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An Early Theorist of Absolutism: Joseph of Volokolamsk

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2018

Marc Raeff
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Extract

The turn of the fifteenth century was a period of cultural and political crisis, not only in Western Europe, but in Russia as well. The nations of both East and West were confronted with choices which were to determine their cultural and political history for the next few generations.

In Russia, the reigns of Ivan III (1462-1505) and Basil III (1505-1533) were particularly remarkable for the number and variety of issues the country had to face. In the political domain, it was the end of the process of the gathering of Russian lands by Moscow; socially, it was the first act in the breaking down of the position of the old Moscow boyar class. It was also a time of great cultural fermentation marked by a struggle between rigid traditionalism and a serious effort to introduce an esprit critique, into the intellectual life of Russia. In Russia—a country where intellectual activity was limited almost exclusively to the religious sphere—this cultural fermentation had its most important repercussions in the ecclesiastical domain.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Slavic and East European Review , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , April 1949 , pp. 77 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1949

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References

1 Cf. Likhačev, D. S., Ku'tura Rusi epokhi obrazovanija russkogo nacional'nogo gosudarstva (Moscow, 1946), pp. 23 ff.Google Scholar, and Nacional'noe samosoznanie drevnej Rusi, (Moscow-Leningrad, 1945), pp. 82 ff., 95 ff. The author discusses the relation of this cultural ferment to the international and political situation of Russia at that time.

2 For an excellent discussion of the political and cultural role of the Judaizers, see Vernadsky, G., “Heresy of the Judaisers and Ivan III,” Speculum, VIII (October, 1933),436-54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 The present description of the life of Joseph is based on: Ovčinnikov, P. A. (ed.), “Žitie Prepodobnogo Iosifa Volokolamskogo,” Žtenija Imperatorskogo ObšŽestva Istorii iDrevnostej Rossijskikh Moskovskogo Universiteta, No. 3 (1903).Google Scholar Also Consult The Biographical Data Found in: Jakonov, M.D', Vlast' Moskovskikh gosudarej (St. Petersburg, 1889)Google Scholar; Ikonnikov, V. S., Opyt Issledovanij 0 Kul'tumom ZnaŽenii Vizantii V russkoj istorii (Kiev, 1869);Google Scholar KhrušŽov, I., Lssledovanije 0 SoŽincnijakh Iosifa Sanina, Prep, IgumenaVolockogo (St. Petersburg, 1868);Google Scholar Miller, O., “Vopros O Napravlenii Iosifa Volockogo,” Žurnal Ministerstva Narodnogo ProsviešŽnija, No. 137 (1868);Google Scholar And Žmakin, V., MitropolitDaniil I Jego SoŽinenija (Moscow, 1881).Google Scholar

4 For a detailed summary of Joseph's writings on this point, see KhrušŽov, op. cit., pp- 54ff.

5 “The Volokolamsk monastery leveled all individual traits of the monks under its rule and molded them into an average type of disciple attached to the monastery and the memory of its founder.” D'jakonov, , op. cit., p. 105 Google Scholar.

6 Miljukov, P. N., OŽerki po istorii russkoj kul'tury (Paris, 1931), II-i, 31.Google Scholar

7 Ržiga, V. F., Opyt po istorii publicistiki XVI-go veka—Maksim Grek kak publicist,Akademija Nauk SSSR, Institut russkoj literatury, Trudy, I (1934), 6ff. and 105.Google Scholar

8 In all fairness to Joseph, it must be said that he himself tried to discharge all these social duties fully. We have numerous testimonies that he saved many people fromdeath during the years of famine and destitution which desolated his province. Cf.KhrušŽov, op. cit., pp. 52ff.

9 Ržiga, op. cit., p. 108.

10 See the Epistles of Maxim the Greek of 1519 and 1525, for example, in ibid., pp. 6off.

11 Karpovich, M., “Church and State in Russian Hi*ory,” Russian Review, III, No.2(Spring, 1944), 10-12;Google Scholar Dvornik, F., “Diffusion of Greek Culture: IX. Byzantine Influences in Russia,” Geographical Magazine, XX, No.1 (May, 1947), 33.Google Scholar

12 Karpovich, , op. cit.,pp. 10-12.Google Scholar

13 The Church Slavonic edition of 1896 (Kazan) has been used throughout.

14 We may here recall the efforts of Maxim the Greek and his tragic fate.

15 KhrušŽov, op. cit., pp. v-vi.

16 Joseph uses the word “tsar” in its generic sense of ruler or prince. Our translation of “king” is a carry-over from Western terminology quite applicable in this case, we believe.

17 Volockij, Iosif, Prosvetitel’ (Kazan, 1896), p. 547.Google Scholar

18 Ibid., p. 488.

19 Volockij, Iosif,“PouŽenie knjazjam,” Pamjatniki starinnoj russkoj literatury, IV (1862), 184 Google Scholar.

20 Volockij, , ProsvetiteV, p. 547 Google Scholar.

21 Epistle of Joseph quoted in D'jakonov, op. cit., p. 121.

22 Caesaropapism was but one of the two trends in Byzantine political thought, the other being the doctrine of the “symphony” between Church and State (or the Patriarch and the Emperor). This latter doctrine, embodied in the Epanagoge, for example (attributed to Photius), was also known in Russia, where it found an ardent exponent in the person of Patriarch Nikon. See V. V. Sokolskij, “ O kharaktere i značenii Epanogogi,” Vizantijskij Vremennik, I (1894), 17-54 (especially pp. 28-41); Vernadsky, G., “Vizantijskie učenija o vlasti carja i patriarkha,” Recueil d'études dédiées à la mémoire de N. P. Kondakov (Prague, 1926), pp. 143-54.Google Scholar

23 Cf. Dvornik, , op. cit., p. 33,Google Scholar and the sections referred to above (p.1) of the works of D. S. Likhačev.

24 Volockij, Iosif, “Poslanie prosjavšego u nego poleznogo poučenija,” Pamjatniki starinnoj russkoj literatury, IV (1862), p. 192.Google Scholar

25 Volockij, , Prosvetite1', p. 286 Google Scholar.

26 Ibid., p. 325.

27 An Epistle of Joseph quoted in Žmakin, op. cit., pp. 93-94.

28 Volockij, , Prosvetitel', p. 280.Google Scholar

29 Volockij, “Poučenie knjazjam,” loc. cit.

30 Volockij, , Prosvetitel', p. 549.Google Scholar

31 Ibid., pp. 488-89.

32 Ibid., p. 547.

33 Volockij, “Poučenie knjazjam,” loc. cit.

34 Iosif Volockij's Epistle to Basil III, quoted in Valdenberg, V., Drevnerusskie učenija o predelakh carskoj vlasti (Petrograd, 1916), p. 216.Google Scholar

35 Cf. also Epistle quoted in Appendix to KhrušŽov, op. cit., pp. 263-64.

36 Volockij, , Prosvetitel', pp. 286-88.Google Scholar

37 Ibid.

38 Ibid., p. 547.

39 Valdenberg, , op. cit., p. 219.Google Scholar

40 Iosif Volockij, “Dukhovnaja—1507,” Drevnjaja Rossijskaja vivliofika, (2d ed.; 1790), Vol. XIV. For the details of this lengthy affair see KhrušŽov, op. cit., pp. 207 ff.

41 Epistle of Joseph quoted in D'jakonov, op. cit., p. 100

42 lbid., p. 212.

43 Cf. Likhačev, op. cit.