51. Труды патриарха Никона по исправлению богослужебных книг и обрядов

We saw above that the so-called Hundred-Glavy Council regarding liturgical books decided only on specific measures that could not lead to a uniform and widespread correction of them, but regarding the newly introduced customs it itself came to disagreement and division. Then came the second, unhappy half of the reign of Ivan the Terrible and the time of troubles, and the question of correcting books and rituals was put aside. Meanwhile, difficulties in resolving this issue grew more and more over time: errors from manuscripts ended up in printed books, where every word was considered inviolable. How difficult and dangerous this matter of correction has become was revealed in connection with the correction of the breviary by Trinity Archimandrite Dionysius. While correcting this book for printing together with two employees, he found many errors in it. By the way, in the water-blessing prayer for Epiphany it was read: “And sanctify this water with Your Holy Spirit and fire.” Dionysius decided to cross out this last word because he did not find it in ancient manuscripts and because it was contrary to the meaning. The monks of the Lavra, dissatisfied with Dionysius for his jealousy in the monastic demands, reported him to the head of the patriarchate of Krutitsa, Metropolitan Jonah, that he “does not confess the Holy Spirit, as if there is fire.” Dionysius was convicted, excommunicated from the Church and imprisoned in the Novospassky Monastery. Here they languished him in smoke, starved him, and forced him to make a thousand bows a day. When they took him from the Novospassky Monastery in chains and rags to the Metropolitan, the people threw dirt and sand at him and shouted: “Here is a heretic who wants to bring fire out of the world.” The monk suffered for a whole year until Philaret returned from Polish captivity and freed him at the request of the Jerusalem Patriarch Theophan; but Patriarch Filaret did not first decide to cross out the word “and by fire” from the missal after receiving certification from all the Eastern patriarchs that there was no such word in the Greek lists of the missal. Finally, after the state had calmed down from the unrest, they began to correct the books on a more extensive scale. During the reign of Patriarch Joseph, the following were assigned to the task of correcting liturgical books: Ivan (in monasticism Joseph) Nasedka, Archpriest of the Church of the Chernigov Wonderworkers Mikhail Rogov and some other clergy and secular persons. In addition to these actual book references, prominent and influential persons of that time took a large part in church corrections: the tsar’s confessor, Archpriest Stefan Vonifatiev, archpriests John Neronov, Avvakum, Daniel, priests Nikita and Lazar, Deacon Theodore, head of the printing house, Prince Lvov, and boyar Theodore Rtishchev; Nikon also took part in their labors when he was Archimandrite of Novospassk. But, despite the fact that these people seemed to be the best of the then clergy and society, they did not have sufficient education for this matter. Due to ignorance of the Greek language, the books were corrected only from Slavic manuscripts (also uncorrected), and even more so according to the correctors’ own wisdom. Therefore, many errors were made in the books corrected and published at this time; The main error of this inept correction was that all hitherto controversial opinions: about the special hallelujah, about the two-fingered sign of the cross, about the salting walk, etc., were elevated by them to the level of seemingly undoubted teachings of Orthodoxy and included in the most commonly used books 75. The correction of the books seemed close to completion, and the inspectors were proud of completing the task, which had been so difficult before, but completely unexpectedly their mistakes were discovered. In 1649 (the year of Nikon’s appointment to the metropolitanate), Patriarch Paisius of Jerusalem and with him the educated Greek Arseny came to Moscow. They were the first to point out to Patriarch Joseph and Nikon the mistakes made in the books. A formidable question arose: where is the truth - here or in the Greek Church? And then: to be or not to be the Russian Church in agreement with its mother, the Greek Church? At the insistence, mainly of Nikon, the Trinity cellarer Arseny Sukhanov was sent to the East to collect the most ancient Greek manuscripts and summoned Greek language experts from the Kyiv Academy to correct the books, including Epiphanius Slavenitsky, Arseny Satanovsky, Damascene Ptitsky, Theodosius Safanovich and others. Boyarin Theodore Rtishchev, a philanthropist of his time, on the outskirts of Moscow, built for them St. Andrew's, the so-called teacher's, monastery. Here a learned brotherhood was established, free preaching was heard, and Latin and Greek were taught. Thus, even under Patriarch Joseph, the old inspectors were relegated to the background. When Nikon became patriarch, he led the correction of the liturgical books with all the caution required by the importance of the matter, and took this or that measure only with the approval of the council. Two years after ascending the patriarchal throne, in 1654, he convened the Russian archpastors to a council, and they recognized the need to correct liturgical books and rituals; Only one Bishop of Kolomna Pavel did not sign