Truth to Power: Two Saints

One of today’s saint in our Calendar is the Prophet Shemaiah, who is briefly mentioned in 1 Kings 12:22 and 2 Chronicles 11:2. He is noted for confronting Rehoboam, son of Solomon, with a direct order from the Lord not to “go up to fight” the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom in an attempt to reunite the newly-divided kingdom, for the division was “from the Lord.”

The king obeyed the word of the Lord from the prophet. It took some boldness to contradict a king.

Another saint, not in our calendar, but in the calendar of the Russian Church, is Saint Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow, who, like Shemaiah, took on a king: Ivan the Terrible.

I’ve abridged a longer telling of Philip's story from the website of the Orthodox Church in America:

Philip was descended from the noble lineage of the Kolichevi, occupying a prominent place in the Boyar duma at the court of the Moscow sovereigns. He was born in the year 1507.

On Sunday, June 5, 1537, in church for Divine Liturgy, Theodore felt intensely in his soul the words of the Savior: "No man can serve two masters" (Mt.6:24), which determined his ultimate destiny.

His thirst for ascetic deeds led him to the renowned Solovki monastery on the White Sea. Under the guidance of experienced elders Philip grew spiritually, and progressed in fasting and prayer.

But the Lord was preparing the saint for other work. In Moscow, Tsar Ivan the Terrible fondly remembered the Solovki hermit from his childhood. The Metropolitan of Moscow, in Ivan's opinion, ought to have a certain spiritual meekness to quell the treachery and malice within the Boyar soul. The choice of St Philip as archpastor of the Russian Church seemed to him the best possible.

On July 25, 1566 St Philip was consecrated as Metropolitan.

Every aspect of governmental service, all the measures undertaken to restructure civil and social life, Ivan the Terrible tried to rationalize as a manifestation of Divine Providence, as God acting in history.

Ivan imagined the Oprichnina in the form of a monastic brotherhood, serving God with weapons and military deeds. The Oprichniki (secret police) were required to dress in monastic garb and attend long and tiring church services, lasting from 4 to 10 o'clock in the morning.

The pseudo-monasticism of Ivan the Terrible tormented St Philip. St Philip saw how much unrepentant malice and envy was concealed beneath the black cowls of the Oprichniki. There were outright murderers among them, hardened in lawless bloodletting, and profiteers seeking gain, rooted in sin and transgressions. The blood spilled by its thugs and fanatics cried out to Heaven.

St Philip decided to oppose Ivan. This was prompted by a new wave of executions in the years 1567-1568. On the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross, March 2, 1568, when the Tsar with his Oprichniki entered the Dormition cathedral in monastic garb, as was their custom, St Philip refused to bless him, and began openly to denounce the lawless acts committed by the Oprichniki. The accusations of the hierarch shattered the harmony of the church service. In a rage Ivan retorted, "Would you oppose us? We shall see your firmness! I have been too soft on you."

The Tsar began to show ever greater cruelty in persecuting all those who opposed him. Executions followed one after the other. The fate of the saintly confessor was sealed. But Ivan wanted to preserve a semblance of canonical propriety. The Boyar Duma obediently carried out his decision to place the Primate of the Russian Church on trial. A cathedral court was set up to try Metropolitan Philip in the presence of a diminished Boyar Duma, and false witnesses were found. They accused St Philip of a multitude of transgressions, including sorcery.

"Like all my ancestors," the saint declared, "I came into this world prepared to suffer for truth." Having refuted all the accusations, the holy sufferer attempted to halt the trial by volunteering to resign his office. His resignation was not accepted, however, and new abuse awaited the martyr.

After a sentence of life imprisonment had been handed down, for a long while they held the martyr in the cellars of the Moscow monasteries. Finally, they drove him off to the Tver Otroch monastery. And there a year later, on December 23,1569, the saint was put to death.

Comments

[Bill R]

There is nothing quite as fascinating as church history. Who needs television!?

[Stuart Koehl]

>>>Who needs television!?<<<

Especially when Eisenstein captured the whole thing in his masterpiece Ivan Grozny.

[Matt of San Francisco]

Those who are interseted may venerate the amulet of St. Philip, which he was wearing when he defeated Satan, at Holy Trinity Cathedral in San Francisco.

[Matt of San Francisco]

Those who are interseted may venerate the amulet of St. Philip, which he was wearing when he defeated Satan, at Holy Trinity Cathedral in San Francisco.

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