Inquisition and Russia

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

On the right - the painting by G. G. Myasoedov "The Burning of Archpriest Avvakum", 1897

From the school history course, everyone knows about the crusades, about the baptism of Russia with fire and sword, and, of course, about the Inquisition, which did not hesitate to burn people alive.

But, speaking of the Inquisition, memories of the European medieval Inquisition come to mind, and rarely anyone guesses that the Inquisition also took place in Russia.

Vedic processes arose already in the XI * century, soon after the establishment of Christianity. Church authorities were investigating these cases. In the oldest legal monument - "The Charter of Prince Vladimir on Church Courts", witchcraft, sorcery and sorcery are referred to the number of cases that were examined and judged by the Orthodox Church. In the monument of the XII century. "The Word of Evil Dusekh", compiled by Metropolitan Kirill, also speaks of the need to punish witches and sorcerers by the church court.

… When (to people) any kind of execution finds, or robbery from the prince, or filth in the house, or illness, or their destruction to cattle, then they flow to the Magi, in those who seek help.

A word about evil dusekh

Following the example of its Catholic comrades-in-arms, the Orthodox Inquisition developed in the 13th century. methods of recognizing witches and sorcerers by fire, cold water, by weighing, piercing warts, etc. At first, the clergy considered those who did not drown in water and remained on its surface as sorcerers or sorcerers. But then, after making sure that most of the accused could not swim and were quickly drowning, they changed their tactics: they began to recognize those who could not stay on the water guilty. To discern the truth, the test of cold water, which was dripped onto the heads of the accused, was also widely used, following the example of the Spanish inquisitors.

The Novgorodian Bishop Luka Zhidyata, who lived in the XI century. As the chronicler notes, "this tormentor cut heads and beards, burned out his eyes, cut off his tongue, crucified and tortured others." Serf Dudik, who did not please his feudal lord in some way, was cut off by the order of Luka Zhidyaty and cut off his nose and both hands.

The chronicle for 1227 speaks of the execution of four wise men, who were first taken to the archbishop's courtyard, and then put on fire.

Around the same time in Smolensk, the clergy demanded the execution of the monk Abraham, accusing him of heresy and reading forbidden books - the proposed types of execution - to nail to the wall and set on fire, or drown.

In 1284, a gloomy law appeared in the Russian "Pilot Book" (a collection of church and secular laws): "If someone keeps a heretical scripture with him and believes in his magic, he will be cursed with all the heretics, and burn those books on his head. ". Apparently, following this law, in 1490 the Novgorod archbishop Gennady ordered to burn birch bark letters on the heads of convicted heretics. Two of the punished went mad and died, while Archbishop Gennady is canonized.

In 1411. Metropolitan Photius of Kiev developed a system of measures to combat witches. In his letter to the clergy, he proposed to excommunicate all who would resort to the help of witches and sorcerers. In the same year, at the instigation of the clergy, 12 witches were burned in Pskov for a pestilence allegedly sent to the city.

In 1444, on charges of sorcery in Mozhaisk, boyar Andrei Dmitrovich and his wife were popularly burned.

In the XVI century. the persecution of the Magi and Sorcerers intensified. The Stoglavy Cathedral of 1551 passed a series of harsh decisions against them. Along with the prohibition to keep and read "the disgusting heretical books", the council condemned the Magi, sorcerers and sorcerers, who, as the cathedral fathers noted, “deceive the world and excommunicate from God”.

In the "Tale of the Sorcery", which appeared under the influence of church agitation against witches and sorcerers, they were offered "with fire to burn." Along with this, the church educated the people in the spirit of irreconcilable hostility to medicine. Preaching that diseases are sent by God for the sins of people, the church demanded that the people seek healing in prayers, asking for "God's mercy" in "miraculous" places. The healers who treated with folk remedies were viewed by the church as mediators of the devil, accomplices of Satan. This view is reflected in the monument of the 16th century. - "Domostroy". According to Domostroi, sinners who left God and called sorcerers, sorcerers and sorcerers to themselves, prepare themselves for the devil and will suffer forever.

Summarizing all the accumulated experience in the fight against witchcraft and sorcery, at the insistence of the clergy, a special decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was issued in 1653, commanding "not to commit any godless deeds, not to keep renounced, fortune-telling and heretical books, not to go to sorcerers and sorcerers." The guilty persons were ordered to burn in the log cabins as God's enemies. This was not one threat. So, G. K. Kotoshihin says that for "sorcery, for witchcraft, men were burned alive, and women were cut off their heads for sorcery."

Four years earlier, the Zemsky Sobor in 1649 adopted the Sobornoye Ulozhenie - the code of laws of the Russian kingdom that had been in effect for almost 200 years, until 1832. Chapter one of the Cathedral Code begins with the article "On blasphemers and on church rebels"

1. There will be who are of the Gentiles, whatever the faith may be, or the Russian man will blaspheme the Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, or our Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary who gave birth to Him, or on an honest cross, or on His saints, and about that, find all sorts of detectives firmly. Let it be sishes about that beforehand, and after exposing that blasphemer, execute, burn.

The Code was signed by all the participants in the Council, including the Consecrated Cathedral - the highest clergy. Among the signatories was Archimandrite Nikon, who became patriarch a few years later.

In the future, the executions of heretics were carried out by the state authorities, but by order of the clergy.

The next events that led to the mass executions were the church reform of Patriarch Nikon (1650-1660), as well as the Church Council (1666), at which the Old Believers and all those who did not obey the church were anathematized and declared worthy of "corporal" execution.

In 1666, the Old Believer preacher Babel was captured and burned. A contemporary, Elder Serapion, wrote about this:.

In 1671, the Old Believer Ivan Krasulin was burnt to death in the Pechenga Monastery.

In 1671 - 1672, the Old Believers Abraham, Isaiah, Semyonov were burnt in Moscow.

In 1675, fourteen Old Believers (seven men and seven women) were burnt in Khlynov (Vyatka).

In 1676, it was ordered to "burn in a log house with roots and grass" Panko and Anosu Lomonosov for witchcraft with the help of roots. In the same year, the Old Believer monk Philip was burnt, and the next, in Cherkassk, the Old Believer priest.

On April 11, 1681, the old believers, Archpriest Avvakum and three of his companions in prison, Theodore, Epiphanius and Lazarus, were burned. In addition, in the writings of Avvakum, information about the burning of about a hundred more Old Believers has been preserved.

On October 22, 1683, the secular authorities sentenced the Old Believer to death Varlaam. In 1684, Tsarevna Sofya Alekseevna signed a decree "… on the punishment of those who dispel and accept heresies and schisms", if "… they begin to persevere with torture, but they will not bring conquest to the holy church …" submit, burn."

In the same year, the Old Believer preacher Andronicus was burned ("That little fellow Andronicus for evo against the holy and life-giving cross of Christ and the Church of Evo, the holy disgust to execute, burn").

Foreigners testified that on Easter 1685, at the direction of Patriarch Joachim, about ninety schismatics were burnt in log cabins.

V. Tatishchev (1686-1750), Russian historian and statesman, wrote in 1733:

Nikon and his heirs over the insane schismatics fulfilling their ferocity, many thousands were burned and chopped or expelled from the state.

The Orthodox Church carried out its inquisitorial activities through judicial bodies at the disposal of diocesan bishops, through the patriarchal court and church councils. It also possessed special bodies created to investigate cases against religion and the church - the Order of Spiritual Affairs, the Order of Inquisitorial Affairs, the Raskolnicheskaya and Novokreschenskaya Offices, etc.

At the insistence of the church, secular investigative bodies were also involved in cases of crimes against the church and religion - the Investigation Order, the Secret Chancellery, the Preobrazhensky Order, etc. Cases from the church authorities came here when the accused were to be tortured in order to “explain the true truth”. And here the spiritual department continued to monitor the conduct of the investigation, received interrogation sheets and "extracts." It jealously guarded its judicial rights, not allowing them to be belittled by the secular authorities. If the secular court did not show sufficient promptness or refused to torture the accused sent by the clergy, they complained about the disobedient to the secular authorities. At the insistence of the spiritual authorities, the government has repeatedly confirmed that local authorities are obliged, at the request of the diocesan hierarchs, to accept people sent by them "for a full search."

Vedic processes often grew very large, which was facilitated by the then practice of finding guilt by torture and executions. For example, in 1630, 36 people were involved in the case of one "vorozheyka woman"; in the case of Timoshka Afanasyev, which arose in 1647, 47 "guilty" were tried. In 1648, together with Pervushka Petrov, accused of sorcery, they "tortured" the truth from 98 people. Alenka Daritsa, brought to trial in 1648 for the same sin, was followed by 142 victims. With Anyutka Ivanova (1649), 402 people were tried for witchcraft, and 1452 people were tried in the process of Umai Shamardin (1664).

Vedic processes continued under Peter I, and the entire administrative and police apparatus of the feudal-serf state was involved in the fight against witchcraft.

In 1699, in the Preobrazhensky Prikaz, an investigation was conducted on charges of witchcraft against the pharmaceutical student Markov. The peasant Blazhonka was also tortured here for his intercourse with evil spirits.

In 1714, in the city of Lubny (Ukraine), they were going to burn one woman for sorcery. VN Tatishchev, who was in this city passing from Germany, the author of the "History of Russia", found out about this. He criticized the reactionary role of the church and sought to free the "free sciences" from religious tutelage. After talking with the accused, Tatishchev was convinced of her innocence and achieved the cancellation of the sentence. The woman was nevertheless sent to "humility" in a monastery.

The military regulations of Peter I in 1716 provided for the burning of warlocks, "if it did harm to someone with his sorcery, or really has an obligation with the devil."

The active role of clergy in organizing and conducting Vedic processes is also noted by the Nominal Decree of Empress Anna Ioannovna "On Punishment for Summoning Wizards and on the Execution of Such Deceivers" dated May 25, 1731.

According to this decree, the diocesan bishops were to observe that the fight against sorcery was waged without any condescension. The decree reminded that for magic the death penalty is assigned by burning. Those who, not “fearing the wrath of God”, resorted to sorcerers and “healers” for help were also subjected to burning.

It was by this decree that on March 18, 1736 in Simbirsk for heresy and witchcraft, the posad official Yakov Yarov, who was engaged in quackery, was burned.

As a result of interrogations, it was revealed that in 1730 Yarov treated many "sick" people in Simbirsk, not only at his own request, but also at the call of the Simbirsk townspeople themselves. During the interrogation, the indicated witnesses unanimously showed that Yarov was treating them for various diseases, and this was known not to them alone, but also to others, who were "more important than them"; as for his teachings, heretical books and magic, they had no suspicions about him; on the contrary, he seemed to them always "fearing" and kind.

The Simbirsk City Hall finishes the investigation about Yarov and transfers the whole case first to the office of the Voivodship Board, and then to the office of the Simbirsk province. Here again all the witnesses are questioned again, who unanimously repeat their testimony and say that “they did not notice blasphemy and hereticalism in Yarovo, they addressed him as a healer, received from him and drank exactly the herbs that he made, and from these herbs it has always been easier for them."

However, many did not like this course of the investigation, it was necessary to accuse Yarov of forbidden magic and witchcraft. Now the case is being transferred to the Kazan provincial chancellery. A new round of investigations begins with the use of torture, under the influence of which all the testimonies of both Yarov himself and all the witnesses change. Jacob confesses to hereticism and witchcraft. The investigation was conducted for four years, and upon completion the case was transferred to the Holy Synod, in the capital, and then were approved by the governing senate. Finally, the verdict was pronounced: to subject the heretic Yakov Yarov to burning. The execution of Yakov Yarov was carried out on March 18, 1736 in public on the main square of Simbirsk.

The last known burning took place in the 70s. XVIII century in Kamchatka, where a Kamchadalka sorceress was burned in a wooden frame. The captain of the Tengin fortress, Shmalev, supervised the execution.

During the years of the first Russian revolution of 1905, the progressive historian and public figure A. S. Prugavin managed to acquaint Russian society with the inquisitorial activities of monastic dungeons. The magazines of that time wrote that from the pages of his books "the horrors of the Inquisition" and if the Inquisition had already departed into the realm of legends, then the monastic prisons represent a modern evil, and even in the XX century. retained the specific features of misanthropy and cruelty.

1) E. F. Grekulov "Orthodox Inquisition in Russia"

2) Article by E. Shatsky "The Russian Orthodox Church and the Burning"

3) The article “History of sin. Orthodox Inquisition in Russia"

4) Wikipedia article "Execution by burning in the history of Russia"