42. Разделение Русской митрополии на Московскую и Киевскую. Начало самостоятельности Русской Церкви под управлением Московских митрополитов. Митрополит Иона

Despite the fact that the Patriarchs of Constantinople did not favor the division of the Russian Metropolis, attempts to do so persistently continued both on the part of the Galician Grand Dukes, and especially on the part of the powerful Lithuanian Princes, and sometimes were successful, inevitably bringing with them turmoil and disorder in the affairs of the Russian Church. Thus, under Metropolitan Theognostus (successor of St. Peter), there were special metropolitans Theodore and Theodoret in Galich; during the reign of Metropolitan Alexy there was Metropolitan Roman, and in the last years of the saint there were even two metropolitans: Anthony in Galich, Cyprian in Kyiv. After the death of Saint Alexis, a great unrest occurred in the Russian Metropolis and continued for 11 years. Grand Duke Dimitri Ioannovich, even during the life of Saint Alexy, designated his confessor Archimandrite Michael (nicknamed Mitya after the abbreviation of his worldly name Dimitri) as his successor. Saint Alexy, not wanting to see Mityai as his successor, offered St. Sergius the throne of the High Hierarch after himself, and after St. Sergius’ refusal, he seemed to have already reconciled himself with the will of the Grand Duke, so that Archimandrite Michael, immediately after his death, not yet ordained to the rank of metropolitan, had already acquired the rights of this high rank and began to act as if he were truly a metropolitan; the Grand Duke sent him to Constantinople for initiation, but Mityai died in sight of the Greek capital, and the dedication intended for him was admired by one of the members of his retinue, Archimandrite Pimen. In Moscow, however, they did not want to accept either Pimen, who had been appointed metropolitan in Constantinople, or the Metropolitan of Kyiv, Cyprian. At the same time, Dionysius, Bishop of Suzdal, went to Constantinople twice to be ordained a metropolitan, and the first time he received only the rank of archbishop and a multi-cross (like the Novgorod archbishop) felonion, the second time he received consent from the patriarch to be a metropolitan in Russia, but on the way back from Constantinople to Moscow he was detained in Lithuania and died there in prison. Only after the death of Grand Duke Dimitri Ioannovich did this unrest end. His son Vasily Dimitrievich lived in peace with the Lithuanian prince Vytautas (father-in-law) and accepted the Kyiv Metropolitan Cyprian to his metropolitanate, and Vytautas did not bother about another metropolitan for his country. However, there remained a special metropolitan in Galich - Anthony, who ruled the Galician, Kholm and Volyn dioceses, which were part of the Kingdom of Poland. After the death of Cyprian, the division of the Russian Church begins again. Vytautas hastened to send his candidate for the metropolis, Bishop Theodosius of Polotsk, to Constantinople, but in Constantinople he was refused and a Greek metropolitan, Photius, who was famous for his learning, was sent to Russia. Vitovt agreed to accept Photius only on the condition that he live in Kyiv. Photius lived in Kyiv for about six months, but then moved to Moscow. Then Vytautas in 1414 convened a council of Lithuanian bishops and insisted on electing a special metropolitan for Lithuania. Gregory Tsimblak, or Semivlakh, was elected, a Serb by birth, nephew of Metropolitan Cyprian, a teaching shepherd and a zealot for Orthodoxy. After the death of Gregory in 1419, Vytautas made peace with Photius, and for some time the unity of the Russian Metropolis was restored. Its final division occurred under the successor of Metropolitan Photius, Metropolitan Jonah, who occupied the metropolitan see in 1448–1461. But under him, the Russian Church gained independence. Saint Jonah was born at the end of the 14th century near Soligalich (now a district town in the Kostroma province). At the age of 12, he took monastic vows in one of the monasteries of his homeland, and after a while he moved to the Moscow Simonov Monastery. Here he underwent various obediences and became famous for his wisdom and spiritual exploits 67. Metropolitan Photius made him bishop of Ryazan, and after his death Jonah was elected to the see of the high priest and sent in 1434 for consecration to Constantinople. But here we encountered obstacles. The Greek Empire was in its final years. The Turks were moving towards Constantinople from all sides. The only hope of salvation seemed to be the help of the West, and it could be bought through humiliation before the Pope. Contacts were made regarding the union of the Churches. On the part of the Latins, persons were prepared in the East who could agree to the union, and they were given influential places and positions. One of these persons was a certain Isidore, a very gifted and educated man, but morally he was not particularly steadfast and was capable of changing his beliefs, and it was he who, before the arrival of Saint Jonah in Constantinople, was hastened to be installed as metropolitan in Moscow. Saint Jonah was promised the metropolis after Isidore. Isidore, soon after arriving in Moscow, announced that the Eighth Ecumenical Council was being prepared in Italy to unite the Churches, at which he also needed to be present, and began to prepare for the journey. Grand Duke Vasily Vasilyevich in every possible way rejected Isidore from participating in the council; Finally, he said to him: “If you absolutely want to go to the Eighth Council, then bring us from there our ancient Orthodoxy, which we received from our ancestor Vladimir, but don’t bring us anything new or foreign, we won’t accept it.” Isidore took an oath to stand for Orthodoxy, but at the Council of Florence he was especially concerned about an outcome favorable to the pope. At the end of the council and the acceptance of the union, Isidore, in the rank of cardinal, returned to Moscow, and at the very first priestly service he began to commemorate the pope instead of the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Grand Duke publicly called him a Latin charmer and a heretic and ordered him to be placed in custody until a council resolution of the case. Russian bishops gathered at a council in Moscow and condemned Isidore, who, together with his disciple Gregory, fled to Tver, from Tver to Lithuania, and finally to Rome, where he remained forever with the pope. After Isidore fled