“It is forbidden to write without the permission of the authorities” – Picture of the Day – Kommersant
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During the transformation of Russia, Peter I faced a difficult task – along with scientific, technical and military knowledge from abroad, ideas began to penetrate that undermined the basis of his power, and those who were supposed to stand guard ignored the strictest prohibition of the reformer tsar for years; and 300 years ago, in January 1723, the autocrat changed his approach to these problems.
“They will send them out of the monasteries”
Choosing the lesser of two evils is never easy. Especially if the evil in both cases is very great. Tsar Peter Alekseevich faced a similar dilemma in the course of his reforms, when he considered it necessary to deprive the Russian Orthodox Church of its independence and transform it into a government department that strengthens the royal power, which oversees the behavior of every Orthodox and conveys the will of the autocrat to his subjects in the form of intelligible and convincing sermons in churches .
However, a serious obstacle arose on the way to this goal – the absence of even the minimum required number of literate clergy and monastics. For example, in many monasteries, laymen were used as readers and scribes. The problem, it would seem, had, though not a quick, but simple solution. After all, in almost every male monastery there were still quite knowledgeable inhabitants who were able to teach their brothers to read and write.
But the growth in the number of enlightened ministers of the church was fraught with great danger.
After all, many of them were hidden, but ardent opponents of Peter’s church reform. And various kinds of “anonymous letters” distributed by the opponents of Peter I have always had a significant impact on the people. And it was by no means in the interests of the reformer tsar to grow new authors of such texts with his own hands.
But the autocrat still made what looked like the best choice between two evils. On January 31, 1701, he ordered the Monastic order, restored a week earlier, to be in charge of the patriarchal house, bishops’ houses, monasteries and all their property. And as a priority measure, he ordered to rewrite the people who were in them, estates and lands, for which “send good people from the courtiers.”
At the same time, apparently in order to avoid spreading sedition around the country and from monastery to monastery, it was ordered that the inhabitants who were in the monastery under study be assigned to this monastery forever – “to be non-exodus”, forbidding the transfer to another monastery that was previously allowed. For the same purpose, representatives of the white clergy and laity were expelled from the monasteries – singers, readers and scribes, as the royal decree said:
“Let the worldly people not dwell in all monasteries, but let only monks live in monasteries; readers and singers, let there be monks; deacons, who are not monks, will never stay in monasteries.
And who now there are deacons in the monasteries, and the scribes of the monasteries, let them be sent out of the monasteries, let them go to their own fatherland.
And so that literate monks would not be engaged in the production of anonymous letters and other anti-government epistolary products, the same royal decree introduced a ban on monks writing in their cells:
“The monks in their cells do not have any letters to write to the authorities, let them not have ink and paper in their cells.”
It was allowed to write exclusively in front of everyone – in the refectory, and only with the permission of the monastery authorities:
“There will be a certain place for writing in the meal: and if someone wants to write for the sake of what needs, and then with the permission of the initial one, let him write in the meal openly, and not secretly.”
Naturally, the decree did not mention the true purpose of the innovations, and as a justification it was emphasized that the ban on monks to write without the permission of the authorities existed for a very long time – from the “ancient fathers”.
True, one important point was missed – the decree did not mention any punishment for writing hidden from prying eyes.
“Under cruel punishment on the body”
Time passed, and the church reform, albeit very slowly, moved towards the goal set by the king. Peter I, for example, managed to achieve (though not entirely sincere) a softening of the attitude of clergy and hierarchs of the church towards the Gentiles invited by the autocrat to serve in Russia. And in 1721, the transformation of the church into one of the state governing bodies was completed. The patriarchate was abolished, and the management of church affairs, in accordance with the then approved Spiritual Regulations, was transferred to the Theological College, which was soon renamed the Most Holy Governing Synod (see. “Everything is well done”).
In the following year, 1722, the secrecy of confession was actually abolished, and the priests were obliged to report on the anti-state thoughts and intentions of those who confessed, as well as on serious crimes, to the secular authorities (see. “What I commanded to report, I will report”). At the same time, in May 1722, there was a reminder of the need to prepare literate and skillful preachers. Paragraph 35 of the “Addendum to the Spiritual Regulations” stated:
“In all monasteries, it is fitting to teach monks, not just to read the scriptures, but even to understand. And for this, make a proper cell, and put the monks on this elect, who know the Divine Scripture mind.
Those who distinguished themselves in their studies were entitled to new appointments:
At the same time, they were not forgotten and were provided with indications of punishment and former prohibitions on secret writings. In the next paragraph, paragraph 36, it was said:
“The monks should not write any letters in their cells, both extracts from books and letters, without the rector’s own conduct, under severe punishment on the body, to write to anyone.”
