Fedor Nikitich Romanov. Russian history. Time of Troubles The overthrow of Shuisky, the Tushinsky thief and Metropolitan Filaret

Patriarch Filaret (in the world Fyodor Nikitich Romanov)

Patriarch Filaret (in the world Fyodor Nikitich Romanov; ca. 1554 - October 1 (11), 1633) - church and political figure of the Time of Troubles and the subsequent era; third Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' (1619-1633). The first of the Romanov family to bear this particular surname; cousin of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich (son of Ivan IV the Terrible); father of the first tsar from the Romanov family, Mikhail Fedorovich (elected to the throne in 1613).

Filaret (Romanov-Yuryev Feodor Nikitich) (1619 - 1633). Shilov Viktor Viktorovich

In his early years, Fyodor Romanov did not think about monasticism and the spiritual path. Boyar (since 1586), one of the first dandies in Moscow, son of the influential Nikita Zakharyin-Yuryev, nephew of Tsarina Anastasia, the first wife of Ivan IV the Terrible, he was considered a possible rival of Boris Godunov in the struggle for power after the death of Fyodor Ioannovich in 1598.

Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich. Parsuna. Unknown artist. (copy from the 17th century parsuna) Federal State Institution "State Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve "Moscow Kremlin"

Boris Fedorovich Godunov

In the 1590s, he held a number of government and military posts: he was the governor of Pskov, participated in negotiations with the ambassador of Emperor Rudolf II, and served as a governor in a number of regiments.

"Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor."

Together with the other Romanovs, who fell into disgrace under Boris Godunov, who saw them as his rivals for the Moscow throne, he was exiled in 1600. He himself and his wife Ksenia Ivanovna Shestova were forcibly tonsured as monks under the names "Filaret" And " Marfa", which should have deprived them of their rights to the throne. Their only surviving son, Mikhail Fedorovich, was subsequently elected Russian Tsar in 1613.

Filaret (Hermitage)

"Unknown artist. Portrait of the nun Martha (Ksenia Ivanovna Shestova).”

One of the moments of the election of Mikhail Romanov to the throne. Scene on Red Square. The upper right part of the illustration is cut off in the original

Crowning of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich in the Assumption Cathedral

Before that, Filaret managed to experience new ups and downs: released as a “relative” from the Antony-Siysky Monastery by False Dmitry I in 1605 and occupying an important church post (Metropolitan of Rostov), ​​Filaret remained in opposition to Vasily Shuisky, who overthrew False Dmitry, and from 1608 played the role of “ betrothed patriarch" in the Tushino camp of the new impostor, False Dmitry II; its jurisdiction extended to territories controlled "Tushins", while he presented himself to the enemies of the impostor as his “prisoner” and did not insist on his patriarchal rank

S. V. Ivanov. "In Time of Troubles"

In 1610, he was recaptured (“recaptured”) from the Tushino people, soon took part in the overthrow of Vasily Shuisky and became an active supporter of the Seven Boyars.

Forced tonsure of Vasily Shuisky (1610).

Unlike Patriarch Hermogenes, he, in principle, did not object to the election of Vladislav Sigismundovich as king, but demanded that he convert to Orthodoxy. Participating in negotiations with Vladislav's father, the Polish king Sigismund III near Smolensk and refusing to sign the final version of the treaty prepared by the Polish side, he was arrested by the Poles (1611).

Pavel Chistyakov - “Patriarch Hermogenes in prison refuses to sign the letter of the Poles”, 1860

Vladislav IV Vasa

Sigismund III Vase

On June 1, 1619, he was released (by way of prisoner exchange) in accordance with the terms of the Deulin Truce of 1618, and was solemnly greeted by his son.

Arrived in Moscow on June 14, 1619; On June 24, his enthronement according to the rank of installation of the first Moscow Patriarch was performed by the Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophan III, who was in Moscow.

Theophan III (Patriarch of Jerusalem)

Being the parent of the sovereign, he was officially his co-ruler until the end of his life. Used title "Great Sovereign" and a completely unusual combination of a monastic name "Filaret" with patronymic "Nikitich"; actually led Moscow politics.

By upbringing and character he was a secular man; in church and theological matters proper, he had little understanding of controversial issues (for example, a scandalous trial over words "and by fire" in prayer for the consecration of water in the Potrebnik) communicated with the Ecumenical Patriarch and asked for a ruling on this from the Council of Eastern Patriarchs.

