It should be noted that, concerned about the "progress of the faith in Christ," the orator did not at all intend to ask Joachim to immediately bless the Patriarch of Moscow. The equerry boyar Boris Fyodorovich Godunov, who was immediately sent to the metochion of the Patriarch of Antioch and, as noted in the legend, conveyed to him word for word the "royal speech", in no way hurried Joachim.

"You would advise about this with His Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch (of Constantinople. — A.B.), and His Holiness the Patriarch would advise on such a great matter with all of you, patriarchs... and the archbishops, and the bishops, and the archimandrites, and the abbots, and with the entire consecrated council; and to the Holy Mountain [to Mount Athos] and to Sinai, so that God would grant that such a great deed would be arranged in our Russian state, and if we thought about it, we would be told how it would be appropriate for that deed to take place."

As the legend relates, Patriarch Joachim adhered to exactly the same position: that it was "suitable" for a patriarch to be in Moscow, but that such a great deed could not be accomplished without consulting with other patriarchs and the authorities of the Eastern Church. The guest promised that he would soon organize such meetings.

With this answer, Boris Godunov returned to the sovereign, who received from the Boyar Duma the full approval of "his" plan, with the only proviso: the patriarchal throne should be established in Moscow with the consent of the entire Eastern Church, "let not the Latins and other heretics who write on our holy faith say that in Moscow the patriarchal throne was established by the tsarist power alone."

"All this happened," writes the famous church historian Metropolitan Macarius, "in the days of Metropolitan Dionysius, when Job was only Archbishop of Rostov; consequently, the completely arbitrary opinion is known that Boris Godunov himself conceived the idea of establishing a patriarchate in Russia in order to elevate his favorite, Metropolitan Job, to this rank, and all the more to attract him to himself for his ambitious purposes."

But what role did Metropolitan Dionysius play in the events described? According to the list of articles, he took a tough and conflicting position in relation to Patriarch Joachim, who arrived in Moscow. He refused to receive a guest, even when he was received by Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich. An attempt to bring the two hierarchs together in the Assumption Cathedral, where Dionysius was supposed to serve the Liturgy, led to the cruel humiliation of Joachim. The Patriarch even visited the Chudov Monastery with the permission of the sovereign, and not at the invitation of the Metropolitan, who demonstratively avoided meeting Joachim in his monastery residence!

S. M. Solovyov asserts that "it was the arrival of Patriarch Joachim in Moscow and this (in the Assumption Cathedral. — A. B.) his clash with Metropolitan Dionysius... prompted Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich to take a decisive step. Perhaps this is true. But if, as the eminent historian believes, it was a matter of demonstrating "the incongruity of the relations of the Moscow metropolitan with the patriarchs," then the Russian secular and spiritual authorities, driven by the same "motive," should have acted together.

Meanwhile, according to both of our sources, Metropolitan Dionysius does not take any part in the decision on the establishment of the Moscow Patriarchate. According to the legend, the tsar consults in such an important matter not with the metropolitan, but with his wife, the plan is discussed by the boyars in the absence of Dionysius, and not the clergy, but Boris Godunov negotiate with Joachim. At the same time, all the participants in the discussion insistently emphasize the need to postpone the final decision of the issue to the future, when the organization of the patriarchal throne in Moscow receives the approval of the Orthodox East.

Two years later, when Dionysius would no longer be in the metropolia, no one would remember this necessity (at least in official circles)! The first Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia will be blessed by the only Eastern Patriarch who happened to be at hand. And in 1586, events pass by Dionysius and are clearly not in his favor, and the Metropolitan of Moscow himself does not at all show a desire to receive a blessing from a visiting Greek, with whom Boris Fyodorovich Godunov personally negotiates.

Palace Troubles

It was at this time that a fierce struggle for power took place, which was remarkably reflected by A. K. Tolstoy in the drama "Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich". The powerful clan of the Shuisky princes, opposing the Godunovs, with the support of Metropolitan Dionysius and Bishop Varlaam of Krutitsy, as well as the upper echelons of the Moscow posad, appealed to Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich with a petition for divorce from the childless Tsarina Irina and a new marriage "for the sake of childbearing".

We are talking about the continuation of the Rurik dynasty, but at the same time about the power of Boris Godunov in the palace. There was a precedent: the witnesses of the divorce of Grand Duke Vasily III with the childless Solomonia Saburova, who was related to the Godunovs, were still alive. Of course, a cunning descendant of the Horde mirza, who grew up at the court of the bloodthirsty and suspicious tsar, the former oprichnik Godunov based his influence not only on the power of his sister Irina over the weak-willed and feeble-minded Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich.

The tsar's brother-in-law had already managed to appropriate to himself the title of equerry boyar, the senior in the Duma, which had once been liquidated by Ivan the Terrible. Of the 13 people granted by the new tsar as boyars, 8 belonged to Godunov's group. Boris was distinguished by the incredible resourcefulness of a man who managed to survive the massacre and make his way to the top, remaining in the shadows, as well as the ability to find unexpected allies. But the Shuisky aristocrats also had a powerful position in the Duma, and most importantly, they could use the deepest hatred of the people for the heritage of the oprichnina.

After the death of the most influential in the government and popular among the people Zemstvo boyar Nikita Romanovich Yuriev on April 23, 1586, a deadly battle between the Godunovs and the Shuiskys became inevitable. Striking a blow at Tsarina Irina Feodorovna, the boyars, the metropolitan and their allies were ready to do anything to simultaneously destroy the tsar's brother-in-law and his relatives. Boris Godunov understood that his opponents would not stop at expelling Irina from the palace. In the life of Malyuta Skuratov's son-in-law, women played too big a role for him to underestimate their support and give up his sister.