Reverend Maxim the Greek and the Greek idea in Rus' in the 16th century

Historical research With the appendix of texts of diplomatic relations between Russia and Turkey at the beginning of the 16th century. based on documents from the Moscow Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Maxim Grek came to Russia as a fully mature man, a fully formed fighter, with certain ideas and, perhaps, plans for his activities. As is known, quite a few people worked on studying the historical appearance of Maxim. At the same time, researchers at first unanimously rush to note the strong influence of the West, and in particular Savonarola, on the personality of Maxim the Greek. Some even agree to more specific provisions. So, one of them says: “It is clear that the personality of Savonarola made a deep impression on Maxim and, of course, had a great influence on the formation of his character: and in Maxim we see the same zeal for faith and the same courage in exposing vices, which he was surprised at in Savonarola” 1. But in further research, some kind of complete misunderstanding begins. The fact is that the points just made are completely ignored, and we do not even have attempts to understand Maxim’s personality outside the narrow framework of Russian reality of that time. After moving him across the Russian border, researchers already see in Maxim only a typical figure of our 16th century. Hence a number of their own perplexities. To be consistent, we will refer, to the extent possible, to primary sources. To do this, we will listen to the testimony of Maxim himself. Let us turn to what he told: “A terrible and memorable story.” “Florence, says Maxim, is the most beautiful and kindest city in Italy, which I myself have seen; in that city there is a monastery of Mnichs, the fatherland of the predicators that are spoken in Latin, who are the preachers of God; the church of this sacred monastery of the most holy apostle and evangelist Mark received a spectator and a representative. In this monastery, the abbot was a certain sacred monk, Jerome by title, Latin in both birth and teaching, full of all wisdom and intelligence, inspired scriptures and external punishment, that is, philosophy, a noble ascetic and quite adorned with divine zeal; This one, full of intelligence from the inspired scriptures and pained by divine zeal, having realized that this city was most enslaved by two abominable sins, that is, by the abominable sodomite lawlessness and godless covetousness and inhuman cruelty, was kindled by the zeal of God, advising the good and godly, that is, with a teaching word, a hedgehog from the divine scriptures, to help this city and destroy this wickedness from it to the end and, having advised this, the people of God began to teach in the church all kinds of wise teachings and book explanations in the church of St. Mark the Evangelist, who was often gathered to him by many listeners, a noble and righteous inhabitant of that city, and became beloved of the whole city; Having prayed for him in that very cathedral church, I came to teach them God’s word and law, and he loved their advice and will, with zeal he took up the same feat according to God: on all weeks and special holidays and on all the days of the Holy Pentecost, gathering in the cathedral church, offering them a teaching word from the high seat, standing for two hours, there is always extending the teaching many times, and as much as possible the word, as the greater part of the city, love the strong and saving teaching of it, to retreat completely from each of its many-time malice and wickedness and to love instead of all fornication and adultery and carnal uncleanness, all chastity and purity, but to see the unrighteous covetous and unmerciful abiy the most righteous and was merciful and a lover of mankind, and by some from the sitsev imitating the chief publican Zacchaeus, who in the gospel, evil and unrighteously collected the wealth that was wasted by them, squandering good things in need by the hands of his teacher, and not, all according to the series of corrections of his word, I chill those who read the writings of Sia, multiplying the city that was corrupted from all their wickedness into every form of praiseworthy virtue. There is only one correction that is commendable, done by a single wretched wife, and by a lover of virtue, from which they can understand the power of the God-inspired teachings of her husband. The son of this wretched widow found on the streets a purse of Kamchatka, in which there were five hundred pieces of gold, and took it to his mother, and she, seeing it, did not rejoice at this, as if she wanted to overcome her last misery with such an acquisition, she hid it with herself, but she took it to the sacred teacher of the city and said: “Behold, most reverend father and teacher, see this money - if you find my son cast out on the streets, take it and, as your reverence knows, let him find the one who lost it and give him what is his, so that an inconsolable person will not grieve about this." And the teacher, surprised by the truth-loving spirit of the widow and, having blessed her, let her go. One day he was teaching in church, according to At the end of the teaching, cry out: “If anyone has destroyed property, let him stand in the middle, and let him say the amount of the property destroyed and the quality of the money, and let him say the day until he destroyed the property, and take back his own.” And having destroyed the property, he told the teacher the day, the date, and the image of the money: “Behold, your speech, about the young man, and this wretched widow, as you willed, comforted him, since he delivered you much, but you had her, sorrow.” The one who took 100 pieces of gold gave it to her with all joy. How much more praiseworthy is this widow than those praised in the Gospel for the sake of two mites, she cast them into the gift of God, since she showed her love of God in her own and little ones, and she showed her love of truth and humanity in strangers and many. The Imam and another certain sitseva is worthy of remembrance of the correction of this godly teaching to tell you, but let it not be the satiety of this scripture that I will consume yours, by the will of these I will pass, but now to the end of his five-year teachings I will turn my desire verbally. Because half the city is good, as God pleases, corrected by him, and the other half remains not only disobeying and resisting the Divine teaching, but also being hostile to him and annoying him dishonestly and slandering him, as if to smear the block with human feces, on which the custom is to lean with your hands while standing and pouring out a stream of teaching to people, aka Spasov imitating meekness and long-suffering towards everyone, patiently enduring everything valiantly, seeking the correction of many, for this reason alone, those who are in the authorities of the church are, but do not live like apostles and do not care about the flock of the Savior Christ, as if falsely, praising them below, but without fear denouncing their sins and saying often: “If only we lived worthy of the Gospel of the Savior Christ, all the tongues of all other faiths would turn to the Lord, seeing our life as equal to the angels, and this would be great for our salvation and the enjoyment of eternal blessings, but now we live contrary to the Gospel commandments, and correct ourselves below others, we strive to lead in piety; What else can we hear from the righteous Judge except this 2: “Woe to you, hypocrites and scribes and Pharisees, for you shut the kingdom of heaven before men; Without hesitation, and even with the cruelest words of these words, despising their astonished pope and the cardinal who is about him, and their other clergy, he gave great hatred and enmity to those who hated his sacred teachings from the beginning, because he was a heretic and a blasphemer and a flatterer to the naritzah, as if he had opened his mouth against their sacred pope and all the Roman churches. When rumors about him reached Rome, the pope and the clergy that existed about him were greatly embarrassed, as they also sent their conciliar commandment to him, commanding him not to teach the people of the Lord, who would become like those who scold in the act of St. Apostle: “But let it not spread to many people; we will forbid them by rebuke, not to speak of this name to any man.” This is what they advised and this is what they commanded him, adding in their council writings, that if the rest does not cease, he will be cursed by them as a heretic; He did not exactly listen to the lawless advice, but was especially inflamed by divine jealousy and their conciliar message was unrighteous and displeasing to God, as if it did not command him not to teach the faithful in the church. And for this reason, I constantly continued to expose their iniquity, since it was so absurd for me to think, judging myself and dying for piety and God’s glory, if necessary. But even if the fire of jealousy flares up in them, even according to God, not only the possessions of acquisitions, but also the very life itself creates despise. And the Lord himself is not a false witness, saying: 3 “I longed to eat this Pascha with you,” but this is a desire to eat, as a man, death for the glory of God and his Father for human salvation. And Christ’s warmest caretaker and zealot Paul himself, saying: 4 “I desire to be allowed to be with Christ”; and again 5: “Christ is my gain to live and my death to die.” Elma, who did not cease to hate the pope and in every way cut off the teaching seat, remained the same, not listening to them and denouncing their unrighteousness, and betrayed him to death, conferring, and doing this in this way: having chosen a certain general, named Jacob 6, a green one on their advice, sending and arming him with his father’s region to overthrow him from the authority of the abbot and, having tested him, condemned him to death, even by fire, as if he were disobedient and a troublemaker and slanderer of the Apostolic Roman Church. Having come to the city of Florensky and showing his father's letters to the city's chief, he put him on trial and tormentingly tested him, and with boldness I answered against all the wickedness of the unjust tester and the judge was unable to accuse him - witnesses of lies from some of the lawless and disobedient to his teaching rose up against this reverend and innocent the executor of their city, bearing the heaviest weight of theirs and unrighteous deeds, and having obeyed the unrighteousness, they judged him, condemning him with extreme punishment, and the other two holy men, his associates, hanging him on a tree, igniting the same fire under him, burning them. This is the end of the life of these three venerable monks, and such is the retribution for their struggle, even for piety, from their most reverend Pope Alexander - then Alexander, also from Spain, who surpassed every lawbreaker in every injustice and malice. I only advised the unrighteous judges to stand, because I would have applied them with joy to the ancient defender of piety, even if I did not have Latin faith, since I knew the same zeal for the ancients, warmer for the glory of the Savior Christ and for the salvation and correction of the faithful, in the venerable ones of these foreigners, - I heard from no other, having seen them myself and in having received many times from their teachings - not exactly the same zeal for piety of the ancients that I knew in them, but also the same wisdom and intelligence and art of God-inspired scriptures and external knowledge in them and many more of them in Jerome, also for two hours, there is when he was seen standing on the teaching seat for a long time, pouring out a stream of teaching to them abundantly, not holding a book and receiving evidence from there, indicative of his words, but from the treasure of his great memory, in which all the God-wise wisdom of the art of the holy scriptures was hidden.” Reading these heartfelt words dedicated to Savonarola from distant Russia, you can’t help but feel that they are dictated by genuine sincerity, love and boundless admiration for the bright personality of the great teacher. Therefore, these lines should serve as a starting point for any researcher of Maxim’s activities. But here the question arises of how Maximus fell under the influence of the famous Florentine prophet and why this influence was so strong. To answer this, we must take a quick look at Maxim’s biography. Unfortunately, we have extremely little reliable information about his life before arriving in Russia. We have: 1) three brief news about Maxim the Greek. 2) three detailed stories about him 3) Two inscriptions at the tomb Pr. Maxim the Greek and his life, compiled by Mokhovikov. This is the information we glean from the life: it tells that Maxim from an early age loved to go to church, stood with the singers “and with his small infant mind and voice, the canonarchs and all the people looked at him and were surprised that this would happen.” When he was five years old, he began to ask his parents to give him “the Holy Scripture to study.” At first his parents dissuaded him, advised him to hesitate, but then, yielding to the requests of the youth Macarius (that was the name of Maxim in the world), they gave him “to a certain philosopher named Farzis in the land of Fressa, in the city of Parisius.” Here he stayed for 11 months and, having studied the entire “Pharisia,” was sent by the philosopher Faris to Florence to his wisest brother, the philosopher Gavras. At 9 months old, Macarius studied all science from this philosopher and went home to his parents, with whom he lived for 15 months. His parents died, and Macarius, having sold all his property and distributed it to the poor, and freed the slaves, went “to the city of Italy, and there he studied many philosophies and wisdom and went to many other cities” 7 . Although this story is extremely fantastic and equipped with incredible details, nevertheless the pattern is embroidered according to a historically correct outline. In fact, Maxim had to receive a strictly religious upbringing. Choking under the weight of Turkish despotism, the Greeks naturally had to seek consolation in religion. But this fiery and naive faith, which Maxim owed to the environment of his childhood, was soon to be subjected to a difficult test, for which Maxim was completely unprepared. This circumstance, like many other things, makes us think that Maxim arrived in Italy very young, in search of education. Here a completely opposite reality awaited him. At that time in Italy it seemed that even the very air was poisoned by the subtle poison of freethinking and skepticism. I will give a characteristic review of one of his contemporaries about the Italy of that time - the Italian Benevieni: “Injustice and sin have multiplied in Italy, he says, because this country has lost the Christian faith. People usually think that everything in the world, and especially human actions, has no other cause than blind chance. Others think that everything is controlled by the movement of celestial bodies. They deny the future life and mock religion. The wise men of this world consider faith a very ordinary subject, suitable only for women and fools. Some see in it only a ghost of human imagination... All of Italy, and especially Florence, is devoted to atheism... Even women reject the faith of Christ; all both men and women have returned to pagan customs, are engaged in the study of pagan writers, astrology and all kinds of unbelief” 8. All this was supposed to create a terrible discord in the soul of young Maxim. Ready to suffer for his faith, he at the same time felt powerless in the fight against the poison of disbelief and skepticism penetrating into his being. He felt that the soil on which he stood, the soil of faith, was disappearing from under his feet. Knowing Maxim’s naturally mystical nature, we can easily understand what mental suffering Maxim experienced. The memory of this terrible time for him remained with him forever: “The witness of all these is reliable, not as a hearer and witness only in Italy and in Longobardi, but also reported when he was there. And if God, who cared about everyone’s salvation, had not, having had mercy on me, had rather visited me with His grace and illuminated my thought with His light, then long ago I would have perished with the wickedness that exists there.” This is why we see Maxim next to Savonarola: this is where his passionate admiration for the person of Girolamo comes from, from whom at that time Maxim was not the only one who sought and found solace. Who else in Italy then, if not Savonarola, could bring him back to life - return him to his former fiery faith? Only after what has been said, the true appearance of Maxim, his passionate, restless soul and warm, flaming heart, will begin to emerge before us. And we will understand more clearly the martyr’s path that Maxim chose for himself in life. Upon Maxim's arrival in Moscow, the beginning of his activities was, as is known, quite favorable for him. But little by little the circumstances changed dramatically. Maxim’s political preaching and activities could not help but attract the attention of the then Moscow government, which pursued a narrow realpolitik, alien to any passions in the form of helping the oppressed peoples of the same faith. Maxim was placed under suspicion, and then open persecution was launched against him. It is interesting to note that the Moscow government, in order to more conveniently and easily destroy a person dangerous to it, used the same technique that was once used by Pope Alexander in relation to the hated Savonarola - Maximus was accused of heresy. This accusation fell into two periods. At first it began to hover around the name of Maxim in the conversations of the society of that time, and later, as we know, it resulted in a specific form of conciliar condemnation. Maxim the Greek, knowing full well what such an accusation was leading to, of course, could not leave it unanswered. But at first, fearing to damage the matter by being too direct, he had to act indirectly. To do this, he very cleverly entered into the fight against various heresies. So, at this time he wrote: against the Hellenes, astrologers, Mohammedans, Jews, etc., thereby indirectly proving his Orthodoxy. But when the first attempt ended in failure, a few years later he came out with his famous “Confession of Faith.” This image of Maxim’s defense against the accusations brought against him involuntarily provokes further comparisons of his “life” with the known facts of Savonarola’s biography, since any new fact that leads us away from the usual stereotyped view of Maxim’s personality and activities in Rus' will make it possible to quickly reach the truth. To do this, we will travel back to Florencia to 1497. It was at this time that Girolamo took his passionate accusations against the pope to the extreme: “What are you doing, Lord? he cried passionately, why are you delaying? Smash, smack. Free your church from these demons, from these tyrants, from these depraved prelates.” This was too much. On May 12, 1497, almost a year before the execution of the prophet, Alexander VI signed a bull excommunicating Savonarola, who was called excommunicatus et de haeresi suspectus. Savonarola responded to this this way. “Dopo la pubblicazione del breve, il Savonarola ritirato nella solitudine della sua cella profittava di quel silenzio per darsi “con attivita veramente incredibile” alla pubblicazione di nuovi trattati, primo fra tutti “il Trionfo.” This is how this wonderful work was created. Despite all that has been said, Savonarola still considered it necessary to write a small letter of justification, in which he pointed out to the pope his countless listeners, his sermons known in print to the whole world, and finally, his last work, “The Triumph of the Cross,” containing the full expression of his religious beliefs. This last work should attract our attention, and we will try to get acquainted with this famous work of Fra Girolamo. Let us take at least a cursory glance at its contents 9 . "Fratris Hieronymi Ferrariensis ord. praed. De veritate Fidei in Dominicae Crucis Triumphum." Confession of Faith (lib. I… lib. II… lib. III) Nullam religionem, praeter Christianam, veram esse. Religiones a philosophis traditas, defectuum et errorum plenas fuisse. Traditiones astrologorum penitus inutiles ac superstitiosas esse. Idolatrarum sectam omnium vanissimam esse. Iudaicae perfidiae, superstitionisque confutatio. Haereticorum omne dogma falsum ac perversum esse. Mahumetanorum sectam omni ratione carere. Christianama religionem omnino veram et stabilem esse. In this work, thus, Savonarola both directly - by “Confession of Faith” and indirectly by “reproaching heresies” - proved the purity and correctness of his faith. In addition to the “Confession of Faith,” Savonarola wrote here against the errors of philosophers, astrologers, idolaters, Jews, in general against heretics and against Mohammedans, that is, against almost all those against whom Maxim the Greek wrote and denounced in Rus', defending the purity of his faith. This coincidence of these Facts is hardly accidental. Is this not the explanation for the denunciation of that, for example, “Hellenic charm" that sounded so unnatural in the mouth of Maxim against the background of modern Russian reality? We, of course, are far from making any special conclusions, we simply did not consider it possible to ignore the facts we noticed. For us they are important, as new additional proof of the ever-present closeness of the Florentine prophet in spirit to our Maxim the Greek - important in order to finally firmly understand that the fact is that in the person of Maxim the Greek we have a figure of a complex spiritual organization - a Westerner, although perhaps a very peculiar one. In any case, the standard with which Maxim’s personality is usually approached must now be abandoned, since otherwise we will never comprehend either the true appearance of Maxim or his activities in Rus' in the 16th century. Being in distant Russia, Maxim is still as close spiritually, as we have seen, to Savonarola, whose great spirit lived in Maxim, and therefore to the West in general, as before, for which, as noted, new factual evidence is beginning to be found. Here and in the future, he obviously remains himself. This is especially reflected in his activities as a patriot and bearer of the Greek idea, in which he was helped by other Greeks who were with us, as will be revealed from further research. “Relations between the Orthodox East and the Russians, as is known, did not stop during the Mongolian period of our history; the same desire to receive more alms from the pious Russian people, which brought so many Greeks to Moscow in the 17th century, forced the latter to travel there earlier, in the 14th–16th centuries. Moscow had more frequent relations with St. Mount Athos, from where St. Maxim Greek” 10 So in August 1496 (7004) in Moscow there were "an abbot and three elders from the Holy Mountain, from the monastery of St. Panteleimon, for alms. And the great prince granted them, gave them alms, and sent alms to other monasteries of the Holy Mountain with them and sent them away with the same ambassador together [Voloshsky]; since from ancient times that monastery of St. Panteleimon in the Holy Mountain "the building of the first Russian princes" 11 In November 1507 (7015) the elders came from the same Panteleimon monastery "for alms, the deacon Pachomie and the monk Yakov; and the Great Prince Vasily Ivanovich established them with alms and released them from Moscow in the month of May 9. 12 In January 1509 - June, the elders from the same place were in Moscow: Vasily, Simeon, and Yakov 13. At the end of 1514 and the beginning of 1515, the laurels of St. Athanasius were in Moscow, the elder Melentius and from Vatopedi the elder Niphon the confessor with letters” 14 In the same 1515, in the month of March, these elders went from Moscow together with the Turkish ambassador who was with us, and our ambassador to Sultan V.A. Korobov; "and in St. Mount Athos the great prince sent Vasily Kopyl Spyachy and Ivan Varavin with alms 15. With Kopyl and Varavin, in addition to the letter in which it was written about sending alms to Athos and asking for prayers 16, a special letter was sent to the Athos protate, in which the great prince asked to send Elder Savva from the Vatopedi monastery - “a book translator for a while.” 17 Korobov was sent to Tsar-grad to the Sultan for purely political purposes: for negotiations with by the Turkish government about trade relations, Crimean affairs and a general alliance with the Crimeans. He returned to Moscow in March 1516 (7024). But Kopyl and Varavin were not with him. They returned to Russia only three years after their departure from it and two years after Korobov’s arrival in it: “Vasily Kopyl from the Tsar City went to the holy mountain. Athos from the Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich of All Rus' with alms, and Varavin remained in Constantinople for the Grand Duke’s needs” 18. Thus, Kopyl and Varavin’s stay abroad was greatly prolonged. Moreover, the matter of calling a “book translator” was not going well. Hegumen of the Vatopedi monastery Anfim, notifying in letter 19 to Metropolitan Varlaam about the coming to them of Vasily Kopyl and the receipt of alms, wrote that Kopyl “also inform us about the holy and spiritual father, Mr. Sav, if he wants to work for Russia, some for the sake of things that are necessary for that land; the elder, having been for many years, weak in his legs, was unable to fulfill the commands of the most faithful great prince and your great holiness, for which we ask forgiveness." In a letter to the great prince, the same Anthimus wrote 20: "ask the most honest confessor and holy monk Savva for the punishment of your kingdom and by order the all-holy Metropolitan, Mr. Varlaam; for the spiritual father, the holy monk, Mr. Sava, cannot come to your kingdom through old age and illness.” - “Our most reverend father, so that the request of the Grand Duke would not remain idle and endless, chose instead of the elder Savva, our most honest brother Maxim, who was from the sacred monastery of Vatopedi, who was skillful in divine writing and suitable for the telling of all kinds of books: both church and holy books of Elin, even from his youth youth at this age and thus seemed more virtuous, and not like someone else, but only revered by many. We send him with our will and desire [but the language is not Russian, perhaps Greek and Latin; We hope that the greyhound will also become proficient in the Russian language], and you will accept him; with him and the most honorable priest, Mr. Neophytos, confessor, and the third brother, named Lawrence. We, therefore, with the help of them and others like us, most honestly beat with our foreheads the most honorable Grand Duke and the majesty of your holiness. May the Lord God grant that we too will see the reward that we wish to see, even if we send our healthy brethren back to us, with them we hope to receive a gift of gratitude from the Grand Duke through your deeds and haste, which our brethren will bring with their lips to your great holiness, to whom we again beat many times with our foreheads 21 . We must admit, however, that we have extremely scanty information about Maxim’s summons to Russia. Thus, based on the most careful study of the diplomatic correspondence of that time, I was able to add to everything already said only a few fragmentary news: “summer. 7025 (1517) May 30th. His Cossack Temesh Kadyshev and his Comrades came to the Grand Duke from the Crimea, and his man Kachim came with Temesh from Akhmat from the Tsarevich. And Temesh brought a letter to the Grand Duke from Vasily from Shadrin and from Ilya from Chelishchev, and Temesh told the Grand Duke that Kudoyar Murza Ivachev was coming to him from Megmed-Girey Tsar." In the brought letter there is news about Kopyl and Varavin: "and here, Sovereign, by God's mercy and your State health Kopyl and Varavin went out to Kafa in good health and with his comrades. And Kopyl sent to us, Sovereign, Okinfov is called Bulgak from Volodymer, and with them was, Sovereign, a clerk in your order. And, Sovereign, then Bulgak went to you, to the Sovereign, with Prince Kudoyar and with your Cossack with Temish and Kadyshev, and they say, Sovereign, with news from overseas that Salim Bek sent Sipan Pasha, and the Kizyl-Bash governors beat Sipan Pasha at their turn. And when the Sovereign, Salim-bek heard that the governor had beaten him, and Salim-bek, the Sovereign, himself went against Kizilbash. And they say, Sovereign, that Salim-bek stands with all his strength on his line, and with Misyur, Sovereign, Salim-bek is fighting. And the Misyur outpost stood, Sovereign, in the cold, and the Sovereign, the Salim-bey outpost came, and the matter between them, Sovereign, was with them. And the Misyur, Sovereign, outpost of the Salim-bek people was beaten, and with the Ugric, Sovereign, Salim-bek took a truce for two years." 22. Another letter sent by the same persons says, "Yes, here, Sovereign, by God's mercy and your State health, Kopyl and Varavin came out to Kafa in good health and with him, Sovereign, the Metropolitan came out, yes and other monks with him, but in addition, Sovereign, we don’t know how many monks are with him.” 23 From two other places it is possible to determine the time of Kopyl’s stay on Mount Athos. It turns out he stayed here for about six months. So, in the letter of Ivan Mamonov, sent from Crimea, after his death, it says: “Yes, here, Sovereign, Varavin sent me a letter from the Tsar-City, and it just says: here we need to live. But they took the tamga against us, and they want to take another, and what’s more, Sovereign, nothing is written in it. And about the Tursky, Sovereign, about the ambassador to you, to the Sovereign, the ear will sing, and the Toursky, Sovereign, will fall with Kizylbash this summer, and he himself will be in Yadren-Pole by the Tursky, and Kopyl spent the winter with him in Yadren, and went to the Holy Mountain before the great day, and the Tursky gave him two Chegush. Yes, Kopyl has never been from here yet.” 24 This was in 1517. In February 1518, Maxim the Greek with Kopyl and Varavin were already traveling from Crimea to Moscow. We read about this in the letter of the Moscow ambassador, returning from the Crimea, Vasily Shadrin: “Yes, Sovereign, Kopyl and Varavin are with me, and with them the Sovereign, the Metropolitan himself is coming from the patriarch from the Tsar-City, and from your, Sovereign, monastery, Sava, the pro-abbot, is coming from St. Panteleimon, and from Vartopet, Sovereign, he’s coming to you, Sovereign, Maxim the elder himself is the third, and merchants, Sovereign, people are coming with me with Charyg Zatregub, a Cafinian. Yes, by the mercy of God and your State health, we reached Sula, God willing, I’ll say hello. And you, Sovereign, released your Cossack Bai-Kulu Olferov and Appakov’s man Milk-Omon to you, to the Sovereign.” 25 On March 4th of the same year, 1518, Maxim was already in Moscow: “he came to the Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich of all Rus' from Tsar-Grad, from the Ecumenical Patriarch Theoliptus, Metropolitan Gregory the Greek from the city of Zhikhna, Tsaregrad region; Yes, together with him the elders came from the Holy Mount Athos to the Great Prince Sovereign and to the High Hierarch Barlaam, Metropolitan of All Rus', to beat the Great Sovereign about poverty, for the sake of alms; from the Annunciation of the Most Pure Mother of God from the Vatopedi monastery, three elders: Maxim the Greek, and Neophyta the Greek monk, and Lavrentey the Bulgarian; and from the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon from the Russian monastery of Sava, the eminent abbot." "And before those elders, a year before, from the fourty-forty martyr from the Xiropotamus Monastery, Isaias the Hieromonk Serbin; and with the Metropolitan came the Patriarchal Deacon Diniseus the Greek. The Great Prince Vasily Ivanovich of All Rus' feasted on the Metropolitan Gregory and the elders of St. Mount Athos with great honor and ordered them to stay in the monasteries of St. Archangel Michael is honest and glorious for his miracles, feeding them and satisfying them with all the needs from his royal meal; Likewise, High Hierarch Varlaam of All Rus' showed great love and honor to Gregory, Metropolitan of the city of Zhikhna and to the elders of the Holy Mountain, and called to himself and often talked with them about divine spiritual words [P. S.R.L. t. VIII p. 263, t. VI p. 261. Nikon Chronicle, part VI, p. 212]. The cordial and benevolent attitude towards Maxim the Greek on the part of both secular and spiritual authorities lasted a relatively short time. It gave way first to suspicion, as we said above, and then to open persecution. This change in attitude was caused by Maxim's political activities, which the Russian people wanted, and could not understand, much less sympathize with. As is known, a certain charge was brought against Maxim the Greek for unkind actions towards the Russian state. This aspect of Maxim’s activities in Russia has remained poorly illuminated until now. Being interested in Maxim’s political activities, I had the following question in mind in my work. Maxim the Greek, defending the interests of his beloved Greece in Russia, acted alone, at his own peril and risk, carried away by his passionate nature, or was there some general plan of action for the Greeks. and Maxim was only his executor among others?” As for Maxim himself, he acted quite consciously and definitely. Here's what one researcher says about this: “We see that when Maxim made a profit in Russia, he began to encourage leading. the prince to overthrow the Turkish yoke that weighed on Greece. In one of his essays he spoke. to the prince: “May we never reign from the wicked work, freed by you, everything is possible and conveniently accomplished by all Vdadyce, and as in ancient times, from the lower Gauls raising the great Constantine as king, ancient Rome, evilly cold, deliver from the wicked Maxentius to Sitsa and now New Rome, gravely worried from the godless Hagarians, may the most pious power of your kingdom deign to free and from your fathers the throne of the heir show and may the world give freedom to us who are poor by you by His mercy and bounty." 26. It should be noted that Maxim the Greek systematically pursued the idea of ​​the liberation of Greece in Russia. Thus, his words against the Mohammedan religion gave him a convenient reason to present the disasters to which the Greeks were subjected under the rule of the Turks, and the oppression of the church, which he thought would act on the religious feeling of the Russians. He wanted to encourage the great prince to liberate Greece with the promise that “God will show the Greeks his successor’s throne.” He said that deeds for the glory of God also include “opposition to those who strive to destroy the divine faith.” And when his efforts failed, he denounced the Russians for the fact that they “only seek their own, and not those from above,” and reproached them for the fact that there is not a single care for the church, “tormented by the Ishmaelites.” 27 It was under the influence of unfulfilled hopes that he wrote “A Word to the Faithful,” in which he already expresses the complete futility of his work: “Good is and saves us, Maxim says in it, and it is pleasing to the Most High, who has rejected us from our thoughts of all weaknesses, soul-destroying despair, and especially the vain hopes that seduce us, like packing tea, as before, royal power in Constantine City, we must arise from the many years of sleep of our great anarchy and neglect, obeying the preacher who says: “Brethren, in all wisdom go to those who are outside, time is a purchaser, the present days are evil” (Eph. 5:15). The prince and in the very disasters of Greece saw omens of the last times 28. From the fact that Maxim constantly turned to the leader. The prince can see in what way he conducted his business, the efforts of which he, of course, showed not only in his writings “29. They told Maxim at the council, accusing him: “But you, Maxim, told many here in Moscow: the Grand Duke and the Metropolitan are praised for many years and heretics are cursed, they do nothing according to the scriptures or according to the rules (but the Patriarch is not commemorated), and the Metropolitan is appointed by his bishops in Moscow, and not in Tsar-Grad from the Patriarch. At the council of 1531, Maxim himself said: “I inquired why Russian metropolitans were not installed as before and according to the old custom in Constantinople, and I was told that the Patriarch of Constantinople gave a blessed letter to the Russian metropolitans to be appointed bishops, and I tried a lot to see this letter, but still have not seen it.” Thus, Maxim is a clear bearer and expression of the Greek idea in Rus'. Knowing Maxim well, we, of course, will not be at all surprised by this. We will therefore focus on something else: the real side of the matter. After all, one in the field is not a warrior. This is exactly how the church historian, Professor Golubinsky imagines the state of affairs when studying the activities of Maxim in Russia. Citing the accusation brought against Maxim at the council, which stated that “Maxim and his accomplice Savva (Archimandrite Novospassky, who was also a Greek by birth) instead of good, intended and planned evil for the Grand Duke: they sent letters to the Turkish pashas and to the Turkish Sultan himself, raising the Sultan against the Sovereign; Yes, they said: “The Grand Duke is waging a war against Kazan, but he will not have to own it, because for the Turkish Sultan it will be a shame to endure this.” 30 - he notes “The accusation against Maxim and Savva, that they sent letters to the Turkish pashas and to the Sultan himself, raising the Sultan against the Grand Duke, not only represents a “pendant” to the accusation of Maxim heresies, but something even more amazing and perfect in its own way. Two Greek monks living in Moscow are starting a business to incite the latter to war against the Grand Duke through their letters to the pashas and the sultan. Does this look like anything at all probable? And why would the monks want to arouse the Sultan to war?” To this we, firstly, note that the direct interest of the Greeks could have prompted them to do this - to find enemies for the Sultan, in order to thereby quickly achieve the fulfillment of their cherished dream: the liberation of Greece from the Turkish yoke. Secondly, we will try to investigate whether Maxim really acted, upon arrival in Russia, as a friend only. The same Golubinsky comes to the conclusion that the Greeks who lived in Russia before Maxim acted in the same direction. “Not very long before Maxim’s arrival in Russia,” he says, some Greeks who remained with the Grand Duke after his mother Sophia Fominichna made the discovery that the Slavic liturgical books were full of heretical errors, which discovery was brought to the attention of the Sovereign. Vasily Ivanovich could not at all admit the idea that our books were filled with heretical errors, for, firstly, in his opinion, like all Russians of that time, it would be necessary in this case to admit that our miracle workers who used these books are not miracle workers; secondly, then the opinion that while ancient Orthodoxy was damaged among the later Greeks, it is preserved in all its purity among us - Russians, turned into a solid church-political dogma: while, with the assumption of the idea that there are heretical errors in our books, it would be necessary to abandon this dogma. The consequence of this was that the aforementioned Greeks, who made their discovery and reported it to the Grand Duke, attracted the latter’s extreme anger.”31 Golubinsky gleaned this information from Herberstein. Let's turn to this last one. “We heard,” he says, in Muscovy, that at the request of the Prince of Moscow himself, the Patriarch of Constantinople sent one monk, named Maximilian - (Maxim), so that, after a sound discussion, he would put in order all the books, rules and separate decrees relating to the faith. Having done this and noticing many very important misconceptions, Maximilian (Maxim) announced to the prince that he was a complete schismatic, because he did not follow either the Greek or Roman rites. They say that he disappeared a short time after he expressed this, and, according to many, was drowned, although the prince showed him the greatest favor. They say that three years before our stay in Muscovy, Mark, a Greek merchant from Kafa, said the same thing, and although the Turkish ambassador vigorously interceded for him, he was also captured and sentenced to death. The Greek George, nicknamed Small, treasurer, chancellor and high adviser to the prince, was immediately removed from all posts and fell into disgrace because he favored this cause and defended it. But since the prince could not do without George, he was again accepted into favor - only he was given a different position. He was an unusually learned man and skilled in many matters; he arrived in Muscovy with his mother. prince The prince respected him so much that, calling him one day during his illness, he ordered several of his most noble advisers to put him in a cart and bring him to the palace. But when they brought him to the palace, he did not allow himself to be carried up such a high staircase; He was thrown out of the cart, and he began to little by little climb up to the prince. The prince, accidentally seeing him, began to get very angry and ordered him to be brought to him on a stretcher. Finally, after consulting with him and finishing the matter, he ordered him to be carried down the stairs on a stretcher and then always carried up and down” 32. As for Mark the Greek, his fate, according to official documents, is completely identical with the fate of Maxim: he was also not released from Russia. We will only cite the embassy memory given about him to Ivan Semenov 33 . “Yes, in memory of Ivan. Saltan should ask him something, or someone will ask him from Saltan: “I wrote a letter to the Grand Duke about Mark, about the doctor, so that he would be released to me. And why didn’t the Great Prince let him go to me?” And say to Ivan: “Marco, Lord, came to our Sovereign a long time ago, but he came under your father, and served our Sovereign with his forehead. Yes, and he beat his forehead about this, so that our Sovereign ordered your father about his wife, so that your father let Markova’s wife go to him. And our Sovereign ordered his wife to your father with his boyar son Boris and Golokhvastvy, so that he would let his wife go to him. And your father Salim Shah Saltan wanted to let his wife Markova go. And now in Veliky Novgorod the boyar of our Sovereign, Prince Alexander Volodimerovich, is sick. And our Sovereign sent his boyar to treat him.” And if they don’t say anything to Ivan about it, don’t say anything to Ivan.” We must stop at another name: “George the Small” or “Yurya the Small” of our acts, since he enjoyed great influence at the court. princes of Vasily. In the so-called velvet book we find the following about its origin (1 II. chapter 43 no. 288). Family of Trahapiotopes: “In the summer of 6981 (1473) Dmitry and Yuri, Manuil’s children, Greeks, came to the Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich of All Rus' with Princess Sophia, Fomina’s daughter of the despot of the Amores, and they were in Zamorea with the despot boyar. And the great prince granted them favor and ordered them to serve himself. And with Dmitry his son Yuri came, and Dmitry 34 was childless, and Yuri had children: “Vasilei,” etc. In 7019 (1511), Yuri Dmitrievich Maloy was appointed, among other things, treasurer, a position he held until 7021 (1513). After which he performed other positions. We saw from Herberstein’s story, that he was also a staunch bearer of the Greek idea. Having great influence at court and being close to embassy affairs, “Yurya” naturally had to become the main defender of Greek interests in Russia. This is how it really was, and this is how foreign Greeks looked at him. We have an interesting document in this regard: Arch. M.I.D. In 1514, an ambassador was sent to Vasily from the Turkish Sultan along with the ambassador of the Grand Duke Mikhail Alekseev - Kamal, Prince of Mangup. originally Greek. For various reasons they were forced to stop on the road. Therefore, messengers were sent ahead. From Kamal, his nephew Manuylo the Greek was sent, whom Kamal directly entrusted to the patronage of Yuri, asking for his assistance. In the article list we read: “And Manuylo the Greek brought a letter to the Grand Duke from Kamal the prince, and brought another letter from Kamal to Yury to the Small, and both in Greek writing. And Yuri himself translated those letters." Here is the translation of the letter to Yuri: "And this is a letter from Kamala to Yuri: "To the most honest and most reasonable noble and worthy of all honor and praise. Worthy of my lord and brother, Mr. Georgiy Trahapiot, from me, Kamala, once called Theodorn, I rejoice in your state. I am writing to the state to yours. Yes, know that they are coming from your Sovereign to the Great and Most High Sovereign of Moscow of All Rus' and others, and you sent your nephew Manuel with my humble writing to your dominion: and as he pleased you, let him be brought to the worship of the Most High Sovereign, and so you will teach him how it is more suitable and no matter how disgraceful it is for us; He is also still young and has nothing to do with the sovereign’s rank, except for your hope; In the same way, let us work hard in every possible way for the Sovereign, may he deliver us from emptiness and from the hands of the enemy’s souls, except for our breath, and all our strength has come out in small and large quantities, once I accepted the pen to write, and something in the writing will be impolite, let us not have condemnation, since your hope is not otherwise, only the Lord will grant us to find together. April 15, Saturday". We do not know how correct the translation of the letter is. But regarding this Manuel, Mikhail Alekseev warned the Grand Duke: “And do not open the doors to him, Sovereign, but to David, a two-minded man: the ear and eye of Kamalovo." Speaking about Yuri Dmitrievich, the church historian Golubinsky was misled about the year of his death. Based on the testimony of Viliofika Novikov (XX volume), he places the year of his death at 1513 (7021). Indeed, under this year it says: "The okolnichy and the butler, Prince Peter Vasilyevich the Great, and the treasurer Yuri Dmitrievich Maloy Trakhaniot died." But I managed to figure it all out. First, I had to correct the old Russian translation of the corresponding passage from Herberstein, which erroneously spoke of Yuri's disgrace, based on absolutely nothing, "in the third year after our stay in Muscovy," etc. In fact, it should be translated: “three years before our stay" 35. Herberstein was in Russia for the first time in 1517. If we subtract three years, we get exactly: 1514–1513. If we remember from Herberstein’s story that Yuri’s disgrace was accompanied by a change of position, then everything will become clear to us. Obviously, the compiler of the manuscript, no longer seeing Yuri’s name in the treasurers, considered him dead. Having come to this conclusion, I tried to check it on the basis of the embassy article lists of the M.I.D. Archive. In this way, I managed to find that Yuri Maloy was alive back in 1522. So, in relations with the German order, we read under the year 1520: “On July 5th, the Great Prince ordered the master's man Yuri to be in the government courtyard of the boyars, and ordered him to answer against the master's letters: Yuri the Small, and the Lesser, and Trufan. And this is the answer that Yuri, the master's man, Yuri Malaya and the clerks spoke." In the article lists of relations with Turkey, we read under the year 1522, at the meeting of Ambassador Skindoy, "other speeches and about the stern a note was written to Fedor by the treasurer Yuri Malaya and his comrades." This is where my information about Yuri ends for now. But still, there is a fair difference from 1513, when the manuscript of Vivliofika buried him. Thus, during all this time, both Maxim the Greek and the Greek Skinder, who visited us several times as the Turkish ambassador, had in Yuri a strong patron and like-minded person. We have already seen that the activities of the Greek patriots not only did not find a response among us, but also met with the most furious condemnation. However, this was quite natural. While the Greeks called on our ancestors to free them from the Turkish yoke they hated, which, of course, was possible only after the war with Turkey, - at the same time, the real political conditions in which the Russians found themselves forced them to use every possible effort to conclude a strong alliance with the Sultan, with the help of which they could protect themselves from the Mohammedan peoples surrounding them, and especially from the “enemy of their heart,” the Crimean khan; however, it would be beneficial to have such an impressive ally, and for threats against Western neighbors. As for concluding an alliance, at first this business promised to be successful. So Selim I, to whom Vasily approached with a proposal for an alliance, at first agreed to it. The answer to his already mentioned ambassador Kamal says: “And Salim-Shag-Saltan wrote to us in his letter that he wants to be with us in friendship and in brotherhood and in love and with our enemies he wants to be at one with you.... Our Sovereign ordered you to say: “And we with Salim-Shah-Saltan in friendship and in brotherhood and in love we want to be our friend’s friend, and we want to be our enemy’s friend, and against all his enemies we want to be at one with him "... Bearing in mind the practical benefits of the alliance, Moscow diplomats, complaining about the raids of the Crimeans, declare to the Sultan's ambassador: "And Salim-step Saltan would now show us his first friendship, so that as our enemy he would fix the mess "... Indeed, at first the Sultan took certain steps in this direction. But then his modus operandi turned hostile towards Russia. The cause of the union thus collapsed. The question inevitably arises as to how this could happen. If we turn to the Moscow people of that time, we hear: “The Greeks raised the Sultan to the Russian state.” Let's try to verify this accusation by asking ourselves whether this was possible on the part of the Greeks. We have already seen that of the Greeks who were in Russia, Yuri Maloy Dmitrievich stood close to embassy affairs, taking an active part in Russia’s relations with foreign states, and in particular with Turkey. During Yuri’s lifetime, probably, Maxim’s friend Savva and Maxim himself gained access to this case. In the well-known inventory of the royal archive we read: “A casket of oak trees 61. And in it are letters of Greek ambassadorship, taken from Sava, the archimandrite of the former Spassky.” There is also news about Maxim: “box 26... and the list from the charter that the former Sovereigns of the land gave to the Holy Mountain was copied from Maxim from the Greek.” Moving on to Constantinople, here too we meet Greeks who are close to embassy affairs: of such persons we know: the clerk and treasurer of the Sultan and his son-in-law named Abessalom, who, it seems, was a Greek; his closest assistant, and subsequently his deputy, is directly called Andreyapnm the Greek. Next, we must take into account the influence of the entire Greek colony in Tsar-Grad. As for the Turkish ambassadors during the reign of Vasily, it turns out from their Form that both ambassadors came from the family of the Mangup princes: therefore, both were Greeks by birth and one can even assume that they were related to each other in some way. It is known about the Mangup principality that it existed independently until 1475, that is, before the Turks entered here. From the notes of Bronevsky, who visited Mangup in 1578, it is clear that the last princes of Mangup were Greeks. Of the Mangup princes, two are known in our history; persons: Isaiko and Konstantin. The first offered his daughter as a bride to his son. book Ivan in 1474. The second accompanied Sophia Fominishna to Russia in 1473 and, having accepted monastic orders, is honored by our church under the name of saint. blogover. book Konstantin Mangup. Thus we see that our diplomatic relations with Turkey were in the hands of the Greeks. It is therefore no wonder that they tried to upset our alliance with Turkey, both under Selim and under his son Suleiman, nicknamed “The Magnificent”. This was greatly facilitated by the Greeks who came to us as ambassadors. The second Ambassador Skinder is especially famous in this regard: we saw that our diplomats understood this very well. They tried to fight it; demanded a change in Skinder. But the Greek party, obviously, was very strong: the response to this demand was repeated sendings of the same Skinder, who played an exceptional role in the failure of the idea of ​​​​the union, which was finally confirmed after his death in Moscow in 1529. This was all the more unpleasant for our diplomats of that time because they were approaching the solution of pressing problems then facing the Muscovite kingdom. They primarily focused their efforts on studying their enemies and allies. Using a widespread system of bribery, they managed to tear the veil off the Mohammedan south, which was threatening with its unexpected attacks. The Tatar nobles and Turkish officials of Azov and Kafa "for the wake" diligently served the "Great Sovereign Vasily" and reported everything that Moscow needed and what the Dilomats were interested in - and their interests grew and expanded. They wanted to work with a comprehensive knowledge of the state of affairs on the political horizon of that time. They are constantly asking whether the Sultan took Rhodes. They are interested in Turkey's relations with “Misyuri”, “Kizilbash” and “Ugric” king; they demand information about the state of affairs near the "White City" and under the "Yadreny - Field", they want to know everything that is happening in the Crimea, Astrakhan and Nagai. Here are two letters to the Turkish rulers of Azov: “Brother, our Sulemen Saltanov owes his debts to Burgan ag Azov. What kind of news will be in Azov - and you would serve us: you wouldn’t keep us in the dark about the news. And if you hear something about our enemy about the Crimean: something the Crimean wants to go to our Ukraine - and you would serve us: if you wouldn’t keep us in the dark about this. And we want to pay you for your service. And now I have sent you my salary with my ambassador Ivan Semyonovich. Written in Moscow. Summer "Evil April". “And this is the letter sent to Magmed Bekekul of Azov with Vasil(i)em and Verkhderevsky. And the states are written in cruise. “Great Sovereign Vasily, by the grace of God, the only right Sovereign of all Russia and many other lands of the eastern and northern Sovereign and Leading Prince (s), Volodymyr, Moscow, Nogorod, Pskov, Smolensk, Tferes, Ugra, Perm, Vyatsky, Bulgarian and others. Our brother (o) Sulemen Saltanovu sluza Magmed bekkul Azovsky. That you serve us and don’t keep us without news. – you do it much differently. And we, God willing, want to reward you for your service. And you would continue to serve us. And what kind of news will you have, and you would write to us about the news. And if you didn’t keep us missing the news. And now I have sent you my salary with my ambassador, Ivan Semyonovich and Morozov.” (ll. 254–254 vol.) 36. Of course, all this was done under the veil of the strictest secrecy. Thus, the same Morozov was given strict orders to hide these relations from the Turkish ambassador Skinder, with whom he was traveling to the Sultan. In memory of Ivan Semenov. “X to whom the Great Prince sent his funeral with him to Azov and a letter to Burgan of Azov and to Magmet Bekkul, - and to Ivan that letter and funeral || give to Burgan and Magmetya secretly, so that Skinder does not know. Yes, and give a word to Ivan to Burgan and Magmet, so that the Grand Duke will be served directly. Yes, what would be the news, and they wouldn’t keep the Great Prince uninformed about everything. And the Great Prince wants to pay them forward. And take care of Ivan so that he (o) Skinder (s) does not know that the Great Prince (s) is sending letters and commemorations to Burgan.” (ll. 251 vol. – 252). Here are samples of reports from executive Turkish administrators. “And the Crimean, Sovereign Tsar, has nothing to begin with, but hopes. The Sovereign, the Crimean Tsar against the Ottoman Tsar, is different, the Sovereign, and the Ottoman cannot help him: he himself fights for love, but the land, the Sovereign, gave it to her... (ll. 263 vol. - 264). “And now, Sovereign, your brother, Sulemen the Tsar (s) has installed Saidet Girey Saltan in the kingdom. And our Sovereign said: “I will humble you with my brother, with the Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich.” But he didn’t tell him to release the Cossack to your Ukraine. Who will not listen to the new King Said Girey, - ordered the brother || yours, Sulemen the King, pierce and plaster. And our Sovereign sent from Tsar-Grad twenty (s) thousand cavalry and five (s) hundred squeaks to take care of the new Tsar until he strengthens. Under some of these Turkish “well-wishers,” there were almost special Moscow diplomatic offices, which, for example, is revealed from one letter to the Grand Duke of such an Azov servant. “And here is another letter from Magmet Bekkul of Azov with Fedko and Kamenev: “To the Sovereign, Grand Duke Vasil Ivanovich of All Russia, the White Tsar, your servant Magamet Bekkul of Azov from Azov strikes low with his brow. May you, Sovereign, have mercy on me and grant me favor as your slave. Here you are, Sovereign, with whom you did the Sovereign business, - the boundaries, Sovereign, we have never been third. And that, Sovereign, man left me, your servant. I went, Sovereign, to Moscow with your commander, Vasily and Verkhederevsky. His name is Sovereign, in Azov Grishka is a white diak. And you, Sovereign, would have mercy on your slave and grant him mercy: then, Sovereign, you would have sent a deacon to me to Azov. Well, Sovereign, I’ll screw him up by sharing that he doesn’t know Turkish well. Sometimes, Sovereign, you will call a deacon for your business on the Sovereign's behalf; otherwise, Sovereign, you will need an interpreter. With this, O Lord, I did your deeds one on one, day and night. Or how he gets it, I’ll tell him your business || Sovereign, and he wrote to me, let him bring it, and I, your servant, will attach my target and send it to you, to the Sovereign. || Leta ҂злв. March 25. (ll. 264 vol. – 265). In order for the necessary news to quickly and accurately reach its destination, at all important points there were constantly “stanitas” of Ukrainians - Ryazan and other Cossacks, who, scattered across the steppe, usually managed to sneak past the enemy “forces” to the Moscow Ukrainians. To replenish these “stanitsa” they took advantage of every opportunity. So, ten such “stanitsa” were sent with the ambassador to Turkey Ivan Semenov Morozov. “Yes, the Cossacks of ten villages were sent with Ivan, and a list was given to Ivan by name and where to leave them. And Ivan should leave those Cossacks in Azov according to the list || four villages. And to Kafa he should take those Cossacks with him to four villages and leave them in Kafa. And he should take two Cossacks with him to the Tsar-City (ll. 244–244v.). Having weighed all the data of the political situation, our diplomats developed and tried to implement the following plan: The Moscow state enters into an alliance with Typia, which promises brilliant prospects when implemented. The Turkish Sultan, as an ally, keeps his vassal, the Crimean Khan, from raiding the Ukraine of “his brother” of Moscow, the Grand Duke. And since the Crimean Khan could not exist with his horde without raiding foreign lands, Moscow diplomats, anticipating this, prudently pointed him to Lithuania, which they gave him “to be poured out and plundered,” and they were not averse to helping the Turks and Crimeans in this matter. These are the benefits that an alliance with the Turks gave Moscow. It is clear now why, in the eyes of the Moscow people, anyone who dared to stand in the way of the fulfillment of these aspirations and hopes became their worst enemy, as happened with all the Greek patriots in Rus'. In the embassy “memory” given to Ivan Morozov, they spoke about an alliance with the Turkish Sultan. “And now Saltan will want to be in friendship and brotherhood with our Sovereign, and Saltan would now send to our Sovereign with me his good || a person who would have done the wrong thing, and Saltan would have punished him about how Saltan should be with our Sovereign in friendship and brotherhood and be at one with enemies, and what letters would be appropriate between their being about friendship and brotherhood. And our Sovereign, having sentenced him accordingly, orders letters to be written, which letters are useful among them about friendship and brotherhood, and he will send his ambassador to Saltan with his ambassador.” Yes, talk about it according to the Prince’s order. And they will say something: “Saltan sent his letter to the Grand Duke with his ambassador with Skinder and with his man with the Tretyakov he sent a letter - otherwise what other letters could there be between your Sovereign and your Sovereign?” And they say to Ivan: “Saltan and Skinder sent a letter to our Sovereign, and from the Sovereign a man with Tretyakov sent a letter. And Saltan wrote in those letters that he wanted to be in friendship and brotherhood with our Sovereign. But there are no fortresses in those letters, how the Sovereigns should be in friendship and brotherhood and be at one with their enemies. And in the charters in sherts they write how the Sovereigns can be in friendship and brotherhood among themselves and how they can be at one with their enemies. Yes, the Sovereign’s seals live with those charters. And the truth between Sovereigns is that letters of friendship and brotherhood are approved.” Yes, talk about it according to the Great Prince’s order. And they will say something to Ivan: “You said in a speech from your Sovereign to our Sovereign that you should be one against your enemies. Who else is not a friend of your Sovereign?” And say to Ivan: “God willing, Saltanov will be ambassador to our Sovereign, otherwise he will know who is a friend of our Sovereign and who is an enemy.” And they will learn something about this and ask Ivan, who is (are) enemies of your Sovereign, - || and say to Ivan: “You also know: Menli Giray Tsar of the Crimea was a friend to our Sovereign, and his son Magmed Giray Tsar was also a friend to our Sovereign. And now Magmed Girey the Tsar has become an enemy to our Sovereign. And there are other enemies and friends of our Sovereign. And Magmed Girey the Tsar (s) has now sent his great ambassadors to our Sovereign. And now his ambassadors are with our Sovereign. And my Sovereign let me go to Sulemen Sultan, and peace has never passed between our Sovereign and Magmed Gupei and the Tsar.” And they will say something: “Our Sovereign will be together with the Grand Duke in the Crimean and will help him in the Crimean. And our Sovereign is an enemy of Lithuania, and will the Great Prince and our Sovereign be at one with Lithuanian? "And Ivan was told: “There was no order from Saltan to our Sovereign with his ambassador. And our Sovereign to Saltan did not punish me with anything about that. And if Saltan || does something with our Sovereign in friendship and brotherhood, and our Sovereign will be at one with Saltan against all enemies. And Saltan would also be at one with our Sovereign against all enemies. And now about that Saltan will order to The Sovereign is with us, and we will report this to our Sovereign. Yes, and with our ambassador I would punish our Sovereign.” Yes, speak about this according to the Grand Duke’s order.... (ll. 239 vol., - 241 vol.). With the accession of Sultan Suleiman to the throne of Constantinople, the Russian people's hopes for concluding an alliance grew stronger, and they began to implement it with redoubled energy. Our ambassador Tretyak Gubin, who visited the Sultan in 1522, fully confirmed these hopes with his letters. “And here is a letter to the Grand Duke Tret(y)ak Gubin with Elgozeya: “To the Sovereign Grand Duke Vasil(i) Ivanovich of all Rus', your servant, Tret(y)ak Gubin, beats his forehead. God gave, Sovereign, by the mercy of God and your Sovereign health, I came, Sovereign, to the Tsar (City) to get well a week before the Intercession. But Syulumen Saltan was not in Tsar-Gorod: he went against the Ugric king. And stood under the White City ||. And I, Sovereign, was ordered to wait for the Tsar in the Tsar-City, and I, Sovereign, waited for him for a month. And how, Sovereign, Syulumen Saltan came to the Tsar-City, and I, Sovereign, was with the Tsar, and I, Sovereign, conveyed your letter and speech, and I did your work according to your Sovereign’s order. Your diploma and speech, Sovereign, are loved by him, and he favored me, Sovereign, your servant. And the Sovereign sent his ambassador, Skinder Saka, to you.” (l. 206–206 vol.). Upon his arrival in Moscow, Gubin told the Grand Duke the same thing in his speeches. “And Tret(y)ak told the Grand Duke that the Tsar and the Grand Duke want to be in friendship and brotherhood || and sent his ambassador Skinder to the Grand Duke." And how Skinder (s) arrived in Moscow, and the Great Prince (s) ordered Semyon Sergeev, son of Levashov and Fedorets Gridin, to meet him at the top and be his bailiff in Moscow. And he ordered Semyon to bow to rule until it was written above, and in the courtyard install it" (ll. 210 vol. - 211), the Turkish ambassador Skinder, who arrived with Tretyak, confirmed everything that Tretyak said to the Grand Duke. “And Iskin said: “God willing, the Sovereign, the Great Sovereign, would be healthy here, and my Sovereign Sulemen Santan would be healthy there, and between them Sovereigns, God gave, a good deed was done. And those who were not friends of the Great Sovereign, and he would have done his work with his enemies as his merciful God wanted. And God willing, his enemies would have been under his feet and hit the ground with his head. And the Great Sovereign would have announced to his friends who would be his enemies. And our Sovereign Sulemen Saltan wants to be with the Great Sovereign in strong friendship and brotherhood beyond the way his father Salim Shah Saltan was with the Great Sovereign in friendship and brotherhood. And he wants to be a friend to his friend, and an enemy to his foe, and he wants to be at one with all his enemies. And that the Great Sovereign went on his business, and the Sovereign ordered me to stay here in Moscow - otherwise, God forbid, the Sovereign was healthy and did his job, but I might have a thousand || I have a day to live, and I’m glad, as long as God gives the Sovereign his business to do with his enemy. And the Sovereign’s salary to me is great, as the Sovereign sent his boyar’s son to me, and for my Sovereign he ordered me to do this honor: I am pleased with the Sovereign’s dear healthy food”... (ll. 211 vol. - 212 vol.). Another time, the same Skinder again categorically declares the Sultan’s readiness to conclude an alliance with the Muscovite kingdom. “Yes, Iskinder said: “Your Sovereign sent his son, boyar Vasil Mikhailov, to our Sovereign to learn about our Sovereign in his state, and to be with him in friendship and brotherhood. And our Sovereign wants to be in strong friendship and brotherhood with the Great Sovereign, and beyond the friendship and brotherhood that Salim Shah Saltan had with him. And the Great Sovereign would want to be in strong friendship and brotherhood with our Sovereign, and the Great Sovereign would send || to our Sovereign, his good man, who could strengthen friendship and brotherhood between them and establish strength.” And the diacs, having arrived, said to the Grand Duke. And the Great Prince sent deacs to him, and told him to say: “We want to be in strong friendship and brotherhood with our brother Sulemen Saltan. And, God willing, we will let you go to your brother, and together with you we will send our good man to our brother” (ll. 216 vol. - 217). Our diplomats, for their part, meeting these assurances halfway, referred to the relations that had been established between Moscow and Turkey under Sultan Selim, Suleiman’s father: “And we, in advance, sent our ambassador to our brother, to his father, to Salim step Saltan so that he would be with us in friendship and brotherhood and in love and would be at one with us against all enemies, and also letters If only we could talk about friendship and brotherhood. And my brother and I also want to be in strong friendship and brotherhood and love. And our brother. Salim step Saltan, let our ambassador go to us, and ordered to us that he wants to be with us in friendship and brotherhood in a strong way and letters about friendship and brotherhood between us and him to be and sends to us his ambassador, a good man. Yes, he didn’t have time to send his ambassador to us. And that thing between us did not end, even though God’s will passed, our brother, Salim Shag Saltan, was no longer in the stomach” (l. 228). But as soon as it came to a real discussion of the current situation, Skinder allegedly had neither specific directives nor corresponding powers at the time, as they asked about this on behalf of the Grand Duke, “Fedor said: “The Great Sovereign Vasily, by the grace of God, the only right Sovereign of All Rus' and many other lands of the eastern and northern Sovereign and Grand Duke, ordered tell you: “Our brother, Sulemen Saltan, sent you and me his letter. And he wrote to us in his letter and with our envoy, with Tret(y)ak and Gubin, he wrote to us in his letter that he wanted to be in strong friendship with us || and in brotherhood, and we would also be in strong friendship and brotherhood.” And Sulemen Saltan and I want to be in friendship and brotherhood.” Shigona said: “The Great Sovereign Vasily, by God’s grace is the only right Sovereign of all Rus' and to many other eastern and northern lands Sovereign and Grand Duke(s), ordered you to speak. And what about your order to us from our brother Sulemen Saltan? How does Sulemen Saltan want to be with us in friendship and brotherhood?” And Iskinder said: “My Sovereign, Sulemen Saltan, is with me and sent his letter to the Great Sovereign. And what he wrote in his letter, and that’s why he wants to be in strong friendship and brotherhood with the Great Sovereign. And he wants people to walk between them on both sides and for guests to walk.” And Fedor told him: “Skinder! It is the custom of our Sovereign, with whom our Sovereigns are in friendship and brotherhood, otherwise the approved letters live between them.” And Iskinder (s) said: “With me, by the way, there are no letters to the Great Sovereign from Saltan. Your sovereign did not order this to Saltan with his man and Vasil. And your Sovereign would have ordered this with his man, and our Sovereign would have punished him a lot about this” (ll. 222–223a). In Moscow they immediately suspected Skinder of being hostile and did not want to believe him. They pinned all their hopes on directly appealing to the Sultan through Morozov’s embassy, ​​and therefore, in the “memory” given to him, they ordered the Sultan to speak like this. “The Great Sovereign Vasily, by the grace of God the only right Sovereign of all Rus' and many other eastern and northern lands Sovereign and Grand Duke, ordered you to say: “You sent to us your ambassador Prince Skinder. And you gave us your letter. And in your letter to us you wrote that you want to be with us in friendship and brotherhood and in love, and we would also like to be with you in friendship and brotherhood and in love. And our ambassadors would go to both sides of us and our people would go to see our health, and the guests would go to both sides without any force or clues.” Our Sovereign ordered you to say: “And we, in advance, sent our ambassador to our brother, to your father, to Salim Stepan Saltan, so that he would be with us in friendship and brotherhood and in love, and would be at one with us against all enemies, and there would be letters between us about friendship and brotherhood, and we also want to be with our brother in strong friendship and brotherhood and in love. And our brother, Salim Shag Saltan, sent our ambassador to us, and ordered us that he wants to be strong with us in friendship and brotherhood and letters were written about friendship || and about the brotherhood between us and him and sends his ambassador, a kind man, to us. But they didn’t have time to send their ambassador to us. And that matter between us did not end, even though God’s will passed, - our brother, your father, Salim Step Saltan, died in the stomach." Our Sovereign ordered you to say: "And now we, with you and our brother, Sulemen Saltan, want to be in friendship and in brotherhood and in love, and against all enemies we want to be with you at the same time And you would also be with us in friendship and in brotherhood and in love, and in all enemies you would be at one with us. And with whom I am with the Great Sovereigns with my brother (i) her in friendship and in brotherhood, otherwise the boundaries of us are letters of cherten about friendship and brotherhood, and the truth is the boundaries of us. And if you and I also had written letters about friendship and brotherhood. And it would be true that there would be a boundary between us, and our people would travel to both sides of us, and ambassadors would go to see our health” (ll. 230 vol. – 232) Regarding Skinder, from whom, despite his flattering assurances of loyalty, hostile actions towards us were expected, they were “punished” - to demand his replacement with another ambassador. “And something Skinder teaches when he arrives there is to say that it’s as if the Great Prince did not favor him and I took care of him from the Great Prince and he learned to say little things and dishonesty that he learned to say to himself, and something about that will be taught to Ivan by anyone who speaks or even if Ivan does not learn to talk about it, I will hear Ivan what Skinder says, and whoever teaches Ivan to talk about it, and tell Ivan. And they will not speak, other than ours to say in conversation, what was the salary to Skinder from the Grand Duke. || And tell Ivan, according to the lists that the treasurers gave him, about those deeds, that Skinder was given food and that the Grand Duke gave him a salary. N Speak to Ivan according to that list. And they say: “Then Skinder (s) says not much: the sovereign’s salary was great for him, he was a great honor and great feed was given. And from the Sovereign he was given a lot of salary and his honor was great, but there was no dishonor to him in any way. Yes, tell Ivan according to the list that was given to him: “Otherwise Skinder says it’s not much that he doesn’t tell us about our Sovereign’s salary, but that’s what he was paid.” And even then, Ivan said in conversation: “It would be good for the Great Sovereign to send among themselves such people who would live close to the Sovereigns and would know the business and the Sovereign’s salary, and would not look at self-interest” (ll. 245 vol. - 246). The efforts of the embassy were not crowned with success: the Greeks, of course, could not let go of the thread of relations with Moscow, and the same Skinder was sent to us as a secondary ambassador under Suleiman - and, moreover, according to a report from one of the participants in the embassy, ​​only for trade purposes, and this time Yuri’s brother-in-law Trachaniot was also traveling with him. “And Misha Tferitinov and his comrades told Prince Mikita about Ivanov’s coming to Saltan and how long Ivan stayed there in the Tsar City, and how Saltan released Ivan according to what Ivan wrote with them to the Grand Duke in the list. And Saltan sent his ambassador to the Grand Duke with Ivan, together with the same Skinder(s) Saka, which the Grand Duke had, and with him the Saltanovs were two people called Asan, and young people called Skinderem, and only three people went with him from Bela-Gorod, and they were hired ones. Yes, the guests, they say, took with him a man of five or six li for his people. And about ten people went with him from the Tsar-City to the Crimea, and all the people with him came from the Tsar-City, who accompanied him to Perekop, about thirty people. And they tell him to bring with him people from Kafa, Janits and guests. And they say there is a lot of product with Skinder. || And Skinder, they say, goes to Saltan to buy junk: the Saltanovs have a lot of money with him. And things are great for him. And there, they say, Saltan has a young man, Skinder, who used to be a water carrier, that’s why the word is “Saka.” And there is no order on it, and Saltan doesn’t live near him, and his children trade there. Yes (c) Skinderem, dei, goes with the trader, the Greeks are called Fyodor, and it turns out that Yuri (Maly) is his brother, Dmitreev’s son” (ll. 266 vol. - 267). Ambassador Ivan Semenov himself confirmed in his letter what was said above: “And he says, Sovereign, Iskender (s), that Saltan did not send him now as an embassy, - he sent him to buy junk; and speeches, Sovereign, from Saltan to you, Sovereign, he says, there is a woman behind him. And the ambassador, Sovereign, Saltan came to you, Sovereign, to send him (fol. 273 vol.) It should be noted that in Moscow the morals and customs of the Sultan court were poorly known; therefore, ambassadors were often given instructions that were difficult to fulfill, and all their energy was spent on the little details of etiquette and on the implementation of the embassy ceremonial created in Moscow; Moreover, the ambassadors, according to their “instructions,” had to remain irreconcilable and not concede anything to the Turks in this regard. In Moscow, oddly enough, they forgot about the corruption of eastern diplomats, and did not want to reckon with the greedy Turkish pashas at all, and, measuring everything to their own yardstick, demanded the Sultan’s personal participation in the negotiations, while the pashas and other Turkish officials of all ranks demanded “gifts,” openly pointing out to the Russians that the Sultan was doing as they “thought.” “Yes, the interpreters told Ivan that Ivan should go to Ayaz Pasha’s courtyard with the pasha and talk with him about the State’s affairs: “Zan(e)zhs, sir, the custom here is such that no matter if the Sovereign’s ambassador comes to our Sovereign, - and that, sir, I will go first to be with the pashas, and the State’s business talk to the pashas. And the pashas, ​​sir, will tell Saltan the same thing, sir: (and) Our Sovereign orders an ambassador to be with him, otherwise, sir, our Sovereign has large people, Ibreim Pasha and Ayaz Pasha, and large matters all rest on them; whatever they come up with for Saltan, and Saltan will do so, and we, sir, are friends with you for your virtue and tell us the local custom, and who, sir, your Sovereign’s ambassadors to our Sovereign before this, were Vasily Korobov and others, and we, sir, were friends with them for the same reason, and they, sir, favored us for that.” Yes, the interpreters said to Ivan, “It is fitting that Ivan go ahead to the pashas: “But, gentlemen, you will not be with the pashas in advance, and you will not be with Saltan for a long time and will not do the State’s business.” And Ivan answered them: “My Sovereign sent me to your Sovereign and ordered me to speak to my brother Sulemen Saltan, - and why should I go to the pashas to the courtyard? Saltan orders me to be at his place, and I speak to him from my Sovereign and speeches, but how should Pasha tell me his Sovereign’s speech? And your Sovereign’s ambassador was with our Sovereign, Skinder, and he presented letters and spoke to the Sovereign himself, but our Sovereign did not order his boyars to listen to his speeches. The Emperor himself listened to his speeches.” And the bailiffs Cheush and Murat and Gayradin the same day, and the next day on Thursday, told Ivan firmly that Ivan should go to Ayaz Pasha’s courtyard about the State’s business: “If you don’t go, sir, to the pashas’ courtyard, you won’t be at Saltan’s for even six months. And Ivan answered with cheush the same speeches that he had given as an interpreter, but did not go to the pashas” (ll. 277 vol. -2 78). After waiting in the hope that the ambassador would give in, the bailiffs unexpectedly appear three days later and declare: “Today, sir, go to Saltan’s camp and you, sir, be ready, and that junk is on your ship, and by tomorrow it will be needed, and you ordered it to be delivered, and at that time we, going to you, will prepare courts for you at that time.” we will. And tomorrow it’s too early for you to be with Saltan, but Saltan wants to go to his business tomorrow, letting you go, so that Saltan will be there for about a month and a half, and you will wait for him here in the city.” And at that very hour the bailiffs arrived for Ivan” (fol. 278 vol.). Having arrived with Ivan to the Sultan, the bailiff told him to sit down and wait by the road to the Sultan’s tent. Here they began, with purely oriental cunning, to achieve the humiliation of the Moscow ambassador, convincing him to stand up and bow when the front riders of the retinue of Ibreim Pasha, riding to Sultan, approached. “And the bailiffs ordered Ivan to say firmly: “Get up: Ibreim Pasha is coming,” and Ivan did not get up, but prayed: “Young people are going, but why should I get up?” - And they hold Ivan’s bailiffs over his shoulder and say: “Stand up: Ibreim Pasha is coming, otherwise our Sovereign has a larger man, it’s good for you to stand up against him and hit him with your forehead.” And Ivan let many people pass, and how Ibreim Pasha would be against Ivan, and he rose up in front of Ivan in the saddle and bowed, and the bailiffs said to Ivan: “Ibreim Pasha hit you with his forehead”; and Ivan, for the same reason, stood up against Pasha || and bowed in Turkish style” (ll. 279–279 vol.). When the first trick failed, the bailiffs tried another. “And they told the bailiffs to go to Ivan’s tent, but they said to Saltan’s tent; and Ivan entered, but Saltan was not in the tent, but Ibreim Pasha and the treasurer Abbisalom were sitting in the tent. And Ibreim Pasha stood up against Ivan and tortured Ivan about the State’s health (and) about his health” (l. 279 vol.). After Ivan finally refused to give his speeches to the pashas, ​​he was reported to the Sultan, and he was received by the Sultan, but from the Sultan, contrary to Moscow custom when receiving foreign ambassadors, only one interpreter came out behind him. “Yes, the interpreter came to Ivan and said: “Our Sovereign Sulemen Saltan ordered you to go to him.” But the interpreter, Ivan, was neither met nor seen off, and the bailiff’s bullshit remained at Saltanov’s tent” (l. 280). At the reception, the hope for the Sultan’s “truth” was not justified: the Sultan found himself completely in the hands of his close Turks and Greeks. And Pasha ordered Ivan to go to Saltan’s hand, and after that Ivan bowed to Saltan from the Sovereign and performed funeral services according to the record, and the embassy handed over the rules and letters, and Ibreim Pasha took the embassy and letters. And Ivan ruled the embassy in three states, but has not yet ruled one state. And Ibreim Pasha adopted Ivan’s speech, and Pasha spoke to Ivan. “Other Goudarsky leaders will talk to us, and we will tell them to the Sovereign. Asam Saltan did not say a single word to Ivan” (fol. 280 vol.). When Ivan had to visit the Sultan for the second time on vacation, the “treasurer and clerk” Abbisal approached him with a demand for “gifts”, threatening to destroy the embassy in case of refusal by the Moscow Ambassador. “On September 12, the bailiffs arrived at Ivan’s yard and said to Ivan: “Today, gentlemen, you will be in Saltan’s camp, and then you, sir, will have a vacation.”