The Moralia by Basil the Great and the Instruction to the Tsar as the sources of Patriarch Nikon's Refutation or Demolishment

The article describes the principles of application of two edifying sources - the Moralia by Basil the Great and Instruction to the Tsar by Patriarch Nikon, written on the basis of the Moralia - as the sources of Patriarch Nikon's polemical book A Refutation or Demolishment by the Most Humble Nikon, Patriarch by the Grace of God, of the Questions Which the Boyar Simeon Streshnev Addressed to Paisius Ligarid, Metropolitan of Gaza, and Paisius's Answers. The borrowings from both sources are encountered in 12 of the 27 chapters of the book. More often the author refers to the Moralia, he combines the fragments from this source with each other, or with the extracts from Instruction to the Tsar. Borrowings from both sources are located, as a rule, in the first half of a refutation and take the strong position, which enhances the polemical tone. With the help of the extracts Patriarch Nikon reveals and exposes some personal characteristics of the opponents, proves that some of their views are wrong. Patriarch condemns ignorance in judgment, the attitude to the opponent devoid of Christian ethics, high self-esteem and subjective interpretation of events, which are the distinctive features of public behaviour of Streshnev. Patriarch depicts a scathing portrait of Metropolitan Paisius Ligarid using a satirical manner of presentation. Ligarid is shown as both a man with a dubious past and a similar way of life from the point of view of the ancient Russian piety; the behaviour and judgments of Metropolitan indicate the fragility of his faith and grave violations of the Church law. Nikon presented his opponents as men with weak spirit, who are deprived of the sound knowledge of the essence of controversy and ignorant of debate. The citation of both sources in the form of thematic blocks was found to cease at the end of the 21st objection. Patriarch Nikon's polemic letters to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich revealed that a letter of December 18, 1664, was the last containing a direct borrowing from the edifying sources. It was assumed that 21 out of 27 objections had been written by the end of 1664, when the author could use the same sources or the total quotation fund, which served as the basis for Instruction to the Tsar and Refutation or Demolishment in his works. It was supposed that Chapters 5, 6, 17 and 19 might have been written in the first half of 1663, because, as well as the letter of Patriarch Nikon of December 24, 1662 to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, they contained direct borrowings from Instruction to the Tsar. Instruction was, probably, sent later, and Patriarch Nikon had an opportunity to use it as a source of Refutation or Demolishment. These assumptions serve to verify the opinion in the historiography of Patriarch Nikon existing since the 19th century that Refutation or Demolishment was written within a limited period from December 1663 to January 1665.

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