Page:Russian Church and Russian Dissent.djvu/65

50 and of the ritual, but its action was incomplete and most unfortunate. Many superstitious practices were preserved, and the alterations of the Church books were superficial and incorrect. Errors, allowed to stand, received thereby additional confirmation, and were more widely disseminated by the introduction of printing.

Meanwhile Russian arms were everywhere victorious. Kasan and Astracan were subdued, the Golden Horde crushed, and the dominion of the Church was extended over the conquests of the State. Ivan, yet faithful to his virtuous resolves, loved by his people, feared by his enemies, realized a crowning happiness in the birth of a son. A change was imminent, terrible as it was unexpected.

During a serious illness of the tsar intrigues and disputes regarding the succession filled his soul with doubts of the loyalty of his most faithful friends. His mind, unhinged by sickness, was painfully affected by the sudden death of his child and of his beloved wife, and perfidious counsels fostered suspicions, to which his dark and sombre disposition was prone. He sought advice from a former favorite of his father, Vassian, ex-bishop of Kolomna, who had been deprived of his diocese for crime. This old man, whose heart was filled with gall and envy, whispered suggestions which found ready response in Ivan's diseased fancies.

"If," said he, "you wish to be absolute monarch, have no confidant wiser than yourself; give orders, but receive advice from no one; always command and never follow the lead of others; thus you will be indeed a king, terrible to your lords. Remember, above all, that a counsellor, even of the wisest prince, inevitably becomes his master."