The great Greek enlightener of the Russians, Saint Maximos the Greek (1470–1556) [21 January], spent the final five years of his life at the Lavra of the Holy Trinity, founded by Saint Sergius of Radonezh (1314–1392) [25 September].
There Tsar Ivan the Terrible (1530–1584) visited him, as he was traveling with Tsarina Anastasia and the young Tsarevich Dmitri on a pilgrimage to Saint Cyril in Belozersk.
Saint Maximos tried — ultimately without success, despite great persistence and at the risk of his life — to persuade the religiously obsessive ruler, instead of making pointless pilgrimages, to help poor women and unprotected orphans, victims of the war for the liberation of Kazan from the Turks.
He received him in his cell with the following conciliatory words, for the sake of discernment:
“I thank Almighty God, Tsar Ivan, who deemed me worthy to see you with my own eyes before the time comes for them to close. May divine protection accompany you, great king of Orthodoxy! And if it pleases you, receive also my humble blessing.”
“That is why you see me here, elder,” replied the tsar, “because I wish to have your blessing — both I and the tsarina and the young tsarevich, who is not yet a year old.”
“I have heard, my tsar,” said the Saint, “that you are planning a great journey. Is it as they say?”
“Indeed,” answered Ivan. “I am going to Belozersk to venerate Saint Cyril. Such is my vow.”
“When you were,” said the Saint then, “gravely ill, I prayed to all the saints. I also prayed to the wonderworking icon of the Mother of God of Vatopaidi. But I did not go to Vatopaidi! From here, from within my cell, I implored her on your behalf. And the Mother of God heard me…”
The tsar was puzzled. It was not so much the words as the Saint’s tone of voice that displeased him. Observant as he was, Ivan realized that what he had heard needed to be “unwrapped,” examined, and its meaning quickly discerned.
He asked him:
“And is it not good that I go to fulfill my vow?”
“It is not good!” came the answer without hesitation.
“But I am going to venerate Saint Cyril in his very monastery!”
“Tsar Ivan! When you have the opportunity to do a great good and you do not do it, and instead of the great good you do another, smaller one, then reckon that you are not doing good but evil! Reckon it as owing five and giving one. The debt still remains.”
“And what is it that I am not giving? What is the ‘great good’ that I am not doing?”
“Prayers of words are very many, but above all, Tsar Ivan, is the prayer of deeds. The Lord said: ‘Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father’ (cf. Matt. 7:21). And you now, instead of deeds, are going to speak words. That is the evil you are doing!”
Ivan fell silent. He was thinking of nothing. He only felt within himself a great anger at the Saint’s words.
“And what do you tell me to do?”
“Last year you took Kazan from the unbelievers, and many brave Christian warriors fell before the fortresses… They left behind widows, children, orphans, bereaved mothers, and the unprotected. These, then, think of now. Return to Moscow and sit down to consider how you might lighten their pain.”
Placing his palm over his heart, the Saint added, with inexpressible supplication etched upon his face:
“Do as I tell you, and I will pray for you night and day until my death, and even after my death. Show your compassion to those who suffer. There is no better prayer than this! And be certain, my tsar, that the Lord will hear such a prayer and will glorify your name forever!”
Ivan the Terrible turned to him and said:
“Elder, what you say can be done, and also what I have in mind. One does not prevent the other!”
“It does prevent it!” cried the Saint with sacred fervor. “It prevents it greatly, Tsar. I beseech you, listen to me: it is not only that you will relieve widows, the poor, and other afflicted people. Even more important is the Example! What I am telling you now, I am not saying from my own poor understanding. Listen carefully. You make the beginning; teach the people — you, the tsar — to abandon words and give value to deeds. This is what the Lord asks of us, and nothing else. And behold, Tsar Ivan, the moment has come! Now that your kingdom has grown strong and invincible, now has the time arrived, in your reign, for Christianity to become at last a religion of deeds.”
The tsar interrupted him rashly:
“And if I continue the journey, elder, as I have begun it?”
“If you continue it, you will do great evil! And the pain you will suffer will be commensurate… But you personally will also suffer great harm — and very soon.”
“What harm do you speak of?” asked the tsar angrily.
“Where you are going now, you will lose the tsarevich!” answered the Saint plainly, having direct divine knowledge.
Ivan turned pale. He was frightened by this ominous prophetic word, yet stronger than fear within him was uncontrollable rage.
“What? Are you threatening me? How dare you, a mortal, tell me things that only God decides? Take back what you said about the tsarevich!”
In the tsar’s eyes the man of God saw terror at the possible fulfillment of the prophecy. Within the tsar’s terror glimmered his only hope.
“Help me, my Christ!” he said, making the sign of the Cross.
And approaching Ivan, he looked him straight in the eyes:
“Tsar Ivan,” he said, “if you do not heed my words, you will lose the child!”
Beside himself with fury, Ivan growled like a wild beast, struck the floor violently with his foot, and rushed toward the door.
The journey took place, as expected. The powerful tsar scorned the appeal to philanthropy of the Greek Saint Maximos, which might have occasioned a broader change of mentality among many religious formalists. According to the prophecy, however, Tsarevich Dmitri, the firstborn son of Ivan the Terrible, could not endure the hardships of the pilgrimage journey and died on the road.
Source: “Gifts and the Gifted,” Publication of the Holy Monastery of the Parakletos. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
There Tsar Ivan the Terrible (1530–1584) visited him, as he was traveling with Tsarina Anastasia and the young Tsarevich Dmitri on a pilgrimage to Saint Cyril in Belozersk.
Saint Maximos tried — ultimately without success, despite great persistence and at the risk of his life — to persuade the religiously obsessive ruler, instead of making pointless pilgrimages, to help poor women and unprotected orphans, victims of the war for the liberation of Kazan from the Turks.
He received him in his cell with the following conciliatory words, for the sake of discernment:
“I thank Almighty God, Tsar Ivan, who deemed me worthy to see you with my own eyes before the time comes for them to close. May divine protection accompany you, great king of Orthodoxy! And if it pleases you, receive also my humble blessing.”
“That is why you see me here, elder,” replied the tsar, “because I wish to have your blessing — both I and the tsarina and the young tsarevich, who is not yet a year old.”
“I have heard, my tsar,” said the Saint, “that you are planning a great journey. Is it as they say?”
“Indeed,” answered Ivan. “I am going to Belozersk to venerate Saint Cyril. Such is my vow.”
“When you were,” said the Saint then, “gravely ill, I prayed to all the saints. I also prayed to the wonderworking icon of the Mother of God of Vatopaidi. But I did not go to Vatopaidi! From here, from within my cell, I implored her on your behalf. And the Mother of God heard me…”
The tsar was puzzled. It was not so much the words as the Saint’s tone of voice that displeased him. Observant as he was, Ivan realized that what he had heard needed to be “unwrapped,” examined, and its meaning quickly discerned.
He asked him:
“And is it not good that I go to fulfill my vow?”
“It is not good!” came the answer without hesitation.
“But I am going to venerate Saint Cyril in his very monastery!”
“Tsar Ivan! When you have the opportunity to do a great good and you do not do it, and instead of the great good you do another, smaller one, then reckon that you are not doing good but evil! Reckon it as owing five and giving one. The debt still remains.”
“And what is it that I am not giving? What is the ‘great good’ that I am not doing?”
“Prayers of words are very many, but above all, Tsar Ivan, is the prayer of deeds. The Lord said: ‘Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father’ (cf. Matt. 7:21). And you now, instead of deeds, are going to speak words. That is the evil you are doing!”
Ivan fell silent. He was thinking of nothing. He only felt within himself a great anger at the Saint’s words.
“And what do you tell me to do?”
“Last year you took Kazan from the unbelievers, and many brave Christian warriors fell before the fortresses… They left behind widows, children, orphans, bereaved mothers, and the unprotected. These, then, think of now. Return to Moscow and sit down to consider how you might lighten their pain.”
Placing his palm over his heart, the Saint added, with inexpressible supplication etched upon his face:
“Do as I tell you, and I will pray for you night and day until my death, and even after my death. Show your compassion to those who suffer. There is no better prayer than this! And be certain, my tsar, that the Lord will hear such a prayer and will glorify your name forever!”
Ivan the Terrible turned to him and said:
“Elder, what you say can be done, and also what I have in mind. One does not prevent the other!”
“It does prevent it!” cried the Saint with sacred fervor. “It prevents it greatly, Tsar. I beseech you, listen to me: it is not only that you will relieve widows, the poor, and other afflicted people. Even more important is the Example! What I am telling you now, I am not saying from my own poor understanding. Listen carefully. You make the beginning; teach the people — you, the tsar — to abandon words and give value to deeds. This is what the Lord asks of us, and nothing else. And behold, Tsar Ivan, the moment has come! Now that your kingdom has grown strong and invincible, now has the time arrived, in your reign, for Christianity to become at last a religion of deeds.”
The tsar interrupted him rashly:
“And if I continue the journey, elder, as I have begun it?”
“If you continue it, you will do great evil! And the pain you will suffer will be commensurate… But you personally will also suffer great harm — and very soon.”
“What harm do you speak of?” asked the tsar angrily.
“Where you are going now, you will lose the tsarevich!” answered the Saint plainly, having direct divine knowledge.
Ivan turned pale. He was frightened by this ominous prophetic word, yet stronger than fear within him was uncontrollable rage.
“What? Are you threatening me? How dare you, a mortal, tell me things that only God decides? Take back what you said about the tsarevich!”
In the tsar’s eyes the man of God saw terror at the possible fulfillment of the prophecy. Within the tsar’s terror glimmered his only hope.
“Help me, my Christ!” he said, making the sign of the Cross.
And approaching Ivan, he looked him straight in the eyes:
“Tsar Ivan,” he said, “if you do not heed my words, you will lose the child!”
Beside himself with fury, Ivan growled like a wild beast, struck the floor violently with his foot, and rushed toward the door.
The journey took place, as expected. The powerful tsar scorned the appeal to philanthropy of the Greek Saint Maximos, which might have occasioned a broader change of mentality among many religious formalists. According to the prophecy, however, Tsarevich Dmitri, the firstborn son of Ivan the Terrible, could not endure the hardships of the pilgrimage journey and died on the road.
Source: “Gifts and the Gifted,” Publication of the Holy Monastery of the Parakletos. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
