Rtishchev Fedor Mikhailovich short biography. Fedor Mikhailovich Rtishchev

Rtishchev Fedor Mikhailovich- Russian statesman. Since 1656 - the royal butler. He led the sovereign's Workshop, the Order of the Grand Palace, and later the Order of Secret Affairs. In 1654-1655 he participated in the campaigns of the king against Poland, in 1656 - against Sweden. Rtishchev took an active part in the preparation and implementation of the monetary reform of the 1650s, which aroused the hatred of Muscovites. In 1664 - 70 - "uncle" (tutor) of Tsarevich Alexei Alekseevich (1654-1670). After his death, he retired from business. Rtishchev was a member of the Circle of Zealots of Piety. He played a prominent role in the history of Russian education, created a school at the Andreevsky Monastery (the so-called Rtishchev Brotherhood), inviting Little Russian scientists as teachers. Rtishchev organized hospitals for the wounded, created the first hospital in Moscow. To familiarize Muscovites with polyphonic music (the so-called partes singing), Rtishchev ordered a choir from Kyiv.

F. M. RTISCHEV. Almost all the time of the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, Fyodor Mikhailovich Rtishchev, his close bed-keeper, and then the butler and tutor (uncle) of the elder Tsarevich Alexei, Fyodor Mikhailovich Rtishchev, was inseparably with him, serving in the palace department. He was almost the same age as Tsar Alexei, was born four years earlier than him (1625) and died three years before his death (1673). To outside observers, he was hardly noticeable: not to come forward, to remain in the shadows was his worldly habit. It’s good that some contemporary left us a small life of Rtishchev, which looks more like a eulogy than a biography, but with several curious features of the life and character of this “merciful husband,” as the biographer calls him. He was one of those rare and a little strange people who have no ego at all. Contrary to the natural instincts and primordial habits of people, Rtishchev, in the commandment of Christ to love your neighbor as yourself, fulfilled only the first part: he did not love himself for the sake of his neighbor - a completely evangelical person, whose right cheek simply, without boasting and calculation, was substituted for the one who hit on the left , as if it were a requirement of physical law, and not a feat of humility. Rtishchev did not understand resentment and revenge, just as some do not know the taste of wine and do not understand how one can drink such an unpleasant thing. A certain Ivan Ozerov, once favored by Rtishchev and educated at the Kyiv Academy with his assistance, later became his enemy. Rtishchev was his boss, but did not want to use his power, but tried to quench his enmity with stubborn humility and goodwill; he came to his dwelling, quietly knocked on the door, was refused, and came again. Driven out of patience by such persistent and annoying meekness, the owner let him in, scolded and shouted at him. Without answering his scolding, Rtishchev silently left him and returned again with greetings, as if nothing had happened. This continued until the death of the stubborn enemy, whom Rtishchev buried, as good friends are buried. From the whole moral reserve, drawn by ancient Russia from Christianity, Rtishchev brought up in himself the most difficult and most akin to ancient Russian valor - humility. Tsar Alexei, who grew up with Rtishchev, of course, could not help but become attached to such a person. Rtishchev used his influence as the royal favorite to be a peacemaker at court, to eliminate enmity and clashes, to restrain strong and arrogant or uncompromising people like boyar Morozov, archpriest Avvakum and Nikon himself. Rtishchev succeeded in such a difficult role all the more easily because he knew how to tell the truth without offense, did not prick the eyes of anyone with personal superiority, was completely alien to pedigree and bureaucratic vanity, hated parochial scores, refused the boyar dignity offered to him by the tsar for raising the prince. The combination of such properties gave the impression of rare prudence and unshakable moral firmness: with prudence, according to the remark of the Caesar's ambassador Meyerberg, Rtishchev, still not yet 40 years old, surpassed many old people, and Ordin-Nashchokin considered Rtishchev the strongest person from the courtiers of Tsar Alexei; even the Cossacks, for their truthfulness and courtesy, wished to have him as the tsar's governor, "the prince of Little Russia."

It was very important for the success of the reform movement that Rtishchev stood by its side. Carrying in himself the best beginnings and precepts of ancient Russian life, he understood its needs and shortcomings and became in the first rank of leaders in the reform direction, and the cause for which such a businessman became could not be either bad or unsuccessful. He was one of the first to raise his voice against the liturgical outrages already known to us. More than anyone under Tsar Alexei, he cared about the establishment of education in Moscow with the help of Kyiv scientists, and he even owned the initiative in this matter. Every minute in front of the tsar and having his full confidence, Rtishchev, however, did not become a temporary worker and did not remain an indifferent spectator of the movements that were rising around him. He participated in a wide variety of cases on behalf of or on his own initiative, managed orders, once in 1655 he successfully completed a diplomatic mission. Everywhere there was an attempt to correct, to improve the state of affairs, Rtishchev was there with his assistance, intercession, advice, went towards any need for renewal, often aroused it himself and immediately avoided it, receded into the background so as not to embarrass businessmen, did not interrupt anyone roads. Peace-loving and benevolent, he could not stand hostility, malice, got along with all the outstanding businessmen of his time: with Ordin-Nashchokin, and with Nikon, and with Avvakum, and with Slavinetsky, and with Polotsky, for all the dissimilarity of their characters and trends, he tried to keep Old Believers and Nikonians in the field of theological thought, book dispute, not allowing them to church contention, arranged debates in his house, at which Avvakum “quarreled with apostates”, especially with S. Polotsky, to the point of exhaustion, to the point of intoxication.