Typography

Filaret paid great attention to printing books and correcting errors in the texts of ancient manuscripts. In 1620, he resumed the work of the Moscow printing house on Nikolskaya Street, founded by Ivan the Terrible in 1553. He established a “correction room” - a special room for reference workers (editors of ancient manuscripts). Filaret especially monitored the “purity” of ancient texts, for which the most educated reference specialists were involved, who were obliged to compare the texts with ancient Slavic manuscripts, and sometimes resorted to Greek sources. Corrected books were distributed to monasteries, churches and trading stores at cost, without markup. Books were sent to Siberia free of charge. In total, the Moscow printing house under Filaret published many editions of monthly menyas and a number of liturgical books.

Titular book (17th century, State Historical Museum) Exhibition "The Romanovs. The Beginning of the Dynasty", dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the election of Mikhail Fedorovich to the kingdom, State Historical Museum, spring 2013.

Church governance reforms

Filaret sought to organize the management of the patriarchal court on the model of the sovereign's court. A new class of patriarchal nobles and boyar children was created, who received local salaries for their service.

On May 20, 1625, Filaret, as a sovereign, issued a royal decree, according to which the patriarch received the right to judge and instruct the clergy and peasant population of the patriarchal region in all matters except tatba (theft) and robbery. Thus, under Filaret, the patriarchal region finally took shape as a state within a state. Its management has become streamlined, but has also become significantly more complicated.

According to secular government institutions, patriarchal orders arise:

Judicial, or discharge - was in charge of judicial affairs;

Church - was in charge of the affairs of the church deanery;

State - in charge of collections from the clergy;

Palace - managed the economy of the patriarchal estates;

In each order there was a patriarchal boyar with clerks and clerks. The Patriarch personally received and signed the reports. Filaret also carried out a complete inventory of church and monastery property and a review of the charters issued to monasteries with lands transferred for their use.

Chapter 8 Filaret Romanov THREE TIMES PATRIARCH

Everyone interested in Russian history has more or less heard about Patriarch Filaret, the father of Mikhail, the first Tsar of the Romanov family. Sometimes his name will appear on the pages of history, sometimes here. Here he is in the royal palace at the bedside of the dying Fyodor Ivanovich, and now an exiled monk, suffering for his children, here again in Moscow at the time of the accession of Dmitry I, receiving from him the rank of Metropolitan of Rostov. During the coup staged by Shuisky, Filaret plays an important role and even becomes patriarch for several days. He prepares a failed conspiracy against Shuisky - and is again forced to go to Rostov as a metropolitan. From captured Rostov, the Tushins take the metropolitan to their camp near Moscow, where the tsar treated him kindly. And for the second time Filaret becomes the patriarch - now the “thieves”. After the fall of the Tushino thief, Filaret tries to flee to the Poles, but the detachment of Tushinites, to which he joined, was defeated along the road by Russian troops and the “liberated” Filaret is again in Moscow and again a metropolitan. Here he participates in the overthrow of Shuisky, supports the Seven Boyars, goes to the Poles to invite Vladislav to the Moscow throne. He lives in Polish “captivity”, and it should be noted that he lives well. Finally, eight years later he returns to Moscow and becomes patriarch for the third time - this time for good. But the patriarchal rank was not enough for him, and he displaced his son Misha on the throne - he declared himself the great sovereign Filaret Nikitich (the only patriarch in history who was written with a patronymic), and began to rule both the church and Russia.

Filaret Romanov, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'

When you look at all the vicissitudes of his long eighty-year life, it becomes clear that not a single significant political event in the country took place without his participation. And what’s interesting: although all the facts presented above are quite accessible, they are presented in such an ornate way that Filaret turns from the engine of events into an innocent victim of circumstances. Godunov tonsured him as a monk and exiled him on an absurd, especially for a modern person, accusation of witchcraft - they say that they found some roots in the pantry. Among the Tushin people, he served as patriarch out of fear and was a “prisoner”... It is clear that during the three hundred years of the Romanov dynasty, Filaret’s descendants tried in every possible way to improve his image. But it is interesting that both Soviet historians and their modern Russian followers tried to whitewash the Tushino patriarch.

Fyodor Nikitich Romanov came from a family of Romanov boyars (aka Yuryevs, aka Zakharyins, aka Koshkins). His father, Nikita Romanovich, was the brother of Tsarina Anastasia, the first and most beloved wife of Ivan the Terrible. Even the death of Queen Anastasia, poisoned in 1560, did not lead to a diminishment of his influence at the royal court. In 1584, the dying Ivan the Terrible left the boyar Nikita Romanov as one of the guardians of the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Fyodor Ivanovich. In 1584–1586 Nikita Romanov was the most influential politician in Moscow. And this is not surprising, given that he was Tsar Feodor’s uncle—a “royal relative.”