It was forbidden to accept any papers from outsiders without the permission of the abbot of the monastery. And paper and ink were to be controlled by the abbot and used exclusively for “general spiritual benefit”:
“And if a brother needs a real letter, then write in a meal from a common inkwell and on common paper, with his own rector’s permission.”
At the same time, the authorities were instructed to:
“And the monks diligently oversee that; because nothing ruins monastic silence like vain and vain letters.
The threat of severe punishment for unlawful writing was repeated not only in the Supplements to the Spiritual Regulations. Already at the beginning of 1723, on January 19, the decree of the now Emperor Peter Alekseevich was promulgated confirming the previous – 1701 – and recent bans on writing in monasteries anywhere except in the place designated in the refectory, and always under supervision. The perpetrators were again threatened with cruel corporal punishment. And the repetition of the decree signed by the autocrat at the request of the members of the Synod was explained very simply:
“Monks … without the permission of the rulers are not ordered to write, but that content is not everywhere.”
The reasons for the anxiety of the tsar and church hierarchs about non-observance of the ban on writings became known two days later, on January 21, 1723, when the decree of the Synod appeared on the trends from abroad that were harmful to the faith. And penetrating through the northern, western and southern borders.
“Must be set on fire”
“The Holy Governing Synod,” the decree said, “having been notified of the priests and chernets coming to Russia from Greece, who come in such a way, as if to ask, or to monasteries to collect alms, and go under the guise of a shrine, and most of them are unbelievers.”
Bezverniks, as atheists were then called, were considered a terrible threat. After all, they undermined the foundations of the existence of both the church and the government. And after the church reform, which overturned all the old church foundations and shook the faith of a considerable number of Orthodox, godlessness could find fertile ground in Russia for rooting and spreading. So it was necessary to act quickly, firmly, but politely, so as not to spoil relations with foreign Orthodox hierarchs who send their people to Russia for material assistance.
Therefore, the Synod ordered to detain the applicants for mercy arriving in the country as follows:
“Such proshaks, as if they are suspicious, should be diligently warned in border and other appropriate places, and somewhere such people will appear … there, holding and holding, questioning and sending their inquisitive speeches with denunciations to the Synod immediately.”
In addition, the Synod ordered the ecclesiastics arriving “from Turkish and other regions” to check the presence of written testimonies from the “Holiness of Constantinople and other Patriarchs.”
And also to find out from which monasteries they were sent and whether such monasteries really exist. Any other letters of grant as a pass to Russia for beggars were not considered:
“And without such Patriarchal certificates of evidence, no one, although they will have letters of commendation, will not be allowed to enter Moscow.”
At the same time, it was prescribed to carry out measures against non-believers strictly secretly:
“To the Kyiv, Chernigov, Pereyaslav, Astrakhan and Kholmogory Bishops, and to Voronezh, and to Smolensk, and to Riga and other border places, to the stewards of Spiritual Affairs who are found there, send strong decrees of His Imperial Majesty, so that the appropriate institution regarding that admonition would be decently committed secretly and … the necessary actions would be carried out … with all caution.
And in order for the secular authorities in the person of governors and “other commanders” to support the spiritual authorities, an imperial decree was prepared from the Collegium of Foreign Affairs to the authorities of the border territories.
Against this background, a reminder of the ban on unauthorized writings looked by no means superfluous. But even after the danger from the invasion of non-believers had passed, the epistolary restrictions for monks were not canceled, although they were softened over time. Thus, in the “Rules for the improvement of monastic brotherhoods in Moscow” drawn up in 1852 by the Metropolitan of Moscow Filaret (Drozdov) and approved by the Synod in 1853, it was said:
“It should not be hidden from the rector who of the brethren writes to whom, or from whom he receives letters.
Depending on the circumstances, he may demand that the letters be shown to him; and if the correspondence is neither necessary nor useful, he orders to stop it.
The same rules allowed monks to make extracts from books in their cells. But only of those that were allowed to have in the monastery. The study of the Holy Scriptures, the writings of the holy fathers and the lives of the saints was encouraged. Useful literature was also allowed:
“Books of human wisdom, such as: historical and related to the study of nature, are not forbidden to be read by the monastic brethren.”
However, one had to read such books for a specific purpose:
“With the intention of seeing in the creations of God and in the happenings of the world God’s wisdom and God’s providence and judgment.”
Other publications are strictly prohibited:
“Books of worldly and carnal wisdom, such as theatrical and romantic, should not be allowed into the monastery; and, more than aspirations, whoever they find in the monastery should be set on fire or immediately sent away if it is the property of outside secular persons.
After all, the main principle remained the same:
“Nothing ruins monastic silence like vain and vain letters.”
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