Page:Russian Church and Russian Dissent.djvu/68

Rh moned from the distant monastery of Solovetsk. Mindful of the grave responsibilities and duties of the high office offered him, he declined its acceptance unless the tsar would abolish the Opritchnina and restore the unity of the empire. Finally, hoping to mitigate the evils of this institution, if he could not obtain its suppression, he yielded to the solicitations of the people.

Ivan's diseased imagination saw conspiracy and rebellion threatening his throne, and, to strike his enemies with terror, he redoubled his persecutions. Philip, by his constant exhortations to mercy and amendment, became odious to the tyrant, who at times seemed possessed by an insane fancy to mock the Church which generally he so much feared. He presented himself, on one occasion, dressed in strange attire, accompanied by a band of his Opritchniki, before the primate at the altar, to receive his blessing. Philip took no notice of his presence, but when the boyars announced to him that the tsar was before him, he replied, "I do not recognize the tsar in any such dress; I do not recognize the tsar in his acts. What is this that thou hast done, O tsar! to put off from thee the form of thine honor? Fear the judgment of God. Here we are offering up the bloodless sacrifice to the Lord, while behind the altar there is flowing the innocent blood of Christian men." Ivan, furious, tried to stop his lips with menaces. "I am a stranger and a pilgrim upon earth," was the reply, "as all my fathers were, and I am ready to suffer for the truth. Where would my faith be if I kept silence."

Ivan was awed, but greedily listened to accusations of seditious intrigues brought against Philip, and a packed tribunal of venal prelates condemned him. He calmly submitted and resigned the insignia of his office, but was ordered to officiate again at a solemn festival When on