The Inquisition and Russia

Adrenaline Дата публикации: 15-01-2026 16:42:00 Просмотров: 455

Christianity, whatever it may be, Catholic or almost Orthodox, shed a lot of blood and all this for the sake of its Lord, who, according to churchmen, claims to be the most loving and forgiving god. But what is it really? But in fact, we all know about the Crusades, about the Baptism of Rus', during which our population was reduced from 12 million people to 3 million (if my memory serves me right), and, of course, about the Inquisition, which did not disdain to burn people alive.

But, speaking of the Inquisition, memories come to mind, from the school course on the history of the medieval Inquisition, and not a word is said about the fact that the Inquisition took place in Rus' as well.

So, in ancient Rus', witchcraft processes arose already in the 11th century, shortly after the establishment of Christianity. Church authorities were involved in the investigation of these cases. In the oldest legal monument - "The Charter of Prince Vladimir on Church Courts", witchcraft, sorcery and sorcery are among the cases that were examined and judged by the Orthodox Church. In the monument of the XII century. Metropolitan Kirill's "Sermon on Evil Spirits" also speaks of the need to punish witches and sorcerers by a church court.

Following the example of their Catholic associates, the Orthodox Inquisition developed in the 13th century. methods of recognizing witches and sorcerers by fire, cold water, by weighing, piercing warts, etc. At first, churchmen considered those who did not drown in water and remained on its surface to be sorcerers or sorcerers. But then, after making sure that most of the accused did not know how to swim and quickly drowned, they changed tactics: they began to recognize those who could not stay on the water as guilty. To recognize the truth, they are also widely used, following the example of the Spanish inquisitors, a test of cold water, which was dripped on the heads of the accused.

Supporting belief in the devil and his power, representatives of the Orthodox Church declared heresy any doubt about the reality of the devil.

They persecuted not only those accused of dealing with evil spirits, but also those who expressed doubt about its existence, the existence of witches and sorcerers who acted with the help of devilish power.

Luka Zhydyata

The Novgorod bishop Luka Zhidyata, who lived in the 11th century, distinguished himself with a special atrocity. As the chronicler notes, “this tormentor cut heads and beards, burned out his eyes, cut off his tongue, crucified and tortured others.” Luke dealt with the peasants who belonged to him just as severely. Kholop Dudik, who did not please his feudal lord in some way, on the orders of Luka Zhidyaty, they cut off his nose and both hands. The chronicle for 1227 speaks of the execution of four wise men, who were first brought to the archbishop's courtyard, and then set on fire.Around the same time in Smolensk, the clergy demanded the execution of the monk Abraham, accusing him of heresy and reading forbidden books - the proposed types of execution - nailed to the wall and set on fire or drowned. In 1284, in the Russian Pilot's Book (a collection of church and

secular laws) a gloomy law appears: “If anyone keeps a heretical scripture and believes in magic, let him be damned with all heretics, and burn those books on his head.”

Apparently, following this law, in 1490 the Archbishop of Novgorod Gennady ordered birch bark letters to be burned on the heads of condemned heretics. Two of the punished went mad and died, while Archbishop Gennady was canonized as a saint.

In 1411 Metropolitan Photius of Kiev developed a system of measures to combat witches.

In his message to the clergy, he proposed to excommunicate all who would resort to the help of witches and sorcerers. In the same year, at the instigation of the clergy in Pskov, 12 witches were burned for supposedly sent to the city

sea In 1444, the boyar Andrei Dmitrovich and his wife were publicly burned in Mozhaisk on charges of sorcery. In the 16th century. the persecution of the Magi and witches intensified. The Stoglavy Cathedral of 1551 adopted a number of severe decrees against them. Along with the prohibition to keep and read "blasphemous heretical books", the cathedral condemned the Magi, sorcerers and sorcerers, who, as the fathers of the cathedral noted, "deceive the world and excommunicate from God."

In the "Tale of sorcery", which appeared under the influence of church agitation against witches and sorcerers, they were offered with "burning fire." Along with this, the church educated the people in the spirit of irreconcilable hostility to medicine. Preaching that diseases are sent by God for the sins of people, the church demanded that the people seek healing in prayers, asking for "God's mercy" in "miraculous" places. The church looked at healers who treated folk remedies as mediators of the devil, accomplices of Satan. This view is reflected in the monument of the XVI century. - "Domostroye".According to Domostroi, sinners who have left God and called sorcerers, sorcerers and sorcerers to themselves, prepare themselves for the devil and will be tormented forever.

Summarizing all the accumulated experience in the fight against witchcraft and sorcery, the government, at the insistence of the clergy, issued a special decree in 1653, commanding not to do any ungodly deeds, not to keep renounced, divinatory and heretical books, not to go to fortune tellers and sorcerers.

Guilty persons are ordered to be burned in log cabins as enemies of God. It wasn't just a threat. So, GK Kotoshikhin says that for "magic, for witchcraft, men were burned alive, and women were beheaded for sorcery."

Vedic trials often grew very large, which was facilitated by the then practice of detecting guilt by torture and execution. Secular and spiritual authorities did not seek to establish the truth. They condemned in advance the people involved in these "guilts", they needed confessions to justify severe punishments. In 1630, 36 people were involved in the case of one "witness woman"; in the case of Timoshka Afanasiev, which arose in 1647, 47 "guilty" were tried. In 1648, together with Pervushka Petrov, accused of sorcery, they "tortured" the truth from 98 people. Alyonka Darya, brought to trial in 1648 for the same sin, was followed by 142 victims.With Anyutka Ivanova (1649), 402 people were tried for sorcery, and 1,452 people were tried for the process of Umai Shamardin (1664).

Vedic processes continued under Peter I, and the entire administrative and police apparatus of the feudal serf state was involved in the fight against witchcraft.

In 1699, in the Preobrazhensky Prikaz, an investigation was conducted on charges of witchcraft of the pharmacist's student Markov. The peasant Blozhonok was also tortured here for his intercourse with evil spirits. In 1714, in the city of Lubny (Ukraine), they were going to burn one woman for witchcraft. This was learned by VN Tatishchev, who was in this city on his way from Germany, the author of Russian History. He criticized the reactionary role of the church and sought to free the "free sciences" from religious tutelage. After talking with the accused, Tatishchev was convinced of her innocence and achieved the annulment of the verdict. The woman was consequently sent to “humility” in a monastery.

The active role of the clergy in the organization and conduct of witchcraft processes is also noted by the royal decree of May 25, 1731. According to this decree, the diocesan bishops had to observe that the fight against sorcery was carried out without any leniency. The decree reminded that for magic the death penalty was imposed by burning. Those who, not “fearing the wrath of God,” resorted to sorcerers and “healers” for help, were also burned. Before being burned, they were still beaten with a whip.

The last known burning took place in the 1970s. 18th century in Kamchatka, where a Kamchadal sorceress was burned in a wooden frame. The captain of the Tengin fortress Shmalev supervised the execution.

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