If we believe the news that the idea of copper money was inspired by Rtishchev, then we must admit that his government influence extended beyond the palace department in which he served. However, it was not state activity in the exact sense of the word that was the real work of Rtishchev’s life, to which he left a memory: he chose for himself a no less difficult, but less visible and more selfless field - serving suffering and needy humanity. The biographer conveys several touching features of this ministry. Accompanying the tsar on the Polish campaign (1654), Rtishchev on the way picked up the poor, sick and crippled into his carriage, so that from crowdedness he himself had to change to a horse, despite a long-term illness of his legs, in passing cities and villages arranged for these people temporary hospitals, where he kept and treated them at his own expense and with the money given to him by the queen for this matter. In the same way, in Moscow, he ordered to collect the drunk and sick lying around the streets in a special shelter, where he kept them until sobering up and cured, and for the terminally ill, the elderly and the poor he set up an almshouse, which he also kept at his own expense. He spent a lot of money to ransom Russian prisoners from the Tatars, helped foreign captives who lived in Russia, and prisoners who were in prison for debts. His philanthropy stemmed not only from compassion for helpless people, but also from a sense of social justice. It was a very kind act of Rtishchev when he presented the city of Arzamas with his suburban land, which the townspeople badly needed, but which they could not buy, although Rtishchev had a profitable private buyer who offered him up to 14 thousand rubles for it with our money. In 1671, having heard about the famine in Vologda, Rtishchev sent there a wagon train with bread, as if entrusted to him by some Christ-lovers to distribute to the poor and wretched as a tribute to the soul, and then sent about 14 thousand rubles to the distressed city with our money, selling for that part of his dress and utensils. Rtishchev, apparently, understood not only other people's needs, but also the inconsistencies of the social system, and was perhaps the first to actively express his attitude towards serfdom. The biographer describes his concern for his yard people, and especially for the peasants: he tried to match the work and dues of the peasants with their means, supported their farms with loans, reduced its price when selling one of his villages, forcing the buyer to swear that he would not increase their corvée work and quitrents, before his death, he released all the servants and begged his heirs, his daughter and son-in-law, for only one thing - for the mention of his soul, it is possible to better treat the peasants bequeathed to him, “for,” he said, “they are brothers to us.”

It is not known what impression Rtishchev's attitude towards his peasants made on society; but his philanthropic exploits do not seem to have remained without influence on legislation. In the reign of Alekseev's successor, the question of church-state charity was raised. By decree of the tsar, the beggars and the poor, who ate on alms, were dismantled in Moscow, and the really helpless were placed on state content in two almshouses arranged for that purpose, and the healthy were assigned to various jobs. At a church council convened in 1681, the tsar proposed to the patriarch and bishops that similar shelters and almshouses be set up in all cities, and the fathers of the council accepted this proposal. So the private initiative of an influential and kind person formed the basis of a whole system of church and charitable institutions that gradually arose from the end of the 17th century.

Sources.

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Great patrons and philanthropists

XVII CENTURY

5.023 Carried away by an angel Fyodor Mikhailovich Rtishchev ("Big")

Russian historian V.O. Klyuchevsky spoke with great piety about the educator, a close adviser to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1645-1676) - Fyodor Mikhailovich Rtishchev.

“From the entire moral reserve gleaned by ancient Russia from Christianity, Rtishchev brought up in himself the most difficult and most akin to ancient Russian valor - humility ... Rtishchev used his influence as a royal favorite to be a peacemaker at court. Eliminate hostility and conflict. Restrain strong and arrogant or uncompromising people like the boyar Morozov, Archpriest Avvakum and Nikon himself ... Rtishchev, still not 40 years old, surpassed many old people, and Ordin-Nashchokin (diplomat and politician of the 17th century - V.L.) considered Rtishchev the strongest man among the courtiers of Tsar Alexei.

Biographers call Fyodor Mikhailovich a great Russian philanthropist, "a gracious husband", who for the first time in Russia made "an attempt to combine private charity with the state."

The future tsarist okolnichiy and bed-keeper (ranks of the Boyar Duma) was born on April 6 (16), 1626 in the village of Pokrovsky near Moscow (15 miles from Likhvin), into a pious and pious family of the city nobleman Mikhail Alekseevich Rtishchev and his wife Juliana Feodorovna, nee Potemkina. Fedor's not very rich parents gave their son an excellent upbringing and were an excellent example of disinterested care for the local church and its liturgy.

After 4 months of service in the Tula regiment of Prince Ya.K. Cherkassky, 19-year-old Rtishchev was summoned from Tula "to the sovereign to Moscow", where, thanks to his father's connections and numerous relatives, he took the place of the sovereign's attorney with a key. Marriage to Ksenia Matveevna Zubova brought Fedor new useful connections and the estate of his father-in-law in Kineshma district.

Accompanying Alexei Mikhailovich in two Lithuanian campaigns (1654 and 1655) as the head of the tsar's camp apartment, the attorney proved to be an outstanding diplomat.

Having successfully carried out the sovereign’s order at the negotiations in Lithuania to increase the title of the Moscow Tsar by the amount of “Little and White Russia”, Rtishchev was granted a courtesy with a personal salary that far exceeded the salary of his colleagues, and was left at court as a minister - butler.

In 1656, Fyodor Mikhailovich was placed at the head of the Lithuanian order and took part in the Swedish campaign.

In the future, holding a number of responsible positions (Chief Judge of the Livonian Affairs Order, managing the palace court order, the order of the large palace, the order of secret cases), Rtishchev proved himself an outstanding statesman. Suffice it to mention that he was the main candidate for the post of Hetman of Little Russia.

During the Copper Riot of 1662, Rtishchev, as a prominent figure in Orthodoxy and a fighter for the reunification of Lesser and Moscow Russia, almost died at the insinuations of the opposite - the Polish side, fortunately, the sovereign managed to suppress the protest of the dissatisfied.

Rtishchev also proved himself to be one of the first Russian educators, “who established with his own, very meager funds” a school (“Rtishchevskaya School”) for 30 monks in the Transfiguration Monastery near Moscow. At the request of a benefactor, a "triglosson" was compiled within the walls of the school - a Slavic-Latin-Greek dictionary for 7000 words.

Fyodor Mikhailovich himself, using the slightest opportunity to gain knowledge, after the service in the evenings, under the guidance of invited Kyiv elders, together with the monks, Slovenian and Greek grammar, rhetoric and philosophy.

Rtishchev was also known as a staunch supporter of the observance of church canons. So, according to his zeal, church sermons and "unanimity" in church service were introduced in the Russian church. At the same time, at the time of the beginning of the church schism, Fyodor Mikhailovich, as a member of the "Circle of Zealots of Piety", showed great tolerance for other people's views and religious beliefs that he did not share.

Due to his “high moral and mental qualities”, Rtishchev was chosen by the sovereign as the educator of Tsarevich Alexei, over whom he patronized for 6 years until the unexpected death of the heir in 1670. After this misfortune, Fyodor Mikhailovich left the royal service and three years later, on June 21 (July 1) 1673 died.

Soon after the death of Rtishchev, “The Life of the Gracious Husband Fedor, with the title of Rtishchev” was compiled, which spoke of the exceptional merits of the layman before the people, the sovereign and Moscow Rus, “since in those days, biographies of saints and clergy were compiled mainly.

Fyodor Mikhailovich became a philanthropist from the very first days of his service as tsar. At first, it was rather a manifestation of the mercy of an official.

“Rtishchev belonged to those rare and slightly strange people who have no self-esteem at all ... He loved himself only for his neighbor, considering himself the very last of his neighbors, about whom it is not a sin to think only when there is no one else to think is a perfectly evangelical person.”

During the wars with the Commonwealth and Sweden (1650s), Rtishchev, at his own expense, as well as with the money of the compassionate Empress Maria Ilyinichna, organized several hospitals, not only for Russian soldiers, but also for foreign captives.

“On the way, he picked up in heaps in his carriage the sick, wounded, beaten and ruined, so that sometimes there was no place left for him, and, having mounted a horse, he trudged behind his impromptu field infirmary to the nearest town, where he immediately rented a house, where, himself groaning in pain, dumped his groaning and groaning brethren, arranged for her maintenance and care, and even recruited medical staff in some unknown way.

The philanthropist also helped prisoners who were in prison for debts, spent large sums on the ransom of our prisoners from the Crimea and Turkey.

Even before the establishment of almshouses and hospices, Rtishchev set up two special houses in the capital, into one of which special messengers brought the sick, the poor and the drunk from Moscow streets, treated them, fed, clothed, sobered them up, and in the other they placed the elderly, the blind for constant care. and other cripples suffering from incurable ailments.

The philanthropist spent all his last income on the maintenance of these houses. At the same time, Fedor Mikhailovich set himself the goal, which became obvious to everyone after his death - personal charity "to turn into a permanent public organization that would select the masses of the toiling and burdened, making it easier for them to bear the heavy duty of life." "Hospitals of Fyodor Rtishchev" continued to exist on private donations after his death.

Despite the fact that charity took away all the income of Rtishchev, he did not stop doing good deeds until his death. So, for example, during a severe famine in Vologda (1671), Fyodor Mikhailovich sent bread and money earned from the sale of his clothes and utensils to the distressed Vologda residents. At the same time, in the accompanying message, he modestly indicated that he was only fulfilling the will of “Christ-loving people.” And the philanthropist donated a large plot of land for construction to the poor residents of Arzamas.

According to V.O. Klyuchevsky, before his death, Rtishchev released all the courtyards and belittled his heirs, his daughter and son-in-law, only about one thing - in the memory of his soul, it is possible to better treat the peasants bequeathed to him, "for," he said, "they are our brothers."

Rtishchev's charity did not remain in his time; it gave rise both in our state and in several generations of Russian philanthropists. Even under Alexei Mikhailovich, special orders were created to care for the poor, and two decades after the death of Rtishchev, almshouses for the helpless, wretched, and also for homeless children were arranged in Moscow by decree of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, where they taught literacy, craft and sciences. Later, shelters and almshouses were set up in other Russian cities as well.

As historians note, it is Rtishchev who owes Russia the formation of two types of charitable institutions: "outpatient shelters for those in need of temporary assistance and permanent shelters - almshouses for people whom philanthropy should have taken into their own hands before their death."

P.S. Two days before Rtishchev's death, a girl of about 12 years old who lived in his house, whom he loved for her meek disposition, had a dream in which her benefactor “left the ward, and then a ladder appeared in front of him from the earth to the very sky, and he climbed up this staircase, and there a young man with golden wings appeared on the heights of heaven, extended his hand to the owner and grabbed him. In this dream of a girl, told in Rtishchev's girl's room, all the noble tears of poor people, wiped away by the owner, were shed ... (V.O. Klyuchevsky).

Activity: Russian statesman, philanthropist, educator

Fedor Mikhailovich Rtishchev ("Big") April 6 (16), 1626 - June 21 (July 1), 1673) - Russian statesman, roundabout, head of various orders, educator, philanthropist, who founded a number of hospitals, schools and almshouses. For his moral qualities and charitable activities, he received the nickname "gracious husband" from his contemporaries.

Biography

Childhood and youth

Fyodor Rtishchev was born in April 1626 in the family of the Likhvin city nobleman Mikhail Alekseevich Rtishchev and his wife Juliana (Ulyana) Fedorovna (née Potemkina). Fedor's childhood passed alternately either in Moscow or in his father's patrimony - the village of Pokrovsky, located approximately 32 km (15 versts) from Likhvin. From 1635 to 1636, the Rtishchevs lived in the city of Temnikov, where Mikhail Alekseevich was appointed governor. Fedor Rtishchev lost his mother early, the details of how he grew up and was brought up are unknown.

Upon reaching the age of 15, F. Rtishchev was enlisted by the estate, that is, he was enrolled in military service with the simultaneous appointment of land and monetary salaries, and became a “newcomer”, and then, like his father, a Likhvin city nobleman. In 1645, for four months, together with his father (at that time already a Moscow nobleman) and brother, he was in Tula, in the regiment of Prince Yakov Kudenetovich Cherkassky, who was sent there to protect the Russian border from the raids of the Crimeans and Nogais.