But what a shame! On the one hand, boyar Nikita Romanov unexpectedly became seriously ill and died, and on the other, Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich’s wife was the sister of another well-known Moscow boyar, Boris Godunov, who, thus, also turned out to be a “relative of the royal family.” It was with this formulation that Godunov was “chosen” as Tsar of All Rus' after the death of the last sovereign from the Kalita family, Fyodor Ivanovich. (Sometimes they mistakenly call him the last king of the Rurik family, forgetting that Vasily Shuisky was also a Rurikovich.)

The death of Fyodor Ivanovich was accompanied by dramatic events that left their mark on all further relationships between the Romanovs and Godunovs. Rumors circulating around Moscow persistently attributed to the dying Fyodor Ivanovich the desire to bequeath the throne to the “Nikitichi” (as Nikita Romanovich’s five sons were called). But power, despite this, went to Godunov.

Konrad Bussov describes this event as follows: “This year, the unwise Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich fell ill with a fatal illness and died from it the day after Epiphany. But even before his death, the boyars gathered to ask the sick king: if God calls him to himself, etc., then who will sit on the royal throne after his death, since he has neither children nor brothers. Tsarina Irina Feodorovna, the ruler’s sister, turned to her husband with a request to give the scepter to her brother, the ruler (who until now had ruled the country well). But the king did not do this, but handed the scepter to the eldest of the four Nikitich brothers, Fyodor Nikitich, since he was closest to the throne and scepter. But Fyodor Nikitich did not take it, but offered it to his brother Alexander. He offered it to the third brother, Ivan, and this one to the fourth brother, Mikhail, and Mikhail to another noble prince and nobleman, and no one wanted to take the scepter before the other, although everyone was not averse to doing this, which will be discussed later. And since the already dying king was tired of waiting for the royal scepter to be handed over, he said: “Well, whoever wants to, let him take the scepter, but I can’t bear to hold it anymore.” Then the ruler [Boris Godunov], although no one begged him to take the scepter, reached out his hand and grabbed it over the heads of the Nikitichs and other important people who had forced themselves to beg for so long. Meanwhile, the king died, and the next day he was laid, according to their custom, in the church next to the other kings.”

The official biography of Fyodor Nikitich Romanov, which took its final form after the Romanov dynasty came to power, is as follows.

Born between 1553 and 1560, possibly from the second marriage of Nikita Zakharyin-Yuryev. The first decades of his life passed quite well. As a child, he studied Latin and English (a certain Englishman helped him in this), and generally received a good education, and was distinguished by his love of books. Everyone's favorite, handsome, dandy, wonderful horseman, Fyodor Nikitich was a prominent figure in Moscow in the second half of the 16th century. He married the daughter of a Kostroma boyar, Ksenia Ivanovna Shestova, and had 5 sons and one daughter from her (of all his children, only his son Mikhail, the future tsar, survived him). In 1586 he is already a boyar and the Nizhny Novgorod governor. In 1590, boyar Fyodor Romanov participated as a court governor in the campaign against Sweden, in 1593–1594. is the governor of Pskov and negotiates with the ambassador of Emperor Rudolf, Varkoch. In 1596 he became a governor in the regiment of the right hand. From the 1590s to our time, several local cases relating to Fyodor Nikitich and depicting his influential position among the Moscow boyars have reached our time. And finally, after the death of Fyodor Ivanovich, he is the most possible candidate for the throne.

After the death of Tsar Fyodor, popular rumor called Fyodor Nikitich the closest legitimate successor to the throne; There were rumors in Moscow that the late Tsar, before his death, directly appointed him as his successor. Boris Godunov, having sat down as king, justified himself to him by citing the election of the people. Whether Feodor Nikitich himself had plans for accession is unknown; In the Kolomna Palace, however, his portrait was found in royal attire, with the signature “Tsar Feodor Mikitich Romanov.”

Be that as it may, as a result of an agreement reached between the Romanovs and Godunov (the latter swore an oath to Fyodor to keep him as chief adviser in state administration), Boris became king, and Fyodor signed Godunov’s electoral charter. At his crowning, Boris awarded Alexander and Mikhail Romanov and the princes Katyrev-Rostovsky and Cherkassy close to them, introducing them to his Duma. In addition, one of the Godunovs, Ivan Ivanovich, Boris’s second cousin, was married to Irina Nikitichna Romanova, and thus family ties were established between both families.

Failed Tsar Fyodor Mikitich Romanov

The idyll between relatives lasted two years.

