Sister of the noblewoman Frost. The life and death of the boyar frost
November 15, 1675 (according to the new style) died Feodosia Morozova. And I bow my head and with great reverence offer a prayer to the Lord for such a great soul, a woman, accepting suffering for faith.
Reading the Life of Boyarina Morozova, I think about how I would behave in her place. And with bitterness and shame I realize that my soul is cowardly and timid, changeable and unfaithful, prone to temptations and attached to the earthly, perishable things of this passing world.
Feodosia Prokopievna Sokovnina was born into the family of a royal courtier. She was married to the boyar Gleb Ivanovich Morozov, who was close to Tsar Alexei. Famous and fabulously wealthy. But her soul is looking for higher truth neglecting earthly goods. After the death of her husband, she leads a monastic life, exhausting herself with fasting, wearing a sackcloth. She is jealous of the old faith of her fathers, her soul rejects the innovations of Nikon's reform, and her favorite spiritual teacher is Archpriest Avvakum, persecuted and subjected to church court. Noblewoman Morozova is not afraid of being persecuted, she is not afraid of physical violence. Unshakable faith gives her strength and courage.
When I read a poem Anna Akhmatova, then very clearly in my mind I see a picture when the noblewoman Morozova is being taken to conclusion. She shows great strength and heroism.
And here is how this historical fact is described by another poet, Varlam Shalamov.
Say goodbye to sleepy Moscow And a wide banner with two fingers Icons bow before her, | From that land she will not be at peace, Rising above the enslaved crowd, This is a marvel to the new age |
I re-read the historical materials about the torture to which the boyar Morozova was subjected. And my heart is crying. No exhortations to accept the new rites had any effect. And then the tormentors hung a chain around the noblewoman's neck, put her in prison, tortured her on the rack, beat her with whips.
Changed feasts and chambers
On the gloomy damp casemate,
Her soul is rich in faith,
She really is more expensive than the chambers.
In prison, she learned about the death of her only son Ivan and wept bitterly. And then they put her in an earthen pit, where she died of complete exhaustion. These terrible events took place in the city of Borovsk.
This is how this fragile woman was treated by people who believed that they were doing it for the good, in the name of innovations and reforms, believing that they were serving God in this way. At the same time, drowning out the voice of conscience, which in the quiet voice of Christ called to love each other.
And in conclusion, I will again give an excerpt from Anna Akhmatova's poem.
And she believes she won't die
The idea of free prayer
The time will come and raise
Her monument instead of a rack.
Interesting facts in the biography of the noblewoman Morozova abound. This is one of the few female persons of pre-Petrine times, whose name has gone down in history. After all, then noble and wealthy women, shackled by the customs of Domostroy, most often sat in towers, like the inhabitants of eastern harems.
She is known, first of all, for being a fiery defender of the Old Believer traditions, having entered into combat with Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich himself, who carried out church reforms. Today we will talk about the boyar Morozova, who lived in the 17th century, whose biography we will consider.
Rich and famous
It is advisable to start a brief biography of the noblewoman Morozova with her origin, which to a large extent determined her future fate, since it was quite high. She was born in 1632 in the family of Prokopy Sokovnin, a Moscow nobleman, being his eldest daughter. The name was given to her in honor of the holy martyr - Theodosia of Tyre.
Among her distant ancestors are representatives of the family of the German knights Meyendorff. One of them, Baron von Uexkul, having arrived from Livonia to Ivan the Terrible in 1545, was baptized and took the name of Fyodor Ivanovich. He had a son, Vasily, nicknamed "Sokovnya", who became the ancestor of the Sokovnins.
Theodosia's father at various times served as governor in various cities, was an envoy in the Crimea, sat in the Zemsky Cathedral, and headed the Stone Order. He was a rather wealthy man and had several houses in Moscow. From Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, he received the court position of a roundabout, belonging to the second Duma rank, after the boyar. In addition to Theodosia, the family had three more children, including one sister, Evdokia, who shared with her the hardships of her tragic death. This will be discussed in more detail in the biography of the noblewoman Morozova.
The influence of the famous painting
As a rule, when it comes to the biography of the boyar Morozova, a photo of the painting “Boyar Morozova” by Vasily Surikov, describing a scene from the history of the split of the church in the 17th century, immediately comes to mind. It was first shown at the exhibition of the Wanderers in 1887 and bought for the Tretyakov Gallery for 25 thousand rubles. And today it is there among the main exhibits.
Due to the great popularity of this work of art, the image of the noblewoman Morozova is mistakenly seen as the image of an elderly, stern, fanatical woman. However, it seems that such a concept is explained, rather, by artistic intent.
Not quite the right idea?
The canvas depicts a martyr, a martyr for the faith, who addresses a crowd of commoners - a poor old woman, a wanderer with a staff in his hand, a holy fool - embodying representatives of those strata who fought against the imposition of new church rites.
It was this aspect of the biography and fate of the noblewoman Morozova that the artist wanted to emphasize, which is why she appears in the picture as a woman who has lived, is wise, devoid of any frivolity. Largely thanks to the painting, Feodosia Prokopievna remained in the memory of people as a symbol of the struggle of the schismatics.
But was it really all that clear? Was Morozova a stern and uncompromising fanatic, alien to everything earthly, because at the time of her arrest she was not yet 40 years old? To find out, let's return to the consideration of an interesting biography of the noblewoman Morozova.
Morozov family
In 1649, Feodosia Sokovnina, 17 years old, married the 54-year-old boyar Morozov Gleb Ivanovich, one of the richest people in the country. His family was not inferior in nobility to the Sokovnin family, both of them were the elite of Moscow society. Under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the Morozovs were one of the 16 most noble families, whose representatives immediately became boyars, bypassing the roundabout rank.
The Morozovs were brought closer by the young tsar to the court. So, Gleb Morozov, who was a relative of the Romanovs, was the royal sleeping bag and uncle of the prince. He was the owner of the Zyuzino estate near Moscow and many other estates. His brother, Boris Ivanovich, possessed a huge fortune, died childless, leaving all the wealth to Gleb. As for Theodosia, she was the upper noblewoman, very close to the queen, constantly accompanying her, which she repeatedly used.
young widow
In the biography of the noblewoman Morozova, there are few facts relating to her life with her husband. It is only known that for a long time they did not have children. But after they turned in prayer to St. Sergius of Radonezh, he appeared before Theodosia Prokopievna, and the couple had a son named Ivan.
In 1662, Gleb Ivanovich Morozov died, leaving an inheritance to his 12-year-old son, but in fact managed the money of Theodosius. In the same year, the father of a 30-year-old woman also died. The second time she did not marry and lived quietly in nobility and wealth.
Fabulous wealth
As K. Kozhurin writes in the biography of the noblewoman Morozova, her chambers in Moscow were among the first, she was respected and loved at the royal court, Alexei Mikhailovich himself singled her out among other boyars. She bore the title of "Kravchy great power" (Kravchy at court were responsible for the health of the king, his table and utensils). According to Archpriest Avvakum, Theodosius Morozov was listed in the "fourth boyar".
Feodosia Morozova was surrounded not just by wealth, but by unprecedented luxury. Her estate in Zyuzino was equipped in accordance with the best Western models, among the very first in the Russian state. There was a large garden where peacocks roamed around.
As contemporaries testify, her carriage cost a lot of money, being gilded and decorated with silver and mosaics, harnessed by twelve selected horses with rattling chains. At the same time, more than a hundred servants followed her, taking care of the honor and health of the lady.
There were about three hundred people in the house who served the noblewoman. There were about 8 thousand peasant households, while the landowners, who had about 300 households, were already considered rich.
Big change
However, the biography of the noblewoman Morozova became even more interesting after an unexpected change took place in her life. Being in luxury, being on friendly terms with the royal family, Feodosia Prokopievna, according to Avvakum, decided to renounce "earthly glory." She turned into a fierce opponent of church reform after she met him. Throughout the history of the Old Believers, Avvakum was a significant and very authoritative figure, the leader of the schismatics.