... “And the same day in the camp Andreyan, a Greek, came to Ivan from the treasurer, I from Deacon Saltanov from Abbisalom, and Andreyan said to Ivan: “I told you, sir, to speak to Abbisalom. “Our dei, sir, there is a duty, and you, sir, would not forget us. And before that, ambassadors visited our Sovereign from your Sovereign - and they, sir, gave us a fee: and you, sir, would not have left us.” Yes, gentlemen, Ivan, you should honor him, for sure, sir, he is Saltan’s neighbor and the State’s affairs, most of them, rest on him. If you don’t honor him, sir, then, sir, it won’t do any good” (ld. 282 vol. – 283). Our ambassador refused to satisfy these extortions, saying that he was sent to the Sultan and he did not care about anyone except the Sultan himself. “And Andreyan answered Ivan: “Abbisalom, sir, says: and only, the ambassador will not honor me, otherwise, dei, and the matter will not be done; and ordered me to take the taxes afterwards: Kafin and Tsaregorod and all the duties on the Azov and Kafin and Tsaregorod junks” (fol. 283). When Andrian’s threats had no effect, the bailiff Murat Cheush was sent, but on behalf of the supposed Sultan.. “And after Andriyan, the bailiff Murat Cheush came to Ivan, and said to Ivan: “Gentlemen, Saltan told you to pray: “I have a neighbor’s man as an abbisal - deacon and treasurer and son-in-law, and you, sharing him almost, sent him something” (fol. 283 vol.). After this statement, they had to give in, and Abbysalom was sent a “fur coat.” While dismissing the Moscow embassy, ​​the Sultan still maintained a mysterious silence, and our ambassador still had to deal with the pashas, ​​albeit in the Sultan’s courtyard. “And then Ivan hit Saltan with his forehead, but Saltan did not say a word to Ivan” (fol. 2 4 vol.). As was said above, the same Skinder was sent with Ivan Semenov, and, moreover, “not by embassy,” but, as Ibreim Pasha declared, “to buy sables for Saltan.” But on the way, Skinder suddenly had the Sultan’s letter and he announced that he was now coming “with great things." “And in Bel-Gorod, Sovereign, and on the road, from Bel-Gorod going to Perekop, Izkinder (s) spoke in a speech and not alone: “Now, day, I am not going as an embassy, dei, I was sent by Saltan with money to buy junk and you too, but speeches, dei, from Saltan to your Sovereign are not for me great." And having arrived from Kafa to Perekop, before the train, Izkinder said: “My Sovereign sent me a messenger with many letters, and now I am going from Sovereign to Sovereign with great deeds” (fol. 285 vol.). It must be added to this that the circumstances that year (1524) were favorable for Moscow in the Middle East. So, Skinder spoke to Ivan Semenov on the road. “And this spring Saltan himself, dei, went to the Ugric king, and to the Lithuanian dei, the king Saltan sent many of his sanchaks, and with them forty thousand, and Saltan wrote to the Crimean dei, Sadi-Girey, and ordered him to go to the Lithuanian king” (l. 288). But Prince Vasily and his diplomats understood perfectly well that this was being done by the Sultan under the pressure of necessity. Therefore, Skinder was received at Moscow with distrust and did not want to be considered an ambassador. In addition, Skinder made an unfavorable impression on the Grand Duke by refusing to accept the treat (that this refusal was insincere, this is clear from what follows). “And Skinder did not eat at the Grand Duke’s; made an excuse by saying that it was their goveino at that time” (l. 291). At the reception, our diplomats told Skinder: “Our Sovereign ordered you to say: “In advance, Saltan sent you and Izkinder to us, and ordered you to come to us that he wants to be with us in friendship and brotherhood; and we, although we were in friendship and brotherhood with him, sent to him our great ambassador, our good man Ivan Semenovich. And his Pasha Ibreim told our ambassador Ivan from Saltan that Saltan wants to be with us in friendship and brotherhood and sends his great ambassador, a great man, to us, and sends Skinder to see Ivan off so that he can go and buy what he needs without fear; and what is the order from Saltan and you to us?” And Skinder said: “Our sovereign, even now, wants to be in friendship and brotherhood with the Grand Duke and sent me along with Ivan, and with me he sent a letter to the Grand Duke, and in his letter he wrote that he wants to be in friendship and brotherhood with the Grand Duke, and ambassadors and guests would go to both sides without a clue and there would be no confusion, but that’s not the case.” I heard Ibreim Pasha tell Ivan that our Sovereign wants to send his great ambassador to the Grand Duke” (ll. 291–291v). Such speeches no longer made any impression on Moscow, and real terms of the alliance were demanded from Skinder. But, as usual, there was no such “nothing” order with him. “And our Sovereign sent his great ambassador, and there, Sovereign, there was no word to our ambassador about how they should be in friendship and brotherhood, and with you now, what is the order? How can Saltan be with our Sovereign in friendship and brotherhood, and what kind of fortress can be between them?” And Skinder said: “With me, there is no order from the Sovereign from my , besides the fact that my Sovereign sent a letter to the Grand Duke (fol. 292). The letter sent by the Sultan with Ivan Semyonov spoke about “friendship and brotherhood" only in general terms. “Let it also be known to your nobility that my kingdom is on the foretold iriya and on the state, as I have taken an oath and faith, and now we stand on that. And even more so we stand and oath we renew and strengthen the faith” (l. 293 vol.) The same was said in the letter sent from the Sultan with Iskinder. “And that your nobility wrote in the letter. and I ordered speeches to my kingdom with our famous ambassador Iskinder in nobility and in knowledge, as there was friendship and love between both of us, for the sake of which we, having accepted the request of your nobility, as there was friendship and love between both of us from now on until now places, and in the charters it is written and the approved peace has been established, so now and in the future let it be between us both in the first and in the current charters. And just as You ordered us with the Ambassador of Blogority, so that in these times between us both, as there was in advance, life and friendship, and now it will be renewed, it will be clearly concluded” (ll. 295 vol.–296). Neither the speech nor the letter satisfied the Grand Duke, and he decided not to send a “big ambassador” to the Sultan. Yes, the Great Prince listened to Saltanov’s letters, which Saltan sent with Ivan with Semyonov and Skinder, and the boyars said that he should let Skindery go to Saltan, and send his good man with him, it was not good, sharing that Saltan did not send a great ambassador, and with Iskinder, there is no order from him, what is the boundary between them to be a fortress. And send with him the junk of the young man, that Ivan left the junk in the Tsar-City of the Great Prince” (fol. 298) In addition to the above, great displeasure was caused by the Sultan’s very appeal to the Grand Duke in the letter sent with Iskinder. “And now you brought the letters to us from Sulemen Saltan, and in those letters Sulemen Saltan wrote to us not because he was useful to our State” (l. 299). Little by little, the downside to the much-desired alliance with the Sultan began to emerge: first, this was expressed in the unexpectedly arose Kazan question, when Moscow noticed that, by curbing some Tatars with the help of the Turks, they could lose power over others - those closest to them. “The Great Sovereign ordered you to say: “Yes, you told us from Saltan, so that we and Tsarevich Saip-Girey, whom our traitors from Kazan, having betrayed us, took to Kazan, would make peace.” Ino and Saltan know much better that from the very beginning we planted the Tsars on that yurt from our own hands. And we, by God’s will, even now want to adhere to the same custom” (ll. 299 vol. - 300]. Of course, I had to point out to the Turkish ambassador that Moscow would not tolerate interference in Kazan affairs. Yes, Iskinder (s) said: “They told me of course about Kazan that the Kazan (s) yurt from the beginning of your Sovereign Ino Saip-Girey Tsar (s) sent to our Sovereign this spring to fight with his forehead, but was mortgaged for our Sovereign: and then the yurt is our Sovereign, and the Great Prince (s) of Kazan would not have fought sent." And Shygona told him: “Sayp-Girey sent the Tsar (s) to Saltan, otherwise he knows, and then from the beginning the yurt of our Sovereign” (fol. 301 vol.). On the other hand, some aggressive and offensive plans of the Turks were also unexpectedly revealed. Leaving, Skinder asked, it turns out, to let him go as Don in order to inspect the places there. “And the Don asked, and the Great Prince did not let him in, the Don did not let him in, there was some word from the Skinder people and from the parties that Skinder was sent to look for places on the Don to build a city, and the Don did not let him in” (fol. 302 vol.) The hope of concluding an alliance with the Sultan, however, still did not leave the Grand Duke, and he wrote To the Sultan and Iskinder about their readiness to conclude an alliance and send their “big ambassador” if the Sultan does the same. “And when we have your great ambassador, we will then tell your boyars to talk about all those matters with your great ambassador; Then we will reinforce both friendship and brotherhood, and together with your great ambassador we will send our great ambassador to you then” (l. 304). At the same time, however, on vacation they indicated to Skiider that the Sultan should address the Grand Duke, calling him nothing more than “brother.” “And before this, his father Salim Shah Saltan wrote to our Sovereign in his letters to our Sovereign as a “brother”, and now in those letters that you brought from Saltan to our Sovereign, Sulemen Saltan did not write “brother” to our Sovereign - that is unbecoming to our Sovereign” (l. 306 vol.). But events soon took a completely unexpected turn for Moscow diplomats. Seeing that the Russians were still ready to enter into an alliance with the Turks, the Greeks had to decide on something to quarrel between the Grand Duke and the Sultan. Indeed, soon Iskinder decides to do an “unheard of thing.” “And in the summer of 1525, his people Shemet and his comrades from Kafa sent a letter to Ivan Semyonov, whom Ivan Semyonov and Skinder sent his people to the Tsar City to deliver the Grand Duke’s junk. And in the letter they wrote that Skinder(s) Volikog(o) of the Prince among the people, Alexei Mozhayatinov and his comrades, caused a great soromota: he took payments and money for them, and also took fur coats and fish teeth from Ivanov’s people, and the treasurers from Moscow released the cab drivers with him, and he had to let them go without There are absolutely clues to Moscow - and he sold those people in the Kafe. And the Great Prince spoke to the boyars: “If Iskinder (o) has committed such disgrace over the Great Prince of the people and he will say something unbecoming speeches to Saltan or the pashas, - and the Grand Duke will come to Saltan and send his person with a letter to share, so that those Salgan found the people whom Sknider sold and ordered them to be returned. And Skinder(s) told Saltan something that was absurd to say, and Saltan would not have believed him for that.” And the Great Prince sent his Tatar servicemen to Saltan with a letter: in the heads of Kudoyar Karachev, the son of Muradinov, the fifth with his comrades” (ll. 307 – 307 vol.). The letter sent with Kudoyar also indicated Skinder’s guilt in relation to the Grand Duke during Ivan Semenov’s stay in the Tsar City: Skinder was supposed to help sell the Grand Duke’s junk, bringing merchants for it. “And here our ambassador Ivan told us that if you were to sell that junk of ours and buy us what we needed, he ordered Saku to give Skinderya. And then Saka Skinder did not bring merchants to our junk, who would buy that junk and what was needed for our needs, and he did not buy it." (fol. 308). In the same letter, Grand Duke Vasily convinced the Sultan not to trust Skinder in anything, fearing that Skinder, having arrived to the Sultan, "what enmity didn't do it" “And now we have sent to you our Cossacks Kudoyar Karachov, the son of Muradinov, sharing this letter with us: if Iskinder (s) was still here with us, and he spoke unseemly speeches to the bailiff here, and now he has done this to our people, And Iskinder (s) will learn something and say some unbecoming speeches so that He didn’t create any hostility between you and me” (l. 309). From the memory given to Kudoyar, it is clear that Skinder behaved defiantly in Moscow and, finally, even directly began to threaten that, having arrived at the Sultan, he would quarrel between him and the Grand Duke Vasily: “I will create enmity between the Grand Duke and Sultan.” “In memory of Kudoyar. They will say something to him: “The Great Prince wrote that Iskinder (s) Saka spoke disgraceful speeches to the bailiff in Moscow - otherwise what disgrace is Skinderevo?” And say to Kudoyar: Our Sovereign favored Skinder for Saltan and kept his food as it suited him. The bailiff was given to him and ordered to indicate the courtyard, and he ordered to give great feed, and he set the salary at nothing, and told the bailiff that the Sovereign’s salary was not enough for him and the feed was not enough and it was dishonorable to himself from the Sovereign there; and gave him enough food per day, and torture the Janissans who were with him. And he sold the feed, but told the bailiff that there was not enough feed, but he brought dishonor to the Emperor. And when he released him, the Emperor granted him his great salary and gave him a lot of his salary. And he also said that the Sovereign’s salary was not enough for him, and then he said: “I’ll get to Saltan, and I’ll create enmity between the Grand Duke and Saltan,” and he said many other unseemly speeches. And here he said everything about the Emperor, that the Emperor did not favor him, and he kept lying.” And they will say something: “Why didn’t the Great Prince invite him?” And they say to Kudoyar: “Our Sovereign favored him, called him to eat, and Iskinder said that he couldn’t eat without sharing that they had shit: and our Sovereign ordered him and the bailiff to tell him about it, so that he would eat with the Sovereign. And Izkinder said that they were shit. And on vacation, as the Sovereign taught him to let him go, and he didn’t call him to eat because our Sovereign had become shitty, and then it was unsuitable for him to be at our Sovereign’s table; and our Sovereign did not invite him to eat, but sent great food to his farmstead and did him honor as best he could, and our Sovereign gave him a lot of his salary” (ll. 310 vol. - 311 vol.). But Iskinder did not let up, and around the same time Moscow received new news about the efforts of the Greeks in the person of Skinder to upset the alliance of Russians with the Turks, so desired by the Russians and so hated by the Greeks. “In the summer of 1525, Maia the 20th wrote from Azov to the Grand Duke with Cossacks and Rezants about the Crimean news that the Crimean Tsar had sent to the Turkish Tsar asking for strength, but wanted to go against the Grand Duke of Ukraine. And Turetsky sent to him the governor of his Uryum Magmet bek Michal Uluya, and with him fifteen thousand. Yes, from Azov I wrote to the Grand Duke Ivashko Korolevskaya