Tsar Dmitrii I

At the beginning of the seventeenth century Russia experienced a period of great upheaval that has since been called the Time of Troubles (1598-1613). The period was an incredibly complex period of intersecting political, social, and economic issues that culminated into this tumultuous period. During this period, the Russian Orthodox Church became the only social institution and political symbol that offered Russians a sense of continuity, unity, and stability. Orthodox Christianity played a fundamental role in the Russian conscience and in the absence of strong governance, many Russians looked to the Orthodox Church for cues on how to navigate the political crisis at hand. During the Time of Troubles, the presence of samosvanents, pretenders or royal impostures, became a central factor that would shape the Russian political landscape. The reign of Tsar Dmitrii I (r. 1605-1606) is an authoritative and exemplary case study on the nature of samosvanents within Russian politics and religion, and how by understanding the narrative surrounding Dmitrii I’s reign we can begin to understand the broader
To prove that Tsar Dmitrii I was in fact a false tsar, Tsar Vasili’s main thrust against the pretender was his denunciation of Dmitrii as a satan worshiper who was in collusion with the Poles. With Tsar Vasilii’s new reign, he opted to replace the Patriarch who had served during his predecessor’s reign, Patriarch Ignatii. After his appointment Patriarch Ignatii’s replacement accused Ignatii of known that Tsar Dmitrii had been secretly converted Catholicism. According to Tsar Vasilii’s campaign his most damnable actions was his plot to kill all the boyars and clergy so he could convert Russian to Catholicism. If this was true, then Tsar Dmitrii would have posed a major threat to the Russian Orthodox