The noblewoman's house turns, in fact, into the headquarters of fighters against innovations, opponents of making corrections to sacred books. Archpriest Avvakum himself lived with her for a long time, receiving shelter and protection here. Theodosia and her sister Evdokia Urusova, the princess, were very devoted to him and obeyed him in everything.
In addition, Morozova constantly received in her house priests who were expelled from monasteries, numerous wanderers, as well as holy fools. Thus, she created a kind of opposition to the royal court and Alexei Mikhailovich, who supported the church reform.
human weaknesses
However, even after such cardinal changes in her biography, the noblewoman Morozova did not turn into a religious fanatic, did not become a “blue stocking”. She was not alien to human weaknesses and worries.
So, Archpriest Avvakum noticed that her character was distinguished by gaiety. When her husband died, Feodosia Prokopievna was only 30 years old, and in order not to fall into sin, she wore a hair shirt to mortify the flesh.
In his letters, Avvakum, most likely in a figurative sense, advised her to gouge out her eyes so as not to succumb to the temptation of love. And he also blamed the boyar for the fact that she does not always show generosity when allocating funds for a common cause.
Morozova loved her son Ivan, who was her only child, very much, and dreamed of giving him her fortune in safety. She was very worried about choosing a worthy bride for the heir, about which, in addition to discussing issues of faith, she informed the disgraced archpriest in letters.
Thus, despite the strength of character that helped her in her ascetic activity, Morozova had quite worldly weaknesses and problems.
Temptation
Alexey Mikhailovich, being supporters of church reforms, repeatedly made attempts to influence the rebellious lady through her relatives and inner circle. At the same time, he either took away her estates, then returned them, and Morozova periodically made concessions.
In the biography of the noblewoman Darya Morozova, there is another interesting fact. According to the available historical records, the devious Rtishchev was sent to her, persuading her to cross herself with three fingers, for which the tsar promised her to return "serfs and estates."
The boyar succumbed to the temptation and crossed herself, and what had been taken away was returned to her. But at the same time, she allegedly immediately fell ill, was out of her mind for three days and became very weak. The Life of Archpriest Avvakum says that Morozova recovered when she crossed herself with a true, two-fingered cross. The return of the estates is often explained by the patronage of the queen.
Secret tonsure
From taking the most decisive action, the king was kept by two factors: the patronage of the queen and the high position of the champion of the old faith. Under his pressure, Morozova had to attend divine services held according to the new rite. Its supporters viewed this as a "little hypocrisy" that was a forced step.
But after the noblewoman took secret tonsure as a nun in 1670, taking the church name of Theodora, she ceased to participate in both church and social events.
In January 1671, a new wedding of the tsar, who had been widowed a few years ago, with Natalya Naryshkina took place, Morozova refused to participate in it under the pretext of illness. This act aroused the wrath of the autocratic person.
Having cooled down a bit, Alexei Mikhailovich sent the boyar Troekurov, and then Prince Urusov (her sister's husband), to the disobedient, trying to persuade her to accept the church reform. However, Morozova did not change her "stand for the faith" and in both cases expressed a resolute refusal.
Arrest and death
In November 1671, Morozova and her sister were interrogated, after which they were shackled and left at home, under arrest, and then transferred to the Chudov Monastery. Interrogations were continued here, after which the sisters were sent to the courtyard of the Pskov-Caves Monastery.
Soon after the arrest, misfortune happened, as Morozova's biography testifies, with the boyar's son. He died at the age of just over 20 years old. The noblewoman's property was confiscated, and her brothers were sent into exile.
Alexei Mikhailovich ordered the sisters to be deported to the city of Borovsk, where they were placed in an earthen prison in a local prison. 14 people who served them were burned in June 1675, locking them in a log house. In September 1675, Princess Evdokia Urusova died of starvation.
The noblewoman Morozova herself also died of complete exhaustion. The last minutes of the slaves were full of drama. Before their death, the unfortunate women asked for at least a crust of bread, but in vain.
There is evidence that Feodosia Morozova, feeling her imminent death, asked the jailer to rinse her shirt in the river in order to accept death in a dignified manner. She died in November 1675, briefly outliving her sister. In the place where the sisters, as well as other Old Believers, were supposedly imprisoned, a chapel was erected.
Boyar Morozova
How strange you asked: do I like Surikov's "Boyar Morozova". What does it mean - like it? "Boyarynya Morozova" is a given of Russian history, Russian character, Russian woman, finally.
From a letter from A. I. Sumbatov-Yuzhin. 1909
The woman was lifted up. Once. Another. Again and again. Crack of bones. The smell of blood. Pain… She was not required to confess or confess anything. The executioners knew it was useless. Let him just fold his fingers for the sign of the cross, as the king commands. Three instead of two. Lived with two fingers for centuries. Now, according to the church books corrected from the mistakes of scribes, the reasoning of the princes of the church, everything should have changed immediately. For the sake of asserting the fullness of royal power: all as one, all as ordered.
The woman did not really know the theological discrepancies. She was thinking about something else - about conscience. Do what you believe in. Don't give in to violence. Many in Russia felt this way. Some decided to say no.
Very few. She is among the first and most ardent. The boyar is one of the first in the state. Queen's property. Own in the royal chambers. The year was 1671. Boyarina Fedosya Morozova - Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich ...
V. I. Surikov. Fragment of the painting "Boyar Morozova".
More than two hundred years later, in 1887, a huge canvas by Vasily Ivanovich Surikov "Boyar Morozova" appeared at the XV Traveling Exhibition. Next to Ostroukhov's "Golden Autumn", Polenov's "Christ and the Sinner", Maksimov's "Heroes of Sevastopol", Vladimir Makovsky's "On the Boulevard", portraits by Repin, Kramskoy, Yaroshenko. Repin will write to Stasov: “What an exhibition we have today! There has never been such a variety and such a height of performance. I'm not talking about Surikov! See for yourself…”
The response of the critic will turn out to be much more restrained than the artist expected: “Do you know, Vladimir Vasilyevich, I am offended that you wrote a little and unsuccessfully about Surikov in your article ... Comparing him with Perov, in my opinion, is not entirely true, but here with Mussorgsky - so this is an excellent and truest comparison. In the minds of Stasov, there are too few strong characters in the Surikov crowd, and the real 17th century is expressed only in the noblewoman Morozova herself. Willingly or unwittingly, he was looking for confirmation in Surikov's canvas of the correctness of populist ideas about the readiness of the Russian people to respond to the very first call to revolt, to grab axes, to overcome oppression. The trials against the Narodniks barely had time to end. The images of Vera Zasulich, Sofya Perovskaya excited the youth and poets. The shock of the situation in the 1980s made it difficult to return to the deepest meaning of Pushkin's last line in Boris Godunov: "The people are silent." Surikov turned out to be closer not to Mussorgsky, but to Pushkin. He would have sinned against historical truth and the character of the people, indulging the desires of Stasov.
The meaning of life for Vasily Ivanovich was the will. He did not curry favor with anyone. I didn't want to depend on anyone. He paid for independence with meager earnings - much less than those of mediocre colleagues. The absence of ranks and orders, professorial titles, places of honor in all sorts of commissions and councils. The fact that he did not have a workshop in his whole life - he worked in the low and cramped little rooms of Moscow residential buildings. “A strict life,” Repin spoke of Surikov’s apartments. A pair of broken chairs with holes in the straw. Box. A palette sparingly stained with paints - with two daughters and a sick wife, I had to save on everything. Slightly warm oven. “Vasily Ivanovich occupied two small apartments located nearby,” recalled the artist A. Ya. Golovin, “and when he painted his Boyar Morozov, he put a huge canvas on the site and moved it first through one door, then into another, along progress of the work." In order to see the whole picture, Surikov looked at it from the side, from the gap of the neighboring dark room. Were you inconvenienced? Is it that he could not often send simple gifts to his mother and brother in Krasnoyarsk, not go to visit every year. But even that was explained not by money - by work. Here I will collect material for the picture, here I will finish the picture ...
