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56 the enemy; but the jealous tyrant, in a fit of frenzy, suspicious of treachery even in his own son, felled him by a fatal blow from his iron staff.

Poissevin, relying on his success in securing the peace which Ivan desired, proceeded to Moscow to develop the future plans of Rome. In return for the services he had rendered he urged the tsar to recognize the fusion of the Churches promulgated by the Council of Florence, to enter into an alliance with the other European powers, and thus array the whole Christian world in a crusade against the Turks. He eloquently discoursed on the glorious opportunity of restoring unity to the universal Church, not, he claimed, by abjuring the Greek religion, but by preserving it in its ancient purity, as established by the early Councils, as decreed at Florence, recognized by the Greek emperor, the patriarch, the clergy of Constantinople, and by Isidore, the former illustrious head of the Russian Church. He adroitly insinuated the prospect of recovering Kiev, the ancient patrimony of the race of Ruric, and of grasping the sceptre of the Byzantine Empire. His arguments fell on a listless and unwilling ear. Ivan, consumed by remorse at the murder of his son, his anxiety about foreign invasion allayed, his youthful energy dulled by excesses and indulgence, felt no kindling ambition for a shadowy empire in the East. He ridiculed the Orthodoxy of Western Christians, who shaved their beards, and the pretensions of the pope to sit on a throne above kings, and give them his toe to kiss. "We earthly sovereigns," said he, "alone wear crowns. The heir of the apostles should be meek and lowly in spirit. We reverence our metropolitan, and crave his blessing, but he walks humbly on earth, and seeks not, in pride, to raise himself above princes. There is but one Holy Father, and He is in heaven; whoso calleth himself the