The Story of Moscow

by Wirt Gerrare

The columns are square, from them hang the chains and jewelled crosses worn by former princes. The ikonostas is of five stages, separated by rails of brass and bronze columns—the precious metals with which it was formerly covered were looted by the French. The more remarkable ikons are (a) one of the Saviour’s agony—a typical specimen of Byzantine work in the fourteenth century; (b) the richly decorated Holy Mother of God, known as the Donski Virgin, because carried by Dmitri at Kulikovo; the ikon only was saved, in 1812, the frame was mistaken by the French for copper and has been repaired; the ornaments are modern, except the eighteen portraits of saints on the margin, which are foreign.

Near the altar are the two crosses of Korsun. There are four chapels on the higher storey; they are quite independent of the church with separate entrances from the gallery. That dedicated to St George is quite modern, but that of the Virgin has one of the most primitive rood-screens to be found in Moscow; on it the ikons are set round with great flat bands of silver; like that of the Saviour, and that of the archangel Gabriel, it quite escaped pillage in 1812. The sacristy—in a small building on the south side—is peculiarly rich in relics, a complete collection of sacred remains brought from Constantinople in 1328. It includes bones of different saints—contained in thirty-two silver and gilt caskets; a reliquary with the sponge used at the Crucifixion of Christ; a portion of the rod with which He was beaten; some drops of His blood; spikes from the crown of thorns; an eight pointed cross, of the wood of the “true cross,” and a fragment of the stone that was rolled away from before the Saviour’s tomb. To them must be added a great number of Russian Tsarian and ecclesiastical antiquities collected in Russia.

Spass na Boru

The church of the Transfiguration, known colloquially as Spass na Boru, St Saviour’s in the Forest, is supposed to be on the site of the first building ever raised on the Kremlin hill—that of the skeet of the hermit who inhabited it prior to the tenth century. The first stone church there dates from 1330; restored in 1380, and rebuilt in 1527, and again restored in 1529, 1554, 1737, and 1856. Still much of its architectural primitiveness has been preserved, but it is typical of a church with monastery attached, as once the case (see page 29). There are now no external mural paintings, but those inside are curious; the small, low belfry is very quaint and the bells now hung there are old foreign bells—among the first brought to Moscow. The central chapel, that of the Transfiguration, is the oldest, the “Royal Doors” are of primitive type. Its sacristy is poor: the relics are those of St Stephen the apostle to the Permians, and some fragments of bones and vestments found during the alterations in the present century. It is best seen in the early morning, a service is held daily, and the church is much visited by those about to marry, for, according to tradition, Sts Yuri, Samon and Aviva, to whom its side chapels are dedicated, are patrons of those whose love affairs do not run smooth. On the higher storey is the chapel of St Stephen the Permian.

Patriarshia Riznitsa

The Church of the Twelve Apostles and Sacristy of the Patriarchs is on the site of a fifteenth century church on the north side of the Uspenski Sobor. It was built by Nikon and is still used in connection with the synod. It is on the second storey, and above it is the Chapel of St Philip—the private chapel of the Patriarchs after Nikon. In the rooms adjoining are kept the Holy vessels, most valuable church plate, and relics of the patriarchs and the Church. Many are contained in the cases arranged round the walls, the others may be inspected on application to one of the attendants—who will expect adin rubl na chaiu—or to those much interested will be shown by the Sacristan, who will explain their use and relate their history. A complete catalogue may be had, but the best account is that of the learned antiquarian, Sabas, Bishop of Mojaisk, whose book is known to all interested in the lore of the Eastern Church; a French translation of it has been published in which the author’s name is spelled “Savva.” Among the more interesting articles of art workmanship are the panagies or jewelled crosses worn by the Patriarchs and others after consecration to their high office.

“Among the objects of greatest antiquity are the sacerdotal robes of the high clergy. They are in the case near the altar; the ‘Omophorium of the sixth Œcumenical Council’ of the catalogue, is said to have belonged to St Nicholas the wonder-worker, Archbishop of Mirliki, and worn by that saint at the Council at Nice: Sabas thinks that it was presented to Alexis by Gregory of Nicea who visited Moscow in 1655, with letters from the Patriarchs of Jerusalem and Constantinople testifying to its genuineness. It belonged to the Patriarch of Alexandria, who was present at the Assembly of the Three Hundred and Eighteen Fathers of the Church, and, latterly, opinion inclines to its having originated with him. Equally ancient is a mitre, easily recognised from other ‘crowns’ in the case by its pointed shape, similar to those of ancient Byzantium. It was presented to the Tsar Theodore; the donor, Miletius Piga, of Alexandria, wrote that, apart from the gems with which it is adorned and the rich material, its age and reputation, it is to be esteemed above its intrinsic value because taken to the Council at Ephesus by Cyril, in 431. The mitre of the Patriarch Job, 1595, differs from those of later date by reason of its very flat top—the shape of a klobook, hat, or ancient crown—rather than a mitre. The mitres ranged with it were constructed by the directions of Nikon, and equal in richness and other details the royal crowns.

“Of croziers and their equivalents there are many specimens, the most venerated, however, is that of St Peter, by the altar on the Uspenski Sobor,—the staff that passed from pontiff to pontiff through the centuries. There are three of the five in the sacristy of tau shape and beautiful, they belonged to Philaret; the others to Nikon. The processional cross of Nikon has but four points. Of copes there are forty-one; the oldest is that of Peter, the Metropolitan (1322), used afterwards at the consecration of the Patriarchs. The panagia or pyx worn by a bishop, or higher prelate, is often an exquisite piece of jewelry. That catalogued as No. 4 is of onyx, with a superposed layer having the crucifixion in relievo; on the reverse, a Greek cross, the Emperor Constantine and Helena, his mother. It belonged to the Patriarch Job and has a most beautiful setting of Russian enamel and niello work of the sixteenth century. No. 11 is also of onyx, with ruby and pearl decoration, it appertained to Peter. No. 3. is a sardonyx of elaborate workmanship and unusual size; it has a reliquary containing a fragment of the robe of royal purple with which the Saviour was mockingly invested, and is believed to have been produced to the order of Ivan IV. to commemorate the birth of Dmitri. No. 25 contains an emerald of purest water, three-fifths of an inch in diameter. In another is also a fine emerald which weighs 38 carats. There are in addition jewels, rings, seals, cups, goblets, crosses, and other trinkets of the fathers of the Russian Church, and amongst them an object known as the ‘Antik,’ which has puzzled the learned. It is a shell of mother-of-pearl, shaped like a woman’s breast, and on this in fine gold, beautifully enamelled, the Gorgon’s head, the fanged heads of the serpent-locks intertwined and biting each other. It is on a base of rock-crystal, gold encrusted, and the medallions enamelled with representations of different buildings—it has figured in the inventory since 1648, when it had a double case of dark green velvet. The fine collection of church plate is principally of the seventeenth century and later.

“In the adjoining Mirovarennaya Palata, the Holy Chrism is prepared every other year, in strict conformance with the original instruction. It is, when prepared, taken in sixteen silver phials to the Uspenski Sobor and then at a special service during Lent (usually Holy Thursday) consecrated by the Metropolitan, and further hallowed by the addition of a few drops of the oil from the vessel of ‘Alabaster’ in which the Holy Chrism was first brought into Russia from Constantinople, the vessel having never been emptied, since the quantity taken for this purpose is immediately replaced by the addition of that newly made. The ‘Alabaster’ is a long-necked flask of copper, wholly covered with scales of mother-of-pearl, and is supposed to be of the same size and form as that box of ointment Mary Magdalene offered Jesus.

“The library of the Synod contains about one thousand Slavic MSS. on Church rites and copies of the scriptures, many between the seventh and twelfth centuries, and five hundred Greek MSS. of even earlier date. They were got together by the patriarch Nikon for the purpose of comparison, and restoring the ritual of the Russian Church to its original, or at least earlier, rule. The printed books have mostly been removed to other collections, and the MSS. are of interest only to those well acquainted with the rites of the early Christian Church, and such students are readily granted access to them.”