Thus ended a strife which had lasted two decades. It cost Moscow dearly, and delayed for a time the final ending of subjection to Mongols. But it had its own value also in developing single rule strongly in Russia. This struggle showed how firmly the new order was established. All classes stood on its side now, and favored its triumph. During Shemyaká’s warfare, Vassili the Dark (that is, blind), as men called him, spared all the other small princes lest they might join his rival, but when Shemyaká, that last champion of the old order of things, had vanished, Vassili was unsparingly stern to opposition, and seized the land of all warring princes.
His cousin Ivan, grandson of Vladimir the Brave, who had aided Shemyaká, and betrayed the Grand Prince very often, even trying to bring the Polish king, Kazimir, to Moscow, was expelled from Mojaisk forever. He fled to Lithuania, and his portion was added to Moscow. Vassili of Serpukoff, who had formed a conspiracy against the Grand Prince, was seized and died later in prison. His son, Ivan, went to Lithuania, as did Shemyaká’s son, and Ivan of Majaisk; there the exiles spent their time in framing fruitless plots against Moscow. Toward the end of Vassili’s reign all minor places had been incorporated, save only Vereisk. The prince of that place had always been faithful, and Vassili did not disturb him.
While assimilating the land of small princes, Vassili extended his influence over the Tver and Ryazan principalities. He undertook a campaign against Novgorod which ended in establishing Novgorod’s dependence on Moscow; he also subjected Vyatka, that disorderly nest of freebooters.
Iona had aided Vassili more than many, and Vassili determined to make him metropolitan. He could not turn then to Tsargrad, for Isidor, who had fled from Moscow, not only continued to call [[436]]himself metropolitan of Russia, but was recognized as such by the Patriarch and Emperor. At the call of the Grand Prince, the bishops of Russia held a council in the Archangel Cathedral. Referring for authority to the rules of the Apostles and early churches, they ordained Iona December 5, 1448. Thus was created the first Russian metropolitan entirely independent of Tsargrad.
The importance of this step was well understood in Russia. Its legality was proven. Iona wrote an epistle to his flock, a special one to Kief, and several to Western Russia. In those epistles he justified his installation, a work not superfluous in that time, for even in Moscow there were men who considered his elevation as contrary to Orthodox usage.
When news came that the throne in Tsargrad was occupied by Constantine, instead of Ioann, the defender of the Florentine union, the Grand Prince sent a letter, in which he explained his whole course with Iona and Isidor, and asked final blessing from the Patriarch on the former. But communication with Tsargrad in those days had grown uncertain, through robber bands on the road, and disorders in the Empire itself.
Then came the tidings that Tsargrad had fallen, and that Constantine had died while defending the city, May 29, 1453. This sad event in the Orthodox East aided the complete liberation of Russia from Tsargrad.
The close connection between each metropolitan and Grand Prince, and the tendencies of Moscow to consolidate brought disagreement between the Moscow metropolitan and the Grand Princes of Lithuania, since the latter were rivals of the Moscow Grand Prince, especially after the Latinizing of Lithuania; hence the attempts to get a separate metropolitan for Western Russia. Finally, in Iona’s day, despite all his efforts, the separation of the Russian Church into two parts was effected. This was grievous to Iona. He wrote in vain to the Western Russian bishops, princes and boyars, to all the Western Russian people, advising them to stand firmly for the Orthodox religion.
Three years later Iona died. His successor, Thedosi, Archbishop of Rostoff, was ordained by Russian bishops; thus this system was confirmed finally in Russia.
The Grand Prince Vassili died in 1462, before he had reached his fiftieth year. In the second half of his reign, Vassili the Blind [[437]]was no longer the active, rather simple, and somewhat light-minded person that he had been in his youth. Not so much years as bitter suffering and experience, and especially the loss of his eyesight, developed adroitness and stern resolution. He brought into his own hands almost all the principalities near Moscow, and advanced very greatly the union effected by his immediate successor. At his death Russia included, besides the enlarged principality of Moscow, four independent lands, that is, Pskoff and Novgorod, with the Tver and Ryazan principalities.