History of the Russian State, Vol. 9

A.D. 1560 — 1561. Trial.

The Sovereign ordered the accused to be tried in absentia. The Metropolitan, bishops, boyars, and many other spiritual and secular officials gathered for this purpose in the palace. Among the judges were also treacherous monks, Vassian Bésky and Misail Sukin, the chief villains against Sylvester. They read not one, but many accusations, explained by Ivan himself in a letter to Prince Andrei Kurbsky (15). "For the salvation of my soul," writes the Tsar, "I brought the priest Sylvester close to me, hoping that, by his rank and reason, he would be my helper in good deeds; but this wily hypocrite, having seduced me with sweet talk, thought only of worldly power and befriended Adashev to govern the Kingdom without a Tsar, whom they despised. They again instilled a spirit of willfulness in the boyars; they distributed cities and districts to their like-minded followers; they placed whom they wanted into the Duma; they occupied all positions with their cronies. I was a prisoner on the throne. Can I describe the humiliation and shame I suffered in those days? Like a captive, they dragged the Tsar with the sorrow of his warriors through dangerous enemy land (Kazan) and spared neither his health nor his life; they invented childish scares to bring terror to my soul; they commanded me to be above human nature (16), forbidding—