58. Прежде 1431 г. января 4. Его же послание в Псков с наставлениями мирянам – об исполнении христианских обязанностей, и духовенству – о правильном совершении таинств крещения и миропомазания

From the collection of the Synodal Library No. 562, l. 387–390. It was published, according to the same list, in the first volume of Historical Acts under No. 35. Letter from Metropolitan Photius to Pskov about the trial Blessing of Photius, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Rus', in Pskov, in the Holy Spirit to my children, the mayor and the thousandth, and the old mayor and thousandth and boyars, archimandrites, abbots, and priests and deacons and the entire priestly and monastic rank, and all the people named after Christ in the God-saved city Pskov and in all surrounding cities and places where Orthodox Christians live. O children of the Lord, beloved of our humility! I heard about your Orthodox 2411 peasantry and about the Orthodoxy of your stay, and again I rejoiced in my heart, and I pray to the lover of mankind, as if I were blessed for your presence; I want to see the limit of your God-saved land and to bless you and your children and, according to the commandment of the Lord, to teach you about your salvation, otherwise it does not happen for me to go to you. And I want to talk to your Orthodoxy and to your love with this small scripture, and I beg you to spread your spiritual feelings; for by the inspiration of God the Prophet says to the mother: “Wash yourself and be clean, your wickedness is from your souls before my eyes, learn 2412 to do good and seek justice, deliver the wronged and justify the sire and the widow. And if you want [and] listen to me, good earthly soul; If you do not want to listen to me, the weapon will gird you, for the mouth of the Lord speaks this.” But you, O Lord’s beloved children, instruct them to cleanse themselves from all inappropriate and disorderly acts, which are disgusting and invisible to God; correct yourself in every way, and as if by nature, not the words called peasants, but also the deeds of the Orthodox peasantry: encourage yourself to resort to the churches of God, according to the commandment of the Lord, honor the priests of God and accept their punishments with joy, and keep the fasts that come honestly and cleanly 2413 and diligently accompany 2414 with repentance, confession and tears, and warmth and with burning faith, and warm sighing and alms, and love, win 2415 friend to friend, according to the commandment of the Lord, which you yourself hear in his holy gospel, which says: “Let you love each other, as I have loved you.” Everyone understands this, as my disciples are, if you have love among yourself.” I pray to God, who loves mankind, that he may give you good reason 2416 about everything, towards every path of salvation, and may he protect you, and strengthen and preserve the power of your Orthodox sojourn, and may he subdue all enemies, visible and invisible, under the nose of your Orthodox power. But you, the priestly and monastic rank, look in detail: my hearing, which some are found in you, who live not for the glory of God, nor for priestly honor, for human seduction, does not belong to the churches of God 2417, and people who come to the churches of God are offended 2418 by their negligence, and the name of God is blasphemed in your negligence; and you do not understand in detail that these are the churches of God, in them God is glorified, in them the Lamb of God is devoured for the worldly belly, in them there is an invisible presence of angels and men... 2419, in them the salvation of the earthly is sought: and you lie in negligence. I have also heard another incomparable deed in you, which is hated by God, and is denied by the holy and God-bearing Fathers and is unforgiven: I hear that those who want to be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, instead of the great holy myrrh, you anoint with Latin myrrh; and offend me with this menacing hearing, confuse my heart; For this is something that is disgusting and hateful to God, and the Holy Fathers have renounced that this should be done by those who are called true priests of God, and it is not commanded by the law of God to anoint Orthodox peasants with Latin myrrh: and you are doing this by your negligence and removing 2420 those from God who are anointed from that. We are commanded by the holy 2421 seven councils 2422 [and] by the holy Fathers from such temptations, hated by God, to guard ourselves, as strong as we can, and to evade; and we, Orthodox peasants, are commanded by the Holy Fathers, and it is approved and written down to observe: to be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and then to be anointed with the holy and honest great myrrh, which comes from Constantinople, according to the commandment of the Lord, established and indicated by the Holy Fathers. And from now on, instill in yourself about this at length, and turn away from that dissimilar act with repentance and with tears for the evils previously committed 2423, turn to the true path of the Orthodox true faith: if the Holy Fathers commanded you to do it, do it unremittingly, and perform baptisms 2424 according to the rules of the Holy Fathers, do not pour water on it, but immerse it in water, in such a tub 2425, three times, saying on the first immersion “in the name of the Father”, and on the second “and the Son”, and on the third “and the Holy Spirit”, and then anoint with the great ointment that comes from Constantinople, which from time immemorial received the breed of the Orthodox faith and the true image. And if you naturally walked according to the commandment of the Lord, stand close to the churches of God for priestly honor 2426 and pray for the improvement of the life of the Orthodox. You see, O presbyters, the great Dionysius the Areopagite says: “It is worthy for the Lord’s priest to be like light, and when there is light itself, then he can enlighten others; even if there is darkness himself, he cannot enlighten: darkness never enlightens, but darkens.” It is worthy for a priest to be clean from all filth, mental and physical: otherwise you can enlighten others, and you, priests, first sober up yourselves 2427, and then you can sober up 2428 and run away from sin; and since Christ’s verbal sheep have been entrusted to each of you, judge each will and power; The Lord has appointed natural intercessors for human sins, and understand what it is like to be a shepherd and intercessor to the omniscient Christ. Correct yourselves first, and teach the flock entrusted to you the 2429 commandments of the Lord and bring the lost sheep to Christ, so that you may appear uncondemned before the judgment seat of Christ, for one and only one of them will be terribly tortured. And for this reason, show them how to live and care about their salvation, and instruct them to resort to the churches of God and to keep the fasts that come honestly [and] cleanly. And if you correct yourself in this temporary 2430 life, you will hear from the common Lord a good voice, saying: “Good servant, faithful, faithful in a little, I will set you over many; enter into the joy of your Lord, for he loved you much.” Yes, they would naturally send to me one skilled man from the priest, and I would teach him about all the rules of the church, and about church singing, and about holy services, and I would send the great holy ointment with the same, and whatever holy scripture you need, and having written it all out, I will send it to you: it is necessary for true Orthodox peasants to live according to the law and send praises 2431 to God, according to tradition and the legalization of holy councils. And may God's grace and peace, and my prayer and my blessing be with you. And the letter was written in Moscow on the 4th day of January. 2432 Let's be Orthodox in the original. Transmit in the original. In the original it is here and - superfluous. It is not present in the original. In authentic It is worth further cleaning. There is a stain in the original, due to which only the first two letters of this word are visible: Art. In authentic Such; compare No. 34, p. 283. In the original it is temporary, and then there is a volume - superfluous. You might be interested in: