126. Послание неизвестного ростовского архиепископа к князю, о брадобритии

From the synodal collection No. 562, l. 124–126. The tone of the message is reminiscent of the famous Vasian Rylo, the author of the message to Ivan III on the Ugra. Published for the first time. Message from... the archbishop to the prince..., about the benefits of the soul and about tonsure Blessing... of the Archbishop of Rostov and Yaroslavl on the Holy Spirit to my son, the Christ-loving and noble prince..., like mine, who is never forgotten, for the sake of your faith and love, like for God, and ours for the sake of loving joy and remembrance for you, hedgehog in the prayer proposal, especially in liturgies, for the salvation of the soul of your nobility, like 3275 yes present your soul pure and blameless and unashamed on the day of the Last Judgment [and] trial and accept the reward of faithful construction; Before we know you, we understand 3276 the divine writings of the holy Apostles and Holy Fathers and the pure and immaculate Orthodox faith, learned from time immemorial from our forefathers and fathers. You, son, remember the apostolic word: “If an unworthy servant who knows the will of his master does it, he will be beaten much; but he who does not know the will of his master does not according to his will, he will be beaten a little.” But you, son, are in every way trustworthy and fulfilling the will of God, but you are committing punishments worthy of punishment. Since God has given you earthly power and the glory and majesty and honor of this world, for this reason much will be required of you; But look wisely at what you repay to the one who repaid this, against these, which you also received from him. But hear what God demands from you against this: nothing else, just fulfilling his commandments; Not only must you yourself fulfill the gospel and apostolic commandments, but you must also teach those who possess you all piety; Since you are the shepherds of Christ’s flock, do not give them over to the wolves; Until then, their soul will be exacted from your hand. I don’t know, son, where did I get rid of the wisdom of your mind: you crawled like a man; I remember that you were dozing, for the sake of the placeless from change, or not remembering for the sake of those above, or contemplating the things above, oblivion for the sake of the fear of death and the exodus of your soul: you held the Orthodox faith, and you fled with evil faith, Latin philosophies. The Lord created you in his image and likeness: but you are not grateful for this, but you walk in the flesh, and not in the spirit; carnal wisdom is enmity against God and does not obey God’s law. But tell me, son, why do you disobey God’s law and do the opposite? 3278 You put a cursed razor on your fence, doing what pleases your wives; Because this matter is fornication. As a faithful servant of God, it is not proper for you to do these things: by doing this, you will disgrace the image of God, who created you in his own image. This matter is alien to Christian custom, but Latin wisdom is there. But, humble archbishop... I pray your honor, stop from such wickedness, which God hates. The Holy Gospel writes: “Woe to that man, for whom the world is blessed.” You yourself will be tortured for worldly indulgence and you will be tormented to be without mercy in the previous century. If you repent of this and stop from sin, then you intend to take advantage of yourself and others by your conversion, and you yourself will receive a reward from the hand of the Lord Almighty, when you die on the terrible day of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, with all those who have pleased him, and not with Latin of the same mind... 3280 And I wrote all this to my son 3281, fearing 3282 the lazy slave of condemnation, who hid his talent in the ground: therefore, my son, I must be concerned about the salvation of your souls, and I remembered all this in writing. 3283 But you, son, do not put this into oblivion, nor disobey me, advising you for your benefit: for disobedience gives birth to death, but obedience gives birth to eternal life. And the Lord will help you and console you about everything and fill your heart with spiritual joy, and the Lord God will give prosperity and longevity to your nobility, so that you may abide with your good will forever. If, son, you start not caring about everyone, you will inflict unbearable grief on me, your father, and greatly sadden your guardian angel. We do not keep the Imam silent, but let the Imam sign off otherwise, as if I have received a gift and strength from the Lord Almighty. For this sake, stop every way from your custom, so that the Lord God will not be angry with you, so that you do not suffer anything evil. And God's mercy is on you. In the manuscript as well; Perhaps this was the case in the original, in which instead of further words to your soul, written according to scraping, there was something else. In the manuscript there is further pred. There is something incomprehensible in the manuscript: clearly rejoicing. Maybe: “but rejoicing with the Orthodox.” You might be interested in: