ABSTRACT
This chapter explains that Greek-Russian contacts increased exponentially after the Time of Troubles. In addition to trading, Greek merchants acted as messengers and informants. Eastern Orthodox clerics of all ranks visited Moscow in search of alms and/or of employment as teachers or editors of liturgical books. Patriarchs, in particular, repeatedly visited the tsar's court by invitation and played an important role in the internal ecclesiastical affairs and in the foreign policy initiatives of Muscovy. The events recounted in this portrait take place in the period between the 1650s and the 1680s, after the onset of the reformist policies of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow. The chapter focuses on two historical individuals, the merchant Chatzekyriakes Vourliotes, and the hierodeacon Meletios. It examines the letters of Vourliotes to various individuals, charters permitting Eastern Orthodox clerics to come for alms to Russia, and political activities of Greeks who travelled to, or resided in, Russia during the second half of the seventeenth century.