from Russia, Saint Jonah remained a bishop for another 7 years, partly due to unrest in Constantinople, where, in the hope of help from Rome, they continued to call Isidore Metropolitan, partly due to the difficulties of the Grand Duke himself in the fight against Shemyaka. Finally, in 1448, 17 years after the election of Saint Jonah, Vasily Vasilyevich called all the bishops of the Russian land to a council. The fathers of the council, on the basis of church canons, former examples and the determination of the Patriarch of Constantinople - that Saint Jonah should be metropolitan after Isidore, placed him in the chair of the high priest. During the solemn service in the Assumption Cathedral, the omophorion that had been worn by previous metropolitans was placed on him, and the great metropolitan staff was handed into his hands - a sign of primate authority. Saint Jonah lived just before the end of the appanage system and the Tatar yoke. Before their fall, the appanage princes were especially worried about the grand-ducal power. More than this, the children of Prince Yuri Galitsky, Vasily Kosoy and Dimitry Shemyaka, were distinguished by their rebellious spirit. The latter captured Grand Duke Vasily Vasilyevich, blinded him and exiled him to Uglich. The sons of Vasily the Dark were also exiled there. Saint Jonah (still in the rank of Bishop of Ryazan) zealously stood up for the Grand Duke and his sons. At his insistence, Vasily Vasilyevich received Vologda as an inheritance, and then returned to Moscow for his great reign. Saint Jonah not only actively helped the Grand Duke in the fight against the rebels, but also convinced other Russian saints to do the same. Finally, the council of Russian archpastors sent a menacing message to Shemyaka, in which they compared his behavior with the behavior of Cain and Svyatopolk (the murderers of the holy princes Boris and Gleb) and threatened him with excommunication from the Church if he did not submit to the Grand Duke. This message strictly condemns all specific disorder. Shemyaka's supporters recoiled from him, and he was forced to resign himself. Saint Jonah assisted the Grand Duke in the fight against the Tatars and, through the bishops subordinate to him, persuaded the appanage princes to do the same. “Whoever happens to die in that battle,” he wrote to them, “those, like the ancient martyrs, will receive a crown from Christ and for the feat of torment.” During one Tatar invasion of Moscow, he showed an amazing example of fortitude: a terrible fire devastated the capital, enemy arrows flew into the Kremlin, and he calmly made a religious procession along its walls. The danger was so great that one monk, standing next to the saint, was killed by an enemy arrow. At night, the enemies heard a great noise in the city and fled out of fear 68. Isidore, however, did not abandon his claims to the Russian Church in Rome. Seeing no possibility of returning to Moscow, Isidore wanted to at least take away from Saint Jonah the southwestern dioceses (Chernigov, Smolensk, Przemysl, Turov, Lutsk, Vladimir in Volhynia, Polotsk, Kholm and Galicia), which were in the possession of King Casimir of Poland, a follower of the Roman confession. He seemed to voluntarily surrender them to his disciple Gregory, who shared with him the shameful flight from Moscow. The former Patriarch of Constantinople, deprived of his chair for his adherence to the union and also living in Rome, Gregory Mamma ordained Gregory, a student of Isidore, to the rank of Metropolitan of Kyiv, Lithuania and all Southern Russia. Supplied with letters from Isidore, the deposed patriarch, and Pope Pius II, Metropolitan Gregory went to his flock and settled in Kyiv. Since then, Russian metropolitans began to be named after the main cities of their dioceses: Moscow and Kyiv. From the very first time of separation, the Metropolitans of Moscow and Kiev entered into different relations with the Patriarch of Constantinople: the Moscow Metropolis became almost completely independent of the Patriarch. Soon after the installation of Metropolitan Jonah, he and the Grand Duke initiated relations with the Patriarch of Constantinople Gennady, which ended in the fact that both this patriarch and other Eastern patriarchs, out of attention to the special position of the Churches, established once and for all that the Russian Metropolitan should be appointed by his bishops, revered above all metropolitans, right after the Patriarch of Jerusalem. The Kiev metropolis, on the contrary, became more closely dependent on Constantinople than the Moscow metropolis was before its separation. This was required by the special conditions of the Kyiv Metropolis, which was still new and unestablished, due to the dangers from the Catholics. The feeling of Orthodoxy was so strong in the country that Metropolitan Gregory himself, although he achieved his rank thanks to Rome, nevertheless turned to the Patriarch of Constantinople Simeon for a blessing. Gregory’s successors also did not turn to the pope, but in order to protect Orthodoxy and their own dignity, they sought support for themselves in the Patriarchs of Constantinople and valued their alliance with them, and the patriarchs, for their part, used all measures to maintain Orthodoxy there amid the temptations of Latinism. – A story has been preserved that Saint Metropolitan Photius visited the Simonov monastery once. While touring churches and services, he stopped at a bakery. Here the monk Jonah slept, tired from his labors, and his right hand lay on his head, as if folded for a blessing. The Metropolitan did not order to disturb him and predicted to those around him that this would be a great saint on Russian land, who would convert many infidels to the true God and, finally, would be appointed shepherd and teacher to the reigning city of Moscow itself. – Liberation from the Tatar yoke was the most cherished desire of Saint Jonah. He had a friend, Jonah, Archbishop of Novgorod. They made a covenant among themselves to fervently pray to God every day, so that the Lord would give the triumph of Russia over the entire Horde and an autocratic kingdom to its rulers. The prayer of the saints was heard: under the son and successor of Basil the Dark, John III, both the appanage system and the Tatar yoke fell simultaneously. Thus, Saint Jonah completed the great work of his famous predecessors Peter and Alexy and contributed to the complete liberation of the Church and the fatherland from the Mongol yoke. You might be interested in: