The palace chambers kept secret the circumstances of how Godunov with his sister and supporters repelled the onslaught of the Shuiskys and Dionysius with their spiritual and secular allies on Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich. It is known that an acute conflict arose in early May. But around May 14, the struggle spilled out onto the streets of Moscow. The townspeople, led by the richest merchants - guests - literally besieged the Kremlin, demanding the divorce of the sovereign from his wife. The outcome of this popular indignation is well known.

The boyars, perhaps not without the participation of Metropolitan Dionysius, unexpectedly reconciled. The hero of the Pskov defense, Ivan Petrovich Shuisky, himself went to the Faceted Chamber, where "many merchants" were waiting for an answer to their petitions, announced the absence of anger against Godunov and invited the people to disperse. Then, according to the "New Chronicler", two of the merchants bitterly declared: "You have reconciled with our heads, and you, Prince Ivan Petrovich, are abyss from Boris, and we will perish."

Soon this gloomy prophecy was fulfilled. Already at night, the merchants were captured. After terrible tortures, seven guests were executed in Moscow "on fire", many townspeople were sent to prisons and exile. Godunov and his henchmen had enough oprichnik experience! To complete the dramatic effect, later - but not immediately - Ivan Petrovich Shuisky and his supporters "at the top" "disappeared". But the showiness of this historical scene, remarkably used by A. K. Tolstoy, does not prevent us from wondering the reasons for such a strange development of events.

Why did the indignant people meekly abandon the siege of the Kremlin and disperse to their homes, which the punishers broke into at night? What did the Shuiskys and the Godunovs agree on, what agreement did Metropolitan Dionysius bless, if they all could not but understand the inevitability of the final settlement? There is an opinion that the boyars were frightened by the scope of the popular movement, in the face of which they forgot their strife. That is, the Shuiskys and their supporters were frightened by the movement that they themselves had caused, which, judging by the behavior of the Muscovites, was under their control, and gave up their positions, receiving nothing from Godunov in return?

So what could be the basis for the "reconciliation" in the palace in May 1586? Numerous sources mention two demands of the Shuiskys, Metropolitan Dionysius, "the nobles of the Tsar's Chamber, and the guests of Moscow, and all the merchants": Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich had to divorce Tsarina Irina and remove the Godunovs. Obviously, something was promised to the discontented if the representatives of the "top" agreed to a truce, and the people went home. The entire experience of popular movements shows that if the citizens of the capital did not suffer a military defeat, they always sought immediate punishment for the temporaries who caused their discontent. Boris Godunov, all his relatives and supporters remained in their places. It is a different matter if a divorce from the Tsarina was promised, this is not a quick and intimate matter...

Assuming that Boris Godunov promised something - most likely not to interfere with the new marriage of the sovereign "for the sake of childbearing" - let's see how events developed. From June, Boris Fyodorovich became inseparable from the representatives of the strong and close-knit Romanov group of zemstvo boyars: the sons and relatives of the deceased Nikita Romanovich Yuriev; At royal receptions, he always appears accompanied by them. Try to reproach him for sympathizing with the former oprichniks! Having solidly strengthened his position in the Boyar Duma, Boris Fyodorovich did not forget the Church.

The arrival of Patriarch Joachim in Russia was a gift for Godunov. No matter how Metropolitan Dionysius behaved, the secular authorities honored Joachim as the highest church hierarch. There is no need for the Patriarch of Antioch to come for alms (and given the activity of Godunov's agents abroad, he may have been invited) [4]. It is important that his nominal authority was higher than that of the metropolitan lower on the church-hierarchical ladder.

In this regard, it is worth recalling the report of the Swedish agent in Russia, Peter Petrey, that when "the Moscow authorities and the common people decided to send the Grand Duchess to a monastery" and even chose a certain girl in her place (a relative of one of the most noble boyars, F. I. Mstislavsky), Boris Godunov persuaded the "patriarch" to divorce him [5]. Whom did Petreius have in mind when he spoke of the "patriarch"? If Metropolitan Dionysius, then, as the eminent Soviet historian A. A. Zimin rightly remarked, "the position of the metropolitan is obviously set forth incorrectly," although "the basis of the story is very plausible." If we are talking about Patriarch Joachim, then the attention of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich and Boris Godunov to his personality receives a very convincing explanation.

In any case, the arrival of the patriarch helped to put Dionysius "in his place." Since the Metropolitan of Moscow avoided a direct meeting with the Patriarch of Antioch, Joachim was sent to the Dormition Cathedral directly from the royal audience. As we remember, there was an embarrassment: taking advantage of the notions widespread in Russian society since the fall of Constantinople that the "Greeks" had lost true piety, while Russian piety was the highest and most perfect in the whole world, Dionysius publicly expressed his contempt for the Patriarch and the superiority of the First Hierarch of Moscow. The next move of the secular authorities was worthy of Godunov. The proposal to establish a patriarchate in Moscow clearly and definitely testified that it was with the rank of patriarch that the highest authority in the Orthodox Church was associated. It is not surprising that it was Tsarina Irina Feodorovna who took part in the plan to establish a patriarchal throne in Moscow, that Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, who was attached to her, supported the "idea", and Boris Godunov energetically negotiated with Joachim.

In this respect, the historical and journalistic legend is quite reliable. After the installation of Job by the Patriarch of Moscow, when this work was created, there was no need to invent the events of 1586, but it was possible to describe them with due praise to Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, noting the pious roles of Tsarina Irina and Boris Godunov. The refrain-sounding idea of the need to receive the blessing of all the authorities of the Orthodox East seems somewhat careless, but given that Job eventually received such a blessing, it is difficult to find sedition here.

And in 1586 it was unreasonable to demand the immediate installation of the Moscow Patriarch – after all, the metropolitan was Dionysius. Godunov did not even go so far as to officially appeal to the Eastern patriarchs, so there is no mention of the desire to have a patriarch in Moscow. After the death of Ivan the Terrible, the Ambassadorial Order was controlled by a powerful administrative businessman A. Y. Shchelkalov, a zemstvo clerk, who, together with N. R. Yuriev in 1584, "considered themselves tsars", because "after the death of the tsar, they seized the main administration".

Godunov had reason to assume that the clerk, who belonged to the zemshchina, but for many years in a row did the dirty deeds of Ivan the Terrible, would eventually become his ally. "An unusually cunning, clever and evil man", "a notorious scoundrel... A thin and two-faced fox... the most cunning Scythian who ever lived," as foreigners said about Shchelkalov, eventually became Boris Godunov's faithful dog (and, of course, betrayed his patron). But Malyuta's son-in-law had no reason to sing the praises of the clerk such as: "I have not heard of such a man, I believe that the whole world would be small for him. It would be fitting for this man to serve Alexander the Great!"

The favorites of the Terrible Tsar - the oprichnik Godunov and the zemstvo Shchelkalov - were still opponents. At the beginning of July 1586, in the midst of negotiations with the Patriarch of Antioch, Boris Fyodorovich even received as a grant the vast and lucrative volost of Vaga, which had previously been ruled by Shchelkalov. It is not surprising that the article list of the Ambassadorial Order described in detail the humiliation of Godunov's creature in the Assumption Cathedral!

Boris Godunov was not mistaken in preferring to act in the Orthodox East through Patriarch Joachim, with whom he had established mutually beneficial relations, rather than through the Ambassadorial Department. In addition, it had to be borne in mind that the desire to establish a patriarchate in Moscow, which was widely declared in the course of the struggle against Metropolitan Dionysius, could not be realized before it was possible to get rid of Dionysius himself. Too quick a positive response from the East could put Boris and Irina Fyodorovna in a very delicate position.