Rev. Joseph Volotsky: life and struggle with Jewish heresies.

31.01.2009

Rev. Joseph Volotsky (November 12, 1440–September 9, 1515) is an outstanding Russian church leader, writer, Ivan Sanin in the world. The son of a Volokolamsk boyar, as a seven-year-old youth, John was sent to study with the pious elder of the Volokolamsk Exaltation of the Cross Monastery Arseny. For two years, John studied the Holy Scriptures and became a reader in the monastery church. At the age of 20, he took the vows in the Borovsky Monastery with the name of Joseph. Saint Joseph spent eighteen years under the guidance of the holy ascetic Pafnutius of Borovsky. Upon the death of his teacher, he was appointed abbot of the Borovsky monastery, which he ruled for about two years. In this monastery, he introduced a cenobitic charter, which caused dissatisfaction with some monks. The Monk Joseph was forced to leave the monastery and went on a pilgrimage to Russian shrines. So he ended up in Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. Here he was even more strengthened in the desire to create a new monastic hostel. In 1479, from the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, he returned to his native Volokolamsk lands, where, at the confluence of the Struga and Sister rivers, he founded the monastery of the Assumption in the forest Holy Mother of God. . […] The greatest feat of St. Joseph was his struggle against the heresy of the Judaizers. The heresy appeared in Novgorod after an invitation there in 1470 to feed the Kyiv prince Olelkovich, in whose retinue was the Jewish doctor Sharia. The Judaizers denied the dogma of the Holy Trinity, professing Jewish monotheism; they denied the Divinity of Jesus Christ, His Resurrection and the Last Judgment; blasphemed Mother of God and Calvary Cross; they denied the sacraments and the veneration of icons, over which they committed blasphemy, they denied the afterlife, etc. Since St. Prince Vladimir rejected the Jewish faith brought by the Khazars, and Russia was renewed by the grace of Baptism, "the great Russian land remained for five hundred years ... in the Orthodox Christian faith," while "the enemy of human salvation, the devil, brought the filthy and darkened Jews to Veliky Novgorod." The fight against heresy was led by St. Gennady Novgorodsky. Assessing the heresy of the Judaizers as the greatest danger to which Orthodox statehood has ever been exposed, St. Joseph does not exaggerate. Indeed, in the strict sense - and this is especially emphasized by St. Joseph - "the heresy of the Judaizers" was not heresy, that is, an arbitrary distortion of Christian truth, but apostasy - a complete denial of Christianity and the complete opposite of it. A collection of "words" against the Judaizers, over which St. Joseph worked in 1494-1506, later called the "Illuminator", consists of 16 texts. They give a general assessment of the Novgorod heresy and propose measures for its eradication. “The current ... apostates are much worse than those [former heretics], more vile and crafty,” wrote St. Joseph in The Illuminator. - Being among the Orthodox, they show themselves to be Orthodox, and if someone stands firmly in the faith of Christ and Orthodoxy, they hide from it in every possible way; if they see one of the more simple-hearted, they are ready to catch him. In order to attract people to Jewishness, they even dare to become priests... If any of the Orthodox wants to rise up against them with denunciation, then they renounce the Jewish faith, and even curse its followers, and swear by terrible oaths that they are Orthodox, - so that they would not be exposed and it would be more convenient for them to secretly seduce the Orthodox. On the Church Councils 1490 and 1504 Rev. Joseph was their chief accuser. He called for severe punishment of apostates, so that “we would not perish, as the Armenian, Ethiopian and Roman kingdoms perished. After all, they died due to the negligence of the then Orthodox tsars and saints, and for such negligence, these kings and saints will be condemned at the Last Judgment of Christ. The Council decided to anathematize the Judaizers in the rank of the Triumph of Orthodoxy. The Monk Joseph was canonized on December 20, 1578, shortly after his death. Many of the disciples and followers of the Monk Joseph Volotsky also entered the ranks of the Russian saints; the Joseph-Volotsky monastery itself became the center of spiritual enlightenment for many centuries. Of the most prominent tonsurers of the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery, we will mention such archpastors as Metropolitans of Moscow and All Russia Daniel and St. Macarius, Archbishop Vassian of Rostov, Bishops Simeon of Suzdal, Dositheus of Krutitsky, Savva of Krutitsky, nicknamed Black, Akaki of Tverskoy, Vassian of Kolomensky, Saints Guriy and German of Kazan, Saint Barsanuphius, Bishop of Tver. Our Church, now disturbed by heretics and torn apart by schismatics, needs a firm weapon against them. Such a weapon is the word of the Monk Joseph Volotsky, who not only exposed a specific heresy of the 15th century, but, defending Orthodoxy, gave a model approach to any non-Orthodox teaching, be it Latins, Protestants, psychics, or any manifestation of a “new religious consciousness”. During prp. Joseph of Volotsky, there was a widespread expectation of the end of the world after the seventh thousand years from the Creation of the world - in 1492. And when this did not happen, heretics did not fail to use this fact in order to fight the Church. To this question, Rev. Joseph also dedicated one of his “Words,” which is still relevant today. Excerpts from the Ninth Word against the heresy of the Novgorod heretics, who say: “Why is there no second coming of Christ, although its time has already come? After all, the apostles wrote that Christ was born in the last years, and already one thousand five hundred years have passed since the birth of Christ, and there is no second coming of Christ, therefore, the writings of the apostles are false. Here are evidences from the Holy Scriptures that the writings of the holy apostles are true, since they were inspired by the Holy Spirit. All Holy Scripture, both Old and New Testament, good, useful and saving, especially the writings of the holy and divine apostles. For the Lord said to them: “You are my friends… for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have told you everything that I have heard from my Father” (John 15:14-15). Therefore, what they spoke, taught and wrote about is true, useful and saving for our souls. And those who do not think so reveal their wickedness and unforgivable madness, the latest form of wickedness, a sign of pride and unbelief. If they had faith with humility, they would agree with what is said in the Holy Scriptures: “The Lord of hosts has determined, and who can cancel it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it away?” (Isaiah 14:27) - and would not dare to particularly inquire about what is silent, and ask about hidden things .... The apostle said: “The Lord is not slow in fulfilling the promise, as some consider it slowness,” that is: the Lord has not yet come to judge, not because he was slow, but because, he says, “he is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perished, but that all should come to repentance.” And the blessed apostle Peter also says: “Count the longsuffering of our Lord Jesus Christ as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you, as he says about this and in all the epistles, in which there is something unintelligible that the ignorant and unestablished, to their own destruction, they transform, as they do the rest of the Scriptures” (see 2 Pet. 3:15–16). And the holy apostle Paul exclaims: “In the last times, hard times will come, for people will be ... bold, arrogant ... more lovers of pleasure than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying its power. Turn away from such” (see: 2 Tim. 3:1, 3–5). And the apostle Peter said, “And you will have false teachers who will bring in destructive heresies” (2 Pet. 2:1). And the divine Apostle Jude, brother of James, says this: “Beloved, remember what was foretold by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They told you that in recent times scoffers will appear... These are people who separate themselves... natural, having no spirit” (Jude 1:17-19). “Therefore, beloved, being forewarned of this, beware lest you be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your own foundation” (2 Pet. 3:17). Such is the care that the divine apostles have for our salvation! How can we, passionate and cursed, dare to say: “Why didn’t God do it the way it seems to us?” We are so darkened by our malice that for the great mercy of the Benefactor we make demands on Him and for the great philanthropy of the Lord we annoy Him and say: “Why did He delay the judgment? Why is His second coming so long?”… Listen also to why the holy apostles said that the Lord was born in the last times. After all, He did not come to earth to be born either in the first thousand or in the second, nor did He come then, when the transgressions of the commandments of God increased and people defiled the earth with murders and blood, adulteries and fornication, from which the Lord brought a flood and destroyed everyone, and only a few were saved. . Nor did He come when people began to make idols and instead of the Creator worshiped the creature. When five thousand five hundred years had passed, the Lord came to save us. That is why the holy apostles said that the Lord was born in the last times. Nowhere in the holy books, neither the apostles, nor the prophets, nor the holy fathers, does it say that the second coming of Christ will be when a thousand or two years have passed after His first coming. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself said in the Holy Gospel: “No one knows, not even the angels in heaven…but only the Father” (Mark 13:32). According to this, the holy prophets and apostles and our holy fathers also wrote. Even if God announced to us in the Holy Scriptures or one of the holy apostles or prophets said that a thousand or two thousand years would pass after the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then there would be a second coming, and if that time had passed, and the second coming would not it would be - and then it is unacceptable to talk about it and question the Creator and Maker of all. For it is characteristic of the philanthropic and soul-loving Lord God Almighty to endure our sins and not to desire our perdition in sins, but to lead all to repentance. So, about Nineveh, He said that the city would perish - and he did not perish, but piety defeated condemnation (Jonah 1, 2; 3:1-10). And he commanded about Hezekiah and told him for his household that he would die and not live (2 Kings 20), and he did not die. And he said about Ahab: “I will bring evil on you,” and he did not bring it on (1 Kings 21). By mentioning this, we do not say that the Lord is lying, but we want to show that the all-good Lord submits to His love for mankind. After all, the Ninevites, being barbarians and not knowing the Holy Scriptures and the fear of God, did not despair about their salvation and did not say: “God commanded, the King established, and how could it be otherwise?” But everyone came to repentance and soon each turned away from his sinful path and from unrighteousness in his deeds, saying: “Who knows, maybe the Lord will have pity, and heed the prayers, and turn away his anger and rage, and we will not perish.” And God saw by their deeds that they turned away from their sinful ways, and the Lord took pity on the misfortunes that He had promised them. When the said three days had passed and Nineveh had not perished, they did not ask the Lord, they did not begin to say that His word had not come true. And we, who are called children of God, holy people, bearing the name of Christ, ask and inquire, saying: “Why is the second coming of Christ delayed, since it is high time for it to be?” O evil and deceitful custom! Because of the great philanthropy of the Lord, we turn out to be His enemies, and because of His incalculable mercy to us, we run away from service. Let not superfluous things be said in the church of God; let the ability to take on faith be glorified; let not that which is not said be asked. If we begin to find out the unknown, then we will perish, like the Ninevites, who after some time forgot the mercy of God and returned to their former evil. And the prophet Nahum was sent to them from God, but they did not believe his sermon, hoping that his prophecy would not come true, just as Ionino did not. See what God's prophet Nahum says about them: Nineveh will perish by sweet waters and by underground fire (cf. Nahum 1:8-10). And so it happened: the lake, located in the vicinity of the city, flooded it, and the fire that came from the desert burned its upper part. By believing the preaching of the prophet Jonah, they were saved; when the preaching of the prophet Nahum was not believed, then they perished completely. And if after Christ's coming five thousand five hundred years have passed, the same as before His coming, and then it would not be allowed to speak and ask about it. After all, you, being a man, do not know your own nature: how you appeared, and how many years your life will last, and what your death will be like. Not knowing yourself, how can you inquire about the Divine?.. As the great Paul said about Abraham and about his obedience: fulfill the promise” (Rom. 4:20–21). And he also says, “The righteous shall live by faith, but if anyone is shaken, my soul is not pleased with him” (Heb. 10:38). After all, brethren, we do not live for a fatal doubt, but for faith that saves the soul: “Faith is the substance of what is hoped for and the certainty of the invisible ... By faith we know that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the visible came from the invisible ... But without faith, please God impossible” (Heb. 11:1, 3, 6). And the apostle also says: “The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful in God to destroy strongholds: with them we cast down thoughts and every high thing that rises up against the knowledge of God, and we bring captive every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:4-5). For it is said by the Holy Spirit: “The Lord is faithful in all His words” (Ps. 144:13), in whatever He commands, or rejects, or promises, or forbids (cf. Deut. 7:9; 32:4; 2 Tim 2:13; Heb 10:23). Reverend Father Joseph Volotsky, pray to God for us! (

