Page:Russian Church and Russian Dissent.djvu/91

76 An obscure citizen of Nijni-Novgorod, a butcher, Kozma Minime, raised the standard of revolt in behalf of Holy Russia and the persecuted faith. In rough and ready eloquence he appealed to the nation; "Let us rise," said he, "one and all, young and old; the time has come for us to risk our lives for the truth, but this even is not enough, we must sell our houses and lands, pledge our wives and children, to raise up armies for the deliverance of our country." As he spoke so he acted; he gave all he possessed to the common cause, and the people, electrified by his appeal, shamed by his example, rallied at his call, and chose him for their chief, with the title of "The Chosen One of all the russian Empire." Minime was gifted with sound sense, ready tact, utter disinterestedness, and self-abnegation. He gave as leader to the army Prince Dimitri Pojarsky, an able soldier, a true and honest patriot. A solemn fast was enjoined upon the whole land, and this furious outburst of national feeling, stimulated by religious enthusiasm, was universal and irresistible. Traitors and pretenders vanished before it; foreign invaders were driven from city to city. Moscow was recovered, and, in 1613, a great council of the clergy and people, in harmonious accord, renounced allegiance to Vladislas, and acclaimed Michael Romanoff, son of Philaret, as tsar. When Moscow was retaken Ignatius had fled to Poland for safety, and, in the absence of a patriarch, Michael was crowned by three metropolitans, one of whom, Jonah of the Steeps, was placed in charge of the patriarchate until more tranquil times might permit a regular election of a head of the Church.

The struggle against the Poles and the Swedes still continued, with varying success. The Trinity monastery was again besieged by a foreign army, but patriotism