“Thieves' people” were called the documents of the artist's ancestors because they participated in the Krasnoyarsk rebellion of the 17th century. They rebelled and fought all their lives, in 1825 they became officers. This is the Surikovs. Another thing is maternal relatives. “My mother was from Torgoshins. And the Torgoshins were trading Cossacks - they kept a cart, they carried tea from the Chinese border from Irkutsk to Tomsk, but they were not engaged in trade ... My grandfather was still a centurion in Turukhansk. Our house was built with sables and fish. My aunt went to visit my grandfather. She talked about the Northern Lights. The sun is there like a copper ball. And when she left, her grandfather put a full hem of sables on her.
Serfdom was not known in those places. They lived strictly and honestly. In the native village of Surikov - Buzimovskaya - for a long time there were houses made of centuries-old logs, in the windows there was mica instead of glass. They fought on fists. When the father died, the mother took the children with her to the churchyard. I read for a long time. Istovo. Old fashioned. But she wanted to give her sons an education at all costs.
“You used to look at Vasily Ivanovich and think:“ Here is the power, the mighty, elemental power of the Siberian! A nugget from the wild mountains and taiga of the vast land! - wrote Maximilian Voloshin. - Originality, unbending will and courage were felt in his stocky figure, strongly outlined features of a high-bones face with an upturned nose, large lips and black, as if glued on, mustache and beard. A shaggy black head, the whirlwinds of which he often whipped in a Cossack way with his hand. The speech is bold, stubborn, resolute, sometimes reinforced by a blow of the fist on the table. He should have rushed to the merchant's boats with a cry: "Saryn on a kitchka!" - Or ride a wild Siberian horse through the fields and forest clearings. Sadko merchant or earpiece!“
The image of Morozova first entered the life of Surikov in the earliest Siberian years, when he studied at the Krasnoyarsk district school. His aunt and godmother O. M. Durandina told him about the noblewoman. On the notes for the guitar, the young artist makes the first sketch of "Morning of the Streltsy Execution" and there he tries the first compositional solution of "Boyar Morozova", but for a long time he does not dare to really deal with it. Both in "The Morning of the Streltsy Execution" and in the painting "Menshikov in Berezov" that followed it, Surikov seems to be preparing for his future heroine. His women love, suffer, despair, break under the blows of fate. They know how to believe and be faithful, give their heart to their loved ones in full and demand nothing in return. But this is not enough for the character of a Russian woman. In "Boyaryna Morozova" this character was to explode with such an inner strength of conviction, the ability to resist people and circumstances, that it would become a symbol of all of Russia. No wonder Surikov attached immeasurably more importance to this canvas than to The Morning of the Streltsy Execution.
The first entry concerning the future painting appears in the artist's travel album during his first trip to Western Europe. Germany, France, Italy, Austria - perhaps it is precisely the multitude of impressions, together with the detachment from their native places, that make it possible to clearly formulate the meaning of "Boyar Morozova". With his usual stinginess, Surikov writes down the words: “The article by N. S. Tikhonravov“ Russian Messenger ”. 1865. September. Zabelina. Home life of Russian queens. 105 pages. About the noblewoman Morozova. These were descriptions of how a state criminal was transported from home to a dungeon.
“Only I first painted the crowd in the picture,” the artist admits, “and after it. And no matter how I write her face - the crowd beats. It was very difficult to find her face. After all, how long have I been looking for it. The whole face was small. Lost in the crowd." He wrote from his Siberian aunt Avdotya Vasilievna, who reminded him of Dostoevsky's Nastasya Filippovna, and from his wife Elizaveta Avgustovna, the granddaughter of the Decembrist Svistunov, and, finally, from Anastasia Mikhailovna, a teacher from the Urals. And at the same time, bit by bit, he collects impressions for each of the characters, for each detail depicted in the picture. “I don’t understand the actions of individual historical figures without the people, without the crowd, I need to pull them out into the street ...” Surikov wrote. He was looking for impressions on the streets, in the surrounding life.
Holy fool - a cucumber merchant from a Moscow flea market: “I see - he is. Such a skull such people have ... At the beginning of winter it was. The snow is melting. I wrote it in the snow. He gave him vodka and rubbed his legs with vodka ... ”The priest in the crowd is the Buzimovsky deacon Varsonofy, with whom the eight-year-old Surikov happened to travel from the village to the city, a drunkard who traveled all night with a damask in his hand. Bowing girls - Old Believers from Preobrazhensky. It is in them, quiet and obedient, that the sparks of Morozova's rebellion are ready to flare up. And in the very environment in which they were born and raised, which they have long ceased to notice.
But how and why did the true noblewoman Fedosya Prokopievna Morozova take possession of the thoughts and memory of the Russian people?
At first glance, there were no special merits for the elderly Gleb Ivanovich Morozov, who took the seventeen-year-old beauty Fedosya Sokovnina for himself by his second marriage, but he was a boyar, like both of his brothers - Mikhail and Boris. From time immemorial, the Morozovs owned a courtyard in the Kremlin itself, not far from the Annunciation Cathedral. Their near ancestor, Grigory Vasilyevich, received the boyars in the last years of the reign of Grozny. Until the Time of Troubles, Vasily Petrovich Morozov owned the Kremlin court, a straightforward and honest man, who under the banner of Pozharsky became his trusted assistant and ally, who did not hide his voice in the boyar duma, where he entered under the first of the Romanovs. His grandchildren, Gleb and Boris, were born in the Kremlin. The latter was entrusted by Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich to be the tutor of the future Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Here, it was not so much directness that was needed, but the talent of a courtier: to please the current tsar, and not to offend the future. The upbringing of the crowned is not an easy task. Boris Ivanovich pleased everyone, and in order to finally gain a foothold in the royal court, he married a second marriage to the sister of Tsarina Marya Ilyinichna, Anna Miloslavskaya. So it was more true: you yourself blunder, your wife will beg, the sister-in-law-queen will not give offense, nephews - princes and princesses - will rise like a mountain. There are many Miloslavskys at court, friendly, agreeing in everything, to the rescue of the ambulances.
Yes, and brother Gleb did not blunder - he took his wife from the neighboring Kremlin court of the princes of Sitsky, who owned this land back in the days of Grozny, when their great-grandfather was married to the sister of another queen, Anastasia Romanovna. After the death of his first noblewoman, Gleb Morozov, who had already counted fifty years, could afford to look at the girlish beauty, to woo Fedosya.
Now it's time to rejoice in Sokovnin. They were far from the Morozovs. Unless Prokopy Fedorovich had a chance to rise to the rank of a falconer, to go at the end of 1630 as an envoy to the Crimea and to be in the position of Kaluga governor. But the daughter's marriage was worth many services. And not only her husband fell in love with Fedosya. She fell in love with the all-powerful Boris Ivanovich, and his wife, the tsarina's sister, and the tsarina Marya Ilyinichna herself. She is good-looking, strict in temperament and brought an heir to a childless Morozov family - the first-born Ivan. Maybe she didn’t have a particular inclination for economic affairs, but she didn’t really like to leave the yard, and there was nothing to reproach the young noblewoman.
Did she love her Gleb Vasilyevich or did she get used to the old man, could she even think of anything else, did she yearn or quickly get used to it? She was silent, she didn't want to say too much. But she knew how to speak, and how to speak! When I had to argue about my truth, about what I believed in, what I put my soul into, I argued with the Metropolitan himself for eight whole hours: “And she had a debate with them from the second hour of the night until the tenth.” Didn't convince me. Couldn't convince. Why, she spoke something to the point, she found arguments, she objected, she did not let herself be argued.
Fedosya, it seems, owed her tenacity to her family. And her ancestors, the Sokovnins, were distinguished by them, and when the hour of Fedosya came, her sister Evdokia, by her husband Princess Urusova, and brothers, Fedor and Alexei, stood up with her. They did not renounce, the royal wrath and disgrace were not afraid. (Later, a rebellion against those who held power remained in their family. The same brother Alexei was executed in 1697 by Peter I because, together with Ivan Cycler, he decided to end his reign, and brother Fedor, despite the received boyar rank, Later, during the time of Anna Ioannovna, none other than Nikita Fedorovich Sokovnin paid for his sympathy with Artemy Volynsky, for plans to reorganize power on his own - not a royal model.).
Obedience - apparently, no one taught Fedosya Prokopyevna properly in the Sokovninsky house. While she lived with her husband, she did not give herself free will. But at thirty she became a widow, she remained herself, a friend, with a teenage son, then she took her will, spoke out loud about what had previously been on her heart - about the right faith. And the supporters of the schism reached out to the Fedosya Court in the alley on Tverskaya - immediately behind the current theater of Yermolova, a rumor spread around Moscow about the newly-appeared righteous woman and preacher. Maybe it was not so much the cause herself, but Archpriest Avvakum, who returned from Siberian exile and settled in the house of the late boyar Gleb Morozov. “I used to sit with her and read a book,” the archpriest will recall, “and she spins and listens.” But where did the rebellion against Nikonian inventions come from, the conviction in one's own rightness and doubt in the rightness of the patriarch?
The interpretation of schism and Nikonianism is far from unanimous even today. One thing is obvious, that Nikon spoke out against the traditional rituals, behind which stood the feudal diversity of cults constantly formed on the ground. The correction of liturgical books, icons, singing was a direct path to the church, and after it the political centralization, which the state needed. This was also accompanied by a complete revision of the composition of the clergy, which made it possible to take the places of the most obstinate and independent submissive and organized.
The other side of the matter is the creation, through the efforts of Nikon, of a system of "private national papism", in the words of Yu. Samarin, an ecclesiastical state standing above a secular state. Finally, the correction of traditional rituals itself was carried out on the principles of the Eastern Church. For Nikon and his supporters, the Greeks were the only bearers of church truth.
For the people, such an offensive by the central authorities meant a restriction of the prevailing way of life. The government became an enemy of the faith and the church, it was possible to oppose it. The idea of a campaign against Moscow, the destruction of the "Moscow Herods" is gaining popularity among the people who fled to the Don. The peasants rebelled. The townspeople rebelled from those who labored from day to day to get food. Outskirts rioted, accepting more and more fugitives. Two-fingeredness became the right to one's own faith, blessed spiritual rebellion against unrighteous earthly rulers. What matters is the difference between corrected and uncorrected books - the main thing was disobedience. In the intensity of the disputes, the despair of the resistance was hidden. The machine of the growing state knew no mercy in the well-coordinated movement of its countless, cunningly connected gears and wheels.
During the life of her husband, Fedosya Morozova did not differ in particular religiosity. She lived like everyone else, acted like everyone else. Or here, too, time has spoken its word - the desire to understand oneself and think about everything for oneself? A man of the sixties of the 17th century painfully searched for a way to himself. And yet - the consciousness of its own significance. Avvakum will say - pride.
And the will, as if by itself, went into the hands, seduced by lightness and inevitability. In 1661, the boyar Boris Ivanovich Morozov, the head of the family, died before whom she did not even dare to raise her eyes, even though he loved and spoiled his daughter-in-law. A year later, the husband and father died at once - the boyar and the Kaluga governor passed away overnight. After another year and a half, she could already order to receive the exiled archpriest, to declare herself his spiritual daughter.
The royal court did not take their eyes off the noblewoman's widow and intervened at first sideways: before Avvakum had time to make his way from Siberia to the capital, by the end of the summer of 1664 he was again exiled to Mezen. Neither the patronage nor the intercession of Fedosya helped. The noblewoman should be scared, quiet down. And she, taught by the frantic archpriest, fell into a rage, began to preach herself, without hiding, she herself embarrassed her sister, took her son into her arms. Now they themselves began to exhort her, tried to calm down, calm down. And admonishers were found worthy of her rank, her pride.
The conversation with Fedosya Prokopievna was conducted by Archimandrite of the Chudov Monastery in the Kremlin Joachim and Peter Klyuchar. Who knows how long they talked with the apostate, only, apparently, they could not achieve anything.
For perseverance, by the end of 1664, half of her richest estates were written off from the noblewoman, but the tsar failed to withstand the character. Among the favors that Tsarina Marya Ilyinichna showered on the birth of her youngest son, Ivan Alekseevich, she herself asked for one more thing - pardoning Fedosya. Alexei Mikhailovich did not want to refuse his wife. John Alekseevich was born in August, on October 1, 1666, all the papers for the return of all Morozov's possessions to Fedosya Prokopyevna were straightened out.
And again, she would beware, not to pull the strings, to leave the royal eyes. But what is obvious to many courtiers is incomprehensible to Fedosya. For her, the unexpected mercy begged for by the queen is a victory, and she wants to test it to the end. Everything in her life returns to the old: wanderers in the yard, runaway priests, unrepentant schismatics. Fedosya triumphs, not noticing how circumstances and time are changing. Her patrons are dying, now the last: in September 1667, the daughter-in-law, the tsarina's sister Anna Ilyinichna Morozova, in the first days of March 1669, the tsarina herself. And it is strange: the most pious, God-fearing, in her thoughts not sinning against the authority of the church, against the revelry of the Nikonian thunderstorm, Tsarina Marya Ilyinichna did not see sin in the “delusions” of Fedosya Morozova. After all, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich himself got acquainted with Avvakum, welcomed him, and at first was not averse to treating the frantic archpriest as Fyodor Rtishchev, so long as he did not encroach on the canons of the church merged with the state.
Fyodor Rtishchev fought with the whole church and its princes, he wanted to live according to the will of his mind and conscience, and not according to church prescriptions. He distributed the estate to the needy: a severe famine reigned in Russia - he sold his expensive junk and precious family vessels in order to give bread to the starving Vologda. He founded monasteries with a school two versts from Moscow, where he began to teach everyone who had the ability and desire. He warmed the famous Epiphanius Slavinetsky in his school, persuaded the scientist to do translations from Greek and, by the way, to compile a Greek-Russian dictionary. He blasphemed Orthodox rites for covering up the essence of faith with a theatrical performance, when you just need to be an honest person in life. He discouraged his peasants from worship: the main thing is to live according to conscience, and you can do without rituals and icons. He argued with Nikon himself that he was interfering in worldly affairs in vain, he wanted to rule the state. Is this not a liberty of judgment that could lead more than one on a dangerous path! But when, on the slander of the churchmen, they tried to kill Fyodor Rtishchev, he found salvation in the personal chambers of the tsar. Alexei Mikhailovich gave him a court position - put him in charge of his beloved falconry, persuaded him to write how to conduct such a hunt, and then completely instructed him to teach the sciences to his son - Tsarevich Alexei Alekseevich, the declared heir to the throne. How many people at court dreamed of such an unheard-of honor! But with Avvakum it is different.
Having served all the trials of the Siberian exile, Avvakum writes about his return to Moscow in his Life: “He also came to Moscow and, like an angel of God, having welcomed me the sovereign and the boyar, everything is for my sake. I went to Fyodor Rtishchev: he himself jumped out of the tent to me; blessed from me, and taught to speak a lot, a lot, - for three days and three nights he did not let me go home and then informed the king about me. The sovereign immediately ordered me to be placed in his hand and merciful words said: “It’s great, archpriest, you live, God ordered you to see more.” And I kissed his hand and shook it, and I myself say: “As the Lord lives, and my soul lives, tsar-sovereign, and henceforth, whatever God wills.” He, dear, sighed, and went where he needed to ... They gave me a place where I wanted, and they called for confessors so that I could unite with them in faith; but all these things seem to be smart (dirt. - Ed.) imputed ... "
Avvakum could embellish, he could - and wanted to - show off, but there was truth in his stories. His refusal cost him a link to Mezen. Fedosya Morozova's hour came later. And was her proud refusal to come to the wedding of the tsar with his new wife, Natalya Naryshkina, not her main fault?
