During Mityai’s tenure of office, February, 1378, to August, 1379, there was a new crisis in Tsargrad. Andronicus, the Emperor, was dethroned, and Makarios, the Patriarch, excluded. The new Patriarch decided in favor of Mityai, so the exclusion of Makarios was not harmful to Mityai; it only delayed his affair, since the new Patriarch, Nilos, was not installed,—he was only appointed. Meanwhile, Mityai enjoyed every right of his office, save the power to ordain men. The chronicler states that no one had so much glory and honor in Moscow as Mityai. At that time he seemed the very model of majesty. Imposing of stature, lofty and vigorous, with a flowing beard and a beautiful countenance, of smooth and clear speech, a master of ancient sayings, and of proverbs from books, from spiritual experience, and from popular knowledge, he surpassed all men in dignity of mind and body. No man in his office had dressed in such taste, and so imposingly.
The Grand Prince was delighted; he was flattered by the success of his favorite and adviser. But by common men and the clergy, Mityai was detested; none desired him. Bishops, abbots and monks were imploring Heaven not to let Mityai become metropolitan. Mityai relied on the Grand Prince, and cared not [[375]]a whit for his enemies. All the more were people opposed to him that he was haughty, stern and harsh to subordinates; he judged them himself, by his own power, and punished severely.
News was received now that Cyprian was approaching Moscow with a train of attendants and servants requiring forty-six horses. Measures were taken at once not to admit him. Couriers with letters addressed to him were seized; sentries were stationed in needed places to stop him, and, as Cyprian neared Moscow, he was arrested. The boyars sent to capture him took all his property, covered him with ridicule and curses, and confined him, without food, in a damp, loathsome chamber. Envoys from the Patriarch, traveling with Cyprian, were insulted. They, with their Patriarch and Emperor, were called “Lithuanians.” What the servants of Cyprian had was taken from them; they were seated on their horses without saddles, and the horses were lashed away from the city. The next day at nightfall, after Cyprian had been twenty-four hours without food, and in confinement, he was conducted from Moscow by the boyars who had seized him. Stopping at no great distance from the city, Cyprian wrote to Sergai and Feodor, the abbots, touching what he had suffered. He opposed the unlawful claims of Mityai, and cursed the men who had arrested him.
After this event, Mityai had a talk with the Grand Prince. “It is written in the rules of the Apostles,” said he, “that two or three bishops may ordain a new bishop. If I have thy favor, command all the bishops in thy dominion to assemble in Moscow and ordain me.” Dmitri and his intimate boyars approved of this proposal. It would save trouble, and the expense of going to Tsargrad. Command was then given to all bishops in Russia to assemble. They came, one after another, and went to be blessed by the new, so-called, metropolitan. But Dionisi, the Bishop of Suzdal, being indignant at Mityai, would not approach him. Bowing to the assembly and the Grand Prince, he spoke as follows: “We have come at thy command, and we see that thou wishest, through us, to create a metropolitan, but we may not break the law given to us. Blessing must be had from the Patriarch. That is the law given anciently.”
The appointed metropolitan, seeing his plan put to shame, and provoked by men who incited both him and Dionisi, sent a reprimand to the latter in these words: “Why not come to me [[376]]for a blessing? Have I not power over thee, and in the metropolis? Knowest who I am?” Dionisi then went to Mityai, and answered: “Thou sayst that thou hast power over me; thou hast none. If thou hast power, say thyself who, according to Scripture, is greater, a priest or a bishop? It is for thee to bow before me and be blessed, for thou art a priest, while I am a bishop.” “Thou hast called me a priest?” shouted Mityai. “Me, an abbot, and an appointed metropolitan! Know then that thou wilt not be even a priest during my day. With my own hands I will strip off thy vestments; only wait till I come from the Patriarch!”
A fierce quarrel rose between them. Dionisi declared that he himself would go to the Patriarch. The following words may have burst from him: “We shall see who, thou or I, will be metropolitan!” Mityai told the Grand Prince that Dionisi uttered them, and begged him to repress the Suzdal bishop.
The Grand Prince detained Dionisi, and a strong guard was placed over him. He was informed that he could go to Tsargrad only after Mityai had returned. Dmitri was annoyed beyond measure. The meeting had failed, and there was great scandal. Nothing could save Mityai now but ordination from the Patriarch. The Grand Prince hastened the journey, and was ready to do everything to make it successful and splendid. On second thought, it seemed unsafe to confine the Suzdal bishop. He was respected by the people, his diocese was important, he had wide connections among the clergy. Dmitri freed him on this promise: “I will not go to Tsargrad without thy permission; the abbot of the Troitski monastery will guarantee my promise.” But after returning to his diocese, and meditating a while, Dionisi sailed down the Volga to Sarai, and hurried off to Tsargrad, thus breaking his word and betraying his bondman.
The indignant Mityai, who had urged keeping Dionisi in detention, and had tried to persuade the Grand Prince not to trust either Dionisi or his bondman, gave full expression now to his rage against the abbot and the bishop. He represented them as keen and persistent conspirators against him. Dmitri, confused and saddened, knew not how to pacify his favorite. Again he advised him to hasten to Tsargrad, and declared that he was more anxious than ever to make the journey a triumph.
It was natural that Mityai should look on the Troitski abbot [[377]]with suspicion. There were reports that the late metropolitan had held secret converse with the abbot about taking his office, and Mityai found in him, as he thought, a rival. Either he did not know that Sergai had refused, or he did not believe in the refusal. He was convinced that Sergai and Dionisi had asked Alexis to keep back his blessing. Mityai proved to the Grand Prince that the abbot and Dionisi had caused all the opposition of Alexis, who up to death had not yielded. And if, in his anger, Mityai had told Dionisi that he would strip off his vestments, he announced to Sergai in his rage that he would drive out all the Troitski monks, and destroy the whole monastery. “I pray the Lord,” said Sergai in answer, “not to let the boaster destroy sacred places and expel blameless persons.” When the monks spoke of Mityai’s departure and the terror which would return with him, the abbot said merely: “God knows whether he will ever see Tsargrad, much less be anointed.”
Meanwhile preparations for the journey were unparalleled. Those who had said recently that ordination in Moscow would save expense and trouble were only thinking now how to add grandeur to the occasion. All were aware that the Grand Prince loved Mityai. No one knew this better than Mityai himself, and he tested it thoroughly. For years he had been the Grand Prince’s seal-keeper; he knew well that a small sheet of paper brings death to a man, or brings fortune, if only the name and the seal of the prince be upon it, and the right words stand above them. So he said to his patron at parting, “If I have thy favor, give me a few blanks with thy seal and thy name on them. Should I need a thousand pieces of money, or if a want of some other kind touches me, I can place on that paper the right words.”