been living in St. Petersburg at the Trinity courtyard for three months without benefiting his affairs? Do you hear our news? His Eminence Ignatius of Voronezh departed to the Lord. Prince Shirinsky-Shikhmatov is the Minister of Education, Norov is his comrade. These, of course, will wish to enlighten with the Eastern light - may the East help them from above. I have a request for you. An inhabitant of Pavlovsky Posad, which was recently a village, the servant of God David bequeathed a thousand rubles, no more, to Old Jerusalem for the poorest monasteries and churches. Give me advice on where to appoint and where more or less, so that the order will be useful and pleasing to the kind soul of David. In these days of forgiveness, comfort me with a word of forgiveness and news about you. Andrey Nikolaevich rejoice. Before your letter dated the 11th day of this month, I already wrote to you, and therefore you know how unexcusable and how worthy of indulgence my silence is. When the sacred host with the archpastor appeared to you with banners and crosses, it seemed to me that the word “appeared” was very important, and I remembered what I had heard - supposedly some of your companions spoke with a smile about your reception of ceremonial meetings. Consider whether to turn down some light in your painting. You say that Patriarch Jeremiah made a small paten from a miraculous shell, on which part of the holy bread is offered after the meal. It seems that you are talking about the offering of a panagia, that is, a prosphora brought at the proskomedia in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos. She is not raised on a paten. This name is given to one of the vessels in which the sacrament of the Eucharist is celebrated. A small dish with a lid, on which the panagia rests and is presented, is called panagiyar. In the Vatopedi letter of August 19, at the end, you promise to tell stories and poetic legends about this monastery tomorrow. A story would be enough for me, but legends are not to my taste. The name legend is now understood as a semi-fabulous - if not completely fabulous - story. And the name of the legend is taken from church and monastery customs; and we have a very respectable book called legend, [which] according to current usage is disbelief and mockery of pious legends, which legenda sunt, i.e. should be read at Matins, at the first kathisma or at the sixth ode of the canon. In your letter of August 20, you talk about a monk whose hand, having struck the icon, withered and then became incorruptible when his body gave in to decay. A strong evidence of authenticity is needed to proclaim such a legend. The church, you say, serves as a Sunday or Lord's church - Kyriakon. The Greek word has only the second meaning, not the first, and you rely heavily on the first. I could continue reading your manuscript and this letter, which I started quite a long time ago, and finish now because I am not celebrating in Novospassky, but am sitting in my cell due to ill health. Yesterday, with difficulty, I celebrated the liturgy and included the communion of my family, but now, feeling weaker, I was forced to abandon the holiday. However, you see, I sit and write, and for this glory and thanksgiving to God. I am sending you your manuscript and the list taken from it, which also contains my comments. What is not sorted out by the scribe, I don’t have the time or energy to look for in the manuscript and sort it out. Truly strong thunder thundered over Russia 31. Let us fall in humility before Him whose voice of thunder is over the earthly circle and whose lightning illuminates the universe. Thank God that the bright news about the reigning Sovereign Emperor clears the cloud and illuminates souls with hope. Thank you for the comforting news and advice. He who searches hearts sees that I heartily participate in the sorrow of the August family. But I consider writing to or from it beyond my measure. Having learned that the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna was pleased to have a word from me, I wrote and asked Prince Sergei Mikhailovich to present my letter to Her Majesty. A similar thing happened later in relation to the Empress Maria Alexandrovna. Some people bring me sadness upon sadness, saying why I don’t ask to be buried in St. Petersburg. But Metropolitan Platon, who was several times more bold than me, did not ask for this. I reassure myself that this is the will of God, because my old age does not make a long journey possible for me. This winter I had a need to be at the Perervinsky monastery, about ten miles from Moscow, but I did not dare, feeling that I would come there completely ill. After each service trip, I need several hours, and sometimes even a day, to restore myself. If you compile a description of the last days of the deceased Sovereign in God, then inform me to resume the consoling cry for the Christian King. Comfort and peace to you from the Lord. Peace to And[rey] Nik[olaevich]. You want to know about my illness. You know that I always have colds. When I am stronger than her, I consider myself healthy. When she overpowers me, I am forced to admit that I am sick. It became very intense on the occasion of serving in a cold church in cold weather, wearing clothes that did not correspond to the degree of cold. Cold pain especially lingers on the left side of the body, in the teeth and on the left edge of the tongue. Why, in order not to tease the disease, I say little. The disease is stubborn. I don’t hope to leave my cell soon. I kiss you, Most Gracious Sir Andrey Nikolaevich, in the name of the Lord: Christ is Risen. Rejoice, hello, and forgive