ON SAINT ALEXIUS, METROPOLITAN OF KIEV, IN RUSSIA.
Around the year 1364.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Alexius, Metropolitan of Kiev in Russia (Saint)
By G. H.
[1] Kiev on the Dnieper River is a most ample city, formerly the metropolis of all Russia: and almost everything which is even now comprehended under the name of the Muscovites was subject to its Prince. It received the Christian religion under Saint Wlodimir, Prince of Kiev and Monarch of all Russia. Kiev among other Princes had Saint Wlodimir, He was baptized by Michael, Metropolitan of Russia, a Greek by nation, a Catholic by religion: who, together with Nicholas Chrysoberges, Patriarch of Constantinople, by whom he had been sent into Russia, adhered to the Roman Church. Nicholas presided over the Church of Constantinople from the year 981 to the year 995. At which time the Emperors of the East were Basil and Constantine, sons of Romanus the Younger, who, having given their sister Anna in marriage to Saint Wlodimir, Duke of Kiev, and Saints Gleb and Borysius the Martyrs: established peace by this alliance. Of Wlodimir's twelve sons, Gleb and Borysius succeeded him in the Principate of Kiev, called David and Romanus in holy baptism. These, overcome by the treachery of their brother Sviatopolk and slain, are reckoned among the Martyrs: under whose name many churches are seen erected there. Saint Romanus is venerated on July 24, Saint David on September 5. Their sister Maria was married to Casimir, who was called from the monastery of Cluny to the kingdom of Poland: and a niece from the brother Yaroslav, called Anna, was married to Henry I, King of the Franks, grandson of Hugh Capet. Saint Hyacinth of the Order of Preachers erected a monastery at Kiev in the year 1226 or the year next following, as we shall say on August 16 in his Life; and he dwelt at Kiev for many years.
[2] Albert Wijuk Kojalowicz, a man of our Society and a learned man, Professor of Sacred Theology at Vilnius, in his Miscellanies of Lithuania, under the title Concerning the Greek-Russian Schism, records these more ancient Metropolitans of Kiev, truly orthodox such as among the orthodox Metropolitans, Saint Peter and in agreement with the Roman Church: the already mentioned Michael, Theopemptus, Hilarion, Ephrem, Clement, two or three Cyrils, Maximus, and Peter. This last died in the orthodox faith of the Roman Church at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and is reckoned among the Saints in the Russian Menologia under December 21: at which time Saint Alexius was growing up, or had already begun the monastic life. Meanwhile, around the year 1320, there followed an alteration of the Russian monarchy, when Gediminas, Duke of Lithuania and grandfather of Jogaila, a pagan, having occupied Kiev and all of Volhynia, and having driven out the Dukes of the Russian name, was himself proclaimed supreme Duke of Russia by the conquered Russians and the victorious Lithuanians: and he then appointed as Governor of Russia one Mindoplum, Duke of Holsany, a Christian by religion. Gediminas was succeeded by his son Olgerd around the year 1330, under whom Saint Alexius was created Metropolitan of Kiev: and Saint Alexius: against whom Dionysius, a schismatic Greek, was sent by the Patriarch of Constantinople, but was thrown into prison by Vladimir, son of Olgerd, who administered the Principate of Kiev. By then the Greek rite had already begun to be introduced into Lithuania itself, on account of Olgerd's Russian wife.
[3] Around the year 1407, a certain Photius, a Greek by nation, was intruded into the See of Kiev: but since he was striving with all his efforts to introduce the Greek schism into Russia, he was deposed from his bishopric in a Metropolitan Council held at Novogrodek in Lithuania, by order of Alexander Vitold, acting for King Jogaila, Duke of Lithuania, in the year 1415; and Gregory Cemiwlacus, a Bulgarian, a man commended for his reputation of learning, was appointed in his place, and various orthodox successors: and he attended the general Council of Constance. He was succeeded by Isidore, a Bulgarian, who vigorously attacked the Greek schism at the Council of Florence. Thereafter orthodox Metropolitans presided over the Church of Kiev, and were opposed to the said Greek schism: Gregory the Abbot, Misael, Jonas Hlesna, Macarius the Abbot, Joseph Sultan, down to the year 1520: when Jonas, a Muscovite by nation, having been created Metropolitan, revived the schism which had been nearly extinguished in those parts: after whom several men devoted to the schism successively held the See of Kiev down to the times of Sigismund III, under whom Michael Rahoza in the year 1596, together with various Bishops, subscribed to the orthodox faith, and promulgated the customary excommunication of the Church against those who pertinaciously adhered to the schism. Hypatius was substituted for this Michael, and promoted the same rite of the Roman religion: against whom the schismatics brought many troubles. His successor Joseph Velaminus Rutski suffered even greater ones. In these holy labors of the Catholic faith, his tireless companion was Josaphat Kunczewicz, Archbishop of Polotsk, in the year 1623 slain by schismatics out of hatred of the true religion: whom Urban VIII, Supreme Pontiff, enrolled among the Blessed Martyrs, as will be related on November 12. Joseph the Metropolitan was also worthy of his own praise, called by the same Pontiff in his letters to Sigismund III the Atlas of union, the Pillar of the Church, the Athanasius of Russia. These things concerning the religion of the Russians and the Church of Kiev, which Saint Alexius governed in the more difficult times of Olgerd, the pagan Duke, whose wife favored the Greek schism: which Kojalowicz pursues at greater length. There exists among us an image of Saint Alexius engraved on copper plates together with other Saints of Russia and Lithuania.
[4] Manuscripts of the Lives of various Saints of Livonia and Lithuania were sent to us by Matthias Casimir Sarbiewski, our confrere, formerly Professor of Philosophy and Theology at Vilnius, then preacher to Vladislaus IV, King of Poland, The Life of Saint Alexius from a Lithuanian manuscript, known to the whole world for his elegant Lyric verses, often reprinted. These Lives, faithfully transcribed from trustworthy archives and most ancient manuscripts, were approved with an affixed seal, and judged worthy of the press and public knowledge, and permitted to be published by George Tyszkiewicz, approved by Tyszkiewicz the Bishop, of the most ancient family of the Modwids, which through the Dukes of Russia reaches the Most Serene Jagiellonian line. He was then Bishop of Methone and Suffragan and Administrator of Eustachius Wollowicz, Bishop of Vilnius, and was afterward promoted to the Bishopric of Samogitia, and finally to that of Vilnius: to whom Kojalowicz dedicated his Miscellanies of Lithuania. In this treasury of the Lives of Saints, there is also a Life of Saint Alexius, contracted as if for the use of the ecclesiastical office: just as the praises of the Saints are generally read in the Greek Menaia or the Latin Breviaries. Another encomium of the same Saint was published by Kojalowicz in the said Miscellanies, where he reckons him among the proper Patrons of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and relates these things.
[5] Saint Alexius the Confessor, Metropolitan of Kiev, was born under the Prince of Russia John, son of Daniel; in the sacred font he was called Eleutherius; his summary published by Kojalowicz, in the fifteenth year of his age, when he was greatly delighted and occupied with bird-catching, he heard by night a voice through sleep: Eleutherius, why do you labor in vain? Behold, I shall make you a catcher of men; and he gave himself to the religious life, and upon entering took the name of Alexius. After a great reputation for virtue, acquired by singular integrity, he was created Metropolitan of Kiev. In this office he did and suffered much for the sake of the Commonwealth and of God. From Berdeberei, a Scythian chieftain, he obtained peace for Russia: he increased the divine worship by the number and adornment of churches. Summoned to Amurath, Emperor of the Turks, under Demetrius, Prince of Kiev, he restored sight to his blind daughter: he built his own sepulchre with his own hands at Kiev in the church of Saint Michael. At last, having foreknown the time of his death, after completing the sacrifice of the Mass, after giving his blessing to the people and the Prince, he died. He administered the Metropolitan See of Kiev around the year one thousand three hundred and sixty-four, when Kiev was already subject to the Lithuanians. His feast is celebrated on February 12.
[6] Thus Kojalowicz from the following Acts: which he explains and corrects: it is examined and compared with the Acts. and first, the one who is called Amurath below, he judges to be the Emperor of the Turks, namely the first of that name, son of Orkhan, grandson of Othman, who established the Turkish empire in Thrace, and fixed his seat at Adrianople, captured by him in the Mohammedan Hegira 762, the year of Christ 1361, as may be read in Leunclavius, book 5 of the Muslim History of the Turks. Secondly, he asserts that sight was restored to his blind daughter, who below is called his wife and Queen, and Saint Alexius is said to have been magnificently received and dismissed with gifts by Berdeber, who seems to be the same one previously called Berdebereus and King of the Scythians: which matters do not appear sufficiently clear. Has the name of Berdeber crept in for Amurath through the fault of copyists? The Princes of Kiev named in the Acts introduce a new difficulty: of whom the first is Daniel, surnamed Romanovich by Kojalowicz in part 1 of the History of Lithuania, book 4; whom Martin Cromer in book 9 of his Polish History, and Matthias of Miechow in book 3 of his Polish History also, chapter 44, relate to have been the son of Duke Romanus; and in chapter 56 he writes that this King of Russia Daniel, a schismatic and apostate from the Roman Church, ended his life in the year 1266, leaving two sons, Leo and Romanus: concerning whose principate Kojalowicz treats in the already indicated book 4: from one or the other of whom the Prince of Russia John seems to have been descended, sprung from the stock of Daniel, and surnamed after him, whom the Acts assert to be his son, though he was in fact a grandson or great-grandson. His son was perhaps the last Prince of Kiev of Russian blood, Stanislaus: from whom Gediminas the Lithuanian seized power, as Kojalowicz relates in book 7 of his History of Lithuania, who in his Miscellanies, in the section on the Greek-Russian schism, writes that Demetrius Korybut was a brother of Jogaila, though in the Acts he is taken to be a son of John. Hence it is clear that those Acts were composed by an author not sufficiently skilled, and not a contemporary, which we present untouched with this preliminary admonition, so that others may be given occasion to examine them and to compare them if they shall have found any trustworthy histories of the Russian nation.
LIFE,
from a Lithuanian manuscript.
Alexius, Metropolitan of Kiev in Russia (Saint)
By an anonymous author, from a manuscript.
[1] Our holy Father Alexius was born in Russia of Christian and Catholic parents, while the great Prince John, son of Daniel, held the Principate; his father was Theodore, [Called Eleutherius in baptism, he studies letters; devoted to hunting, he is called by God,] and his mother Maria; and the name of Saint Eleutherius was given to him in holy baptism: and having reached the proper age, he was handed over to be instructed in letters. And when he was twelve years old, he was in the habit of frequenting the forests and setting snares for birds. Then to him as he slept came a voice saying: Eleutherius, why do you increase your labors in vain? Behold, I shall make you catch men. Waking, therefore, he saw no one, and marveled at the voice.
[2] From that time, therefore, he earnestly investigated what the outcome of the vision would be. And in his fifteenth year, he becomes a monk and is called Alexius, he withdrew to a monastery and received the name Alexius in religion, which had previously been announced from heaven: and he led a life of fasting, vigils, and continual prayers to God: wherefore he was an object of admiration to all. His fame flew through all the land, he is created Metropolitan of Kiev, and reached even the ears of the great Prince John. An election having therefore been made by the Synod, he was created Metropolitan of Kiev and all Russia. And the holy Alexius, girding himself for greater labors, was a light and example to all.
[3] At that time, however, the perfidious King Berdeberus was reigning in Scythia, sent to the King of Scythia. who, having destroyed his twelve brothers by slaughter, and attacking the Christians with a cruel hand, had resolved... Prince John therefore directed Saint Alexius to him he negotiates peace: he builds and adorns churches, to ask for peace: and when he came to Berdeberus, he calmed his anger and negotiated peace. And returning again to his own see, he erected churches in very many places and enriched them with splendid furnishings.
[4] Wherefore then his fame, not only among the faithful but also among the Gentiles, grew greater from day to day: He is to be sent to Amurath and when it had reached even Amurath, to whose wife external blindness had been added to internal blindness, he immediately dispatched ambassadors to the great Prince Demetrius, son of John, requesting that he send Alexius to him: otherwise promising to lay waste the land with fire and sword. When Alexius heard this, in the temple a candle was lit of its own accord, he said it was beyond his powers and merits. Then, being asked, he set out with his clergy. Before, however, he set himself on the journey, he entered the church, where, as he prayed, a candle, lit by its own power, burned at the tomb of Saint Peter the Metropolitan. And when he was near the city in which the Queen was staying, she herself saw the Saint in a vision dressed in sacerdotal vestments. Wherefore she also ordered that every garment of the kind she had seen be prepared for the Bishop and the Priests. he appears to the Queen in a vision, and frees her from blindness: He then came to the city, and magnificently received by Berdeber, he freed the Queen from her blindness. Seeing which, Berdeber marveled, and dismissed the Saint with gifts and expressions of thanks.
[5] And when he came to Kiev, he laid with his own hands the foundations of his sepulchre, he digs his sepulchre, in the church of Saint Michael which he himself had erected. But he also did many other things, which the day would fail to enumerate. And foreknowing his departure to heaven, he celebrated the sacred Liturgy, he dies, and was made a partaker of the Body and Blood of Christ, and blessing the Prince and the people he departed this life: and his sacred body was buried in the church erected by him, he is renowned for miracles. in which, renowned for many miracles, he rests in the Lord; to whom be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.