Large Christian Library. New Testament Gospel First Epistle of Peter 1 chapter interpretation
I. Greeting (1:1-2)
1-Pet. 1:1v. Peter, or Cephas in Aramaic, is the name given to Simon by Jesus Christ when he called him to become His disciple (John 1:42). No one else in the New Testament was called the same: Peter, the Apostle of Jesus Christ. This direct statement of the apostolic authority given to him is confirmed both by the content of the epistle itself and by the fact that it was introduced from the very beginning into the canon of Holy Scripture.
1-Pet. 1:1b-2. The apostle chooses his words carefully from the beginning to encourage and strengthen his readers. Christians are the chosen ones of God not by chance or at the whim of people. They were chosen by God Himself. Once upon a time, only the Israelites had the right to bear the title of God's chosen ones. No wonder, then, that the world looked upon Christians as strangers (the Greek word is parepidemois, which means both "foreigner" and "temporary resident"; compare 2:11). Believers are citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20) and indeed live in pagan society as foreigners and aliens whose thoughts are often directed towards their native country.
The readers to whom the letter of Peter is addressed lived in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, that is, they represented all five provinces of Rome in Asia Minor. Apparently, the message was supposed to be transported from one church to another and thus go around this entire territory. The word "scattered" had a special meaning for the Jewish Christians who were part of the churches mentioned. They lived in dispersion, far from their native land. The apostle used this word, previously applied only to Israel, to emphasize the position of the early church.
It is no accident that the Apostle Peter uses the word elect (compare 2:9) but the foreknowledge of God the Father… Divine election is part of the eternal plan and is not based on the merits of those who are elected, but solely on His mercy and love, with which He loved them even before the creation of the world . Williams' English translation says that God's election is in "accordance" with His foreknowledge or foreknowledge. This seems to be more true than election "on the basis of" foreknowledge.
One way or another, but the word "foresight" (forecast) means something more than just foresight. It means "to have a disposition" to something or "to focus attention on something." In the Greek text at 1:20 the same word refers to Jesus Christ "chosen" by the Father before the foundation of the world. The Father not only knew about His Son in advance, He had perfect knowledge about Him. In this way, God chooses all on whom He has His focus (according to His mercy, not according to their merit).
The words, when sanctified by the Spirit, signify that these elect are set apart for service, for the fulfillment of God's purpose of election. The result of the work of the Spirit is obedience and the sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus Christ. Obedience (the Greek word hyupakoen comes from hyupakouo, "listen, obey") means to be in subjection to God's Word (Ex. 24:7; Rom. 1:5; 15:18; 16:26).
The one who lives in obedience is constantly cleansed by the blood of Christ and thus is constantly separated from the world (compare 1 John 1:7,9). The sprinkling of blood took place in the Old Testament tabernacle (Lev. 7:14; 14:7,51; 16:14-15; compare Heb. 9:13; 12:24) and resulted in complete obedience on the part of those who offered sacrifices. . However, the sprinkling of the blood of the people as a whole was carried out only once, during the establishment of the Mosaic covenant (Ex. 24:8).
With these words (1 Pet. 1:2) the apostle brings a theological foundation to his letter of encouragement. From them it follows that God the Father, by His mercy, chose them, and God the Holy Spirit sanctified and sanctifies through the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ, God the Son. (All three Persons of the Godhead are mentioned in this verse.) Thus, the apostle Peter greets his readers, prayerfully wishing them that they could more feel the grace of God (charis) and enjoy the world (eyrzne - the equivalent of the Hebrew word shalom, 5:14) Words of grace to you and may peace be multiplied, the apostle repeats in 2 Pet. 1:2. The apostle Peter especially treasures the grace of God and therefore 10 times throughout this epistle mentions it (1 Pet. 1:2,10,13; 2:19-20; 3:7; 4:10; 5:5,10, 12).
II. Chosen to be born again (1:3 - 2:16)
The apostle Peter continues to lay the theological foundation for the comfort of those who are persecuted. The emphasis in the following text is on the grace of God poured out on believers, which is confirmed by the fact that He Himself has chosen them for salvation, and the results of this are already being manifested in their lives. The new birth becomes a source of living hope and practical holiness, despite the trials endured.
A. The birth of the most gives a living hope 1:3-12)
In praising God, the apostle Peter encourages his readers and reminds them that being born again gives them new hope for a future incorruptible inheritance. This inheritance is guaranteed to them, because until it becomes their property, God Himself, by His power, will protect believers from the influence of the forces of evil. Therefore, Christians should also rejoice in the face of trials - because they test the authenticity of their faith and, being tested, they thus bring even greater glory to God. However, the hope associated with the new birth is fueled not only by the hope of a future inheritance and the experience of present blessings; it is also based on the written Word of God.
1. FUTURE INHERITANCE (1:3-5)
1-Pet. 1:3. Reflections on the theme of Divine grace prompts the apostle to praise God as the First Cause of salvation and the Source of hope. The words Blessed be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ are also used in Eph. 1:3; compare 2 Cor. 1:3. The words, in His great mercy, speak of undeserved love for sinners who are in a hopeless situation. He who revived us with the resurrection bears witness to the fact that there was nothing a man could do to deserve such mercy. In the Greek text, the word here is anagenneoas, derived from the words "beget again."
It is used only twice in the New Testament, and both times in this chapter (1 Pet. 1:3,23). The Apostle Peter, apparently, remembered the conversation of Christ with the One to be found (John 3:1-21). Being born again brings us a living hope based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That is, living hope is based on the resurrected and eternally living Jesus Christ (compare 1 Pet. 1:21).
The confidence of Christians in Christ is as firm and unshakable as the fact that Christ actually rose from the dead is indisputable! The Apostle Peter uses the word "living" here six times (1:3,23; 2:4-5; 4:5-6). IN this case this word means that the hope or hope of believers is real and has a solid, unshakable foundation - in contrast to the deceitful, empty and false hope that the world promises.
1-Pet. 1:4. So, the assurance of Christians refers to the future inheritance (kleronomia). The same word is used in Old Testament where it refers to the land promised to Israel (Num. 26:54,56; 34:2; Joshua 11:23). She was given to Israel for possession as a gift from God. The Christian inheritance cannot be destroyed by hostile forces; it is not subject to spoilage, like an overripe fruit, and cannot wither, like a flower.
The Apostle Peter puts here three words in a row, in Greek beginning with the same letter and having the same ending, doing this for greater clarity: this inheritance is imperishable (aftartos), pure (amianthos), unfading (amaranthos). It is just as true as the Word of God (1 Pet. 1:23, where the apostle again uses the word aftartos). The inheritance of eternal life for every Christian is kept in heaven by God Himself, so that in the end it will surely become the property of those for whom it is intended (compare Gal. 5:5).
1-Pet. 1:5. But not only the inheritance, but the heirs themselves are protected by God and His power. The Greek frumenus, translated "observed," means "protected," in the sense that, for example, a garrison in a fortress protects its inhabitants (the apostle Paul uses the same word in Phil. 4:7). Can there be any greater hope for those who are persecuted than that which is based on the saving knowledge that the power of the Lord working within them will guard and preserve them, so that in the presence of God Himself they may receive the inheritance prepared for them of eternal life.
Believers already now have salvation, but they will feel its fullness and significance when Christ returns to earth, and then "in the last time", salvation will be fully "revealed" to them. This final stage of the salvation of souls (1 Pet. 1:9) will take place, we repeat, "at the appearing of Christ." The apostle Peter repeats these words twice - "the appearance of Jesus Christ" (verse 7 and 13).
2. PRESENT JOY (1:6-9)
1-Pet. 1:6. Living hope brings joy. The words "about this" seem to refer to everything that is said in verses 3-4. The apostle encourages readers to put their knowledge into practice. Their response to the great theological truths revealed to them to a certain extent must be great joy. Knowledge in itself does not bring joy, does not give a sense of security and does not free one from the fear of persecution. But the almighty power of God needs to be combined with human responsibility. Christians are responsible for responding to God by faith.
It is only through faith that a sound doctrine is embodied in a sound and reasonable life. The content of theological theory is perceived by faith, and faith produces the corresponding behavior. Faith gives the feeling of security that arises on the basis of theological knowledge the character of a living, real feeling. The Apostle John writes: "And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith" (1 John 5:4). It is this kind of faith or living hope that makes the believer able to rejoice even when he is grieving under the yoke of various temptations (ordeals). Peter emphasizes that a Christian's joy does not depend on his circumstances.
James uses the same two Greek words, poikilois peirasmois ("from various temptations"). Temptations (in the sense of trials) can themselves be a cause for joy (James 1:2). Although they sometimes bring sadness, they cannot drown out the deep joy that is based on a living hope in Jesus Christ.
1-Pet. 1:7. These various trials are most likely meant to be persecutions for Christ, rather than ordinary life difficulties, and they lead to two results: a) they purify our faith as fire purifies gold, and b) confirm the truth of our faith. Persecution deepens and strengthens faith and gives it an opportunity to express itself in real life. The Greek word dokimatzomenu means "testing for approval" (compare verse 7 with Jas. 1:3 and 1:12). Peter compares the process of refining faith with the process of refining gold.
But only faith is much more precious than gold. Even refined gold corrodes over time (1 Pet. 1:18; Jas. 5:3). Therefore, from the point of view of eternity, it is of no value. But at the price of faith, an inheritance is “acquired”, which is truly imperishable. True faith is not only of value to those who have it, it also brings glory, praise, and honor to the One whose name Christians bear and who will call them His own when He returns to earth (compare 5:1). The Greek apocalypse here translated "appearance" is the word from which the famous word "apocalypse" is derived (compare 1:5,12 and see comments on verse 13).
1-Pet. 1:8. Here we are talking about the highest joy, which is given by faith. God completed the work of salvation through Jesus Christ, His Son. So the faith of a Christian is based not on abstract knowledge, but on the person of Jesus Christ. The heart of the apostle overflows with warmth when he speaks of faith and love for Christ and of love for Him on the part of those who, like himself, did not happen to see Jesus in the flesh walking on our earth.
Perhaps the apostle remembered at the same time the words of Christ: "Blessed are those who have not seen and believed" (John 20:29). Christians who do not see Him with their physical eyes as Peter saw Him, nevertheless, believe in Him and love Him and are also filled with inexpressible and glorious joy. The Greek word agalliaste, translated as "rejoice," is also used by the apostle Peter in 1:6 and 4:13.
1-Pet. 1:9. Believers have reason to rejoice, because they receive (comycomene - to receive, achieve) what they were promised - personal salvation, or, in other words, what they believed in. For those who believe in and love Jesus Christ, salvation is accomplished in the past ("who gave birth to us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ", verse 3), it continues to be accomplished in the present ("by the power of God through faith they are kept unto salvation", verse 5), and will take place in the future ("to an inheritance ... ready to be revealed in the last time," verses 4-5); it, this salvation, is also the goal of faith ("Attaining ... through your faith the salvation of souls," verse 9). But since the last day draws nearer every day, this means that believers are being saved now. All this, despite the persecution that only deepens their faith, undoubtedly brings "joy unspeakable and glorious" (verse 8).
I. REVELATION GIVEN IN THE PAST (1:10-12)
1-Pet. 1:10-12. Living hope in the born again is given to him not only by his awareness of what awaits him in the future and his experience in the present, but also by his faith in the written Word of God (verse 11). The apostle Peter emphasized that our faith is based not on what people wrote, but on the Word of God. Desiring to understand everything that concerns salvation (compare verses 5, 9), the prophets carefully studied the Scriptures - examining to what and what time the Spirit of Christ in them pointed to.
The prophets longed for the coming of this period of grace and the salvation associated with it, and tried to know the time of "Christ's sufferings and the glory that followed them." They pondered how it could be for the glorified Messiah to suffer. Here again the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself is reflected (Matt. 13:17).
In 1 Pet. 1:10-12 is a practical illustration of the doctrine of the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, which the apostle expressly says in 2 Pet. 1:20-21. The prophets themselves did not understand all that the Holy Spirit spoke through them. For it was the Spirit who foretold the sufferings of Christ (Isaiah 53) and the glory that would follow them (Isaiah 11). The reminder that His glory would follow Christ's sufferings should have comforted and encouraged the readers of the epistle. Their consolation and support was also the consciousness that they, having endured suffering, would also be crowned with glory (1 Pet. 5:10).
Peter continues to encourage those to whom he addresses (1:12), saying that the prophets were conscious that they were writing not for themselves, but for the people who would live after them and who would have to hear the gospel proclaimed by the Holy Spirit (compare with the expression Spirit of Christ in verse 11), follow Christ. Glory, not suffering, awaits believers in the last stage of salvation. The author of the epistle to the Hebrews also speaks of this (Heb. 1:14; 2:3). With its genuineness, Christian living hope arouses reverence and astonishment among the celestials; prophets and angels alike are deeply occupied with this salvation through grace (verse 10).
B. Being born again brings holiness (1:13 - 2:10)
The living hope of believers, based on the fact of their being born again, should lead them to a holy way of life. Those who are chosen to receive this second birth are called to holiness. The Apostle Peter calls on his readers to heed the call to obedience, setting their minds in a new way - girding the loins of your mind. The price paid for the redemption of the believer is an obligation to reverence and obedience. Obedience is understood as purification of oneself and a holy way of life - they are the "spiritual sacrifices" offered by the "royal priesthood".
1. PREPARATION (1:13-16)
1-Pet. 1:13-16. Here Peter gives five clearly expressed advice: gird up the loins of your mind (meaning, attune your mind to the need to act; "girded up" or "girded up your loins" when you were going to go); stay awake (according to other translations - "know how to control yourself"); trust in the grace that is given to you ... do not conform to your former lusts (i.e., do not act according to your evil motives, as you did when you were spiritually ignorant); be holy.
In the Greek text, the first, second and fourth teachings are expressed by participial phrases (and in this respect the Russian text is close to the original) with two main calls - "trust in ... grace", i.e. "have hope in it" and "be holy" . The participles emphasize and clarify the main calls (i.e., have hope - with a mind tuned to action and the ability to be on the alert ("awake"); and be holy, not succumbing to evil impulses).
1) "Gird up the loins of your mind" (verse 13). Obedience is a conscious act of will. Christians, having found themselves in a conflict situation, need a resolute attitude of mind, as they would say now - "on the wave of holiness", in other words, they must be ready to perform the mentioned volitional action.
2) "watch" (v. 13; compare 4:7; 5:8; 1 Thess. 5:6,8). The Greek word nefontes, translated as "awake", comes from the verb "nepho" - "to be sober". In the New Testament it is used only in figuratively, meaning freedom from any form of mental and spiritual intoxication, that is, from the loss of a sense of proportion in anything (compare with "know how to control yourself" in the English translation). In other words, believers should be guided not so much by external circumstances as by the “inner voice”, their inherent convictions.
3) "Have complete confidence" (1 Pet. 1:13). Holy living requires determination. The hope of the believer must be perfect, i.e., complete, unchanging, unconditional (the Greek word used here, telelios, just means this); it should be based on the grace given to you (compare verse 10) in the appearance of Jesus Christ (in the Greek text literally - "in revelation" (apocalypse); compare with the same phrase in verse 4). For the fourth time, although in different words, Peter speaks here about the forthcoming return of the Savior and about the final stage of salvation connected with His return (verse 5, 7,9,13).
The three instructions in verse 13 involve a diligent preparation of the mind and soul so that Christians will not be conformed (the same Greek word is syschematizomenoy - found in Rom. 12:2) to former lusts (1 Pet. 1:14) to which they indulged in their past sinful lives (compare Eph. 2:3) when they did not know God (compare Eph. 4:18). But as obedient children (literally "children of obedience"), they were to reshape their characters to be holy in all their actions (1 Pet. 1:15).
Their way of life should now reflect not their former state, when they did not yet know God, but the holy (hagioi) nature of their heavenly Father, Who begot them from above and called them His own (compare with "He who called us" in 2 Pet. 1: 3). Not the requirements of the Law are implied in 1 Pet. 1:15-16, but the responsibility of believers for the state of their souls and daily behavior is reminded in them.
And although it is impossible to achieve absolute holiness in this life, the life of a Christian in all its manifestations must consistently and more fully agree with the perfect and holy will of God. The quotation in verse 16 was familiar to anyone who knew the Old Testament (Lev. 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7).
2. PRICE (1:17-21)
The high price of their salvation - the precious blood of the beloved Son of God - obliges believers to live in reverent fear of God. God-fearing faith leads to a holy life; in the light of this belief, it is impossible to take lightly what has been acquired at such a great price.
1-Pet. 1:17-19. Obedient children know the holy nature and the just character of Him who judges impartially. The right to call God their Father also obliges them to obey Him in awe. Hence, they must live in accordance with His absolute criteria and norms, and in this world, with its unstable, changing ethics, they must be "strangers" (compare 2:11).
The fear of God (we are talking here about reverent fear) is evidenced by a sensitive conscience, alertness to possible temptations and the desire to avoid everything that can upset God. Obedient children should be alien to their former vain life (verse 14), handed down to them from their fathers, since they are redeemed (in Greek, elitrote, from the word litroo - "to pay a ransom") with the precious blood of Christ (2:4,6-7 and 1 :2).
Redeemed from sin, not with a price of silver or gold, which are perishable (cf. verse 7), but with that which has no price, by the blood of the unblemished and perfect Lamb. Just as the lambs that were sacrificed in the Old Testament times were not supposed to have "neither spot nor blemish", Christ was also blameless - the only one about whom it is said that He is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world ( John 1:29, compare Heb 9:14).
1-Pet. 1:20-21. Redemption from sin was provided even before the creation of the world, but to people (and for their sake) it was revealed in the incarnate Jesus Christ in the last times, (here we are talking about the present times, which began with the First Coming of Christ, in contrast to the expression " in the last time" in verse 5, which refers to the Age to come, which will begin with the Second Coming of the Lord).
It is through Christ, whom the Father raised (compare verse 3) and glorified through His ascension (John 17:5; Heb. 1:3), that people can come to know God and believe in Him. As a result of the implementation of God's eternal plan of salvation and the payment by Him of the immeasurable price for sin, it became possible for us to have faith and hope in God (the use of the word "faith" in 1 Pet. 1:5,7,9 and the words "hope", "trust" - in 1:3,13).
3. CLEANSING (1:22 - 2:3)
The holy way of life which is to be the result of the new birth manifests itself (through obedience) in three things; obedience to the truth purifies souls and awakens in them: a) "non-hypocritical brotherly love" (1:22-25), b) repentance for sins (2:1), c) desire to grow spiritually (2:2).
1-Pet. 1:22. Holy "walking" requires purification. A clean life is precisely the result of obedience to the truth (compare verse 26). "How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping himself according to your word" (Ps. 119:9). Just as faith is cleansed and tempered by trials (verse 7), so obedience to the word of God cleanses the character of a person. At the same time, he experiences joy - the joy of obedience - the one who purifies himself by living according to the word of God. A change in life is evidenced by a change in attitude towards other children of God.
One who leads a pure life acquires the ability to love other people who share his faith purely, sincerely ("from a pure heart"). To love without hypocrisy is to love deeply (a Greek word that comes from agape, meaning unselfish love, seeking more to give than to take); with such love, there can be no place for evil thoughts and feelings towards brothers and sisters in Christ, for it flows from a new, changed heart. It is indeed unhypocritical and "zealous" as it is said of her in 1 Pet. 4:8, love.
1-Pet. 1:23-25. In verse 23, the apostle Peter reminds his readers that they are regenerated (compare with verse 3): As regenerated, not of corruptible seed… It was because of this supernatural act that they were able to obey the truth, cleanse themselves of all uncleanness, and love their brothers. This change in their lives is irreversible, since it was the word of God that made it, which is incorruptible (the Greek word used here is also found in verse 4 - in relation to the "inheritance of believers"), "living and lasting forever."
His call, expressed in verse 22, the apostle reinforces (1 Pet. 1:24-25) with a quote from the prophet Isaiah (40:6-8). Everything that is born of corruptible seed withers and perishes, but the Word of God endures forever. Peter preached about the eternal - living word (see verse 12). And his listeners could not but be impressed by the immense power of the Word, which transforms life (see: about this in 2:1-3).
Every person, starting to write a letter or an epistle, or rising to the pulpit to preach, has a purpose in front of him - he wants to make an impact on the minds, hearts and lives of those to whom his gospel is addressed. And here, at the very beginning, John points out the purpose of his epistle.
1. He wants to establish brotherly relations between people and friendly relations people with God (1,3). The goal of a shepherd should always be to bring people closer to each other and to God. Testimonies that cause division and dissension among people are false testimonies. Christian witness has, in general terms, two great Goals: love for man and love for God.
2. He wants to bring joy to his people. (1,4). Joy is the main and most important feature of Christianity.
Evidence that overwhelms and discourages hearers cannot fulfill its function. It is true that the teacher and preacher must often arouse in a person a pious pity, which must lead to true repentance. But, after people are shown the meaning of sin, they should be led to the Savior, in whom all sins are forgiven. The ultimate goal of Christian witnessing is joy.
3. To do this, he must introduce Jesus Christ to them. One prominent professor told his students that their purpose as preachers was to "say a good word about Jesus Christ." And it was said about another prominent Christian that, no matter where he began his conversation, he would certainly turn it to Jesus Christ.
The point is simply that in order to enter into brotherly relations with each other and with God and find joy, people must know Jesus Christ.
THE RIGHT OF THE SHEPHERD TO SPEAK (1 John 1:1-4 (continued))
Here, at the very beginning of his letter, John justifies his right to speak, and it boils down to one thing - he personally knew Jesus and communicated with Him (1,2.3).
1. He heard Christ. Long time ago, Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "Is there a word from the Lord?" (Jer. 37:17). People are not really interested in anyone's opinion or guesswork, but in the word of God. It was said of one outstanding preacher that he first listened to what God would say, and then he himself spoke to the people; it was also said about another preacher that during the sermon he often fell silent, as if listening to someone's voice. A real teacher is a person who has a word from Jesus Christ because he has heard His voice.
2. He saw Christ. It is said that someone once said to the great Scottish preacher Alexander White, "Today you have preached as if you had come straight from the presence of Christ." White replied to this: "Maybe I really came from there." We cannot see Christ in the flesh as John saw Him, but we can still see Him through faith.
3. He considered His. What is the difference between see And consider? In the Greek text for see used word horan, having the meaning of physical vision; consider the Greek text uses the word faasfay, meaning to gaze intently at someone or something, until understand the person or subject. Thus, addressing the crowd, Jesus asked: "What watch (theosphy) did you go to the desert?" (Luke 7:24) and with this word He emphasizes how the people poured in crowds to look at John the Baptist and figure out who he could be. Speaking of Jesus in the prologue to his gospel, John says, "We have seen his glory" (John 1:14). And here John used the word theosphy, in the sense that it was not a cursory, but a close, searching look, trying to reveal at least part of the mystery of Christ.
4. He touched Christ with your own hands. Luke has a story about how Jesus returned to His disciples after the Resurrection and said: “Look at My hands and at My feet; it is I Myself; touch Me and see; for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see in Me " (Luke 24:39). Here John is referring to the very Docetists who were so obsessed with the idea of the opposition between the spiritual and the material that they claimed that Jesus was not flesh and blood, that His humanity was only an illusion. They refused to believe it because they understood that God would defile Himself by taking flesh and blood upon Himself. John here states that the Jesus whom he knew was truly a man among men; John understood that there is nothing more dangerous than to question the humanity of Jesus.
THE SHEPHERD'S TESTIMONY (1 John 1:1-4 (continued))
John testifies of Jesus Christ as follows. First, he says that Jesus was from the beginning. In other words, in Jesus eternity invaded time; in Him the eternal God personally invaded the human world. Secondly, this invasion into the world of people was a real invasion, God really incarnated in man. Thirdly, through this act, the word of life came to people, that word that can turn death into life, and simple existence into real life. In the New Testament, the good news is called the word again and again, and it is extremely interesting to see in what different combinations it is used.
1. Most often called the word of God (Acts 4:31; 6:2-7; 11:1; 13:5-7-44; 16:32; Phil. 1:14; 1 Thess. 2:13; Heb. 13:7; Rev. 1:2-9 ; 6.9; 20.4). This is not a human discovery, it comes from God. This is the testimony of God, which man could not discover on his own.
2. The good news is often called the word of the Lord (Acts 8:25; 12:24; 13:49; 15:35; 1 Thess. 1:8; 2 Thess. 3:1). It is not always clear who the authors call the Lord - God or Jesus, but most often it is Jesus.
The gospel is the good news that God could send to people only through His Son.
3. Twice the good news is called by the word heard (logos hakoes) (1 Thess. 2:13; Heb. 4:2). In other words, it depends on two things: the voice that is ready to say it, and the ear that is ready to hear it.
4. Evidence of the good news is word about the Kingdom (Matt. 13:19). In it, God is proclaimed King, and the people are called to render obedience to God, which will allow them to become citizens of His Kingdom.
5. Good news - the word of the Gospel (Acts 15:7; Col. 1:5). Gospel- this means good news; and the gospel is, in essence, good news to people about God.
6. Evidence of the good news is the word of grace (Acts 14:3; 20:32). This is the good news of God's generous and undeserved love for man; this is the message that a person is no longer burdened by the burden of an impossible task - to earn the love of God: it is given to him freely, as a gift.
7. Evidence of the good news is word of salvation (Acts 13:26). This is an offer to forgive the sins of the past and give strength to overcome the sins of the future.
8. Gospel - the word of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:19). This testimony restores the relationship between man and God in Jesus Christ, who broke down the barrier created by sin between man and God.
9. Gospel - word about the Cross (1 Cor. 1:18). The essence of the good news is the Cross, on which people are given the last proof of the forgiving, sacrificing, seeking love of God.
10. Gospel - the word of truth (2 Cor. 6:7; Eph. 1:13; Col. 1:5; 2 Tim. 2:15). After receiving the good news, there is no more guessing and groping in the darkness, because Jesus Christ brought us the truth about God.
11. Gospel - the word of righteousness (Heb. 5:13). The gospel gives a person the strength to break the power of evil and vice and rise to truth and righteousness that pleases the eyes of God.
12. Gospel - sound doctrine[in Barkley: common sense] (2 Tim. 1:13; 2:8). It is an antidote that cures the poison of sin and a panacea for the diseases of vice.
13. Gospel - the word of life (Phil. 2:16). By the power of the gospel, man is delivered from death and will be able to enter into a better life.
GOD IS LIGHT (1 John 1:5)
The character of the God that a person worships determines his character, and therefore John from the very beginning speaks of the nature of the God and Father of Jesus Christ, whom Christians worship. "God," says John, "is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all." What does this tell us about God?
1. This tells us that God is radiance and glory. There is nothing majestic than a flash of fire piercing the darkness. To say that God is light is to speak of His absolute splendor and glory.
2. This tells us about the self-revelation of God. It is characteristic of light to spread and illuminate the darkness around it. To say that God is light means to say that there is nothing hidden and secret in Him. He wants people to see Him and know Him.
3. This tells us about the integrity and holiness of God. There is no darkness in God that hides evil and vice. To say that God is light is to speak of His crystal purity and unblemished holiness.
4. It tells us that God is guiding us. One of the main purposes of light is to show the way. A lighted road is a clear road. To say that God is light is to say that He directs the steps of people.
5. This tells us that everything becomes visible in the presence of God. Light reveals and reveals everything. Flaws and stains, invisible in the shadows, become apparent in the light. Light reveals flaws and imperfections in every product or material. And therefore, in the presence of God, the imperfections of life are visible.
Until we look at our life in the light of God, we will not know to what depths it has sunk, or to what heights it has risen.
HOSTILE DARKNESS (1 John 1:5 (continued))
John says that there is no darkness in God. Throughout the New Testament, darkness is contrasted Christian life.
1. Darkness symbolizes the life without Christ that a person led before he met Christ, or the life that he leads when he leaves Him, having strayed from the true path. Now, with the coming of Jesus, John writes to his addressees, the darkness has passed and the true light is already shining. (1 John 2:8). Paul writes to his Christian friends that once they were darkness, now they are light in the Lord (Eph. 5:8). God delivered us from the power of darkness and brought us His beloved Son into the Kingdom (Col. 1:13). Christians are not in darkness, for they are sons of light and sons of the day (1 Thess. 5:4-5). Whoever follows Christ will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (John 8.12), God called Christians out of darkness into His wonderful ( 1 Pet. 2.9).
2. Darkness is hostile to light. In the prologue to his Gospel, John writes that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (John 1:5). This can be understood in such a way that the darkness is trying to destroy the light, but is unable to defeat it. Darkness and light are natural enemies.
3. Darkness symbolizes the ignorance of a life that does not know Christ. Jesus calls His hearers to walk while there is light, lest darkness overtake them, for he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. (John 12:35). Jesus is the light and He came into the world so that those who believe in Him would not walk in darkness (John 12:46). Darkness symbolizes the emptiness of life, in which there is no Christ.
4. Darkness symbolizes the chaos of life in which there is no God. God, says Paul, referring to the first act of creation, commanded the light to shine out of the darkness. (2 Cor. 4:6). The world without the light of God is chaos, and then life has neither order nor meaning.
5. Darkness symbolizes the immorality of a life in which there is no Christ. Paul Exhorts His Readers to Reject the Works of Darkness (Rom. 13:12). People loved the darkness more than the light, because their deeds were evil (John 3:19). Darkness symbolizes a godless life in which people look for a shadow, because the deeds they do will not withstand the light.
6. Darkness is essentially barren. Paul speaks of the fruitless works of darkness (Eph. 5:11). If you deprive plants of light, their growth will stop. Darkness is a godless atmosphere in which the fruit of the Spirit cannot grow.
7. Darkness symbolizes the absence of love and the presence of hatred. He who hates his brother walks in darkness (1 John 2:9-11). Love is the radiance of the sun, and hate is darkness. Darkness is the refuge of the enemies of Christ and the ultimate goal of those who do not want to accept Him. Christians and Christ are fighting against the powers and rulers of the darkness of this world (Eph. 6:12). Darkness awaits the stubborn and rebellious sinners (2 Pet. 2:9; Jude 13). Darkness is life isolated from God.
WALK IN THE LIGHT (1 John 1:6-7)
This passage is directed against a heretical way of thinking. Among the Christians there were those who claimed special intellectuality and high spiritual development, although in their life it was not visible at all. They claimed that they had succeeded so much in knowledge and in comprehension of the spiritual that sin for them seemed to have lost all meaning and significance, and that the laws ceased to exist. Napoleon also once said that laws were made for ordinary people, and not for people like him. So these heretics claimed that they had already gone so far in their spiritual development that even if they sinned, it did not matter. From the writings of Clement of Alexandria we learn that there were heretics who claimed that the way of life of a person does not matter at all. According to the testimony of Irenaeus of Lyon, they believed that genuinely spiritual man nothing can defile, whatever he does.
In refutation of this view, John argues the following:
1. In order to enter into friendly relations with God, who is light, a person must walk in the light, and whoever walks in the moral and ethical darkness of a godless life cannot enter into these friendly relations. This is what was noted long before in the Old Testament. God said: "Be holy, for holy am I, your Lord" (Lev. 19:2; cf. 20:7-26). Whoever enters into friendship with God will acquire a virtuous life, which is a reflection of God's virtue. The English theologian Dodd wrote: "The Church is a community of people who, believing in the crystal goodness of God, undertake to be like Him." This does not mean at all that a person can enter into friendly relations with God only after reaching perfection, because in this case none of us could enter into such relations with Him. But this means that a person will live his life with the consciousness of the obligation taken upon himself, in an effort to fulfill it and in repentance if he cannot fulfill it. This means that a person will never think that sin has no meaning; on the contrary, the closer he is to God, the more terrible the sin for him.
2. These misguided thinkers had a false idea of truth. People who claim to have a particularly high spiritual development, but continue to walk in darkness, do not arrive frankly. The same phrase is used in the fourth gospel, which speaks of those who do what is right. (John 3:21). This means that for a Christian, truth is not only an abstract mental concept, but a moral obligation. It occupies not just the mind, but occupies the whole person. Truth is not the discovery of abstract truths, but a concrete way of life; it is not only thinking, but action. It is interesting to note the words that are used in the New Testament together with the word true. The New Testament speaks of conquest truth (Rom. 2:8; Gal. 3:7); act truly (Gal. 2:14; 3 John 4); O resistance truth (2 Tim. 3:8); about evasion from the truth (James 5:19). In Christianity, one can see a complex of speculative questions that need to be resolved, and in the Bible, a book about which more and more shedding information needs to be collected. But Christianity must be consistently practiced, and the Bible must be obeyed. Intellectual superiority can go hand in hand with moral failure, and for a Christian, truth is something that must first be discovered and then carried out.
CRITERIA OF TRUTH (1 John 6:7 (continued))
John sees two great criteria for truth.
1. Truth is the creator of brotherhood. People who truly walk in the light have brotherly feelings for each other. It is not a truly Christian faith if it separates a person from his fellows. No church can claim to be exclusive and at the same time be Christian. That which destroys brotherhood cannot be the truth.
2. The one who really knows the truth is cleansed more and more from sin by the blood of Christ every day. The Russian translation at this point is correct, but there is a danger that it may be misunderstood. The Bible said, "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." This can be read as a statement of a general principle, but this statement should not be taken as referring to the life of every person, but its meaning is that all the time, day after day, constantly and continuously, the blood of Jesus Christ purifies the life of every Christian.
clear in the Greek text catharisein. It was originally a ritual word and denoted by it all the ceremonies, washings and the like that a person went through in order to be able to get closer to the gods. But over time, it acquired a moral meaning, and they began to define the virtue that gives a person the opportunity to enter the presence of God. And so John says this: "If you really know what Christ's sacrifice did, and really experience His power, then you will accumulate holiness day by day in your life and you will be more and more worthy to enter into the presence of God."
This is an important idea: the sacrifice of Christ not only atones for the sins of the past, but also daily makes a person holy.
That religion is true which every day brings man closer to his brothers and brings him closer to God; it gives friendship with God and brotherhood with people - and one cannot have one without the other.
TRIPLE LIES (1 John 1:6, 7 (continued))
In this epistle John directly accuses the false teachers of lying four times, and the first such accusation is contained in this passage.
1. Those who claim to have communion with God, who is light, while they themselves walk in darkness, are lying (1,6). John then repeats this in a slightly modified form: a person who claims to know God and not keep God's commandments is a liar. (1 John 2:4). John sets forth the obvious truth: whoever says one thing with his mouth and another with his life, he is a liar. By this, John does not mean at all the one who makes great efforts but fails. "A man," said the writer H. G. Wells, "can be a very bad musician, and yet passionately love music"; and he can be well aware of his failures and mistakes, and at the same time passionately love Christ and the way of Christ. John, on the other hand, means a person who claims knowledge, a high intellectual and spiritual level, but allows himself what - he knows it well - is forbidden. A person who speaks of his love for Christ, but himself consciously disobeys Him, is a liar.
2. Anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ is a liar (1 John 2:22). This thought runs throughout the New Testament. The ultimate test of a man is his attitude towards Jesus. Jesus asks everyone, "Whom do you say that I am?" (Matt. 16:13). He who has seen Christ cannot fail to see His greatness; whoever denies this is a liar.
3. A man who claims to love God but hates his brother is a liar. (1 John 4:20). One and the same person cannot love God and hate a person. If a person has malice in his heart towards another person, this shows that he does not truly love God. All our declarations of love for God are meaningless if there is hatred for man in our hearts.
SELF-DECEIVED SINNERS (1 John 1:8-10)
Here John describes and condemns two other erroneous ways of thinking.
1. There are people who claim to be without sin. This could mean two things.
This may be a characteristic of a person who claims that he is not responsible for his sins. It's always easy to find excuses; one's sins can be attributed to heredity, environment, temperament, or physical condition. It can be argued that someone led us astray, led us astray. People are so arranged that they try to avoid responsibility for their sins. But it may be that John is referring to a man who claims that he can sin without any harm to himself.
John insists that if a person has sinned, then any excuses and self-justifications are inappropriate. He can only humbly and repentantly confess to God, and, if necessary, to people.
And suddenly John says something amazing: we can rely on the fact that God in His righteousness forgive us if we confess our sins. At first glance, it seems more logical that in His righteousness God would rather be ready to judge us than to forgive us. But the fact is that God, in His righteousness, never breaks His word, but Holy Bible abounds in promises of mercy to the person who comes to Him with a repentant heart. God has promised not to reject a contrite heart, and He will not break His word. If we humbly and mournfully repent of our sins, He will forgive us. But the very fact that we are looking for excuses and arguments to justify ourselves deprives us of the right to forgiveness, because it prevents us from repenting, and humble repentance opens the way to forgiveness, because a person with a repentant heart can take advantage of God's covenants.
2. Others claim that they, in fact, did not sin. This approach is not as unusual as it might seem. Many are really convinced that they have not sinned and are indignant if they are called sinners. Their mistake is that they think that sin is a scandal in the newspapers. They forget that sin is Greek hamartia, which literally means not reach the goal. Being not a good enough person, father, husband, son, worker, or not good enough mother, wife, daughter is also a sin, and this applies to all of us. The person who claims not to have sinned is simultaneously claiming that God is lying because God said that everyone has sinned.
Thus, John condemns those who claim to have reached such heights in knowledge and spiritual life that sin no longer matters to them. John condemns those who try to avoid responsibility for their sins or claim that they are not affected by sin, and those who never realize that they are sinners. The purpose of the Christian life is, first of all, that we realize our sin, and then turn to God for forgiveness, which can erase past sins, and for the cleansing that a new future will give us.
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1:1,2
Peter, Apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen ones scattered in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,
2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, with sanctification from the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you and peace be multiplied.
All God's servants, called by God at certain moments of all times, considered themselves aliens and wanderers on earth, for they "go home", to God, but they do not look for a home in this world. The true homeland for Christians was the expected future order of God. Although it can be said here that some Christians did not live on the territory of their historical homeland, but were scattered throughout the territory of Galatia, Asia, Cappadocia, etc.
By foreknowledge- God from the very beginning had a plan to redeem for Himself a people not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, and to find for Himself children born from the word of God and through redemption by the blood of Jesus.
The chosen ones (anointed ones) knew about their calling in the Old Testament from the mouth of the Lord through angels or from His prophets. For the New Testament, Peter explained the principle of election somewhat different: according to the foreknowledge of God the Father (not just God, for the N.Z. is talking about the possibility of adoption) - all redeemed by the blood of Christ are sanctified through the anointing with the holy spirit. About the anointing with the holy spirit as evidence of election - all the chosen ones of God know-2 Corinthians 1:21,22
1:3,4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in His great mercy has regenerated us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to a living hope,
4 to an inheritance incorruptible, pure, unfading, stored up in heaven for you,
The expression “God and Father of Jesus Christ” shows that Christ himself cannot be his own God and Father. Here we are talking about Jehovah - the God of Israel, who resurrected Christ and thereby gave hope to all Christians to be transformed from a mortal sinful person into one worthy of eternal life, so to speak - to be reborn to a new life and to the heritage that is stored in heaven for Christians. Whoever tries to repeat the path of Christ - with his life, even in death has the hope of the resurrection (he will repeat the "path" of Christ even after death).
In the expression " heritage is kept in heaven for us
”- it is not said that Christians will certainly be in heaven. But it is said that HERITAGE is kept for all Christians in heaven, and this inheritance is eternal life with God.
That is, from heaven, from the Highest - they should expect the inheritance that "will be issued" from heaven at a certain time on an individual basis. This verse cannot be used to teach that the anointed will be in heaven.
1: 5
kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time
An inheritance from heaven will be given out to believers who, through the help of the power of God, will be able to achieve salvation. And the mystery of this salvation is ready to be revealed in Lately
(recently, not before) Not about the future last time for this world - here it is. And about the fact that up to this moment, until recently, it was impossible for the mystery of the coming of Christ and salvation through him to be revealed and made clear to many through Christ himself and his apostles. Like the phrase " rainy trend lately"- means " it has been raining lately».
1:6-9
Rejoice in this, now grieving a little, if necessary, from various temptations,
7 that your faith which has been tested may be more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, to praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ,
8 Whom, having not seen, you love, and whom hitherto you have not seen, but believing in Him, rejoice with joy inexpressible and glorious,
9 reaching at last through your faith the salvation of souls.
The main thing that we all need to know about salvation is to understand that we will have to endure a little sorrow associated with serving the Lord, we cannot do without them. Tests will melt us down and turn our faith into precious gold, which at the moment of melting, although it looks perishing, is in fact only cleansed of unnecessary impurities. And the fact that we will become the jewels of God will serve our praise, glory and honor on the day of the second appearance of Christ to the earth ( in future, not now) in which we Christians believe without seeing it. It is this strong faith of ours, which has passed all the tests successfully, that will be for us the guarantee of our salvation for the future.
But why are faith and sorrows needed now, although salvation is in the future? - the question arises. Because the trials will force us to change and form the qualities that are characteristic of a person of a new world order. And in bliss and relaxation - it is impossible to form them: steadfastness, firmness of convictions, patience, adherence to principles, etc. - are born only in trials. And tested (verified) Christians are worth their weight in gold with God.
But this does not mean at all that it is worth artificially creating temptations for yourself, and then selflessly fighting them. But if the trials associated with the passage of the race of a Christian arise in our life, and we successfully stand in it, remaining faithful to Jehovah, then we gain experience in resisting sin. And the next time (if it happens), we will be ready for this kind of test and will have a much better chance not to fall into sin.
Can you also bring this comparison: faith is a gold coin, but it can be real or fake. And how to find out? Only by subjecting it to a test, for example, dip a coin in vinegar, if it does not darken, it is real gold. So it is with our faith: it is possible to find out what kind of “test” it is only during trials.
It is highly desirable for many to have gold items: they do not deteriorate, do not rust, do not tarnish or rot, but even gold can dissolve in the so-called "royal vodka". But the strong faith of the “highest standard” in a Christian cannot be “dissolved” by anything, it is even more desirable to have it.
1:10,11
To this salvation belonged the searches and investigations of the prophets, who foretold of the grace appointed for you,
11 searching to what and to what time the Spirit of Christ which was in them indicated when He foretold the sufferings of Christ and the glory that would follow them.
It is this salvation for Christians through faith in Christ and his path that all the prophets predicted under the influence of the spirit of Christ or the spirit of the anointed in them ( Christ –
chosen one, anointed one,
this is not about Jesus Christ, but about the prophets - the anointed ones
), trying to understand by research what the sufferings of Christ, preceding the glory of salvation, mean, who and when should face them?
1:12
It was revealed to them that not to themselves, but to us, what was now preached to you by those who proclaimed the gospel of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, into which the angels wish to penetrate.
The only thing that they then managed to understand was that all this would happen in the future and with someone else, and not with them, and they prophesied BEFORE Christ. And we, Christians, will now be able to see for ourselves the fulfillment of that mystery of the grace of salvation through Christ's suffering, about which the prophets predicted and about which even angels would like to know. Unless, of course, we will follow the path of Christ.
1:13
Therefore, (beloved), girding up the loins of your mind, being vigilant, fully trust in the grace that is given to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, let us strain our minds, let us be vigilant and rely only on faith in the grace of salvation, which became possible due to the appearance of Christ on earth. Here it is recommended to always keep the brain on and think about how to act correctly from the point of view of God. And not be guided by what our heart tells us or what the "seventh sense" with intuition tells us.
1:14-16
Like obedient children, do not conform to the former lusts that were in your ignorance,
15 but, following the example of the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your deeds.
16 For it is written, Be holy, for I am holy
As long as we did not know the norms of God from Scripture, many things did not seem to us a sin, for we were ignorant of His point of view. Now we know how to live, and if we are obedient children, then we will try to act according to our current knowledge.
Therefore, let us leave the former way of life, consisting of their unrighteous lusts, and take the example of the Holy Christ, who called us to the service of God. We need to be holy all deeds and without a trace (and not in separate ones, allowing yourself little pranks), for this is the call of God - to be holy and like Him in holiness, for He is holy (if we are Jehovah's servants, then His holiness must reflect, and man - Christ showed us what this means and how it is possible in practice)
1:17
And if you call the Father the One Who impartially judges everyone according to their deeds, then spend the time of your wandering with fear,
If you call yourself a loader - get into the box: if you call the Father - an impartial Judge, then beware of doing bad deeds before such a Judge during your wandering on earth - from the moment of calling to death. For from the one who calls God the Father - and the demand is like from a son. And God judges not by the words “I love you, God,” but by deeds that either correspond to these words or not.
And since those who are God's - wanderers and strangers in this world, they should be afraid that in the world of Satan for "their own" - they will not come down to him, for the dug-in and settled "natural" inhabitants of this age. So that we do not become such wanderers - Christians who behave in this world as "their own".
1:18-20
knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible silver or gold from the vain life given to you from your fathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without blemish,
20 foreordained before the foundation of the world, but appeared in the last times for you
Knowing that Christ was executed for our opportunity to be saved. For this he was appointed even before the creation of the world ( before the children of Adam and Eve, Gen 3:15
), but appeared recently ( was here not too long ago). His blood is more precious than gold, he paid with it for our lives as Christians, and not for the worldly fussy life that our earthly parents awarded us.
Keep this in mind and appreciate the blood of the Lamb in action.
The life of a Christian is very dearly paid, therefore it cannot be wasted and burned through at random: an honest person does not squander what he gets very dearly.
And by the way a person who knows about the sacrifice of Christ disposes of his life - you can find out how much, in fact, he himself evaluates this sacrifice.
If we compare our life, for example, with a purchased product, then when you think that you got it very cheaply, almost for nothing, then it’s not a pity: well, it will disappear, so the product will disappear, throw away everything.
But an expensive product - and we will quickly put it in the refrigerator, and we will spare no effort to prepare something exceptional from it, and we will definitely find time for this, we will even postpone some things for the sake of it.
1:21
through him who believed in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that you may have faith and hope in God
Christ appeared on earth in order to believe in God through him, it was God who resurrected the executed Christ and showed us his glory of salvation in resurrection, so that we all would have the opportunity to believe God in relation to our future glory of salvation, looking at the example of the resurrected Christ. ( it does not mean exactly the likeness of the resurrection of Christ in the spirit. We are talking about the very fact that God revived Christ, which means that we can hope for this if we follow the path of Christ)
1:22,23
By obeying the truth through the Spirit, having cleansed your souls to unfeigned brotherly love, constantly love one another from a pure heart,
23 [as] reborn, not from corruptible seed, but from incorruptible, from the word of God, which lives and abides forever
From now on, our task is to be obedient to the truth (the word of God) and constantly, throughout our lives, to love each other, as befits reborn from an incorruptible seed - from the word of God, capable of reviving and renewing. And not in the way that children born from a perishable parental seed “love” and their words, who we used to be BEFORE our spiritual rebirth.
1:24,25
For all flesh is like grass, and all the glory of man is like the flower on the grass: the grass withered, and its flower fell off;
For those born from the perishable seed of the parent will wither and wither ingloriously and without salvation, but the seed of God (the word) remains forever, therefore, those born from the word of God also will not wither and fade forever. Feel the difference, dear ones, and do not cling to this world where there is no salvation, but become obedient to the word of God in everything.
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever; and this is the word which is preached to you. The principles set forth in the New Testament will be in the new world order of God, and in all eternity.
The apostle describes and greets those to whom he writes (vv. 1, 2), blesses God for their rebirth to a living hope of eternal salvation (vv. 3-5), shows them that in the hope of this salvation they have great grounds for rejoicing, though they endured brief trials and tribulations to test their faith, which should produce inexpressible and glorious joy, v. 6-9. This is the very salvation which the ancient prophets foretold, and into which the angels desired to enter, v. 10-12. He calls them to chastity and holiness, based on the precious blood of Christ, the price of man's redemption (v. 13-21), and to brotherly love, based on their regeneration and the excellence of their spiritual condition, v. 22-25.
Verses 1-2. The header contains three parts:
1. Named Peter. His first name was Simon, and Jesus Christ gave him another name, Peter, meaning stone, in praise of his faith, and in token that he would be one of the eminent pillars of the church of God, Gal. 2:9.
2. According to his rank, an Apostle of Jesus Christ. This word means sent, ambassador, messenger, one who is sent in the name of Jesus Christ to His work; but in a stricter sense - this is the highest rank in Christian Church. 1 Corinthians 12:28: God has ordained some in the Church, in the first place, as apostles... Their dignity and excellency are this: they were directly chosen by Christ himself; they were the first witnesses, and then the preachers of the resurrection of Christ and the entire gospel dispensation; they possessed excellent, extraordinary gifts; had power to work miracles, not at all times, but when it pleased Christ; they were initiated into all truth and were endowed with the spirit of prophecy; had the power and the right to judge more than all others; each apostle was an ecumenical bishop in all churches and over all ministers. Peter with humility:
(1.) Establishes his dignity as an apostle. It follows from this that a person has the right to recognize for himself, and sometimes is obliged to defend the gifts given to him by God. To claim what we do not have is hypocrisy, and to deny what we have is ingratitude.
(2) Mentions his apostolic duties, which entitle him and call him to write this epistle. Note; all, and especially ministers, should take very seriously their commission and call to work which they have received from God. This will be their justification to others and will give them inner support and comfort in all dangers and disappointments.
II. Those to whom this message was addressed are described.
1. The external conditions of their life - Aliens scattered in Pontus, Galatia .., and beyond. They were chiefly Jews, the descendants of the Jews (according to Dr. Praideks), who were exiled from Babylon to the cities of Asia Minor by order of the Syrian king Antiochus about two hundred years before the coming of Christ. It is quite probable that Peter, being an apostle of the circumcised, was among them and converted them to Christ, and that afterwards he wrote them this epistle from Babylon, where many Jews then dwelt. At present, poverty and sorrow were their lot.
(1.) The best of God's servants, in times of difficult circumstances, provided by providence, may be scattered, forced to leave their native places. Those whom the whole world was not worthy had to wander through the deserts and mountains, through the caves and gorges of the earth.
(2.) The persecuted and scattered servants of God are to be given special attention. Such were the object of special care and compassion of the apostle. We should show respect to the saints according to their merit and their needs.
(3) The dignity of virtuous people is not to be judged by their present outward position. In this case it was a number of excellent people, beloved by God, and yet they were strangers, scattered in this world, poor; the eye of God was over them wherever they were, and the apostle, showing tender concern for them, wrote to them for the purpose of instruction and comfort.
2. Their spiritual state is also described: ... chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father .., and so on. These poor strangers, despised and oppressed in this world, nevertheless were very valuable in the eyes of the great God and occupied the most honorable position that one can have in this world, for they were:
(1) Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Election is either for service, so God chose Saul to be king (1 Samuel 10:24), and our Lord says to His apostles: ... Have I not chosen twelve of you? (John 6:70);
either to belong to the Church, to have special privileges; so Israel was God's chosen people (Deut. 7:6): For you are a holy people with the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own people out of all the peoples that are on the earth; or to eternal salvation: ...God from the beginning, through the sanctification of the Spirit and faith in the truth, chose you to salvation, 2 Thess. 2:13. The election here referred to is God's gracious determination to save some and bring them, through Christ, by appropriate means, to eternal life.
This election is said to take place according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Prediction can be understood in two ways.
First, As a mere foreknowledge, foreknowledge or understanding of a future event before it happens. How mathematicians can accurately predict time solar eclipse. God has such a foreknowledge, He penetrates with one powerful glance into everything that was, that is, and that someday will be. But such foreknowledge is not the cause that causes this or that event, although it is quite certain; mathematicians who predict an eclipse cannot cause this eclipse by their prediction.
Secondly, Foreknowledge sometimes signifies counsel, determination, and approval (Acts 2:23): This, according to the definite counsel and foreknowledge of God... Christ's death was not only foretold, but foreordained, v. 20. Let us use here the second meaning of this word, and then this verse will sound like this: Chosen by the counsel, predestination, and independent grace of God.
The apostle adds - according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. By the Father we must here understand the first Person of the blessed Trinity. Between these three Persons there is a certain order, although there is no superiority; they are equal in power and glory, all their actions are coordinated. Thus, in the work of man's redemption, election is ascribed to the Father, reconciliation to the Son, and sanctification to the Holy Spirit, although in none of these actions does either Person participate so completely as to exclude the participation of the other two. In this way the Persons of the blessed Trinity are most clearly revealed to us, and we know what we owe to each of them.
(2) They were chosen, by sanctification by the Spirit, to obedience and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. The goal and end result of election is eternal life and salvation, but before this can be accomplished, each elected person must be sanctified by the Holy Spirit and justified by the blood of Christ. God's determination about the salvation of man is always carried out through sanctification from the Spirit and sprinkling with the Blood of Jesus. Sanctification is here understood to mean real sanctification, beginning with regeneration, by which we are renewed in the image of God and made new creatures, and continuing in the daily exercise of holiness, in the constant, increasing mortification of sins, and in living for God in all the duties of the Christian life. which is expressed here in one word - obedience, including all Christian duties. Some hold that by Spirit the apostle means the spirit of man, the object of sanctification. The Old Testament, or antitypical, sanctification produced nothing more than the cleansing of the flesh, while the New Testament affects the spirit of man and purifies him. Others, with good reason, think that by the Spirit here is meant the Holy Spirit, the author of sanctification. He renews the mind, puts to death our sins (Rom. 8:13), and produces His excellent fruit in the hearts of Christians, Gal. 5:22,23. Sanctification from the Spirit involves the use of means. Sanctify them in thy truth; thy word is truth, John 17:17. To obedience. This word refers to the previous phrase and points to the purpose of sanctification, which is to bring stubborn sinners into obedience, into universal obedience, into obedience to the truth and the gospel of Christ: 22.
(3) They were also chosen to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. According to God's designation, they were intended to be sanctified by the Spirit and cleansed by the merits and Blood of Christ. Here is a clear allusion to the antitypical sprinkling of blood in the days of the law, the language of which the Jewish converts understood very well. The blood of the sacrifice had to be not only shed, but also sprinkled with it, as a sign that the blessings associated with it belonged to the sacrificer and were imputed to him. So the Blood of Christ, the great and all-sufficient sacrifice, typified by the Old Testament sacrifices, was not only shed, but must be sprinkled with it, and each of the chosen Christians must partake of it in order to receive the forgiveness of sins in His Blood through faith, Rom. 3:25. This sprinkled blood justifies a man before God, Rom. 5:9; seals the covenant between God and us, of which the Lord's supper is a sign, Luke 22:20; cleanses from all sin (1 John 1:7) and gives us access to heaven, Heb. 10:19. Note:
God has chosen some for eternal life, some and not all; individuals, not denominations.
All who are chosen for eternal life as an end are chosen for obedience as a means to that end.
Without the sanctification of the Spirit and the sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus, there will be no true obedience in life.
In the matter of human salvation, there is agreement and cooperation of all three Persons of the Trinity, their actions are coordinated among themselves: whom the Father has chosen, the Holy Spirit sanctifies to obedience, and the Son redeems and sprinkles with His blood.
The doctrine of the Trinity lies at the foundation of all religion given by revelation from above. If you deny the deity of the Son and the Holy Spirit, you invalidate the redemption of the One and the grace-giving actions of the Other, and thus destroy the foundation of your own security and comfort.
1. Grace is the independent favor of God with all its manifestations: forgiveness, healing, support and salvation.
2. Peace. All kinds of peace can be implied here: domestic, civil, peace in the church and spiritual world with God, accompanied by a sense of him in our own conscience.
3. There is also a petition or prayer for these blessings, that they may be multiplied; this means that these blessings have already been to some extent, and Peter desires that they continue, increase, and be perfected. Remember:
(1.) Those who have spiritual blessings sincerely desire to impart them to others. The grace of God is generous, not selfish.
(2.) The best blessing we can wish for ourselves or our friends is grace and peace, and their increase, which is why the apostle so often includes prayers for this at the beginning and at the end of his epistles.
(3) Where there is no true grace, there cannot be real peace, first grace and then peace. Peace without grace is simply absurd, but grace can also be present when the world is temporarily absent, as was the case, for example, with Haman when he was embarrassed by great fear, and with Christ when He was in great struggle.
(4) As the first gift of peace and grace, so is their multiplication from God. Where He gives true grace, there He will send it to an even greater extent, and every good person zealously desires the improvement and multiplication of these blessings both for himself and for others.
Verses 3-5. We have come to the main part of the epistle, which begins I. With the congratulations of the believers, in the form of thanksgiving to God, on their high and blessed position. Other epistles begin likewise, 2 Cor. 1:3; Eph 1:3. Here we see:
1. Fulfillment of duty, consisting in the blessing of God. Recognizing his excellent and blessed position, a person thereby blesses God.
2. The object of this blessing, described by the relation which He has to Jesus Christ: the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The three names of the same Person, given here, signify His threefold ministry.
(1) He is the Lord - the King of the universe.
(2) Jesus is the High Priest, or Savior.
(3) Christ is a prophet, anointed with the Holy Spirit and filled with all the gifts necessary for the instruction, guidance, and salvation of His Church. The God thus glorified is the God of Christ's human nature and the Father of His divine nature.
3. The reason that obliges us to the duty to bless God; it lies in His great mercy. We owe all our blessings, in particular our rebirth, not to our merits, but to the grace of God. He has regenerated us, and this deserves our gratitude to God, especially when you consider what fruit it produces within us - an excellent gift of hope, hope not in vain, not dead, not that perishing hope that worldly people and hypocrites have, but living hope, strong life-giving and enduring, as hope should be, having such a firm foundation as the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Let's remember:
(1.) The condition of a true Christian is never so bad that he does not have a great reason to glorify God. As the sinner always has reason to weep, despite his prosperity in this life, so the virtuous person, while experiencing many hardships, nevertheless has reason to rejoice and praise God.
(2) In our petitions and thanksgivings we must turn to God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, only through Christ does God accept us and our ministry.
(3.) The best of men owe their best blessings to the abounding mercy of God. All evil in the world comes from human sin, and all good from God's mercy. Regeneration, as well as everything else, is attributed quite distinctly to the great grace of God, we exist solely by His grace. For the nature of regeneration, see John 3:3.
(4) Regeneration produces a living hope for eternal life. Every unconverted person is a person without hope, and all his claims to anything like that are mere arrogance and self-confidence. The true hope of the Christian is that to which the Spirit of God regenerates man; this birth is not from nature, but from grace. Those born to a new, spiritual life are also born to a new, spiritual hope.
(5) The excellence of the Christian's hope is that it is a living hope. The hope of eternal life keeps the true Christian alive, encourages him, sustains him, and leads him to heaven. It gives strength and inspiration for work, patience, perseverance and fidelity to the end. The illusory hopes of the unregenerate are vain and short-lived; the hope of the hypocrite dies with him, Job 27:8.
(6) The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the foundation of the Christian's hope. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is an act of God as Judge and the Son as conqueror. His resurrection proves that the Father accepted His death as the full price of our redemption, that He triumphed over death, hell, and all our spiritual enemies; moreover, it is the guarantee of our own resurrection. Since there is an inextricable bond between Christ and His sheep, they will be resurrected by the power of His resurrection as their Head, and not by the power of Him as Judge. We are risen with Christ, Col 3:1. From all this we can conclude that Christians have two solid and unshakable foundations on which to build their hope for eternal life.
II. After congratulating his readers on their regeneration and hope of eternal life, the apostle goes on to describe that life as an inheritance; this was the most appropriate turn of speech for these people, for they were poor, persecuted, and probably lost their earthly inheritance, which they possessed by birthright; to soften this grief, the apostle tells them that they are reborn to a new inheritance, incomparably better than what they have lost. Besides, most of them were Jews and were very attached to Canaan, the country of their inheritance, bequeathed to them by God Himself; they regarded their expulsion from the inheritance of God as a heavy punishment, 1 Samuel 26:19. In order to console them, the apostle reminds them of the wonderful inheritance stored up for them in heaven, such that in comparison with it the land of Canaan was but a pale shadow. Note here:
1. Heaven is the indisputable inheritance of all God's children; all who are born again are born to an inheritance, as a man makes his children his heirs: If children, then heirs, Rom. 8:17. God gives His gifts to all, but the inheritance is only to His children; all who are made sons and daughters of God by new birth and adoption receive the promise of eternal life, Heb. 9:15. This inheritance is not our acquisition, it is God's gift, it is not a reward we deserve, but the fruit of grace, which first makes us children of God, and then bequeaths this inheritance to us according to a firm, unchanging covenant.
2. Four excellent qualities of this inheritance:
(1.) It is incorruptible, and in this sense is like its Creator, who is called in Rom. 1:23 the incorruptible God. All corruption is a change from better to worse, but the sky does not change and does not end, the heavenly house is eternal and its owners will remain in it forever, for this corruptible must put on incorruption .., 1 Corinthians 15:53.
(2) This inheritance is pure, like the great High Priest who now owns it, holy, free from evil, undefiled, Heb. 7:26. There is no place for sin and suffering, those two great defiling factors that corrupt the world and distort its beauty.
(3) It does not fade, but always retains its strength and beauty, always remains incorruptible, and gives joy and delight to the saints who possess it, without causing them the slightest weariness or displeasure.
(4) Stored up in heaven for you. This phrase tells us
That this inheritance is glorious, for it is in heaven, and all that is in heaven is glorious, Ephesians 1:18.
That it is well guarded and preserved until the day when we take possession of it.
Those for whom this inheritance is kept are described, not by their names, but by their distinguishing features: for you, or for us, or for everyone who is reborn ... to a living hope. This inheritance is reserved for them and only for them, and all others are forever excluded from it.
III. Since this inheritance is described as a future distant in time and space, the apostle admits that some doubts or anxieties may still remain in the minds of these people, as if they might fall on the way. “Although this bliss is preserved in heaven, we still live on earth and are subject to many temptations, sufferings and infirmities. Is our position so secure that we can be sure that we will definitely get there? To this Peter replies that they will be guarded and led there; they will be protected from every harm and destructive temptation that might hinder them from safely reaching eternal life. The heir of the earthly estate is not sure that he will live to the time when he can use it, but the heirs of heaven will certainly be brought to the goal in complete safety. The blessing here promised is safety: you are kept, and God keeps you; the internal means used for this purpose are our own faith and diligence; the end for which God keeps us is our salvation; the time when we reach a happy end and the completion of everything is the end time. Note:
1. God cares so tenderly for his children that he not only gives them grace, but also keeps them to glory. The fact that they are observed signifies both the presence of dangers and the deliverance from them; they may be attacked but not defeated.
2. The preservation of the reborn to eternal life is an act of God's power. The magnitude of this task, the number of enemies and our own infirmities, is such that no power, except the almighty, is able to keep the soul to salvation; therefore the Holy Scripture often presents the salvation of man as an act of God's power, 2 Corinthians 12:9; Rom 14:4.
3. Observance by the power of God by no means precludes the efforts of man himself and his concern for his own salvation; necessary as God's power, and the faith of man, which includes a sincere desire to be saved, trust in Christ, based on His invitations and promises; vigilant care to please God in everything and avoid everything that offends Him; rejection of temptations, looking to recompense, and constant diligence in prayer. By such patient, active, overcoming faith, assisted by the grace of God, we are kept unto salvation; faith is an excellent safeguard for the soul on its way through a state of grace to a state of glory.
4. This salvation is about to be revealed in the last time. There are three statements here regarding the salvation of the saints:
(1.) That it is already prepared and kept in heaven.
(2.) That although it is ready, it nevertheless remains largely hidden, not only from the ignorant and blind world, which never takes an interest in it, but even from the heirs of salvation themselves. ... It has not yet been revealed what we will be .., 1 John 3:2.
(3.) That it will be fully revealed at the last time, or at the last day of judgment. The gospel brought life and immortality, but that life will be revealed in all its glory on the day of death, when the soul will be admitted into the presence of Christ and behold his glory; and after that there will be a still greater and final revelation of the blessedness of the saints on the last day, when their bodies will be resurrected and united with their souls, when judgment will be made on angels and people, and Christ will clearly glorify His servants before the face of the whole world.
Verses 6-9. The opening words of this passage, about this, refer to Peter's earlier discourses on the superiority of the present position of believers and their great hopes for the future. Rejoice in this, having now grieved a little, if need be, from various temptations, v. 6.
I. The apostle recognizes that they are in great distress, and offers them means to soften their afflictions.
1. Every true Christian always has something in which he can find great joy. Great joy involves more than inner peace or comfort, it is expressed in facial expression and behavior, but especially in praise and gratitude.
2. A good Christian finds the main source of joy in the spiritual, heavenly, in his relationship to God and to heaven. This is the great joy of every sound Christian, it arises from his treasury containing objects of the greatest value, and the right to them is guaranteed to him.
3. The best Christians, who have reason for great joy, may nevertheless experience great hardship because of many temptations. Any misfortune is a temptation, or a test of faith, patience and fidelity. They rarely come one by one, more often there are many of them, and they attack from different sides, creating together great sorrows. Like all people, we are subject to personal and family sorrows. Our duty to God as Christians causes frequent sorrows: our compassion for the unfortunate, dishonor for the name of God, the disasters of His Church, as well as the death of the human race due to its own madness and God's retribution, causes in noble and pious souls almost constant sorrow. Great sorrow to me, and continual torment to my heart, Rom. 9:2.
4. The sorrows and sorrows of good people are short-lived, although they can be very cruel, but they do not last long. Life itself is short-lived, and the sorrows connected with it cannot survive it; the brevity of any misfortune largely moderates its severity.
5. Great sorrows are often necessary for the good of a Christian: ...having now grieved a little, if necessary...God grieves His children not according to His will, but acts with discretion, in accordance with our needs. Sorrows are useful, nay, absolutely necessary, for such is the meaning of the expression: it must be so; therefore no one should be shaken in these tribulations: for you yourselves know that this is how we are destined, 1 Thessalonians 3:3. The sorrows that weigh us down will never come to us unless we need them, and they will never last longer than necessary.
II. The apostle explains for what purpose afflictions are sent to them, and what reason they have to rejoice in them, v. 7. The sorrows of the righteous are intended to test their faith. The essence of this test is to make faith more precious than gold that perishes, although it is tested by fire. The result of this test will be praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Note:
1. The tribulations of serious Christians are designed to test their faith. God allows His children to suffer in order to test them, not to crush them, for their benefit, and not for their destruction; trial, as the word means, is an experiment carried out on a person, or an examination of him through affliction, in order to determine the value and strength of his faith. It is primarily faith that is tested, and not the other virtues, since the test of faith is, in essence, the test of all that is good in us. Our Christianity depends on our faith; if it is lacking, then there is no other spiritual good in us. Christ prayed for His apostles so that their faith would not fail; if faith holds, then everything else will stand firm; the faith of virtuous people is tested so that they themselves may find comfort in it, so that God may be glorified through it, and others may benefit from it.
2. Tried faith is far more precious than tried gold. There is a double comparison here: between faith and gold, and between trials of both. Gold is the most precious, pure, useful and durable of all metals; the same place is occupied by faith among Christian virtues; it remains until it takes the soul to heaven, and then passes into the glorious eternal possession of God. The test of faith is far more precious than the test of gold; in both cases, purification, separation of impurities and identification of valuable properties of the tested objects occur. But when tested by fire, gold does not increase or increase, but rather decreases; but faith is affirmed, perfected, and multiplied in calamities and in those oppositions with which it encounters. Gold eventually perishes - perishing gold, but faith never. I prayed for you that your faith would not fail..., Luke 22:32. The test of faith will serve to praise, honor and glory. Honor is, in fact, the respect that one pays to another; this is the honor the saints will receive from God and people. Praise is an expression of this respect; Christ will praise His children on the great day: Come, you blessed of My Father... Glory is the radiance that a man who is worthy of honor and praise will shine in heaven. Glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, Rom 2:10. If tried faith is to praise, honor, and glory, let that make you value it as something more precious than gold, though it is tried in affliction. No matter how you evaluate them, faith and gold, in terms of real benefit or end result, you will find that this is really so, although the world considers this an unheard of paradox.
4. Jesus Christ will appear again in glory, and when he appears in this way, then the saints will also appear with him, and then their virtues will shine; and the more they have been tested, the more brightly they will shine. Trials will end soon, but glory, honor and praise will last for all eternity. This is to reconcile you to your afflictions at the present time: they are producing for you an immeasurable abundance of eternal glory.
III. He approves of the faith of these early Christians for the following two reasons:
1. Because of the superiority of the object of their faith, the invisible Jesus. The apostle saw our Lord in the flesh, but these scattered Jews never saw him, and yet they believed in him, v. 8. It is one thing to believe in God, or in Christ (as demons believe), and another thing is to believe Him, that is, to obey, trust Him and expect from Him all the promised blessings.
2. Because of the wonderful fruits, or their manifestations, of faith, the love of joy, their joy was so great that it surpassed all description: Rejoice with joy inexpressible and glorious. Let's remember:
(1) The Christian faith has to do with things that are open but invisible. Feelings operate with things tangible, cash; the mind has powers of a higher order, through deduction it can deduce effects from causes and predict events; but faith rises even higher: based on confidence in revelation, it gives us confidence in many things that cannot be known either by feelings or by reason; Faith is the assurance of things not seen.
(2) True faith never remains alone, but produces strong love to Jesus Christ. True Christians truly love Jesus because they believe in Him. This love is manifested in the highest reverence and passionate attraction to Him, in the willingness to die to be with Him, in sweet reflections on Him, in joyful service to Him and in suffering for Him, and beyond.
(3) Where there is true faith in Christ and love for Him, there is, or can be, joy inexpressible and glorious. This joy is inexpressible, it cannot be described in words, it is best known by experience; it is joy glorious, heavenly. The most perfect of Christians are already here on earth experiencing joy, in which there is much from heaven and future glory; by faith they overcome all causes of sorrow and find the best reasons for joy. Although good people sometimes walk in darkness - often because of their own mistakes and ignorance, or a dejected state of mind, or sinful behavior, or some sad event that temporarily deprives them of peace - yet they have reason to rejoice in the Lord and rejoice in the God of your salvation, Hab. 3:18. The early Christians could rejoice with unspeakable joy, for they daily reached the goal of their faith, the salvation of souls (in English translation. - Note of the translator), v. 9. Notice:
What blessing they achieved: the salvation of their souls (the most noble part of their being, identical to the whole person);
this salvation is here called the goal of their faith, the goal with which the work of faith ends: when faith helps the soul to achieve salvation, then its work ends and it ceases forever.
The apostle speaks of the present time: you are now, at the present time, reaching the goal of your faith, and beyond.
The word used here alludes to sports games where the winner achieved, or received from the judge, a contest, a crown or an award for his victory; so the salvation of the soul was for these Christians the reward they sought, the crown for which they fought, and the goal towards which they aspired, and every day more and more approached. Let us remember: First, Every faithful Christian achieves daily the salvation of his soul; salvation is an ongoing process beginning in this life, not interrupted by death, and continuing through all eternity. These believers possessed the first fruits of heaven on earth in the form of holiness and heavenly thoughts, the fulfillment of their duties before God and communion with Him, in the form of a pledge of inheritance and the testimony of the Spirit of God. It was very right to convince the oppressed people of this; in this world they were among those who lose, but the apostle reminds them of what they have achieved; although they lost in the lower goods, they gained the salvation of the soul. Secondly, Make it your goal to save your own soul is legal for a Christian; the glory of God and our own happiness are so intertwined that if we continually seek the one, we attain the other.
Verses 10-12. The apostle described those to whom he wrote, and explained to them what excellent advantages they had; now he shows them what evidence he had for his statements. Since they were Jews and deeply revered the Old Testament, he appeals to the authority of the prophets in order to convince them that the doctrine of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ was not a new doctrine, but the very one to which the research and research of the prophets belonged. Note:
I. Who carried out these careful studies; they were prophets, that is, those whom God inspired to speak or do something extraordinary, beyond their own efforts and abilities, such as foretelling future events and revealing the will of God as directed by the Holy Spirit.
II. The subject of their research is salvation and the grace assigned to you: the common salvation of people of all nationalities through Jesus Christ and, especially, the salvation offered to the Jews, the grace assigned to them from the One who was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. They foresaw glorious times of light, grace, and comfort awaiting the Church, and this aroused in the prophets and the righteous a desire to see and hear what happened in the days of the gospel.
III. How they researched conducted surveys and research. These are strong and expressive words, reminding us of how miners dig very deep and make their way not only through the soil, but also through the stone to get the ore; so these holy prophets were eager to know, and exercised a corresponding diligence in their searches for the grace of God, which was to be revealed in the days of the Messiah; the fact that they were inspired by God did not make their diligent studies unnecessary, for, despite the supernatural help from God, they were required to use all the usual methods of improvement in wisdom and knowledge. Daniel was a man much loved and inspired by God, and yet he figured out the number of years from books, Dan. 9:2. Even the prophets' own revelations required their study, reflection, and prayer, for many prophecies had a double meaning: their first purpose was to point to the people and events of the present time, but their ultimate purpose was to describe the person and sufferings of Christ or His kingdom. Note:
1. The doctrine of the salvation of man through Jesus Christ has been studied and admired by the greatest and wisest men; the greatness of the subject of research and their own interest in it prompted them to delve into it with great care and seriousness.
2. The manifestations of God's mercy and grace towards others have the same effect on a good person and cause the same satisfaction in him, as those related to himself. The prophets took the highest pleasure in the anticipation of grace, which was to be revealed at the coming of Christ to both Jews and Gentiles.
3. Whoever wants to know this great salvation, and the grace that shines in it, must diligently seek and investigate; if it was necessary for the prophets, inspired by the Spirit of God, how much more so for us, so weak and incapable of reasoning.
4. The grace that came with the gospel surpasses all that was before; the gospel economy is more glorious, clearer, more comprehensible, more extensive, and more effective than any that has ever preceded it.
IV. What questions were mainly explored by the ancient prophets; they are listed in Art. 11. Jesus Christ was the main subject of their studies; about Him they were most interested in the following:
1. His humiliation and death, and their glorious consequences: ... Christ's sufferings and the glory that follows them. These studies were to lead them to an understanding of the whole gospel, the essence of which is that Jesus Christ was betrayed for our sins and rose again for our justification.
2. When and at what time the Messiah was to appear. Undoubtedly, these holy prophets sincerely desired to see the days of the Son of Man; therefore, after the fact itself, the next question on which they pondered was the time of its fulfillment, how much the Spirit of Christ that was in them gave them His instructions regarding this matter. The nature of the time was also subjected to their serious research: whether it would be calm or disturbing, a time of peace or war. Remember:
(1.) Jesus Christ existed before His incarnation, for His Spirit already then dwelt in the prophets, therefore He whose Spirit it was also existed at that time.
(2) The doctrine of the Trinity was not completely unknown to the righteous in the Old Testament. The prophets knew that they were inspired by the Spirit indwelling them; they knew that it was the Spirit of Christ and therefore different from Christ Himself: just as here we see several faces, so from other parts of the Old Testament one can draw conclusions about the Trinity.
(3) The operations here attributed to the Holy Spirit prove that He is God. He indicated, revealed and announced to the prophets, foreshadowed the sufferings of Christ for many hundreds of years to come, with many specific circumstances accompanying them; He also testified, that is, he gave proof of the certainty of this event, inspiring the prophets to speak of it, work miracles to confirm it, and inspire the faithful to believe in it. These actions of the Spirit of Christ prove that He is God, for He possessed omnipotence and infinite knowledge.
(4) The example of Jesus Christ teaches us that we must serve and suffer before we can receive eternal glory. So it was with Him, and a servant is not greater than his Lord. The time of suffering is short, but the glory is eternal; let the sufferings be however cruel and severe, they will not hinder us, but will produce for us in an immeasurable overabundance of eternal glory.
V. The success with which their research was crowned. Their holy aspirations for enlightenment were not neglected, for God gave them a revelation sufficient to calm and comfort their souls. It was revealed to them that these events should not take place in their time, but nevertheless they are all true and certain and should be realized in apostolic times: Not to themselves, but to us; and we must, under the infallible leading of the Holy Spirit, proclaim it to the whole world. What the Angels wish to penetrate, and so on.
Here are three categories of students, or investigators, of the great work of the salvation of the human race through Jesus Christ:
1. Prophets who made research and research.
2. The apostles, who consulted the prophecies, witnessed their fulfillment and, through the preaching of the gospel, proclaimed to others what they themselves knew.
3. The angels, especially diligently seeking to penetrate into these matters. Remember:
(1.) Diligent pursuit of a knowledge of Christ and our duty to him will certainly be crowned with success. Prophets were rewarded with revelations. Daniel made diligence - and gained knowledge; the Christians of Berea searched the Scriptures - and established themselves in the faith.
(2.) The holiest and best of men are sometimes denied their legitimate and pious requests. The desire of the prophets to know more about the time of the appearance of Christ to the world than they were allowed to, was both legitimate and pious, but they were denied this. The prayers of good parents for their ungodly children, the prayers of the poor for deliverance from poverty and the prayers of good people from death are quite legitimate and pious, but even these just petitions are often refused. God is more pleased to answer according to our needs, and not according to our requests.
(3) To be useful to others more than to oneself is an honor for the Christian, and in this he should practice. Prophets served others, not themselves. None of us lives for himself, Rom. 14:7. Nothing is so contrary to human nature, and also Christian principles how to make yourself your goal and live only for yourself.
(4) Although God gives revelations to his church gradually, piecemeal, yet they are all in perfect harmony with one another; the teaching of the prophets and the teaching of the apostles are in complete agreement with each other, since they proceed from one and the same Spirit of God.
(5) The effectiveness of evangelistic ministry depends on the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Evangelism is a ministry of the Spirit, and its success is determined by His actions and blessings.
(6) The mysteries of the gospel and the methods of man's salvation are so glorious that the blessed angels ardently desire to penetrate into them; they diligently, carefully and inquisitively examine them, with deep attention and admiration they consider the whole plan of the redemption of mankind, in particular the questions discussed by the apostle: what do the angels want to penetrate, bending down, like cherubim, constantly bowed to the lid of the ark.
Verses 13-23. Here the apostle admonishes those whose glorious position he has described above, and by this he teaches us that Christianity is a doctrine of godliness, intended to make us not only wiser, but also better.
I. He calls them to watchfulness and holiness.
1. Therefore, having girded the members of your mind, v. 13. He seems to want to say: “Therefore, since you have received such an honor, such a distinction, as described above, then gird up the loins of your mind. You have to go the way, run the distance, fight and do a lot of work; just as the traveler, the runner, the warrior, and the laborer gather up and gird their long and loose garments, so that they do not restrict their movements, in order to be nimble and quick, so you must gird your mind, your inner man with its inclinations: gird them, collect so that they do not hang around you freely and casually; curb their extremes, and let the loins, that is, the strength and energy of your mind, be strained in the performance of your duty; let go of everything that can hinder you, and remain unwavering in obedience. Watch, that is, be vigilant against every spiritual danger and all spiritual enemies, be moderate and modest in matters of food, drink, clothing, entertainment, in all affairs and in all your behavior. Be chaste both in your views and in your practical life, humble in your judgments of yourselves.” Trust fully in the grace that is given to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Some refer these words to the last judgment, meaning by them that the apostle directed their hope to the final revelation of Jesus Christ; but it seems more natural to understand them in the following sense (as they can be translated): “Trust absolutely in the grace that is given to you in, or through, the appearance of Jesus Christ, that is, through the Gospel, having revealed life and immortality. Trust completely, without any doubt, in the grace now offered to you in the Gospel. Let's remember:
(1) The main task of the Christian is to properly manage his heart and mind; the first commandment of the apostle is to gird the loins of the mind.
(2) The best Christians need a wake-up call. The readers of the epistle who are reminded of this were excellent Christians; this is required of the elders (1 Tim. 3:2), of the elders (Tit. 2:2), young women should be taught this, and young men should be exhorted to be chaste, Tit. 2:4,6.
(3) The work of a Christian does not end with entering into a state of grace; he must expect still greater grace and strive to master it. Having passed through the narrow gate, he must follow the narrow path, girding up the loins of his mind for this purpose.
(4) A firm and perfect hope in God's grace in the performance of our duty is fully compatible with the most diligent efforts; we must hope fully, and at the same time gird up our loins, vigorously take up the work that is before us, drawing encouragement from the grace of Jesus Christ.
2. As obedient children..., v. 14. These words can be considered as a rule of holy living, which includes a positive part - "You must live like obedient children, accepted by God into His family and reborn by His grace", - and a negative part - "... Do not be conformed to the former lusts who were in your ignorance." They can also be understood as an argument for holiness based on a comparison of what they were in the past (living in lust and ignorance) and what they have become now (obedient children). Let's remember:
(1.) The children of God must prove that they really are such by their constant and complete obedience.
(2) The best of God's children once lived in lust and in ignorance; there was a time when they adjusted all their life plans to their ungodly desires and vicious lusts, because they were completely ignorant of God and themselves, Christ and the Gospel.
(3) After conversion, people are completely different from what they were before. These are already people of a different type of character and style of behavior, not the same as they were before; their inner mood, manners, speech and behavior are very different from before.
(4) The lusts and folly of sinners are the fruits and symptoms of their ignorance.
3. But, following the example of the Holy One who called you, v. 15, 16. A very lofty rule is given, supported by strong arguments: ... be holy in all your actions. Who is capable of it? And yet it is required in strict terms, supported by three arguments based on the call of God's grace, on His command - it is written, and on His example - "be holy, because I am holy." Let's remember:
(1.) The grace of God in calling the sinner is a strong motive to holiness. It is the great mercy of God that by His grace we have indeed been called out of the state of lost sinners to the possession of all the blessings of the New Testament; and great mercies are great obligations; they not only enable us, but oblige us to be holy.
(2) Perfect holiness is what every Christian should desire. Here is the double rule of holiness:
Regarding the area that it should cover: it should be comprehensive. We must be holy, and moreover, in all actions; in all civil and spiritual matters; in any conditions - favorable and unfavorable; in relations with all people - with friends and enemies; in all relationships and business dealings we must be holy.
Concerning the model of holiness: we must be holy as God is holy, imitate Him, although we can never be equal to Him. He is perfectly, unchangingly, and eternally holy, and we should aspire to such a state. The contemplation of God's holiness should oblige us to strive for the highest degree of holiness attainable for us.
(3) The word of God is the surest rule of the Christian life, and according to this rule we must be holy in all our actions.
(4) The Old Testament commandments are to be studied and obeyed in New Testament times; demanding holiness from all Christians, the apostle cites the commandment of Moses, which he had several times given.
4. And if you call Him the Father, Who impartially judges everyone according to their deeds .., v. 17. The apostle here expresses no doubt that his readers can call God their heavenly Father, but, on the contrary, assumes that all of them can certainly call him that, and on this basis exhorts them to spend the time of their wandering with fear: “If you recognize the great God as your Father and Judge, then you should spend the time of your wandering on earth with fear.” Let's remember:
(1.) All good Christians regard themselves as strangers and strangers in this world, wandering in a far country, and going to the country to which they proper belong, Ps. 38:13; Heb 11:13.
(2) All the time of our wandering here on earth must be spent in the fear of God.
(3) It is not at all wrong for those who can truly call God their Father to regard Him as Judge. Holy confidence in God as Father and reverent fear of Him as Judge are quite compatible; it is reverence for God as Judge that makes Him dear to us as Father.
(4) The judgment of God will be without partiality: each according to his deeds. No external relationship with God will protect anyone; Jews can call both God the Father and Abraham the father, but God will not be partial, will not show favor to them from personal considerations, but will judge them according to their deeds. In the great day of judgment, it is the deeds of men that will reveal their true character; God will make the whole world know who belongs to Him by their deeds. We are called to faith, holiness, and obedience, and our deeds will show whether we are fit for that calling or not.
5. Exhorting them to spend the time of their sojourning with fear, on the ground that they call God the Father, the apostle adds another argument (v. 18): Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible silver or gold, etc. By these words he reminds them, (1.) That they are redeemed, that is, reacquired by paying a ransom to the Father.
(2.) That the price paid for their redemption was not corruptible silver or gold... but the precious blood of Christ.
(3.) That they have been redeemed from the vain life given to them from their fathers.
(4.) That they know of it, and cannot hide behind ignorance of this great work: Knowing.
Let's remember:
The contemplation of our redemption should be a constant and powerful stimulus to holiness and the fear of God.
God expects the Christian to live according to his knowledge, so we badly need to be reminded of what we already know, Ps. 38:5.
Neither gold, nor silver, nor any other corruptible things of this world are able to redeem a single soul. They are often snares, temptations, and hindrances to a man's salvation, but in no way can they win it or help it; they are corruptible and therefore cannot redeem an incorruptible, immortal soul.
The blood of Jesus Christ is the only price for the redemption of man. The redemption of man is something real, it should not be understood in any figurative sense. We have been ransomed for a price, and this price is quite in accordance with the subject of the ransom, for it is the precious Blood of Christ; it is the blood of an innocent Person, of a Lamb without spot or wrinkle, which the Passover lamb represented, and of an infinite Person, who is the Son of God, wherefore this blood is called the Blood of God, Acts 20:28.
The intention of Christ in the shedding of His most precious Blood was to redeem man not only from eternal death beyond the grave, but also from the vain life in this world. A vain life is an empty, frivolous, petty life, contributing neither to the glory of God, nor to the honor of religion, nor to the conversion of sinners, nor to the peace and satisfaction of a person's own conscience. Not only open wickedness, but also a vain, useless life is a great danger.
A person's life can have the appearance of piety, can be justified by references to antiquity, customs, traditions, but, despite all this, remain completely vain. The Jews had much to plead for in defense of all their institutions, and yet their life was so vain that only the blood of Christ could redeem them from it. The antiquity of customs is not a reliable criterion of truth, and it is not a wise decision: "I will live and die like this, because my forefathers lived and died like that."
6. Having mentioned the price of redemption, the apostle proceeds to questions concerning the Redeemer and the redeemed, v. 20, 21.
(1) The Redeemer is further described not only as a Lamb without spot or wrinkle, but also as one who was predestined before the foundation of the world, predestined or known beforehand. When people talk about the foreknowledge of God, they mean more than mere foresight or speculative conjecture. The foreknowledge of God means an act of the will, a determination of what is to be done, Acts 2:23. God not only foresaw, but predestined and decreed that His Son should die for man, and this decree was before the foundation of the world. The beginning of time and the beginning of the existence of the world coincide, before the beginning of time there was nothing but eternity.
Appeared in the last times for them. He revealed Himself as the Redeemer appointed by God. He was made manifest through His birth, through the testimony of the Father, through His own works, and especially through His resurrection from the dead, Rom. 1:4. “This happened in the last days, the days of the New Testament and the Gospel, for you - you Jews, you sinners, you who suffer; you have comfort in the appearance of Christ, if you trust him.”
As one who was raised from the dead by the Father and received glory from Him. In the resurrection of Christ, considered as an act of power, all three Persons participated, but as an act of justice, it belongs only to the Father, who, as Judge, freed Christ and raised Him from the grave, glorified Him and declared to the whole world through His resurrection from the dead that He is His Son, lifted Him up to heaven, crowned Him with glory and honor, clothed Him with all power in heaven and on earth, and glorified Him with the very glory that He had with Him before the foundation of the world.
(2) The redeemed are here described as having faith and hope, whose foundation is Jesus Christ: “Through him you believed in God—through him, who is the author, comforter, support, and perfecter of your faith; you now have faith and hope in God as reconciled to you through Christ the Mediator.”
(3) From all that has been said we should learn:
God's decision to send Christ as Mediator was an eternal, just, and merciful decision, though it does not at all justify the sin of crucifying him, Acts 2:23. God had in mind a special mercy for His people long before He gave them any revelations about this mercy.
The last times are happier than the former ages. With the appearance of Christ, everything increased significantly - the clarity of light, support for faith, the effectiveness of rites, the measure of consolation. Our gratitude and our service should be in proportion to these graces.
The atonement of Christ belongs only to true believers. The universal begging for salvation is recognized by some, rejected by others, but no one claims that the death of Christ will save absolutely everyone. The hypocrites and unbelievers will perish forever, despite the death of Christ.
God in Christ is the ultimate object of the Christian faith, strongly backed by the resurrection of Christ and the glory that followed.
II. Peter calls them to brotherly love.
1. He supposes that the gospel, to which they submitted by the Spirit, had already done its purifying effect on their souls, and produced in them at least unfeigned brotherly love; wherefore he excites them to a higher degree of love, that they may continually love one another with a pure heart, v. 22. Remember:
(1) There can be no doubt that every sincere Christian purifies his soul. The apostle takes it for granted: having cleansed your souls. Purification of the soul implies the presence of great impurity and corruption that defile it, and the removal of this defilement. Neither the Levitical cleansing by law nor the hypocritical cleansing of the outer man can do this.
(2) The Word of God is a great instrument in the work of cleansing sinners: By obeying the truth... having cleansed your souls. The gospel is called truth as opposed to images and shadows, delusions and lies. Truth can purify the soul by obedience to it, John 17:17. Many hear the truth, but are never purified by it, because they do not submit and obey it.
(3) The Spirit of God is the great one who purifies human soul. The Spirit convinces the soul that it is unclean, endows it with virtues that both adorn and purify it, such as: faith (Acts 15:9), hope (1 John 3:3), fear of God (Ps 33:10) and love for Jesus Christ. The Spirit stirs up efforts in us and makes them successful. The help of the Spirit does not replace our own efforts; these people cleansed their souls themselves, but they did it through the Spirit.
(4) The souls of Christians must be cleansed before they can love one another with an unfeigned love. There are such passions and inclinations in human nature that, without divine grace, we cannot properly love either God or one another; there is no love except from a pure heart.
(5) It is the duty of all Christians to love one another sincerely and fervently. Our love for each other must be sincere and genuine, and at the same time must be warm, constant and all-encompassing.
2. The apostle continues to convince Christians, based on the principle of their spiritual kinship, that they are obliged to constantly love one another from a pure heart; they are all reborn, not from a corruptible seed, but from an incorruptible one... From this we learn:
(1) That all Christians are born again. The apostle speaks of this as that which is characteristic of all serious Christians, and which has brought them into a new and close relationship with one another, by their new birth they have become brothers.
(2) The Word of God is the great means of regeneration, Jas. 1:18. Regenerating grace is communicated through the gospel.
(2) A new, second birth is much more desirable and excellent than the first. The apostle points to this by expressing the preference for the incorruptible seed over the corruptible. From the perishable seed we become children of men, and from the incorruptible we become sons and daughters of the Most High. Comparing the Word of God with a seed teaches us that, though insignificant in appearance, it is nevertheless remarkable in its effect; though it remains latent for some time, yet it eventually grows and bears excellent fruit.
(4) Those regenerated must love one another with a pure heart. Brothers by nature are also obliged to love each other, but this obligation is doubled when there is also a spiritual relationship: they are subject to the same master, enjoy the same privileges, are engaged in the same business.
(5) The Word of God lives and abides forever. It is the living word, or the living word, Heb. 4:12. The Word of God is a means of subsistence for spiritual life; it gives rise to spiritual life and then sustains it, inspiring and urging us to fulfill our duty until it leads to eternal life; it abides; it remains eternally true and abides forever in the hearts of the regenerate.
Verses 24-25. Having described the excellency of the renewed spiritual man as being born again, not of corruptible but of incorruptible seed, the apostle now shows us how vain is the natural man with all his ornaments and advantages: For all flesh is like grass, and all the glory of man is like the flower on the grass ..; and nothing can make a person solid, existing, except rebirth from an incorruptible seed, from the Word of God, which transforms him into a most excellent creation, whose glory not only does not fade like a flower, but shines like an angel; and this word is offered to you daily in the preaching of the gospel. Let's remember:
1. Man, even in his highest flourishing and glory, still remains a fading, disappearing, dying creation. He himself, being flesh, is grass. He is like grass in his coming into the world, in his life on earth, and in his decline, Job 14:2; Isaiah 40:6,7. And with all his glory, he is like a flower on the grass; his mind, beauty, strength, courage, wealth, fame - all this is just like a flower of grass, quickly drying up and falling off.
2. The only way for this perishing creature to become strong and incorruptible is to accept the word of God, for it remains eternal truth and preserves the one who accepts it for eternal life and will be with him forever.
3. Prophets and apostles preached the same doctrine. Isaiah and other prophets conveyed in the Old Testament the same word that the apostles preached in the New.
Roosters crowed in the cloudy dawn. The February morning was reluctant. The night watchmen, tangled in the skirts of sheepskin coats, were putting away street slingshots. Furnace smoke drifted to the ground, there was a smell of hot bread in crooked alleys. Horse guards drove by, they asked the watchmen - was there a robbery at night? “How not to be a robbery,” the watchmen answered, “they are naughty around ...”
Moscow woke up reluctantly. The ringers climbed the bell towers, groaning chillily, waiting for Ivan the Great to strike. Slowly, heavily, the ringing of Lent floated over the hazy streets. They creaked, the church doors opened. The deacon, salivating his fingers, removed the soot from the inextinguishable lamps. Beggars, cripples, freaks trudged - to sit on the porch. They cursed in an undertone on an empty stomach. Crossing themselves, they waved their bodies into the darkness of the narthex at warm candles.
Barefoot, jumping, the holy fool ran - smelly, his back was bare, in his head since the summer - burrs. They gasped on the porch: in the hand of god man- a piece of raw meat ... Again, it means that he will say this - a whisper will go all over Moscow. In front of the narthex, he sat down, buried his pockmarked nostrils on his knees, waiting for more people to gather.
It became visible on the street. The gates banged. Gostinodvortsy were walking, tightly belted with sashes. Shops were opened without the former briskness. Ravens swooped under the windy clouds. During the winter, the tsar fed the birds with raw meat - apparently, invisibly, crows flocked from somewhere, littered all the domes. The impoverished people on the porch spoke cautiously: “There will be war and pestilence. Three and a half years, - it is said, - the imaginary kingdom will last ... "
In previous years, at this hour in Kitay-gorod - noise and shouting - it's crowded. From Zamoskvorechye there used to be carts with bread, living creatures and firewood were being transported along the Yaroslavl road, merchants in troikas along the Mozhaisk road. Look now, - two carts have been split, they are selling rotten stuff. The benches are half boarded up. And in the settlements and beyond the Moscow River - the desert. In the Streltsy yards, the roofs have been torn off.
Temples are starting to empty. Many people began to turn away: the Orthodox priests were seduced by pies, along with those who executed and hung in Moscow in the winter. In another churchyard, the priest does not start mass, raising his beard, shouting to the bell ringer: “Hit the big one, foolish head, hit it louder ...” Call, don’t call, people are walking past, they don’t want to be baptized with a pinch. The schismatics teach: “A pinch is a fiddle, spread your fingers, stick a big one between them. It is known who teaches to flick off the fig."
All the same, the people were piling up on the streets: boyar servants, parasites, various naughty nights, little people wandering between the yard. Many crowded around the tavern, waiting for them to open it - they sniffed: it was drawn with garlic, lenten pies. Because of Neglinnaya there were convoys with gunpowder, cast-iron cannonballs, hemp, and iron. Rolling on potholes, they descended across the Moscow River to the Voronezh road. Equestrian dragoons, in new unsheathed short fur coats, in foreign hats - mustachioed, as if they were not Russians, - were tearing themselves up with obscene abuse, brandishing whips at the carters. The people said: “The Germans are again inciting ours to go to war. Ours in Voronezh, with the Germans, with the Germans, completely disgraced!” They opened the pub. The well-known tavern-keeper-kisser came out onto the porch. They died, - no one laughed, they understood that - grief: the kisser's face is naked - yesterday in the Zemstvo hut they shaved by decree. He pursed his lips, as if crying, crossed himself into five low heads, gloomily said: "Come in ..."
Diagonally, on the porch, the holy fool jumped like a dog, shaking the meat with his teeth. The women and men ran to marvel... Happiness to the temple where the holy fool nailed. But it is also dangerous today. At Old Pimen's they fed such a fool, he once entered the temple on the pulpit, began to show his horns with his fingers, and yelled to the people: “Worship, or did they not recognize me? ..” The holy fool with the priest and the deacon were taken by soldiers, taken to Preobrazhensky order to the prince-Caesar, Fedor Yuryevich Romodanovsky.
Suddenly they shouted: "Drop, drop!" Above the crowd jumped hats with red feathers, false hair, shaved animal-like muzzles - riders on outrigger horses. The people rushed to the fences, to the snowdrifts. A gilded wagon with glass windows rushed by. In it, upright, like an inanimate fool, sat a rouged-up girl, with a felt cap in diamonds and ribbons on her tousled hair, her arms thrust up to her elbows into a sable sack. Everyone recognized the bitch, the Kukui queen Anna Monsova. Rolled into the Gostiny Ryads. There, the merchants got alarmed, ran out to meet them, dragged silks and velvets into the wagon.
And this autumn, the legitimate tsarina Evdokia Feodorovna was taken away on the first trip in a simple sleigh to Suzdal, to the monastery, forever - to shed tears ...
Brothers, good people, bring it up ... Hey, it’s languid ... Yesterday I drank the Cross ...
Who are you?..
Icon painter, from Palekh, we have been from antiquity ... Such things are now, ruin ...
What's your name?
Ondryushka…
On a man - no hat, no shirt - a hole on a hole. Burning eyes, a narrow face, but - polite - humanely approached the table where they drank wine. It's hard to say no to this...
Sit down, what...
Poured. They continued talking. With great cunning, a blind-eyed peasant, with a thin neck, said:
Shooters were executed. OK. This is a royal business. (Raising a crooked finger in front of him.) Doesn't concern us... But...
The soft posadsky in the archer's caftan (many were now wearing archer's caftans and caps - the archers with a howl, almost in vain, gave away junk), this posadsky tapped his nails on a tin cup:
So-and-so, what - but ... Here - so-so! ..
A sly man, waving his finger at him:
We are sitting quietly ... It’s a bit like an alarm in Moscow ... So, there was something to hang archers on the walls for, to scare people ... That’s not the point, posadsky ... You, dear ones, are surprised why there is no delivery to Moscow? And do not wait ... It will be worse ... Today - both laughter and sin ... I brought a barrel of salted fish ... I salted it for myself, but it stank. I went to the bazaar, - I think they will beat me for this stink - at one, two, everything was snapped up ... No, Moscow now is a dead place ...
Oh right! - The icon painter sobbed.
The man looked at him and - businesslike:
Decree: to the oiled archers from the walls, take them out of the city. And there are eight thousand of them. Fine. Where are the leads? So, again, man take a puff? And landings on what? Oblige the tenants with equestrian duty.
The soft cheeks of the townsman trembled. He nodded reproachfully at the man:
Oh, you plowman... You would be like winter past the walls... A snowstorm will pick up, they will begin to swing... Enough of this fear for us...
Of course, it would be easier to bury them right away,” said the peasant. - On Forgiveness Sunday, we brought eighteen carts, did not have time to split them - soldiers swoop in: “Empty the cart!” - "How? For what?" - "Do not speak". They threaten with swords, overturn the sleigh. He brought a barrel of small mushrooms - they overturned, the devils. “Go, shout, to the Varvarsky Gates ...” And at the Varvarsky Gates, hundreds of archers were piled up ... “Loads, such and such ...” Without eating, not drinking, they didn’t feed the horses, they drove these dead until night ... They returned to the village, - in the eyes its ashamed to look.
A stranger approached the table. Having hit the bottom, he put a damask.
Fools carry water, - he said. He sat down boldly. He poured everyone from the damask. He winked with a walking eye: - Be healthy. - Without wiping his mustache, he began to gnaw on a garlic head. The face is tanned, hot, a gray-piebald beard in curls.
The blind-sighted peasant carefully accepted the glass from him:
A peasant is a fool, a fool, you know, a peasant understands ... (He weighed a glass in his hand, drank, grunted well.) No, my dears ... (He reached for a garlic head.) Wipe yourself - did you see - the convoy went to Voronezh? They tear the third skin from a man. Quit - pay, for bondage - pay, fodder to the boyar - give, raised to the treasury - pay, pavement - pay, went to the market - pay ...
The skewbald man gaped his toothy mouth and laughed. The man, stopped, - sniffed.
Okay ... Now - let's horses under the royal convoy. Yes, even crackers are pulling from us ... No, my dears ... Count in the villages - how many residential yards are left? Where are the rest? Look for ... Now not everyone is ready to run. A man is a fool as long as he is full. And if you are like that, pull the last thing from under your ass ... (He took hold of his beard, bowed.) - The man changed his shoes and pa-ashel where he needs to.
On North. To the lakes... To the deserts!.. - The icon painter moved closer to him, burning his dark eyes.
The man pushed aside: "Shut up! .." Posadsky, looking around, leaned his chest on the table:
Guys, - he whispered, - indeed, many are frightened, they go beyond Belo-ozero, to Vol-lake, to Matka-lake; to Vyg-lake ... It's quiet there ... (Trembling with swollen cheeks.) Only those who leave will be alive ...
The icon painter's black pupils spilled into his entire eye - he began to turn around first to one interlocutor, then to another ...
He speaks correctly... We painted six hundred icons in Palekh for Lent. In previous years, this is not enough. To date, not a single one has been sold to Moscow. Howl stands in Palekh-ta. From what? Our bright letter, the title of Jesus with two "like". A hand blessing with a pinch. And we write the cross - kryzh - four-pointed. Everything is Orthodox. It's clear? Those who take icons from us - the Gostinodvorets Korzinkin, Dyachkov, Vikulin - tell us, “Stop writing like that. These boards should be burned, they are lovely: they say that there is a paw on them ... ”-“ How is the paw? (The icon painter sobbed briefly. Posadsky, leaning low over the table, chattered his teeth.) “And so, they say, the trace of his paw ... They saw a bird’s footprint on the ground - four lines? .. And you have the same one on the icons ...” - “Where ? - “And kryzh ... Understand? You, they say, do not carry this product to Moscow. Now all of Moscow has understood where the stench comes from ... "
The man blinked for centuries, it was impossible to make out whether he believed or not ... The piebald bearded, grinning, gnawed garlic. Posadsky nodded, agreed ... and suddenly, looking around, puckered his lips, whispered:
What about tobacco? In what books is it read - a person swallows smoke? Who has smoke from his mouth? FAQ? For forty for eight thousand rubles, all the cities and all of Siberia were given at the mercy of the Englishman Karmartenov - to sell tobacco. And a decree that this infernal nicotian weed be smoked ... Whose hands is this work? What about tea and coffee? And kartov - ugh, be damned! The lust of the Antichrist, - burr! All this potion is from across the sea, and Lutherans and Catholics trade it with us ... Whoever drinks tea - despairs ... Whoever drinks coffee - has a cove in his soul ... Yes - tfu! - I’ll die better than I’ll take this to my shop ...
Are you trading what? asked the pie-beard.
Yes, what kind of trade is now ... The Germans trade, and we howl. Ovsey Rzhov, Konstantin, his brother, did not know? Archers of the Gundertmark Regiment ... Here is my shop, here are their trading baths. There are no such people now. Both were broken on the wheel ... Ovsei said more than once: “We tolerate the fact that then, in the eighty-second year, in the Kremlin, the elders were not listened to. We, the archers, would then become united for the old faith ... Not a single foreigner would be left in Moscow, and faith would shine, and the people would be full and satisfied ... But now we don’t know how to save our souls ... ”These are fair people they rocked along the walls all winter ... There are no archers - take us with your bare hands ... They will shave their faces, everyone will be forced to drink coffee, you will see ...
Let's eat some bread, we'll all disperse by spring,' said the man firmly.
Brothers! - The icon painter stared longingly at the wet window. - Brothers, in the north - beautiful deserts, a quiet haven, a silent life ...
It was getting noisier and hotter in the tavern, the door upholstered with matting was thumping. Drunk people were arguing, one man was swaying at the counter, naked to the waist, without a cross, begging - in debt for a glass ... One was dragged by the hair into the hallway and there, screaming hysterically, they beat - it must be for the cause ...
A beggar man, bent almost in half, stopped at the table. Leaning on two sticks, he blossomed with kind wrinkles. The skewbald looked at him, raised his eyebrows. Bent said:
Where did you come from, falcon?
It's not visible from here. You pass what you have become ...
Onvad with unod? The gibberish language used by the Vladimir offen, schismatics, and sometimes robbers; words were spoken backwards.- in half of the voice quickly asked bent.
Go, we are clearly here ...
Bent over, no longer asking, he put out his sparse beard and banged his sticks into the depths of the tavern. Posadsky, - frightened:
This is who is this?
A traveler on the orphan road, - the bald-bearded man said sternly.
How did he speak to you?
Like a bird.
But he seemed to recognize you, guy ...
And you ask less, you will be smarter ... (He brushed the crumbs from his beard, put his big hands on the table.) Listen now ... We are with the Don, on a trading business.
Posadsky briskly moved closer, blinked:
What are you buying?
Fire potion - you need ten barrels. Fifty pounds of lead. Good cloth for zhupans. Horseshoe iron, nails. There is money.
You can get good cloth, iron ... Lead and gunpowder are hard: you can’t get past the treasury anywhere.
Something that try - past the treasury.
I have one clerk. We need gifts.
By itself…
Posadsky, hurriedly scratching his short fur coat with hooks, said that he would try - now he would bring a clerk. Ran away. The peasant wanted to intervene in the trade business. Wrinkling his forehead, he coughed:
The wool is bright, you don’t need skin, my dear?
Well, - tell me, fifty pounds of lead ... Are you going to fight, Cossacks, or something?
Quail to beat ...
The piebald turned away. The bent-over man on sticks again approached him. Holding a hat with alms, he sat down next to him and - without looking:
Hello Ivan...
Hello, Ovdokim, - the bald-bearded man answered in the same way, without looking.
We haven't seen each other for a long time, ataman ...
begging?
From weakness ... Flying took a walk in the forest lightly, - not those years ... Tired, - you have to die ...
Wait a little...
And what - is it good to hear?
Ivan, smiling, looked through the fumes at the drunken people. The eyes went cold. Quiet - corner of the mouth:
Don raise.
Ovdokim buried himself in his hat, sorting through the pillows.
I don’t know, - he said, - to hear - the Don Cossacks have calmed down, they sit down on farms, they are overgrown with good ...
There are a lot of newcomers, ghouls. They will start, the Cossacks will help ... But they won’t help, - it doesn’t matter - either go to Turkey, or become slaves near Moscow, forever ... Then they helped the tsar near Azov, now he laid his paw on the entire Don. The newcomers are ordered to be extradited. The priests have been caught up from Moscow, the old faith is being uprooted... The end of the quiet Don...
For such a thing, you need a big man, - said Ovdokim, - it wouldn’t work out, as then, under Stepan ... That is, under Stepan Razin.
We have a man, not like Stepan, - he lost his head without a mind, - the direct will be the leader ... The whole split will follow him ...
Confused me, Ivan, seduced me, Ivan, - and I was going to rest ...
Come spring. We need old atamans. Let's take a walk more cheerfully than under Stepan ...
Hardly, hardly… Are there many of us left from that blood? You and I, perhaps...
Out of breath, the townsman returned, winking his cheek. Behind him walked an importantly bald clerk in a brown German caftan with copper buttons and broken felt boots. A goose feather is stuck in a loop on the chest. Without saying hello, he sat down at the table in disgust. The face is thirsty, the eyes are cloudy, antichristian, the nostrils are deeply visible. Posadsky, without sitting down, from behind, in his ear:
Kuzma Yegorych, here is a man who...
Prince Roman, Prince Borisov, the son of Buynosov, and at home - Roman Borisovich, in one underwear, sat on the edge of the bed, groaning, scratching - both his chest and under his arms. According to an old habit, he climbed into his beard, but pulled his hand away: shaven, prickly, disgusting ... Wa-ha-ha-ha-ah ... - he yawned, looking at the small window. Dawn, - cloudy and boring.
In previous years, at this hour, Roman Borisovich would already have put a marten fur coat into the sleeves, with honor pulling his beaver hat up to his eyebrows, - he would have walked with a high cane along the creaky passages to the porch. The servants of a hundred and fifty souls, who are at the wagon - hold horses, who run to the gate. They merrily tore their hats, bowed at the waist, and those who stood closer kissed the boyar’s legs ... Under the handles, under the barrels they put them in a wagon ... Every morning, in any weather, Roman Borisovich rode to the palace - to wait for the sovereign’s bright eyes (and after - the princess's bright eyes) will turn on him. And I've been waiting for that opportunity...
Everything is over! Wake up - fathers! has it passed? It's wild to remember: there was once peace and honor ... There is hanging on the plank wall - where nothing hangs - a Dutch, for the sake of hellish temptation, written, foul girl with a raised hem. The king ordered to hang in the bedchamber either for laughing or as punishment. Be patient...
Prince Roman Borisovich looked sullenly at the dress that had been thrown on the bench since the evening: woolen, women's, stockings striped across, short trousers tight in front and behind, a green, as if made of tin, caftan with galloon. On the nail is a black wig, you can’t beat the dust out of it with sticks. What is this all for?
Bear! the boyar shouted angrily. (A brisk lad in a long Orthodox shirt jumped into a low, red-clothed door. He waved his bow, threw back his hair.) Mishka, give me a wash. (The boy took a copper basin, poured water.) Decently hold the tub ... Pour it into your hands ...
Roman Borisovich snorted more in his palm than washed himself - it is disgusting to wash such a shaved, prickly one ... Grumbling, he sat down on the bed to put on his trousers. Mishka handed over a saucer of chalk and a clean cloth.
What else is this? shouted Roman Borisovich.
Brush your teeth.
I won't!
Your will ... As the tsar-sovereign said you had to brush your teeth, - the noblewoman ordered to serve every morning ...
I’ll throw a saucer in the face ... I became talkative ...
Your will...
Having dressed, Roman Borisovich moved his body - it was tight, tight, hard ... Why? But it was strictly ordered - all the nobles to be in the service in a German dress, with an allonge wig ... Be patient! Mishka (it was about to straighten his tightly curled tresses) hit him on the arm. He went out into the hallway, where the stove was crackling. From below, from the culinary (where the steep staircase went), there was a bitter, singed smell.
Bear, where does the stink come from? Are you making coffee again?
The tsar ordered the boyar and the boyars to drink coffee in the morning, so we brew ...
I know... Don't bare your teeth...
Your will...
Mishka opened a cloth-lined door into the cross chamber. Roman Borisovich, worthily crossing himself, approached the lectern. On the velvet, a book of hours dripped with wax is revealed. He removed the soot from the candle. Vzdel round iron glasses. He licked his finger, turned the page and thought, looking into the corner, where the icons on the icons barely gleamed: only one green light was burning in front of Nicholas the Wonderworker ...
There was reason to think ... After all, if it goes further, - all the great families, princely and noble, ruin, but there is no need to talk about dishonor and swearing. “Look at you, - they undertook to eradicate the nobility! Eradicate ... Under Ivan the Terrible, they tried something like this - to ruin the princely families ... It turned out to be a death, a turmoil ... And now there will be a death ... The backbone of the state - we ... Destroy us - and there is no state, there is no need to live ... Slaves, or something, the king, you will manage ?.. Nonsense!.. Still young, weak in mind, and even he, apparently, drank on Kukui ... "
“The servants took fifty souls as soldiers ... They took five hundred Rublev to the Voronezh fleet ... In the Voronezh patrimony they took bread for pennies to the treasury - they cleaned out all the barns. There was wheat for three years of harvest, - I was waiting for the price to be given ... (From sharp annoyance, my mouth became bitter.). Now you can hear - the estates will be taken away from the monasteries, all income will be taken to the treasury ... Corned beef is ordered to prepare ten barrels ... Oh, my God, why do they need corned beef? .. "
Read. Behind the mica, in a lead frame, the morning was green. The bear at the door beat bows ...
“Great families were dishonored at oily! .. Three hundred mummers swooped in - at midnight, or even later. What a fear! Faces smeared with soot. Drunk. You can't figure out where the king is. They will devour, get drunk, vomit, they will rip off the hems of the yard girls ... They scream with goats, roosters, birds.
Roman Borisovich stepped from foot to foot, - he remembered how on the last day, having drunk wine to amazement, lowering his pants, they put him in a basket with eggs ... And it’s not funny at all ... My wife saw, Mishka saw ... “Oh, Lord! For what? What is it for?
Roman Borisovich pondered with an effort: what is the reason for the disaster? For sins, right? In Moscow they whisper - a flatterer has come to the world. Catholics and Lutherans - his servants, foreign goods - all with the seal of Antichrist. It's the end of the world.
Contorting his reddish face at the light of the candle, Roman Borisovich doubted. “Unbelievable… The Lord will not allow the Russian nobility to perish. Wait and be patient. Eh heh heh…”
After earnestly praying, he sat under the arch by the window at a table covered with a carpet. Having unfolded a notebook of considerable thickness, where everything was written down - to whom it was given on credit, from whom it was collected, from which village it was taken in money, or bread, or supplies, - slowly turned the pages, moved his shaved lips.
The senior clerk Senka entered the ward. The chain dog was clean: to the last penny he beat out the boyar good. He stole, of course, although - in moderation, according to his conscience, and - at least cut him - he never confessed to stealing. Roman Borisovich more than once, grabbing him by the dense beard on thick gills, drove him and hit the back of his head against the wall: “I stole it, you stole it, confess it! ..” Senka, without blinking, looked at the boyar with red eyes, as if he were a god. Only when they leave him to beat will he turn back the half of his homemade caftan, blow his soft nose, and cry.
In vain, Roman Borisovich, you beat the servants like that. God forgive you, I am not guilty of anything before You ...
Senka climbed sideways through the slightly ajar door, crossed himself at Nicholas the Wonderworker, bowed to the boyar and knelt down.
Well, Senka, what do you say good?
All thanks to God. Roman Borisovich.
Senka, on his knees, raising his eyes to the ceiling, began to report by heart - from whom how much was received yesterday, from where and what was brought, who remained in debt. He brought two peasants, evil arrears, Fedka and Koska, from the village of Ivankovo and, from yesterday evening, put them in the yard on the right ... The torture that debtors were subjected to until they paid.
Roman Borisovich was surprised, opened his mouth, - do they really not want to pay? He poked his head into a notebook: Last year Fedka took sixty rubles - to make a new hut, but harness, and a new plowshare, but for seeds ... Koska took thirty-seven rubles and a half, he also, apparently, lied that he was on the farm ...
Ah, bastards, ah, swindlers! Did you order them to be beaten with batogs?
Since the evening they have been beating, - said Senka, - two have been assigned to each - to beat without mercy ... Well. Roman Borisovich, father, you must grieve: Fedka and Koska will not be paid, we have bonded receipts against their debt, we will take both of them into bondage for ten years. We need slaves...
I need money, not slaves! - Roman Borisovich threw a quill on the table. - Slaves sing-feed - the king will take soldiers again ...
You need money - do it like Ivan Artemich did, with Brovkin: he set up a linen factory in Zamoskvorechye, handed over sailing fabric to the treasury. From money the purse bursts ...
Yes, I heard ... You're lying to that one, tea, that's all.
The Brovkinsky linen factory has long haunted Roman Borisovich, Senka mentioned him almost every day: obviously, he wanted to steal a lot in this business. But Naryshkin, Lev Kirillovich (uncle of the sovereigns), he acts more correctly: he gives money in the German Quarter to one Dutchman, Van der Fik, and he sends them to Amsterdam to the stock exchange at interest, and Naryshkin from that money for every year goes with ten thousand six hundred rubles one growth. “Six hundred rubles - not a drink, not a meal! ..”
Grandfathers lived, they knew no worries, - said Roman Borisovich. - And the state stood stronger. (He put on the mutton fur coat that Senka had given him in his sleeves.) We sat with the sovereign, thinking, - that’s what our worries were ... And here I’m not happy to wake up ...
Roman Borisovich went up the stairs, up and down, along the cold passages. On the way he opened a swollen door - from there there was a smell of sour, hot steam, in the depths four peasants were barely visible with a burning torch, - barefoot, in only shirts, - felting sheep's wool.
Well, well, work, work, don't forget God, - said Roman Borisovich. The men didn't answer. Going further, he opened the door to the needlework room. Girls and girls, twenty souls, getting up from the tables and hoops, bowed from the waist. The boyar turned up his nose.
Well, here you have a spirit, girls ... Work, work, do not forget God ...
Roman Borisovich looked into the cloakroom and into the tannery, where the skins were sour and tanned in vats. The gloomy leather men kneaded the skins with their hands... Senka, blowing up a tallow candle in a round lantern with holes, removed the heavy locks on the closets and the crates where supplies were stored. Everything was OK. Roman Borisovich went down to the wide yard. It was already light and cloudy. Sheep were watered at the well. From the gate to the hayloft there were wagons of hay. The men took off their hats.
Guys, the cart is too small! - shouted Roman Borisovich ...
Everywhere from the dilapidated huts and cages, stoked in black, there were smokes, knocked off by the wind, - they covered the yard. Everywhere - heaps of ashes and manure. Frosty rags flapped on the ropes. Near the stable, facing the wall, two peasants without hats shifted dejectedly. From the stable, seeing the boyar on the porch, tall servants hurriedly ran out, grabbed sticks from the ground, trying, began to beat the peasants on the behind and thighs ...
Oh, oh, Lord, why? .. - moaned Fedka and Koska ...
So, so, for the cause, pour more, - Roman Borisovich assented from the porch.
Fedka, a long, pockmarked, red peasant, turning around:
Merciful, Roman Borisovich, no, we don’t have ... By God, they ate bread before Christmas ... Cattle, or something, take it - how can you endure such flour ...
Senka said to Roman Borisovich:
His cattle are small, thin, he is lying ... Or you can take a girl from him - in the half of his debt. And the rest will work out.
Roman Borisovich grimaced and turned away.
I'll think about it. Let's finish the evening.
Behind the smoke, behind the bare trees, the bell chimed. A crow rose above the rusty heads. “Oh, grave sins,” Roman Borisovich muttered, looked around the household again and went to the dining room to drink coffee.
Princess Avdotya and the three princesses sat at the end of the table on Dutch folding chairs. The brocade tablecloth was folded back in this place so as not to get dirty. The princess is in a Russian, dark velvet, spacious summer coat, on her head is a foreign cap. Princesses - in German robes with slaps Loops.: Natalya - in peach, Olga - in green, striped, the eldest - Antonida - in a robe of the color "unforgettable sunset". Everyone's hair is fluffed up, sprinkled with flour, their cheeks are roundly rouged, their eyebrows are drawn, their palms are red.
Before, of course, both Avdotya and the girls didn’t even have a chance to go to the dining room: they sat in the room at the windows for needlework, in the summer they swung on a swing in the garden. Once the king came with a drunken company. On the threshold he looked around the ward with terrible eyes: “Where are the daughters? Put them at the table ... "(They ran after them. Fear, turmoil, tears. They brought three fools - without memory.) The king crushed each one - by the chin:" Can you dance? .) To teach ... By oily they would dance a minuvet, Polish and konterdans ... ”He took Prince Roman by the caftan, shook him in earnest:“ Make a fair amount of politeness in the house - remember! .. ”The girls were seated at the table, forced to drink wine ... And marvelous - they drink, shameless ... Not long after, they began to laugh, as if it were not a wonder for them ...
I had to do politeness in the house. Princess Avdotya, out of stupidity, was only surprised at everything, but the girls immediately became bold, impudent, picky. Give them this and that. They don't want to sew. They sit in the morning, undressed, make plaisir, drink tea and coffee.
Roman Borisovich entered the ward. He glanced at his daughters. They just bowed their heads. Avdotya stood up and bowed:
Hello father...
Antonida hissed at her mother:
Sit down, motherfucker...
Roman Borisovich would like to drink a glass of galangal from the cold, have a bite of garlic ... Vodka still so-and-so, but they won’t give garlic ...
I don't want any coffee today. Missed on the porch, or something ... Mother, bring a strong one.
You, father, have one conversation every morning - vodka, - said Antonida, - when you just get used to it ...
Be quiet, mares, - shouted Roman Borisovich, - oh, I’ll take a whip ...
The princesses turned up their noses. Avdotya, in the old-fashioned way, with a bow, brought a cup, whispered:
Yes, you sing, father, plenty ...
Drank, puffed out. He gnawed at a cucumber, dripping brine on his camisole. No cabbage with cranberries on the table, no salted mushrooms, chopped, with onions. Chewing a little pie, - to hell with what, - he asked about his son:
Where is the bear?
Arithmetic, father, is learning by heart. I don't know what's going to happen to his head...
Pock-marked Olga, the most meticulous in terms of politeness, said, wrinkling her lips:
The bear is all with the men and with the men. Yesterday again in the stable on the balalaika he did courtage and hit cards on the noses ...
He is still a small child, - Avdotya groaned.
They were silent for a while, Natalya, the youngest, - laughing, fidgety, - bent over to the window (glasses had recently been inserted into the windows instead of mica).
Ah, ah, girls! The guests arrived...
The virgins were alarmed, shook their raised hands so that the hands became white. The hay girls came running - to remove the dirty things from the table, to cover the tablecloth. The majordomo (still the butler), an old pious servant, shaved and dressed up, as at Christmas time, banged his cane and shouted that the noblewoman Volkova had arrived. Reluctantly. Roman Borisovich got out from behind the table - to make a gallant “guest: shake your hat in front of you, kick your feet ... And before whom should Prince Buinosov break down! This noblewoman Volkova was called Sanka seven years ago, she wiped her snot with a torn hem. From the very worst peasant court. Father, Ivashko Brovkin, was an indentured backyard peasant. She spins around the black stove to the grave. You see, the majordomo reports about her. She arrived in a gilded carriage! The tsar's husband is in mercy ... (Her husband was Prince Romanov's cousin.) The devil helped his father, got into the merchant's office, now, they say, he has been given the entire supply for the army.
The major-domo opened the door (in the old fashion, it was low and narrow), and a pink-yellow dress rustled. Diving with her bare shoulders, throwing her indifferent beautiful face, lowering her eyelashes, the noblewoman Volkova entered. She stood in the middle of the room. Flashing her rings, she took hold of the puffy skirts, with lace embroidered with roses, put out her leg - a satin shoe with a two-inch heel - sat down all over the French article, without bending her front knee. Left and right shook her powdered head, ostrich feathers. When she finished, she raised her blue eyes, smiled, parted her teeth:
Bonjour, princess!
The Buynos maidens, falling on their backs in their turn, ate the guest with their eyes. Roman Borisovich took his hat, spreading his legs and arms, and waved it. The boyar was asked to the table - to eat coffee. They began to ask about the health of relatives and households. The virgins looked at her dress and how her hair was combed.
Ah, ah, kuafa on a whalebone, of course.
And "they put rods and rags on us.
Sanka answered them:
With a kuafer, pure punishment: there is only one for all of Moscow. They waited for a week at the buttered ladies, and those who had combed their hair ahead of time slept on a chair ... I asked my darling to bring a kuafer from Amsterdam.
Give your respects to the venerable Ivan Artemich,” said the prince. - How is his linen factory? Everyone is going to look. It's a new, interesting thing...
Tyatenka in Voronezh. And Vasya in Voronezh, with the sovereign.
We have heard, we have heard, Alexandra Ivanovna.
Vasya sent a letter yesterday. - Sanka put two fingers behind the low open bodice (Roman Borisovich blinked: the woman is about to get naked), pulled out a little blue letter. - No matter how Vasya is sent to Paris ...
That writes? - coughing, asked the prince. - What does he write about the sovereign? ..
Sanka unfolded the letter for a long time, her forehead wrinkled. Cheeks and neck blushed. Whisper:
Moving her finger along the boldly spattered lines with titles and flourishes, she began to read, slowly pronouncing each word:
“Sashenka, hello, my light, for many years ... Here are the things we have in Voronezh ... Soon we will lower the fleet into the Don, and with that our life here will end ... I won’t scare, but I heard the party, the sovereign wants to send me along with Andrei Artamonovich Matveev to The Hague and then to Paris. I don’t know how to think about it: it’s far away, and it’s scary ... Thank God, we are all healthy. Herr Pieter bows to you, - they commemorated recently at dinner. He is at work all day long. Works at the shipyard, like a simple one. He himself forges nails and staples, and caulks himself. And there is no time to shave a beard: he hurries everyone vehemently, he drove people. But the fleet was built ... "
Roman Borisovich tapped the table with his nails:
Yes ... Of course, the fleet, yes ... He forges himself, caulks himself ... Strength, then, has nowhere to go ...
Sanka finished reading. Lightly wiped her lips. She folded the letter and - for the corsage.
The holy sovereign will return - I will throw myself at his feet ... I want to go to Paris ...
Antonida, Olga, Natalya threw up their hands: “Ah, and - ah, and - ah!” Princess Avdotya crossed herself.
Scared, mother, what a passion - to Paris ... Tea, it's nasty there!
Sanka's blue eyes darkened, she pressed the rings to her chest:
I miss Moscow so much! .. I would have flown abroad ... A Frenchman lives with Tsaritsa Praskovya Feodorovna - he teaches politeness, he teaches me too. He tells! (She took a short breath.) Every night I see in a dream that I’m dancing the past in a crimson bostrog, I dance better than anyone, my head is spinning, the gentlemen part, and King Louis comes up to me and gives me a rose ... So it became boring in Moscow. Thank God, at least the archers were removed, otherwise I'm still scared to death of the dead ...
Boyar Volkova left. Roman Borisovich, after sitting at the table, ordered to lay the wagon - to go to the service, on the orders of the Grand Palace. Now everyone is told to serve. As if there are not enough ordered people in Moscow. The nobles were seated to creak their feathers. And he himself is covered in tar, in tobacco, baling with an ax, drinking fusel oil with the peasants ...
Oh, it’s not good, oh, it’s boring, - Prince Roman Borisovich groaned, climbing into the cart ...
At the Spassky Gates, in a deep ditch, where rotten piles stuck out here and there above the ice, Roman Borisovich saw a dozen or two sledges covered with matting. The thin horses stood dejectedly. A peasant on a slope was lazily poking out the frozen corpse of an archer with an ice pick. The day was grey. Snow is grey. On Red Square, along the dunghills, homespun people wandered, hanging their heads. The clock on the tower creaked and wheezed (and sometimes it chimed loudly). Roman Borisovich became bored.
The wagon drove over the dilapidated bridge to the Spassky Gates. In the Kremlin, as in a bazaar, people wear hats. A simple sleigh stands by the hitching post, gnawed by horses ... Roman Borisovich's heart sank. This place is empty, there are no brighter eyes that were glimmering in that royal little window like lamps to the glory of the Third Rome. Boring!
Roman Borisovich stopped at the command porch. There was no wild man to take the prince out of the wagon. Get out by myself. He went, puffing, up the outer covered staircase. The steps are covered with snow, I don't give a damn. From above, almost pushing the prince, some little men in unsheathed sheepskin coats fled. The rear one, with a tan-beard, brazenly scratched with a wandering eye ... Roman Borisovich, stop halfway up the stairs, indignantly tapped his cane:
Cap! You have to break your hat!
But he shouted to the wind. Such and such orders were wound up in the Kremlin.
In the order, in the low chambers, there is waste from stoves, stench, unswept floors. At long tables, elbow to elbow, scribes scratch with feathers. Straightening his back, one scratches his unkempt head, the other scratches under his armpits. At small tables - wise clerk-hooks, - from each a mile away it pulls a lean pie, - they leaf through notebooks, crawl their fingers along the petitions. In dirty windows - muddy light. Along the line, past the tables, pacing the clerk, a clerk in glasses on a pockmarked nose.
Roman Borisovich walked importantly through the wards, from rank to rank. There were many things in the order of the Grand Palace, and things were confused: they were in charge of the royal treasury, storerooms, gold and silver dishes, collected customs and Cossack money and archery tax, yam money and dues from palace villages and cities. Only the orderly clerk and the old clerks understood this. The newly appointed boyars sat all day in a small, hotly heated chamber, suffered in tight German clothes, looked through the muddy windows at the deserted royal palace, where, on the bed porch, on the boyar playground, they walked around in sable coats, waved silk handkerchiefs, judged - rowed about high deeds.
Many terrible deeds roared in this square. From that dilapidated, now boarded up porch, according to legend, Tsar Ivan the Terrible left the Kremlin with guardsmen for Alexander's settlement in order to turn fury and ferocity on the great boyar families. He chopped off heads, burned them in frying pans and planted them on stakes. Selected fiefdoms. But God did not let the boyars ruin completely. Great families have risen.
Out of that wooden tower with copper roosters on an onion roof, the damned Grishka Otrepiev, another destroyer of the glorious Russian boyars, jumped out. The desert remained from the Moscow land, conflagration, human bones on the roads, but God did not allow it - great families rose.
Now, again, prose has piled up - for our sins ... "E-he-he," the boyars groaned boringly in a hot ward by the windows. Apparently, they don’t want to take it by washing - by rolling ... They shaved all their beards, ordered everyone to serve, painted their sons on shelves, in foreign lands ... “E-he-he, the gods will not allow this time ...”
Entering the ward, Roman Borisovich saw that again today something was brought from above. Old Prince Martyn Lykov shook his womanly cheeks. Duma nobleman Ivan Endogurov and steward. Lavrenty Svinin, stammering, read the letter. Raising their heads, they could only say that: “Ah, ah!”
Prince Roman, sit down and listen, - almost crying, said Prince Martyn. - What will you do? Now everyone will bark and dishonor ... There was one council, and that one is taken away.
Endogurov and Svinin again began to read the royal decree on salaries. It said that he, the tsar and the grand duke, etc., etc., was much bothered by princes and boyars, and duma, and Moscow nobles with petitions about dishonor. On such and such a day, a petition from Prince Martyn, princes Grigoriev, son of Lykov, was given to him, to the tsar, etc., that they barked and dishonored him on the bed porch, and lieutenant Oleshka Brovkin barked and dishonored his Preobrazhensky regiment ... Walking along porch, shouted to him, Prince Martyn: “Why are you looking at me like an animal, I’m not your serf now, you used to be a prince, and now you are a fiction ...”
He is a boy, a peasant's son, a sufferer, - Prince Martin shook his cheeks, - then in a rush I forgot, he shouted worse to me ...
And what did he shout to you then, Prince Martin? asked Roman Borisovich.
Well, what, what ... He shouted, many heard: “Martynushka-monkey, bald ...”
Ah, ah, ah, it's a shame, - Roman Borisovich shook his head. - And what, - isn't this the son of Ivan Artemich, Oleshka?
And the devil knows - whose son he is ...
- King and Grand Duke and so on, - Endogurov and Svinin read further, - so that he would not be bothered at such a difficult time for the state, for a long time and to himself in annoyance, he ordered the petitioner, Prince Martyn, to straighten out ten Rublev and distribute that money to the poor and now petitions for dishonor to forbid ".
When they finished reading, they turned their noses. Prince Martin got excited again:
Fiction! Touch me - what kind of fiction am I? Our family is from Prince Lychko! In the thirteenth century, Prince Lychko left the Ugric land with three thousand spearmen. And from Lychka - the Lykovs went the princes Belly, and the Taratukhins, and the Suponevs, and from the youngest son - the Buynosovs ...
You're lying! You are talking true fiction, Prince Martyn! - Roman Borisovich turned with his whole body on the bench, hanging his eyebrows, flashed his eyes (oh, if there weren’t bare cheeks, a crooked bare mouth, Prince Roman would have been absolutely terrible) ... - The Buynosovs have been sitting above the Lykovs for centuries. We consider our family from the capital Chernigov princes by name. And you, the Lykovs, under Ivan the Terrible, you yourself entered into the genealogy ... Damn him, Prince Lychko, saw how he left the Ugric land ...
Prince Martyn's eyes began to roll, bags under his eyes jumped, his face with a large upper lip trembled, as if weeping.
Buynosovs? Was it not in Tushino, in the camp, that the Tushino thief granted you estates?
Both princes got up from the bench, began to look at each other from head to toe. And there would be barking and great noise - do not intercede Endogurov and Svinin. Reassured, reassured. Wiping their foreheads and necks with handkerchiefs, the princes sat down in different shops.
For the sake of boredom, the duma nobleman Endogurov told what the boyars in the sovereign Duma are talking about - they make a helpless gesture, the poor: the tsar and his advisers in Voronezh know only one thing - money and money. He picked up advisers - ours and foreign merchants, and people without a clan, tribe, but carpenters, blacksmiths, sailors, such young people - only that their nostrils were not torn out by an executioner. The king listens to their thieves' advice. In Voronezh, there is the true Duma of the Sovereign. Complaints from all cities from townspeople and merchants pour in there: they found their lord ... And with this rabble they want to defeat the Turkish Sultan. A man wrote to Moscow from the embassy of Prokopy Voznitsyn, from Karlovitsy: the Turks are laughing at the Voronezh fleet, it will not go beyond the Don mouth, it will all sit aground.
Lord, let us sit still, why should we tease the Turks, - said the meek Lavrenty Svinin. (Three of his sons were taken to the regiments, the fourth - to the sailors. The old man was bored.)
Is that how peaceful? said Roman Borisovich, opening his eyes menacingly. - Shouldn't you, Lavrenty, out of thinness, intervene ahead of others in a conversation, - the first ... (He hit himself on the thigh.) How, in front of the Turks, in front of the Tatars - quietly? And why did we send Prince Vasily Golitsyn to the Crimea twice?
Prince Martyn, looking at the stove:
Not everyone has patrimonies beyond Voronezh and beyond Ryazan.
Roman Borisovich twitched his nostrils at him, but ignored him.
In Amsterdam, for Polish wheat, they give a guilder per pood. And in France - even more expensive. In Poland, the pans were filled with gold. Talk to Ivan with Artemich Brovkin, he will tell you where the money is ... And I sold last year's bread for Christ's sake in distilleries for three kopecks with money for a pudik ... It's annoying, I'm nearby: here is the Crow River, here is the Don, and - my wheat went by sea ... A great thing: God would have made us able to defeat the Sultan ... And you - quietly! .. We would have a town alone in the sea, Kerch, or something ... And again: we, like the Third Rome, we must rejoice over the tomb of the Lord? Have we completely lost our conscience?
We will not defeat the Sultan, no. We are bullying in vain, ”Prince Martyn said with relief. - And that we have enough bread - and glory to you, Lord. We will not die of hunger. Just don’t chase your daughters to hang spankings and start a gallant at home ...
After a pause, looking past the parted knees at the knot in the floor. Roman Borisovich asked:
Fine. Who hangs these slaps on daughters?
Of course, such fools, who even in the German settlement buy coffee at two and three quarters a pound, no peasant will feed such. - Prince Martyn, looking askance at the stove, trembled with his flabby chin, obviously again ran into barking ...
The door was pushed hard. A round-faced, ruddy-faced officer with a raised nose, in a disheveled wig and a small triangular hat pulled down over his ears, jumped into the stuffiness from the frost. Heavy boots - over the knee boots - and a green caftan with wide red cuffs are pelted with snow. Rode, apparently, at full speed in Moscow.
Prince Martyn, seeing the officer, began to gape - his mouth gaped: this is his offender, Preobrazhensky lieutenant Alexei Brovkin - one of the royal favorites.
Boyars, drop your business... (Alyosha, in a hurry, held on to the open door.) Franz Yakovlevich is dying...
He shook his wig, brazenly (like all of them - the rootless bastards of Petrova) flashed his eyes and rushed - with heels, spurs - along the rotten floors of the command hut. After him, bald-headed povytchiki looked askance: “It would be necessary to be quiet, fearless, there is no stable here.”
A week ago, Franz Yakovlevich Lefort was feasting in his palace with envoys - Danish and Brandenburg. The thaw came on, dripping from the roofs. It was hot in the hall. Franz Yakovlevich sat with his back to the firewood blazing in the fireplace and enthusiastically talked about the great projects. Getting more and more excited, he raised a goblet of coconut and drank to the brotherly alliance of Tsar Peter with the King of Denmark and the Elector of Brandenburg. In front of the windows, twelve cannons on bright green carriages at once (when the major-domo at the window waved his handkerchief) struck with a thunderous salute. Clouds of white powder smoke veiled the sunny sky.
Lefort leaned back in a gilded chair, opened his eyes wide, the curls of his wig stuck to his pale cheeks:
Our mast forests rustle along our great rivers... With fish alone we can feed all Christian countries. We will sow with flax and hemp at least thousands of miles. And the wild field - the southern steppes, where the rider is hiding in the grass! Let's drive the Tatars out of there - we'll have cattle like stars in the sky. Do we need iron? - ore underfoot. In the Urals - mountains of iron. How will European countries surprise us? Do you have manufactories? Let's call the British, the Dutch. Let's make ours. Do not look back - we will have all sorts of manufactories. We will teach the townspeople the sciences and arts. We will lift up the merchant, the industrialist, as we did not look forward to.
So the intoxicated Lefort spoke to the intoxicated envoys. From wine and his speeches they were astonished. It was stuffy in the hall. Lefort ordered the major-domo to open both windows and with pleasure drew in the melted, cold air through his nostrils. Until the evening dawn, he drained the bowls for the great searchlights. In the evening I went to the Polish ambassador and there I danced and drank until the morning.
The next day, Franz Yakovlevich, contrary to his usual habit, felt tired. Putting on a hare sheepskin coat and tying a foulard around his head, he ordered not to let anyone in. He started a letter to Peter, but he couldn’t even do that - he got cold, wrapping himself in a sheepskin coat by the fireplace. They brought the Italian doctor Policolo. He sniffed urine and phlegm, clicked his tongue, scratched his nose. The admiral was given a cleanser and bled. Nothing helped. At night, due to the intense heat, Franz Yakovlevich fell into unconsciousness.
Pastor Strumpf (following the servant ringing the bell), holding the gifts over his head, squeezed his way into the great hall with difficulty. The Lefortov Palace was buzzing with voices - all of Moscow was gathering. Doors slammed, drafts blew. Lost servants fussed, some already drunk. Lefort's wife, Elizaveta Frantsevna, met the pastor at the door to her husband's bedroom, - withered face - in red spots, dull nose - wept. The crimson dress was somehow laced up, thin strands of hair hung from under the wig. The admiral was scared to death, seeing so many noble people driving up. She hardly spoke Russian, she spent her whole life in the back rooms. She thrust her folded hands into the pastor's chest and whispered in German:
What will i do? So many guests... Mr. Pastor Strumpf, advise me - maybe serve a light snack? All the servants are crazy, no one listens to me. The keys to the storerooms are under poor Franz's pillow. (Tears poured from the admiral's pale yellow eyes, she began to fumble behind her bodice, pulled out a wet handkerchief, buried herself in it.) Mr. Pastor Strumpf, I'm afraid to go out into the hall, I'm always so lost ... What will happen, what will happen, Pastor Strumpf?
The pastor said comforting words to the admiral in a basque tone appropriate for the occasion. He ran his hand over his bluish-shaven face, drove earthly vanity off him, and entered the bedchamber.
Lefort lay on a wide crumpled bed. His torso was raised on pillows. The stubble has grown back on sunken cheeks and on the high skull. He breathed rapidly, with a whistle, sticking out his yellow collarbones, as if he was still trying to climb into life like a collar. The open mouth was parched from the heat. Lived only eyes - black, motionless.
The physician Policolo took pastor Strumpf aside, screwed up his eyes considerably, and gathered his cheeks into wrinkles.
Dry Jews, - he said, - with which, as our science knows, the soul connects with the body, in this case, Mr. Admiral is filled with such strong phlegm that the soul flows to the body through ever narrower channels every minute, and one must wait for complete closure these sputum.
Pastor Strumpf quietly sat at the head of the dying man. Lefort recently woke up from delirium and unconsciousness and was visibly worried about something. Hearing his name, he with an effort shifted his eyes to the pastor and again began to look where the gray log smoked in the fireplace. There, above the chimney curls, lay Neptune - the god of the seas - with a trident, under his elbow golden water poured from a gilded vase, scattering in golden curls. In the middle, in a black hole, a log smoked.
Strumpf, trying to avert the admiral's gaze to the crucifixion, spoke of the hope of eternal salvation, which is not denied to anyone living ... Lefort muttered something indistinctly. Strumpf bent down to his purple lips. Lefort - through frequent breathing:
Don't talk too much...
Nevertheless, the pastor fulfilled his duty: he gave a deaf confession and communed the dying. When he left, Lefort raised himself on his elbows. We understood that he was calling the majordomo. They ran and found a weeping old man in the kitchen. Swollen from tears, in a hat with ostrich feathers, with a mace, the majordomo stood at the foot of the bed. Franz Yakovlevich told him:
Call the musicians... Friends... Bowls...
The musicians entered on tiptoe, undressed, in what they wore. Cups of wine were brought in. The musicians, surrounding the bed, put their horns to their lips, and on sixty horns - silver, copper and wood - they played a minuet, a magnificent dance.
The deathly pale Lefort sank into the pillows with his shoulders. His temples sunk like a horse's. His eyes burned indefatigably. They brought the cup, but he could no longer raise his hands - the wine spilled on his chest. To the music, he again forgot. The eyes stopped seeing.
Lefort died. For joy in Moscow, they did not know what to do. The end is now foreign power - Kukuy-Sloboda. The damned adviser is dead. Everyone knew, everyone saw: he drugged Tsar Peter with a love potion, but it was impossible to say anything. Riflemen's tears echoed back to him. Forever the nest of Antichrist will die out - Lefortov Palace ...
They said: dying, Lefort ordered the musicians to play, the jesters to jump, the dancers to dance, and he himself - green, cadaverous - fell out of bed, let him jump ... And in the palace in the attic how howling, evil spirits whistled! ..
For seven days, the boyars and all sorts of service people went to the coffin of the admiral. Hidden joy and fear entered the two-light hall. In the middle of it, on a platform, stood a coffin half covered with a black silk robe. Four officers with drawn swords stood at the coffin, four below, at the platform. A widow in a mournful dress sat below in front of the platform on a folding chair.
The boyars climbed onto the platform, turning their noses and lips to the side, so as not to slander themselves, they touched the cheek of the blue hand of the damned admiral. Then, going up to the widow, - waist bow: fingers to the floor, and - away from the yard ...
On the eighth day, Pyotr arrived from Voronezh, sacking the messengers. His leather wagon - gear - Flew through Moscow right into the courtyard of the Lefortovo Palace. The variegated horses moved their wet ribs with difficulty. A hand stuck out from behind the cavity, - fumbled around the belt - to unfasten it.
Alexandra Ivanovna Volkova was just coming out of the palace; there was no one on the porch except her. Sanka thought that someone so thin had arrived, looking at the horses. She was angry that they blocked the way for her carriage.
Drive away with nags, well, why did you stand on the road, ”she said to the royal coachman.
The outstretched hand, not finding the clasp, angrily tore off the belt of the cavity, and a man in a velvet eared cap, in a gray-cloth mutton sheepskin coat, in felt boots climbed out of the wagon. He got out, tall: Sanka, looking at him, lifted her head ... Roundish face - haggard, eyes - swollen, dark mustache - upright. Fathers, - the king! ..
Peter stretched out his stiff legs one by one, his eyebrows knitted together. He recognized the planted daughter, slightly smiled with a wrinkle of a small mouth. He said dully:
Woe, woe ... - And he went to the palace, waving the sleeves of his sheepskin coat. Sanka is behind him.
The widow on the chair, seeing the king, was stunned. Broke down. I wanted to fall at my feet. Peter embraced her, pressed her over her head, looked at the coffin. The servants ran up. They took off his coat. Pyotr clubfoot, in felt boots, went to say goodbye. He stood for a long time, putting his hand on the edge of the coffin. He bent down and kissed the whisk, and the forehead, and the hands of his dear friend. The shoulders began to move under the green caftan, the back of the head was pulled.
Sanka, who was looking at his back, had her eyes watered from tears, leaning back like a woman, howling softly, thinly. So sorry, so sorry for something ... He went off the platform, sniffing like a little one. Stopped in front of Sanka. She nodded bitterly at him.
There will be no other friend like him,” he said. (Clutching his eyes, shaking his dark curly hair, which was packed behind the road.) - Joy - together and worries - together. They thought with one mind ... - He suddenly took his hands away, looked around, the tears dried up, he became like a cat. The boyars entered the hall, hurriedly making the sign of the cross - about ten people.
In place - the elders first - they earnestly approached Pyotr Alekseevich, knelt down and, resting their palms on the floor, tightly beat their foreheads on oak bricks.
Pyotr did not raise a single one of them, did not hug them, did not even nod, - he stood a stranger, arrogant. The wings of a short nose were inflated.
Glad, glad, I see! - He said incomprehensibly and went out of the palace again into the wagon.
This autumn, in the German Quarter, next to the Lutheran church, a brick house was built according to the Dutch model, with eight windows to the street. He built the order of the Grand Palace, hastily - in two months. Anna Ivanovna Mons moved into the house with her mother and younger brother Willim.
Here, without hiding, the king went and often stayed overnight. In Kukui (and even in Moscow), this house was called that - the Tsaritsyn Palace ... Anna Ivanovna started an important custom: a majordomo and servants in livery, in the stable - two six expensive Polish horses, carriages for all occasions.
To Mons, as it used to be, you can’t turn to the light of austeria - to drink a mug of beer. “Hehe,” the Germans recalled, “how long has the blue-eyed Ankhen in a clean apron carried mugs across the tables, blushed like a wild rose when one of the good-natured people, patting her on the girl’s backside, said:“ Come on, fish, have a bite foam, flowers for you, beer for me…”
Now only respectable people of trade and manufacturing affairs came to the Mons from the Kukui Slobozhans, and then by invitation - on holidays, for dinner. They joked, of course, but decently. Pastor Strumpf always sat on Ankhen's right hand. He liked to tell something funny or instructive from Roman history. Full-blooded guests thoughtfully nodded mugs of beer, pleasantly sighed about frailty. Anna Ivanovna in particular sought decency in the house.
Over the years, she has filled with beauty: in her gait - importance, in her eyes - peace, good manners and sadness. Whatever you say, no matter how you bow low after her glass carriage, the king came to sleep with her, only. Well, what's next? Villages were granted to Anna Ivanovna from the Local Order. At balls she could decorate herself with jewels no worse than others, and on her chest hung a portrait of Pyotr Alekseevich, the size of a small saucer, in diamonds. There was no need, no denial. And then the matter was delayed.
As time went. Peter lived more and more in Voronezh or rode on relays from the southern sea to the northern. Anna Ivanovna sent him a letter, and - on each occasion - citrons, half a dozen oranges (delivered from Riga), sausages with cardamom, herbal tinctures. But can you keep a lover for a long time with letters and parcels? Well, how will some woman become attached to him, eat into his heart? The sleepless night tossed and turned on the feather bed. Everything is fragile, vague, ambiguous. Enemies, enemies all around - just waiting for Monsikha to stumble.
Even the closest friend - Lefort - as soon as Anna Ivanovna started a conversation around the outskirts - how long will Peter live in slovenliness, like a bachelor, - he grinned: indefinitely, - Ankhen gently pinched his cheek: “They have been waiting for the promised three years ...” Ah, no one understood : Anna Ivanovna would not even want the royal throne, not power, - power is restless, unreliable ... No, only strength, neatness, decency ...
There was only one remedy - a love spell, divination. On the advice of her mother, Anna Ivanovna once, getting out of bed from Peter, who was sleeping soundly, sewed a small rag with her blood into the edge of his camisole ... He went to Voronezh, left the camisole in Preobrazhensky, since then he has never worn it. Old Monsikha used to invite fortune tellers into the back rooms. But both mother and daughter were afraid to open up to them - on whom to tell fortunes. For witchcraft, Prince-Caesar Romodanovsky pulled up on the rack.
It seems that if a simple person (with prosperity) had fallen in love with Anna Ivanovna now, - oh, I would have exchanged everything for a serene life. A clean house, even without a majordomo, the sun lies on the wax floor, the jasmine trees smell pleasantly on the windowsills, the smell of roasted coffee from the kitchen, bringing calm, the bell on the pickaxe rings, and respectable people, walking past, respectfully bow to Anna Ivanovna, who is sitting at windows for needlework ...
With the death of Lefort, it was as if a black cloud fell on Anna Ivanovna's head. She cried so much during these seven days (before Peter's arrival), that the old Monsikha ordered to bring the doctor Policolo. He ordered a washing and cleansing to remove excess sputum that appeared in the blood due to grief. Anna Ivanovna - herself not quite understanding why - was waiting with horror for Peter's arrival. I recalled his sallow face with a cheek swollen with toothache, when, after the worst of the archery executions, he was sitting at Lefort. Anger flashed in his wide eyes. Frost-red hands lay in front of an empty plate. Didn't eat, didn't listen to table jokes. (They joked, chattering their teeth.) Without looking at anyone, he spoke incomprehensibly:
Not four regiments, they are a legion ... They lay down on the chopping blocks - everyone was baptized with two fingers ... For antiquity, for begging ... To prepare and foolishly ... Posad people! It was not necessary to start from Azov, - from Moscow!
To this day, Anna Ivanovna shuddered when she remembered Peter at that time. She felt that this tormenting man was pushing her from the quiet window into cruel anxiety ... Why? Is he really the Antichrist, as the Russians whisper? In the evenings in bed, by the gentle light of a wax candle, Anna Ivanovna, wringing her hands, wept desperately:
Mom, mom, what will I do with myself? I do not love him. He will come - impatient ... I am dead ... Maybe it's better for me to lie in a coffin, like poor Franz.
Untidy, with swollen eyelids, unexpectedly in the morning she saw through the window how the royal cart stopped behind the fence on the bumpy street. She didn’t fuss this time: let her - what she is - in a cap, in a woolen shawl. Walking through the garden, Peter also saw her in the window, nodded without a smile. In the hallway he wiped his feet on the mat. Sober, meek.
Hello, Annushka, - he said softly. Kissed him on the forehead. - We are orphaned. - He sat down by the wall, near the wall clock, slowly swinging a laughing brass face on a pendulum. He spoke in an undertone, as if wondering that death had made such an unreasonable blunder. - Franz, Franz ... He was a bad admiral, but he was worth a whole fleet. This is grief, this is grief, Annushka ... Do you remember how you first brought me to you, you were still a girl - you were afraid that I would break the music box ... Death took the wrong one ... No Franz! - unclear…
Anna Ivanovna listened, - she covered herself up to her eyes with a downy shawl. Not prepared - did not know what to answer. Tears crawled under the shawl. Dishes tinkled cautiously outside the door. With a sob through her nose full of tears, she muttered that Franz must be well now with God. Peter looked at her strangely...
Peter, you haven't eaten anything since the road, please stay and eat. Just today, your favorite fried sausages ...
With anguish I saw that the sausages did not seduce him either. She sat down next to him, took his hand, smelling of sheepskin, and began to kiss. He stroked her hair under her cap with the other hand.
In the evening I’ll stop by for an hour ... Well, it will be for you, it will be, - I soaked my whole hand ... Go and bring a sausage, a glass of vodka ... Go, go ... Otherwise, I have a lot to do today ...
Lefort was buried with great pomp. There were three regiments with half-mast banners, with guns. Behind the chariot, a train (of sixteen black horses) carried the admiral's hat, sword and spurs on pillows. A rider in black armor and feathers rode, holding an overturned torch. There were ambassadors and envoys in mournful clothes. Behind them - the boyars, devious, Duma and Moscow nobles - up to a thousand people. Military trumpeters blew, drums beat slowly. Peter marched ahead with the first company of the Preobrazhenians.
Not seeing the tsar nearby, some of the boyars gradually trotted ahead of foreign ambassadors in order to be the first in the procession. The ambassadors shrugged their shoulders and whispered. At the cemetery they were completely wiped off. Roman Borisovich Buynosov and the rather stupid Prince Stepan Beloselsky wandered along at the very wheels, holding on to the chariot. Many Russians were tipsy: they gathered to take out at dawn, their stomachs turned, without waiting for the wake, they made their way around the tables laden with dishes of cold food, ate and drank.
When the coffin was placed on the frozen clay thrown out of the pit, Peter hastily approached. He glanced at the shaven, immediately shy faces of the boyars, bared his teeth so angrily that some stepped back behind their backs. With a nod he beckoned the corpulent Lev Kirillovich:
Why did they get ahead of the ambassadors? Who ordered?
I already shamed, barked, they don’t listen, ”Lev Kirillovich answered quietly.
Dogs! (And - louder.) Dogs, not people! - He jerked his neck, turned his head, kicked with a jackboot. Ambassadors and envoys squeezed through the dispersed crowd of boyars to the grave, where one, about open coffin, a stranger to everyone, chilled, in a cloth coat, stood the king. Everyone looked with fear at what he would throw out. Sticking his sword into the ground, he knelt down and pressed his face against what was left of a smart friend, an adventurer, a brawler, a drinker and a faithful comrade. He got up, rubbing his eyes.
Close... Drop...
Drums crackled, banners bent, cannons fired, throwing up white clubs. One of the gunners, gaping, did not have time to jump away - his head was torn off by fire. In Moscow that day they said:
“The devil was buried, but the other one remained, apparently, he translated few people yet.”
Trade and fishing affairs, good people, leaving the sleigh outside the gate and taking off their hats, climbed the long - almost from the middle of the yard - covered stairs to the Transfiguration Palace. Hundreds of guests and merchants of the living room arrived in troikas, in carpeted sleighs, they entered, without being shy, in fox fur coats, in navel coats of Hamburg cloth. The dilapidated chamber was poorly heated. Glancing briskly at the sagging cracked ceiling, at the scarlet cloth worn by moths on the benches and doors, they said:
The structure is not so hot ... It is visible boyar concern. Pity, pity...
Merchants were hastily gathered here, according to their name lists. Some did not come, fearing that they would force them to eat from Nikonian dishes and smoke tobacco. They guessed why the king called to the palace. Recently, on Red Square, a great decree was read by a duma clerk at a drumbeat from a place of execution: different ranks of people, in their auctions and in all sorts of trades great losses and ruin... Merciful, he, sovereign, pointed out about them: in all their reprisal, court and petition, and merchant cases, and in collecting state revenues - to be in charge of their stewards and to choose stewards among themselves, good and truthful people are suitable for them, whom they desire among themselves. And of them, one person to be in the first place, to sit as president for a month ... Government sales agents from wealthy merchants. In cities, towns and settlements, it is indicated to choose zemstvo stewards from the best and truthful people for trial and reprisal and collect salaries, and to select customs and tavern stewards - whoever they want to collect customs duties and drinking income. The burmisters should think and be in charge of commercial and salary affairs in a special burmister chamber, and with disputes and petitions to enter - past orders - to one sovereign.
For the Burmister Chamber, in the Kremlin, near the Church of John the Baptist, the building of the old tsar's palace, with cellars - where to store the treasury, was allotted.
For such an honest deed, Moscow merchants spared no expense (how long have they been walking in the Kremlin without hats, and then with caution - now they themselves sat there): the dilapidated palace was covered with a new roof - under silver, painted outside and inside, inserted windows not with mica, but with glasses. At the basements they put their guards.
For deliverance from the ruin of the voivodship and the clerk's untruth, the merchants now had to pay double the previous salary. Treasury - a clear profit. Well, what about the merchants? - how to say…
Indeed, there was no life left from the voivodes, from clerks and little people: greedy, like wolves, do not protect yourself - they will cut your throat, in Moscow they will be dragged through the courts, undressed, and in cities and towns they will be locked up on the right in the voivodina yard. It's all so...
But many - of course, who are more cunning - were guarded and did not live quite badly: he bowed to the governor with a ruble, sent a clerk to sugar, cloth or fish, invited the clerk to eat what God sent. Some rich man does not have a voivode or an orderly - the devil does not find out how much goods and money he has. Of course, such eagles - Mitrofan Shorin - the first merchant of the living room hundreds, or Alexei Sveshnikov - these - as in the palm of your hand, the Metropolitan goes to their courtyard. We are glad to pay at least a triple salary to the Burmister Chamber - there they have honor, and strength, and order. Well, let's say, Vaska Revyakin senior? In his shop, in a hardware row, goods for three altyns, - he sits, wiping his eyes with a rag. And by the way, knowledgeable people they say: enslaved peasant souls behind him, to count, three thousand. Not like a peasant or a townsman - a rare merchant was not in his debt for a heavy record. And there is no such city, such a settlement, where Revyakin does not keep a hardware warehouse and a shop, and all this is recorded in his relatives and clerks. It is impossible to grab it by any means: like burbot - naked and slippery. The Burmister Chamber is a ruin for him - you can’t hide from your own.
In anticipation of the royal exit, the older merchants sat on the benches, the younger ones stood. They understood: it means that money is needed, hopefully, the sovereign, he wants to talk heart to heart. It would have been like that for a long time - heart to heart ... Those who were here for the first time, not without fear, looked at the doors painted with lions and birds on the side of the throne place (there was no throne, only a canopy remained).
Peter unexpectedly came out of the side door - he was in a Dutch dress - red, apparently drunk. “Great, great,” he repeated good-naturedly, shook hands, patted others on the back, on the head. With him - several people: Mitrofan Shorin and Alexei Sveshnikov (in Hungarian caftans); brothers Osip and Fyodor Bazhenin - serious and prominent, with twisted mustaches, in a foreign cloth dress, narrow in the shoulders; short and important Ivan Artemich Brovkin - soon rich - shaved bald, karakov wig to the navel; the stern Duma clerk, Lyubim Domnin, and some sort of simple townsman in dress, a man unknown to anyone, with a gypsy beard, with a large bald forehead. This one, apparently, was very shy, walking behind everyone.
Peter sat down on a bench, leaning on his spread knees. “Sit down, sit down,” he said to the advancing merchants. Wrinkled. He said, shook his head. The elders immediately sat down. The Duma clerk, Lyubim Domnin, who remained standing, took out of his pocket a letter rolled up in a pipe from behind and chewed on his dry lips. Immediately the brothers Osip and Fyodor Bazhenin jumped up, holding their English hats on their stomachs, looking down gravely. Peter nodded at them again.
We would like to have more of these ... I would like to welcome Osip and Fyodor with all the crowds ... In England, in Holland, they favor good trade deeds, for good manufactories, and we should introduce the same custom. Am I right? (He turns to the right, to the left. Raises an eyebrow.) What are you doing? Are you afraid I will ask you for money? We must begin to live in a new way, merchants, that's what I want ...
Momonov, a rich cloth maker, asked, bowing:
Is it like living in a new way, sir?
Unlearning to live as a person ... My boyars sit in the yards like badgers. You can't, you are trading people... You need to learn how to trade not alone - in companies. The East India Company in Holland is a nice thing: they build ships together, they trade together. They are making great profits... We should learn from them... In Europe there are academies for this. If you wish, we will build an exchange no worse than in Amsterdam. Make campaigns, start manufactories ... And you have one science: if you don’t deceive, you won’t sell ...
The young merchant, who was looking lovingly at the tsar, suddenly struck his hand with his hat:
That's right, we are...
They began to pull him by the floor into the crowd. He, - shaking his head, shrugging his shoulders:
And what? Isn't it true? We live on a deception, one deception - we weigh, measure ...
Peter laughed (unhappily, in a bass voice, his mouth wide open). The neighbors also laughed politely. He, breaking off his laughter, - strictly:
You have been trading for two hundred years - you have not learned ... Walk near wealth ... Again, all the same squalor, nakedness. I bought a penny and - in a tavern. So what?
Not everything is so, sir, - Momonov said.
No so! (Blowing his nostrils.) Go abroad, look at those merchants - kings! We won't have time to wait until you learn yourself... You have to force another pig into the trough with its muzzle... Why don't foreigners let me live? Give them something at their mercy, give something else... Forests, ores, crafts... Why can't they do their own? In Voronezh, where the hell are those from, one person came, such a tarara spread, such searchlights! You, he says, have a golden land, only you are poor people ... Why is this? I didn't say anything... I ask, - or not those people live in our land? He looked around at the merchants with bulging eyes.) God did not give others, These must be dealt with, right? Russian people sometimes cross my throat ... So it’s across my throat. (His ear is taut, the neck vein is about to twitch.)
Then Ivan Artemich, who was sitting next to him, spoke kindly, in a singsong voice:
They beat a lot of Russians, but they beat them to no avail, so the freaks turned out.
Fool! cried Peter. - Fool! And poked him in the side with his elbow.
Ivan Artemich - still silly:
Well, here's what I'm saying...
For a minute Pyotr gazed furiously at Brovkin's shiny, foolishly narrowed face with a foolish smile. He tapped his forehead with his hand.
Vanka, you are not yet ordered to be a jester!
But, apparently, he himself understood that it was not reasonable to dust, get angry at the merchants. Merchants are not boyars: they have nowhere to go, you can’t take your patrimony in your pocket. The merchant is like a snail: he hid a little something - horns and backed up with capital ... Indeed, it became quiet, aloof in the ward. Ivan Artemich turned his eyes to Pyotr with a sly slit.
Read, Love, - said Peter to the deacon.
The Bazhenin brothers looked down again respectfully. Lyubim Domnin in a high voice dryly, slowly read:
- “... this gracious letter of commendation was given for diligent zeal and diligence for the ship structure ... Last year, Osip and Fedor Bazhenins in the village of Vovchug built a water saw mill from the German model without overseas craftsmen, by themselves, in order to grind the forest into boards and sell in Arkhangelsk to foreigners and Russian merchants. And they rubbed the forest, and brought it to Arkhangelsk, and released it overseas. And they have an intention at that plant to build ships and yachts for the release of boards and other Russian goods overseas. And we, the great sovereign, granted them, - ordered them to build ships and yachts in that village of theirs, and that supplies for that ship structure would be taken out from across the sea, do not order duties from them, and their masters, foreign and Russian, to take by free hire from their belongings. And how will those ships be ready - to keep them on them for fear from thieves people cannons and a potion against other foreign trade ships ... "
The deacon read for a long time. He rolled up a letter with a hanging seal into a tube, put it in his palms, and handed it to Osip and Fyodor. Having accepted, the brothers went up to Peter and silently bowed at their feet - all in order, sedately. He lifted them by the shoulders and kissed them both, but not according to the royal custom, rejoicing with his cheek, but in the mouth, firmly.
It is expensive that the initiative, - he said to the merchants. With his shifting pupils he found a townsman unknown to anyone with a gypsy beard and a bald forehead. - Demidych! (The latter, sharply puffing, crawled through the crowd.) - Demidych, bow to the merchants ... Nikita Demidov Antufiev is a Tula blacksmith. He makes pistols and rifles no worse than those in England. Cast iron is poured, looking for ores. Yes, his wings are short. Talk to him, merchants, think. And I'm his friend. It is necessary - we welcome the land and the villages. Demidych, bow, bow, I'll vouch for you...
Who are you? Why do you want it? Who is needed here?
A stern broad-shouldered woman with an unkind look examined Andrei Golikov (Palekh icon painter). Under his brown, in holes and shreds, sermyaga pimply skin trembled finely. A damp March wind blew. Bare bushes whistled on the dilapidated wall of the White City. Crows screamed in alarm as they soared, shaggy and hungry, over heaps of rubbish. The impassable fences of the merchant Vasily Revyakin stretched along the Moscow walls that converged at an angle. The place was gloomy, the lanes narrow, deserted.
From Elder Abraham,” Andrey whispered, tightly putting two fingers to his forehead. Behind the women, in the rutted yard, near the rickety barns, lean males stood on their hind legs on chains ... Andryushka was all icy, only his eyes were hot. Baba, after a pause, let him into the yard, indicated to go along the boards thrown into the mud to a tall and long building, without stairs and porch. Shutters on mica windows banged under the very roof.
They went down into the dark hallway, where it smelled of tubs. Baba pushed Andryushka.
Wipe your feet on the straw, not in the barn, - and, after waiting, - everything is just as unfriendly: - In the name of the father and son and the holy spirit.
She opened the low door to the cellar. It was hot here, the dark boards of icons in the corner lit up with coals from the stove. Andrei was baptized for a long time in front of the terrible eyes of the ancient faces. Robey, remained at the door. Grandma sat down. Many voices sang muffledly behind the wall.
Why did the old man send you?
For a feat
For three years to the elder Nectarius.
To Nectarius, - the woman drawled.
Sent here to show him the way. I can't live in the world - my body is hungry, my soul is scared. Afraid. I am looking for deserts, a paradise life ... (Andryushka pulled his nose.) Have mercy, mother, do not drive me away.
Elder Nektarios will create a desert for you,” the woman said in riddle. Her eyes, visible from the ember light, narrowed.
Andrei began to tell: for more than six months now he has been wandering among the yards, dying of hunger and freezing cold death. He contacted all sorts of people, incited him to thieves' affairs. "I can't, my soul is terrified." He told how this winter, in snowy blizzards, he spent the night under the thin roofs of the city walls: “I will get straws, I will hide myself with matting. The blizzard is howling, the snow is spinning, the dead archers are dancing on the ropes, they are beating against the wall. Hungry in these nights for a quiet haven, a silent life ... "
Having asked the exact question about Elder Abraham, the woman rose with a sigh: “Follow me.” She led Andryushka again through the dark passage down the steps. Ordering to be in a poor place, she let me into the underground, where voices sang. There was a hot smell of wax and incense. Thirty or more people were kneeling on the scraped floor. Behind a velvet lectern, a wry-shouldered man in a black cassock and a skufi was reading. Flipping through the shabby page of the handwritten breviary, he lifted his shaggy beard to the candle lights. All along the wall, even from the floor, candles were burning in front of large and small icons of the old Novogorodsk letter.
They served according to the priestless rank. They sang gloomily, nasally. To the right of the elder, in front of the worshipers, on his knees was a small goat-bearded Vasily Revyakin. He sorted through the ladder, then looked up at the faces, then, turning around a little, squinted, - and under his eye the worshipers bowed more earnestly, even to the point of ulceration of the forehead.
The wry-shouldered old man closed the book, raised it above his head, turned around: a beard torn in shreds, an old face with a broken nose. Staring with dilated pupils as if in a terrible vision, gaping his mouth with broken teeth, he cried out:
Let us remember the words of Righteous Hippolytus, Pope of Rome: “After the advent of the time of the Antichrist, the Church of God will fall and the bloodless sacrifice will be abolished. Seduction will take place in cities and villages, in monasteries and in deserts. And no one will be saved, only a small number ... "
Brethren, what will I tell you (after finishing the service, the elder said, clutching the wooden cross on his chest). The grace of God was upon me. The Lord brought me to Vol-lake, to the desert, to the elder Nectarius. I bowed to the elder, and he asked me: “What do you want: to save the soul or the flesh?” I said: "Soul, soul!" And the old man said: "Good for you, child." And he saved my soul, but mortified my flesh ... In the desert, instead of bread, we ate fern grass, and sour, and oak acorns, and took away and dried the bark from pine trees, and crushed it together with the fish - it was good for us. And the Lord did not kill us. And what I suffered from my boss from the first days: I was beaten twice every day. And on bright Sunday he was beaten twice. And in two years I counted two times for every day - fourteen hundred and thirty fights. And how many wounds and blows there were every day from the hands of his honest ones - I don’t even consider that. The shepherd crushed my flesh: what happened to him in his hands, he favored me, his orphan and a small chick. He taught with a stick and a pestle, than they pound in a mortar, and with a poker, and cookware, in which they cook dishes, and with a slingshot, with which they make dough ... For this, my boss ulcerated my body so that the dark soul would be enlightened ... With a rocker, on which tubs with water are worn, caviar was beaten out of my foot with a tree, so that my feet would be ready for obedience. And not only with all kinds of wood, but also with iron, and with stone, and with torn hair, and sometimes with a brick, he humbled my body. At that time, the fingers of my hands were knocked out of their joints, and my ribs and bones were broken. And the Lord did not kill me. Now he is weak in body, but bright in spirit ... Brethren, do not be lazy about your soul.
Do not be lazy about your soul, - the old man yelled three times, mercilessly eating into the timid flock with his eyes. All the relatives, brothers-in-law, serfs of Vasily Revyakin were here; his clerks, barn and shop inmates. As they listened, they sighed in anguish. Others could not endure the frenzied gaze of the old man. Andrey Golikov was bent over with sobs, clutching his cheeks, crying, yellow rays from the lights of candles fluttered through tears throughout the prayer room, like the wings of archangels.
The elder bowed deeply to the flock and walked away. Vasily Revyakin himself took his place, short, gray-haired, instead of eyes - two wrinkles, where the pupils ran uncaught. Going through the ladder, he spoke softly, humanely:
My dear ones, unforgettable ones... It's scary! Beloved, scary! It was a bright day, a cloud found, our whole life was covered with a stench ... (He looked over his right, over his left shoulder, as if someone was standing behind him. He stepped forward softly in combed boots.) The Antichrist is already here. Do you hear? He sat on the domes of the Nikonian church. A pinch is its seal, there is no salvation for the pinchers: the essence is already devoured ... And there is no salvation for those who drink and eat with the pinch. Whoever receives the sacrament from the priest - there is no salvation - their branded prosphora and their imaginary priesthood ... How can we be saved? We heard how they were saved. I'm not holding anyone - go, go, dear, accept the torment, enlighten yourself. You will be superfluous intercessors for us, sinful and weak. Maybe I myself will leave ... I will close barns, shops, goods, tummies I will distribute to the poor. The only salvation is grandfather's faith, obedience and fear ... (He shook his beard bitterly, wiped his eyelashes with a cloth sleeve. The flock fell silent. They didn’t breathe, didn’t move.) Fortunately, whoever fits in ... And who doesn’t fit in, don’t despair ... The elders will pray. Fear one thing more than death - as if the crafty one didn’t push you under the elbow ... Not the old times: his invisible servants surrounded everyone, they are only waiting for that ... Sin, bend your soul, hide a penny from the owner ... As if - a little? Kopek! No ... They will rush at you, and disappear - into eternal torment ... Be afraid that the elders do not stop praying for you ... (He stepped forward again, lashed his thigh with a ladder.) Look, what a temptation: Burmister's Chamber! .. That's where - hell, straight hell... From ancient times, the merchants paid salaries to the treasury, and behind all that is my secret business: what I trade, how I trade... The Lord rewarded me with reason - that's the merchant. And the fool of the century will vegetate in laborers. Burmistrov to choose! He is in the barn, he is in the chest to me ... Tell him everything, show him everything ... Why! Who needs! The net of Antichrist is being thrown over the merchants... And also - the post office! For what? I will send a faithful person to Veliky Ustyug, the post office will arrive sooner and say what is needed - secretly ... And by mail - do I know what kind of person my letter will be lucky? No, we don’t need a post office, we don’t need burmisters, we don’t need to pay double salaries, and we don’t smoke tobacco with foreigners, with Nikonians. (He didn’t want to, but got angry. With a trembling lilac hand, he reached into his pocket, took out a handkerchief, dried himself. He shook his head, looking at the burning candles. He sighed heavily and finished.) Let’s go to supper ...
Everyone who was in the prayer room went through the hallway and the kitchen next to the cellar. They sat down at a wooden table, covered with krasin, in the red corner, where Vasily Revyakin and three old clerks, his cousins, had supper. They also asked the old man under the image. But he suddenly spat loudly and went to the door, to the beggars who were sitting on the floor. Andrew was with them.
A tallow candle burned in the middle of the table. From the darkness came a stern woman with full cups. Sometimes a cockroach fell from the ceiling. They ate in silence, chewed sedately, quietly laid down their spoons. Andrei moved closer to the old man. Holding the cup on his knees, bent over, dripping on his shaggy beard, the old man sipped convulsively, burned himself, ate the bread in small pieces. After eating and praying, he folded his hands on his stomach. It was clear from the cloudy eyes that he had improved.
Andrey quietly to him:
My father, I want to go to Elder Nectarius... Let me go.
The old man breathed heavily. But the eyes went blank again:
Already, they will go to bed - come to the prayer room. I'll try you.
Andrei shuddered, - in anguish, in doom, he began to fidget with the back of his head along the burrs of the log wall ...
From the south, from the Wild Field, a warm wind blew. It snowed in a week. The spring sky was blue in the hollow waters that flooded the plain. The rivers swelled, the Don set off. In one night, the Voronezh River overflowed its banks, flooding the shipyards. From the city to the Don itself, ships, brigantines, galleys, penal servitudes, and boats were rocking at anchor. Wet resin dripped from the sides, gilded and silvered Neptunian muzzles shone. The sails were fluttering, raised to dry. In the muddy waters, the last ice floes rustled as they dived. Above the walls of the fortress - on right side rivers, opposite Voronezh, - clouds of powder smoke flew up, the wind tore them to shreds. Cannon shots rolled across the waters, as if the earth itself were swelling and bursting with bubbles.
The shipyard was working day and night. Finished finishing the forty-gun ship "Fortress". It swayed with a high carved stern and three masts at the fresh piles of the wall. Boats loaded with gunpowder, corned beef and breadcrumbs sailed to him every now and then, moored to his black side. The current pulled the ends, cracked the tree. At the stern, on the bridge, shouting over the roar of barrels rolling along the deck, the squeal of blocks, the brown-faced captain Pamburg cursed in Russian and Portuguese - make your eyes stand on end, eyes - like those of a mad ram, boots - in the mud, over the caftan - a naked sheepskin coat, head tied with a red silk scarf. "Darmoeds! Pike children! Karraha! The sailors were exhausted, pulling on board coolies with crackers, barrels, boxes, - they rolled at a run to the holds, where the boatswain's chain males in high woolen hats, in brown trousers with bubbles, wheezed.
Above the river, on the mountain, the log-shaped peaked towers crooked, behind the dilapidated walls the tops of the churches rusted. In front of the old city on the slope of the mountain, smeared huts and wooden booths of workers are scattered. Closer to the river are the chopped huts of the newly appointed Admiral Golovin, Alexander Menshikov, the head of the Admiralty Apraksin, Rear Admiral Cornelius Kreis. Behind the river, on a low bank covered with wood chips, pitted with wheels, there were sooty, with earthen roofs, log cabins of forges, the ribs of unfinished ships, half-submerged riots of boards, rafts, barrels, ropes, rusty anchors pulled out of the water. Cauldrons of tar smoked black. The thin wheels of the rope knot creaked. The sawyers waved their shoulders, standing on high goats. The raftsmen ran barefoot through the mud, hauling logs carried away by the flood with hooks.
The main work has been completed. The fleet has been launched. There remained the ship "Fortress", finished off with special care. Three days later, it was said to raise the admiral's flag on it.
Every now and then they tore the door, new people entered, without undressing, without wiping their feet, sat on the benches, and whoever was bigger - right at the table. In the royal hut they ate and drank around the clock. Many candles were burning, stuck in empty bottles. Wigs hung on the log walls - it was hot in the hut. Tobacco smoke billowed from the pipes.
Vice-Admiral Cornelius Kreis slept at the table, his face buried in gold-embroidered cuffs. Schoutbenacht The rank corresponding to Rear Admiral. of the Russian fleet, the Dutchman Julius Rez, a brave sea tramp, with a head valued at two thousand English pounds for various deeds in distant oceans, was pulling an anise, scowling at the candle with a one-eyed ferocious face. The shipwrights Osip Nai and John Day, who had become overgrown with bristles during these hot days, puffed on their pipes and winked mockingly at the Russian master Fedosey Sklyaev. Fedosey had just arrived, - having loosened his scarf, unbuttoned his sheepskin coat, he slurped noodles with pork ...
Fedosey, - Osip Nay told him, winking red eyelashes. - Fedosey, tell us how you feasted in Moscow?
Fedosey did not answer, slurping. Tired, really. In February he returned from abroad, and he should have gone to Voronezh at once - according to a letter from Pyotr Alekseevich. Damn it. Twisted in Moscow for friends, and off we go. Three days - in a daze: pancakes, appetizers, snacks, wine. It ended, as one should have thought: he ended up in the Preobrazhensky order.
The tsar, having learned that his long-awaited favorite Fedosey was sitting behind the prince-caesar, sent a courier to Moscow with a letter to Romodanovsky:
“Min kher koenig… What do you keep our comrades, Fedosey Sklyaev and others in? I'm very sad. I was waiting for Sklyaev more than anyone, because he is the best in ship craftsmanship, and you deigned to detain. God is your judge. Truly, there is no help for me here. And, tea, it's not a state matter. For God, free and come here. Peter".
Sklyaev himself brought the answer from the prince-Caesar ten days later:
“This is his fault: he was driving drunk with his comrades and pulled himself up at the slingshots with the soldiers of the Preobrazhensky regiment. And on the search, it turned out: on both sides they were wrong. And I, having found, flogged Sklyaev for his stupidity, also flogged the petitioning soldier, with whom the quarrel was initiated. Don’t be angry with me in that - it’s not a habit to let go of stupid things, even if they weren’t such a rank.
OK. That would be the end. Pyotr Alekseevich, having met Sklyaev, hugged and caressed, and slapped his thighs, and deigned not only to laugh, but whinnied to tears ... “Fedosey, this is not Amsterdam for you!” And I read the letter of the Prince-Caesar aloud at dinner.
Having eaten the noodles, Fedosey pushed the cup away and reached for Osip Nai for tobacco.
Well, you will have a laugh, devils, - he said in a rough voice. - In the hold, in the stern, climbed today?
Lazili, - answered Osip Nay.
No, they didn't climb...
Slowly taking out a clay pipe, lowering the corners of his straight mouth, John Day spoke in Russian through clenched teeth:
Why do you ask so that we didn’t seem to climb into the hold, Fedosey Sklyaev?
And that's why ... Why sniff at me - they would take a lantern, let's go.
Something that flows. As they began to load barrels of corned beef, the frames opened up, and water was beating from below.
This can't happen...
But maybe. What I told you about - the stern mount is weak.
Osip Nai and John Day looked at each other. Slowly, they got up, pulled on their hats with headphones. Fedosey also got up, angrily wrapped up his scarf, and took the lantern.
Oh you generals!
Officers, sailors, craftsmen sat down at the table, tired, smeared with tar, spattered with mud. Having pulled out a glass of fiery-strong vodka from an earthenware jug, they took with their hands what they got from the dishes: fried meat, pig meat, beef lips in vinegar. Having eaten hastily, many left again, without crossing their foreheads, without thanks ...
At the wooden partition, a sleepy-eyed sailor in a high woolen cap pushed over his ear leaned with his broad shoulder on the door frame. On his sinewy neck hung a resin end with knots - a line. (He regaled them with whomever he needed.) To everyone who came close to the door, he said quietly and lazily:
Where are you going, where are you, cheerful mother? ..
Behind the partition, in the sleeping quarters, government officials were now sitting: Admiral Fyodor Alekseevich Golovin, Lev Kirillovich Naryshkin, Fyodor Matveevich Apraksin - head of the Admiralty - and Alexander Danilovich Menshikov. This one, after the death of Lefort, was immediately promoted to major general and governor of Pskov. Peter allegedly said so when he returned to Voronezh after the funeral: “I had two hands, there was only one left, albeit thieving, but true.”
Aleksashka, in Preobrazhensky, deftly tightened with a scarf, a thin caftan, in a wig, drowning his narrow chin in lace, was standing by a hot brick stove. Apraksin and corpulent Golovin were sitting on an unmade bed. Naryshkin, resting his forehead on his palm, is at the table. They listened to the Duma clerk and the great ambassador Prokofy Voznitsyn. He had just returned from Karlowitz on the Danube, from a congress where the Caesar, Polish, Venetian and Moscow ambassadors negotiated peace with the Turks.
He has not yet seen the king. Peter ordered to say that the ministers gathered and thought, but he would come. Voznitsyn held. on his knees, notebooks with digital entries, lowering his glasses to the tip of a dry nose, said:
Committed by me with the Turkish ambassadors, flight-efendi Rami and Privy Councilor Mavrocordato, an armistice, that is, the removal of weapons for a while. More could not be achieved. Judge for yourselves, gentlemen ministers: in Europe, such a mess is now being brewed - almost for the whole world. The Spanish king is decrepit, not today or tomorrow he will die childless. The French king seeks to plant his grandson Philip in Spain and has already married him, keeps him in Paris, waiting - is about to be crowned. The Emperor of Austria, on the other hand, wants to send his son Charles to Spain...
Yes, we know, we know all that, - Aleksashka interrupted impatiently.
Be patient, Alexander Danilovich, I say as best I can (Voznitsyn stared hard at the handsome man with his gray eyes over his glasses), the great dispute between France and England is being resolved. If Spain follows the French king, the French with the Spanish fleet will take power on all seas. If Spain will follow the Austrian emperor, then the British will cope with one French fleet. The British are stirring up the European politician. They brought together the Austrians with the Turks in Karlovitsy. For a war with the French king, the Austrian Caesar needs to untie his hands. And the Turks are zealously happy to put up in order to rest, to gather strength: Prince Eugene of Savoy took many lands and cities from them for Caesar, in Hungary, in the Semigrad land and in the Sea, and the Caesars Caesars are Austrians; Eugene of Savoy - Austrian commander; Semigrad land, or Transylvania, is the eastern part of Romania; Morea is the southern part of Greece. they are already looking at Tsaregrad itself ... The Turks are now concerned - to return their own ... To fight remotely - with the Poles or with us - now they don’t even think ... The same Azov - it’s not worth what they need to lose under it.
Is the Turkish Sultan as weak as you reassure? Doubtful, - said Alexashka. (Golovin and Apraksin chuckled. Lev Kirillovich, seeing that they chuckled, also shook his head with a grin.)
Aleksashka, - shaking his thigh, ringing his spur:
And if he is weak, why didn't you sign eternal peace with him? Either you forgot to say flight-efendi that forty thousand city archers are wintering in Ukraine, and Shein’s large cavalry regiment has been assembled in Akhtyrka, and ships are ready for crossing in Bryansk. They didn't send you with bare hands... Armisticia!
Prokofy Voznitsyn slowly took off his glasses. It was difficult to get used to the new order, for a boy without a clan-tribe to talk to the great ambassador like that. Passing a dry palm over his face trembling with anger, Prokofy collected his thoughts. Laem, of course, you can't take anything here.
And that's why there is no peace - an army was committed, Alexander Danilovich ... Caesar's ambassadors, not converging with us, neither with the Poles, nor with the Venetians, secretly, alone, talked with the Turks. And the Poles secretly agreed with us. And we were left alone. The Turks, having brought business with the Caesars to pleasure, did not even want to talk with us at first, they pouted so much ... If my old acquaintance Alexander Mavrocordato were not there, we would not have an armistice ... You are sitting here, gentlemen ministers, you think - you are all Europe is watching... No, for them we are a minor politician, one might say - no politician...
Well, this is still a grandmother in two ...
Wait, don't get excited, Alexander Danilovich, - Golovin gently stopped him.
At the embassy camp they gave us the worst place. The guards were assigned ... They were not ordered to go anywhere, neither to see the Turks, nor to be sent with them. While still in Vienna, I took a doctor, an experienced Pole. Doctor and began to send to the Turkish camp to Mavrokordato. Sent once. Mavrocordato ordered to bow. Sent to another. Mavrocordato ordered to bow and said that it was cold. I'm glad. He took his caftan of silver foxes, on raspberry cloth, sent him with a doctor, ordered him to go around the embassy camps - the steppe. Mavrokordato took the caftan, the next day he sends me tobacco, two good chibouks and coffee a pound, and writing paper. Ah, you, I think, give back ... And again in his cart - pressed caviar, sturgeon backs, five large beluga aunts, various liqueurs ... And he himself went to the Turkish camp at night, alone, in a simple dress. And the Turks just on that day signed peace with Caesar ...
Eh! Alex stamped his spur.
Mavrokordato to me: “It is unlikely, he says, that we will have pleasure if you do not return the Dnieper towns to us, so that the Dnieper is blocked and the passage to you is blocked forever in the Black Sea, and you will have to give Azov, and pay tribute to the Crimean Khan in the old way ... “Here, Alexander Danilovich, how from the very first conversation the Turks began to bully ... But I am alone. The allies finished their business, dispersed ... I threaten the Voronezh fleet. Turks laugh.
“For the first time we hear that ships are being built a thousand miles from the sea, well, sail on them along the Don, and you won’t be able to climb over the neck ...” He also threatened the Ukrainian army. and they told me - Tatars: "Look, the Tatars now have their hands untied, no matter how they did you like under Devlet-Girey" Under Ivan the Terrible, Moscow was burned by the Crimeans and about half a million people were killed and taken prisoner.. If the Turks hadn’t cared, they would have thrown a war on us ... I don’t know, Alexander Danilovich, maybe, due to the poverty of my mind, I could not achieve more, but the armistice is still not a war ...
Many little things were not finished yet. There were not enough nails. Only yesterday a part of the sleigh wagon with iron arrived from Tula. The forges worked all night. There was a road every day in order to have time to catch up with heavy ships in high water to the Don branch.
All the mountains were burning. Blacksmiths in burnt aprons, in shirts salted with sweat, tall hammerers, naked to the waist, with singed skin, sooty boys blowing furs - all fell off their feet, waved their hands, turned black. Vacationers (replaced several times a night) sat right there: some at the open doors chewed dried fish, some slept on a pile of birch coals.
The senior master Kuzma Zhemov, sent by Lev Kirillovich from his factory in Tula (where he was taken from the Tula prison - into eternal work), crippled his hand. The other craftsman was pissed off and now moaning in the night breeze, lying near the forge on damp boards.
Welded paws to a large anchor for the "Fortress". The anchor, suspended on a block from the ceiling mat, sat in the forge. Fanning sweat, whistling with their lungs, the blowers rocked the levers of the six bellows. Two hammermen stood ready, long-handled hammers at their feet. Zhemov with his healthy hand (the other was wrapped in a rag) was picking in the coals, saying:
Don't be lazy, don't be lazy, give...
Peter, in a dirty white shirt, in a canvas apron, with smears of soot on his haggard face, clenching his mouth into a chicken tail, carefully turned the anchor paw in the same forge with long tongs. It was a responsible and cunning business - the welding of such a large part ...
Zhemov, - turning to the workers standing at the ends of the block:
Take it... Listen... (And - to Peter.) Just right, otherwise we'll burn it out... (Peter, without taking his bulging eyes from the coals, nodded, moved the tongs.) Quickly, attack... Come on!..
Hastily intercepting with their hands, the workers pulled the end. The block creaked. The forty-pound anchor went out of the forge. Sparks shot up like a blizzard through the forge. The white-hot anchor leg, clicking with scale, hung over the anvil. Now it was necessary to bend it, tightly fit. Zhemov - already in a whisper:
Bend down, put it down... Put it tighter... (The anchor lay down.) Knock down the dross. (He began to brush off the dross with a flaming broom.) Paw! (Turning to Peter, he shouted in a wild voice.) What are you doing! Let's!
Pyotr swung pood pincers out of the forge and missed the anvil, almost dropping a red-hot paw from the pincers. Crouching from the effort, snarling, he imposed ...
Tighter! shouted Zhemov and only looked at the hammerers. Those, coughing up their breath, went to beat in circles, with a pull. Peter held his paw, Zhemov tapped with a hammer - so-so-so, so-so-so. Burning scale splashed into the aprons.
We welded. The hammermen retreated, puffing. Peter threw the tongs into the vat. Wiped off the sleeve. His eyes narrowed in amusement. Zhemov winked. He was all wrinkled:
Well, it happens, Pyotr Alekseevich ... Only another time, don’t pull out the tongs like that - you can hurt a person and you will certainly get past the anvil by welding. I was also beaten for these things ...
Peter said nothing, washed his hands in a vat, dried himself with an apron, put on a caftan. Came out of the forge. There was a sharp smell of spring dampness. Under the big stars, ice floes rustled on the slightly graying river. The mast fire swayed on the Fortress. Putting his hands in his pockets, whistling softly, Peter walked along the shore, near the water.
The sailor at the partition, seeing the king, threw his head in the door, notified the ministers. But Pyotr did not immediately go there, - with pleasure twisting his nose from the heat and tobacco smoke, he bent over the table, looking at the dishes.
Hey, - he said to a round-bearded man with raised eyebrows in surprise (on a small face - bright blue eyes, - the famous ship's carpenter Aladushkin), - Mishka, pass it over there, - pointed across the table at fried beef, overlaid with pickled apples. Sitting down on a bench opposite the sleeping vice-admiral, slowly - as one drinks from fatigue - drank a cup, - went through the veins. I chose a stronger apple. Chewing, he spat a bone in Cornelius Kreis's bald patch:
What, drunk, or what?
Then the vice-admiral raised his wrinkled face and - in a cold bass:
Wind - south-south-west, one point. On the commander's watch - Pamburg. I'm resting. - And again buried himself in the embroidered sleeves.
After eating, Peter said:
What's wrong with you here? He put his fists on the table. After a moment, he straightened his back. Went over the barrier. Sat down on the bed. (The ministers stood respectfully.) thumb He stuffed the tangled Dutch tobacco tightly into his pipe and lit it from the candle brought by Aleksashka: - Well, hello, great ambassador.
Voznitsyn's old man's legs, in cloth stockings, buckled, the hard skirts of the French camisole climbed up, he bowed with a big bow, spread the braids of his wig near the sovereign's shoes, covered with mud. So I waited for it to pick up. Peter said, leaning his elbow on the pillow:
Aleksasha, raise the great ambassador ... You, Prokofy, don't be angry - I'm tired of something ... (Voznitsyn, dismissing Menshikov, got up himself, offended.) I read your letters. You write so that I don't get angry. I don't get angry. He did his job honestly, the old fashioned way. I believe ... (Evil opened his teeth.) Caesars! English! Okay, - the last time they went to bow like that ... Sit down. Tell me.
Voznitsyn again began to talk about grievances and great labors at the embassy congress. Pyotr already knew all this from his letters, he absentmindedly smoked his pipe.
Your serf, sovereign, with his meager mind judged so, if the Turks are not bullied, then the army can be pulled for a long time. To send to the Turks any kind of person - smart, cunning ... Let him negotiate, spend time - where he promises something to give in, because Mohammedans, sovereign, and it’s not a sin to deceive - God will forgive.
Peter chuckled. Half of his face was in shadow, but his round eye, illuminated by the candle, looked sternly.
What else do you say, boyars? (He took out his pipe and spat into a fathom through his teeth.)
The shadows on the wall from the two horned wigs of Apraksin and Golovin wavered. It was difficult, of course, to answer right away like that... Still, as they used to say in the Duma, - ornate, round and round - Peter did not like this. Aleksashka, shifting his shoulders over the hot stove, twisted his lips.
Well? Peter asked him.
Well, Prokofy, in an old-fashioned way, judged the rigmarole to confuse! It doesn't suit us right now...
Lev Kirillovich, - with shortness of breath, getting excited:
God himself did not allow us to sign peace with the Turks. The Jerusalem patriarch writes to us with tears: guard the tomb of the Lord. The Moldavian and Wallachian rulers are almost on their knees begging: to save them from Turkish captivity. And we - yes, Lord! (Peter mockingly: "Don't you cry..." Lev Kirillovich broke off, gaping his mouth and eyes. And - again.) Sovereign, we will not be without the Black Sea! Thank God, we now have strength, and the Turks are weak ... Not like Vaska Golitsyn - we should not go to the Crimea, but across the Danube to Tsaregrad - erect a cross on St. Sophia.
The horned wigs waved uneasily. Peter's eye still gleamed incomprehensibly, the tube grunted. The humble Apraksin said quietly:
Peace is better than war. Lev Kirillovich, war is a road. Making peace with the Turks for at least twenty-five years, at least ten, without giving up either Azov or the Dnieper towns - what better ... (Looks at Peter, sighed.)
Peter got up, but there was not enough space to walk, he sat down on the table.
I'm all on you, on the nobles, on the estates, look back! Noble militia! They will climb, smooth devils, on horses, they don’t know which hand to hold a saber. Parasites, truly parasites! You should have talked to merchants... Arkhangelsk is one hole at the end of the world: the British, the Dutch give whatever they want, buy for a penny... Mitrofan Shorin said: eight thousand pounds of hemp rotted in barns, waited for the price for three navigations. Anti Herods walk past - they just laugh ... And the forest! The forest is needed abroad, the whole forest is with us, and we bow, buy ... Canvas! Ivan Brovkin: he says, I'd rather burn it with the barn in Arkhangelsk than give it away for such a price ... No! The Black Sea is not a concern... The Baltic Sea needs its own ships.
He uttered a word ... The long, grimy one looked from the table with bulging eyes at the ministers. Frowning. To fight with the Tatars, well, with the Turks, although difficult, is a common concern. But the Baltic Sea to fight? Livonians, Poles?.. Swedes to fight? Climb into the European mess? Lev Kirillovich rummaged with his full hand along the protruding field of the caftan, took out a walnut silk handkerchief, and dried himself. Voznitsyn shook his dry face. Peter, - dragging a pouch out of his pants:
With the Turks now, not like Prokofy, we will ask for peace in a new way ... We will arrive there with more than one caftan on a black-brown fox ...
Certainly! - Aleksashka suddenly said, his eyes sparkling.
Along the muddy full-flowing Don they sailed on striped sails filled with a warm wind. Eighteen double-deck ships, in front of and behind them - twenty galliots and twenty brigantines, scampaways, yachts, galleys: eighty-six warships and five hundred plows with Cossacks stretched far on the turns of the river.
From the high decks one could see the green steppes, the ripples of floodplain lakes. Caravans of birds flew north. Sometimes chalk ridges were white in the distance. The south-east was blowing, at first a contrary wind, and a lot of work had to be done until they turned west along the Don: the sails were rinsing, the ships were drifting, the captains were screaming furiously into copper pipes. The order for the fleet was as follows:
“No one dares to lag behind the commander’s ship, but follow it under the foam. If someone is three hours behind, - a quarter of the salary year, if six, - two-thirds, if twelve hours, - subtract the salary for the year.
After turning to the southwest, they swam jokingly. For a short time, lush and wet sunsets spilled over the steppe. A shot rolled from the admiral's ship. They beat the flasks. Lights crawled to the tops of the masts. The sails were retracted, the anchor fell with a splash. Fires were lit on the gloomy shores, Cossack voices were crying out.
From the dark bulk of the "Apostle Peter" (where the tsar was in the rank of commander), a rocket soared into the starry sky with a witch's tail, hissing and frightening quails. In the wardroom they were going to have dinner. Admirals, captains, neighbor boyars sailed from the nearest ships in these already drunken nights.
Near the Divnogorsky monastery, six ships built by the kumpanstvo of Prince Boris Alekseevich Golitsyn joined the fleet. On this occasion, they anchored under the chalk shore, feasted for two days in the free air in the monastery garden. They seduced the monks with games on the companies and ambiguous jokes, they frightened them with firing from eight hundred ship cannons.
Again the sails blew up all over the river. They sailed past high shores, past towns surrounded by wattle fences and earthen peals. Past the new boyar and monastic estates, fisheries. Near the town of Panshin, on the left bank, clouds of mounted Kalmyks with long spears were seen, and on the right - Cossacks in a quadrangular wagon train, with two cannons. Kalmyks and Cossacks came together to fight, not dividing the herds of horses and sturgeon yatov.
Voivode Shein went on a boat to the Kalmyks, Boris Alekseevich Golitsyn - to the Cossacks. Reconciled. On this occasion, they feasted on green hills under slowly moving clouds, under flying caravans of cranes. Cornelius Kreis, with a hangover, ordered to catch turtles and himself cooked a stew from them. Peter also ordered to catch turtles and treated the boyars to a wonderful dish, and when they had eaten, he showed turtle heads. Voivode Shein felt sick. Laughed a lot.
On the twenty-fourth of May, on a hot afternoon, the bastions of Azov appeared from the sea haze in the south. Here the Don overflowed widely, but still the depth was insufficient for passage through the mouth of forty-gun ships.
While the admiral was measuring the Don sleeve - Couturmu, and Peter went on a yacht to Azov and Taganrog - to inspect fortresses and forts, the Khan's embassy arrived from Bakhchisaray on beautiful horses, with a pack train. They smashed carpet tents, stuck a bunchuk on a hill - a ponytail with a crescent on a high spear, sent an interpreter to find out if the tsar would accept gifts from the khan and gifts? The envoys were told that the tsar was in Moscow, and here his deputy, Admiral Golovin, was from the boyars. For three days the bunchuk was winnowing on the hill. The Tatars galloped on hot horses in front of the muzzles of the cannons. On the fourth embassy came to the admiral's ship. They spread out a white Anatolian carpet, put gifts: a forged archak for a saddle, a saber, pistols, a knife, a harness - everything is so-so, in silver, with cheap stones. Golovin sat solemnly on a folding chair, the Tatars on the carpet, legs crossed. They talked about the truce signed by Voznitsyn, about this and that, plucking at their sparse forked beards, rummaged around with their eyes, quick as those of a sea dog, clicked their tongues:
Karosh Muscovites, karosh fleet ... You just hope in vain that you won’t get through the big ships of Couturma, not so long ago the Sultan’s fleet somehow tried to enter the Don, returned to Kerch with nothing ...
Everything shows that they arrived only for reconnaissance. The next morning, neither the bunchuk, nor the tents, nor the horsemen were on the hill.
Measurements showed that Couture is small. The flood of the Don fell every day. One could only hope for a strong southwest - if sea water was brought into the mouth.
Peter returned from Taganrog. He became gloomy when he learned about the shallow water. The wind blew lazily from the south. The heat has begun. Resin dripped from the sides of the ship. The tree, poorly dried for the winter, dried up. Water was pumped out of the holds. Motionless, with their sails tucked away, the ships lay in a haze of heat.
It was ordered to throw the ballast into the water. Barrels with gunpowder and corned beef were pulled out of the holds, reloaded onto plows, and taken to Taganrog. The ships lightened, the water in Couturme continued to subside.
On the twenty-second of June, at lunchtime, Shoutbenacht Julius Rez, coming out, crimson and heavy, from the cabin hot as a bathhouse to urinate from the side, saw with his revolving eye in the southwest a rapidly growing gray cloud. Having relieved himself, Julius Rez looked once more at the cloud, returned to the wardroom, took his hat and sword and said loudly:
There's a storm coming.
Peter, admirals, captains jumped out from behind the table. Torn clouds were rushing high, darkness rising from behind the whitish water veil. The sun glowed with iron light. Flags, pennants, sailor's linen on shrouds hung dead. In all the ships of the boatswain, they whistled all hands on the job - all upstairs! They fixed the sails, wound up the storm anchors.
A cloud covered half the sky. The waters darkened. A wide light flickered from the edge. It whistled in the gears stronger, more alarming. Pennants clicked. The wind blew with all its might in swirling, scattered fragments of darkness. The masts creaked, the underpants torn off the shrouds flew. The wind blew the water, tore the tackle. The sailors on the yards clung convulsively to them. The captains stamped their feet, shouting over the growing storm. Foamy waves splashed on the sides. The sky cracked with peals, soul-tearing blows, it rumbled without ceasing. Pillars of fire fell.
Peter without a hat, with his caftan flapped up, clinging to the railing, stood on the heaving, falling stern. Like a fish, he opened his mouth, stunned, blinded. The lightning seemed to fall all around the ship, into the crests of the waves. Julius Rez shouted in his ear:
It's nothing. Now the storm is coming.
The storm flew by, doing a lot of trouble. Lightning killed two sailors on the shore. Anchor ropes were torn, several masts were broken, thrown ashore, and many small ships were sunk. But on the other hand, a strong southwest was established: what was needed.
The water in Couturme rose rapidly. At dawn they began to withdraw ships. Fifty rowing plows, having picked up on long lines, led the Fortress first. From milestone to milestone, never scratching the keel, he went through Couturma to the Sea of Azov, fired a cannon and raised the personal flag of Captain Pamburg.
On the same day, the most deeply seated ships were withdrawn: Apostol Peter, Voronezh, Azov, Gut Dragers and Wayne Dragers. On the twenty-seventh of June, the entire fleet anchored in front of the bastions of Taganrog.
Here, under the protection of the pier, they began to re-caulk, tar and paint the dried-up ships, fix the equipment, and load it with ballast. Pyotr hung for days on end in a cradle aboard the Fortress, whistling, banging on the caulk with a hammer. Or, sticking out his lean buttocks in smeared canvas trousers, he climbed along the whitewash to the mast - to fasten a new yardarm. Or he went down into the hold, where Fedosey Sklyaev worked (who had quarreled to obscene barking with John Day and Osip Nai). He summed up the cunning fastening of the stern frames.
Pyotr Likseich, you don’t bother me, for God’s sake,” Fedosey said unkindly, “my fastening will turn out badly, cut off your head, it’s your choice, just don’t stick your arm ...
Okay, okay, I'll just help...
Go help out Aladushkin, otherwise we will only quarrel ...
Worked all month of July. Shautbenakht Julius Rez did incessant exercises to ship crews taken from the soldiers of the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments. Among them there were many children of the nobility who had never seen the sea. Julius Rez - a true sailor in ferocity and courage - molted sailors into anger for navigation. He made me stand on bomb-bram-rails, twelve fathoms above the water, jump from the side head down in full clothes: “Whoever drowns is not a sailor!” With his legs apart on the captain's bridge, his hands with a cane behind his back, his jaw, like that of a medical dog, he saw everything, a pirate, with one eye: who hesitated, untying the knot, who fixes the end wrong. “Hey, there, on the staysail topmast, dirty coroff, how do you poison the phallus?” He stomped with his shoe: “Everything is for quarters ... Snashala!”
The newly-appointed ambassador Yemelyan Ukraintsev, the most experienced of the businessmen of the Ambassadorial order, arrived from Moscow, with him - the clerk Cheredeev and translators Lavretsky and Botvinkin. They brought sables, a fish tooth and a pound and a half of tea for distribution to the Sultan and pashas.
On the fourteenth of August, the Fortress set sail and, accompanied by the entire fleet, with a strong northeast wind, went out to sea, heading west-southwest. On the seventeenth, the thin minarets of Taman appeared from the port side on the Nogai side, the fleet crossed the strait and, with firing, shrouded in gunpowder smoke, passed in the sight of Kerch and anchored. The walls of the city were very ancient, high square towers collapsed here and there. No forts, no bastions. There were four ships near the shore. The Turks, apparently, were alarmed - they did not wait, did not guess to see the whole bay, full of sails and cannon smoke.
Murtaza, the Pasha of Kerch, a sleek and lazy Turk, looked with fright through the broken window of one of the towers. He sent bailiffs to the Moscow admiral's ship - to ask why such a large caravan had come. A month ago, the Khan's Tatars reported that the tsarist fleet was thin and completely without guns, and it would never pass through the Azov shoals.
Ai-ai-ai… Ai-ai-ai, - Murtaza wailed softly, bending back a branch of bushes in the window to see better. Counted, counted the ships. Threw. - Who believed the khan's scouts? - he shouted to the officials who stood behind him on the tower platform, polluted by birds. - Who believed the Tatar dogs?
Murtaza stamped his shoes. Officials, well-fed and lazy in a quiet outback, put their hands to their hearts, contritely shook their fezzes and turbans. They understood that Murtaza would have to write an unpleasant letter to the sultan, and how else it would turn out: the sultan, although the most radiant vicegerent of the prophet, was quick-tempered, and there were times when not such a pasha, groaning, sat on a stake.
The oblique sail of the felucca with bailiffs separated from the admiral's ship. Murtaza sent an official ashore to hurry the messengers, and he himself again began to count the ships. The bailiffs - two Greeks - appeared, rolling their eyes, pressing their heads into their shoulders, clicking their tongues. Murtaza savagely thrust out his greasy face towards them. Told:
The Moscow admiral ordered you to bow and say that they are escorting the envoy to the Sultan. We told the admiral that you couldn't let the envoy go by sea - let him go, like everyone else, through the Crimea to Baba. The admiral said: “But if you don’t want to let him in by sea, then we will accompany the envoy to Constantinople with the whole fleet.”
Murtaza Pasha the next day sent important beys to the admiral. And the bey said:
We pity you, Muscovites, you don't know our Black Sea - in time of need, human hearts are black on it, that's why it is called black. Listen to us, go by land to Baba.
Admiral Golovin only pouted: "They scared me." And a tall man with shining eyes in a Dutch dress, who was standing right there, laughed, and all the Russians laughed.
What can you do? How not to let them in when, with the morning breeze, Moscow ships set sails and, according to all maritime rules, make formations, walk around the bay, shoot at canvas shields on floats. Refuse such impudent people! Hoping for one Allah, Murtaza Pasha dragged out the negotiations.
The boat approached the Turkish admiral's ship. Cornelius Kreis and two rowers in Dutch sailor's dress, Piotr and Aleksashka, got on board. On the quarter quarters, the Turkish crew saluted the Moscow Vice Admiral. Admiral Gassan Pasha solemnly stepped out of the aft cabin - he was in a white silk dressing gown, in a turban with a diamond crescent. With dignity, he put his fingers to his forehead and chest. Cornelius Kreis took off his hat, backing away, moved his feathers in front of Hassan Pasha.
Two chairs were given. The admirals sat down under a canvas awning. A short fat man - a emaciated cook - brought saucers with sweet snacks on a tray. coffee pot and cups, a little more thimble. The admirals began a decent conversation. Hassan Pasha asked about the king's health. Cornelius Kreis replied that the king was healthy, and he asked about the health of the Sultan's Majesty. Gassan Pasha bent low over the table: "Allah saves the days of the Sultan's majesty ..." Looking with sad eyes past Cornelius Kreis, he said:
We do not keep a large fleet in Kerch. Here we have nothing to fear. But in the Sea of Marmara we have mighty ships. The guns on them are so big - they can even throw stone balls weighing three pounds.
Cornelius Kreis, - sipping coffee:
Our ships do not use stone cores. We fire eighteen and thirty-pound cast-iron cannonballs. They penetrate the enemy ship through both sides.
Hassan Pasha slightly raised his beautiful eyebrows:
We were quite surprised to see that the British and Dutch were diligently serving in the tsarist fleet - best friends Turkey…
Cornelius Kreis - with a bright smile:
O Hassan Pasha, people serve the one who gives more money. (Hassan Pasha bowed his head importantly.) Holland and England have a profitable trade with Muscovy. With the king it is more profitable to live in peace than in war. Muscovy is as rich as no other country in the world.
Gassan Pasha - thoughtfully:
Where does the king have so many ships, Mr. Vice Admiral?
The Muscovites built them themselves in two years...
Ai-ai-ai, - Gassan Pasha shook his turban.
While the admirals were talking, Peter and Aleksashka treated the Turkish sailors with tobacco, making them laugh in every possible way. Gassan Pasha no, no, and looked at these tall guys - they were too curious. One climbed up the mast, into the barrel. Another fixed his eye on the English rapid-fire cannon. But out of courtesy, Hassan Pasha kept silent, even when the sailors took the Muscovites to the lower deck.
Cornelius Kreis asked permission to go ashore - to buy fruit, sweets and coffee. Hassan Pasha, after thinking, said that, perhaps, he himself could sell coffee to Mr. Vice-Admiral.
How much coffee do you need?
Chervontsev for seventy.
Abdullah-Alla, - Hassan Pasha shouted, stamped his heel. An emasculated cook ran up waddling. After listening, he returned with the scales. Behind him sailors dragged sacks of coffee. Gassan Pasha moved more comfortably with a chair, checked the scales, pulled out an amber rosary from his bosom - to count the measures. He ordered to untie the bag. Sprinkling grains in his sleek fingers, he half-closed his eyes: - This is the coffee of the best crop in Java. You will thank me, Vice Admiral. I see, you - good man. (Bending down to his ear.) I don’t want you to harm - dissuade the Muscovites from sailing by sea: there are many pitfalls and dangerous shoals along the coast. We ourselves are afraid of these places.
Why sail along the coast, - answered Cornelius Kreis, - our ship has a straight course across the sea, if the wind were fair.
He counted out seventy chervonets. Goodbye. Coming up to the ladder, Cornelius Kreis shouted sternly:
Hey, Peter Alekseev! ..
Pyotr, followed by Aleksashka, jumped out of the hatch, both wearing red fezzes. The vice-admiral waved his hat to the admiral, sat on the helm, the boat rushed to the shore. Pyotr and Aleksashka, leaning on the bending oars, bared their teeth merrily.
With a breaking wave, the boat crashed into the pebbles of the shore. From the fortress gates, past the rotten boats and the green piles, the bailiffs and the old beys hurriedly asked not to enter the city in any way, and if there was any need, the merchants would bring all kinds of goods here, in the boat ... Peter's pupils ran, his cheeks flushed with anger. Aleksashka, - holding the oar raised upright:
Min hertz, yes, tell me ... Let's approach the fleet for a cannon shot ... Indeed ...
It is their right not to let them in: this is a fortress, - said Cornelius Kreis. - We will walk along the shore near the walls, we will see everything we need.
Murtaza Pasha could think of nothing more: swim, Allah be with you. Peter, together with the fleet, returned to Taganrog. On August 28, the "Fortress", taking on board the ambassador, the clerk and translators, accompanied by four Turkish warships, rounded the Kerch cape and sailed along the southern coast of Crimea in a light wind.
The Turkish ships followed him in foam astern. In the front was the bailiff. Hassan Pasha remained in Kerch, - at the last hour he asked that they give him at least written evidence that the royal envoy was going by himself, and he, Hassan, did not advise him. But this was also refused.
In view of Balaklava, the bailiff got into the boat, caught up with the "Fortress" and began to ask to go to Balaklava - to take fresh water. Desperately waved the sleeve of his dressing gown at the red hills.
Nice city, let's go, please.
Captain Pamburg, leaning on the railing, boomed from above:
As if we do not understand, the bailiff needs to go to Balaklava - to take a good baksheesh from the inhabitants for messenger food. Ha! Our barrels are full of water.
The bailiff was refused. The wind is fresh. Pamburg looked at the sky and ordered to increase the sails. Heavy Turkish ships began to noticeably lag behind. Signals went up at the front: “Lower sails.” Pamburg peered through the telescope. Cursed in Portuguese. He ran downstairs to the saloon, richly trimmed with walnut. There, at the table on a waxed bench, suffering from heaving, sat Ambassador Yemelyan Ukraintsev, his eyes closed, his removed wig clenched in his fist. Pamburg - crazy:
These devils order me to lower the sails. I don't listen. I'm going to the open sea.
Ukraintsev only weakly waved his wig at him.
Go wherever you want.
Pamburg climbed aft, onto the captain's bridge. He twisted his mustache so as not to interfere with yelling:
All up! Listen to the command! Set fore-bom-bramsails… Mainsail… Crews-bom-bramsails… Fore-mast-staysail, fore-staysail… Turn to port… Keep it up…
The “Fortress”, creaking and listing, made a turn, took the wind with full sails and, leaving, as if from standing ones, from the Turks, set off through the abyss of Evksinskaya directly to Tsaregrad ...
Under a strong heel, the ship flew across the dark blue sea, crumpled by the northeast. The waves seemed to raise their foamy manes to see how long it would take them to roll in the desert to the sun-scorched shores. Sixteen people of the team - Dutch, Swedes, Danes, all - sea vagrants, looking at the waves, smoked pipes: it was easy to go, joking. But half of the military team - soldiers and gunners - lay in the hold between barrels of water and corned beef. Pamburg ordered all patients to dispense vodka three times a day: “You need to get used to the sea!”
Day and night went by, on the second day they took reefs - the ship burrowed heavily, scooped up water, a foamy shroud flew over the entire deck. Pamburgh only snorted drops from his mustache.
The great embassy suffered greatly from pitching. Ukraintsev and clerk Cheredeev, lying in the aft closet - a small freshly painted cabin - raised their heads from the pillows, looked into the square window ... Here it slowly falls down into the abyss, green waters hiss, rise to four pieces of glass, with a heavy splash block out the light in closet. Partitions creak, the low ceiling collapses. The ambassador and the clerk closed their eyes with a groan.
On a clear morning on the second of September, the cabin boy, a Kalmyk, shouted from Mars, from a barrel: “Earth!” The bluish, hilly outlines of the banks of the Bosphorus were approaching. In the distance - slanting sails. Seagulls flew in, circling with cries above the high carved stern. Pamburg ordered everyone to whistle upstairs: “Wash. Clean coats. Wear wigs."
At noon, the "Fortress" under full sail broke past the ancient watchtowers into the Bosphorus. On the ramparts, on the mast, signals went up: "Whose ship?" Pamburg ordered to answer: "You need to know the Moscow flag." From the shore: "Take a pilot." Pamburg raised the signals: "Let's go without a pilot."
Ukraintsev put on a crimson caftan with gold lace, a hat with feathers, the clerk Cheredeev (bony, thin-nosed, similar to the Great Martyr of the Suzdal letter) put on a green caftan with silver and a hat with feathers. The gunners stood by the guns, the soldiers with muskets on quarter quarters.
The ship glided along the mirror strait. To the left, among the dry hills, are fields of corn that have not yet been harvested, water pumps, sheep on the slopes, fishermen's huts made of stones covered with corn straw. On the right bank - lush gardens, white fences, tiled roofs, stairs to the water ... Black and green trees - cypress trees, tall as spindles. The ruins of the castle, overgrown with shrubs. Because of the trees - a round dome and a minaret ... Coming closer to the shore, we saw wonderful fruits on the branches. It smelled of olives and roses. Russian people marveled at the luxury of the Turkish land:
“Everyone says - bareheaded and Busurman, but look how they live!”
A distant, as if far away, golden sunset spread. Quickly turning purple, fading away, stained the waters of the Bosphorus with blood. We anchored three miles from Constantinople. Big stars poured out in the blue of the night, the likes of which are not seen in Moscow. The Milky Way was reflected in the mist.
No one wanted to sleep on the ship. They looked at the quiet banks, listened to the creak of the well, to the dry crackle of cicadas. Dogs, and those lied here especially. In the depths of the water, luminous strange fish were carried away by the current. The soldiers, quietly sitting on the cannons, said: “It’s a rich land, and life here must be easy ...”
Glancing thoughtfully at the flame of the candle, whose light obscured several large stars in the black window of the aft closet, Yemelyan Ukraintsev carefully dipped a goose quill, looked for a hair on the end (in this case he wiped it on his wig), and slowly wrote a letter in numbers Petr Alekseevich:
“... Here we stood for about a day ... On the third day, lagging behind Turkish ships approached. The bailiff, with tears, blamed us for why they ran ahead, for this de Sultan ordered to cut off his head, and asked him to wait here: he himself would notify the Sultan of our arrival. We ordered that the Sultan should receive us with all honor. In the evening, the bailiff returned from Tsaregrad and announced that the Sultan would receive us with honor and send sandals here for us - their boats. We replied that no, we will sail on our ship. And so we argued, and agreed to sail in sandals, but with the fact that the “Fortress” would sail ahead.
The next day they sent three Sultan sandals, with carpets. We got into the boats, and the Fortress sailed ahead of us. Soon we saw Tsaregrad, a city worthy of surprise. The walls and towers, though ancient, but mighty structure. The whole city is covered with tiles, the mosques of white stone are green and magnificent, and Sofia is of sand stone. Both Istanbul and the settlement of Peru are visible from the water at a glance. There was firing from the shore at our meeting, and Captain Pamburg responded with firing from all the cannons. We stopped in front of the sultan's seraglio, from where the sultan looked at us from the wall, they held a fan over him and brushed him off.
We were met on the shore by a hundred horse-drawn bowls and two hundred janissaries with bamboo bats. Horses in rich harness were brought under me and the deacon. And as we got out of the boat, the head of the bowls asked us about our health. We mounted our horses and rode to the courtyard through many very crooked and narrow streets. People fled from the sides.
There is no small surprise about your ship: who made it and how did it leave the Don in shallow waters? They asked how many ships you have and how big? I answered that there are many, and their bottoms are not flat, as they say here, and they walk well on the sea. Thousands of Turks, Greeks, Armenians and Jews come to watch the "Fortress", and the Sultan himself came, went around the ship three times in a boat. And most of all, sails and ropes are praised for their strength and wood on the masts. And others scold that it was done de weakly. Forgive me, it seems so to me: we sailed by the sea in the wind is not the strongest, and the "Fortress" creaked much and bowed to one side and scooped up water. Its builders - Osip Nay and John Day - tea, not without self-interest. A ship is no small matter, worth a good city. Here they look at it, but they don’t trade it, and there is no merchant for it ... Sorry, I write as best I can.
And the Turks make their ships very diligently and strongly and sew them very tightly - they are shorter than ours, but they do not draw water.
One Greek told me: the Turks are afraid - if your royal majesty bans the Black Sea, - Tsaregrad will be hungry, because bread, butter, timber, firewood are brought here from under the Danube cities. There is a rumor here that you and your entire fleet have already sailed under Trebizond and Sinop. They asked me about this, I answered: I don’t know, I didn’t go with me ... "
Pamburg with officers went to Peru to ask some European ambassadors about their health. The Dutch and French ambassadors received the Russians affectionately, thanked them and gave grape wine to drink for the health of the tsar. By the third we went to the courtyard - to the English ambassador. They got off their horses at the red porch and knocked. A fire-bearded footman came out, a sazhen in height. Holding the door, asked what you need? Pamburg, his eyes lit up, said who they were and why. The footman slammed the door and did not return too soon, although the Muscovites were waiting on the street, - he said mockingly:
The ambassador sat down at the table to dine and ordered to be told that there was no need for him to see Captain Pamburg.
So you tell the ambassador to choke on a bone! shouted Pamburg. Furiously he jumped on his horse and drove along the flat brick stairs, past street vendors, naked children and dogs, down to Galata, where just now he had seen several of his old friends in barbecue and coffee houses and at the doors of brothels.
Here Pamburgh and the officers drank Greek duzik wine to their amazement, made noise and challenged the English sailors to fight. His friends came here - long-distance navigators, famous corsairs hiding in the slums of Galata, all sorts of strange people. Pamburg invited them all to feast at the "Fortress".
The next day, sailors of different nations began to swim up to the ship in kayaks - Swedes, Dutch, French, Portuguese, Moors - others in wigs, in silk stockings, with swords, others with their heads tightly tied with a red scarf, shoes on their bare feet, behind a wide belt - pistols, others in leather jackets and southwesters, smelling of salted fish.
They sat down to feast on the open deck under the cool September sun. In sight - behind the walls - gloomy, with frequent bars on the windows, the palace of the Sultan, on the other side of the strait - lush groves and gardens of Scutari. Preobrazhensky and Semenovtsy played horns, spoons, sang dance songs, whistled "spring" in different bird voices.
Pamburg, in a wig sprinkled with silver powder, in a crimson jacket with ribbons and lace, - in one hand - a bowl, in the other - a handkerchief - getting excited, he said to the guests:
We will need a thousand ships, and we will build a thousand ... We already have eighty-gun, hundred-gun ships laid down. Next year, wait for us in the Mediterranean, wait for us in the Baltic. We will take all the famous sailors into the service. Let's go to the ocean...
Firework! shouted the crimson sailors. - Salute to Captain Pamburg!
They sang sea songs. They pounded their feet. Pipe smoke blew in the calm above the deck. They did not notice how the sun had set, how the Attic stars began to shine on this extraordinary feast. At midnight, when half of the sea wolves were snoring, some falling under the table, some bowing their heads, gray in storms between dishes, Pamburg rushed to the bridge:
Listen to the team! Bombardiers, gunners, take your places! Load up! Kill the charge! Light the fuses! The team ... From both sides - a volley ... Oh-oh-fire!
Forty-six heavy cannons burst into flames at once. Over the sleeping Constantinople, it was as if the sky had collapsed from a roar ... The “Fortress”, shrouded in smoke, fired a second volley ...
Yemelyan Ukraintsev wrote in numbers:
“... a great fear fell on the Sultan himself and on the whole people: Captain Pamburg drank all day on a ship with sailors and drank a lot and fired from the ship at midnight with all the cannons more than once. And from that shooting there was a murmur and a great rumor throughout Tsaregrad, as if he, the captain, by that night shooting let yours, sovereign, sea caravan, which sails along the Black Sea, know that it should enter the girl’s arm ...
The Sultan's Majesty was frightened that night and ran out of the bedroom in what he was, and many ministers and pashas were frightened, and from that captain's extraordinary cannon fire, two belly sultanas from the upper seraglio threw out babies ahead of time. And for all that sultan's majesty, he was very angry with Pamburg and ordered us to tell us to remove this captain from the ship and cut off his head. I answered the Sultan that I did not know why the captain was shooting, and I would ask him about it, and if the shooting was annoying to the Sultan's Majesty, I would not order the captain to shoot ahead and cruelly order that, but there was no need for me to remove him from the ship. That is how the matter ended.
The Sultan will receive us on Tuesday. The Turks are waiting here for Captain Medzomort Pasha, who was formerly an Algerian sea robber, for advice - to make peace with you or make war.