The Monk Joseph Volotsky (in the world John Sanin) was born on November 12, 1440 in the village of Yazvische-Pokrovskoye near the town of Voloka Lamsky (now Volokolamsk) into the family of pious parents John and Marina. As a seven-year-old youth, John was given to Arseny, a monk of the Holy Cross Exaltation of the Volokolamsk Monastery, for training.
At the age of twenty, despising worldly fuss, John chose the path of monastic life. With the blessing of the elder of Tverskoy Savvin of the Varsonofy monastery, he retired to Borovsk, to the monastery of the Monk Paphnutius (+ 1478; Comm. 1 May), who tonsured him into monasticism with the name of Joseph.
The tonsure and subsequent monastic deeds of the Monk Joseph gave fertile fruits in the life of his entire family. Soon after the departure of the monk from the world, his father, John, was stricken with a serious illness - he was paralyzed. The Monk Paphnutius immediately received him into his monastery, tonsured him into monasticism with the name Ioannikios, and entrusted the care of his son, who laid him to rest for 15 years, until his death. The Monk Joseph wrote an exhortation to his mother, advising her to choose the monastic rank; she was tonsured at the Vlasiev convent of Volok Lamsky (in the schema Maria). Following their parents, the brothers of St. Joseph also went into monasticism.
Joseph spent eighteen years in obedience to the Monk Paphnutius, carrying out the difficult obediences entrusted to him in the cookery, bakery, and hospital.
Upon the repose of the Monk Paphnutius in 1478, the management of the monastery passed to the Monk Joseph. Desiring to establish a perfect and complete community of brethren, the Monk Joseph undertook a journey to other monasteries in search of the proper dispensation of monastic life. The order that he wished to establish in his brotherhood, the monk found in the Kirillo-Belozersk monastery, where the cenobitic charter, commanded Reverend Cyril. But many of the brethren of the Pafnutevsky monastery refused to accept the strict order of community life, and then the Monk Joseph decided to found a new monastery in a deserted, untouched place. With a few brothers of like mind, he retired to the wasteland near Volok Lamskoy and there he founded a monastery in the image of the monastery of Kirillov. The first temple, in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, was consecrated on August 15, 1479.
Gradually, a multitude of brethren gathered around the spirit-bearing mentor. The monk arranged a strict and perfect community. The charter of the monastery, later set forth by the Monk Joseph (the charter was published in the book: Epistles of Joseph Volotsky. M.-L., 1959. S. 296 - 321.), preserved for us the monastery rules. The basis of life in the monastery was the cutting off of one's own will, complete non-acquisition, unceasing work and prayer. The brethren had everything in common: clothes, shoes, food, drink; without the blessing of the abbot, no one could take a single thing into the cell; no one was to drink or eat separately from others. The food was the simplest, everyone wore thin clothes, there were no locks at the doors of the cells. In addition to the usual monastic rule, each monk performed up to a thousand or more bows a day. They came to the divine service according to the first good news, and everyone in the temple strictly certain place; it was forbidden to move from place to place and talk during the service. In their free time from service, the monks participated in common work or did needlework in their cells. Among other works in the monastery, great attention was paid to the correspondence of liturgical and patristic books. After Compline, all communication between the monks ceased, everyone dispersed to their cells. Mandatory was a nightly confession with the revelation of thoughts to his spiritual father. Most of the night was spent in prayer, with only short periods of sleep indulged in, many sitting or standing. Women and children were strictly forbidden to enter the monastery, and the brethren were not even allowed to talk with them. Obeying this rule, the Monk Joseph himself refused to see his elderly nun mother.
In everything, the Monk Joseph was an example for the brethren: he worked on an equal footing with everyone, spent the nights at prayer, dressed like a beggar. For spiritual guidance to the God-bearing abbot, both simple laity and noble, dignitary persons flocked. In the years of famine, the monastery fed many suffering people.
In a difficult time for the Russian Church, the Lord raised Saint Joseph as a zealous champion of Orthodoxy and a defender of church and state unity in the fight against heresies and church disorders. The Monk Joseph is one of the inspirers of the teaching about Holy Russia as the successor and guardian of the ancient Ecumenical piety: “And just as in ancient times the Russian land surpassed everyone with its wickedness, so now ... it surpassed everyone with piety,” he writes in the opening “Illuminator” “ Sayings". The follower of St. Joseph, Elder Philotheos of the Savior and Eleazar, explained the significance of Russia as the last stronghold of Orthodoxy on earth: “All Christian kingdoms have come to an end and have united in the single kingdom of our Sovereign. According to the prophetic books, this is the Russian Kingdom: for two Romes ( Rome and Constantinople - Ed.) fell, and the third ( Moscow - Ed.) stands, but there will be no fourth ”(See: Malinin. Elder of the Spaso-Eleazarevsky Monastery Filofey and his message. Kyiv, 1901.).
The Monk Joseph reposed in the Lord at the age of 76, on September 9, 1515, shortly before his death, accepting the great schema. The relics of the monk rest under a bushel in the cathedral church of his monastery. The general church veneration of the saint was established in 1591, under Patriarch Job. Many of the disciples and followers of the Monk Joseph Volotsky also entered the ranks of the Russian saints, were archpastors of the Russian Church; the monastery itself became the center of spiritual enlightenment for many centuries (Publication of the Volokolamsk Patericon containing the life of St. Joseph: Theological works. Collection tenth. M., 1973. P. 175 - 222.).
The greatest feat of the Monk Joseph Volotsky was his struggle against the heresy of the Judaizers. Ever since, according to The Tale of Bygone Years, Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir rejected the art of Jewish faith, brought by the Khazar preachers, and Russia was renewed with the grace of Baptism, “the great Russian land remained in the Orthodox faith for 470 years, until the enemy of salvation, the all-sly devil, brought a bad Jew to Veliky Novgorod,” writes St. Joseph in The Illuminator. Assessing the heresy of the Judaizers as the greatest danger that Russia, Russian Orthodoxy, Russian statehood has ever been exposed to, St. Joseph does not exaggerate. This heresy had a truly all-encompassing character: it affected all aspects of the dogma, took possession of the minds of many people of various classes and conditions, penetrated to the very heights of the church and state power, so that both the First Hierarch of the Russian Church and the Grand Duke were affected by it, and unthinkable atrocities were happening in Orthodox Russia, described with sorrow by St. Joseph in the "Illuminator".
But God cannot be mocked, and the events directed by the enemy of the human race to destruction turn around to the glory of God and to salvation. The Monk Joseph writes about the inexpressible wisdom and goodness of God's Providence, about "Divine cunning" in the 4th Word of the "Illuminator"; this power of God's Providence was also manifested in the history of Russia in the victory over the heresy of the Judaizers, a victory inspired by the Spirit of God and led by two luminaries of the Russian Church: St. Gennady of Novgorod (+ 1505, Comm. 4 December) and St. Joseph of Volotsky.
Let us outline the essence and main milestones of this struggle and this victory.
In 1470, the Novgorodians invited the Lithuanian prince Mikhail Olelkovich († 1482) to reign. The Jew Skhariya also arrived from Kyiv in the princely retinue. “And he was an instrument of the devil,” writes St. Joseph, “he was trained in every villainous invention: sorcery and sorcery, astrology and astrology.”
Taking advantage of the weakness of the faith of some clerics, Skhariya, or rather, through his hands, Satan himself, undertook to plant Judaism in the bosom of our church. Skhariya's mission was a success, especially since several other Jews from Lithuania soon arrived to help him.
The seductive danger of destructive heresy lay in its hidden character: it was not an open planting and preaching of the Jewish religion; the transformation of a person who grew up in the Orthodox faith into a heretic who rejects all the foundations of Christianity occurred gradually and imperceptibly.
Among the very first adherents of Skhariya and his teachings were priests, through whom the heresy spread especially destructively and terribly. The first of them was the priest Dionysius, then the Novgorod archpriest Alexy and some others. These priests and the clergy and laity who were corrupted by them, as St. Joseph testifies, “committed such iniquities as the ancient heretics did not commit.”
Outwardly, the adherents of heresy remained Orthodox Christians and retained outward piety. Before people firm in faith, they were strict zealots of Orthodoxy, denounced and cursed false teachings. In secret, they did their bad deeds.
They began by arousing doubt in the faint-hearted and weak-believing in certain passages of Holy Scripture, and above all of the New Testament; they also seduced with the help of the “renounced”, i.e., condemned by the Church books, manuals on the secret sciences and distorted lists of the Holy Scriptures, distributed by them; they also used all the arsenal of Jewish witchcraft and witchcraft available to them in order to seduce inexperienced souls. Step by step, the deluded one came to the fullness of the heretical teaching.
The Judaizers denied the Holy Trinity, blaspheming the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. They rejected the Divinity of the Savior and His Incarnation, did not accept the saving Passion of Christ, did not believe in His glorious Resurrection; they did not recognize the general resurrection of the dead, they denied the Second glorious Coming of Christ and His Last Judgment. They did not recognize the Holy Spirit as the Divine hypostasis.
Heretics rejected the apostolic and patristic writings and all Christian dogmas, taught to observe the law of Moses, keep the Sabbath and celebrate the Jewish Passover. They denied church institutions: sacraments, hierarchy, fasts, holidays, temples, icon veneration, all sacred objects, services and rituals. They especially hated and blasphemed monasticism.
The Judaizers cursed the Holy Cross, holy icons and relics, committing atrocities over them, unimaginable for a person who grew up in Orthodox Russia. According to the testimony of the "Illuminator", mocking the shrines, they said: "We abuse these icons, as the Jews abused Christ."
The continuation of this mockery of everything holy was fornication and depravity. Judaizing priests performed Divine Liturgy having eaten and drunk, after fornication, they blasphemously swore at the Holy Body and the Precious Blood of Christ and committed other desecrations, about which, according to St. Joseph, “one cannot even write about.”
The heresy of Judaism was an irreconcilable and at the same time hidden denial of the foundations of Christianity. This negation was its meaning and content. That is why it is easy to find in it not only a clearly readable Jewish basis, but also numerous echoes with the most diverse anti-Church and anti-Christian teachings.
In the strict sense - and St. Joseph especially emphasizes this - the "heresy of the Judaizers" was not a heresy, that is, an arbitrary distortion of Christian truth, but apostasy - a complete denial of Christianity and the complete opposite of it; the fact that this denial was not clearly and openly declared only increased the danger.
When the Jews, the instigators of heresy, became convinced that the cause of destruction Orthodox faith thanks to the zeal of the new converts, they became on a solid foundation, they left the Russian land. Their disciples continued their criminal work. In 1480, Grand Duke Ivan III visited Veliky Novgorod, where he heard about the "piety and wisdom" of the two main heretics, Dionysius and Alexy; as a result, both were taken to priestly service in the Moscow Kremlin: Alexy - the archpriest in the Assumption Cathedral, and Dionysius - a priest in the Arkhangelsk. Thus the heresy penetrated into the heart of Russian Orthodoxy. From here, both priests, who appeared in public as meek, righteous, temperate, widely spread pernicious false teaching and acquired zealous like-minded people and accomplices among the closest circle of the Grand Duke. Among them were: the Duma clerk Fedor Kuritsyn, who was especially close to the Grand Duke, and his brother Wolf, the daughter-in-law of John III, the Moldavian Elena, Archimandrite Zosima of the Simonov Monastery, and many others. More favorable conditions for the spread of heresy could not be imagined.
The pernicious false doctrine, spreading rapidly, at the same time remained hidden from the spiritual and worldly authorities for a long time: after all, the secret nature of confession, false oaths, denial, hypocrisy were the principal methods of heretics.
By Divine Providence, heretical wickedness was revealed only when, on the cathedra of Veliky Novgorod, which became the cradle of heresy, the Lord raised up the great champion of Orthodoxy, His Grace Gennady (ordained archbishop of Veliky Novgorod on December 12, 1484).
In 1487, 17 years after the beginning of the heresy, drunken heretics in Novgorod, having desecrated holy icons, revealed their wickedness before the Orthodox. Archbishop Gennady initiated a search and, having caught several heretics, reported them and the new heresy to the Grand Duke; soon the heretics fled to Moscow, where they had powerful patrons. Thanks to the efforts of St. Gennady, the fugitives were still found and punished - beaten with a whip. Saint Gennady zealously engaged in the search for heretics and the eradication of heresy. The newly found Judaizers, if they repented, he subjected to penance, while the stubborn ones he sent for punishment to the civil authorities. In the fight against heresy, St. Gennady sought the advice of learned elders - Reverend Nile Sorsky († 1508, commemorated April 7) and Paisius Yaroslavov (later, in 1490, they participated in the Council against heretics), searched the monasteries for books needed to combat the Jews, distributed in society writings that defended the Orthodox faith and the Church from attacks by heretics (Many documents relating to the heresy of the Judaizers, including the letters of St. Gennady, are published in the book: N. A. Kazakova, Y. S. Lurie. Anti-feudal heretical movements in Russia in the XIV - early XVI century. M.-L. , 1955.).
In Novgorod the heretics subdued; however, the requests for the final condemnation of the Judaizers, sent by the saint to Moscow, did not find a response: the heretics, as before, found patronage there. In 1490, after the death of Metropolitan Gerontius († 1489), Archimandrite Zosima of Simonov, a secret follower of the Judaizers, was appointed to the primatial chair. Now a heretic stood at the head of the Russian Church. The danger for Russia was mortal.
In October 1490, Saint Gennady sent an anti-heretical letter to the Metropolitan, and then a letter to the Rostov, Suzdal, Tver and Perm bishops, urging them to demand the urgent convening of a Council and the most severe trial of heretics: “They should not be punished on an equal footing with obvious heretics: people are afraid of an obvious heretic, but how can you protect yourself from these? After all, they call themselves Christians and will not convict themselves before a reasonable person, but they will eat a fool. For this they deserve a double execution and a curse. As for faith, we are commanded neither to add nor subtract, according to the apostle: “But even if we or an angel from heaven began to preach to you not what we preached to you, let him be anathema” (Gal. 1, 8). Yes, and our people are simple, they don’t even know how to talk about ordinary books - so it’s better not to produce any debate about faith with them. A cathedral must be made only in order to execute heretics - burn and hang! After all, the heretics brought me complete repentance, took penance - and, leaving everything, fled. And it is necessary to thoroughly find out from them whom they have deceived - otherwise, although they are eradicated, the branches will remain. Don't make a mistake, stand strong so that God's wrath does not turn on us as people-pleasers who betray Christ along with Judas! After all, they prick icons, cut them, scold Christ - and we please them and act according to their will. They definitely need to be punished and cursed.”
Soon, in the same month, at the general request of the clergy, the Cathedral was opened. The heretics were condemned and cursed, some were sent to prison, while others were sent to Novgorod to Archbishop Gennady for punishment (the punishment they were subjected to is described in the Illuminator). However, this heresy was not broken and continued to spread: after all, there was a heretic on the Russian primatial throne, and at the grand ducal court, the Judaizers retained their former positions.
The audacity of the heretics especially intensified at the end of the seventh millennium from the creation of the world (1492), when many superstitiously expected the end of time. The Judaizers began to mock the Orthodox: “Seven thousand years have passed and your Paschal has ended, why didn’t Christ appear in glory, according to your expectations?” In order to bring peace to the minds, the Council of 1492 decided to write the Paschalia for the eighth thousand years, which was done by St. Gennady.
At this time (about 1493), at the call of the Novgorod hierarch to fight the Jews, with all the strength of fiery faith and zeal for the Lord, the Monk Joseph Volotsky arose. He saw that St. Gennady's appeals to the supreme authorities to eradicate heresy did not achieve results, and he took a different path: he turned to bishops, monks, and pious laity with an appeal to resist the intruders, "to suffer for Christ and for the Most Pure Mother of God." To Bishop Nifont of Suzdal, calling him “the head of all,” since he could not consider the heretic Zosima the head of the Russian Church, St. Joseph writes: “... On the throne of the miracle workers Peter and Alexy and other great Orthodox saints now sits a nasty vicious wolf, dressed in pastoral clothes, the rank of a saint, and Judas is a traitor in deeds, a partaker of demons ... which did not happen even among the ancient heretics and apostates ... If this second Judas is not eradicated, little by little apostasy will take possession of everyone people..."
The voice of St. Joseph did not remain alone, Bishop Nifont and other archpastors supported him, and on May 17, 1494, Zosima was forced to leave the primatial throne. But, despite this, the influence of the Judaizers still permeated all layers of the court nobility.
Meanwhile, Saint Gennady devoted much of his energy to caring for the enlightenment of his flock; this task acquired particular importance in connection with the corrupting influence of the Judaisers on the minds. Enlightened shepherds were needed to combat heresies and to establish Orthodoxy, and Novgorod saint He was the first to talk about the need to establish schools for the clergy. But the main educational feat of St. Gennady, of course, was the creation of the first complete Russian translation inspired by him. bible books, which remained in the history of Russian culture under the name of the Gennadiev Bible (The publication of the Gennadiev Bible of 1499 was started by the Publishing Department of the Moscow Patriarchate.). Prior to this, in Russia there was no complete set of books of Holy Scripture, while, as St. Gennady notes in an epistle to Joasaph of Rostov, the Judaizers used distorted lists. Undoubtedly, in the accomplishment of a grandiose work - bringing together correct lists of Holy Scripture and translating the missing books of the Bible into Church Slavonic from ancient intact texts - it was precisely the fight against the heresy of the Judaizers that played a providential role.
Another fruit of the same struggle, which still retains unfading significance for the Russian Church and Russian culture, is the work of the Monk Joseph Volotsky, who later received the surprisingly accurate name “Illuminator” that was forever attached to him and surprisingly accurate. As once the holy fathers and teachers of the ancient Ecumenical Church, opposing heresies and protecting the flock from the corrupting influence of the God-fighting forces, expounded the dogmas of Orthodoxy, so Saint Joseph was proclaimed by God to resist the false teaching of the new Christ-haters-Judaizers and to compile the first Russian code Orthodox theology. Refuting the Judaizers, the Monk Joseph touched upon all the most important aspects of the doctrine. The Illuminator collected into a single whole, subordinate to a common polemical task, fragments of Holy Scripture and patristic writings, episodes from the lives of the saints and from the history of the Church. Long life"Illuminator", which never became a "forgotten book" and has come down to us in many lovingly executed lists, testifies to the correctness of the author, who is convinced that in this book "everyone, with the help of God's grace, will easily find everything necessary to denounce heretics" ; The Illuminator served this purpose for almost five hundred years, and it can serve it even now, in a new Russian translation.
The inflexible courage, steadfastness, and fidelity to the dogmas of Orthodoxy, shown by St. Gennady, St. Joseph, the faithful archpastors, pastors, monks and laity of the Russian Church in the battle against the Judaizing heretics, bore fruit. The triumph of the heretics, by the grace of God, did not last long. The political balance of power changed after the coolness of the Grand Duke towards his daughter-in-law Elena Stefanovna and grandson Dimitry, who were involved in heresy, his reconciliation with his wife Sophia Fominichnaya in 1499 and the removal from the political scene after 1500 of Fyodor Kuritsyn, who, holding an important state post, euthanized vigilance of the sovereign with assurances that there is no Jewishness, but only “innocent” guessing of fate from the stars. In 1503, John III repented of his former weakness towards heretics and asked the clergy for forgiveness. In a letter to Archimandrite Mitrofan of Andronikov, the Monk Joseph tells how he answered the request of the Grand Duke for forgiveness: “Sire! Should I forgive you?.. If you move against the current heretics, then God will forgive you for the former ones.”
At the end of 1504 a new council was convened against the heretics. The Monk Joseph was their main accuser. The fiery, imbued with the power of the Word of God and patristic writings, the word of the saint completely exposed and refuted the Judaizers. The Grand Dukes - John III and his son Vasily Ioannovich - "with their father, Metropolitan Simon, searched the heretics and ordered the evil ones to be executed by death."
The Council of 1504 decided to anathematize heretics in the rank of the Triumph of Orthodoxy. In the order of the Week of Orthodoxy of the Trinity Book from the Kremlin Assumption Cathedral (XV-XVIII centuries) there is such a curse: archimandrite of the Yuriev Monastery, Ivashko Maksimov, Nekras Rukavov, Volk Kuritsyn, Mitya Konoplev and their heresy rulers in the Russian land, and all their champions and adherents, and debauchees of the Orthodox faith of Christianity, may they be damned.
Our Church, now disturbed by heretics and torn apart by schismatics, needs a firm weapon against them. Such a weapon is the word of the Monk Joseph Volotsky, who in his “Illuminator” not only exposed a specific heresy of the 15th century, but, defending Orthodoxy, gave a model approach to any non-Orthodox teaching, whether it would be Latins, Protestants, psychics, or any manifestation of a “new religious consciousness."
In conclusion, we will cite excerpts from the handwritten prefaces to the “Illuminator” of the 17th century: “Some of the teachings of this reverend in this book are offered, like a source of truly spiritual graces filled even to the outpouring, and like food then will make us drink from his teachings ... Like theology and dogma the former holy fathers of the seven ecumenical councils to test and dangerously raise and all heresies, rather expose and eradicate, and cut all heretics with a spiritual sword, which is the word of God, and offer a wonderful and soul-beneficial many moral teachings. "... And if someone reads with attention, they have to use a lot, the essence is very pleasant, because the truth will be revealed in them from the divine writings of the prophets and gospels and all the charm of the Jews and all the godless heretics of vainglory will be exposed."
Holy Father Joseph, pray to God for us!

