or," writes a chronicler of the times, "could shake their devotion to the sovereign."
On returning to the capital, Ivan, in a wild caprice, established the "Opritchnina,"[1] and divided the empire into the so-called "personality" and "communality;" the one to be his individual property, under his personal rule, and the other to be governed by the boyars and ordinary officers of the State. He formed a body-guard called the "Opritchniki," or Legion of the Elect, chosen for their debauched and lawless habits, and sworn to obey him only, and in all things, ignoring all other authority. With them he gave free vent to his fiendish passions and diabolic cruelty. City and country, noble and peasant, were alike subjected to pillage, extortion, and torture. At Alexandrov he established a chapel and monastery, where he and his familiars, in the garb of monks, officiated and assiduously followed the strictest rule of monastic life. He spent hours in prayer and self-flagellation, as if to quiet remorse, and then, unable to control his thirst for blood, he passed from the fatiguing and exhausting service of the altar to rest and refresh himself by superintending the rack. Vain of his theological acquirements and devotional practices, he was wont to vary his occupation as torturer and executioner by admonishing the clergy to be faithful, and to take pattern from him in the discharge of their duties.
Before the Church fell into ignominious subserviency a martyr was added to its list of saints. When Athanasius retired, Germanus refused the primacy and rebuked the tsar for his crimes. Philip, a monk of noble birth, distinguished for piety and learning, was sum-
- ↑ Opritchnina, or opritchina, is an old Russian word, now obsolete, meaning privilege; opritchniki, the persons who are "privileged."
