46. Митрополит Филипп II

After joyful events for the Church and the fatherland - the conquest of the kingdoms of Kazan and Astrakhan, a difficult time came for them. Tsar John Vasilyevich, after the death of his meek wife Anastasia, became gloomy and stern. Suspecting his subjects of treason, he surrounded himself with bodyguards, took several cities and several streets in Moscow, as if into a special possession (oprichnina, as opposed to other cities and streets - zemstvo). These oprichniki bodyguards abused and robbed civilians with impunity. During this difficult time for Russia, Saint Philip accomplished a great feat of self-sacrifice. Saint Philip, in the world Theodore, came from a noble family of boyars, the Kolychevs. His father Stepan Ivanovich Kolychev was very loved by Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich. Theodore was the first-born of him and his God-fearing wife Varvara. From an early age, Theodore, in the words of the biography, “with heartfelt love clung to inspired books,” was distinguished by meekness and sedateness and shunned amusements. Due to his high origin, he often visited the royal palace: his meekness and piety left a strong impression on the soul of his peer John. Following the example of his father, Theodore began military service, and he had a tempting future ahead of him, but his heart was not set on the blessings of the world. Contrary to the custom of the time, he delayed getting married until he was 30 years old. Once in church, on Sunday, the words of the Savior had a strong effect on him: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be zealous for one and despise the other” (Matthew 6:24). Having heard in them his calling to monasticism, he secretly from everyone, in the clothes of a commoner, left Moscow and went to the Solovetsky monastery. Here, for nine years, he resignedly bore the hard labors of a novice, working as a simple peasant, either in the garden, or in the forge and bakery; finally, according to the common desire of the brethren, he was appointed presbyter and abbot. In this rank, he zealously cared for the well-being of the monastery in a material, and even more moral sense: he connected lakes with canals and drained swampy places for haymaking, built roads in places that were previously impassable, started a cattle yard, improved salt pans, erected two majestic cathedrals - the Assumption and Transfiguration and other churches, built a hospital, established monasteries and deserts for those who wished silence and from time to time, for this purpose, he retired to one secluded place, now known as the Philippi Hermitage; wrote a new charter for the brethren, in which a hardworking lifestyle was outlined for them and idleness was strictly prohibited. Hegumen Philip was summoned to Moscow for spiritual advice, but at his first meeting with the tsar he learned that the metropolitan chair had been appointed for him. With tears, he begged John: “don’t separate me from my desert, don’t entrust a great burden to a small boat.” John was adamant and instructed the bishops and boyars to convince Philip to accept the metropolis. Philip agreed, but demanded the destruction of the oprichnina. The bishops and boyars persuaded Philip not to insist strenuously on this demand out of respect for the autocracy of the tsar and to accept the rank. Philip yielded to the will of the king, seeing in it God's election. During the first time of Filippov's priesthood, which lasted from 1567 to 1568, the horrors of the oprichnina subsided, but this did not last long: robberies and murders of civilians began again. Philip several times in private conversations with the king tried to reason with him, but seeing that his convictions did not help, he decided to act openly. On March 21, 1568, on the week of the cross, before the start of the liturgy, the metropolitan stood on a raised platform in the middle of the church. Suddenly John enters the Church with a crowd of guardsmen. All of them and the tsar himself were in black high shlykas, in black robes, from under which knives and daggers glittered. John approached the saint from the side and bowed his head three times for blessing. The Metropolitan stood motionless, fixing his gaze on the icon of the Savior. Finally, the boyars said: “Holy Lord! The king requires your blessing." The saint turned to John, looked at him intently, as if not recognizing him, and said: “In this strange clothing, I do not recognize the Orthodox Tsar, nor do I recognize him in the affairs of the kingdom. Pious one, whom were you jealous of, thus distorting your splendor? Since the sun has been shining in the sky, it has not been heard of pious kings disturbing their own power... The Tatars and pagans have law and truth, but we do not have them. We, sir, offer a bloodless sacrifice to God, and innocent Christian blood is shed behind the altar. I do not grieve for those who, by shedding their innocent blood, are honored with the share of holy martyrs; I suffer for your poor soul: although you are venerable in the image of God, you are nevertheless a gracious man, and the Lord will exact everything from your hand.” John seethed with anger, whispered threats, and banged his staff on the slabs of the platform. Finally, he exclaimed: “Philip! Or do you dare to resist our power? Let’s see, we’ll see how great your fortress is.” “Good King,” answered the saint, “it is in vain that you frighten me. I am a stranger on earth, struggling for the truth, and no amount of suffering will silence me.” Terribly irritated, John left the church, but hid his anger for the time being. On July 28, the feast of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God, called Hodegetria, Saint Philip served in the Novodevichy Convent and performed a religious procession around the walls. The Tsar was there, surrounded by guardsmen. While reading the Gospel, the saint noticed a guardsman standing behind the Tsar in a Tatar tafya (hat), and pointed him out to John; but the culprit hastened to remove and hide the tafya, and the oprichniki accused the metropolitan of telling a lie in order to shame the tsar before the people. Then John ordered Philip to be tried. Slanders were found with false accusations against the saint, who was not given the opportunity to expose them, and they were condemned to deprivation of the see. On November 8, the feast of the Archangel Michael, the saint served for the last time in the Assumption Cathedral and, just as on the day of the revelation of Grozny, stood at the pulpit. Suddenly the church doors opened, boyar Basmanov entered, accompanied by a crowd of guardsmen, and ordered to read the paper in which it was announced to the astonished people that the metropolitan was being deprived of his rank. Immediately the guardsmen tore off the saint’s vestments and, dressing him in a tattered monastic robe, took him out of the church, put him on a log and took him with curses to one of the Moscow monasteries. It was heard that Ivan the Terrible wanted to burn the confessor of Christ at the stake and only at the request of the clergy determined his imprisonment to death. At the same time, he executed many of Philip's relatives. The head of one of them, Philip’s especially beloved nephew, Ivan Borisovich Kolychev, was sent by Ivan the Terrible to the saint. Saint Philip received it with reverence, laid it down and, bowing to the ground, kissed it and, saying: “Blessed is he, the Lord has chosen and accepted him,” returned it to the sender. From morning to evening, people crowded around the monastery, wanting to see at least a shadow of the glorious saint, and told miracles about him. Then John ordered to transfer him to the Otroch Monastery in Tver. A year after this, the king and his retinue moved against Novgorod and Pskov and sent the guardsman Malyuta Skuratov ahead of him to the Otroch Monastery. Saint Philip predicted his impending death three days in advance and prepared for it by receiving the Holy Mysteries. Malyuta with hypocritical humility approached the saint and asked for the king’s blessing. “Do not blaspheme,” Saint Philip told him, “but do what you came for.” Malyuta rushed at the saint and strangled him. They immediately dug a grave and lowered the holy martyr into it in front of Malyuta’s eyes (December 23, 1569). The relics of Saint Philip now rest in the Moscow Assumption Cathedral, which witnessed his great feat. You might be interested in: