How Patriarch Filaret managed to obtain the title of "Great Sovereign" and to elevate his son to the throne

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Fyodor Nikitich is the father of the first tsar from the Romanov family. He was destined to go through a difficult life path, to be twice in captivity for many years. Together with his son Mikhail Fedorovich, he was called upon to revive the country from the devastation after the Time of Troubles and to establish Russia's position in the international arena. He used the title "Great Sovereign" with the monastic name Filaret and the secular patronymic Nikitich. This is an egregious case. First, Russian patriarchs are not popes. They never encroached on secular power. Secondly, the Russian patriarchs were never named with the mention of a secular patronymic.

How did "zero" Romanov make his court career?

Fyodor Nikitich Romanov was a cousin of Tsar Fyodor, the son of Ivan the Terrible, and could legally claim the throne. In 1586 he was the governor of Nizhny Novgorod, in 1590 - the governor in the campaign against Sweden, and in 1593-94 - the governor of Pskov.

During the reign of Fyodor Ioannovich, Romanov was a courtyard governor and one of the three leaders of the Near Duma, and the tsar trusted him very much. But with the coming to power of Boris Godunov, the situation changed not in favor of Fedor Nikitich.

Why Godunov sent Fyodor Nikitich Romanov to the monastery

A denunciation was filed against the Romanovs, in which they were accused of intending to poison the tsar. Bags with roots were thrown into Nikitich's storeroom, which were found during the search. This was followed by the arrest of the Romanovs along with all their relatives and their friends. Fyodor Nikitich and his nephews were tortured. They tortured these people, trying to get them to confess and slander the Romanovs. But none of them went for it.

Fyodor Nikitich, his wife and relatives were sent to different remote cities to monasteries. The mournful circumstances of the life of the monk Filaret - disgrace and separation from his beloved family helped him to temper his character, and strong faith helped him to resist and not be broken.

The people who chose Boris Godunov to reign soon lost interest in him. During his stay at the court in the era of Ivan the Terrible, Godunov got used to intrigues and could not rise to the service of the anointed of God. The atmosphere in society was poisoned by the poison of self-interest and libel. In Moscow, news has already begun to come about an impostor who called himself Tsarevich Dimitri, the son of Ivan the Terrible. Suddenly, drought, famine and pestilence exacerbated the situation. The time of lawlessness and devastation is coming, robberies multiply. Too many regarded this as the wrath of God for the injustice and unjust persecution of the Romanov boyars and their inner circle.

After Godunov's death, False Dmitry I managed to reign on the Moscow throne, and in order to convince the people of the authenticity of his origin, he began to look for his imaginary relatives, most of which suffered under Godunov. Of the entire Romanov family, only a few people survived. Filaret Romanov was summoned to the capital and elevated to the rank of Metropolitan of Yaroslavl and Rostov. Filaret did not denounce the impostor - he decided to wait for an opportunity to change the situation in the state.

Political games of Patriarch Filaret: support for Shuisky, False Dmitry II and the Polish king

When the second impostor appeared, Filaret supported Patriarch Hermogenes in the fight against him, sending letters to the cities, in which he called for allegiance to the lawfully elected Tsar - Vasily Shuisky, warned against betrayal in the faith. Although he could claim the throne himself - by his origin he was no less worthy than Vasily Shuisky, and by the love of the people he was many times superior to him.

But that was not what bothered him. The detachments of the Tushinsky thief - False Dmitry II, consisting of Poles, Lithuanians, Russian Cossacks of the traitorous rabble, came close to Rostov. On their way, they burned, robbed and killed civilians. The same fate awaited the residents of Rostov. Rostov Metropolitan Filaret flatly refused to leave Rostov.

When the Tushinians burst into the city, he alone went out to the brutal crowd with words of exhortation, hoping to find in them the remnants of humanity. It didn't work. Metropolitan Filaret remained alive, his beaten and humiliated, barefoot, dressed in tattered Polish clothes, was taken to the impostor. However, there he was greeted with honor and named the patriarch. The impostor decided to seduce people like that. But Filaret did not bow before him. He was strictly monitored and forbidden to preach. There were many Orthodox Christians in Tushino, deprived of pastoral care - for this very reason Filaret stayed there and did not try to escape.

Returning from captivity in Tushino, Romanov, at the request of Patriarch Hermogenes, undertakes an ambassadorial mission - to agree on who should be king after Shuisky's death. The main task is to drag out negotiations with the Polish king Sigismund III in order to gain time to elevate his son Michael to the throne. In the Rzeczpospolita, they did not give up hopes of seizing the Russian throne and persuaded the Moscow boyars to recognize the fifteen-year-old son of Sigismund III Vladislav as tsar.

Filaret's tactic was to convince the prince Vladislav to accept Orthodoxy before ascending to the Russian throne. Filaret dragged out the negotiations as much as possible and, under plausible pretexts, refused to sign any agreements.

How Patriarch Filaret, being in Polish captivity, succeeded in elevating his son Michael to the throne

For half a year a diplomatic struggle was waged for the fate of the Russian throne. Cunning, falsehood, empty promises, threats were present from the Polish side. As a result, all members of the Russian delegation, including Patriarch Filaret, were arrested. They faced a long eight years of waiting and captivity.

Meanwhile, in Russia, Patriarch Germogen, Minin and Pozharsky are raising a militia against the Poles. Filaret Romanov was not destined to take part in the liberation of the Russian lands, he had to deal with their revival in the future. While he languished in captivity, a Zemsky Sobor was convened in Russia, which was to decide who should be the ruler of Russia. The imprisonment did not prevent Filaret from coordinating the actions of his supporters in Russia.

The result was not long in coming - in 1613, the Romanov party achieved the election of Mikhail to the Russian throne.

After what they experienced in the Time of Troubles, the Russian people clearly understood that only the election of a real tsar, who did not stain himself in any way, would help unite the devastated and tormented country. Smart, well-educated, handsome, like his father, Mikhail Fedorovich did not participate in any intrigue around the throne and did not strive for power. The boyars also suited this candidacy - he was young (he was only 16 years old), inexperienced, they thought they could manipulate him.

But the young tsar did not become a puppet in the hands of the warring boyar clans, but began to actually rule the state. He had enough wisdom not to take abrupt steps, he well understood that he did not have enough experience and opportunities for this - he got the country in a terrible state.

Mikhail Fedorovich managed to defeat the troops of the impostors (the three-thousandth Cossack army of Ivan Zarutsky, which supported the son of Maria Mnishek and False Dmitry II), signed the Stolbovsky agreement with the Swedes, and concluded the Deulinsky truce with the Poles. The conditions of the latter provided for the return to their homeland of all prisoners imprisoned during the Time of Troubles. Among them was the father of Tsar Mikhail - Patriarch Filaret.

A glaring case: the co-government of Patriarch Filaret and Mikhail Fedorovich

After his release from captivity and return to his homeland, Filaret became the patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and co-ruler of his son, receiving the title of "Great Sovereign". Of course, there was no question of any struggle between the son and the father - 23-year-old Mikhail unconditionally recognized the primacy of the parent. Mikhail's family life developed only on the second attempt, but happily. He married for love and was happily married. Gradually, peace and balance reigned in the state.

Realizing the need to return the lands taken by Poland, Mikhail Fedorovich carried out a military reform. But this was not enough, the army still had to be taught to win. The war started with Poland did not bring significant results. In 1634, the Polyanovsky Peace Treaty was concluded, which left all the previously conquered lands to Poland, except for Serpeisk. Russia was supposed to pay an indemnity of 20,000 rubles, but the Polish prince was obliged to leave forever his claims to the Russian throne.

Internal state affairs were in the best possible way. Overseas entrepreneurs willingly came to Russia, set up various industries and invested their funds in them. The newcomers formed entire settlements - settlements, with their own infrastructure. The era of economic prosperity has come - trade expanded, crafts developed, the standard of living of all segments of the population increased. The country grew rich and rebuilt again. Hunger and devastation were far behind. The tsar and the patriarch also took care of the cultural revival of the country, the printing yard and the huge tsar's library were restored. The Russian state was gaining an ever-increasing prestige in the world.

There were other influential people at the court of Ivan the Terrible. For example, his personal healer, whom even the most fierce guardsmen feared.