№ 10. Мысли и советы, составленные Преосвященным Филаретом, для руководства при присоединении Униатов к православию

In October 1833, His Eminence of Polotsk Smaragd 5 wrote to the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod S. D. Nechaev that he had received from the Archpriest of the Vitebsk Cathedral Remezov a report about the incorrect actions of the Unite clergy and the riots they allowed in the churches of their parishes. In view of the importance of the information being reported, the Chief Prosecutor came in with a most submissive report to the Sovereign, in which he wrote that, according to Archpriest. Remezova: 1) In all the Unite churches there are no church books, except for the service books of the Vilna press, called mshalas, in which there are many innovations against the missals of the Eastern Church and even the Pochaev press, and besides the same general menyas, and in some churches there are also triodions, there are no more books; therefore, prayer songs for the health of Your Majesty and the entire August family, as well as the Royal funeral services, are not performed in any Unite church, and it is doubtful that all-night vigils and other church services could be performed anywhere according to the rite of the Eastern Church, than the Uniates themselves, not without a special intention, are hastily and quickly guided by their priests to accept Catholicism. 2) In not a single Unite church are proskomedia performed before the liturgy, the hours are not read, and not even a spear or prosphora is used, but the lamb and a few certain particles are prepared in advance not by the priest, but by an outsider, even a woman, contrary to the instructions used in their own service books. 3) In many Unite churches, along with the spare Gifts, consecrated according to the custom of the Eastern Church, Catholic wafers are also kept, and in addition, in some churches, in monstrations deliberately arranged according to Catholic custom, whole Lambs are kept, in addition to the spare Gifts, and these monstrations, without any charter, by mere spontaneous imitation of Catholics, are exhibited to the people at the liturgy, during evening singing and on local holidays. 4) Most of the Unite priests either themselves are of Catholic origin, or have wives (often widows) and children of the Catholic rite, and themselves, both in ministry and in religious corrections, try in every possible way to observe Catholic customs. 5) All Unity priests, not being sufficiently limited and restrained from willful and incessant deviations from their ancient faith, try in every possible way to dispel harmful errors, ignorance and superstitions among the people, the basis of which can mostly be seen in the Unity Breviary, published in Vilna in 1807, partly in mshalas and various Polish prayer books, especially newly published in Vilna; moreover, they constantly root hostility among the people against Russia and the dominant Greek-Russian faith with their malicious teachings, publicly preached in Polish in their churches and chapels, that the Greek-Russian faith is a heresy, that the Russians, turning the Unite churches into Orthodox, stab and throw away the images, and install their own gods and thereby overthrow the Shrine with blasphemy, which harmful errors, making a strong impression on the common people, are confirmed by impudent curses among the people of all those who accept piety. Finally, in almost all parishes there are many idle vagabonds from the Unity clergy without any title, position or place of residence, and even apart from the Polish language, they do not know Russian literacy (while the Belarusians speak the Russian dialect) and, without a doubt, disseminating harmful misconceptions among the people. Particularly illegal and insolent acts occur from those Unite priests who, either without permanent parishes, wander everywhere for the sake of their own benefits and serve in chapels built in large numbers on all the estates of Catholic landowners, and partly, being deprived of their places, either for disapproving behavior, or because of the entry of their parishes into piety, they remain in the same parishes, solely, as it seems, in order to worry those newly joined to Orthodoxy parishioners The Eminence certifies that the above, as he himself personally found out, is the complete truth, which can be confirmed by many facts, and that he referred to this at different times partly to the Governor-General, partly to the Civil Governor, from whom, although he had assistance in this domestic matter, there was a lack of Russian officials who would monitor all the illegal actions of the priests of Unity and by their harmful disclosures among the people, proper success is not expected; and therefore, I considered it necessary to approach me to take any measures to stop the said unrest. Upon consideration of this presentation in St. The Synod was supposed to report this to the Minister of Internal Affairs with the idea that it would not be recognized as a good thing for the Uniate Churches, which must follow the rite of the Greek Orthodox Church in Divine services, to be protected from extraneous admixtures or omissions, and for the Uniate clergy, according to the Apostolic teaching: “to pray for the Tsar and for all those in power,” to be encouraged to send constantly at appointed times thanksgiving to the Lord God prayers for the health and prosperity of Your Majesty and the entire August House, and establish rules so that there are no placeless priests of the Unity confession and those without parishes are not allowed to live in Orthodox parishes, and even more so to influence the people with blasphemy and curses on those who have converted to piety and the most dominant faith. Along with this, the Holy Synod instructed me to bring the above-mentioned remarks in the Unite Church, unrest and deviations from Eastern Divine Services, and the willful actions of the clergy to Your Highest Imperial Name. On this report, the Emperor wrote the following in his own hand: “Contact M. V. affairs personally and agree: 1) Write secret instructions to our Bishops on how to act carefully, slowly, but with due firmness, in the matter of annexing the Uniates; This instruction will have to be communicated secretly to some Governor-Generals for their guidance in their General Governments, without allowing it to be communicated further in the name of the government.” 