“Rejoice, O diligent proclaimer of Christ’s love and heavenly peace.
Rejoice, O steadfast champion of Christ’s eternal truths.”
(Ikos 6 from the Akathist to Saint Phillip, Metropolitan of Moscow)
The character of Metropolitan Phillip has left a memorable mark on history. His building projects at the Solovetsky Monastery alone showed brilliant leadership and technical skill, ensuring his name lives on. For about 20 years, he laboured tirelessly for the glory of God, enhancing and beautifying the monastery.
During his tenure, a harbour was built, and a road laid. Stone churches replaced wooden ones, while new paths wound through the island’s trees. His mechanical improvements in the monastery’s trades led to a flourishing fruit garden amidst the stones. Before Phillip took charge, the monastery barely had enough to eat. But during his time, the chronicler recorded: “Boats arrived laden with butter, various oily treats, pancakes, pies, fritters and fish patties, with jelly and scrambled eggs… They began to bring cucumbers and chanterelle mushrooms to the monastery.” At the same time, Abbot Phillip drew up a strict code of rules that discouraged acquisitiveness. The prayer life he established served as a model for other monasteries in the White Sea region.
Yet perhaps Phillip’s greatest gift was his moral compass. His example shows that integrity cannot be compromised by circumstances, fear of death, or political pressure.
Though he led the Russian Church for only two years, Metropolitan Philip is commemorated as one of the luminous saints, who shone forth in our land. Few church leaders have shown such moral fortitude and steadfast faith during challenging times.
For Christians, evil is not just a fact to observe from afar. The Christian conscience cannot remain unmoved by injustice; it calls for the rejection of evil and the fight against it.
In this struggle, any compromise with evil, no matter how noble the reason, tarnishes the holy majesty of God and the dignity of man. To give in means letting darkness win. St Philip lived during the reign of Ivan IV. He dared to confront the Tsar’s brutal impiety. With extraordinary courage, Metropolitan Phillip strove to halt the bloody repressions; he openly opposed the *oprichnina*, the tortures and executions that engulfed the land. He defended the disgraced, upheld the Church’s rights, and rebuked the secular rulers amidst the turmoil.
V. M. Vasnetsov. Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible
Only a handful backed the holy hierarch’s defence of Christian values. Among them were Yermolai-Erasm, who believed “all miracles are less than love,” Archbishop German of Kazan, and Bishop Joseph of Kolomna. “Live lovingly for God’s sake,” concluded one of Metropolitan Philip’s epistles. In these words lay the essence of both the obscure hermit, abbot of Solovetsky Monastery, and the suffering saint who stood up for God’s people and the Russian land. Though tested severely, God’s strength shone through his weakness. Divine grace filled what nature lacked — and for this love, as vast as the sea, he gave his life.
“Desiring to save the whole of Orthodox Russia from the Tsar’s cunning ferocity, you, O holy one of Christ, willing to offer up your very soul for your flock as a final act of goodness, did strive to transform the public rage of the wilful Tsar into gentleness. Yet, witnessing the new evils of the *oprichnina*, and having yourself felt the Tsar’s wrath, you prepared yourself for the martyr’s crown and in your gracious humility sang from your pure lips a hymn of praise: Alleluia.”
(Kontakion 10 from the Akathist to Saint Phillip, Metropolitan of Moscow)
When private conversations and gentle encouragements fell on deaf ears, Metropolitan Philip chose to challenge the ruler’s senseless brutality in public. When Ivan IV came to a service at the Dormition Cathedral in the Kremlin, the saint refused to bless the Tsar, despite being asked three times. Instead, he turned to him and stated: “I do not recognise a Christian Tsar; I cannot see Christian actions in your realm... O Sovereign! We bring sacrifices to God here, and beyond the altar, innocent Christian blood is being spilt. When has the sun ever seen such horror — a faithful tsar tearing apart his own realm? Even in the most ungodly, pagan lands, there is law and justice, there is discourse with the people — but in Russia there is none! The property and the lives of your people are without protection. Everywhere there is robbery, wherever you look — and it all occurs in the name of the Tsar!”