In 1599–1600 Boris Godunov's health deteriorated sharply, and rumors spread that the tsar was dying. This led to a political crisis in Moscow. There are references to the fact that the Romanovs were preparing an armed rebellion against Godunov, but he learned about the plans of the Nikitichs and was the first to strike them on the night of October 26, 1600. One of the participants in the Polish embassy, ​​which was located on Varvarka, wrote: “That night, His Excellency the chancellor himself heard, and we from our yard saw how several hundred archers came out of the castle (Kremlin) at night with burning torches, and heard how they opened fire, which frightened us... The house in which the Romanovs lived was set on fire, some killed, arrested some and took with him..."

The reason for the persecution of the Romanovs was, according to the chronicle, a false denunciation. Among the Romanovs' servants was a certain Second Nikitin Bartenev, a patrimonial landowner who left the tsar's service for the boyar court. Around 1590 he was “Fyodor Nikitich Yuryev’s man”; in 1600 he was “Alexander Nikitich’s treasurer.” Bartenev accused the Romanovs of an attempt on the life of Tsar Boris. What guided the informer is unknown; There are hints in the chronicle that he was simply bribed by Boris, who encouraged denunciations, “complaining most of all” about the servants of the Romanov boyars. Be that as it may, Bartenev secretly appeared to Semyon Nikitich Godunov and offered his services to accuse the Romanovs. The matter was arranged in such a way that Bartenev himself put “all kinds of root” “into the treasury” of Alexander Nikitich and he himself “notified” about it. A search was carried out, the roots were found, and this served as the beginning of an investigation that lasted at least six months. According to Isaac Massa, the Romanov case began in November 1600, and it was completed only by the summer of the following year.

It is unlikely that all these events - the illness of the Tsar, the conspiracy of the Romanovs, the defeat of their court and the appearance of the “named Dmitry” in Lithuania - were just a coincidence. The reason for the arrest of the Romanovs was not at all rooted, but because there lived in their yard a man who was very dangerous for Tsar Boris, whom the archers tried to take in battle on an October night. But it was unsuccessful. The young servant disappears from the Romanov court, and then from the capital. And two years later, Dmitry appears in Lithuania, declaring his rights to the Moscow throne.

R.G. Skrynnikov points to the coincidence of two events: “Otrepyev fled abroad in February 1602, spent about a year in the Chudov Monastery, that is, he entered it at the very beginning of 1601, and put on the kukol shortly before that, which means he took monastic vows in 1600 year...Boris defeated the Romanov and Cherkasy boyars just in 1600. And here’s another eloquent coincidence: it was in 1600 that rumors about the miraculous salvation of Tsarevich Dmitry spread throughout Russia...”

In his letter, Patriarch Job wrote about a servant of the Romanov boyars who managed to escape: “This man was called in the world Yushka Bogdanov, son of Otrepiev, lived in the Romanovs’ yard, committed some crime worthy of the death penalty and, avoiding punishment, took monastic vows, walked around many monasteries, was a deacon in the Chudov Monastery, visited Patriarch Job in the courtyard to write books, then ran away from the monastery with two comrades, monks Varlaam Yatsky and Mikhail Pravdin.”

It is surprising that the patriarch, who was so well informed about the fugitive, could not name the crime committed by the one he calls Otrepyev. And why, in order to arrest an ordinary criminal, was it necessary to send a regiment of archers and fight to take the Romanov courtyard?

On June 30, 1601, the Boyar Duma passed a verdict. Fyodor Nikitich Romanov was tonsured a monk under the name of Philaret and sent to the Antoniev-Siysky Monastery. His wife Ksenia Ivanovna was also tonsured under the name of Martha and exiled to the Tolvui churchyard in Zaonezh. Her mother, Maria Ivanovna, was exiled to a monastery in Cheboksary. Alexander Nikitich Romanov - to the White Sea in Usolye-Lud, Mikhail Nikitich - to Perm, Ivan Nikitich - to Pelym, Vasily Nikitich - to Yarensk, their sister with her husband Boris Cherkassky and the children of Fyodor Nikitich, five-year-old Mikhail and his sister Tatyana, with their aunt Nastasya Nikitichna and his wife Alexander Nikitich were exiled to Beloozero. Prince Ivan Borisovich Cherkassky - to Vyatka in Malmyzh, Prince Ivan Sitsky - to the Kozheozersky monastery, the other Sitskys, Shastunovs, Repnins and Karpovs were sent to various distant cities.

Philaret's life in the monastery took place in a harsh environment. The bailiffs watched his every move, complaining at the same time to Moscow about his fiery temper. But after the invasion of Dmitry’s troops into Russia, Filaret became cheerful and loudly began to express hope for a quick revolution in his destiny. He “boldly drove away the monks who came to watch him with a stick.” “In the current year 7113 (1605) of March, on the 16th day, Bogdan Voeikov wrote to us... Elder Filaret lives in outrageous ways, not according to the monastic order: he always laughs for unknown reasons and talks about worldly life, about birds of falcon and about dogs, how he is in the world lived, but was cruel to the elders, and the elders came... to that elder Philaret always with a complaint that he barked at them and wanted to beat them. And Elder Philaret says to the elders: they will see what he will be like in the future. And now, even during Great Lent, that elder Philaret did not visit his spiritual father, and does not come to the church or to you for forgiveness, and does not stand on the choir.”

So Dmitry’s invasion of Russia gave Filaret Romanov quite definite hopes (“what will he be like in the future!”).

On June 20, 1605, Dmitry entered Moscow. And at the beginning of July 1605, envoys of the impostor arrived at the Anthony-Siysky Monastery and triumphantly took Philaret to the capital. The exiled monk's hopes came true. His brother, Ivan Nikitich, was granted boyarhood, and the new tsar elevated Filaret himself to the rank of Metropolitan of Rostov (the Romanov estates were located in the Rostov diocese). True, the Rostov cathedra was occupied, and in order to place his former patron on it, Dmitry sent Rostov Metropolitan Kirill Zavidov to retire to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. The newly-minted Metropolitan of Rostov Philaret also received the Ipatiev Monastery under his administration. Philaret's nine-year-old son, the future Tsar Mikhail, received the rank of steward. The remains of the remaining Nikitich brothers, who did not live to see their former servant ascend to the Moscow throne, were brought to Moscow and solemnly buried in the Novospassky Monastery.

By the way, historians are very fond of mentioning that Dmitry displaced Patriarch Job and installed his protege, Ignatius, in his place. This is how the website of the Moscow Patriarchate describes this event: “On April 13, 1605, after the sudden death of Tsar Boris Godunov, a riot broke out in Moscow, the city was surrendered to the impostor and the Poles. Patriarch Job, who refused to swear allegiance to False Dmitry, was deposed. In June, supporters of the impostor destroyed the Patriarchal Court and broke into the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin to kill the Patriarch. At this time, the saint, kneeling before the miraculous Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, prayed with tears: “Oh, Most Pure Lady Theotokos! This panagia and holy order were conferred on me, unworthy, in Your temple, at Your miraculous Image. And I, a sinner, ruled the word of truth for 19 years, preserved the integrity of Orthodoxy; Now, because of our sins, as we see, the Orthodox faith is being attacked by heresy. We pray to you, Most Pure One, save and establish Orthodoxy with your prayers!” The rioters attacked the Patriarch, tore off his holy vestments and did not allow him to finish the Liturgy, beat him, thrashed him, and dragged him with dishonor to the Place of Execution. Having endured much reproach, Saint Job, exhausted, was exiled to the Staritsky Monastery in a simple black cassock.”

But all this happened before Dmitry entered the capital. And immediately after arriving in Moscow, Dimitri decided to assemble the Holy Council. Having gathered in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, the hierarchs of the Orthodox Church proclaimed: “Let His Holiness Patriarch Mr. Job be Patriarch again" It is clear that the restoration of Job to the rank of patriarch was required by the council in order to give the appearance of legality to the further procedure of removing him from the patriarchal throne. Following the will of the king, the hierarchs decided to dismiss Job from the patriarchate, under the pretext that he was “a great old man and blind, and unable to shepherd his large flock.” So de jure Job was removed from the patriarchate by the Russian hierarchs. On June 24, they unanimously elected Ryazan Archbishop Ignatius as patriarch, the first to recognize Dmitry as the son of Ivan the Terrible.

For this, Dmitry “granted not only the Patriarch, but also all Russian bishops such a dignity that they had never had before: he made them senators, transforming his State Duma on the model of the Polish Rada, or Senate. A detailed list of all members of the new Russian Senate, written back in June 1605 by the impostor’s secretary, Pole Jan Buchinsky, has been preserved. It shows that the first places in the Senate were given to the saints, and they were followed by the boyars and other secular persons ... "

Dmitry's reign lasted less than a year and ended with a coup on May 17, 1606. The Romanovs did not, and could not, take an active part in this matter - it was not in their interests to destroy their own protege and help the Shuiskys. Boyar Ivan Romanov arrived in the Kremlin two hours after the assassination of the Tsar, and Filaret did not leave his house the entire day of the coup. The death of Dmitry I could not bring the Romanovs closer to the throne. Filaret himself was a monk and could not lay claim to the throne. His brother Ivan was little popular and had no chance of becoming king. Filaret's son, Mikhail, was too young - he had just turned 10 years old.

Therefore, the Romanovs and Shuisky had to come to an agreement and share power. Shuisky became the tsar, Ivan Nikitich Romanov became one of the leaders of the new government, and Metropolitan Filaret was appointed at the request of the party opposing Shuisky as the “named patriarch”: “... the opponents of the new tsar did not want to strengthen his position... Vasily Shuisky appointed Filaret Romanov to the post of Patriarch of All Rus' ".

Valishevsky writes that Shuisky “having elevated Filaret Romanov to patriarch... was supposed to depose him a few days later... This sudden decision is explained by a conspiracy in which the relatives of the victims were involved: P.N. Sheremetev and F.M. Mstislavsky... Filaret returned to his Rostov diocese, and his place went to that same Hermogenes, Archbishop of Kazan, who stubbornly demanded Marina’s second baptism.”

“The new king urgently needed a new patriarch. It was quite logical to return Job, who was in Staritsa, to the patriarchate. But Job’s candidacy was resolutely opposed by the Shuiskys, who had long-standing scores to settle with him... The boyars and church hierarchs, dissatisfied with Shuisky, decided to elevate Metropolitan Philaret to the rank of patriarch... Tsar Vasily had to give in on the issue with the patriarch. Filaret was declared patriarch, and the Polish ambassadors were even informed about this.”

Initially, Shuisky wanted to appoint Archimandrite Paphnutius, abbot of the Chudov Monastery until 1600, as patriarch. It was he who, in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, named Shuisky “sovereign of all Rus'” and served a prayer service and was among the drafters of the letter electing Shuisky to the throne, and later took part in its coronation However, Shuisky’s opponents did not allow his election to the patriarchate, and Paphnutius had to be content with the rank of Metropolitan of Krutitsky - the second most important in the Russian church hierarchy after the patriarch. Shuisky did not want to return the former patriarch Job to Moscow as a person close to Godunov. Dmitry's protege Ignatius was defrocked and sent to a monastery immediately after the death of his patron, and, of course, could not count on returning to the patriarchal throne.

Then Shuisky removed Filaret from Moscow under the pretext of transferring the relics of Tsarevich Dmitry Uglichesky, and during his absence he summoned Metropolitan Hermogenes of Kazan to Moscow, whose candidacy was able to reconcile all the warring parties, of course, except for the Romanovs. On July 3, 1606, in Moscow, Hermogenes was installed as Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' by the Consecrated Cathedral.

A unique situation arose when four patriarchs of varying degrees of legitimacy existed simultaneously in Russia: Job, Ignatius, Philaret and Hermogenes.

A modern researcher of the Time of Troubles writes: “Historians definitely agreed not to notice Vasily Shuisky’s hesitation in choosing a new patriarch. Not only that, the new tsar was elected to the throne by “Moscow alone” on May 19, 1606, two days after the perjury overthrow of False Dmitry I and massacres. Shuisky violated the newly established tradition, according to which the patriarch was to play the main role in the election of the king. Ignatius was deposed, time passed, and the patriarchal throne remained empty - even the royal wedding of Vasily on June 1 was performed by Metropolitan Isidore of Novgorod! Even False Dmitry, who was married only after the legal installation of a patriarch, did not allow himself to do this.” But both the silence of the “pretty much agreed upon” historians and the oddities of the election of Vasily Shuisky to the kingdom can be explained by one thing: there was an agreement on the patriarchate of Filaret Romanov. And it was precisely this that most historians were silent about. And not only were they silent, but as usual, they did not focus attention, just like on other unsightly pages in the history of the House of Romanov.

It is believed that one of the reasons why Shuisky violated the power-sharing agreement with the Romanovs and prevented Filaret from turning from a “named” patriarch into one elected by the council was a conspiracy prepared by Shuisky’s opponents and ending in an unsuccessful rebellion: “On Sunday, May 25, in Moscow a riot began. According to the official version, the king was going to mass and suddenly saw a large crowd walking towards the palace. The crowd was aggressive, and insulting shouts were heard at Shuisky. As eyewitness Jacques Margeret wrote, if Shuisky had continued to walk towards the temple, he would have faced the same fate as Dimitri. But Tsar Vasily quickly retreated to the palace."

Filaret expected that he would return from Uglich to Moscow as a patriarch, but instead he had to return from Moscow to Rostov as a metropolitan.

The next finest hour of the head of the Romanov family came in October 1608, when a detachment of Tushino and Pereslavl residents attacked Rostov. Government troops and city residents stubbornly defended themselves, but, pressed by superior enemy forces, they were forced to take refuge in the cathedral church, where they fought off the enemy for several hours. Unfortunately for the defenders, Metropolitan Philaret ended up with them, whose plans did not include dying under the ruins of the temple. He went out to the Tushins with bread and salt to “seek leniency,” but the attackers, taking advantage of this, broke into the temple and killed everyone who remained there.

The governor of the government detachment defending the city was executed. And the Rostov Metropolitan, according to Romanov’s sources, was dressed in rags, thrown into a simple peasant cart (almost tied to some obscene girl) and so taken to the Tushinsky camp. There, however, Filaret was greeted warmly, and, as I.O. writes. Tyumantsev in his monograph on the Time of Troubles, “the Metropolitan was treated kindly by an impostor and returned himself the rank of “nominated” patriarch.” As a contemporary says, for this Filaret presented the impostor with a large precious stone: “... the metropolitan took from his staff an eastern yacht worth half a barrel of gold, and gave it to Demetrius.”

And if the cart, rags and other disasters that befell the metropolitan on the road from Rostov to Tushino are hardly provable (some even agreed that Filaret walked this path), then the fact of his service as the Tushino patriarch is beyond doubt. While in Tushino and fulfilling the duties of the patriarch, sending out his letters throughout the country, signed “Great Lord, His Eminence Filaret, Metropolitan of Rostov and Yaroslavl, named Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus',” Filaret tried to present the matter in such a way that he was doing this only out of fear of the impostor. He was not embarrassed by the example of the Tver Archbishop Theoktist, who was brutally tortured in Tushino, who was poisoned with dogs, stabbed with pikes, and while trying to escape from Tushino, he was caught and killed. There were other examples of martyrdom and confession of Russian hierarchs. The Lithuanians captured Bishop Joseph of Kolomna in 1608 and tied him to a cannon when they were besieging a city in order to intimidate others, but when the tsarist commanders recaptured him, he returned to his diocese, where he continued to denounce the Tushins. Suzdal Archbishop Galaktion was expelled from his city by the Tushins in 1608 and died in exile. Filaret Romanov preferred the honorary title of “thieves’ patriarch” to dogs, pikes, guns and exile.

His relatives Sitsky, Cherkassky and the husband of his sister Irina Nikitichna, Ivan Godunov, flock to Filaret in Tushino. Kazimir Valishevsky writes about this period of activity of the head of the Romanov family: “Following Filaret, this parody of the patriarch, the entire church rushed headlong into the mud: priests, archimandrites and bishops challenged each other for the favors of the Tushino thief, interrupting each other’s positions, honors and income at the cost of bribery and slanderous statements. As a result of these public auctions, bishops and priests were replaced almost every month. Anarchy reigned everywhere: in politics, in society, in religion and in family life. The Troubles were in full swing." The Tushino Boyar Duma consisted almost entirely of Filaret’s relatives, princes D.T. Trubetskoy, D.M. Cherkassky, A.Yu. Sitsky, M.M. Buturlina, G.P. Shakhovsky and others.

“The elevation of Filaret (Romanov) to patriarch and his further service with the Shklov king is the most shameful page in the history of the Romanov dynasty,” writes N. Konyaev. – It is impossible to hide this fact, but in noble historiography everything was done to hypnotize the reader and present black as white through pseudoscientific passes. It is said, for example, that the letters given by the “nominated” Patriarch Filaret cannot be proof that Filaret really agreed to take on the role assigned by the king... They cite Abraham Palitsin, who said that Filaret stayed with the impostor under strict supervision... They say that the legitimate patriarch, Saint Hermogenes, did not consider Philaret an enemy, but called him a victim, a captive of a “thief”... This evidence varies among different historians as much as the circumstances of the Rostov captivity of Philaret, and they fall apart in the same way as soon as you begin to look closely at them.” .

After the tsar fled from Tushino, the Russians and Poles who were still remaining in the camp gathered for a council together with ambassadors sent from the Polish king Sigismund. From the Russians, the council was attended by Patriarch Filaret with the clergy, Zarutsky, Saltykov and Kasimov Khan Uraz-Makhmet. It was decided to take the side of the Polish king and send him a letter: “We, Filaret Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', and the archbishops, and bishops and the entire consecrated cathedral, hearing His Royal Majesty about our holy Orthodox faith, zeal and feat for Christian liberation, we pray to God and we hit with our foreheads. And we, boyars, okolnichy, etc., beat his royal mercy with our foreheads and want to see his royal majesty and his descendants as merciful rulers in the glorious Moscow state.”

Such letters were written by Filaret Romanov to the Polish king in 1610.

At the beginning of March 1610, the Tushins finally left their camp. Hetman Rozhinsky, who was the last to leave, ordered Tushino to be set on fire and, fighting off the advancing Muscovites, led his detachment to Smolensk. The Tushino patriarch also rode in Rozhinsky’s convoy. In May of the same year, Rozhinsky’s detachment was completely defeated by Moscow troops near the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery. It was then that Filaret was “released” from Polish “captivity”. Having turned in the blink of an eye again into the Rostov Metropolitan, he returned to Moscow in June.

There is no evidence that Filaret has removed himself from the patriarchal rank. There is also no information about church repentance brought by Filaret for the Tushino “theft”.

Tsar Vasily did not dare to judge the Tushino patriarch and recklessly allowed him to remain in the capital. Patriarch Hermogenes declared Filaret a “captive and victim” of the impostor and recognized his right to the former rank of Metropolitan of Rostov.

As R.G. writes Skrynnikov, “Filaret’s return to the capital marked the beginning of the revival of the former influence of the Romanov circle. With the support of the boyars - brothers and nephews - Filaret soon became, according to an eyewitness, the greatest power under the patriarch. In his person, the Shuiskys acquired a dangerous enemy."

It was Filaret who played a decisive role in the overthrow of Tsar Vasily, neutralizing the efforts of Patriarch Hermogenes, who unsuccessfully tried to stop the conspirators.

After the overthrow of Vasily IV, disagreements arose among the victorious boyars regarding the candidacy of the new tsar. Zakhar Lyapunov and a group of nobles began to demand that “Prince Vasily Vasilyevich Golitsyn be installed in the state.” The Romanovs proposed enthroning fourteen-year-old Mikhail Fedorovich, son of Filaret. However, the majority of the boyars were not satisfied with either one or the other, and then they decided to create a kind of temporary government - the Seven Boyars.

Muscovites and residents of some other cities swore allegiance to the Seven Boyars: “All the people beat Prince Mstislavsky and his comrades with their brows, so that they would grant favor, accept the Moscow state, until God gives us a sovereign... Listen to the boyars and the court to love them, what they will prepare for anyone for service and for guilt, for The Moscow state and for them, the boyars, stand and fight traitors to the death; I don’t want a thief who is called Tsarevich Dimitri; not to think or do evil against each other, but to elect a sovereign for the Moscow state to the boyars and all people of the whole earth.”

This committee of boyar self-government included seven: F.I. Mstislavsky, I.M. Vorotynsky, A.B. Trubetskoy, A.B. Golitsyn, I.N. Romanov, F.I. Sheremetev, B.M. Lykov. There is an opinion that the Seven Boyars initially included eight people, the eighth was V.V. Golitsyn. It is noteworthy that after the Romanovs were confirmed on the throne, court historians made an attempt to transform the Seven Boyars into the Six Boyars by removing from the documents references to the participation of Ivan Nikitich Romanov in this “governing body”.

It must be added that in addition to I. Romanov, the Seven Boyars also included relatives of the Romanovs F.I. Sheremetev and B.M. Lykov. That is, of the seven members of the Seven Boyars, three belonged to the Romanov clan.

Zholkiewski, approaching Moscow with a detachment of Polish-Lithuanian troops and mercenaries, offered the Seven Boyars protection from the Tsar Tushino, who was preparing to storm the capital. The boyars proudly refused at first, but when Zakhar Lyapunov began organizing troops inside the city to help the impostor, they entered into correspondence with the Poles and agreed to accept Prince Vladislav as king if he converted to Orthodoxy and the Polish king did not occupy Russian border cities and distribute Russian lands Polish nobles. These conditions did not satisfy the hetman, who was a Catholic, and in addition, knew that King Sigismund had completely different plans for Muscovy. Negotiations lasted three weeks until circumstances forced both sides to make concessions. False Dmitry, coming close to the capital, also started negotiations with the Poles. He offered 3 million zlotys to Poland for support of his claims to the Moscow throne, 100,000 to the prince, 15,000 troops to the king for the war with Sweden, and something to Hetman Zolkiewski himself. The boyars became worried. But Zholkiewski also had problems: the deadline for paying money to the mercenaries had come, and the hetman’s treasury was in ruins, and the mercenaries were ready to leave the ranks of the Polish army. In such conditions, the parties reached an agreement. Vladislav was elected to the Russian throne, and the question of his religion was postponed for the future. This text is an introductory fragment.