For Fedosya, two years is not a time for the tsar to forget about the late tsarina Marya Ilyinichna. Everyone was against the new marriage: both the royal children - Marya Ilyinichna gave birth to thirteen people, and the Miloslavskys who filled the palace: the appearance of a new queen meant the appearance of new relatives, a new distribution of places and benefits - and even churchmen. And only Fedosya Prokopyevna decided to ignore the royal will. When the royal messenger comes to invite the boyar Morozova to the royal wedding, Fedosya decides on an unheard of act - he refuses the invitation and spits on the messenger's boot. The cup of patience of Alexei Mikhailovich was overflowing. State calculations overlapped with personal affairs. On the night of November 16 of the same year, 1671, the obstinate noblewoman said goodbye to freedom forever.
After the arrival of the Chudov Archimandrite Joachim, Fedosya Morozova, together with her sister, Princess Evdokia Urusova, who was visiting her, was imprisoned in the basement of the Morozov house. Fedosya refuses to obey the order, and the servants have to carry the noblewoman to the appointed place on the chairs. This will be her first prison.
But even after taking the first step, Alexei Mikhailovich does not immediately decide on the next one. Maybe he does not know what this step should be. Two days of hesitation, and Metropolitan Pavel receives an order to interrogate the stubborn schismatic. The interrogation should be conducted in the Miracle Monastery. But Fedosya again refuses to take even a step of his own free will. If it is needed by those in whose hands the power is, let them carry it by force wherever they want. And now, from the Morozov court along Tverskaya, an unprecedented procession is heading to the Kremlin: Fedosya is carried on cloth, sister Evdokia is walking next to him - only that only time they were on the road together.
Metropolitan Pavel fails to reason with the shrew. But it seemed that everything could still come to a happy ending. The Metropolitan had no intention of showing his authority and had no intention of irritating the Sokovnins and Miloslavskys. The Tsar's will meant a lot, but where was the eminent tribal boyars to escape. The kings changed - the boyar families continued, and it is not known who the princes of the church depended on to a greater extent. But Fedosya Morozova did not want to appreciate the cautious condescension of her investigator. Reports to the patriarch claimed that the noblewoman held herself proudly, answered boldly, contradicted every word of exhortation, and “repaired opposition” with her sister in everything. The interrogation dragged on for many hours and equally angered both sides. Half dead from fatigue, the servants again carried the noblewoman to the basement of their own house, under the castle, but only for one last night.
Alexei Mikhailovich does not need to give special orders, it is enough to give freedom of action to the patriarch. Joasaph II succeeded Nikon without compromising his Nikonian convictions in any way. It was with him and his efforts that the final split occurred. The same revised books for worship. The same strictness in relation to the priests who neglected these books. The priests who followed the pre-Conian order of services were immediately and completely deprived of their places. All disobedient churches were anathematized. And although Ioasaph returned to the form of a live sermon in the church, although he published other people's works explaining innovations, no one was going to convince Morozova.
The next morning, after the interrogation in the Miracle Monastery, Fedosya, together with her sister, still in the basement of their home, will put chains on their throats and hands, throw both of them on firewood, and they will take them chained and lying side by side around Moscow. V. I. Surikov was wrong. The path of the sleigh with the prisoners really lay past the Chudov Monastery. Morozova really hoped that the tsar could stand on the passages of the palace and look at her. But she could not sit in the woods, much less raise her two-fingered hand: the slightest movement of her hand was fettered by an iron collar on her throat frozen in the cold.
Historians are also inaccurate in another circumstance. Documents known up to the present time claimed that the path of the Drovens with the prisoners lay in a certain Pechersky Monastery. In fact, it was not about the monastery, but about its courtyard, which was purchased in 1671 from the Caves Monastery to accommodate the Order of Secret Affairs. The courtyard was intended for the stay of Fedosya. Evdokia was sent in other woods to the Prechistensky Gates, to the Alekseevsky Monastery. Princess Urusova was in no way inferior to her sister. She was ordered to be taken to every church monastic service, but the princess did not go, and the blueberries had to carry her on themselves, pushing her into a special stretcher by force.
Moscow streets. Engraving.
For some, it was a "fortress", for others "fierce", but for all it was the same - a duel with the royal will. The schism, approved at the Moscow Cathedral in May 1668, was too recent a thing, and for the majority it was completely incomprehensible. But Muscovites were on the side of the rebels, especially women, especially mothers, cut off from their homes and children. The imminent death of Joasaph II, a few months after the arrest of Morozova, and after him and his heir - Pitirim - was perceived as a sign from above. “The patriarch Pitirim will soon be comprehended by the judgment of God,” a contemporary argued.
But the newly-appointed Patriarch Pitirim did not want open cruelty in any way. There was no need for him to begin his reign with a trial of the noble and rebellious daughters of the church who had already become famous in Moscow. He was ready to exhort, to persuade, to confine himself, finally, to a simple semblance of remorse. The old priest, he knows: violence in Russia always gives rise to sympathy for the victim and hatred for the executioner. Moscow has just survived the Copper Riot, and is it necessary to remember those terrible days for the inhabitants of the palace? But the king persists. Called the quietest, Alexei Mikhailovich does not want to hear about indulgence and compromises. The obstinate noblewoman must publicly repent and obey, she must humiliate herself before him.
The abbess of the Alekseevsky Monastery tearfully begs to be delivered from her prisoner. Not because monasteries are not used to playing the role of the most deaf and cruel prisons - this was always the case in the Middle Ages, not because Urusova was the first prisoner in this monastery. The abbess takes care of the parishioners - crowds flock to Urusova to worship. Here you will find yourself guilty both before the authorities and before the Muscovites. The good glory of the monastery has to be cared for day and night, and Pitirim wants to put an end to the business fraught with complications: why shouldn't the king release both prisoners? Useless!
... At first there were mental anguish. A son! First of all, the son. Not small - twenty-two years old, but not out of the will of his mother, submissive in all Fedosya, because of her and her faith, he did not think about marriage or service. And the mother is right - he will not survive her imprisonment. In vain Avvakum assured: "Don't worry about Ivan, and I won't scold him." Maybe a spiritual father, but still an outsider. After all, it was not for nothing that he himself recalled: “... And you already have no one to lash with a rosary and it’s not like it to look at how he rides horses, and it’s hard to stroke the head, remember how it used to be.”
I remembered. I still wouldn't remember! She got sick of her soul, grieving about the house, until a stranger, Nikonian, the priest brought the terrible news that Ivan was gone, that he would never see him again and would not even be able to see him off on his last journey. Another message came from the priest - about the exile of both brothers, that they did not want to renounce her and Evdokia. New tears, new empty houses in Moscow. She knew that she herself was to blame for everything, but now she was completely petrified in her stubbornness, she chose torment and death, and they did not take long.
Alexei Mikhailovich had no doubts about Fedosya's "fierce". So let the new patriarch be convinced of it. The chained noblewoman will again be brought to the Chudov Monastery, so that Pitirim will anoint her with myrrh. But even in the glands, Fedosya will resist, shower the hierarch with curses, break out of the hands of the monks. She will be knocked down, dragged by the collar through the ward, down the stairs and returned to the former Pechersk courtyard. From the next night, torture will begin in the pit yard. Sisters stripped to the waist will be lifted up on the rack and thrown to the ground. Fedosya will get to hang on the rack for half an hour. And not one of the Sokovnin sisters will renounce, even in words they will not agree to change their faith. Now it is time for the king to retreat. Aleksey Mikhailovich agrees - let Fedosya in public, at a confluence of people, cross herself, as the church requires, with three fingers, let him simply raise three fingers folded for the sign of the cross. Even if not freedom, if not a return to one's own home - and what is the point of it without a son! - at least the end of pain, terrible in its inevitability of expectation of new suffering. After all, she is only a woman, and she is in her forties.
And again the refusal of Fedosya, “frozen in pride”, again an explosion of hatred for the tsar, who became her executioner. Now the old and beloved aunt of the tsar, Princess Irina Mikhailovna, is trying to come to the aid of Morozova. Yes, she revered Nikon to the end, yes, her sister Tsarevna Tatyana Mikhailovna, with Nikon's blessing, studied painting and painted the best Nikon portrait, but the princess-aunts cannot reconcile with the torment of Fedosya. Irina Mikhailovna, in her name, prays to her nephew to release Morozova from her guilt, to stop the torture, to calm the rumors in Moscow. Alexei Mikhailovich is relentless. “My light, are you still breathing? - writes Avvakum in those terrible months. “My dear friend, are you still breathing, or have you been burned or strangled?” I do not see or hear; I don’t know - I’m alive, I don’t know - they died. Church child, my dear child, Fedosya Prokopievna. Foretell me, an old man a sinner, a single verb: are you alive?
It was a miracle that she was still alive. She also lived when she was transferred to the Novodevichy Convent, leaving her without medicines and help. She also lived when she was transferred from endless pilgrims to the yard of the headman in Khamovniki. She also lived when, by order of the completely furious tsar, she was sent to prison in Borovsk, where at first, to their great happiness, the sisters would be together.
Once, five centuries before our era, Herodotus, who described the northern part of Europe, also touched the Kaluga lands, touched vaguely, in passing, because he had no real information about those places. The interpreters of the historian saw from his words that from the upper reaches of the Dniester, through Volyn, Belarus, Kaluga and Moscow, to the very Vladimir region, the desert stretched. On the segment between Moscow and Kaluga, the desert was called Pterophoria, otherwise the Feather Land. The reason for the name was the snow, as if always hovering here in the air and consisting of small feathers or down. Of these amazing places, Boreas was born - the north wind.
It is unlikely that the noblewoman Morozova heard about Herodotus, but his legend turned out to be the only truth for her. The cold walls of the prison-log house. A barred window barely touched by the light. A cold that no summer could overcome. Hunger - a handful of crackers and a mug of water for the day. And longing. Beastly, desperate longing. The king seemed to have forgotten about the hated prisoner. It seemed...
Two years later, in April 1675, Elizarov, a steward with a retinue of clerks, came to Borovsk to search for Morozova's case. He himself must conduct a “search” in the prison - an interrogation, to make sure of the mood of the prisoner himself and decide what should be done next. It remains for the stolnik to guess the royal expressed, and even better - unspoken desires. How do the boyars know that no matter what the search turns out to be, it will still lead to the rapid approach of the end.
The clerk Fedor Kuzmishchev, who replaced the stolnik in June of the same year, will arrive with emergency powers: “It was indicated to him the prison inmates on their cases, which he happened to execute, in big cases to execute, quarter and hang, and others were indicated in other cases to send to Moscow, and others were ordered who are not in big business, beating with a whip to release on clean bail on a goat and in a wire ... "
The deacon knew his business. By his decision, the nun Justina, who stood for the schism, with whom Morozova first had a chance to share Borovsky imprisonment, will be burned in a log house. For Morozova and Urusova herself, Fyodor Kuzmishchev will find another measure: they will be lowered into a deep pit - an earthen prison. And then to say, the sisters healed. Now they will recognize even greater darkness, chilling grave cold and hunger. Real. By the decision of the clerk, they should no longer be given food. The thick stale air, the lice, were all but an addition to the pangs of hunger and despair.
The decision of the clerk ... But, despite all the prohibitions, at night compassionate Borovets make their way to the pit with food. The heart of the guards themselves cannot stand it. That's just, except for black crackers, they do not dare to lower anything. God forbid, the prisoners will let slip, God forbid, they will give away the secret with a groan.
Evdokia will last only until the first autumn cold. Two and a half months - is that not enough for an earthen bag? In addition, she is weaker in body and spirit, until the end she will not stop killing herself about orphaned children. Fedosya is stronger, more stubborn, but she will not survive the winter either. Fedosya will die on November 2, 1675. And before death, something will break in her, something will not withstand the torment. She will ask the guard: “Have mercy on me, give me a bell, some bread. Not enough crackers. Pone an apple or a cucumber. And everything will be refused: I can’t, I don’t dare, I’m afraid. The guard will not be able to refuse Fedosya in one thing - to wash her only shirt on the river in order to die and lie down in a clean coffin. It was winter, and white fluff hung in the air, the same one for which Herodotus called this homeland of the north wind Pterophoria. It was inconvenient to go down into the earthen bag, and the guards dragged out Fedosya's stiff body on a rope loop.
Participants in the enacted drama begin to leave one by one. Exactly three months after Fedosya, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich died. In Pustozersk, Archpriest Avvakum was burned in a log house. In August 1681, also in exile, Nikon died. And in 1682, Princess Sophia came to power on behalf of her younger brothers. She least of all was going to support the Old Believers, she fought them with an iron fist. But she returned the Sokovnin brothers from exile, allowed them to rebury Fedosya and Evdokia and put a slab over their grave. This place on the city rampart was called Gorodische and became a place of pilgrimage.
In today's Borovsk, there is no longer a memorial plate, and one can only roughly determine where it was located - in the place occupied by a modern apartment building.
But Surikov's painting lives on. There are historical inaccuracies in it, but the great property of the Russian character is unmistakably and powerfully embodied - rebelliousness to violence, indomitability of disagreement with brute power. The artist also embodied the great folk drama - the split, which is always furious with us and therefore especially dangerous. This schism, which has been established for more than three centuries and the re-igniting confrontation between the Old Believers and the "corrected" church, is especially tragic. On the Surikov canvas, the rebellion of Fedosya Morozova attracts some and is hated by others. And there are still third - curious observers. Then it will be repeated many times in our history and come down to our days. But true art is permanent because it comprehends the depths, and not the accidents of human existence. And Pushkin's lines involuntarily come to mind: “What develops in tragedy? What is its purpose? Man and people. The fate of man is the fate of the people."
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Feodosia Prokopievna Morozova (1632-1675) - an activist of the Old Believers, an associate of Archpriest Avvakum. Thanks to the painting, Surikov became known simply as the noblewoman Morozova.
The first sketches for "Boyaryna Morozova" date back to 1881. The final version, measuring 3.04 by 5.86 m, was completed by Surikov in 1887. Contemporaries said about the painting that Surikov recreated "genuine antiquity, as if he was an eyewitness to it."
The artist gave violent features to the image of the noblewoman: a hand raised in two-fingered addition, a bloodless fanatical face reflect what Habakkuk said about her: "You throw yourself at the enemy, like a lion."
The painting depicts "the shame of following the noblewoman Feodosya Prokopievna Morozova for interrogation to the Kremlin for her adherence to a split in the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich." Some characters in the picture are curious, some are mocking, but most of the people look at her with reverence and bow to her. Among the crowd, Surikov also depicted himself as a wanderer with a staff, standing in deep thought.
The split changed not only the church, but also the fate of the disgraced noblewoman
In 1911, the emperor gave permission to dismantle the archive of the Secret Order of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. In addition to the usual papers and denunciations for such organizations, a large amount of documents relating to the church schism was discovered, and in particular, the case of the disgraced Theodosius Morozova. Her correspondence with Archpriest Avvakum, reports on the inquiry, a census of property alienated in favor of the state after the exile of the noblewoman to Borovsk. Among the heap of half-decayed papers, one was found, which was immediately reported to the authorities. The reaction followed immediately: to suspend the analysis of documents until the highest order, to classify the archive. The letter, which so alarmed the ruling dynasty, concerned the personal life of Alexei Mikhailovich, who entered Russian history under the name Quiet.
Not allowed, lady
On the night of November 1-2, 1675, it snowed. The walls of the deep, three meters deep pits were covered with frost. The women sitting in the pit did not speak for several days, they did not even have the strength to pray. After Evdokia's death in September, they were fed worse and less every day, and they answered their requests for bread: if they are righteous, then God will give!
One of the captives stirred, and the second, unable to turn her head, squinted her eyes in her direction.
I'll die today, Masha...
The one whose name was Masha did not answer, she only looked away.
And it’s true, we don’t live with you, but we suffer ...
The woman began to cry. In the emaciated and broken old woman, few would recognize the stately beauty Feodosia Morozova.
She was forty-three years old.
She survived everyone ... Glebushka died, Dunyasha died, and now Vanechka is gone ...
Morozova's son died before his aunt, but the mother was told about this only now, when she was exhausted.
Suddenly Morozova started up and, having taken strength from somewhere, got to her feet and shouted somewhere upwards, where the guards should have been:
Hey up there! Have mercy! Give me a ball!
Masha hissed something accusingly, but from above they answered:
Not allowed, mistress, I'm afraid.
Then give me some bread! - Morozova did not let up, and in her demand one could hear the last determination.
Not allowed.
Good, child ... - the old woman drooped and somehow suddenly went limp. “Blessed be our God, so merciful. Then go to the river and wash my shirt... I was going to die, but I need to die clean...
Morozov said the last words so quietly that even Danilova, who was nearby, could not make out them. But the guard heard, and soon a wooden pole with an iron hook at the end fell down, to which Morozova attached her tough shirt, which had not been changed for several months.
Artistic bride
Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was left without parents early, and when he ascended the throne at the age of sixteen, his tutor, his father's friend Boris Morozov, turned out to be closest to him. The brother of Boris Ivanovich Gleb was the uncle of the younger brother of Alexei Mikhailovich - Ivan and the royal governor in Novgorod, Kazan, accompanied the king on military campaigns. Both brothers were quite close to the Russian throne and were not going to leave it. In addition, the Morozov family was more well-born than the Romanovs, and who knows how far their ambitions extended.
True, when the tsar's brother died, Gleb's influence decreased, but even then Boris found a way to return to his previous positions. Not only did he pick up a bride from the poor for Alexei Mikhailovich so that they would not compete, but he himself married the queen's sister, Anna Miloslavskaya. Gleb was advised as a wife by the daughter of the boyar Procopius Sokovnin, who was close to Alexei Mikhailovich, Feodosia. Although the Sokovnins did not shine with a pedigree, Procopius took part in embassy affairs and for some time was even the governor of Kaluga.
The wedding of Gleb Morozov and Feodosia Sokovnina took place in 1649. She did not differ in special splendor, since the groom had already been married once, he had recently been widowed, not enough time had passed so that the first marriage could be forgotten. But in order to demonstrate the seventeen-year-old beauty being introduced into the boyar house, the festivities lasted more than a week. One day, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich also visited the Morozovs ...
golden carriage
Surprisingly, having dressed in a wet shirt brought by a guard, Feodosia Prokopievna felt happy. Soon her torment would end, and she felt the time ooze, bringing her meeting with the Lord closer. Morozova crossed herself.
Are you ready? Danilova croaked from her corner.
Yes, Masha, I'm getting ready.
And what are you happy about?
The friend coughed, and Morozova thought she laughed. She bent down to the icy earthen floor and tried to enter into her habitual and so easily flying off from the tongue prayer. But in my head, one after another, scenes of a past and, it seemed, long-forgotten life arose.
Parents married Theodosius, as usual, without asking. The time has come, and a better game than Morozov could not even be imagined. In addition, by profitably marrying off the eldest daughter, one could count on good prospects for the younger children - the daughter of Evdokia and the sons of Fyodor and Alexei. Theodosia herself did not know love before marriage, and at first sight she appreciated generosity in the groom.
The boyar arrived in a gilded carriage drawn by a dozen thoroughbred horses, accompanied by more than a hundred servants. This alone made an impression - the Sokovnins at best harnessed two horses, and in the whole house there were no more than a dozen servants. The groom's fur coat, trimmed with sable skins and lined with ermine, completely made Theodosius believe that marriage promises to turn into an endless fairy tale.
Only Aunt Matryona, who had taken root with the Sokovnins even before the birth of Theodosius, after the marriage was arranged, went gloomy and now and then fell on her knees in front of the icons.
Carried away by the pre-wedding fuss, the parents did not pay attention to Matryona's quirks, but Fedenka, as the youngest daughter was affectionately called in the family, was worried:
What's wrong with you, auntie? Do you hear trouble?
Matryona frowned and averted her eyes. The girl hugged her and repeated:
Speak, don't worry! Today I feel so good that I will help you, and I will remain for myself.
The host crossed herself and whispered:
It's not me, the old one, who needs help, I'm worried about you, Fedenka! The white angel will turn out to be a demon, the black man will strengthen faith!
The girl did not understand, but nodded in agreement.
Don't go, girl, get married! You will lose your son, you will put your faith under a test, you will be left all alone, and they will bury you in the icy ground!
What are you saying, Matryonushka?!
Fedenka was seriously frightened, she began to cross herself, but the old woman did not let up:
I'm telling the truth, but you don't believe me! Not every gingerbread is sweet inside!
Suddenly, the host stopped and ran out of the room, and Feodosia, wiping her tears, noticed her mother entering.
What happened?
The eldest Sokovnina was a strict woman and did not tolerate girlish weaknesses.
Yes, I rejoice, mother!
And if you rejoice, then go get ready! The wedding has already been scheduled.
Feodosia Morozova soon forgot about the prediction of the hanger-on and remembered it only when it began to come true.
royal offspring
The wedding was celebrated in Zyuzin, the Morozov estate near Moscow. Contemporaries admired the splendor of the palace - the high vaults of the halls, built in compliance with Russian traditions, were whimsically complemented only by the type-setting parquet that came into fashion in Europe. Peacocks proudly paced the winter garden, and a separate room was set aside for the owner's hunting trophies.
On the third day, the young tsar and the tsarina came to Zyuzino.
Seeing him, Theodosius felt a previously unknown feeling. A blue-eyed youth with flaxen hair in a brightly embroidered caftan struck her with his beauty, and Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna seemed like a gray bird, shriveled from frost, which, by some misunderstanding, ended up in the Garden of Eden.
Alexei Mikhailovich also noticed the young noblewoman, she was brought closer to the court, and a year later the Morozovs had a son, Ivan.
Rumors that Theodosia did not walk up her son from her husband appeared in Moscow the day after his birth. The fact is that among the gossips they have long said that the Morozov brothers, in the pursuit of wealth, lost their masculine power - both the elder Boris and the younger Gleb married a second time, but neither one nor the other had children before Ivan. When the boy grew up a little, his resemblance to the second Romanov ceased to be a secret.
In 1662, at first the childless Boris Ivanovich Morozov died almost simultaneously, and a little later, Gleb Ivanovich. The twelve-year-old Ivan turned out to be the heir to all Morozov's wealth, but until the age of his son, his mother, Feodosia Prokopyevna Morozova, was declared the manager of the estates. Her influence at court, which had been considerable before, grew many times over. And gossip and rumors about the ongoing connection with the tsar were now reinforced by the fact that without his consent, the largest capital in Russia could not be concentrated in one hand. As a rule, in order to avoid this (too much wealth contained a danger to power), the state of a childless brother was rejected in favor of the state.
