Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/655

 MOSCOW

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MOSCOW

the death of Ivan, the archimandrite Job was chosen MetropoHtan of Moscow by Tsar Feodor under the advice of Boris GodunofT. Just at that time Jere- mias II, Patriarch of Constantinople, who was fleeing from Turkish oppression, visited Russia and was re- ceived with all the dignity due to his ranli. In 1589 he arrived at Moscow and was fittingly received by Boris Godunoff, who promised to take his part against the Turks if possible, and who requested him to create a patriarch for Moscow and Russia, so that the orthodox Church might once more count its five patriarchs as it had done before the break with Rome. Jeremias consented to consecrate Job as the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, and actually made him rank as the third patriarch of the Eastern Church, preceding those of Antioch and Jerusalem. This patriarchate was in fact a royal creation dependent upon the Tsar, its only independence consisting of freedom from the sovereignty of Constantinople.

In 16.53 the Patriarch Nikon corrected the Slavonic liturgical books of the Eastern Rite by a comparison with the Greek originals, but many of the Russians refused to follow his reforms, thus beginning the schism of the Old Believers or Old Ritualists, who still use the uncorrected books and ancient practices. The Patriarchate of Moscow lasted until the reign of Peter the Great (that is 110 years), there being ten patriarchs in all. When Patriarch Adrian died, in 1700, Peter abohshed the office at once, and allowed the see to remain vacant for twenty years. He then nominally went back to the old order of things, and appointed Stephen Yavorski "Metropolitan of Mos- cow ", but made him merely a servant of the Holy Synod. To emphasize the new order of things more strongly, it is related that Peter himself sat on the patriarch's throne saying in grim jest: "I am the patriarch". Not until 1748 was the Eparchy or Metropolitanate of Moscow canonically established by the Holy Synod under the new order of things. In 1721 Peter published the "Ecclesiastical Regula- tions" (Dukhovny Rcglament), providing for the en- tire remodelling of the Russian Church and for its government by a departmental bureau called the Holy Governing Synod. This body, usually known as the Holy Synod, has existed ever since. Its mem- bers are required to swear fidelity to the Tsar by an oath which contains these words: "I confess moreover by oath that the supreme judge of this ecclesiastical assembh' is the Monarch himself of all the Russias, our most gracious Sovereign" (Reglamenl, Prisiaga, on p. 4, Tondini's edition). The Holy Governing Synod is composed of the Metropolitans of St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Kieff. several other bishops, and certain priests, but its active affairs are carried on by lay government officials (the bishops act rather as con- suitors or advisors), and the Chief Procurator, a lay- man, directs its operations, while none of its acts are valid without the approval (Soizvoleniya) of the Tsar. No church council or deliberative church organization has been held in Russia since the establishment of the Holy Synod.

The chief and most historic buildings in Moscow are situated in the Kremlin, which is a triangular enclo- sure upon a hill or eminence on the north bank of the Moskva. It is surrounded by a high wall of brick and stone, provided with high towers at intervals, and has five gates, one (for pedestrians only) in the wall on the riverside and two in each of the other walls of the triangle. The most celebrated gate is the Spassakaya Vorota, or pate of the Saviour, open- ing out upon the Red Square. It contains a vener- ated image or icon of Christ, and all pcj-suns passing through the gate must remove their hats in ri'vcrcnre. Inside the Kremlin are churches, palaces, convents, a parade grovmd, a memorial to Alexander II, also the Senate (or law courts building), the arsenal, and the great Armoury. Directly inside the Gate of the

Saviour is the convent of the Ascension for women, founded in 1389 by Eudoxia, wife of Dimitri Donskoi. The present stone convent building was erected in 1737. Just beyond it stands the Chudoff monastery, founded in 13.58 by the Metropolitan Alexis, and here in 1667 the last Russian church council was held. The present building dates from 1771. Next to it is the Nicholas or Minor Palace built by Catherine II and restored by Nicholas I. In front of this and across the parade ground near the river wall of the Kremlin is the memorial of Alexander II, very much in the style of the Albert Memorial in London. A covered gallery surrounds the monument on three sides, and on it are mosaics of all the rulers of Russia. To the west of the Minor Palace is the church and tower of Ivan Veliky (great St. John) with its massive bells. At the foot of the tower is the famous TsarKolo- kol (king of bells), the largest bell in the world. It was cast in 1734, and weighs 22 tons, is 20 feet high and nearly 21 feet in diameter. A triangular piece nearly six feet high was broken out of it when it fell from its place in 1737 during a fire. Towards the north of the great bell in front of the barracks at the other end of the street, is the Great Cannon, cast in 1586, which has a calibre one yard in diameter, but has never been discharged. Behind Ivan Veliky stands the Cathedral of the Assumption, the place of coronation of all the emperors of Russia, and the place where all the patriarchs of Moscow are entombed. The present cathedral was restored and rebuilt in part after Napoleon's invasion. Across a small square is the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael. Here lie buried all the Tsars of the Rurik and Roma- noff dynasties down to Peter the Great. He and his successors lie entombed in the cathedral in the For- tress of Sts. Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg. To the west lies the Cathedral of the Annunciation, in which all the Tsars before Peter were baptized and married, still used for royal baptisms and marriages.

Towards the westerly end of the Kremlin is the Great Palace in which all the history of Moscow was focussed until after the time of Peter the Great. It is the union and combination of all the ancient pal- aces, and contains the magnificent halls of St. George and St. Alexander and also the ancient Terem or women's palace, which is now completely modernized. In the centre of the courtyard of the palace stands the church of Our Saviour in the Woods (Spass na Boru). It was originally built here at the beginning of the thirteenth century, when the Kremlin was but a hill still covered with forest trees, and hence its name. Ivan I, in 1330, tore down the primitive wooden church and replaced it by a church of stone. Outside the Great Palace is the Armoury, one of the finest museums of its kind in Europe, being particularly rich in collections of Russian weapons and armour. The building towards the north of the palace, known as the Synod, was the residence of the patriarchs of Moscow and the first abiding-place of the Holy Synod. To the east of the Kremlin, outside the gates of the Saviour and of St. Nicholas, is the well-known Red Square, where much of the history of Moscow has been enacted. \i the end of it towards the river stands the bizarre church of St. Basil the Bles,sed, of which Napoleon is said to have ordered : "Burn that mosque! " The Historical Museum is at the other end. At the east side of the Red Square is the Lohnoe Miesto or Calvary, to which the patriarchs made the Palm Sunday processions, and where proclamations of death were usually read in olden times. Behind it are the magnificent Riady or glass-covered arcades for fine wares, while at the northern entrance of the s(|uare behind the Museum is the chapel of the Iberian Madonna (Inrskuy a liiignriiitltza), the most cele- brated icon in all Russia. It was sent to Moscow in 1648 from the Iberian monastery on Mount Athos.

One of the most celebrated modern churches in