me by resurrection for everything that I am guilty of before you. My slave life is becoming more and more slave-like. Several cases are argued in one hour. Dear Sir Andrey Nikolaevich, may you rejoice and be healthy in the new summer more than the last, may the spirit continue to rise, may temporary life not rush to deviate to the west, may there be peace around, especially within. Forgive me for being silent for a long time, and even on days that should especially open hearts and the door of the word. It’s not easy and not free for me to drag out my days. Time requires work, people give a lot of work, the spirit does not refuse work, but the old body is lazy and wants to rest and rest. Thank you for the word of consolation in the letter of the 26th day, received on the 30th day. That on Sunday, at the eve of the Nativity of Christ, one Gospel was read at the liturgy and at vespers, this arose from a guess, which was caused by confusion in the rules. In the ordinary charter, Vespers are assigned to the liturgy, which with Vespers, the Gospel of Luke, began 5, which is actually festive, like the entire Vespers service. But on the Extraordinary Saturday, a separate liturgy took place in due time, and for it the Gospel was required, as indicated in the indication of readings under the Gospel, from Matthew 53. Thus, the Gospel of Luke 5 should remain at Vespers and on the day of Vespers on which the liturgy is separated from Vespers. But here, in the charter and in the Menaion, the Gospel of Matthew is indicated by mistake. The servants correctly read the Gospel of Matthew at the liturgy, but then they had to guess that repetition was not appropriate and that it would be absurd to omit the festive Gospel. I asked the priest, through whom Mrs. M. communicated with me, did she thank you? He says she wrote. And I’ll tell you that you didn’t have to think about gratitude. It is good to help someone who is suffering and not accept your bribe. Am I telling the truth? Comments: Letters from St. Philaret to the church writer and historian A.N. Muravyov, an official of the Holy Synod, are published according to the publication: Letters of Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow to A.N. Muravyov (1832–1867). Kyiv, 1869. 1(3) – P.3; 2(6) – P.5–8; 3(7) – P.9–11; 4(11) – P.23–25; 5(17) – P.31–32; 6(25) – P.38–40; 7(28) – P.43; 8(29) – P.44; 9(31) – P.45–47; 10(50) – P.67–69; 11(53) – P.72–75; 12(87) – P.120–122; 13(102) – P.142; 14(114) – P.158–160; 15(117) – P.165; 16(121) – P.167–169; 17(129) -P.186–190; 18(200) – P.312–314; 19(206) – P.324–325; 20(214) – P.339–341; 21(301) – P.465–466; 22(304) – P.469; 23(361) – P. 553; 24(437) – pp.648–649. Nikolai Nikolaevich Muravyov (1768–1840), major general, founder of the Moscow School of Column Leaders. – Approx. comp. The Helmsman's Book is the oldest collection of church law, compiled on the basis of Byzantine canons. – Approx. comp. Metropolitan Seraphim (Glagolevsky). – Approx. comp. Prince P.S. Meshchersky - Approx. comp. Bishop Anthony (Rafalsky), ordained July 8, 1834 - Approx. comp. Augustine (Sakharov), Bishop of Orenburg, who lived in retirement in Moscow. – Approx. comp. Polycarp (Gaitannikov), archimandrite. (†1837). – Approx. comp. Holy Meletiy (Leontovich), in 1831–1835. Archbishop of Irkutsk. – Approx. comp. Innocent (Alexandrov), Bishop of Irkutsk. – Approx. comp. At A.N. Muravyov's brothers were Nikolai (1794–1866), Mikhail (1796–1866) and Sergei (1809–1847). – Approx. comp. Etchmiadzin is a monastery of the Armenian Church, famous for its rich collection of manuscripts. – Approx. comp. This refers to Lazarev Christopher Ioakimovich (1789–1871), a Siberian breeder, one of the founders and trustee of the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages ​​in Moscow. – Approx. comp. Archbishop of Vladimir. – Approx. publ. Feodorovsky, Goritsky, Danilov, Nikitsky monasteries are located in the city of Pereslavl-Zalessky. – Approx. comp. Anthony (Rafalsky), later Metropolitan of St. Petersburg. – Approx. publ. Former Bishop of Perm. – Approx. publ. Regarding some unrest in the Paphnutian Monastery, which I saw on the way from Kaluga to Moscow. – Approx. A.N. Muravyova. Aaron (Nartsissov), former Bishop of Arkhangelsk, who has lived in retirement in Moscow since 1830 - Approx. publ. This refers to the marriage of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna to the Duke of Leuchtenberg. – Approx. comp. We are probably talking about the book by N.A. Rudneva “Discourse on heresies and schisms in the Russian Church from the time of Vladimir the Great to Ivan the Terrible” (Moscow, 1838). – Approx. comp. Count Nikolai Alexandrovich Protasov, Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod. – Approx. comp. Seraphim (Glagolevsky), Metropolitan. – Approx. comp. William Palmer, deacon of the Anglican Church. – Approx. publ. Holy Innocent (Veniaminov). – Approx. comp. Marchi, a Catholic priest, church archaeologist, researcher of the Roman catacombs, his student was G. de Rossi. – Approx. comp. Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich (1827–1892), brother of Emperor Alexander II. – Approx. comp. Prince Sergiy Mikhailovich Golitsyn (1774–1859), chamberlain, chairman of the Moscow Board of Trustees, trustee of the Moscow educational district, close acquaintance of St. Philaret. – Approx. comp. See: 1 Cor.11:31. – Approx. comp. Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich (1798–1849), brother of Emperor Nicholas I. – Approx. comp. Vatopedi is one of the most famous monasteries on Mount Athos. – Approx. comp. This refers to the death of Emperor Nicholas I on February 18, 1855. - Approx. comp.