Only the queen continued to believe in the pure relationship of her husband and best friend. In addition, Alexei Mikhailovich's frequent visits to the Morozovs were easily explained by his royal concern for Ivan, who was left without a father, and his interest in Theodosius as a companion. Even Boris Ivanovich Morozov publicly admired the intelligence and education of his daughter-in-law and considered it shameless to discuss state affairs with her. What can we say about the young tsar, who was suddenly left without his best advisers, while riot after riot took place in Russia?
three-fingered
Although Alexei Mikhailovich was nicknamed the Quietest, his reign was one of the most turbulent in Russia. The enslavement of peasants began under Ivan the Terrible, and the Code of 1649 finally approved it. Of course, riots began: the peasants refused to obey the landlords, went to the north, where the tsarist governors could not get them, the most freedom-loving ones united in gangs and raided the landowners' estates. Never before had there been so many arsons in the country, and the atrocities of the rebels were reminiscent of the Tatar-Mongol invasion. At the same time, both at the court, which brutally suppressed the uprising, and among the fugitive peasants, they were sure that they were doing a charitable deed. And about the death of Patriarch Joseph, respected in Russia, they said: either “the landowners poisoned him, because he stood up for the peasants,” or “the patriarch could not bear the disrespect of the common people of his masters.”
Aleksey Mikhailovich well imagined that in order to pacify the people, a strong man, capable of reforming the amorphous church, which had not yet provided proper assistance to the authorities, should become the new patriarch. It was then that he remembered the Metropolitan Nikon of Novgorod.
Nikon (before monasticism - Nikita Minov) came from the peasants of the Nizhny Novgorod province. Having become a priest, he came to Moscow and, while serving in one of the Moscow churches, caught the eye of the young tsar. He liked him - young, stately, his eyes are burning. An energy emanated from Nikon, which had not been seen at court for a long time, and Alexei Mikhailovich, despite the timid resistance of the old patriarch, appointed the young priest Metropolitan of Novgorod.
When a messenger rushed to Novgorod with a royal request to take the place of the deceased patriarch, Nikon did not give consent, but went to Moscow. He was well aware that the appointment of a relatively young man as a patriarch would be perceived ambiguously by the people and the royal entourage. Only when Alexei Mikhailovich, with a large crowd of people in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, begging to accept the patriarchate, bowed at the feet of the metropolitan, Nikon (again in public), having demanded a promise from the tsar not to interfere in church affairs, gave his consent.
The sick lust for power of the new patriarch manifested itself rather quickly. Yes, he did not hide his desire to build an Orthodox church following the example of the Catholic one, where the power of the pope was indisputable, including for monarchs. At first, such changes suited Alexei Mikhailovich quite well - he needed the support of a strong church.
The first step of the new patriarch was the convergence of the traditional Russian and Greek rites. However, the change in liturgical books and church life that began under Nikon was perceived by most parishioners as an insult to traditions. From time immemorial, in Russia they overshadowed themselves with two fingers - Nikon introduced three fingers, Russians during worship used to follow the movement of the sun - Nikon tried to introduce the Greek custom of walking opposite, in Russia they revered the eight-pointed cross - Nikon insisted on the four-pointed ...
In 1654, Nikon assembled a church council, at which a decision was made to correct church books according to Greek and Old Slavic models. Several people, including Archpriest Avvakum, who later became famous, did not sign the decision, and two years later at the new cathedral they were cursed and sent into exile.
The common people perceived all these innovations unequivocally: the tsar needed a new church to finally consolidate serfdom. The courtiers hated Nikon for the influence he had gained over the young tsar. And only Theodosia Morozova dared to show her hostility to the patriarch.
Hungry pride
Frozen in a wet shirt, Theodosia still tried to focus on prayer, but her memories did not allow her to do so.
Chapped lips tried to form into a semblance of a smile: she did not immediately understand that the new patriarch was a black man, but she disliked Nikon from the first meeting. The one when Alyoshenka bowed at his feet. Nikon, all in black (among other things, he tried to instill asceticism in the churchmen), did not immediately give his consent, silently looked around the boyars surrounding the tsar with a victorious look and stopped him on her. What was he waiting for? Did you want Morozova to bow obediently and lower her eyes? But she felt offended for the humiliation of the king, and Theodosia measured the swaggering priest from head to toe. Since then, their struggle began, the struggle of two strong power-hungry people. From the outside it seemed that they were fighting for the purity of the church, but Morozova knew that they were fighting for the love of the tsar.
Black man
At the instigation of Nikon, all the forces of the state were thrown at the suppression of the Old Believers by the tsar. The schismatics fled from the towns and villages, and after them, archery teams were immediately sent, who burned the Old Believer sketes with children and the elderly in them.
But as soon as Nikon left Moscow at the head of the army, Morozova's influence on the tsar increased. Even Archpriest Avvakum, with whom Theodosia started a correspondence, asked her to humble the female flesh and pay more attention to raising her son.
Once returning from the "crusade" to Moscow, Nikon, having learned that Alexei Mikhailovich was again in Zyuzin with the Morozovs, decided to teach the tsar a lesson: he announced that he was resigning from the rank of patriarch, and retired to the Resurrection Monastery founded by him. Nikon was sure that Alexei Mikhailovich would immediately come to him to persuade him to stay. However, this did not happen, and in 1658 the patriarchal throne was vacated. But only in November 1666 did a church council meet, which found Nikon guilty of insulting the tsar and falling into Latin dogmas. He was defrocked and exiled to the Belozersky Ferapontov Monastery. However, Nikon's reforms went so far that a return to the old rite was no longer possible.
But Morozova, who defeated the "black man", did not yet understand that the church schism would also pass in her fate.
royal wedding
When Nikon was sent into exile, the noblewoman Morozova was one of the most well-born and wealthy women in Russia. She was happy. She had a beloved son and a beloved person, the main enemy, who tried to separate her from the “white angel” Alyoshenka, was defeated, she was only thirty-three years old, and it seemed that life had prepared only joy ahead.
But in March 1669, Tsarina Maria Miloslavskaya, who had endured her husband's affection for her best friend, died, and soon the tsar's marriage to the young and pretty Natalya Naryshkina was announced. Morozov Alexei Mikhailovich made it clear that from now on their relationship cannot remain the same.
On January 22, 1671, the royal wedding took place. The “horse” (palace) noblewoman Morozova also had to take part in the complex wedding ritual. She did not appear, and Alexei Mikhailovich did not want to forgive her for this. True, as the chroniclers report, he said to the boyars around him: "It is hard for her to fight me - one of us will certainly win."
In order to deal with his former mistress, the king decided to recall her friendship with Avvakum and the rejection of the new rite, that is, what had amused him until now. To some extent, he even encouraged his girlfriend's strife, believing that her rivalry with Nikon was useful for the state.
On November 16, 1671, Archimandrite Joachim of the Chudov Monastery was instructed to arrest Morozov. She was taken to the courtyard of the Pskov Caves Monastery on the Arbat - it was bought by the Secret Order and used as a place of detention.
However, the king still did not give up hope for good relations with his long-term girlfriend. Trying to convert her to a new faith, the new patriarch talked with Morozova for a long time, tutors were assigned to his son Ivan by the tsar, and Morozova was informed about this. However, after the unexpected death of Vanechka, nothing could convince Theodosius of the good attitude of the king.
The prediction of Matryona's accustomer kept pounding in my head: "The white angel will turn out to be a demon, the black man will strengthen faith." Now she knew not only the “black man”, but the “white angel”, who turned out to be Satan.
A real angel
Half-dead Danilova tied a rope around her friend's body, and they pulled him up. But just before the manhole, it caught on something, Morozova's hand twitched, and it seemed to Danilova that she illuminated her with a cross.
From that day on, Masha refused to eat, every now and then she fell into oblivion, and exactly a month later, on December 1, she died.
On the same day, a messenger rode to Moscow with the news of Morozova's death. But when Alexei Mikhailovich was informed about this, it seemed to those around him that he did not even immediately remember who he was talking about.
Prince Urusov, whose wife, Morozova's sister Evdokia Prokopievna, had been tortured earlier, crossed himself and loudly, so that the future chronicler heard it, said:
Angel! A real angel! Absolutely no memory of evil!
True, the chronicler notes that it was not clear what evil the prince had in mind - that which was caused to Alexei Mikhailovich, or that which he himself caused.