that how Iskinder Saka came from the Crimea and told Sat-Kirei the Tsar that his Grand Duke did not favor him because the Grand Duke was not there, and he exiled him from sight, and the Tsar, the Ottoman, barked. And Sat-Kirey, the Crimean Tsar, sent an envoy to the Ottoman with that news, and the Ottoman King gave him, to help his people, thirty thousand to go against the Grand Duke of Ukraine” (ll. 312 - 312 vol.). Only chance upset these plans, and this campaign did not take place. All these events and facts are of paramount importance and significance, and involuntarily attract our attention. The drama of the struggle here reaches its special tension. But the Greeks were mistaken in their expectations: the Moscow government, despite unheard-of bullying and insults, not only did not declare war on the Turks, but did not even interrupt diplomatic relations with Turkey - a living symbol of the forced removal of grievances was the third visit to Moscow of the same Iskinder, which, of course, once again confirmed the power of the Greek party in the Tsar City. Nevertheless, in Moscow they could not, of course, remain indifferent to what was happening, and they, on the one hand, with feverish haste assure the Sultan of their readiness to be “in friendship and brotherhood” with him and ask not to believe Skinder, and, on the other hand, they attack the Moscow Greeks in impotent anger. But Yuri the Small Trahapiot was no longer alive by this time - of the rest, the most dangerous was the ideologically minded and did not hide it, as we know, Pr. Maxim Grek. That is why, precisely in this year, 1525, he fell into disgrace, and for his sake, “many councils” were organized in April and May of this year. Iskinder came to us for the third time in December 1526. Now they treated him with complete distrust, and the Grand Duke called him “to the hand” only when he was convinced that Ikinder was named “ambassador” in the letter he brought from the Sultan. “And the Great Prince Saku called Skinder to his hand, yes, and invited him to eat with him, and after the table he sent Bakaku and Mitrofanov for him with honey. And Skinder beat the Grand Duke with his forehead, so that the Great Prince would give him people and free him to buy whatever he needed. And the Great Prince ordered him to give him people and freed him to buy goods. And Iskinder(s) lived on Miski until September of the summer of 1527” (he actually left only on November 10) (fol. 315 vol.). This time Iskingder came exclusively for trading purposes. With this arrival of his, a turning point begins in our relations with the Turks - and the final one: maintaining trade relations, the Turks reject all attempts to force them to enter into an alliance with us. Therefore, in our letter sent with Iskinder, there is no longer any talk about an alliance on our part. The arrival of the Greek Andreyan, known to us from Tsar-Grad, for trading purposes did not bring anything new to the established relations - he came in 1529. That same year, in October, Isknider came to Moscow again (this was his fourth visit). Although from the letters sent it was discovered that this time Iskinder was sent only for trading purposes, but now the attitude towards him has changed again; he was clearly looked after: he was given a large retinue, when visiting the court he was given a meeting, and on vacation the Grand Duke himself spoke to him. Devoted to the idea of ​​an alliance and not being able to voluntarily abandon it, Russian diplomats did everything possible so as not to completely ruin relations with the Turks. But the impending events were already ready to overturn, and irrevocably, their aspirations and hopes. “Released” back to the Sultan, Sknder suddenly fell ill with us and died in 1529 (the exact month is unknown, but in any case before December). “And how the Great Prince came to Moscow, and Iskinder sent him to the treasurer, to Peter, to Golovin, that he was ill. “And Peter would have sent a man, and would have ordered Saltanov’s junk and mine to rewrite something of God’s will of the stanets: I will not be in the stomach, otherwise Saltanov’s junk and mine would not have disappeared.” “And the Great Prince ordered Peter to send the junk to Saltanov to rewrite and revise Semyon Dmitriev, son of Chyashnikov and clerk Mikifor Semenov. And they looked at the junk and rewrote it. And after that, Skinder’s stomach was gone” (ll. 326 - 326 vol.). An exceptionally favorable opportunity presented itself for the Moscow people, when copying junk, to look for Skinder’s letters to the Sultan, or the so-called “lists,” the contents of which were supposed to shed light on the Greek conspiracy against the alliance of the Russians with the Turks. From Skinder’s boast of quarreling Prince Vasily with the Sultan and, finally, from his entire behavior during his ambassadorial duties, the Russians could long ago conclude that he was writing “false” lists, in which the real intentions and plans of the Grand Duke in relation to Turkey were supposed to be “falsely” illuminated, which, as was assumed in Moscow, served as an obstacle to the conclusion of an effective alliance on the part of the Sultan. And we know that the Muscovites were not mistaken in their assumptions: the same thing, as we know, was revealed in 1531 and in relation to Pr. Maxim the Greek, who was accused, is known to have “raised” the Russian state in his letters to the Sultan, i.e. also, obviously, proved that Russia was actually hostile towards the Turks, which probably intimidated the Sultan. Experienced people were sent to rewrite the junk; deft copyists brilliantly coped with their task, finding the “lists” hidden in the junk that were so important for the Moscow government: “And in the same junk they found Ambassador Skinder’s lists.” These lists, as expected, turned out to be “false,” as can be seen from the letter sent to the Sultan with Temes (labeled 1529, December), about the death of Skinder and about the search of Skinderev's junk and the Sultan's Janits; These “lists” must be assumed to have fallen completely into the hands of our clerks. Our documents speak about this after citing one fact: “And he wrote other speeches.” “And when our people looked at Iskinder’s junk, and in that junk were Skinderev’s lists. And in those lists Skinder wrote false words. They searched your people for that purpose, so that there would be no other false words." (fol. 328 vol.). These Sultan's people - the Janissans from Moscow had already decided to release, but after finding the "lists" they decided to search them too, so that they would not take anything with them. "And the great prince released the Janissans who were with Skinder, and the junk was for them They gave it to Saltanov, and they didn’t take it. And the Great Prince spoke to the boyars: “Skinder (s) spoke and wrote such speeches, and what kind of letter did he send to Saltan with those Janits? Otherwise, it would be better to search them and write to Saltan in the letter, why should he order them to be searched?” Menshy Putyatin, and ordered them to be searched. And he ordered them to be placed in Dorogobuzh, and he ordered Ostap Andreev and Chyura Rudelev to be in Dorogobuzh for Borezh. And the Great Prince sentenced that he should release the Janices, and Saltanov’s junk would be sent with those Janices and the merchant people, and send your man to Saltan with a letter” (ll. 32b vol. - 327) So, it was documented that Skinder also “raised” the Sultan to Rus'. It became clear to everyone that the cause of the union collapsed thanks to the machinations of the Greeks, on the one hand, and due to the strange, as it seemed to the Russian people at that time, stubbornness of the Turks, on the other. Therefore, the former “love” is replaced in the hearts of Russians by hatred. “And in the same junk they found lists after Skinder, and in those lists it was written that a polonyanik had come from Azov, and said that the Turkish people had been beaten by an Ugrian king. And the Great Prince was delighted and ordered to call” (fol. 326 vol.). After these events, the former “allies” become, as we see, enemies. The hour of reckoning was coming with those responsible for the collapse of plans of paramount national importance for the Moscow state - with the Greeks. But circumstances gave them a reprieve. Necessity forced the Moscow government to act with extreme caution (which serves once again as proof of the exceptional importance it attached to the alliance with the Turks). The opportunity presented itself for the last time to test the strength of Greek influence on the one hand and the sincerity of the Sultan on the other. Aware of the “falsity” and unblogworthy actions of his ambassador, the Sultan could still, it seemed, if he sincerely wished, move from words to deeds with the conclusion of an alliance. It was therefore necessary to wait for the result of the trip of the Grand Duke’s serviceman, the mentioned Shemet, with a letter to the Sultan about everything that happened in Moscow. Shemet returned to the Grand Duke in October 1530 with the Sultan's charter. But hopes for the Sultan “himself” were not justified, and this time, despite the deliberate pomp of the language, the letter turned out to be completely empty of content. The last illusions were about to dissipate. Now the hour of retribution has finally arrived for the Greek patriots for their broken aspirations and hopes. Skinder had already died by this time, the Tsaregorod Greeks were inaccessible; therefore, as before, only the Greeks who lived in Moscow and were entirely in the power of the Moscow government could be subjected to reprisals - and among them, as was the case in 1525, first of all, the most dangerous in ideological terms - the same Pr. Maxim Grek. The prologue to this historical and political drama is the Cathedral of Maximus the Greek in 1531. Somehow the contents of Maxim’s correspondence with the Turkish pashas and the Sultan became known to the Moscow government. One might think that he sent his “false lists” with Skinder and that they also fell into the hands of our copyists? Be that as it may, Maxim’s “lists” and letters ended up in the hands of his enemies, and they got the opportunity to convict him at the council, throwing in his face the accusation that he (together with Savva) “despite the salary and generosity of the Grand Duke, sent letters not only to the pashas, but also to the Turkish Sultan himself, raising him up against Russia and that he gave Iskinder Turskov the ambassador “advice and praise that he wanted to sub (Iskinder) the Tursk king against the sovereign, the Grand Duke, and his entire empire: “Yes, Maxim knew that, but he did not tell the sovereign, the Grand Duke, and the boyars”, and he also said that the Grand Duke, “fighting Kazan,” cannot resist; to the Turks" 37. To develop Maxim’s guilt at the council, “his own words were cited that the Sultan would come to Russia because he did not like the relatives of the Greek kings, and they reproached him for accusing the Grand Duke of indecisive actions regarding the Turks and Crimeans” 38. Maxim was condemned at the council, but it could not have been otherwise, since in his person they tried and dealt with all the Greeks who were carrying out a great political enterprise - the entire “Greek party” that dared to stand with its national interests on the road to the implementation by the Muscovite kingdom of the idea of ​​a union with Turkey, which the Russian people clung to, as we saw, so frantically - firmly, considering it vital for themselves, and which they were ready to implement even at the cost national humiliation. A number of Greek patriots, participants in the heroic struggle we have described, passed before us; of them only Pr. Maxim himself, a friend with the Greek Savva, had a special share in this struggle to capture his service to the common national cause with a “feat of suffering and martyrdom,” which surrounds his image in our eyes with a special halo and it becomes even higher and brighter, especially in our time, when the fulfillment of his behests - prophecies to the Russian kingdom is approaching, when his political aspirations and hopes begin to come true, when the long-awaited days of common Greco-Slavic resurrection. Porfiryev: “East R. Sl.” Part I, page 512. An interesting detail indicating that Maximus was in Florence until the very end, since he conveys such details of the trial. S. Belokurov Bib. Moscow Sovereigns in the 16th century, 220 pp. Benevieni – poet 1453–1542. The author devotes another work to this issue. S. Belokurov: “On the library of the Moscow Sovereigns in the 16th century.” 194 pp. P. Collection R.L., vol. VIII. 233 pp. P. Collection R, L., vol. VIII. 247 pp. Arch. M.I.D. Greek stat. list No. 1 l. 5 and 12. Arch. M.I.D. Greek stat. list No. 1 18 vol. P. Collection R. L. t. VIII, p. 259, t. VI p. 257. Nikonovskaya L. part VI p. 203. Arch. M.I.D. Greek stat. list No. 1 l. 18 rev. From March 15, 7023. See Arch. M.I.D. Greek stat. list No. 1 l. 18 rev List from the charter of Arch. M.I.D. Greek stat. list No. 1 l. 19 rev. printed in Vremnik O.I. et al. R. book V, dep. 3, pp. 30–31, rev. from Likhachev “Library and Architectural of the Moscow Sovereigns in the 16th century.” P. Collection R. L. t. VIII p. 259, t. VII p. 257, Nikonovskaya L. t. VI p. 205. Acts of collection Arch. Com. Vol. I No. 122 pp. 175–176. Arch. M.I.D. Greek stat. list No. 1 l. 3. Arch. M.I.D. Crimean case No. 5 l.548. Arch. M.I.D. Crimean case No. 4, pp. 312–358. Arch. M.I.D. Crimean case No. 5 pp. 526 vol.–548. Maxim Greek op., right. Sob 1861 Aug. 318. Op. Maxim Greka. 1889, word VII. Op. Maxim Greka. 1889. June, 143. Herberstein, 67, Russian trans. Arch. M.I.D. Turkish stat. list No. 1, pp. 248 rev. – 249. See Appendix. Actually: “it was the third year that we were in Moscow, when a rumor began to spread that Mark had said the same thing”... The text of these documents, as well as all further texts given in the study, were taken from the Turkish Article List No. 1 (Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow) - from that part of it, now published for the first time, in its entirety, in the form of a special appendix to this article with exact adherence to the numbering of the sheets of the article list. See Appendix. "Judgment List". Manuscript I.I.B. No. 1597. pp. 38–39.