Court and state activities

In 1645, shortly after the death of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, the Rtishchevs were summoned from Tula to Moscow by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Fyodor Mikhailovich was granted the rank of solicitor in the "room at the hook", that is, in the inner rooms under the sovereign. In the autumn of 1646, Rtishchev took the position of a lawyer with a key, that is, a palace housekeeper. On August 11, 1650, F. M. Rtishchev was elevated to the rank of bed-keeper, becoming one of the close people of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.

In 1654-1655, Fyodor Rtishchev accompanied the tsar on campaigns against the Commonwealth. In September 1655, he, as a trustee, was sent to the Polish Hetman of Lithuania, Vincent Gonsevsky, with a notice of consent to peace negotiations and an article list, which dealt with land concessions, monetary rewards from Lithuania and the choice of a place for the congress of ambassadors. . However, having crossed the Neman, Rtishchev was soon arrested by the Lithuanian detachment of Yuri Khreptovich and taken to the town of Krynki near Grodno as a suspicious person. Fyodor Mikhailovich was saved by the royal charter, which was with him and proved that he was the envoy of the Moscow Tsar. Rtishchev had to negotiate with Pavel Sapega, who was in Brest, since V. Gonsevsky had by that time been taken into custody for his adherence to Moscow. The main merit of Rtishchev in these negotiations was the successful execution of a secret order to increase the title of the Moscow Tsar. At the insistence of F. M. Rtishchev, P. Sapega in his article lists wrote the title of Alexei Mikhailovich with the addition of the words "and Malaya and White Russia". In early November 1655, Rtishchev arrived in Smolensk, where the tsar was at that time.

On January 12, 1656, Fyodor Rtishchev was granted a courtesy. At the same time, his embassy service in Lithuania was praised. Rtishchev was assigned a salary of 400 quarters more than the usual salary of okolnichy. Simultaneously with the award to the courtiers, the tsar ordered Rtishchev to “sit in the palace”, that is, he appointed him as a butler, and this position was usually occupied only by the boyars.

On May 15, 1656, Alexei Mikhailovich set out on a campaign against Sweden. Rtishchev, placed before this at the head of the Lithuanian order, accompanied the king. On December 7, he held talks with Kazimir Zhuravsky, Gonsevsky's envoy. Upon returning to Moscow on January 14, 1657, Fyodor Rtishchev was appointed chief judge of the Order of Livonian Affairs and entered into correspondence with Gonsevsky about unrest in the recently conquered areas of Lithuania and about the desirability of electing Alexei Mikhailovich to the Polish-Lithuanian throne. In 1657-1664, Rtishchev also managed the Palace Court Order, then the Order of the Grand Palace and the Order of Secret Affairs.

In the summer of 1663, elections were scheduled for the hetman of the Left-Bank Ukraine. Three candidates claimed the hetmanship: the appointed hetman Yakim Samko, Colonel Ivan Zolotarenko, and the Zaporizhzhya koshevoi Ivan Bryukhovetsky. However, J. Samko, and together with him many colonels and senior Cossacks, declared that Rtishchev would be the most suitable ruler of Little Russia, since he is “gentle with the Little Russians, brings their petitions to the attention of the king, and is attentive to their envoys.” Ivan Bryukhovetsky wrote to Bishop Methodius: “we don’t need to take care of the hetmanship, but about the Prince of Little Russia from His Royal Majesty, I wish Fedor Mikhailovich for this reign”. But the appointment of F. M. Rtishchev as the ruler of Little Russia did not take place, and I. Bryukhovetsky received the hetmanate.

Monetary reform of 1656

Fyodor Mikhailovich Rtishchev is considered the author of the monetary reform of 1656. At that time, gold and silver coins, chervonets, which were minted in Germany and Holland (efimki), were in circulation in the Russian state. According to the plan of Rtishchev, they began to mint copper money, the cost of which was equated to silver. However, already in 1658, copper money began to fall in price, and food and essentials to rise in price. By the summer of 1662, the fall in the price of the copper ruble reached the point that it cost 12-13 times cheaper than the silver one, and eventually reached one-twentieth of the original. The reason for this was, among other things, the illegal minting of copper money. The fall in the value of copper money coincided with a new tax on the war with Poland over Little Russia.

On May 25, 1662, a rebellion broke out in Moscow, the reason for which was anonymous sheets pasted at night by unknown persons on the gates and city walls. These sheets announced the intention to transfer to Poland a number of persons, including Fyodor Rtishchev. The rebellion was put down. And in 1663, copper money was withdrawn from circulation.

Education of Tsarevich Alexei Alekseevich

In 1664, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Tsarina Marya Ilyinichna chose Fyodor Mikhailovich Rtishchev as the second "uncle" (tutor) to their son, heir to the throne, ten-year-old Tsarevich Alexei Alekseevich. Having assumed the duties of the tutor of the prince, Rtishchev was released from service in the Palace, Livonian affairs and Lithuanian orders. They wanted to raise Rtishchev to the boyars, but he refused this honor. On January 17, 1670, Tsarevich Alexei died unexpectedly. Rtishchev was very upset by this loss, he retired from the court and from state activities.

Educational activities and church reforms

Andreevsky Preobrazhensky Moscow Monastery in Captives

Fyodor Mikhailovich Rtishchev played a prominent role in the history of Russian education. Not far from Moscow, almost at the very Sparrow Hills in the tract of Plenitsy, there was a small wooden church in the name of Andrei Stratilat. With the permission of the tsar and the blessing of Patriarch Joseph, Fyodor Rtishchev built a church there in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord and in 1648 founded a school monastery at his own expense. Initially, the monastery was called Preobrazhensky, and later - Andreevsky (in the name of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called). 30 monks settled there, summoned by Rtishchev back in 1646-1647 from several Little Russian monasteries. In 1649, at the request of the tsar, Metropolitan Sylvester (Kossov) of Kyiv sent the learned monks Arseniy Satanovsky and Epiphanius Slavinetsky, and in 1650 - Damaskin Ptitsky.

Soon, a learned brotherhood (the so-called Rtishchev Brotherhood) was formed at the monastery, which was engaged in the translation of books, and from the end of November 1652, when the school opened, teaching grammar, Slavic, Latin and Greek languages, rhetoric and philosophy. The teaching of the Kyiv monks ran counter to the Moscow one from the very beginning. It seemed strange, and consequently, according to the logic of that time, “dissimilar to true orthodoxy,” that is, heretical. Fyodor Rtishchev was also accused of "destroying" the Orthodox faith. However, Metropolitan Nikon (later Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia), boyar Boris Morozov, and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich himself were on the side of Kyiv scientists.

In 1685, the school, founded by Fyodor Rtishchev, was transferred to the Zaikonospassky Monastery and served as the basis of the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy.

Rtishchev's communication with the Kyiv monks led him to the idea of the need to eliminate many of the inaccuracies that were allowed in the church service and charter. Fyodor Mikhailovich was a member of the "Circle of Zealots of Piety" - an association of clergy and secular persons grouped around the confessor of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Stefan Vonifatiev. With the help of Vonifatiev, the rector of the Kazan Cathedral in Moscow, Grigory Neronov, and the archimandrite of the Novospassky Monastery (later Patriarch) Nikon, also members of the Circle, Rtishchev managed to introduce church sermons, which until then were alien to the Moscow clergy. Fyodor Mikhailovich proved to Vonifatiev, and through Nero to many Moscow priests, that “homovoye” singing and “polyphony” should be replaced by “unanimous” singing. Rtishchev found especially active support in Nikon when he became Metropolitan of Novgorod. Nikon introduced in his Novgorod St. Sophia Cathedral intelligible separate reading and harmonious singing, and when he came to Moscow, he served according to the new order and with his choristers in the court church. The opponent of innovations was, in particular, Patriarch Joseph. The church council, convened by the tsar on the advice of F. M. Rtishchev on February 11, 1649, decided, due to the stubbornness of Patriarch Joseph, not to do anything against the "polyopia". However, Alexei Mikhailovich did not approve the conciliar resolution and turned to the Patriarch of Constantinople, who resolved this issue in favor of Fyodor Rtishchev. In February 1651, after the new council, the introduction of "unanimity" in all churches was announced. Following the changes in worship, Nikon began correcting church books, which led to the emergence of a schism in the Russian Church.

Charity

Fyodor Mikhailovich Rtishchev is known as a philanthropist and philanthropist. Rtishchev's charity was very diverse. In his youth, he lived as a hermit near Moscow, generously donating his property to the poor. During the Russian-Polish war, Fyodor Mikhailovich picked up the sick and wounded and took them to the parking lot, and often gave way to seriously ill people in his wagon, and he himself mounted a horse. To accommodate the sick, wounded and frostbite, Rtishchev hired houses in passing cities, found doctors, took care of the food of the wards, spending his own money on this. Rtishchev provided assistance during the war not only to Russians, but also to prisoners.

For the ransom of Russian prisoners from the Crimea and Turkey, F. M. Rtishchev donated 1000 silver rubles.

Around 1650, Rtishchev founded the first hospital for the poor in Moscow. In it, under constant supervision, there were 13-15 poor and sick people. After the death of Fyodor Mikhailovich, the hospital burned down. Rtishchev's relatives did not want to provide funds for the resumption of this institution, but Rtishchev's admirers built a house that also existed in the reign of Peter I under the name "Fedor Rtishchev's Hospital." The terminally ill, the elderly, the blind were taken there and kept on voluntary donations.

In another house, Rtishchev arranged a temporary shelter. His servants sought out and brought the sick, the poor, and the drunk to this house. There, the sick were treated, the poor were fed and clothed, and the drunks were sobered up. Rtishchev visited this house and observed the care that its random inhabitants used.

The charity of Fyodor Rtishchev was especially pronounced in 1671, during a severe famine in Vologda. He sent Archbishop Simon of Vologda 200 measures of bread, and then 900 silver and 100 gold rubles, proceeds mainly from the sale of his property, including clothes and utensils.

Not far from Arzamas, Rtishchev owned a large piece of land. Having learned that the city needed this land, and the Arzamas people did not have the funds to purchase it, Rtishchev donated this land to the city.

The name of Rtishchev was recorded in the synodics of many monasteries and churches, in gratitude for his financial contributions.

Land ownership and fishing activities

Fedor Rtishchev owned estates and estates in several counties. For a long time, he, together with his brother Fyodor Mikhailovich Lesser, owned an estate in the Likhvinsky district, ceded to him by his father in 1650, as well as other land that they happened to buy or change. In 1661, when the brothers separated, Fyodor Mikhailovich Bolshoi had 715 quarters left in the estates of Likhvinsky, Tarussky and Moscow counties, and up to 1,500 quarters of land were collected on estates, the composition of which often changed.

In the early 1650s, F. M. Rtishchev and his brother, together with other people, organized a daily trade, that is, the manufacture of potash and resin. From 1652 to 1672, they were given for quitrent from the treasury three free weekday factories with forests assigned to them in the Oleshensky district, on Akhtyrka and in the Putilov district, as well as permission to start new buds and cut down forests, except for reserved ones.

Family

Fedor Mikhailovich Rtishchev was married to Ksenia Matveevna Zubova. Their wedding took place around 1646. Daughters - Anna Feodorovna, married Princess Prozorovskaya (husband - Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Prozorovsky) and Akulina Feodorovna, married Princess Odoevskaya (husband - Prince Vasily Fedorovich Odoevsky).