“AND CURSE AND HURT THEM...”

First of all, let us clarify the words of the divine Chrysostom, who says: “One should not hate any person and do evil to him, even if he is an impious or a heretic.” Speaking in this way, the great Chrysostom testifies that this should be done as long as we do not receive spiritual harm from such people. After all, so do the shepherds: while the animals do not bother them, they, lying down under an oak or under a cedar, play the flute, leaving the sheep to graze in the wild; when they feel the approach of the wolves, they immediately throw away the pipe, grab the sling, and, forgetting about the flute, arm themselves with a drecollet and stones...
This is how we should do it. If the shepherds see an infidel or a heretic who does not bring any spiritual harm to the faithful, then let them instruct them with humility and meekness. But if they see that the accursed heretics, who are wickeder than any wolves, want to destroy Christ's flock and corrupt it with heretical Jewish teachings, then it is fitting for them to show every kind of zeal and care so that not a single lamb from Christ's flock is stolen by wild beasts... Then it is fitting not only to hate or condemn them, but also to curse and inflict wounds on them, thereby sanctifying one's hand.
Thus St. Chrysostom commands us: “If you hear that someone blasphemes the master of Christ, come and forbid. If you have to beat him, do not turn away - hit him on the cheek, crush his mouth, sanctify your hand with a wound. Let the Jews and the filthy heretics know that Christians are the saviors of the state, builders, intercessors and teachers. Let the unbridled and depraved Jews and heretics know that it is fitting for them to fear God's servants. Even if they ever want to say something unsimilar, let them tremble and be frightened as soon as they hear Christians… Just as we cannot be satisfied with love for Christ, so we cannot be satisfied with hatred for His enemy. For He Himself says: “Whoever is not with Me is against Me” (Matthew 12:30)...
That is how we should do it. Since the heretics who have appeared now have brought such harm to the soul and harm, and have lured so many Orthodox into Judaism that one cannot count, let every Orthodox try to recognize and eradicate their craftiness, so that in this way we become partakers of the Kingdom of Heaven.

