Page:Russian Church and Russian Dissent.djvu/86

Rh ing the sway of Rome over the North, joyfully received him into the Church, and gave him his benediction. Supported by the Poles and Cossacks of the Don, aided by treachery, his march on Moscow met with no effectual opposition. Boris, enfeebled by disease, betrayed by his generals, and abandoned by all, was spared by death, in 1605, the final ignominy of submission.

In the last terrible moments that decided the fate of the empire the courage and constancy of Job, the patriarch, may have faltered; he is said to have proffered, with other bishops, his submission to the pretender, but he nobly redeemed this momentary weakness. When Moscow, in flames, proclaimed the downfall of Boris, Job proceeded to the cathedral, and, while he was officiating at mass, the infuriated mob broke into the sanctuary, seized and dragged him from the altar. Job, in a loud voice, denounced the sacrilegious intrusion, and the rebellion against the Lord's anointed. "Here," said he, "before this sacred image of the Virgin, for nineteen years, I have fought the good fight and preserved the unity of the faith. Now I foresee the troubles of the Church and the triumph of falsehood and impiety. Mother of God, save Orthodox Russia!" Degraded from his office, insulted and beaten, he was hurried to confinement in the monastery of Staritza.

Dimitri signalized his accession to power by acts of clemency, especially directed towards such as had suffered from the tyranny of his predecessor; Philaret Romanoff became a recipient of his favor, and was made metropolitan of Rostov.

Once firmly established in the capital, the pretender gradually yielded to his predilection for foreign manners and customs. He no longer hesitated to display his contempt for the antiquated, barbarous usages of his