Perched high on your throne, you may reign, but above all sits the Most High, our Judge and yours. How will you stand in His judgment? Stained by the blood of innocents, deafened by their cries? Even the stones beneath your feet cry out for justice!.. O Sovereign! I speak with a heavy heart, fearing the Lord alone!” (Karamzin, N.M. *History of the Russian State*)
Vasily Pukirev, “Metropolitan Phillip Refuses to Bless Ivan the Terrible”
The Tsar flared up in fury. Unwilling to hear the saint’s rebuke, he struck the platform with his staff: “Do you oppose my realm? We shall see how strong you are!” With anger boiling, he stormed out of the church.
A case was brought against Metropolitan Phillip. The first commission was dispatched to Solovki to gather incriminating material. He was accused of living a “corrupt life.” But the Tsar wanted to make the defrocking of the Metropolitan a drawn-out spectacle. He declared: “I have resolved to listen to the Metropolitan’s service on the great feast of Saint Michael.” During the service, *oprichniki* burst into the church, tore the Metropolitan’s vestments from him, and sent him to the Monastery of St Nicholas the Old (Epiphany Monastery). To completely crush the saint’s spirit, the Tsar sent the head of the Metropolitan’s executed nephew to the monastery. Soon after, the disgraced Metropolitan was exiled to the Uspensky Otroch Monastery in Tver.
Uspensky Otroch Monastery, Tver
On 22 December 1569, Philip earned his martyr’s crown. As Ivan led his men to punish Novgorod and Pskov for supposed treason, his henchman Malyuta Skuratov visited the saint. Entering St Phillip’s cell, Skuratov, with feigned reverence, fell at the Metropolitan’s feet and said: “Holy Master, grant a blessing for the Tsar to go to Novgorod the Great.” But the saint saw through Malyuta: “Do what you will, but you will not obtain God’s grace by deceit.” The villain then strangled the virtuous man with a pillow. The saint was buried in front of the altar of the Dormition Church of the Tver Otroch Monastery. In the very same monastery, on the 8th of August 1584, the saint’s relics were discovered — a mere five months after the death of Ivan the Terrible.
Reliquary with the relics of Saint Phillip in the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin
Twenty years later, in 1590, at the request of the Solovetsky Monastery brethren, the relics were reverently translated from Tver to the saint’s beloved Solovetsky Monastery. Then, in 1652, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, along with his court, clergy, and people of Moscow, received the relics with repentance. Patriarch Nikon, with great honour, brought the relics of Saint Philip to the Uspensky Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, where they remain revered to this day.
Church of Saint Phillip in Meshchanskaya Sloboda
In 1677, the first church dedicated to St. Phillip, Metropolitan of Moscow, appeared in the Meshchanskaya Sloboda district.
Monument to Saint Phillip in Peredelkino, 2013
St Philip fearlessly denounced wickedness, regardless of its position in society, the state, or the Church. Orthodox Christians acknowledge and venerate this saint, as they have for more than 500 years. His story lives on through books, films, and newly built churches, while a ship bearing his name sails the White Sea.... May the Lord, through his holy prayers, grant us a spirit of steadfastness in the Orthodox faith, upholding the laws and traditions of the Church.
“Truly, your wondrous life, your monastic deeds on the island of Solovki, we sing of; your holy zeal and boldness we praise, honouring your love of truth and confession even to death. O Holy Father Phillip, we implore you not to forsake us in our various trials and temptations, but rather strengthen us by your prayers, so that we too may follow your example.”
(Kontakion 12 from the Akathist to Saint Phillip, Metropolitan of Moscow)
Material prepared by the team of obitel-minsk.ru
Photos from the Internet
Sources used:
1.Volodikhin, D. M. Metropolitan Phillip. Moscow: Molodaya Gvardiya, 2009.
2.Zimin, A. A. “Metropolitan Phillip and the Oprichnina.” Questions of the History of Religion and Atheism. Moscow, 1963.
3.Lobakova, I. A. The Life of Metropolitan Phillip: Studies and Texts. St. Petersburg, 2006.
4.Fedotov, G. P. Saint Phillip, Metropolitan of Moscow. Paris, 1928.
5.“Phillip, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus’.” Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 vols. (82 vols. and 4 supplements). St. Petersburg, 1890
6.https://www.mgarsky-monastery.org/kolokol/373
7.http://drevne-rus-lit.niv.ru/drevne-rus-lit/text/zhitie-mitropolita-filippa/zhitie-mitropolita-filippa.htm
