German (Sadyrev-Polev)

German was born in Staritsa and came from a princely family of the Field , the name originates from the princes of Smolensk . At 25, he took tonsure at the Volokolamsk monastery , where he worked under the leadership of Hegumen Guri (later the Archbishop of Kazan) and worked on the correspondence of books. In the inventory of the books of the Volokolamsk monastery for 1545 there are entries: “The Gospel to the Children of Germanic Writing by Sadyrev ”, “The Mother of God to the Children of Germanic Writing by Sadyrev ”. ^[1] In the monastery, Herman met Maxim Grek, who was serving his sentence there.

At the beginning of 1551, Herman was appointed archimandrite of the old Assumption Monastery . In 1554, he was in Moscow during the trial of heretic Matvey Bashkin and German was instructed to accompany him to exile in the Volokolamsk monastery. Having fulfilled the assignment, Herman remained in the monastery as treasurer.

Prelate Gury, having received a new Kazan flock in control, called to work for Herman, who on February 3, 1555 was appointed hegumen of the Sviyazhsky Assumption Monastery founded by Gury, which was very important for the spread of Christianity between the foreigners of the Kazan Territory. Under Herman, stone churches were built in the monastery: a church in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker with a bell and refectory ( 1556 ) and the Assumption Cathedral ( 1558 ). The monastery courtyard was opened in Kazan , which became an independent monastery by the end of the 16th century .

After the death of Gury on March 12, 1564, Herman was elected Archbishop of Kazan and Sviyazhsky by the Council of Russian Bishops, becoming the successor to St. Gury. In Kazan, he spent about two years and was called to Moscow to participate in zemsky and church cathedrals.

Metropolitan Candidate

While in Moscow in 1566, Herman, at the urgent request of Tsar Ivan the Terrible , was appointed to the Moscow Metropolitans against his will: ^[2]

Herman settled in the metropolitan chambers before being elevated to the dignity. At this time, the saint demanded that Ivan cancel the oprichnina and began to denounce him, calling for repentance. The Tsar, listening to the protests of his close associates, saying, “ Do you want, O Tsar, to be in captivity with that bishop even more than you had been with Alexei and Sylvester before this for several years?” " ^[2] , ordered to transfer to German:" You have not yet been elevated to the metropolitanate, but you are already taking away my freedom "and expelled him from the metropolitan’s court, indicating that he should be kept under surveillance in Moscow . Probably, Herman was not deprived of the rank, as his name is mentioned in the Nikon Chronicle among other participants in the intronization rite of the Moscow Metropolitan Philip . ^[one]

Death

Saint German died in Moscow on November 6, 1567 during a pestilence ^[3] , but there is an opinion that he was either strangled or poisoned by imperial order. ^[4] In his Story about the Grand Duke of Moscow, Andrei Kurbsky writes that two days after his expulsion from the Metropolitan Chambers, his body was found in the courtyard and adds:

Ovia speaks of a strangled secret behind his [king's] command, while Ovia is deadly poisoned. ^[five]

- Andrey Kurbsky. "The story of the Grand Duke of Moscow"

According to the life of the holy martyr Philip, Herman was killed in his cell by the oprichnik, who cut off his head with an ax. The re-exposure of the relics of Herman in 1888 (a new miter was placed on his head) and their autopsy in 1922 partially confirmed this version. The description of the relics states: " his head was chopped off, and moreover, in a way unusual in ordinary execution, and with two blows - one in front, cutting off the lower part, and the other behind the neck ." ^[6]

The saint was buried in the Kremlin Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker Gostunsky not preserved (according to other sources, in the Moscow church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker Wet, in Zaryadye , also not preserved). His relics were acquired in 1595 (according to other sources, in 1592 ) and, with the permission of Tsar Theodore Ioannovich, were transferred to the Sviyazhsky Mother of God Monastery. In 1714, his relics were transferred from the altar of the Assumption Church of the monastery to the temple itself. In 1842, a new cypress- silver-plated cancer was made for the relics, and in 1888 a new miter was placed on the head of the saint, while the protocol noted the incorruptness of the relics and a cut in the neck, which made it possible to talk about the martyrdom of St.. Germana. A new service was compiled, where the saint is called a holy martyr, but the Synod did not allow its publication. Two cases of separation of particles from the relics of St. Herman are known: in 1696 at the request of Simbirsk citizens and clergy and in 1849 for the Kazan John the Baptist monastery .

In 1923, as part of the Soviet anti-religious cancer company with the relics of St. German, it was opened, and after the monastery was closed in 1925, the relics disappeared ^[7] . In 2000, a particle of the relics of St. Herman was found, which was hidden in the ark under the throne of the cemetery church of the Yaroslavl Miracle Workers where it was transferred in 1929 from the abolished John the Baptist Monastery. It was divided into two parts for the Sviyazhsky and John the Baptist monasteries.

• Vasiliev P.P. German, Archbishop of Kazan // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Erusalimsky K. Yu., Lipakov E.V., Chugreeva N.N. German (Sadyrev-Polev) // Orthodox Encyclopedia . - M .: Church Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia" , 2006. - T. XI. - S. 209-213. - 752 s. - 39,000 copies. - ISBN 5-89572-017-X .
• Korsakova V. German (Archbishop of Kazan) // Russian Biographical Dictionary : in 25 volumes. - SPb. - M. , 1896-1918.

• St. German, Archbishop of Kazan (inaccessible link)