Russian The Last Tsar: Power, Revolution, and the End of an Empire

The text below is the excerpt of the book The Last Tsar (ISBN: 9781644617953), written by Łarysa Jermiłowa, published by Parkstone International.

January 1613. A deputation of boyars and high-ranking clergy followed by a crowd is marching along the ancient road from Kostroma to the Ipatiev Monastery, carrying a thaumaturgy icon of Our Lady, the Gospels, a cross, the royal staff and a huge mica lantern. The deputation’s task is to advise the young boyar Mikhail Romanov, who is living with his nun mother Marfa at the Ipatiev Monastery, of the decision of the Zemsky Sobor (the Grand National Assembly) to elect him to tsardom. They are going to ask Mikhail Fyodorovich Romanov to accept the trust put in him by the Russian people.

This event was preceded by a long period of bloody strife in Russia that came to be known as the “Times of Troubles” during which, the Russian state practically disintegrated and the country was reduced to ruin and chaos. During the “Times of Troubles”, Russia was occupied by Poland; Novgorod and Pskov were seized by Sweden; Russian lands were ransacked by Lithuanians, Poles and by huge bands of brigands. For a while, a usurper – the False Dmitry – ruled in Moscow, installed on the Russian throne by the Polish army. It seemed the country was totally lost. But at that critical moment the Russian people, inspired by patriotic feelings, rallied against the invaders.

From the porch of the Cathedral of the Assumption in Nizhni Novgorod, Kuzma Minin appealed to the people to rise to defend their country. A volunteer army was formed and led by Prince Pozharsky to liberate Moscow. Russia won a chance to restore its unity and statehood.

Immediately after the liberation of Moscow, the higher clergy and elected representatives were summoned to Moscow for an assembly, the purpose of which was to choose a tsar. According to the historian Vassily Klyuchevsky, this was “the first ever truly representative Zemsky Sobor in which even the common folk of town and country took part.” The deputies spent three days fasting, to purify themselves from the sins of the “Times of Troubles”, and praying that God could direct them to elect a tsar “not of their inclination” but by the will of the people, sanctified by religion. Petitions were received by the Sobor from the gentry and the merchant class, from the cities of the Russian North and even from the Cossacks in the South, all pleading the cause of the young boyar Mikhail Romanov. The chronicles say on the subject: “The superiors and all people, praying for God’s mercy, began to think of how to make a righteous choice for the Muscovy throne, given by God and not by man…” And the same thought came to all, not only to the lords and the civil servants, but also to all common Orthodox Christians…

They cried of one accord: “by the love of us all, we shall have as sovereign of the Moscow state, Mikhail Fyodorovich Romanov Yuriev”. The final decision was left to the Russian people and word came from everywhere that people, young and old, had the same conviction: “Mikhail Fyodorovich Roma nov should be tsar”. It was widely known that Mikhail’s father, the Metropolitan Philaret, when besieged by the Poles in the city of Rostov, locked himself in the cathedral with the townsfolk and urged them to fight and not surrender. The enemy finally broke into the cathedral, massacred its defenders and took the Metropolitan prisoner. Another weighty factor for the sixteen year old Mikhail was his connection with the lawful royal dynasty. He was the grandson of Ivan the Terrible. And so, on January 13, 1613, the deputation appealed to the young boyar at the Ipatiev Monastery to accept the scepter of the tsar of Russia.

To begin with, his mother Marfa was adamant in refusing but she eventually knelt before the thaumaturgy icon of Our Lady and blessed Mikhail to tsardom.

The first thing the young tsar did after being anointed to sovereignty was to obtain the release of his father from imprisonment and to make him the Metropolitan of Moscow and of all Russia. The return of Metropolitan Philaret was an event of outstanding importance. In Moscow’s Cathedral of the Assumption, he was consecrated Patriarch and, until his death, not only headed the Church but was also associated with his son in the government of the country on an equal footing…

(To be continue)

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