77. Около 1456 г. Его же послание в Вятку с обличениями народных пороков

From the collection of Count A.S. Uvarov No. 512 (formerly Tsarskogo No. 366), l. 174 vol.179–179; It was published, according to the same list, in the first volume of Historical Acts under No. 267. The original is entitled: A messenger from the Metropolitan to Vyatka to the boyars and governors and vatamons, and all the Orthodox, true Christians, went with Ignat and the interpreter to the syakova letter Blessing of Jonah, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Rus', on the Holy Spirit, the son of our humility, to the boyars and governors and vatamons and to all true Orthodox Christians who believe in us crucified for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ God. Behold, my son, my son, that the deeds there, in the estate of my son the Grand Duke, in Vyatka, are committing many resistant and hateful deeds to God, leading to the destruction of the peasants: many Christian deeds with their wives live illegally without marriage, and some deeds are married, but illegally, by the fourth and fifth copulation, and others by the sixth and seventh, one and up to the tenth; and their spiritual fathers, abbots and priests, are unskilled in the divine scriptures, ignorant of the divine and sacred rules, with those ungodly illegal marriages they couple, and to our humility, ours for the sake of blessing and punishment, and especially for their own salvation, and for the neglect of their spiritual children and for laziness, they cannot send to us the only one who is their brother priest, sharing their own spiritual benefits and Christ’s entrusted to them flocks that are like stone-hearted and hardened: such, sons, are the future, called priests and Christian rulers, and be that as it may, but destroyers of human souls, and not shepherds. And now we have heard that they are unworthy 2744 of the great priesthood of God, but, deluded into shamelessness, they become priests, and such are a pile of heretics: some deeds from the worldly people have taken an angelic image, monkhood, and then leave and get married, and these unworthy priests bless them. And about these, my sons, who lead God 2745, according to the Prophet, “my eyes disappeared from tears,” since that essence is vile and contrary to God! And for this reason, I am now writing to you, my children, but to my holy duty and according to the spoken commandment of Christ, spoken by the Prophet Ezekiel to us: “Son of man, I have given you a guardian for the house of Israel, and hear a word from me and forbid them: never say to the wicked, “Thou shalt die,” and do not hang him, then I will require his blood from your hand; If you bear witness to him and do not turn from his iniquity, he himself will die in his sin, and you will deliver your soul.” And for this reason, my son, I remember and write to you with bitter weeping, delivering my only-begotten immortal soul from condemnation from God [and] inexorable torment; and if I do not remember this love of yours, my Creator Christ the Lord will require it from my hand. Before long, the end of summer has already arrived, and the Judge 2746 [with] reward is waiting for us; and for this sake, I beg you to show your strength through pure repentance. And I bless you, in the Holy Spirit, my sons, boyars and governors and vatamons, and all the Orthodox Christians of that land, so that you and my ten-ten-man will have great care and for the dashing opponent of God’s law and our great Orthodoxy will not stand for our ten-ten-man; What is not powerful for him to manage there, and he will write to me, or, as God willing, he will be with us, and he will tell us. And you, sons, would not have had those great and grave sins on yourselves, remembering the words of Christ’s mouth that say: “The blind man who knows the blind will both fall into a pit”: for this, the Lord God will not lay hold of such people even here physically, much less give them over mentally to bitter, endless torment on the terrible great day of God’s inexorable judgment. And about this, my son, how powerfully, with great care, from such lawless people, the future [and] called true and Orthodox Christians would distance themselves in everything; and for this reason, sons, from the Almighty God and from all lands you will be glorified, and even more so in the heavenly endless kingdom, which I pray you will receive in endless centuries. To you, the Lord's priests, I also say in small words: do you know what kind of rank you have achieved by nature, and how you have been entrusted with fear to watch over the flock of Christ, which you redeemed with your honest blood? And about this, as we hear here, do not have any regard and care for yourself and for your flock entrusted from God, having forgotten the fear of the Most High. And hear, my children, on the fifty-eighth week of the holy Apostles 2748, [with] what prohibition the sitsa says: as if “if a bishop or presbyter neglects the clergy and the people, do not punish them with diligence with piety, let them be excommunicated; remain in laziness, and let it erupt.” And for this I implore you to have great vigilance, first of all for yourself, but also for Christ’s flock 2749; writes the great Deonisius of Arepagitsky: “It is worthy, in his words, for a priest of the Lord to be pure, like the light, and thus to enlighten, even though filth defiles, but purity cleanses.” For this reason, I beseech you, the Lord's priests, to examine 2750 yourselves in every way and shudder, so as to rise up from sleep and refrain from disorderly 2751 drunkenness, which is not for the health of the soul and body, but more 2752 for the destruction of the soul and for driving away the active grace and giving you the Holy Spirit; and the same looking 2753, and the immortal 2754 body and the honorable Master's blood into which the mouth is an entry: for with such abominable and nasty lips you dare to transgress those immortal and life-giving secrets and whom you dare to associate, like the grass of existence to touch fire; and take heed of whom you commune with the immortal mysteries of Christ, for it is not worthy to betray God’s body and the honorable Lady’s blood into the mouth of filth and abomination: for, according to the Apostle, “such a person eats and drinks judgment for himself.” And for this reason, my children, with my blessing and prayer, I write to you, so that you may naturally look upon yourself in every possible way and the human souls entrusted 2756 to you from God, resorting to the holy churches of God with contrition of heart, without laziness, and your spiritual children from all those who oppose God, punishing and averting 2757, and remembering everything, the hour of death and the inexorable These future torments are endless, and on the coming terrible day of the great judgment of God. And do you, sons, live in this way with zeal and leave your opposition to God, and not repair it: and I have hope in [God’s] great love for mankind - and for this reason your land will abound with all good things, but you yourself will not be excommunicated from your heavenly endless kingdom and will bestow an inheritance, and with your spiritual children, in endless centuries, with all the true Orthodox Christians. Yes, there is my blessing and an unforgettable prayer to God for your physical health, and even more so for your spiritual health. And it was written in Moscow... In the original, Father is wrong. In the original there is a spirit here - superfluous. You might be interested in: