Church and Horde

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Another act of great importance was the issuance of a charter of immunity, or a label, for the Russian Church [1266 - K. P.]. Following the commandments of the Yasa of Genghis Khan, the predecessors of Mengu Timur did not include Russian abbots, monks, priests and sextons as “counted” during the census. Now the privileges of the clergy as a social group, including family members, were established; church and monastery land LANDS with all the people working there did not pay tax; and all "church people" were exempted from military service.

Mongolian officials were forbidden, on pain of death, to take away church lands or demand the performance of any service from church people. Anyone guilty of libel and defamation of the Greek Orthodox faith was also sentenced to death. To enhance the impact of the charter, the name of Genghis Khan was placed at the beginning. As gratitude for the granted privileges, Russian priests and monks were expected to pray to God for Mengu-Timur, his family and heirs. It was especially emphasized that their prayers and blessings should be zealous and sincere, “if any of the clergymen pray with a hidden thought, then he will commit a sin” …

Thanks to this label, as well as a number of similar ones issued by the heirs of Mengu-Timur, the Russian clergy and people under his jurisdiction constituted a privileged group, and thus the foundation of church wealth was laid”(G. V. Vernadsky“Mongols and Russia”).

So, the evil Mughal conquerors came, ruined Russia, killed the darkness of the common people, then went to the Volga, built cities there, and from there began to plunder Russia and execute their Mongol judgment and reprisals on it. But they did not ruin the Orthodox Church. On the contrary, they gave her unheard of benefits, protection and assistance. Why? But Genghis Khan did not order, or rather the spirit of Genghis Khan, embodied in Yasa.

Natural questions arise. Why such favors and was everything in order with the Mughals with their heads? I'll start with the latter. The Mughals were all right with their heads. And with hands too. The Mughal hands were grabbing. Then why such favors? Suppose the Mughals conquered Russia. Their desire to assert their power and consolidate their position would seem justified. To this end, they had to involve all kinds of collaborationist (that is, treacherous) elements in their joint activities. Although the word “collaboration” is translated from French “cooperation”, nevertheless, the meaning of this “cooperation” is quite definite. What happens? The Mughals rob, rape and mock the Russian people, and the church stands nearby and persuades, they say, be patient, Orthodox people, maybe somehow it will cost, God tolerated and told us to and so on. Yes, it does not just persuade, but also has a great economic benefit from this. And who will go to such a church to pray?

“Kiev was the metropolitan's chair from the very beginning in Russia. After the Mongol pogrom in 1240, Kiev lost its importance and could not recover for a long time. The metropolitans began to live for a long time in northeastern Russia, in Vladimir on the Klyazma, and at the end of the 13th century they finally moved to Vladimir, and then to Moscow. The Metropolitan, however, could not ignore the main center of Ulus Dzhuchiev - Saray. Every Russian Metropolitan of the XIII-XIV centuries had to travel to Sarai often and stay there for a long time. The idea was understandable - to arrange in the Saray something like a permanent representation. Such a representation was the Sarai Episcopal See, founded in 1261 by Metropolitan Kirill. For his part, the "Tatar Tsar" also demanded that a "big priest" be appointed to his capital. The Bishop of Sarai was, as it were, a representative of the Metropolitan of All Russia, just as this latter himself was in Russia, as it were, a representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople "(G. V. Vernadsky," The Mongol yoke in Russian history ").

Wow, the "Tatar Tsar" demanded a "big priest". Like, "Tsar Tatar" in Russian is bad "my yours understand, come on big ass"! Well, gentlemen historians, are we still going to mock our readers? "Tsar Tatar" in Russian is good "mine is yours, understand", however. I am quoting Ioann Plano Karpini from Karamzin's History: “We were shown a place on the left side, and Batu read with great attention the letters of Innokentiev (Pope Innocent 4th - KP), translated into Slavic, Arabic and Tatar”.

To be cunning, and even on such a petty occasion, is not the dignity of a learned man. However, the case is well-known. They write, and no one forces us to believe, trust, but verify. And what kind of "king of the Tartars" is this?

“The Mongol Khan became the country's first undisputed personal overlord. In Russian documents after 1240 he is usually referred to as "tsar" or "Caesar", which titles were previously assigned to the emperor of Byzantium. Not a single prince could come to power without first securing his letter - a "label". (R. Pipes, "Russia under the old regime").

Well, if in Russian documents this same "Mongol khan" is called "tsar", so it is necessary to call him "tsar" and not "Mongol khan" or, what is generally savage, "the Tatar king." Yes, this king is from the Chingizid dynasty, so what? Is he the wrong king? Or a fake king? And who is the correct king and the real one? Oh yes, it is clear that the real king is from the Rurik dynasty! And the Chingizids are usurpers!

But if we consider the Chingizids aliens, then why are the Rurikovichs better? They also "came" to Russia. And how are the Chingizids worse than the German woman Catherine II? By the fact that they went to Europe on a campaign and brought great horror to this Europe?

Let us return, however, to the relationship between the church and the Horde. Here is what Pipes writes in his book Russia Under the Old Regime: “The highest Russian hierarch, the Metropolitan of Kiev, when Kiev became depopulated, in 1299 transferred his throne to Vladimir. He had good reasons for maintaining close ties with the Horde, since during the Mongol rule, the church and monasteries were exempted from tribute and all other duties that were imposed on the population of Russia. This valuable privilege was stipulated in the charter, which each new khan had to confirm upon assuming power. Here's the most interesting thing - the new khan HAD to confirm the privileges of the Russian Church. I had to and confirmed. And the church strictly followed this matter, it turns out, and never let it go. Obviously, she did not really trust, if she forced each khan to reaffirm his, church, privileges. And then suddenly the new khan decides that the law was not written for him, and will encroach on the sacred.

A good word is "must". It can mean both a debt to the Almighty, and elementary political debts, or even just debts. Remember, king, to whom and what he owes his power! Of course, to God …

You might argue that Pipes wrote in English, there is no word for "must" in English. Okay. Replace the word "must" with some other Russian word, for example, "must". Try to construct your phrase differently. See if the meaning changes. In the end, instead of the word "should" leave the English word … Let the people decide for themselves.

Interestingly, what kind of letters were issued by the khans of the Russian church? Do you want to know? You are welcome.

Label of Khan Uzbek to Metropolitan Peter in 1313

“And behold, the Label of Yazbyak the Tsar, to Peter the Metropolitan, to the wonderworker of all Russia.

The highest and immortal God by his power and will and his majesty and mercy are many. Yazbyakov's word. To all our prince, great and middle and lower, and strong Voevods and nobles, and our appanage prince, and glorious roads, and a Polish prince high and lower, and a Scribe, a Charter, and a teaching human Governor, and a Collector and Baskak, and our Ambassador and Messenger, and Danshchik, and Scribe, and passing Ambassador, and our Catcher, and Falconer, and Pardusnik, and to all people, high and low, small and great, of our kingdom, in all our countries, in all our uluses, where ours, God is immortal by power, holds power and owns our word. Yes, no one will offend in Russia the cathedral church of Metropolitan Peter, and his people and his church; but no one collects acquisitions, estates, or people. And Peter knows the Metropolitan in the truth, and judges his people right, and rules his people in truth, in whatever it may be: in robberies, and in the act, and in the thief, and in all matters, Peter himself is the Metropolitan alone, or to whom he will order. Yes, everyone obeys and obeys the Metropolitan, all of his church clergy, according to their first law from the beginning, and according to our first letters, the first great Tsars and Defterm. Let no one enter into the Church and Metropolitan, since then God's all essence; and whoever intercepts, and hears our label and our word, he is guilty of God, and will take anger from him, and from us he will be punished by death. And the Metropolitan walks on the right path, but on the right path abides and dismounts, and with a right heart and right thought, all of his church governs and judges and knows, or who will command such deeds and rule. And we will not enter into anything, neither our children, nor all our Prince of our kingdom and all our countries, and all our uluses; let no one interfere with the church and the Metropolitan, neither in their volosts, nor in their villages, nor in any catch of them, nor in their side, nor in their lands, nor in their uluses, nor in the forests them, neither in the fences, nor in their volost places, nor their grapes, nor in their mills, nor in their winter quarters, nor in their horse herds, nor in all cattle herds, but all the acquisitions and estates of their churchly, and their people, and all their clergy, and all their laws laid down old from their beginning - then everything is known to the Metropolitan, or to whom he will order; let nothing be overthrown, or destroyed, or offended by anyone; May the Metropolitan abide in a quiet and meek life without any sense; Yes, with a righteous heart and right thought, he prays to God for us, and for our wives, and for our children, and for our tribe. And we also rule and favor, as the former Kings gave them labels and granted them; and we, along the way, temizh Labels favor them, but God will grant us, intercede; but we rave about God, and do not take what is given to God: but whoever takes from God, he will also be guilty of God; but God's wrath on him will be, and from us he will be executed by death; but seeing that, and others in fear will be. And our Baskaki, and Customs officers, Danish officers, Contestants, Scribes will go - according to our letters, as our word said and bore, so that all the cathedral churches of the Metropolitan will be whole, all his people and all his acquisitions will not be offended by anyone or from anyone., as the label has: Archimandrites, and Abbots, and Priests and all the clergy of the Church, let no one be offended by anything. Whether they are imprisoning a tribute on us, or whatever else wake up: whether it’s tamga, whether it’s popluzh, whether it’s a hole, whether it’s washed, whether it’s bridging, whether it’s war, whether we’re catching it or ours; or when we will command our men to collect from our uluses for our service, where we will delight the warriors, but from the cathedral church and from the Metropolitan of Peter, no one will charge, and from their people and from all his clergy: they pray God for us, and for us they are watching, and our army is being strengthened; Who else does not know even before us that God is immortal by strength and will, all live and fight? then everyone knows. And we, praying to God, according to the very first Tsars' letters, they were given a salary, and did not designate them in anything. As it was before us, so speaking, and our word weighed down. On the first path, which will be our tribute, neither our requests will be thrown on, or our ambassadors, or our Ambassadors will be, or our sterns and our horses, or carts, or the food of our Ambassadors, or our Queens, or our children, and whoever is, and whoever, let them not charge, let them not ask for anything; but what they take away, and they will give back a third, if they take it for a great need; but from us they will not be meek, and our eye does not quietly look at them. And that there will be church people, koi craftsmen, or scribes, or stone builders, or ancient ones, or other masters of whatever kind you wake up, or catchers of whatever kind of fishing you wake up, or falconers, and then no one intervenes in our business and let them not eat their; and our Pardusnits, and our Catchers, and our Falconers, and our Shorers, do not intervene in them, and do not charge them for their practical tools, and do not take anything away. And that their law, and in the law of their churches, and monasteries, and their chapels, do not harm them in any way, nor blaspheme; and whoever learns the faith to blaspheme or condemn, and that person will not apologize to anyone and will die an evil death. And that the Priests and their Deacons eat the same bread, and live in one house, who has a brother or a son, and those along the way, our salary; Anyone who will not speak from them, but does not serve the Metropolitan, but he lives by the name of a priest, but is taken away, but gives tribute. And the Priests, and the Deacons, and the clergy of the Church were granted from us according to our pen letters, and they stand praying to God for us with a right heart and right thought; and whoever teaches with a wrong heart to pray to God for us, then sin will be on him. And whoever will be a Pop, or a Deacon, or a clerk of the Church, or Lyudin, whoever will, from wherever, will want to serve the Metropolitan and pray to God for us, what the Metropolitan will have in mind about them, then the Metropolitan knows. So our word made, and I gave to Peter the Metropolitan a letter of this strength for him, so that all people, and all churches, and all monasteries, and all clergy clergy can see and hear this letter, may they not listen to him in anything, but obey him, according to their law and according to antiquity, as they have from ancient times. May the Metropolitan remain with a righteous heart, without any sorrow and without sorrow, praying to God for us and for our kingdom. And whoever intervenes in the Church and in the Metropolitan, and against him will be God's wrath, but according to our great torture he will not apologize to anyone, and will die an evil execution. So the label is given. So saying, our word did it. It was approved as such a fortress in the summer of the autumn, in the autumn of the first month of the 4th Old. It is written and given in full”(The label is cited from the publication: Tsepkov A. I.“Resurrection Chronicle”.

Historian A. G. Kuzmin, in his book History of Russia from Ancient Times to 1618, writes about the establishment of an Orthodox diocese in Sarai in 1261: “There were many Christians of all kinds in the Horde. The achievement of Russian diplomacy was that Bishop Mitrofan was ordained to the new diocese by Metropolitan Kirill. The adherent of Islam Berke went to this, apparently in order to weaken the influence in the Horde of Karakorum itself, which took a significant part of the tribute. The new diocese, of course, remained under the supervision of the khan's headquarters, but from now on Russia began to receive more recent and reliable information about the situation in the Horde."

According to A. G. Kuzmin, Berke agreed to establish a diocese in Sarai "in order to weaken the influence in the Karakorum Horde itself." What is meant by the words of A. G. Kuzmin? Specifically - under the word "influence". Imagine, big fellows come from Karakorum for money, and Berke, instead of money, begins to tell them that, they say, these Russians have built a church in Sarai and have turned everyone around with their Orthodox Christianity, and therefore, go back, good fellows, money you will not see.

Actually, it would be possible to come up with another version, so that the Karakorum collectors would not suspect that Berke is not at ease with his mind. It’s just, without any fancy, to invite them to return home, indulgently. A good word is influence. Inspires. If the Moguls were conquerors, then the liberation of the Russian Orthodox Church from all taxes and, in general, any support for it could end very sadly for them. Who are the princes? In a modern way, these are governors. What is their strength? Yes, they do not have any strength, each sits in his own province, rips off the peasants, repairs intrigues against neighbors and cheats the Horde with taxes. But the church is power. This is a single structure throughout the entire Horde space, plus strong ties abroad, for example, in Byzantium. I am sure that the Russian Orthodox Church had at its disposal sufficient material resources and influence on people so that, if it wanted to deal with the Horde, it would arm and inspire such an army that would grind the Horde to dust. Even if this army was a militia. That was clearly demonstrated on the Kulikovo field.

“During these years, the conflict between the Russian Church and Mamai broke out. In Nizhny Novgorod, on the initiative of Dionysius of Suzdal, the ambassadors of Mamai were killed. A war broke out with varying success, ending with the Battle of Kulikovo and the return of Chinggisid Tokhtamysh to the Horde. In this war, imposed by the church, two coalitions took part: the chimeric state of Mamaia, Genoa and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, that is, the West, and the bloc of Moscow with the White Horde - a traditional alliance, which was initiated by Alexander Nevsky "(L. N. Gumilev "Ancient Russia and the Great Steppe").

Gumilyov's words convey the situation that arose in the 70s of the XIV century. This situation was a consequence of the "decision" of the Horde on the allocation of economic benefits to the Russian Orthodox Church. But has the Horde "decided"? Maybe she was advised to "solve"?

Many historians find it difficult to understand what the strength of the Russian Orthodox Church is. And her strength lies in the fact that she is always with the people. The church cannot be without the people, because otherwise they will not go to the church to pray. And no overseer will drive you there and will not force you to donate to the temple.

And the state is not always with the people, and therefore the state in Russia is always in danger. Alexander Nevsky said: "God is not in power, but in truth." We must be very careful about these words. They are the recognition of the great politician of that era that the Russian Orthodox Church was the true master of life in Russia.

If, for example, you look at the times when the "Tatar yoke" dissipated like smoke, you can see that the position of the church in the Russian state, not oppressed by the "alien Mongols", has significantly deteriorated. “The Church in the Moscow state remained the bearer of spiritual values and national ideology. But by the 16th century. the church turned into the largest landowner, whose wealth, despite the policy of terror against it by Ivan IV, still increased in the 16th century …

The church had some independence in government and court. It was like a state within a state, headed by the highest hierarchs. The patriarch, metropolitans, archbishops had their nobles and boyar children, their own local system, white settlements (not taxed) in cities, their own court, and the patriarch - higher institutions - orders.

Sobornoye Ulozhenie went on the offensive against these rights. It established a secular court for the clergy, depriving the church of one of its important sources of income in the form of court fees. White settlements and trade establishments were confiscated in the cities. This greatly undermined the power of the church, for it previously owned at least 60% of all tax-free city property.

But an even more severe blow to the economic power of the Russian Church was dealt by the prohibition on the transfer of land estates to it, both clan, so favored and purchased. The ban applied to all forms of alienation (purchase, mortgage, commemoration, etc.). For the commemoration, money could be given - the price of an estate sold to the side or to relatives. Violation of the law entailed the confiscation of the estate to the state fund (“without money”) and its distribution to petitioners-informers.

The government’s actions angered the clergy. Patriarch Nikon, who sought to make his position higher than the tsar's, called the Cathedral Code a "demonic book." But these measures were already in the 17th century. resolved in favor of the state power the dispute that had begun with the church about priorities, about supremacy. The reforms of Peter I and the secularization of church lands carried out in the 18th century, destroying the power of the church, put the last point in this dispute "(L. P. Belkovets, V. V. Belkovets" History of the State and Law of Russia ").

Like this. The conquerors owned Russia - and the church flourished, but as the Russians came to power, let’s oppress it and curtail it in every possible way. There is something to think about. Or maybe the situation is much simpler? In Horde Rus, the church occupied a dominant position, and already in Muscovite Rus and in the Romanov Empire, its importance began to decline, and it began to decline precisely due to the rise of the state, which was still weak under the Horde.