“SUBJECT TO CUT OFF THE HEAD...”

Let's also talk about other words of the same great church teacher, St. John Chrysostom: "We should not kill heretics, because if we killed heretics, then there would be an unceasing war in the universe." The saint says this about bishops, priests, monks, and about the entire church clergy, and not about kings or princes or earthly judges. The holy apostles speak of kings, princes and judges - that they received power from the Lord God to punish criminals and encourage those who do good.
It may be said that the holy apostles and venerable fathers commanded the rulers to punish murderers, adulterers, those engaged in theft, robbery, and heretics and apostates have nothing to do with it. But in the sacred rules (Nomocanon, Syntagma - “RP”), relating to civil laws, it is said about infidels and heretics as follows: those who were honored with holy Baptism, but apostatized from the Orthodox faith and became heretics, are subject to the death penalty. If a Jew dares to corrupt Christian faith, to be cut off the head. But if the heretics, who have become Christians, then begin again to act and reason heretically, let them be beheaded by the sword. If any voivode or head of the community finds out about a heretic and does not bring him to justice, even if the head himself is Orthodox, he is subject to the death penalty.
But if anyone says: “These are civil laws, and not apostolic or patristic writings,” let him hear reverend father our Nikon, who says so in his inspired writings: “The Holy Worshiping Spirit inspired the divine fathers at the holy Councils, and they established the divine rules—they set forth the divine laws inspired by the Holy Spirit... However, the divine rules were mixed with civil laws and definitions from ancient times. This is how the book Nomocanon, that is, the rules of the law, arose.
This book, in which the divine rules, the commandments of the Lord and the sayings of the holy fathers were mixed with civil laws, was compiled not by chance, but according to God's Providence ... So who dares to divide and blaspheme what was received from the Holy Spirit and the holy fathers and combined at all Holy Scripture?”. And the great John Chrysostom writes: “The will of insane people who commit mortal sins and destroy soul and body is curbed by royal court and civil laws.”
The great among the prophets, Elijah, cut four hundred people with his sword with his hand (1 Kings 18). And the holy Apostle Paul blinded Ellima the sorcerer with a word. Following these divine prophetic and apostolic writings and traditions, the most pious Orthodox tsars and saints sent heretics and apostates into captivity and handed them over to cruel executions.
First great king Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine, established a law throughout his kingdom that those who do not believe in the Holy and Life-Giving Trinity must die the most evil death, and their houses are given over to plunder. And the holy fathers of the First Ecumenical Council didn't ban it.
Saint Alexander, Patriarch of Constantinople, by his prayer made Arius's womb burst open. According to the word of the great wonderworker Epiphanius of Cyprus, the heretic Aetius became dumb, and on the seventh day he was put to death. The pious Tsar Marcian condemned to death the heretic Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria, and did not cut him off with a sword, but sent him to the island of As, where no one could live even a year: everyone died a fierce death under the influence of deadly winds. Here both Dioscorus and all his like-minded people gave up their spirits in terrible torment. And after all, the holy fathers of the Fourth Ecumenical Council did not prevent this.
The pious king Justinian and Tiberius cut off the head of the eparch Addus and the governor Eleutherius, champions of heresy. And the great wonderworker Eutyches, Patriarch of Constantinople, did not interfere with this. The great king Heraclius commanded to kill Jews who did not want to be baptized, and many patriarchs, saints and saints who lived at that time did not interfere with him ...
The holy prophets and righteous men of the Old Testament put some who apostatized from God to death with prayer and grace given to them from God, others were killed with weapons and given over to cruel executions, - in the New Testament, the holy apostles, divine hierarchs and reverend and God-bearing fathers did not kill heretics and apostates with weapons , but they put them to death and cruel executions with their prayers and the power given to them from the all-powerful and life-giving Spirit.

