PRAYER FOR THE DEPARTED AS ONE OF THE ASPECTS OF THE THEOLOGY OF ARTEMIUS, THE HEGUMEN OF THE HOLY TRINITY- ST. SERGIUS MONASTERY

Abstract

Artemius, the theologian of the middle of the 16th century, is a prominent figure of the non-possessors movement. For a short time in 1551, he was hegumen of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery. Later at the Moscow Council of 1553–1554, he was defrocked, condemned as a heretic and imprisoned in the Solovetsky Monastery. After 1554, Artemius, having escaped from prison, finds himself in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, where he takes an active part in the polemic between the Orthodox and Protestants. At the Council mentioned above, various accusations were made against Artemy, and the main one was Artemius' involvement in the heresy of Matthew Semyonovich Bashkin. Among other accusations, Artemius was condemned in denial of the value of commemorating the dead. Whereas other accusations, such as the non-condemnation of the Novgorod-Moscow heretics, a frivolous attitude to rituals, as well as involvement in the heresy of M.S. Bashkin, were rejected by Artemius, the accused hegumen partially acknowledged his attitude to the church commemoraion.

The aim of this article is to analyze Artemius’ attitude to the church commemoration of the dead. We will show that this aspect of the former hegumen's theology is directly related to the controversy about monasterial land ownership that took place in the 16th century in Muscovite Russia.