2) “M. V. agrees with Metropolitan Bulgak so that it will be ordered again in all Unity dioceses strictly and positively which particular Catholic rites that have crept in must not be performed in the future.” These resolutions were communicated to the Minister of Internal Affairs, who expressed his thoughts, the main idea of ​​which is to act on the ideas of the people and convince them to join not directly and not suddenly, but first to gradually persuade the Uniate clergy to it and then through it to conquer the minds of parishioners to perceive pure Orthodoxy. 3) How conveniently difference of opinion gives rise to reproach, and reproach to enmity: so carefully in dealing with those who differ in their views one must avoid reproaches and actions that have a hostile appearance; как равно противных и духу христианства, и духу Правительства, и цели воссоединения. Укорять значит раздражать, а раздражать – значить уменьшать способность к принятию истины. Therefore, the treatment of those who differ in their views and the very denunciation of errors should be as peaceful as this can be done without insulting the truth and without tempting the Orthodox. Сие правило относится к должностным сношениям, к проповедям, к разговорам и к обхождению в обществе. 4) Правило миролюбия с особенною силою должно быть применено к тем, которые отделены от Православной Церкви более силою обстоятельств, нежели разноверием, каковы суть Униаты. It is more appropriate for them to point out the legal similarity of their beliefs and Divine services with ours, from the Creed recognized in the beginning of Uniatism to the smallest ritual, rather than to blame them for the differences that either crept in or were forcibly squeezed into it. 5) However, the rule of peace must be limited by the rule of firmness and caution, both in any case, and especially in relations with the Clergy of the Roman Confession, whose foreign direction and inclination to act aggressively, the peaceful compliance of the Orthodox could turn to the detriment of Orthodoxy. We must be vigilant to ensure that the Clergy of the Roman Confession does not intrude not only into the boundaries of Orthodoxy, but also into the boundaries of Uniateism, and to put up all possible barriers against this alien influence. 6) In order to avoid difficult meetings and useless strife, the Orthodox Clergy must be careful to enter into direct relations with the Clergy of other confessions only in those cases where it is possible to foresee peaceful compliance and fair satisfaction of demands: and about cases in which confrontation opens or is foreseen, Orthodox Priests must first report to their Bishop, and this, depending on the nature and importance of the matter, is confidential report to the Holy Synod, or refer to the G. Synodal Chief Prosecutor, for communication with the department of Foreign Confessions. 7) In Orthodox parishes adjacent to non-Orthodox parishes, special care should be taken to identify such Priests who would combine zeal with an understanding of the truth, and especially with edifying life, meekness and selflessness. The door of the word is opened temporarily: the good life of the minister of the word preaches the truth day and night. 8) The predominant proximity to the Orthodox Church of the Uniates, both in their religious and national position, should inspire the Orthodox Bishop with both primary hope and primary concern for their return from an accidental, unnatural, imaginary union with the West, to the original, natural, true unity with the East. 9) It is more difficult to reunite the Uniate Clergy than the laity: but for that, a complete reunification of the Clergy and the laity would be more decisive, because it would make guardians of the unity of those who, remaining outside the reunification, have every incentive to sway and distract the reunited. Therefore, we should not neglect private affiliations with the Orthodox Church: but we should also, with prayer and hope in God, think about general reunification. 10) Individuals, families, villages, Uniate parishes, which turn out to be ripe for joining the Orthodox Church, and give hope - to be firm against the attempt to lead to their new rejection, should be joined immediately, so that the delay, having the appearance of coldness and lack of zeal, does not turn into temptation and temptation for them. 11) On the contrary, one should not rush to join when the disposition to join is seen as unsatisfactory and mature and capable of withstanding opposition. 12) It is better not to rush into opening an accession when quiet action promises an increase in the number of those disposed to join, without strong opposition, which would be aroused by an early private accession. 13) One must pay attention to well-meaning Members of the Uniate Clergy, and gradually establish and approve relations with them based on mutual trust. 16) In order to remove minor stumbling blocks from the path of reunification for Uniate priests: the Orthodox Bishop can give those of them who are inclined to join, depending on the need, the following thoughts: that their previous benefits will remain inviolable with them even after joining, and in their needs they will find new help and protection both in the Orthodox Spiritual Authority and in the patronizing Government; and that the Orthodox Spiritual Authority, recognizing and respecting the character of the Priesthood in them, will not reduce this respect for some features of appearance that are common to them, such as the essence - a special type of clothing and barber shaving, and will not forcibly demand a change in habits that are not contrary to morality, although, however, for newly initiated people upon joining, the rule of uniformity with the prevailing custom will probably be preferred. 17) No less important than all the previous ones, the rule is to act modestly, without noise and premature publicity. The more important the goal: the worse the untimely and inappropriate announcement of it, useful only for its opponents. These thoughts, by order of the Highest, were sent out to both the Diocesan leaders and the Governor-General of the Western provinces, with the exception that it would not be further communicated in the name of the Government as secret. Smaragd, architect. Polotsk, in 1831 appointed Bishop. Revelsky; in 1833 Bp. Polotsk; in 1837 arch. Mogilevsky; in 1840 arch. Kharkovsky; in 1841 Astrakhan; in 1844 Orlovsk named after; in 1858 by Ryazansky, where he died in November 1863. You might be interested in: