ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 explores the mutual influences among the Russian OrthodoxChurch, Orthodox sects, and the post-Soviet historiography of the oprichnina, the first instance of Russian state terror, which Ivan the Terrible established from 1565 to 1572. It begins by scrutinizing the doctrine of tsarebozhie developed by Ivan Snychov (Metropolitan Ioann of St. Petersburg and Ladoga from 1990 to 1995), its advocacy of the oprichnina as the best form of Russian governance, and its proposals to recreate the social structures of medieval Rus. This analysis is followed by a review of the mystical turn in post-Soviet historiography – a shift in interpretations of the oprichnina under the influence of tsarebozhie and Stalinist historical perspectives. The proponents of this turn emphasize the religious motives that guided Ivan the Terrible in unleashing the oprichnina and the role that the Orthodox faith of the historical actors of that time played in implementing the terror. This chapter suggests that sectarian and historiographical views of the oprichnina are interconnected and have become an important resource for the Kremlin’s neomedieval memory politics.