“ALL SHOULD CONDEMN AND CURSE THE HERETICS AND ATTENDANTS...”

Now let's talk about another heretical opinion: if, they say, it is appropriate to judge or condemn heretics or apostates, then it is appropriate for kings, princes, saints and worldly judges, and not for monks who have renounced the world and everything that is in the world, and who should only listen to themselves and not condemn anyone - neither a heretic nor an apostate.
To this we will answer the following.
If it is not fitting for monks to condemn either a heretic or an apostate, then how did Anthony the Great condemn them? After all, he said that the words of heretics are more terrible than the venom of a snake... Also, Macarius the Great came out of the desert in order to condemn the heretic and stop his heresy, which he did (see the lives of the saints for January 19, old style - “RP” ). And the Monk Ephraim the Syrian (January 28 - “RP”), having heard that the heretical philosophies of Appolinarius were multiplying, left the desert and came to Constantinople, and not only condemned Appolinarius, but also put him to an evil death with his prudent art.
The marvelous Isaac of Dalmatia (May 30 - “RP”) settled in the desert from his very infancy, but when he heard that Valens was spreading Aryan heresy, he came to Byzantium, and not only condemned Valens, but also put him on fire ...
Also princes, governors, and ordinary people, men and women - all Orthodox Christians - together with saints and priests, condemned heretics. Thus, it is absolutely clear and understandable in truth that it is fitting for all Christians to condemn and curse heretics and apostates, and it is fitting for kings, princes and worldly judges to send them into prison and hand them over to cruel executions.
Glory to our God now, always and forever and ever. Amen.

From the editor:

For zealous but unreasonable Christians, we repeat that if you are not a prophet - the chosen one of God, not a king and not a saint, whom the very office obliges to curb wickedness, then the acquisition of insatiable love for Christ, according to St. Joseph, must precede your entry into the field of violent struggle against heretics, as against His enemies.
So, if anyone feels in his heart that he has improved, by the grace of God, this precious treasure, more valuable than the whole universe, let him dare, with the help of the grace that dwells in him, for any feat. If not, let him beware of taking on a task that exceeds his weak strength, and pray to God with a humble repentant prayer, with firm faith that the Lord is strong to turn our current weakness into strength, to revive the Orthodox Russian State and crush all His enemies under our feet. This and wake up, wake up! Amen.
In the meantime, for all of us - despite our countless sins and passions - only one weapon is available: the verb of the truth of God, which is a double-edged sword for both external heretics and internal apostates. Let's learn how to use this weapon correctly, and there, God willing, the rest will not be the case.

Students of Nil Sorsky condemned heresy. But, exposing heretical delusions, they were tolerant of heretics, tried to convince them and re-educate them. They rejected the methods of testing the faith, scourging and burning heretics, which were alien in Russia, and considered it possible to return the repentant to the bosom of the Church.

Position nonpossessors affirmed a truly Christian approach and Russian Orthodox traditions. “The elders of the Kirillov Monastery, who argued with the message of Joseph Volotsky about the condemnation of heretics, were not liberals. Before us are not the ideologists of tolerance, but the prophets of God's love, incomprehensible to reason; they teach not "tolerance" but patience- patience with evil, for they do not doubt at all that heresy is a real evil. Let heretics be no better than robbers; but Christ forgave even the thief. They are not closer to rationalism, but farther from it than the Josephites. Against the Old Testament logic of Joseph, they appeal to the paradoxes of the New Testament. Their argument is the transcendent readiness of the Apostle Paul to accept the curse himself, if only to ask for forgiveness for the unbelieving Jews (Romans 9:3): them, so that they may be burned by fire, or the earth may be consumed, but this could come from God”… The opponents of Josephism defended not the right to dissent, but the radically understood evangelical ban on judging and condemning. This is a different topic than freedom of thought. on what to base the life of people together - on a “thunderstorm”, on a steep constructive will that knows no boundaries, or on long-suffering that also knows no boundaries”(S.S. Averintsev).

Joseph Volotsky demanded death for heretics (“Slay the sinner and the heretic with your hands, or eat alone with prayer”), excommunication from the Church and life imprisonment for penitents, for one cannot believe their repentance: “It is fitting for a heretic and an apostate not only to condemn, but also to curse, as a king, and a prince, and a judge, it is fitting to send them to prison, and betray them with a fierce execution”.

He convinced Ivan III of the danger of forgiving heretics and forced them to cruel persecution. At his instigation, the prince commanded: “Cut tongues with them, betray others to fire”. Heretics were burned alive in iron cages. Joseph Volotsky demanded the death penalty not only for heretics, but also for those who did not inform on them: “... even if they are true believers themselves, and when they see heretics or apostates, and do not betray the judges, they will raise the final torment”. The position of the disciples of the Monk Nil corresponded to the traditions of Russian piety, and the Monk Joseph introduced the principles of the Catholic Inquisition into Russia.

In The Enlightener, Joseph Volotsky gives an "Orthodox justification" for the death penalty of heretics. He sees it as a manifestation "fidelity to God and His Most Pure Mother", for the death penalty is soul-saving for heretics, as it reduces their guilt before God. His argument combines psychological subtlety with spiritual deceit: death from the direct judgment of God is much more terrible and bitter than death. from weapons- as a result of human violence; the death penalty is spiritually beneficial, as it protects the executed from the more terrible - Divine wrath. Such a "justification" was alien to the spirit of Orthodoxy and Christian mercy, but was akin to the casuistry of the European Inquisition. « Such a victory over the heretics was the beginning of a painful schism in the religious mind about Orthodox Society"(G.P. Fedotov)

· Consequences of the persecution of nonpossessors and Maxim the Greek.

The question of the attitude towards heretics became fatal in the fate of the Russian Church. Many persecuted Judaizers found shelter in sketes Trans-Volga elders. The disciples of Nil Sorsky did not approve of their views, but they could not persecute them, let alone execute them.

As a result brutal persecution fell on the harborers of heretics - on the Trans-Volga sketes, which led to the extermination of the tradition non-possessiveness in Russia. Josephism unleashed the hands of non-Christian methods of combating heresies, and also subjected its Orthodox opponents to persecution.

Not only the disciples of St. Nil were persecuted. Josephites unjustly condemned to eternal Maksim Grek's conclusion, which together with nonpossessors defended the principles spiritual doing and educational activities which contributed to the development in Russia Orthodox culture who died in Byzantium. "He brought the art of philological analysis, philosophical dialogue, theological hermeneutics"(M.N. Gromov). The Christian universalism of Maximus the Greek was a correlate of the nationalist bias. The persecution of him led to the destruction of the truly Orthodox tradition.

· Unpreparedness of the clergy for a religious dispute with heretics.

· Violence does not eradicate heresies.

· Anti-Christianity of violence.

The attitude towards heretics revealed the difference between money-grubbers and nonpossessors in relation to heresy itself, as well as to the problems that heresy exposes and poses. heresy founder Judaizers Shariya led the Novgorod priests Dionysius and Alexander into temptation, asking them questions about the basic truths of Christianity:

1. How is it possible to imagine and admit that God Himself came down to earth and became incarnate?

2. Old Testament says that God is one. How can one accept the New Testament, which states that God is trinity?

3. The apostles wrote that Christ was born in the last years, and meanwhile there is still no second coming: is it not clear that their writings are false?

The questions shocked the priests and forced them to renounce Orthodoxy, which spoke of their inability to comprehend life in a Christian way.

Such questions could not arise in the Josephite consciousness, which did not cover the spheres where the main religious problems could be raised and solved.

There are three possible answers to theological questions:

1) orthodox,

2) heretical

3) either obscurantist-dogmatic - apparently Orthodox.

• “From the dangers of thought one cannot hide in prohibitions, but only in creativity”(Arch. George Florovsky). Ascetic-mystical non-possessiveness could raise ultimate religious questions and find genuinely Orthodox answers to them. It showed theological interest rooted in the patristic tradition.

• The formulation of theological problems and the search for an answer to them were a form of spiritual education: a true answer to an existential question requires a transition to a higher spiritual and mental level in relation to the one on which it was formulated. The answer at the level of the formulation of the question primitivizes, rationalizes and naturalizes the problem, which is fraught with heretical extremes. This happened to the Novgorod priests and to those to whom they offered "stumbling blocks." Formally and naturalistically, it is impossible to imagine the fusion and inseparability of the Divine and the human in Christ, the Unity and Trinity of the Divine. In a primitive worldview, one of the sides of the antinomy has to be abandoned.

• heretical logic is born in a theologically inexperienced mind at an unexpected encounter with the foundations of faith.

Non-acquisitiveness brought up the spiritual and mental stamina of a Christian.

The inert consciousness of Josephism blocks the transition to a higher level, which is required to answer the theological question. Dogmatism defends itself against such questions by forbidding them, declaring them heretical.. It creates mechanism of provoking heresy by dogmatism .

The dogmatic consciousness either itself falls into heresy, or it strengthens itself in obscurantism and responds with fire. Thus dogmatism and hereticism reinforce each other. Dogmatism brings covert rationalist heresy, which is exposed upon collision with spiritual temptations. Dogmatism potentially heretical, because he does not realize, and therefore does not recognize some of the foundations of the dogma.

Statement of a new religious problem not in itself sinful.

The temptation is that religious energy is concentrated on a particular question, that a radical answer excludes a holistic consideration, and a false problem obscures the most important thing in religious life. Both the heretics and their furious persecutors found themselves in these fetters.

The heretical temptation was replaced by the temptation of an outwardly Orthodox response. Painful spiritual swings had a devastating effect on religious consciousness people.

Heretical extremes could not be balanced by extreme methods of dealing with it: extermination strigolnikov and Judaizers did not lead to the eradication of the temptations generated by them. Religious indifference, rationalistic skepticism, the materialistic ideas of these heresies were not outlived in the Orthodox consciousness, they were driven underground and aggressively spilled out under suitable conditions.

Josephism did not overcome heretical temptations, it turned an acute form of spiritual illness into a chronic one. Heretical judgments over time took possession of the minds and formed into a non-religious ideology. The fact that the theological problem was thought of only in heretical form speaks of stagnation of religious consciousness.

Cross and fire, or what's next?

Pavel Morozov

Not so long ago, an event took place in our city, which was immediately dubbed by the press as the most grandiose and epochal - I'm talking about the opening of the Transfiguration Cathedral.

The cathedral is really beautiful and majestic. Undoubtedly, it will become one of the attractions of Tolyatti and will enjoy the patronage of the city authorities and businessmen, whose representation at the opening was very solid. As a religious building, the cathedral does not interest me, and, perhaps, I would just put down the newspaper. But my gaze lingered on the phrase of the Archbishop of Samara and Syzran Sergius - about the spark of goodness that can flare up into the fire of faith "among the vanity, sins and falls." I do not presume to judge what kind of fire the archbishop was talking about, but I suddenly remembered another "fire of faith", which had already flared up more than once in Russia. This fire also carried cleansing from sins, only it stank of scorched human flesh:

At the end of the XIV century, various heresies began to spread in Russia. This was partly facilitated by violent disputes over church issues, in particular, in relation to church property and the pious lifestyle of the clergy, which did not contribute to the growth of the authority of the church. Igumen of the Volotsk Monastery Joseph, whom we will talk about in the future, noted with displeasure: "now in houses and on the roads and in the markets, monks and worldly people and everyone doubt, everyone tortures in faith."

In their spirit, Russian heresies were similar to heretical movements in Europe, their followers denied icon veneration, did not recognize the trinity of God, considered church land ownership unacceptable, and church organization that did not comply with the gospel principles of equality, etc. Heretics, "well-read and bookish people", studied the sciences, in particular, astronomy, which was also blamed on them as being engaged in cabalism and witchcraft.

Such was the so-called heresy of the "Judaizers", which originated in Novgorod and spread to Moscow (though there was nothing similar to Judaism in the teachings of the heretics). The teaching of the "Jewish" apparently was so convincing that even Grand Duke John III, perhaps partly from the desire to secularize (alienate) church lands.

The first who fought in the fight against the "Judaizers" was Archbishop Gennady Gonozov of Novgorod. “Look what a fortress they hold according to their faith; the Caesar’s ambassador told me about the Spanish king, how he cleared his land!” Gennady wrote to the then Metropolitan Zosima, reproaching him for insufficiently persecuting heretics and citing as an example none other than Spanish inquisitor Thomas Torquemada, who destroyed more than 8 thousand people in the name of God!

But the Novgorod ruler did not happen to become the Russian Grand Inquisitor. A council convened at his request (“Our people are simple, they don’t know how to speak from ordinary books, so it’s better not to make any speeches about faith, only for this purpose to create a council in order to execute heretics, burn and hang them,” Gennady appealed to the Russian bishops ) only betrayed the heretics to a curse, but did not condemn them to execution. The metropolitan at that time was Zosima, who sympathized with the "Jewish", and therefore Gennady was not invited to the cathedral. The voices of the Trans-Volga non-acquisitive elders Nil Sorsky and Paisius were also strong, who, in their spiritual direction, could not show sympathy for bonfires and executions. And most importantly, Grand Duke John III also did not want bloodshed.

"Zhidovinov" was convicted and sent to Novgorod, to Gennady. The heretics were met 40 miles from the city and a typical inquisitorial procedure was applied to them: they put them on horses backwards (in Spain they put them on donkeys, but there were no donkeys in Novgorod), they put birch bark "demonic" caps with horns on their heads, and on each chest hung the inscription: "This is Satan's army." In this form, the heretics were brought into the city, where they were subjected to public disgrace. Then the birch bark helmets were burned right on the heads of the convicts (the Archbishop of Novgorod turned out to be an inventive person). Two of them - the black Zakhar and the priest Denis - soon lost their minds because of this and died.

However, "the shame of heresy was not weakened." Moreover, soon "heretical" ideas once again prevailed over official church ones. The year 1492 has passed, which ended the seventh thousand years "from the creation of the world." They expected the end of the world and the second coming of Christ - after all, even Paschalia was calculated only until now. But the end of the world has not come. The authority of the church was greatly shaken, among part thinking people doubts began to arise doomsday, afterlife, the end of the world. Even Metropolitan Zosima is credited with the following judgment: "What about the kingdom of heaven? What about the second coming? And what about the resurrection of the dead? There's nothing to it! Whoever died, then died, that's where he was!"

Gennady, continuing the fight against heresy and Zosima, whom he himself accused of heretical views, found Joseph, hegumen of Volotsky (later canonized as an Orthodox saint), as an associate. Joseph Volotsky, a passionate preacher, urged John to condemn the heretics and sharply opposed Zosima: "an evil wolf in pastoral clothes, Judas the Betrayer, a communicant of demons, a villain, which was not among the ancient heretics and apostates:"

Zosima was forced to give up the chair, but a few years later Gennady himself lost his place. Joseph alone continued their common work. In late 1504, he persuaded the aging John III to convene a council and condemn the heretics. "Is it not a sin to execute heretics?" - asked the Grand Duke. "Whoever rejects the Law of Moses, he will die before two witnesses. How much more so he who tramples on the Son of God and reproaches the grace of the Holy Spirit!" - Joseph answered with a quote from the Apostle Paul.

