Article

Name: Paisius Ligarides on the establishment of the Moscow Patriarchate: sources and tasks of the polemicist

Authors: Svetlana K. Sevastyanova

Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section Study of literature

Abstract:

The paper examines the history of the establishment of the Moscow Patriarchate as told by Paisius Ligarides (1610‒1678), Metropolitan of Gaza. The analysis of the sources has revealed the following information. The polemicist interested in prophetic literature presents this theme as part of the idea of a chosen people and a chosen tsar. The prophecies about the “Russ” people borrowed by him from the “Oracles of Leo the Wise” fit into the centuries-old history of predictions about Russia as the guardian of the Orthodox faith’s purity. These predictions were widespread after the fall of Constantinople and actualized in the Greek tradition in the 17th century when the Romanov dynasty came to the throne. The story of Ligarides is also an edification for Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Ivan III Vasilyevich († 1505, reigning from 1462) and Fyodor Ioannovich († 1598, reigning from 1584) are known as organizers and reformers of the Russian state of the 16th century. Their deeds embodied a symphony of church and state authorities, symbolizing two facets of the ruler. It is this organic combination that the Metropolitan of Gaza was likely to expect in Alexei Mikhailovich: an autocrat fighting for his people with a sword and a Christian whose deeds expressed piety and holiness. The sole decision of the Patriarch of Constantinople Jeremiah II to establish the primatial see in Moscow is mentioned to demonstrate the scale and triumph of the establishment of patriarchy significant not only for the Russian Church but also for the entire Christian world.

Keywords: Paisius Ligarides, Metropolitan of Gaza, History of the Synod, Moscow Patriarchate, “Oracles of Leo the Wise”, Tsar Ivan III Vasilievich, Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, Patriarch of Constantinople Jeremiah II Tranos

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