the conciliar act. Meanwhile, cellarer Arseny brought up to 700 ancient books from the East; some were written more than 500, and one 1050 years ago. Having received these aids for correcting books, Nikon began to follow the matter even closer, transferred the Kyiv monks from St. Andrew's Monastery to Chudov; Epiphanius was installed as their head, and the Greek Arsenius as his assistant. When the more necessary books were corrected, the patriarch convened a new council to consider them in 1656, at which two patriarchs, Macarius of Antioch and Gabriel of Serbia, were present along with the Russian saints. The council approved the newly corrected books and ordered them to be introduced into all churches, and the old ones to be taken away and burned. Meanwhile, the enemies of the patriarch did not sleep, led by the former leaders of church corrections and adherents of imaginary church antiquity. Weighed down by the position of backward and incompetent people, they blasphemed the “innovations” allegedly introduced by Nikon, spread rumors among the people that he was not ruling, but was spoiling the faith, submitted petitions to the tsar and begged him to protect the Church. They said about the Greeks that under the Turkish yoke they betrayed Orthodoxy and indulged in Latinism, and as proof of this they pointed to the notes of Arseniy Sukhanov about Greek churches and monasteries, which he kept during his travels in the East, in which indeed the church life of the Greeks seemed from the outside not always good. They called the Kyiv monks oblivians and heretics. All these censures and blasphemies were accepted by many of the people as the real truth, especially since many were already accustomed to reading prayers from uncorrected books, to the two-fingered sign of the cross and other customs, which are now being replaced by other, more ancient, orders. The Patriarch, for his part, was irritated by the resistance of superstitions to his good measures and subjected them to severe punishments. Pavel, Bishop of Kolomna, was defrocked and exiled to the Paleostrovsky monastery, John Neronov to the Stone Monastery, Daniel to Astrakhan, Login to Murom, Avvakum to Dauria (“I think it will be a thousand and twenty miles beyond Siberia,” he writes in his autobiography), Prince Lvov to the Solovetsky Monastery. They seemed to the people as martyrs for the faith. At the same time, rumors were spread among the people about the advent of the last times, about the coming of the Antichrist, who was first secretly, and then clearly indicated in the patriarch himself, the year of announcement of his kingdom was planned, namely 1666 (in relation to Apoc. Chapter 13. Art. 18). At this very time, when the success of the undertaken task of correcting books and rituals especially required the energy and perseverance of Patriarch Nikon, a fatal change occurred in his fate. In 1657, when Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich returned from his second Livonian campaign, his cooling towards Nikon became noticeable. On the one hand, being for a long time outside the influence of Nikon, at the head of his army, the tsar acquired greater independence in character, on the other hand, the boyars, hostile to the patriarch, did not miss opportune opportunities to arm him against the patriarch: the war ended unsuccessfully, and they said that Nikon advised it; there was a need for money, and Nikon built rich monasteries and asked for estates for them. However, due to his character, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich did not speak out to Nikon and in every possible way avoided meeting with him; the patriarch, considering himself right in everything, did not want to curry favor with the king and expected that he would be the first, recognizing his untruth, to take a step towards reconciliation. This went on for about a year. In June 1658 there was a celebration at court on the occasion of the arrival of the Georgian king Teimuraz. The Patriarch, contrary to custom, was not invited and sent his boyar to find out the reason. When the latter made his way through the crowd, steward Bogdan Khitrovo, who was keeping order, hit him with a stick. The messenger announced that he was from the patriarch. “Don’t be arrogant,” Bogdan answered him and hit him again. The Patriarch was amazed at such audacity and demanded satisfaction from the Tsar for the insult inflicted on him in the person of the boyar. The king promised to talk to him, but the meeting was rejected in every possible way. The Patriarch hoped to see him alone in the church, and on July 10, the feast of the bringing of the Robe of the Lord, he waited for the king for a long time without starting the service. Then boyar Romodanovsky appeared and announced that the tsar would not come out. “Why are you alienating the good king from me?” – asked Nikon. “Why did you,” asked Romodanovsky rudely, “have you appropriated the title of great sovereign to yourself?” Saddened to the depths of his soul, Nikon nevertheless performed the liturgy and, at the end of it, according to custom, came out to speak a word. Having begun with the teaching of St. John Chrysostom about the relationship of a shepherd to his flock, he suddenly began to tell the astonished people about himself that he did not have such relationships in his flock, and therefore he was no longer their patriarch or shepherd. After this, in the sacristy