Memory

Alexey Morozov as Fyodor Rtishchev (Serial "Split", 2011)

Shortly after the death of Fyodor Mikhailovich Rtishchev, “The Life of the Gracious Husband Fyodor, with the title of Rtishchev” was compiled. This phenomenon is extremely rare for a layman of Muscovite Russia, since in those days, mainly biographies of saints and clergy were compiled.
Professor V. O. Klyuchevsky compared Fyodor Mikhailovich Rtishchev with a lighthouse: in his opinion, he belonged to those people who “from their historical distance they will not cease to shine, like beacons in the midst of the darkness of the night, illuminating our path”.
The image of Fyodor Mikhailovich is placed on the high relief of the monument "Millennium of Russia", in the section "Enlighteners". His figure is in the recess, between Patriarch Nikon and Dmitry Rostov.

The image of Fedor Rtishchev in the cinema

For the first time in the history of cinema, Fyodor Rtishchev was performed by the actor of the Maly Drama Theater - the Theater of Europe Alexei Valentinovich Morozov in the serial feature film "Split" directed by Nikolai Dostal. In V. O. Klyuchevsky, the artist read that Rtishchev "suffered with his legs." Together with the director, it was thought that Rtishchev was lame on his right leg.

Fedor Rtishchev and the city of Rtishchevo

In the book by A. A. Gromov and I. A. Kuznetsov “Rtishchevo - the Crossroads of Russia”, the biography of the first owner of the village is completely composed of the biographies of two different people - Fyodor Mikhailovich Rtishchev and the real owner of the village Vasily Mikhailovich Rtishchev - Ober-shter-kriegscommissar and general Major, who was Fyodor Mikhailovich's great-nephew.

Literature

Babitsky A. Alexey Morozov: “I hope you won’t have to act in soap operas” // Our film.ru ().
Gromov A. A., Kuznetsov I. A. Rtishchevo - the crossroads of Russia. - Saratov: Volga Prince. publishing house, 1997. - 176 p. - ISBN 5-7633-0784-4. - S. 20-21
P. V. Znamensky History of the Russian Church. - M.: Krutitsy Patriarchal Compound, 1996. - 474 p. - (Materials on the history of the church) ().
Kashkin N. N. Pedigree intelligence. - St. Petersburg, 1912. - S. 448-449
Kozlovsky I.P. F. M. Rtishchev. Historical and biographical research. - Kyiv, 1906
Kolpakidi A., Sever A. Special services of the Russian Empire. - M.: Yauza Eksmo, 2010. - S. 25 - 26. - 768 p. - (Encyclopedia of special services). - 3000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-699-43615-6
Krylov D. Money in the Russian system of values // Polar Star, 2004 ().
Kuvanov A. Rtishchevo is a good name // Lenin's Way. - August 25, 1967
Rumyantseva V.S., prot. Boris Danilenko Andreevsky Monastery in Plenitsy. - Orthodox Encyclopedia (March 16, 2009) ().
Russian Biographical Dictionary: T. 17. Romanova-Ryasovsky / Russian Historical Society: [ed. B. L. Modzalevsky]. Petrograd: type. Acc. Islands "Kadima", 1918. - S. 357-366

Links

Enlighteners. Monument "Millennium of Russia"
Rtishchev Fedor Mikhailovich on the Chronos website ().
Princess Anastasia Petrovna Golitsyna on the website of Prince Nikolai Kirillovich Golitsyn ().

Nobles and noble families

Beklemishevs · Blokhiny · Borhi: Victor Alexandrovich Sofia Ivanovna Vetchinin Alexander Alexandrovich · Lords: Vasily Mikhailovich · Vladimir Nikolaevich · Ivan Nikolaevich · Mikhail Nikolaevich · Volkonsky: Ekaterina Alekseevna (ur. Melgunova) Dmitry Petrovich Dmitry Petrovich 2nd Pyotr Mikhailovich Vysheslavtsevs · Garthong Ivan Vladimirovich · Golitsyns: Alexander Fedorovich (Prozorovsky) Boris Vasilievich Boris Lvovich Lev Lvovich 1st Lev Lvovich 2nd Mikhail Grigorievich Sergei Fedorovich Fedor Ivanovich Grimm Konstantin Nikolaevich · Demidovs · Divovy: Ivan Ivanovich · Nikolai Andreyanovich · Nikolai Ivanovich · Dolgorukovs · Zhukov Akinfiy Ivanovich Zasetsky · Izvolsky · Kanabeevs (Konobeevs): Lavrenty Andriyanovich (Konobeev) Karjakins · Kiselyov Fedor Ivanovich · Kozhina · Krivsky: Alexander Yakovlevich Pavel Alexandrovich Laval Alexandra Grigorievna · Likharevs: Nikolai Nikolaevich · Likhachevs: Alexander Nikiforovich · Melgunovs: Pyotr Naumovich · Nesterovs · Norovs: Abraham Sergeevich · Alexander Sergeevich · Vasily Sergeevich · Sergey Alexandrovich · Orlov Mikhail Nikolaevich · Polivanovs: Vasily Petrovich Pyotr Sergeevich Sergey Petrovich Yuri Ignatievich Repnins:

"Russia is not without good people!" Russian people can be safely attributed to the most sympathetic peoples of the world. And we have someone to look up to.

Okolnichiy Fyodor Rtishchev

Even during his lifetime, Fyodor Rtishchev, a close friend and adviser to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, received the nickname "gracious husband." Klyuchevsky wrote that Rtishchev fulfilled only part of the commandment of Christ - he loved his neighbor, but not himself. He was from that rare breed of people who put the interests of others above their own "I want." It was on the initiative of the “bright man” that the first shelters for the poor appeared not only in Moscow, but also abroad. It was common for Rtishchev to pick up a drunk on the street and take him to a temporary shelter organized by him - an analogue of a modern sobering-up station. How many were saved from death and did not freeze in the street, one can only guess.

In 1671, Fyodor Mikhailovich sent grain carts to the starving Vologda, and then the money received from the sale of personal property. And when he found out about the need of the Arzamas residents for additional lands, he simply presented his own.

During the Russian-Polish war, he took out not only compatriots, but also Poles from the battlefield. He hired doctors, rented houses, bought food and clothing for the wounded and prisoners, again at his own expense. After the death of Rtishchev, his "Life" appeared - a unique case of demonstrating the holiness of a layman, and not a monk.

Empress Maria Feodorovna

The second wife of Paul I, Maria Fedorovna, was famous for her excellent health and tirelessness. Starting the morning with cold douches, prayers and strong coffee, the Empress devoted the rest of the day to taking care of her countless pupils. She knew how to convince moneybags to donate money for the construction of educational institutions for noble maidens in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Simbirsk and Kharkov. With her direct participation, the largest charitable organization was created - the Imperial Humanitarian Society, which existed until the beginning of the 20th century.

Having 9 children of her own, she especially anxiously took care of abandoned babies: the sick were nursed in foster homes, strong and healthy - in trustworthy peasant families.

This approach has significantly reduced child mortality. With all the scale of her activities, Maria Fedorovna paid attention to trifles that are not essential for life. So, in the Obukhov psychiatric hospital in St. Petersburg, each patient received his own kindergarten.

Prince Vladimir Odoevsky

A descendant of the Rurikids, Prince Vladimir Odoevsky was convinced that the thought sown by him would certainly "sprout tomorrow" or "in a thousand years." A close friend of Griboedov and Pushkin, the writer and philosopher Odoevsky was an active supporter of the abolition of serfdom, worked to the detriment of his own interests for the Decembrists and their families, tirelessly intervened in the fate of the most disadvantaged. He was ready to rush to the aid of anyone who applied, and in everyone he saw a “living string” that could be made to sound for the good of the cause.

The St. Petersburg Society for Visiting the Poor, organized by him, helped 15,000 needy families.

There was a women's workshop, a children's rooming house with a school, a hospital, hostels for the elderly and families, and a social store.

Despite his origins and connections, Odoevsky did not seek to occupy an important post, believing that in a "secondary position" he was able to bring "real benefit." The "strange scientist" tried to help young inventors realize their ideas. The main character traits of the prince, according to contemporaries, were humanity and virtue.

Prince Peter of Oldenburg

An innate sense of justice distinguished the grandson of Paul I from most of his colleagues. He not only served in the Preobrazhensky Regiment during the reign of Nicholas I, but also equipped the first school in the history of the country in which soldiers' children were trained at the place of service. Later, this successful experience was applied to other regiments.

In 1834, the prince witnessed the public punishment of a woman who was driven through the soldiers' formation, after which he petitioned for dismissal, stating that he would never be able to carry out such orders.

Petr Georgievich devoted his further life to charity. He was a trustee and an honorary member of many institutions and societies, including the Kyiv House of Charity for the Poor.

Sergey Skyrmunt

Retired lieutenant Sergei Skyrmunt is almost unknown to the general public. He did not hold high positions and failed to become famous for his good deeds, but he was able to build socialism in a single estate.

At the age of 30, when Sergei Apollonovich painfully pondered his future fate, 2.5 million rubles fell on him from a deceased distant relative.

The inheritance was not squandered or played at cards. One part of it became the basis for donations to the Society for the Promotion of Public Entertainment, the founder of which was Skyrmunt himself. With the rest of the money, the millionaire built a hospital and a school on the estate, and all his peasants were able to move to new huts.

Anna Adler

The whole life of this amazing woman was devoted to educational and pedagogical work. She was an active participant in various charitable societies, helped during the famine in the Samara and Ufa provinces, on her initiative the first public reading room was opened in the Sterlitamak district. But her main efforts were aimed at changing the situation of people with disabilities. For 45 years, she has done everything so that the blind have the opportunity to become full members of society.

She was able to find the means and strength to open the first specialized printing house in Russia, where in 1885 the first edition of the Collection of Articles for Children's Reading, published and dedicated to blind children by Anna Adler, was published.

In order to produce a book in Braille, she worked seven days a week until late at night, personally typing and proofreading page after page.

Later, Anna Aleksandrovna translated the musical system, and blind children were able to learn to play musical instruments. With her active assistance, a few years later the first group of blind students graduated from the St. Petersburg School for the Blind, and a year later from the Moscow School. Literacy and vocational training helped graduates find jobs, which changed the stereotype of their incapacity. Anna Adler almost did not live to see the opening of the First Congress of the All-Russian Society of the Blind.

Nikolai Pirogov

The whole life of the famous Russian surgeon is a series of brilliant discoveries, the practical use of which has saved more than one life. The men considered him a magician who, for his "miracles", attracts higher powers. He was the first in the world to use surgery in the field, and the decision to use anesthesia saved not only his patients from suffering, but also those who lay on the tables of his students later. By his own efforts, the splints were replaced with bandages soaked in starch.

He was the first to use the method of sorting the wounded into heavy and those who make it to the rear. This has reduced the death rate by several times. Before Pirogov, even a minor wound in the arm or leg could end in amputation.

He personally conducted operations and tirelessly monitored that the soldiers were provided with everything necessary: warm blankets, food, water.

According to legend, it was Pirogov who taught Russian academics to perform plastic surgery, demonstrating the successful experience of engrafting a new nose on the face of his barber, whom he helped to get rid of deformity.

Being an excellent teacher, about whom all the students spoke with warmth and gratitude, he believed that the main task of education was to teach to be a man.

Fyodor Mikhailovich Rtishchev came from a noble boyar family, and therefore, in accordance with the then preserved system of parochialism (possession of state posts by family name), after the accession of Alexei Mikhailovich in 1645, the young man was invited to take a position at the royal court. The career ladder of the then political elite began with the position of a solicitor - a courtier, whose duties included disposing of the royal table and other small assignments. So, the attorney with the key served as the palace housekeeper. By the way, the lawyers had to take a special oath, in which they swore into the royal concoction and personal belongings “do not put any potion and dashing roots.” The next step was the position of a bed keeper, who, as the name implies, was in charge of the royal bedroom, which included the sovereign’s “bed treasury” (icons, crosses, gold and silver dishes, royal vestments), as well as sewing clothes and linen. The pinnacle of a career in the case of Rtishchev was the place of a roundabout - an official who worked in the then ministries-orders or was engaged in the diplomatic service.

