The Sins of the Father

Abstract Two texts, usually dated to the 1590s during the reign of Ivan IV ’s son Tsar Fedor Ivanovich, appear remarkable for their critique of Ivan the Terrible. The Vypis’ o vtorom brake (Excerpt on the Second Marriage) of Vasilii III declares that if Vasilii III commits adultery by sending his wife Solomoniia to a convent in order to marry a woman who will give him a male heir, that heir will destroy the realm. The second text, the vita of Metropolitan Filipp, contains extensive criticisms of Ivan’s oprichnina for harming the Orthodox and blames Ivan for listening to slanderers and shedding innocent blood. In one redaction Ivan is even labeled a “tormentor” ( muchitel ’). Probably the Extract and definitely the vita were composed by monks. This paper asks whether monks in Muscovy during the reign of Ivan the Terrible’s son could compose such accusations against the tsar’s father. What mechanism of censorship, by an abbot, bishop or the patriarch, could prevent such texts from being composed or copied? These questions may very well be unanswerable.