he wrote a letter to the king about his leaving the patriarchal throne, put on a simple robe with a black hood and left the church. The people cried, held the doors, but could not hold Nikon. He left for his Resurrection monastery. The patriarch remained in his voluntary imprisonment for about 8 years. At this time, he suffered a lot of grief, which produced painful irritability in his character. Soon after his removal, his secret archive was revealed, and Nikon bitterly complained to the king that the secrets entrusted to him by his spiritual children to ease their conscience were thus discovered. Metropolitan Pitirim of Krutitsa, to whom Nikon entrusted the administration during his absence, clearly anticipated the benefits of the patriarchal rank (Vaiy rode on a donkey every week) and even forbade the commemoration of Nikon during divine services. One of the boyars hostile to Nikon, Bobarykin, took possession of the estate of the Resurrection Monastery; the patriarch, in a vehemence, anathematized Bobarykin, and the tsar was reinterpreted as if Nikon had cursed him. Boyar Zyuzin, who was friendly to Nikon, wishing to reconcile him with the Tsar, summoned him, as if on behalf of the Tsar, to Moscow. Nikon suddenly appeared in the Assumption Cathedral (during Matins on December 18, 1665) and sent the Tsar a letter in which he asked him for reconciliation; in confusion from this surprise, the tsar did not know what to decide, but the boyars managed at these moments to set him against the patriarch. Nikon was ordered to go back, and on the road they took Metropolitan Peter’s staff from him. Most of all, Paisius Ligarid, the former Metropolitan of Gaza, a very educated man, but cunning and insidious, caused Nikon harm. He was summoned to Russia by Nikon himself, who needed enlightened people for his reforms. Having arrived in Moscow after Nikon’s voluntary removal and having learned the state of affairs, Paisius was not slow to take the side of his enemies and became their leader. On his advice, the eastern patriarchs were invited to Moscow for the trial of Nikon. Patriarch Macarius of Antioch and Paisius of Alexandria arrived, others refused due to the vague state of affairs in their areas. At the end of 1666, under the chairmanship of two patriarchs, meetings of the council opened, at which, in addition to them, there were 10 metropolitans, 8 archbishops, 5 bishops and many black and white clergy. Nikon prepared for the trial, as if to death, by communion of the Holy Mysteries and the Blessing of Oil, and then appeared at the council with the usual solemnity, in the presentation of the cross. Not seeing a place for himself with the patriarchs, he refused to sit down and stood the entire time of the meeting, which lasted 8 hours. At first, the tsar himself accused Nikon. Excited and in tears, he complained to the cathedral that Nikon had left the patriarchate without permission, which resulted in many riots. The Patriarch justified himself that he had left the royal wrath and did not leave the patriarchate for his own diocese. Then the tsar turned to the boyars and demanded from them evidence against Nikon. Everyone was silent, except for Dolgoruky, who said several incoherent words. Nikon said: “They can beat Nikon with stones, but not with words, at least for another 10 years they collected them.” Subsequent meetings of the council took place in Nikon's absence. They called him only to the last meeting, where they announced his offenses and the court verdict. Nikon, by the way, was accused of having arbitrarily retired to the Resurrection Monastery, annoying the Tsar and the council itself, coming to the council with pride, humiliating the patriarchs, calling the Metropolitan of Gaza (Paisius) a heretic and a rebel, depriving bishops of their dioceses without a council trial, and punishing some of his subordinates cruelly. For these and other faults, it was decided to deprive Nikon of the patriarchate and, with the rank of a simple monk, to send him to a distant monastery to repent. Nikon was taken to the Ferapontov-Belozersky Monastery, where he spent about 9 years, then he was settled in the Kirillov Monastery. This content was not the same: either they subjected him to great hardships and cramped conditions, or they made his imprisonment easier. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, however, did not cease to feel sorry for his former friend and in his spiritual testament asked him for forgiveness and blessings. His son, Tsar Feodor Alekseevich, at the request of his aunt Tatyana Mikhailovna and the Resurrection monks in 1681, decided to return Nikon after fifteen years of imprisonment to his beloved New Jerusalem. This return was like a triumphal procession of the 75-year-old patriarch, exhausted by labor and sorrow, to a place of peace. Crowds of people stood along the banks of the Sheksna and Volga, awaiting his blessing. Arriving at Yaroslavl, he felt the approach of death and greeted it with a calm and joyful spirit. Nikon was buried with honor as a patriarch in the Resurrection Monastery, and a year later a letter was received from the Eastern patriarchs in which they freed him from the council's condemnation and restored him to the rank of patriarch. – So, for example, the instruction about the two-fingered sign of the cross is placed in the preface to the Psalter, from which the children studied. You might be interested in: