The appearance of Nikon. - His wanderings and rapid rise. Nikon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia (Minin Nikita Minich)

Every confession of Me before men, let us confess him and I before My Father, who is in heaven ... (Matt. 1: 32, 33)
Amen, I say to you, as if you walked after Me into life, when the Son of man sits on the throne of His glory, you will also sit on the throne ... (Matthew 19:28)
All saints by faith, victorious over the kingdom, making the truth, receiving the promises, blocking the lips of the lions: Quenching the fiery power, escaping the sharp sword, rescuing from weakness, being strong in battle, turning strangers' regiments to flight. The wife's priyasha is dead from the resurrection: in other ways, she was beaten, she would not accept deliverance, but they would enjoy a better resurrection: Friendship, with abuse and wounds of temptation, priyasha, also bonds and dungeons. By beating it with a stone, beating it, beating it, being tempted ... The whole world is not worthy of them ... (Heb. 11: 33-38)

His Holiness Patriarch Nikon ( born in May 1605, enthronement - July 25, 1652, foundation of the New Jerusalem Monastery - September 1, 1656, consecration of the Cross Monastery on Kiy Island - September 2, 1661, blessed death - August 17, 1681 G.). As a child, he showed an irrepressible interest in spiritual knowledge. At the age of 12, he secretly fled to the monastery of Makariy Zheltovodsky and became a novice. After 5 years, at the insistence of his relatives, he married and two years later took the priesthood, then he was 19 years old. Having assumed the office of parish priest, Father Nikita showed so many pastoral virtues in himself that the fame of them reached Moscow and he received an invitation to move to the capital. He spent about 9 years in Moscow. However, "in vain the vanity of this world and impermanence, and wishing to find a convenient path to salvation" [according to I. Shusherin], decided to leave the world forever - he retired to the Anzersky skete of the Solovetsky monastery, where in 1636 he took monastic vows from Venerable. Eleazar with the name Nikon in honor of the schmch. Nikon, bishop (+ 251 years old, commemorated 23.03 / 05.04).

His spiritual exploits were seductive (reading the entire Psalter throughout the day, committing 1000 bows to the ground with the Jesus Prayer, etc.) for many envious. Venerable Eleazar predicted that Nikon would later become a saint.

In 1639, Hieromonk Nikon left the Anzersky skete and moved to the Kozheyezsky monastery, and in 1643 he was made abbot of this monastery. In 1646 hegumen Nikon was appointed archimandrite of the Novo-Spassky monastery in Moscow. Under Archimandrite Nikon, the majestic Transfiguration Cathedral of the Novo-Spassky Monastery was erected. During this period, Archimandrite Nikon also acts as a petition, an intercessor to the Tsar for those in need.

On March 11, 1649, Archimandrite Nikon was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan of Novgorod and Velikolutsk by the Council of Bishops headed by Patriarch Joseph. He was engaged in church building, charity work, and correcting disorder in monastic and parish life. Metropolitan Nikon created four almshouses in Novgorod and during the famine he set up a "burial chamber" in the ruler's courtyard. The Metropolitan's assistant in the distribution of alms was Blessed Vasily Bossoy, for Christ's sake the holy fool. During the uprising in Novgorod in 1650, Metropolitan Nikon showed himself to be a courageous shepherd, ready to lay down his soul for his flock, he went out to the rebels with the words: “Children, I have always preached the truth to you. Nothing earthly frightens me. I, as a shepherd, came to save you from the wolves that revolt you. " Being beaten almost to death, he with meekness and prayer led the people to repentance and the revolt stopped. In a letter of thanks, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich called Nikon "a new passion-bearer, a strong shepherd, a sturdy warrior and sufferer of the Heavenly Tsar and his own friend."

The gift of clairvoyance and spiritual guidance allowed Metropolitan Nikon to educate the monks who were obedient in the Novgorod bishop's house, great ascetics. In 1651, the sacristan of Right Reverend Nikon, Hieromonk Misail was ordained Archbishop of Ryazan and Murom. His Grace Misail became a missionary who baptized the Tatar and Mordovian population of the Ryazan Territory. Today the Church glorifies Saint Misail in the host of the Ryazan saints. The sacristan of Metropolitan Nikon after Hieromonk Misail became Hierodeacon Lavrenty, ordained by him in 1654 as Archbishop of Tver and Kashin and transferred in 1657 to the chair of Metropolitan of Kazan and Sviyazhsky.

Metropolitan Nikon was a zealous shepherd of Christ's flock, constantly edifying his flock with the word of Divine wisdom. Church historian Met. Macarius asserts that at that time there was no preacher among the bishops who was equal to Saint Nikon. Tirelessly learning in the commandments of God, the saint looked for an example to follow in the lives of the saints. He himself wrote the life of the Monk Jacob Borovichi in the book "Mental Paradise", published in 1659. He, apparently, is also the author of the handwritten Book of the Verb Description of Russian Saints, which has survived to this day in the form of several copies. Metropolitan Nikon was actively involved in collecting relics, in particular, he transferred the relics of St. Philip from the Solovetsky monastery to Moscow in July 1652. Patriarch Nikon personally deeply venerated Saint Philip. His suffering for the truth, for limiting the unrestrained arbitrariness of the royal power and for the due spiritual authority of the Church in society became for Nikon a model and example.

After the death of Patriarch Joseph, the Tsar, seeing that no one is equal to Met. Nikon "in reason and in the confirmation of piety", on the advice of the entire consecrated cathedral, "forced his throne to be accepted by the Patriarchal" on July 25, 1652. Nikon denied in every possible way, referring to his unworthiness and foreseeing that his patriarchate would be short-lived and would end with a confession like feat of Saint Philip.

The first three years of his patriarchate truly revealed a symphony of ecclesiastical and royal power, when, as Patriarch Nikon himself wrote in the preface to the Servant, published in 1656, “the priesthood serves the Divine, but the kingdom of men owns and takes care of this. Together, the statutes and rules of the saints father, as if from the Holy Spirit they are inspired, kiss and hold. " The task of Patriarch Nikon saw in keeping the Russian state in obedience to the Orthodox Church, while a deviation from the faith and the Church was already outlined in Russian society, which manifested itself especially in the "Code" adopted in 1649, according to which the monastic order was established as a secular management body of church estates and affairs.

“The church is not walls and a roof, but canons and spiritual shepherds,” said the saint. With his heart gravitating towards strict observance of the church charter, he first of all ordered the divine services, as well as many aspects of church life. Considering monasticism cornerstone Orthodoxy, he supported the monasteries in every possible way, jealous of their deanery. And he regarded the patriarchate as an abbess in a large monastery. Three monasteries were erected in Russia through prayers, labors and the support of His Holiness Nikon in glorification of three Ecumenical shrines: the Iberian Valdai monastery, which accepted a copy of the miraculous Iveron icon brought from Athos. Mother of God; The Monastery of the Cross on the Kiy Island in the White Sea, built like a kivot of a reliquary cross, made in Palestine in the measure of the Lord's Cross, with the relics of saints numbered up to three hundred embedded in it; The Resurrection Monastery, created in the image of Heavenly Jerusalem and the shrines of Palestine with the Holy Sepulcher, and therefore called the Monastery of New Jerusalem.

Nikon recalled that "The Local Church is only a part of the one Ecumenical Church that there should be canonical communion and reconciliation between the parts of this Church. "Taking care of the unity of faith, Patriarch Nikon was engaged in correcting the novina introduced in the liturgical books, rites and rites. In the 17th century," ignorance darkened the purity of our ancient doctrine by the invention of new, unknown to the Church, dogmas; disfigured the majestic rite of divine services by distorting liturgical books and rituals, polyphony in singing and reading. By the will of the Creator in abundance endowed with high talents of mind, will and feeling, and the severity of a long desert solitude, having brought up and affirmed in himself the spirit of zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of people, Nikon boldly and powerfully rebelled against the superstition of some and the free thinking of other innovators of the patriotic Church. Patriarch Nikon contrasted these two false trends that were tearing the Church apart with the true one: the restoration and establishment in the Russian Church of perfect harmony and unity with the Eastern Church in the doctrine of faith, rites of worship, and the rules of church government. ”Patriarch Paisius of Constantinople, supporting the activities of Patriarch Nikon, wrote in the letter of 1656: "God enlighten you in our times, so that all the inconvenient ones will be cleansed, and may they be corrected."

Patriarch Nikon took all measures to ensure that there were no troubles and confrontations in the Russian Church. In particular, on condition of obedience to the Church, he allowed to serve according to old books, allowing a difference of opinion on things that did not affect the essence of faith. Metropolitan Macarius believes that "if Nikon had not left the see, there would have been no schism in the Russian Church."

Leaving the Patriarchal throne, His Holiness Nikon testifies: “Isn't the tsar's anger greater than war? said that I was going from Moscow because of the unmercifulness of the sovereign, let him be more spacious without me; otherwise, being angry with me, he does not go to church, does not fulfill his promises given during our election to the Patriarchate, he took away the court of the church, ordered us to be judged themselves and all the bishops and the clerical order of the order people. " Realizing the destructiveness of such claims of the Tsar and the kingdom, Patriarch Nikon also realized that open resistance to the Tsar's power from the side of spiritual power could cause turmoil in Russia, destroying the religious basis of Russian life - the people's love for the Mother Church and the Tsar-Father. After lengthy prayer reflections, he chose the only possible path for himself: to disobey illegal claims, not to enter into open confrontation; pointing to the intolerance of the situation, counting on the sobering and repentance of the secular authorities, to leave the cathedra of the Moscow Primate and retire to the Resurrection Monastery.

After retiring to the Resurrection Monastery, Nikon lived there as the most strict ascetic, presenting in himself for the brethren a model of monastic labors. Every day, at the end of the liturgy, he listened with tears to the prayer service to the Most Holy Theotokos, "sung in all sorrow of the soul and circumstances." Patriarch Nikon has always and everywhere been an example of diligence, serviceability and prudent experience; the first went to all business, and after all put an end to his labors. He continued to compile a chronicle, depicting the vicissitudes of Kingdoms, peoples and private people, Nikon more accurately learned the cost of his test of the cross in seclusion in New Jerusalem. Among the strict deeds of piety, Nikon did not forget "deeds of mercy, which constituted, as it were, the soul of his life": His Holiness Nikon ordered all pilgrims and pilgrims to be fed and fed for three days for free, accepted as monks without profit, giving everyone a dress at the expense of the monastery. On holiday he always dined with the brethren and personally washed the feet of pilgrims and visiting travelers.

In the "Objection ..." in response to the question, the 20th Patriarch Nikon also detailed the doctrine of the priesthood and the kingdom: "The priesthood and the kingdom itself are most honest: bound in heaven "(Matthew 18:18). What can compare with this honor: judgment from the earth ascends to heaven through the priest, who is set as an intermediary between God and men. ; for the lesser of the great is blessed. spiritual; the Tsar has warfare against compatriots, fights against visible enemies, while the priest has warfare against the beginnings and the power of darkness. " In the 24th objection, speaking about the privileges of the church, Nikon exclaimed: "We do not know any other law-maker for ourselves besides Christ, who gave us the power to knit and decide. Wasn't this privilege given to us by the Tsar? No, but he stole it from us, as evidenced by his lawless deeds. What? He possesses the Church, is rich and nourishes sacred things, is famous for the fact that all churchmen - metropolitans, archbishops, priests and all clergymen obey him, give rent, work, fight; he owns court and duties. " Such possession of the Tsar by the Church, in the words of Patriarch Nikon, is an "antichrist legalization" testifying to the spiritual regeneration of the Russian monarchy, when it began to turn from a defender of the Church into its owner and manager. The Tsar began to rule the Church not in consultation with the Patriarch, but in his "pain". Seeing this as a spiritual catastrophe for Russia, His Holiness Nikon, sometimes in a sharp form, testifies that the earthly city has risen against the city of heaven, that royal power lawlessly usurps spiritual power. In such a situation, the patriarch becomes a nominal figure carrying out the will of the autocrat. Nikon could not and did not want to be such a Patriarch. Nikon's forced departure from the Patriarchal throne seems to be a confessional feat of the archpastor, who saved the Church from the impending absorption in the state, foreseeing the enslavement of the Church, brought to a logical end by Peter I. Patriarch Nikon suffered the fate of the prophets, persecuted and enduring many insults and desecrations.

The second Council in the case of Patriarch Nikon was held on November 7 - December 12, 1666. Note that the two Eastern Patriarchs, Paisius of Alexandria and Macarius of Antioch, who participated in the trial of Patriarch Nikon, and decided the case to please the Tsar and the boyars, firstly, did not have the right to judge the Patriarch, since they themselves were deposed from their pulpits precisely for this trip. and, secondly, they were bribed by the Moscow government. Hieromonk Epiphanius Slavinetsky, known for his scholarship, adds: “I do not dare not only write about Nikon's alienation from the hierarchy and the priesthood, but I don’t dare to speak. alienated the bishops and priesthood. " The verdict of the Council indicates the absurd guilt of Patriarch Nikon: the unauthorized abandonment of the throne, the construction of the New Jerusalem monastery, the demand to appoint a new Patriarch according to his, Nikonov's, blessing, denunciation of the Tsar and the members of the Council, cruel treatment of the clergy, etc. After hearing the verdict, His Holiness Nikon said only : "Nikone, Nikone! That's why all this is to you: do not tell the truth, do not lose friendship. If you had arranged rich suppers at your place and treated yourself to them, then surely this would not have happened to you."

Having overthrown Patriarch Nikon from the Patriarchal throne, his ill-wishers not only could not destroy the fruits of his zealous service to the Church and the state, but also laid the foundation for their strongest assertion. According to the fate of Providence, Patriarch Nikon was judged by the Council, by its composition almost ecumenical, and irrevocably confirmed for all times the fruits of his pastoral labors. This Council implored the Tsar and the pastors to set up schools for spiritual enlightenment, approved the corrections made by Patriarch Nikon in the liturgical books, ranks and rituals; decreed a rule that lay judges would not be under the jurisdiction of the clergy; pronounced strict judgment on frivolous violators of church statutes, etc. Since then, our Church at the everyday level has been called "Nikon's".

From 1666 to 1676 His Holiness Nikon was in exile at the Ferapontov Monastery. Patient Nikon did not grumble about his woeful fate, and for everything he thanked the Lord, praying for his very enemies: "Father, let them go: they do not know what they do." In a letter to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Patriarch Nikon reveals his inner attitude: "The power of God is perfected in weakness; with good pleasure, and in my weakness and malaise, our man is only too embittered, only the inner is renewed. I am ready for the sake of righteousness, if only not into your kingdom ... We promised that to endure - he who endures to the end of that will be saved ... With patience, let us flow at the image that lies before us, looking at the Author of faith and the Perfecter of Jesus, Izhe Instead of the joy that is set before Him, we endured the cross and is not happy about shame; even so, let us come to Him outside the camp, the reproach wears him; we are not imams from the abiding city, but the coming city we will seek "[Spiritual testament].

Since 1672, when Nikon was allowed free exit from his cells, people who suffered from physical and mental ailments began to come to him. Nikon read prayers over them, anointed them with consecrated oil, gave medicines, and the sick received healing. Nikon said this about his treatment: “Christ appeared, de, to him, to Nikon, Christ often in the church in the way it is written on the icon, and gave him the grace of a medicinal cup; and he, de, by that phenomenon and by inexhaustible grace He healed the cups of medicine, and God saved many people from illnesses from his illnesses, and more than that, no one taught him how to cure. " In the records of 1672-1675, 132 people are listed as healed. Diseases from which Nikon healed: epilepsy, insanity, insurance against demons, relaxation of members and others.

In 1676-1681 Nikon was exiled to the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery in order to toughen the conditions of imprisonment. However, “neither poverty, nor crampedness, nor humiliation could shake his strong spirit: he endured his sufferings without cowardice. He constantly wore iron chains and a small silver ark with the Holy gifts. always was a true soldier of Jesus Christ, clothed with all the weapons of God against the weaknesses of the flesh and the temptations of the spirit. "

On August 17, 1681, blessed Nikon "in a good confession, thanking God for everything, as if in suffering, complete your course, in peace, surrender your soul to God, you love Him." "His body, however, is not harmed at all from the malignant stench, even if it remains for ten days; in a little more warm time ... whole and is not involved in decay." “The Pious Tsar, incessantly regretting Nikon the Blessed, is not remembered by the Patriarch. Patriarch Jacob of Constantinople wrote that Patriarch Nikon, although he was condemned for his guilt by a council of Eastern and Russian archpastors and deprived of his hierarchical rank, but complacently endured his punishment, “suppress yourself with many and many sorrows and needs, and for the sake of labor, he introduces having returned the path, in patience, anger, in the necessary stay of fasting and unceasing prayers and vigils of all-night vigils, like gold in the crucible, was tempted, and like all the fruitfulness of the living God, the sacrifice appeared, and did not give his eyes a dream, below dozing on his forehead, below rest his composition, until he fell asleep in blissful sleep, piously to the Lord otida. " Referring to the very reasons for Nikon's eruption from the patriarchal dignity, Ecumenical Patriarch notes that "Nikon is not condemned as if some wines for the sake of mental or bodily, the trees are alienated from the grace of the bishopric, sinning below the Divine doctrines of piety, we know the unshakable pillar of piety, and the most skillful guardian of Divine and sacred canons, paternal and paternal traditions, commands ineffable jealous and worthy intercessor: but like a man, humanly sick from a certain cowardice, he was defeated by anger and despondency. " Therefore, the council, which was convened under the Patriarch of Constantinople to discuss the reckoning of Nikon among the host of All-Russian hierarchs, found it blessed to appeal to Nikon for patriarchal commemoration. Nikon is elevated to the rank of Patriarch in the following words: "Reverend memory, our beloved brother, Mr. Nikon, the former Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, instead of retribution and reward, testimony for the sake of a long reverence of patience, has forgiveness and permission from the cathedral eruption that happened to him, and may he be forgiven in the present day and in the future from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Holy and Life-giving Trinity; having perceived the spiritual tunic of the hierarchy, let him take, like the Patriarch, always a church commemoration, we commemorate with the other Patriarchs of Moscow in sacred diptychs, and for all named times of the sacred ecclesiastical succession, let it be thoughtlessly combined in the reckoning of other Moscow Patriarchs, but not a single one who is revealed and named and remembered as a Patriarch, so let it be true! Diploma of Patriarch Jacob May 5, 1682

The memory of His Holiness Patriarch Nikon was especially revered in the three monasteries he founded. Soon after his death, Archimandrite of the New Jerusalem Monastery Herman (+1682) wrote an epitaph to his spiritual father and to the teacher: "The Lord's image is here and of Placids, that lies the second Job in patience"; here the foundations of the spiritual life of Patriarch Nikon are determined: following Christ, bearing the cross and acquiring patience. Further, Archimandrite Herman speaks of the archpastoral service of Patriarch Nikon, who "Aki is a pillar of stone or strong from the trees / stands firmly, as if having ripened into heaven." The verses end with praise to Tsar Theodore, who returned Patriarch Nikon from exile and, with tears with his own hands, betrayed his body to the earth, "aiming the harm, even the father raised him." Archimandrite German was the first to formulate for his contemporaries and descendants the actions of Tsar Theodore towards Patriarch Nikon, as atonement for his father's guilt, just as Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich pleaded guilty for Tsar Ivan the Terrible before the tomb of St. Philip through the mouth of Patriarch Nikon. The recognition of Patriarch Nikon as a Heavenly prayer book for the Tsar testifies to the faith of the one who wrote in the boldness of the deceased saint before the Lord, in other words, in his holiness. In the 17th century inscription above the entrance to the chapel where Patriarch Nikon was buried, it was spoken of him as a resident of mountain Zion, standing before the throne of God.

The tradition of venerating Patriarch Nikon as a great saint of God was continued by Ivan Kornilievich Shusherin. The "News of the birth and upbringing and life of His Holiness Nikon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia," compiled by him, was distributed in many copies. Often, in addition to the biography, documents testifying to Patriarch Nikon as an innocent convict and as a miracle worker, on the Tomb of which the sick are healed, were included in the manuscript collections.

In 1686-1698, Archimandrite of the Resurrection Monastery Nikanor compiled a poetic Chronicler - the first account of the history of New Jerusalem. It contains lines dedicated to Patriarch Nikon, which sound like church hymns glorifying the saint:

Apostolic Traditions and Saints Father
Young and old teaching, like a father,
Seeking for the mountain, despising the whole dolny,
Having a shield of faith, stretching out to fight against demons,
A true zealot about piety,
And the Christian faith is an inherent guardian ...

The abbot of the Resurrection Monastery, Archimandrite Leonid (Kavelin), prepared the first scientific edition, "News of the Life ...", written by Ioann Shusherin. In 1874 he set up a museum of Patriarch Nikon in the Resurrection Monastery. Subsequently, the Museum of Patriarch Nikon in New Jerusalem became a model for the Museum of Patriarch Nikon and in the Iversky Monastery on Valdai.

About Patriarch Nikon, how about Solovetsky saint, says the manuscript "The Faithful and Brief Number of the Venerable Father of the Solovetsky ...". He is also mentioned by the compiler of the life of the Monk Eleazar of Anzersk: "Being a disciple of the monk is glorified by the name Nikon, who is like the Patriarch of the reigning city of Moscow and all Russia.

The veneration of Patriarch Nikon as a saint was preserved in Kiev Pechersk Lavra, where in 1875 the book "Prayer Invocation of the Venerable Fathers of the Near Caves" was published with the following prayer: "Our guards, guides and demons repelled Barbara the Great Martyr, Boris the Passion-Bearer, Gleb the Passion-Bearer, Igor the Martyr, Dimitri of Rostov, Theodosius of Chernigov Nikon New Jerusalem, Tikhon Zadonsky, Joasaph Belgorodsky, pray to God for us. ”This prayer invocation is preserved in the 1992 edition.

In 1891, the book of Archimandrite Leonid "Holy Russia or information about all the saints and devotees of piety in Russia (until the 18th century) generally and locally revered. A reference book on Russian hagiography" was published. In this book, "Nikon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia" is included among the 795 saints.

Particularly noteworthy is the book by MV Zyzykin "Patriarch Nikon. His state and canonical ideas". For the first time, instead of the usual explanation of the case of Patriarch Nikon by his personal qualities, this work draws attention to the historical perspective of the spiritual tragedy of Russia and shows that it is precisely in the unrighteous condemnation of the Primate of the Russian Church that one must look for the key to the outcome of the drama that led Russia not to the path of Orthodox churching of life, but on the path of the German spiritual colony. Among the many sayings about Patriarch Nikon as a saint, M.V. Zyzykin quotes the wonderful words of Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky): "Among the great Ecumenical Hierarchs of God, the name of St. Nikon shines like a bright star of the first magnitude in our spiritual horizon."

Metropolitan Macarius testifies to the primacy of Patriarch Nikon: “The patriarchy of Nikon constitutes an epoch in the history of our Church. northern and Pomorie. "With him and his main participation, a completely correct and reliable in its foundations correction of our church books and rituals really began. secular power, although it ended unsuccessfully for him.Under Nikon, more often than ever, intercourse between the Russian Church and the Greek took place on ecclesiastical affairs, more often than ever the highest Greek hierarchs came to us and with their participation such Councils were held in our country we have never seen anything before or since. And Nikon himself, with his extraordinary mind and character ter and with his extraordinary fate, is such a person that stands out sharply among our other patriarchs and all the first hierarchs who have ever been in our Church. " He established three monasteries and himself has always been an example of a truly monastic ascetic life. He was engaged in icon painting.

According to Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev), who denied Patriarch Nikon's accusations of pride and lust for power, "the grace of the Holy Spirit was inherent in him from his earliest years and manifested in him in an obvious and amazing measure until his death." He was distinguished by his zeal for God, which is highly valued in the eyes of God, "for all his actions show that the center of his life was not personal glory, but the glory of God, the good of the Russian Church and state."

His Holiness Patriarch Nikon showed the following virtues in his life: a strict Christian life, patience and firmness in the faith up to the confessional deed, care for the Church, mercy, church building, deep theology and much more, which is characteristic of the greatest saints of God. Thus, we should "reverently bow before him, honor him together with the simple believing Russian people, as a righteous and blessed lamp of the Russian Church, and in every possible way contribute to the fact that in the reborn Russia he was canonized among the saints of the Russian Church," writes the archbishop ... Seraphim (Sobolev).

"Nikon perfectly reflected the self-awareness of the Russian Church, the self-awareness of spiritual authority, firmly understanding its highest vocation and highest responsibility; rejecting the possibility of any concessions and indulgences in the sacred area of ​​her pastoral care, carefully preserving the Divine authority of the hierarchy and ready to confessingly defend it in the face of any temptations and sorrows. " Such an assessment of the activities of Patriarch Nikon from a church point of view, given by Metropolitan John (Snychev), testifies that Patriarch Nikon, when addressing him in prayer, could be the same Heavenly intercessor for the modern church hierarchy what Saint Philip was for him.

The 20th century also contributed to the restoration of the good name of Patriarch Nikon. By the Providence of God, Patriarch Nikon, and after his death, contributed to the restoration of the Patriarchate in Russia. Speaking at the Local Council of 1917 in defense of the Patriarchate, Archimandrite Hilarion (Troitsky), now a Hieromartyr, called Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich: "two great friends, two beauties of the 17th century", and pointed to the prophetic realization of the words of Patriarch Nikon said when he left throne: "I am leaving, so that he, sir, was more spacious." It is for this reason that the Patriarchate was destroyed under Peter I, so that "it would be more spacious for him, the Emperor, without the Patriarch." Before the election of the Patriarch, all members of the Council made a pilgrimage to New Jerusalem. When Patriarch Tikhon was ordained, he was presented with a cross, a white cowl and the mantle of His Holiness Patriarch Nikon as a blessing for the feat of confessing the faith in times of trouble.

Currently, the publishing house of Moscow University is preparing to publish a large study dedicated to His Holiness Patriarch Nikon and his great works - "Patriarch Nikon. Works", which for the first time in three hundred years of history will make available the legacy of this great man who suffered for the people of God, his state and the Church of Christ.

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Nikon (in the world Nikita Minich) was born in 1605, in the family of a peasant from the village of Veldemanovo (now the Nizhny Novgorod region, Perevozsky district). As a young man Nikita went to the Makaryev Zheltovodsky Monastery. In a few years he will become a priest. Shocked by the death of his children, he convinces his wife to go into a monster, and he himself on the White Lake, in the Anzersky skete, takes monasticism under the name of Nikon. In 1642 Nikon moved to the Kozheozerskaya desert and soon became its abbot. Since 1646, he became known to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, at whose request he was soon appointed archimandrite of the Moscow Novospassky monastery. In 1648 Nikon was the Metropolitan of Novgorod.

In 1652 Nikon transported the relics of St. Metropolitan Philip to Moscow from the Solovetsky Monastery (Comm. 23 December SS). At this time, Patriarch Joseph dies in Moscow, and Nikon is elected his successor.

Even under Patriarch Joseph, in order to streamline church life, a circle of zealots was formed in Moscow, headed by the tsarist confessor Stephen Bonifatiev. Nikon shared the views of the zealots. The tsar himself, adhering to the zealots in the general formulation of the task, had, however, a special view on the method of its implementation, since he was inclined to attach political significance to the church reform. Alexei Mikhailovich considered it necessary to closely unite the Russian Church with the Greek and Little Russian, and this, in his opinion, could be achieved by harmonizing Russian church practice with Greek models.

The tsar and the patriarch were tied by true friendship. While still an archimandrite, Nikon went to the king's palace every Friday, and they sat up for a long time at a frank conversation; the king himself often visited him. When Nikon became patriarch, the tsar sometimes spent whole days with him in suburban monasteries.

The first important order of Nikon, and at the same time the beginning of the church reform, was the order (in 1653) to "do in the church" instead of "throwing on the knee" bows "in the belt" and to be baptized with "three fingers". The council convened by Patriarch Nikon in 1654 decided to correct the liturgical books based on ancient manuscripts. The council of 1656 approved Nikon's missal and cursed those who were baptized with two fingers.

Nikon's opponents raised the tsar against the patriarch. Nikon resigned from his rank and went to the Resurrection Monastery. At the cathedral held in Moscow in 1666, Nikon was sentenced to defrocking and exiled to the Ferapontov Monastery, and then to a more difficult imprisonment - to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich decided to transfer Nikon to the Resurrection Monastery, and at the same time petitioned the Eastern patriarchs for Nikon's permission and for his restoration to patriarchal dignity. The authorization letter no longer found Nikon alive: he died on the way, in Yaroslavl, on August 17, 1681, and was buried in the Resurrection Monastery as a patriarch.

He possessed knowledge of sacred and civil history, was engaged in medicine.

Nikon was born into the family of a Mordvin peasant from the village of Veldemanovo in the Nizhny Novgorod Territory. His name in the world was Nikita Minov. At the age of 19 he became a village priest, got married, but after the death of his children he left the world, choosing the path of monastic humility. Since 1636 - in the Solovetsky monastery, since 1643 - hegumen of the Kozheozersky monastery. In 1646 from the coast Of the White Sea came to Moscow, deserved the full confidence of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and was appointed archimandrite of the Moscow Novospassky Monastery. From 1648 until his election as Patriarch - Metropolitan of Novgorod.

With the direct participation of Nikon, monasteries were founded: the Iberian Mother of God on Val-dai and New Jerusalem (on the Istra River near Mos-Kva). Both of these monasteries still exist today.

Under Nikon, a church reform was carried out, which many believers did not accept. So the country was divided into two camps along religious lines.

Nikon strove to strengthen the ecclesiastical authority and make it equal to the king's. But Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was not going to put up with this. Material from the site

Leaving for the monastery

Then Nikon decided on an unexpected act. He announced his resignation from the patriarchate, hoping by this step to restore his influence. However, he miscalculated. The tsar took Nikon's statement as a personal affront. Nikon retired to the New Jerusalem Monastery. There were no steps from the tsar towards reconciliation. This led to a rift between the patriarch and the king.

Exile into exile

Many years later Nikon was judged by the Church Council. He was stripped of the rank of patriarch and exiled.

Nikon was in exile in the North - first at Ferapontov, then at the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery. And only the reigning son of Alexei Mi-khailovich - Fedor - allowed Nikon to return to the New Jerusalem Monastery. Before reaching the monastery, he died on the way.

In the Mordovian village of Veldemanovo, Nizhny Novgorod district, in the family of the peasant Mina, a son, Nikita, was born. He was born in May 1605, during the Time of Troubles. Nikita's mother died when the boy was young. Gifted by nature, he learned to read and write at home, and at the age of twelve he went to Makaryev Zheltovodsky Monastery.

He married at twenty and became a village priest. But life was unhappy, his children were dying, and he himself decided that his childlessness was a sign for monastic life. His wife was tonsured at the Alekseevsky Monastery. Father Nikita went to the Anzersky skete near Bolshoy Solovetsky Island.

At the age of 30, he took monastic vows and became Nikon, renounced earthly worries and vanity. The founder and abbot of the skete, the Monk Eleazar himself, conducted this ceremony. Nikon prayed a lot, tirelessly, fasted for many days, served God with all his soul. He was a favorite disciple of Eleazar, served as an example for the monks.

Unfortunately, after a while, disagreements arose between Nikon and the abbot. Finding no support in the fraternity, Nikon retired. After long wanderings, he chose a small Kozheozersky monastery. Not far from the monastery, he built a cell for himself and continued his feat. He led a solitary life, went to the monastery only for services. The brothers respected him, for his determination, firmness, severity, diligence.

In 1643, after the death of the abbot, Nikon was elected head of the monastery. In 1644, Abbot Nikon came to Moscow to collect donations for the monastery, and met with the tsar. And soon, at the behest of the tsar, he was transferred to Moscow and appointed hegumen of the Novospassky monastery. The young tsar treated Nikon very well and confidentially, which the boyars did not like. But the tsar continued his fellowship, and already in 1649 hegumen was elected Metropolitan of Novgorod.

He was zealous in his duties, went to dungeons, accepted complaints from prisoners, told everything to the king, communicated with the people. People fell in love with him, many found consolation in conversations with the Metropolitan. At divine services, Nikon abolished "polyphony" (simultaneous reading and singing of parts of a divine service). He performed services according to strictly established rules, and on weekends he read sermons. In winter, the patriarch came to Moscow, where he performed services in the court church. The Tsar liked these services very much.

The Metropolitan turned to Alexei Mikhailovich with a request to transfer the relics of Metropolitan Philip from Solovki to Moscow. Vladyka was exiled, and then killed, because he boldly spoke about the atrocities of Ivan the Terrible. And in 1652, the holy relics of Metropolitan Philip were transferred to the Kremlin, to the Assumption Cathedral. It was a significant and important event in that era. Nikon was the successor of Patriarch Joseph, and after his death, he headed this post.

During the reign of the church by Patriarch Nikon (1652-1658), many temples and monasteries were built. A reform of the divine services was carried out, many church books were corrected. The patriarch collected ancient ancient books and studied them. The tsar and the patriarch were close friendly relations... At all receptions, they sat side by side, the king even asked to call the patriarch a great sovereign.

Over time, their relationship did not change in better side... Perhaps Nikon's theory of the superiority of spiritual power over secular power played a role. Then the patriarch left the patriarchal see at his own request, but retained his dignity. Later, at the council, he was condemned and exiled to the Ferapontov monastery. Before his death, Nikon received permission to move to the Resurrection Monastery, which he himself founded. In 1661, in August, on the way to the monastery, the patriarch died. The former Patriarch of All Nikon, was buried with honors at the New Jerusalem Resurrection Monastery.

A rare church or historical figure attracts such attention as the energetic corrector of church and liturgical rites - His Holiness Patriarch Nikon of Moscow and All Russia. In his biography, they united together: in the first stages of the Primacy - an unprecedented exaltation, naming “the Great Sovereign”, and then - condemnation and imprisonment by a simple monk in a northern monastery. The vicissitudes of fate of His Holiness Nikon, as well as many aspects of the life of Russian society in the 17th century, which turned out to be associated with this extraordinary personality - these are the reasons for the still unflagging interest in the sixth All-Russian Patriarch.

The depth of Russian piety has long been recognized by our ancestors. So, the elder of the Pskov Spaso-Eleazar Monastery Philotheus, in the first half of the 16th century, wrote in one of his epistles: “As if the entire Christian kingdom came to the end and descended into the one kingdom of our sovereign according to the prophetic books, that is, the Rosean kingdom: two of Rome fell , and the third is standing, and the fourth will not be. " Another author, perhaps less famous, but also from Pskov, priest Vasily in the middle of the 16th century in the Life of the Monk Sava of Krypetsky exclaimed about the Councils of 1547 and 1549, when many Russian saints were glorified: “And from this time the churches of God are not widowed by the memory of saints throughout the Russian land, as if a certain luminary shines on the candlestick of the Russian land with Orthodoxy and right faith and the teaching of the Divine Apostles of Scripture in the whole universe, like the second Great Rome and the reigning city: tamo more Orthodox faith is corrupted by Makhmetov's prelest from godless Turks; here, in Rustei of the Earth, more than the prayers of the saints, our fathers teach. "

In 1547, the Moscow Tsar John IV becomes the first Russian tsar. The royal wedding was performed by the outstanding First Hierarch - All-Russian Metropolitan Macarius. Meanwhile, such a solemn ceremony in Constantinople (Old Rome) was always performed by the Primate in the rank of Patriarch, that is, the coronation of a young tsar, who had great importance in the political life of the Russian state of that time, was to a certain extent evidence of the incompleteness of the Russian Church.

Therefore, at the Council of 1564, the ancient right of the Russian First Thrones was restored, coming from Saints Peter and Alexy and attested by iconography - the wearing of a white klobuk by the Moscow Metropolitan. At the same Council, the head of the Russian Church learned the right to affix his letters with a red wax seal. Finally, in 1589, Metropolitan Job of Moscow was elevated to the dignity All-Russian Patriarch.

The ministry of the first Patriarchs - Job and Hermogenes - fell on a difficult period for the Russian state, known as the Time of Troubles, when the Rurik-Danilovich branch was suppressed inside the country, and the Catholic Polish-Lithuanian intervention began from outside. The successor to the named Chief Hierarchs was Patriarch Filaret Nikitich, whose patriarchal title included the wording “Great Sovereign”. Then his ministry was continued by subsequent Patriarchs - Joasaph I, Joseph and, finally, Nikon.

The lengthy life of His Holiness Patriarch Nikon, compiled by a person close to him - Elder John Shusherin, says the following about the birth of Nikon: His Holiness Nikon the Patriarch from simple, but pious parents, from his father by the name of Mina and mother by Mariamia, and his name was named Nikita, after the name of the Monk Nikita the Wonderworker of Pereslavl, his holy church commemorates Maya on the 24th day ”. The life of the youth, named after the revered Russian saint, was full of grief inflicted on him by his stepmother. But the Lord kept the child, and misfortunes tempered his soul and developed firmness of character, energy and willpower, which he subsequently needed in carrying out great undertakings in the life of the Russian Church. At an early age, he pursued asceticism in the Makaryevsky Zheltovodsky Monastery. Here the future Patriarch received the first skills of spiritual experience. An interesting fact testifies to his diligence: he always came to worship first, and in summer time so as not to oversleep by the beginning of Matins, he went to bed “at the bell of the good news.”

Nikita did not stay here for long, since at the insistence of his relatives he was forced to leave the monastery. Having buried his father, Nikita soon married and was a psalmist for some time, and then was ordained to the priesthood. Then he moved to Moscow, where the spouses, after the death of their children, decide to go to monasteries. The monk Eleazar tonsured the monk at the Anzersky skete of the Solovetsky monastery in the far and harsh North, naming it in honor of the holy martyr Nikon, who suffered in the middle of the 3rd century. “Nikon, while living tamo, with the blessing of his father's chief Elder Eliazar, given himself great fasting and abstinence, his rule was very great, as for every day of the night under the church rule and under the kathismas and canons, reading the whole Psalter, doing a thousand bows, creating, sleep too little use. " Three years later, Hieromonk Nikon moved to the Kozheyezer monastery, founded in the 16th century. Monk Serapion, baptized by the Kazan Murza. Here he continued his special exploits, for which he was elected abbot by the brethren of the monastery (1642-1646). He was elevated to the priesthood by a saint known for his high life - Avfoniy, Metropolitan of Novgorod and Velikolutsk (1635-1649; † 1652).

Hegumen Nikon had to visit Moscow for the affairs of the monastery. And here he was "known by the great autocrat and appointed by His Holiness Joseph the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia to the archimandrite in the Spasov Monastery on the New." Thus, the remarkable natural talents, erudition and ascetic harsh life of the provincial abbot were noticed and appreciated in white-stone, gold-domed and populous Moscow.

The Novospassky monastery was famous for the fact that the tomb of the Romanov family was located on its territory, and the young Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich often came there. This contributed to the rapprochement between the sovereign and the gifted abbot. Conversations with the archimandrite continue in royal palace... Archimandrite Nikon every Friday began to come to matins in the house palace church. Constantly communicating with the tsar, the Novospassky abbot intercedes before him for the offended widows and orphans and "with his petition you will deliver them from those who are violent." The authority of Archimandrite Nikon of Novospassk and his veneration are beginning to grow. That is why, when the most ancient Novgorod See was vacated, Novospassky Archimandrite Nikon was unanimously elected there by the Council of Russian Bishops. On March 11, 1649, Patriarch Joseph solemnly installed the new Metropolitan in the Dormition Kremlin Cathedral.

Arriving in Novgorod, the first thing the new Vladyka did was go to the Khutynsky monastery to see his predecessor, Metropolitan Avfoniy, the husband of holy life, who had retired due to his old age. And when he began to ask for his blessing, the elder-metropolitan objected: "You bless me." And then he predicted: "You will be the Patriarch, and bless me." The meeting of the two great men was significant, since it was Metropolitan Avfoniy who at one time elevated Nikon to the abbot of the Kozheezersky monastery.

The archpastoral activity of Nikon, Metropolitan of Novgorod and Velikolutsk, was filled with generous charity: he arranged almshouses, fed the poor, orphans, and the disadvantaged. Having fallen in love with Divine service from childhood, the new Vladyka often performed divine services in the Novgorod Cathedral of St. Sophia of the Wisdom of God. “It is the custom of the Most Reverend Metropolitan to celebrate the Holy Liturgy often, but especially on weekly and festive days and the people, teach the Word of God; , and I hear sweet singing, he was the first to command the Greek and Kiev singing of Petit in the cathedral church ”.

The friendly relations of Metropolitan Nikon with Tsar Alexy Mikhailovich, which arose while he was Archimandrite Novospassky, were maintained in the Novgorod period as well. The Metropolitan often visited Moscow, often served in the Kremlin churches. At the same time, the king always preferred to pray at the services performed by him. On one of these visits, it is possible that Metropolitan Nikon himself expressed sorrow that not all Russian First Thrones rest in their place of service, that is, in the Moscow Kremlin Cathedral of the Dormition of the Most Pure Theotokos. Thus, the first All-Russian Patriarch Job, who died in exile (+ 19.VI.1607), was buried in the Staritsky Monastery. Patriarch Hermogenes died a suffering death in the Chudov Monastery (+ 17.II.1612), where he was buried. The relics of Metropolitan Philip of Moscow, who died under Ivan the Terrible, were transferred in 1592 from the Tver Otroch monastery to the Solovetsky monastery, where they stayed. Monk Nikon could kiss and worship them when he began his monastic exploits in Solovki. And Divine Providence judged in such a way that, having become the Lord of Novgorod, Metropolitan Nikon delivered to Moscow the honest relics of the suffering Metropolitan Philip, in whose diocesan jurisdiction the Solovetsky Monastery was. The Tsar presented Metropolitan Nikon with a letter to be read on his own behalf in front of all the people in front of the relics of Saint Philip. The letter was written in imitation of the prayer letter with which the once Byzantine emperor Theodosius turned to the relics of Saint John Chrysostom, who died in exile, when he ordered them to be transferred from Coman to Constantinople.

While Metropolitan Nikon was traveling, Patriarch Joseph died in Moscow. Upon his return from Solovki at the Council of Russian Bishops, he was elected All-Russian Patriarch. However, Nikon resolutely rejected this election and remained adamant for a long time. Only the tearful prayer of the tsar himself, of the entire consecrated Council and the boyars, inclined his will to agreement, however, on condition that he would be "listened to in everything, like the chief and shepherd and the reddest father." Professor historian N. F. Kapterev believed that by doing so the new Patriarch wanted to strengthen the authority of the patriarchal power. The naming of the new Patriarch took place, and on July 25, 1652 - the enthronement of His Holiness Nikon, Patriarch of All Russia, "by the ordination of Cornelius, Metropolitan of Kazan and Sviyazhsky, with everything consecrated by the Council." At the end of his first Primate Liturgy, the newly appointed Patriarch made a “procession on a donkey”; the horse was led by the bridle, as was customary by the young tsar.

During his service, His Holiness Nikon found in the patriarchal treasury-sacristy a letter from the Eastern Patriarchs on the establishment of the Patriarchate in Russia. In particular, it spoke about the inadmissibility of introducing any innovations in the life of the Russian Church. Meanwhile, there were disagreements, as the hierarchs who visited Moscow repeatedly spoke about. For example, in the text of the Creed, which was embroidered at the beginning of the fifteenth century on the sakkos of Metropolitan Photius (+ 1431), a discrepancy was found. There were also discrepancies in the liturgical books. Former Patriarch Athanasius of Constantinople who arrived in Moscow at that time wrote for Patriarch Nikon “Chin episcopal commission Liturgy in the East ”, so that he clearly sees the differences in the rites of hierarchical divine services.

Leaving Moscow, Patriarch Athanasius, grateful for material assistance, wrote to Tsar Alexy Mikhailovich: “Only you, the great sovereign, we have a pillar and confirmation of faith, and an assistant in troubles, and shelter for us, and liberation. And for my brother, sir, and for my colleague, the great lord, His Holiness Nikon - to consecrate the cathedral apostolic church of Sophia the Wisdom of God. " The Patriarch of Constantinople was referring to the main Byzantine church.

Known mainly as a book corrector, Patriarch Nikon in 1653, before the beginning of Great Lent, sent everywhere a special memory, which said: “According to the tradition of the saints, the Apostle and the saints do not have to throw themselves on their knees in the church, but bow down to your belt. ; more and three fingers would be baptized naturally ”. This patriarchal message provoked opposition from Archpriest Avvakum and some others. In order to exclude resistance to the great work of correcting books, it was necessary to give this undertaking a higher authority, namely, a cathedral. In this regard, in the spring of 1654, conciliar judgments on this issue took place in Moscow. The materials for consideration were prepared by Patriarch Nikon himself. He strove to show with specific examples how it should be and what actually takes place. The first question posed at the Council sounded like this: “In our Statutes it is written - to open the royal doors during the Liturgy only on the Lesser Exit and the Great Exit, but we now have them constantly opened from the beginning of the Liturgy to the Great Exit. Tell me: should we act according to the Charter or according to our rank? And the Greeks act in accordance with our charter. ” The conciliar response: "And we affirm to be in the same way as the Greek and our old books and Statutes command." As a result of the discussion of such issues, the need to correct the liturgical books became obvious, and the nature of the corrections was decided: "Good is to correct in accordance with the old and Greek books." The consent of the Eastern Patriarchs, who at that time often came to Moscow Russia, could have contributed to the greater authority of the decisions.

One such opportunity presented itself in 1655, on the Week of Orthodoxy, when the Patriarchs of Antioch Macarius and Serbian Gabriel performed divine services in the Assumption Cathedral together with the Russian Patriarch. At the end of the service, icons painted in the Western style and began to appear among some Russian boyars were anathematized. Then Patriarch Nikon began to talk about the incorrectness of the two-fingered addition. And in conclusion, he turned to the Saint of Antioch with the question of the correctness of the finger-making when making the banner of the cross. He replied through an interpreter: “In Antioch, and not elsewhere, the followers of Christ began to be called Christians for the first time, and all church rites began from there. But neither there, nor in Alexandria, nor in Constantinople, nor in Jerusalem, nor on Mount Sinai, nor on the Holy Mountain, nor in Moldova, nor in Wallachia, nor among the Cossacks, no one is baptized like you (that is, two-fingered - a. M.), and everyone agrees to use a different sign ". During Great Lent in 1655, a meeting of another Council took place, the result of which was the publication of a revised Service Book.

The letters sent soon from Constantinople confirmed the correctness of the conciliar decisions made in the Russian Church, and about those who disobey them it was said that such were "alien to our Orthodox faith." The message also contained answers to all questions of Patriarch Nikon point by point. In particular, Patriarch Paisius of Constantinople wrote about the addition of the finger: “We all have ancient custom, according to legend, to be baptized with the first three fingers, folded together, in the image of the Holy Trinity, through whose illumination the secret of incarnation is revealed to us, and we are taught to glorify the One God in three Persons, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. "

The letters sent contributed to the continuation of the work of correcting books and rituals. So, in 1656, on February 12, on the day of commemoration of St. Alexis, when the celebration in honor of St. Meletius of Antioch is being celebrated at the same time, at the divine service in the Cathedral of the Dormition, a lesson was read about the miracle of St. Meletius, which was accomplished only when he folded his fingers correctly. A lot of people, boyars, prayed in the cathedral, and there was the king himself. Patriarch Nikon asked Patriarch Macarius of Antioch to explain exactly how Saint Meletius laid down his fingers, that is, how to understand the passage from the sermon that he read. And the Patriarch proclaimed: “I am the successor and heir of this Saint Meletius to the Throne; you know that this saint Meletius the first three fingers were separated from each other, showing no sign from them; tyazhe packs three connect, image and show sign. And if anyone with these three fingers on his face does not depict the image of the Cross, but have to create, connecting the last two with the great finger, but the two great middle ones stretched out, and thus depicts the image of the Cross, there is such an armenian, the Armenians imagine the Cross on themselves ”.

Somewhat later, on the Week of Orthodoxy, the Antiochian and Serbian Patriarchs proclaimed a curse on those who are non-Orthodox, that is, with two fingers commits sign of the cross... The church historian Metropolitan Makarii (Bulgakov) rightly remarked on this matter: “This is who and when uttered the first anathema against the stubborn followers of the two-fingered movement.” The Council of Russian hierarchs, which took place soon after, also recognized the correctness of such a resolution. The Council testified to the book "Tablet", which reflected the questions that worried the Russian Church at that time. Along with this book, the Moscow Printing House published revised liturgical books.

The fundamental feature of the revision, which was carried out starting with Patriarch Nikon, was to refer not only to the ancient Russian manuscripts with “good” translations, but also to the Greek originals. It was at this time that the appearance in Moscow belongs large meeting Greek manuscripts, which are still an invaluable treasure of our culture. With the blessing of Patriarch Nikon, this extraordinary business - the enrichment of the Russian book fund with Greek manuscripts - was carried out by the Trinity cellarer, Elder Arseny Sukhanov, who specially traveled to the East. On Mount Athos, he walked around 17 monasteries, looking through the library collections in each. Selecting ancient Greek manuscripts from the Athonite archives, Elder Arseny also paid attention to who previously owned these codes. This is how the books that had previously belonged to the Patriarchs of Constantinople Jeremiah I (1522-1546) and Matthew were brought to Moscow; Maxim, bishop of the city of Kythira (1549–1602), and others. The book, once sent to Athos by the Archbishop of Suzdal Arseny of Elasson, also returned to Moscow. In the Athonite monasteries, the envoy of Patriarch Nikon selected the best ancient copies of Holy Scripture, the works of the Church Fathers and ascetic ascetics, monuments of hagiography and canons and many other manuscript collections. The totality of various church books brought to Russia allows us to make an assumption about the nature of the patriarchal instructions to Arseny Sukhanov, shows the breadth and scope of the events initiated by the Holy Patriarch. At the same time, the patriarchal library was significantly replenished with ancient Russian monuments at the expense of the oldest monastic book depositories, the foundation of which some researchers attribute to the activities of the All-Russian Metropolitan Macarius, who lived in the 16th century. At the behest of Patriarch Nikon in 1653, an inventory of the books that were in Russian monasteries was compiled, “in order to know where to take which books, books for printing, for the sake of correction”. In total, according to the inventory, 2,672 books, mainly Slavic, were intended to be taken from the monastery libraries. These books have inscriptions-autographs of Patriarch Nikon. This library has come down to us as part of the Synodal collection of manuscripts and is of paramount importance today. Slavic scholars have addressed and are addressing to this collection, which was replenished in the following time. Description of the collection that has not lost to this day scientific significance, was started by Professor Archpriest Alexander Gorsky, once the former rector of our Academy, with the blessing of St. Philaret of Moscow. The initiative of Patriarch Nikon also belongs to the creation of the library of the New Jerusalem Monastery, from which such a unique monument of the 11th century as the Izbornik of Prince Svyatoslav in 1073 comes from.

All the extensive activities of Patriarch Nikon characterize him as a very bookish and enlightened person for his time. In his library, unlike, for example, the book collection of Patriarch Filaret, there were many foreign books: 67 Greek-Latin, 26 Greek, five Latin, three German, a total of 101 books in foreign languages ​​out of 156 books in his collection, or 65%. Such a rich collection of foreign books suggests that the Patriarch was interested in foreign languages. This is also confirmed by the fact that he has three “Herbalists” in Latin. It is known that Patriarch Nikon was interested in medicine and during his exile he treated the sick and gave them medicines, which was even blamed on him.

The book endeavors of Patriarch Nikon were closely connected with the activities of the Printing House, which, from 1653, was under his full jurisdiction. At this time, the premises of the Printing House were expanded, the staff of reference officers who worked on correcting books was significantly updated. The scientist Hieromonk Epiphanius (Slavinetsky) actively participates in the publication of books, composing prefaces to new books published at the Printing House, translating from Greek and Latin languages into Russian. At the same time, a printing house was established in the Iberian monastery founded by the Patriarch, where later the book “Mental Paradise” and some others were published. At the very beginning of Patriarch Nikon's Prelacy, the printing house first published a canonical collection, the Tactical Book; the book “Tablet” was published, in which the Divine service was explained. Officials, Gospels, Apostles, Psalms, Books of Hours, Triodi, separate editions of canons, prayers, teachings of the Monk Ephraim the Syrian and Abba Dorotheus are published. As you can see, these were books of a church-liturgical nature, however, in the texts of the Prefaces they were reflected various problems that worried the Russian Church at that time. The Prefaces spoke about the Councils that took place and the Council judgments, which also testified to the products of the Printing House.

While still the Metropolitan of Novgorod, Saint Nikon introduced unanimity in the churches of his diocese, opposing the disorder that had existed in the Russian Church since the 16th century, when several readings or chants could be performed simultaneously in a church. One of the main tasks in the field of church singing was the elimination of the contradiction formed over time between the texts and tunes. Their initial unity was broken due to changes in the sound side of the Russian language. Semi-vowel sounds disappeared from live speech, which corresponded to individual sounds of the melody. To preserve the structure of the melody, semi-vowels began to be replaced by full vowels. As a result, a special artificial manner of pronunciation was developed, which sometimes led to a distortion of the meaning of words. This specific singing pronunciation and writing of the text is called divisiveness, unlike the ancient true speech.

At the Church Council in 1654 under Patriarch Nikon, the question was raised of correcting the singing books, that is, bringing the tunes and texts in line with the existing pronunciation, and a commission of authoritative expert experts was created to carry out this work, which was prevented by the outbreak of an epidemic. The now widespread five-line notation in music and church singing first appeared under Patriarch Nikon.

The construction of three monasteries of the Russian Church is associated with the name of His Holiness the Patriarch. The first such structure was the Iberian monastery on Lake Valdai, begun in 1653, two hundred years after the fall of Constantinople. The Primate himself recalled its creation in the following way: “I am humble Nikon, by God's mercy the Patriarch, from many times gathered in his thoughts, so that for the glory of the Holy Name of God, where His holy grace favors, created the monastery for the benefit of himself and those who want to be saved ...”. He thought a lot about the place where the monastery was founded, and once “in the same days before the commemorated year in memory of the carrying of the relics, like the saints of the father of our holy martyr and confessor Philip, Metropolitan, suddenly came to me,” he says, “in the thought of the great great cathedral and the Apostles of the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos of Her Dormition, ”about an island on Lake Valdai, which he remembered even when he was Metropolitan of Novgorod. The Tsar presented the Patriarch with the land he had chosen for the monastery building.

Initially, wooden churches were built in honor of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God and St. Philip. An exact copy of the miraculous Iveron Icon of the Mother of God was brought here from the Iversky Monastery on Mount Athos. From Moscow to the newly founded monastery were brought arks with particles of the relics of the Russian First Thrones Peter, Alexy, Jonah and Philip, and from the Novgorod Borovichi monastery - the relics of the righteous Jacob, whom His Holiness the Patriarch in the book "Mental Paradise" called "a great citizen of the City of the New Church of God Jerusalem." ... His Holiness Patriarch "decorate the miraculous Iberian icon with all sorts of moldings with much care, and make the icon case great and beautiful and gilded." And in the following time, His Holiness the Patriarch made various contributions to this monastery: icons, crosses with many particles of holy relics.

Construction of two more monasteries began somewhat later. Patriarch Nikon, being a monk of the Anzersky Solovetsky skete, in 1639 set off from Anzer Island in a small ship to the mainland. By a storm the ship was nailed to the Kiy-island of Onega Bay. In gratitude to God for deliverance from death, he erected a wooden cross here. Later, when in the rank of Metropolitan of Novgorod, he returned to Moscow with the relics of St. Philip, he again visited this island and erected a chapel there. Having become the Patriarch, he builds a monastery on the Kiy-island in honor of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord. In 1660, Patriarch Nikon lived for about a year in the newly founded monastery, where the construction of a cathedral church in honor of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross with side-chapels dedicated to Archangel Michael and St. Philip of Moscow had already been completed. The altar throne was made of a huge granite stone like the Holy Sepulcher. As the researchers note, the architectural features of the temple itself make it related to the Transfiguration Cathedral of the Solovetsky Monastery, built by Metropolitan Philip of Moscow when he was rector in Solovki. The second monastery church on Kiy-Island was dedicated to the Feast of the Origin of the Honorable Trees of the Cross of Christ and consecrated on August 1. Thus, in the history of this temple, the first patronal feast coincided with the day of its consecration. For the Monastery of the Cross, a Cypress Cross was made, exactly repeating the dimensions of the Calvary Cross of Christ. For this purpose, a patriarchal hieromonk was sent to Jerusalem. The completed cross was overlaid with sheets of gilded silver, and in it were placed particles of the Tree of the Lord's Cross and the Robe of the Lord, particles of the Holy Sepulcher, the stone of the Holy Sepulcher, the stone of the den; Many particles of the relics of saints were put in: apart from the relics of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called, the first preacher of the faith of Christ in Russia, along with the relics of the Eastern, common Christian saints, there were placed particles of the relics of Metropolitans of Moscow Peter, Alexy, Jonah and Philip, the first Kazan Saint Guria, Archbishop John of Novgorod , St. Sergius of Radonezh, Anthony the Roman, Savva Storozhevsky, Euthymius of Suzdal, the righteous Jacob Borovichsky and others. In the letter of Patriarch Nikon to the Monastery of the Cross, published in 1656 by the Printing House in the form of a small brochure, it is said about the creation of the monastery: “O hope and hope of all our property in our Lord Jesus Christ, by will, for the glory of His holy Name, create a monastery in the name of Honest and His Life-giving Cross on the island of Kii, like there is on the sea in front of the Onega mouth, and the church to create and brethren to mate and name that holy monastery, Greek Stavros, hedgehog is the Slavic Cross ”. It also says about the Cross created for the monastery: To the life-giving cross to come to worship, but no less by the power of that holy, honest and Life-giving Cross, grace is given to those who travel to the holy Palestinian places, in which Christ our God will fulfill his holy gaze ”. In the inscription on the Cross itself, one can read: “Christ God! Have mercy and save my soul by the power of the Honest and Life-giving Cross and the saints for the sake of prayers, their relics are erected in this cross ”.

On the example of the construction of these two monasteries, we can already speak of the striving of Patriarch Nikon to recreate in Russia Orthodox shrines, which at that time were trampled by the Turks in the East. This desire was expressed with even greater force during the creation of the main brainchild of the Holy Patriarch - the New Jerusalem Monastery. One of the chroniclers of the 17th century says: “To His Holiness Nikon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, I came to the idea of ​​building a monastery and came down as a keepsake in order to erect the Church of the Resurrection (e) of Christ, as in the holy city of Jerusalem it was called the holy holy. On some occasion, I deigned him to drive from Zvenigorod by way and to the side, drove off on the road to Voloka Lamsky in the village<…>that stands above the river Istroy, and further away from the field<…>along the same river Istroi you came to some empty place<…>And you will fall in love with the place for the building of the monastery, and ask about this from the faithful and God-loving sovereign, the Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich, the autocrat of all Russia. And follow the order of that saint to cleanse that place, and it will be good in the forest ”. Thus, the beginning of the construction of the monastery was preceded by the clearing of the area. The surrounding area received Palestinian names, such as: the Istra River was renamed to Jordan; a stream specially dug near the skete is called Kidron; the hills to the west of the monastery turned into Mount Tabor and Hermon; and on the east side, in the place where the king stood and from which he admired the newly created abode, a chapel was built, called the Olives.

A similar phenomenon, when during the creation of the monastery the landscape was cultivated and the area was renamed, took place in Russia and later, for example, in the 19th century. at the creation of the New Athos monastery in the Caucasus. The idea of ​​creating the "Holy of Holies" - the image of the Jerusalem temple with the Holy Sepulcher - was still nurtured by Tsar Boris Godunov, but he did not have time to realize it. Later, the son of Alexei Mikhailovich, Tsar Theodore, being greatly impressed by the great plan of Patriarch Nikon to create an image of the Holy Land near Moscow, implemented the idea already deeply rooted in the mind of the Russian an orthodox person, about Moscow as the Third Rome and New Jerusalem, and arranged in the Kremlin a symbolic image of New Jerusalem with the Church of the Crucifixion, like the Church of the Crucifixion in the Jerusalem Church of the Resurrection; the Church of the Resurrection of Christ with the adjacent church of the Exaltation of the Cross, or the Crucifixion; nearby was erected Golgotha, where the alabaster Sepulcher of the Lord and a wooden carved Crucifix were located. It was Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich who returned Patriarch Nikon from exile and ordered to bury him in the New Jerusalem monastery.

Another additional feature is seen in the construction activities of His Holiness Patriarch Nikon. Following the example of the Anzersky skete of the Solovetsky monastery, the “island” principle of Nikon's monasteries becomes their indispensable characteristic feature. The New Jerusalem Monastery is also set up as an island monastery. For this, the natural bend of the Istra River and the system of artificial reservoirs that separated the monastery from all sides from the “mainland” were used. Even the retreating hermitage (skete) of Patriarch Nikon near the New Jerusalem monastery on the banks of Istra - the place of the saint's prayerful deeds - was artificially turned into an island ...

According to the drawings and models of the Jerusalem temple brought from the Holy Land, the Patriarch begins to build a magnificent temple in honor of the holiday of holidays - the Resurrection of Christ, repeating with high accuracy the architectonics of the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The Life of the Primate speaks of this in the following way: “His Holiness the Patriarch ordered in the Resurrection Monastery to build a great and vast church, yakovya in all of Russia and in other states at the present time is nowhere to be found; for this Jerusalem holy church, from the anger of the Turks, was ruined in many places, and by other non-Orthodox faiths, according to their custom, it was corrupted ”. In the rotunda part of the cathedral church, a chapel was built in proportion to the Jerusalem edifice, containing a copy of the treasure of all Christians - the Holy Sepulcher. In 1839, upon completion of the marble facing of the walls of this chapel, it was consecrated by the ever-memorable saint Philaret of Moscow. Russian repetition the common Christian shrine received a design characteristic of Russian architecture in the forms of the Baroque style. For the first time, glazed tiles were used in many ways to decorate the temple from the inside and outside. main idea Patriarch Nikon - the creation of "Russian Jerusalem" - was carried out on a large architectural and artistic scale, which Russia had not known until then. During the entire construction, the decisive word was for the Patriarch, who "always builds up a church building himself."

It is known that a multi-tribal monastic brotherhood asceticised both in the Valdai Iversky and in the New Jerusalem monasteries, which should emphasize the ecumenical nature of Nikon's undertakings. The symbolism of building forms was a clear appeal to the Kingdom of Heaven, to the New Jerusalem. With the construction of the New Jerusalem monastery for all its visitors, the Easter chant "Shine, shine, New Jerusalem ...". acquired a qualitatively new sound. It is no coincidence that in the iconography of His Holiness Patriarch Nikon there is such an image, where he is presented against the background of the monastery he founded with a scroll in his hand containing the inscription: "Shine, shine ...".

One handwritten collection of songs from the late 17th century contains a hymn created during the reign of Nikon, where the patriarchal understanding of the meaning of Russia as the New Jerusalem is expressed with great force:

“The second Jerusalem is the kingdom of Moscow,

See and understand, faithful to the sons of light,

Russian heritage,

Wise structure of light

The Eternal Christ, our God,

As untested are His destinies

and His ways are not investigated.

Who is the mind of the Lord

or who is His interlocutor?

He does it, he does it too much. "

The great and fruitful ecclesiastical educational activity of His Holiness Patriarch Nikon can be compared with the works of the All-Russian Metropolitan Macarius, who ruled the Russian Church in the 16th century. The time of their hierarchy is about a century apart, but much in the nature of their activity unites them. Before being elected to the Moscow Department, both worked fruitfully at the Novgorod Department. The nature of the activities of Metropolitan Macarius and Patriarch Nikon was determined by the desire to correct the existing church deficiencies, in this regard, a revitalization of the conciliar life of the Church is observed with them. Metropolitan Macarius and Patriarch Nikon are outstanding scribes of their time, but the latter went further. Continuing the works of his famous predecessor, he turns to primary sources and enriches Russian book fund Greek manuscripts. The acquisition of ancient manuscripts was associated with the intensification of the Printing House, to the organization of which in the middle of the 16th century Metropolitan Macarius was directly involved. Patriarch Nikon was a great admirer of Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow, he built churches and side-altars dedicated to this Saint. And, undoubtedly, the Patriarch knew his life well, in which we read the following words:<…>this good disposition, imitating the benevolent Metropolitan Macarius, diligently striving to follow his honest footsteps ”. Therefore, it is not surprising that later, when Patriarch Nikon argued with the “quietest” Tsar Alexy Mikhailovich, he said that Tsar John IV was doing well until he listened to Metropolitan Macarius in everything. Describing the event of the transfer of the relics of the righteous Jacob of Borovichsky to the newly created Valdai Iversky Monastery, the testimony of which took place under Metropolitan Macarius, Patriarch Nikon calls the saint a “God-placed benevolent first throne”, “a dangerous shepherd of Christ”. It is known about Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow that he “offer many holy Russian miracle workers as a testimony both canons and stichera and arrange them to celebrate, as in the bishop no one else, as this great divine Macarius”. The glorification of the saints in the Russian Church also took place in the Primacy of Patriarch Nikon. At the very beginning of the Patriarchate, with his blessing, the relics were unveiled and a celebration was established for the Monk Daniel of Pereslavl, a spiritual friend of Saint Macarius.

Under Patriarch Nikon, the Russian Months was replenished by the establishment of celebrations for the miraculous icons of the Mother of God. In 1654, the Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God was brought to Russia, which the Patriarch met at the Execution Ground. In 1658, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Nikon, an annual celebration was established in honor of the Georgian Icon of the Mother of God. The Iberian Icon of the Mother of God was also brought from Athos, as mentioned above.

Under Patriarch Nikon, the historical process of the unification of Little Russia with Great Russia began, which later led to the unification of the Kiev Metropolis with the Moscow Patriarchate. The patriotic uprising led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky, which broke out in Ukraine at the end of the 40s of the 17th century, needed support. The hetman himself repeatedly turned to the Moscow Tsar and the Patriarch for help. At the Zemsky Sobor, a decision was made to accept the Little Russian people under the high hand of the Russian sovereign. Meanwhile, the severance of the primordially Russian lands from Poland threatened a military conflict with the Polish state. On October 25, 1653, at the Assumption Cathedral, the tsar solemnly announced that he, "after consulting with his father, with the great sovereign His Holiness Nikon the Patriarch," decided to go to war against his enemy - the Polish king. Before the start of the campaign, the Patriarch, in the presence of the Tsar, served a special prayer service in the Assumption Cathedral, during which he named all the military leaders by name, and with his speech inspired them to the upcoming feat of arms. The troops sent to the war were sprinkled with holy water by Patriarch Nikon with his own hand. And again, in a speech to the governors, he encouraged them to diligently fulfill their military duty, urging them to place their hope in the help of God and the Most Holy Theotokos. By order of Patriarch Nikon, in connection with the outbreak of war, bread was collected from the monastic and bishop's possessions and sent to the army; sent carts for troops, horses. His Holiness the Patriarch accompanied these efforts with letters to the Emperor, who was in the area of ​​hostilities.

Remaining in Moscow, the Patriarch watched the situation in the capital with his wise eye, delved into state affairs, often offering prayers in the Assumption Cathedral for the victory of Russian arms. At this time, a pestilence began in Russia, and death claimed many lives in Moscow itself. Taking care of the safety of the royal family, Patriarch Nikon, together with the family of the sovereign, went to Vyazma, to a more reliable place. The patriarchal life says: “I live for the Holy Patriarch with the royal house in the city of Vyazma, that pious king also came with victory, seeing his entire royal house in all health; and hearing about the ever-zealous keeping of His Holiness the Patriarch, the noble rejoiced, not so much for the victory of the Polish king and for the capture of many cities, especially for the preservation of his royal house ”.

However, the relationship between the Tsar and the Patriarch at this time is no longer as sincere as before. When he was Archimandrite Novospassky, Nikon visited the sovereign every Friday, talked with him, had the opportunity to grieve for the offended. When Nikon was appointed metropolitan in Novgorod, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in one of his letters addressed him with the following heartfelt words: “To the merciful, meek, merciful, gentle, but even more so, the lover and confidante of Christ, and the ruler of the verbal sheep; about the strong warrior and suffering of the King of Heaven, about my beloved, beloved and companionable holy master! I am writing to you, who is radiant as a bishop, like the sun is shining throughout the entire universe, so is you shining throughout our state with good manners and good deeds, to our friend's soul and body. " The following news belongs to the patriarchal period: “The love of the tsar and the tsarina for Nikon,” writes Archdeacon Paul of Aleppo, a companion of the Antiochian Patriarch, “exceeds any description. During a personal meeting with the Patriarch, the tsar always asks for his blessing and kisses his hand, while Nikon at the same time kisses the tsar on the head. "

Unfortunately, such kind-hearted relations between the Patriarch and the Tsar did not last long. The biography of His Holiness the Patriarch tells the following: “Not at all times, having envied the common adversary of great love between the pious Tsar and His Holiness Nikon the Patriarch, angry man, like the foe arranged for it; and always there are holidays and the visit of the great sovereign (Nikon - a. M.) exits to the cathedral church and to the procession with the lithiums, then the pious tsar, letting his wicked neighbors bolyars, did not go out into those habit of adventures. His Holiness the Patriarch continuing to preach the gospel in great numbers; the pious tsar sent to him and ordered him not to wait for himself, and so there was strife and lack of advice between them ”.

The absence of the tsar in Moscow in connection with military operations contributed to his cooling towards Patriarch Nikon, whom he at one time, as we remember, tearfully asked for consent to be elected to the Patriarch. The Patriarch also had many ill-wishers who envied his elevation due to his ignoble origins, to whom the tsar began to listen more and more over time. In such a situation, His Holiness Patriarch Nikon decided to leave the see. A similar precedent in the history of the Russian Church took place in the 15th century, when, after the consecration of the newly built Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin, Grand Duke Ivan III began to reprimand Metropolitan Gerontius for the incorrectness of the procession he had performed. The dispute reached the point that the Metropolitan withdrew from the see, and the Grand Duke, the sovereign of all Russia, was forced to "finish off" the saint with his forehead so that he would return to the Primate throne. Finding himself in a similar situation, the "quietest" Tsar Alexy Mikhailovich did not follow such an example.

In the subsequent sad fate of His Holiness Patriarch Nikon, the Metropolitan Paisiy (Ligarid) of Gaza, who arrived in Russia, played a significant role. He was, in the words of Professor NF Kapterev, "a pupil of the Jesuits." In December 1666, at a Council in Moscow with the participation of the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch, Patriarch Nikon was convicted mainly for abandoning the Primate throne.

For about fifteen years, his imprisonment lasted, first in Ferapontov, and then in the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery as a simple monk. Under Tsar Theodore Alekseevich, shortly before the death of Patriarch Nikon, he was allowed to return to his beloved New Jerusalem monastery. But this royal mercy was late: on the way, being in Yaroslavl, Patriarch Nikon quietly departed to the Lord. His death was described as follows: “The Blessed One lay down on the prepared bed, giving a blessing to his disciples, bending his hand to the Perseus, with all reverence and in good confession, thanking God for everything, as if in suffering, complete your course, in peace, make your soul give your hand to God, love him. From this life you will leave for eternal bliss in the present summer from the creation of the world 7181 (1681), the month of August on the 17th day ”. The deceased Primate was buried in the Resurrection Cathedral of the New Jerusalem Monastery. Later, at the request of the Russian government Eastern Patriarchs removed the imposed condemnation from the deceased First Hierarch.

His Holiness Patriarch Nikon appears before us as a great ascetic. He loved solemn divine services, put on precious mitres and put on expensive sakkos, under which, however, hid a wrought iron monastic paraman weighing 6 kg. The asceticism of Nikon, His Holiness Patriarch of All Russia and the Great Sovereign, is evidenced by the tiny size of his cell and the stone bed in the “retreat” skete of the New Jerusalem Monastery. At the same time, one should take into account the solid growth of the Patriarch. In this cell, he, with the cruellest life, “lives, prays and obeisances and fasting, but he always requires little sleep, as if it’s just three hours of lunacy”. It is known that he himself dug a well in the Krestny Monastery, and together with other monks tirelessly carried earth and bricks during the construction of the New Jerusalem Monastery.

Remarkable is his veneration of the Cross of Christ, expressed in the construction of the Monastery of the Cross and captured in iconography: on the icons of that time one can find images of Patriarch Nikon and Metropolitan Philip of Moscow, falling to the Cross or to the Lord Almighty. He bore his cross with dignity - both being elevated to the rank of All-Russian Patriarch and Great Sovereign, and being overthrown to the level of a simple monk. In this regard, the Patriarch's veneration of Metropolitan Philip, who died in exile, acquires a special meaning. Professor-historian N. F. Kapterev makes a just conclusion about the nature of the condemnation of Patriarch Nikon: he “did not damage any dogma of faith and did not threaten the security of the state and society in any way, did not set anyone against the tsarist majesty and the tsarist state, was not a church heretic, nor by a state or any criminal. Despite the fact that, on the one hand, the merits rendered to him by the Orthodox Church remained unrecognized and unappreciated, even unmentioned, and on the other hand, no leniency was shown to his private weaknesses and misdeeds, and he accepted the judgment as the most serious church or state a criminal as a villain ... ”.

In the scientific literature about Patriarch Nikon, many works have been written in connection with various issues. But the cumulative understanding of his fruitful activities and great undertakings, carried out, by the way, for short term There is no patriarchate, from 1652 to 1658. His works on correcting books and the principle of approach to correcting books were subsequently continued in the Russian Church. The monasteries created by Patriarch Nikon and their consecration are a whole theology, which in a peculiar way found expression in his activities. He contributed to the development of church singing, church art and Russian culture. The study of all this is a matter for the future of Russian ecclesiastical historical science.

In the 18th century, in the Goritsky monastery in Pereslavl-Zalessky, Gethsemane was built with the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and something else. Soon Bethany and Gethsemane appeared near the Trinity Lavra. There is a village near Tver with the name Emmaus, where before the revolution the bishop's dacha was located - at the same distance from Tver as the Palestinian Emmaus from Jerusalem. On Anzer there is Mount Golgotha, the top of which is crowned by the Church of the Crucifixion with the side-altar of the Assumption like Gethsemane. It is remarkable that the Golgotha-Crucifixion Skete was founded by Hieromonk Job, in the schema by Jesus, and under Golgotha ​​in the 19th century. the Resurrection Church was built. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the last two sketes of the Resurrection and Gethsemane were built on the island of Valaam. At the same time, the new names captured the sacred topography of Jerusalem - Mount Tabor with the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior, the Eleon with the Chapel of the Ascension and Zion; Jehoshaphat Valley, Kidron Stream, Dead Sea, Jordan River, Garden of Gethsemane, Cuvuklia.

While imprisoned in the Ferapontov Monastery, Patriarch Nikon, having poured stones, made an island in the middle of Lake Borodavskoye, erecting the Holy Cross on it, where he retired for prayer.

Later, in the 16th century, the position of the Primates of the Russian Church worsened. At Basil III Metropolitan Barlaam (1511-1522; † 1533) “left” the throne. When John the Terrible was young, the boyars dethroned Metropolitan Daniel (1522-1539; † 1547) and Metropolitan Joasaph (1539-1542; † 1555). After the prelacy of Metropolitan Macarius (1542– † 1563; commemorated December 30), all subsequent Primates of the Russian Church of the time of John the Terrible either left the throne themselves, or were reduced: Metropolitan Athanasius (1564–1566; †?), Saint Philip (1566–1568 ; † 1569; commemorated January 9), Metropolitan Kirill (1568-1572; †?) And Metropolitan Anthony (1572-1581; †?). Tsar Boris Godunov dethroned Metropolitan Dionysius (1581-1589; †?). The establishment of the Patriarchate did not change this situation. False Dmitry I brought down the first All-Russian Patriarch Job (1589–1605; † 1606; commemorated on June 19), Tsar Vasily Shuisky brought together the protégé of the impostor - Patriarch Ignatius the Greek (1605–1606; † c. 1640). During the Seven Boyars and the Polish Catholic presence in the Kremlin, he was imprisoned in the Chudov Monastery and then Patriarch Hermogenes (1606-1611; † 1612 commemorated February 17) perished. The final page in this list is tragic fate Patriarch Nikon.