The council, headed by Metropolitan Simon, an associate of Joseph Volotsky, condemned the "Judaizers." John III proposed to send heretics to eternal imprisonment. But Iosif Volotsky denounced and demanded to be burned: "It is fitting not only to condemn, but also to deliver cruel executions, and, moreover, not only heretics and apostates: the Orthodox themselves, who learned about heretics or apostates, but did not betray them to judges, are subject to the death penalty." The non-acquisitive elders opposed such cruelty (later they will remember it): “You say: Peter the Apostle Simon the sorcerer struck with a prayer: make yourself, Mr. Joseph, a prayer so that the earth devours unworthy heretics or sinners!”. "It's the same thing - to put to death with the help of a prayer or to kill the guilty with the help of a weapon," Volotsky answered in his "Illuminator" (however, the future "saint" himself clearly preferred to strike with a weapon). - "It is absolutely clear and understandable indeed to all people, that both saints, and priests, and monks, and ordinary people"It is fitting for all Christians to condemn and curse heretics and apostates, and it is fitting for kings, princes and worldly judges to send them into captivity and subject them to cruel executions."

The condemned repented, but Joseph urged not to pay attention to their repentance and demanded death. An excellent orator (“Joseph had purity in his tongue and quickness in his eyes, and sweetness in his voice and tenderness in reading: no one else appeared anywhere in those days”), Joseph convinced the cathedral to make the decision he needed.

Three heretics were burned in a wooden cage on December 28 in Moscow. Many were sent to Novgorod, where they were also burned. Burned alive, of course. Some had their tongues cut out before execution. Less guilty were exiled to prisons or monasteries. Joseph vehemently opposed this: “By this, you, sovereign, do good to the laity, and death to the monks,” grumbled and demanded the execution of everyone.

Even the followers of Joseph Volotsky called these executions terrible. And the God-fearing Karamzin, apparently embarrassed by this fact, considered it necessary to make a reservation: "This cruelty can rather be justified by politics than by the Christian faith, so heavenly-philanthropic that it does not resort to the sword in any case: ". The well-known Russian historian simply did not read the "Illuminator" by Joseph Volotsky, where he, with quotes from divinely inspired books, relying on the authorities of the Orthodox faith, proves the need for murder in the name of God: "If someone kills by the will of God, murder is better than any philanthropy. If someone will show mercy, out of philanthropy, but contrary to the will of God - this mercy is more unworthy of any murder.

But even after the terrible execution, free-thinking thoughts among the people continued to arise, and disputes between Joseph and the brethren and the Trans-Volga non-acquisitive elders did not stop. The disagreements that arose between them about the ownership of land by monasteries have long escalated into a confrontation. After the death of Nil Sorsky, his student Vassian Patrikeyev defended the views of the teacher, sharply arguing with Joseph Volotsky and his followers both on the issue of acquisitiveness of monasteries (“it is not fitting for monks to get rich and hold land, they have renounced everything”), and in relation to heretics, especially repentant. The non-possessors had no desire to carry out spiritual judgment and accepted everyone who came to their sketes. Of course, the "Osiflyans" remembered this to them.

Already after the death of Joseph Volotsky, during the reign of Vasily III, Vassian had to pay for all his controversial writings, for all the bold speeches uttered ten or even twenty years ago. Metropolitan Daniel, Joseph's disciple and successor as abbess, who served the worldly ruler in everything, was Bassian's accuser and judge. Vassian was convicted and imprisoned not just anywhere, but in the Joseph Volokolamsk Monastery, and soon died in captivity.

Before Bassian, the famous Maximus the Greek was condemned, summoned by John III to correct sacred books. Maxim also reproached the monasteries for covetousness, and, while editing the Pilot Book (a collection of church laws), pointed out, for example, that the phrase "arable land and vineyards" had previously been erroneously translated into Russian as "villages with peasants." And although Maxim, like Joseph, believed that heretics should be executed, he himself was accused of heresy, of "corruption" divine books, in "blasphemy against the Holy Mother of God" and exiled to prison, where he spent more than 20 years.

Soon, the spiritual direction of the non-possessors was finally crushed in connection with the heresy case of Matvey Bashkin and Theodosius Kosoy. Then, along with them, people who were completely innocent were condemned to imprisonment. The case of Joseph Volotsky won. "The vain monks of the Joseph Monastery," as Karamzin irritably wrote about them, could triumph.

The "God-pleasing" work begun by Joseph Volotsky was taken up by the church and even elevated to the rank of law. The Council Regulations of 1649 directly stated: “Will there be someone of other faiths, whatever faith, or a Russian person, will lay blasphemy on the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ, or on His Most Pure Lady Our Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary, or on honest cross, or on His Saints saints, and about that, look for all sorts of detectives firmly. Let it be found out for sure, and that blasphemer was exposed, executed, burned. "Sophisticated torments were invented to intimidate - so the Muscovite Foma Ivanov, who professed Lutheranism, was burned in November 1714 in a log house on Red Square on a SLOW FIRE!

Heretics continued to be burned until 1743 - in that year, a newly baptized Mordvin Nesmeyanko-Krivoy renounced the Orthodox faith, took off his cross and split the icon, for which he was convicted and burned alive:

Recently, I often read how representatives of the authorities, businessmen, etc. (even journalists and educators) express thoughts that “without the Church it is impossible to revive Russia”, “upbringing of the younger generation is impossible without the participation of the Church”, “it is necessary to introduce compulsory teaching of the Law of God in school", "to revive the ancient traditions of the Orthodox Church", etc. To be honest, I think that there is nothing behind these phrases - no strong faith, no knowledge of history, no understanding of the religious teachings that they are trying so hard to impose on everyone.

As it is said in the "Law of God", saints are such people who, "while living on earth, pleased God with their righteous life. And now, being in heaven with God, they pray to God for us, helping us living on earth." Joseph Volotsky was canonized both to local and general veneration. How did he please God? The stench of burning human beings? Intrigue? What will spiritual teachers tell schoolchildren on the days of the "saint"'s memory? What morality to teach?

Perhaps the one that the Bishop of Veliko-Ustyug and Totemsky adhered to in 1748, commanding: “If someone does not go to the holy church through laziness and negligence, this will certainly encourage and exhort. and it turns out to be stubborn, such a priest with an clerk to each of his parishioners for punishment, and so that he does not have such outcomes of laziness, put him in a chain and stocks and keep him in the square near the bell tower in the summer.

What mercy will "revive" the church? Not the one that guided the Orthodox Synod in 1754 when it protested against the proposal of the Senate for the release from torture of criminals under the age of 17? Then the Synod declared that, according to the teachings of the holy fathers, the age of majority is considered from the age of 12, from this age one should begin to torture criminals:

I will be told that all this was two and a half centuries ago, times are changing, and the church is also changing. But here's a curious fact: I once talked to people who consider themselves deeply believing Orthodox Christians. And the question arose - so, it's better to kill and rape, but to believe in God, and pray, and observe rituals; or not to kill and not to rape, but not to believe in God, but to "destroy the soul"? My interlocutors thought for a while and said: apparently, it is better to kill:

I am sure that they never read the works of Joseph Volotsky, but on all problems they turned to the priest, who would hardly discuss such things with them. But their conclusion exactly coincided with what St. Joseph preached. It turns out that it is not about time, but about something else. And in later times, church leaders called for the death of "godless." Theophan the Recluse, whose "spiritual lessons and deep edifications necessary for every person" were republished in 1994, instructed to declare disbelief a state crime, and prohibit materialistic views under the death penalty.

Once I read in one of the local newspapers a statement that education cannot be secular, because it offends the religious feelings of believers! And this was not said by a simple believer, but by one of the responsible church officials.

Pavel Morozov

Literature used in writing the article

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