Meeting of the Boyar Duma

Fyodor Mikhailovich Rtishchev was a close friend and favorite of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, and therefore was able to try his talents and skills in various areas of public service. Even in his youth, he was a member of the "Circle of Zealots of Piety", in whose meetings the Tsar himself, and future implacable enemies Nikon and Archpriest Avvakum participated. The goal of the "zealots" was to strengthen the authority of the church, which had been greatly shaken during the Time of Troubles and subsequent years. In essence, the reformist trend in Orthodoxy, in its requirements, was in many ways similar to the champions of the purity of faith - the Puritans. The eradication of various pagan celebrations and superstitions, the improvement of the morality of the clergy, the fight against negligence in worship, in particular the introduction of unanimity, the correction of church books and the restoration of the sermon - these are the recommendations put forward by the members of the circle. An active participant in the meetings, Nikon, having ascended the patriarchal throne, began to implement the proposed transformations, however, the split among the “zealots” that had emerged even before the reforms only worsened.

Rtishcheva is present on the high relief of the monument "1000th Anniversary of Russia"

Rtishchev was a highly educated and erudite man, the embodiment of the ideal of a statesman and benefactor. In 1650, he opened a hospital for the poor outside the city, in which 13-15 poor people were cared for by doctors. When the hospital building burned down at the end of the century, Rtishchev’s admirers built a new house, which functioned even in the Petrine era under the name “Fyodor Rtishchev’s Hospital”. The terminally ill, the elderly, the blind were taken there and supported by voluntary donations from the townspeople and philanthropists. During the Russian-Polish war of 1654-1667, Rtishchev helped to hospitalize the sick and wounded in his wagon. Note that the boyar spent exclusively his own funds on all these concerns. So, for the ransom of Russian prisoners from Turkish captivity, he donated 1000 silver rubles. Another striking act of his was to help the inhabitants of Vologda, which suffered greatly from the outbreak of famine. Rtishchev sent the Vologda archbishop Simon 200 measures of bread, 900 rubles in silver and 100 gold - the money received from the sale of the boyar's own property, including clothes and utensils.

Russian-Polish war of 1654−1667

Perhaps the main achievement of Fyodor Mikhailovich Rtishchev can be considered the Andreevsky Monastery founded by him, conceived not only as a spiritual center, but also as an educational center. In 1648, at the foot of the Sparrow Hills, on the site of the ancient wooden church of Andrei Stratilat, the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord was built at the boyar's own expense, which was later transformed into a monastery named after the Apostle Andrei the First-Called.

The name of Rtishchev is recorded in the synodics of churches for his donations

The decree signed by Rtishchev spoke of the creation of a "school monastery for the dissemination of free wisdom", "they would be able to gain reason, the light of the spiritual soul." Thus, the project could be called an attempt to create the first higher educational institution in Russia. The most learned monks of the Kiev-Pechersk and other monasteries were invited as teachers, a total of 30 people "in life and rank and in reading and singing the church and cell rules fairly." One of the pillars of the new educational center was the theologian and philosopher Epiphanius Slavinetsky, an active participant in Nikon’s “book right” (corrections of liturgical books according to Greek models), which for church authorities was a kind of living academy of Orthodox sciences. An authoritative scholar takes on a new translation of the Bible, which is published in 1663, more than 80 years after the appearance of the first printed version of the Holy Scriptures.

Andreevsky Monastery

The main educational focus of the Andreevsky School Monastery was the training of theologians and translators of sacred texts. The students studied grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, Greek and Latin. Obliged to serve during the day at the royal court, Rtishchev spent evenings and nights in Plenitsy near Sparrow Hills, studying Greek grammar with other students under the guidance of the Kyiv elders, and then participating in heated debates with learned theologians about the relationship between faith and knowledge. It should be noted that during these scientific debates, Russian religious thought was in the context of the pan-European reform movement for the renewal of church canons and dogmas.

Patriarch Nikon is one of the followers of Rtishchev's views

As Klyuchevsky wrote about this time, "For the first time Russia is put face to face with Western Europe." The authority of the Andreevsky scholars was so high that it was here that archpriest Avvakum and his supporters who broke away from the official Russian church were sent for “re-education”. When one of the members of the Circle of Zealots of Piety, Metropolitan Nikon became patriarch, he invited the learned monks of the Andreevsky Monastery, who were supposed to deal with book corrections. A Greek-Latin school was organized in the Chudov Monastery, headed by one of the most prominent philosophers of St. Andrew, Slavinetsky. After the fall of Nikon, the Chudov school closed, and the “Rtishchev brotherhood,” as contemporaries called the monks, disintegrated.

Patriarch Nikon during the years of the church reform

The influence of Rtishchev's ideas on his contemporaries turned out to be so great that almost immediately after the death of the boyar, "The Life of the Gracious Husband Fyodor, with the title of Rtishchev" appeared - a very rare case, because in the hagiographic genre, biographies of church hierarchs were mainly composed, as well as canonized historical figures. The historian V. O. Klyuchevsky in his famous biography of the boyar entitled “The Good People of Ancient Russia” calls Rtishchev “an evangelical person”: “From the entire moral reserve gleaned by ancient Russia from Christianity, he brought up in himself the most difficult and most akin to ancient Russian valor - humility. Tsar Alexei, who grew up with Rtishchev, of course, could not help but become attached to such a person. Rtishchev used his influence as the royal favorite to be a peacemaker at court, to eliminate enmity and clashes, to restrain strong and arrogant or uncompromising people. Rtishchev succeeded in such a difficult role all the more easily because he knew how to tell the truth without offense, he didn’t prick anyone’s eyes with personal superiority, he was completely alien to pedigree and personal vanity.