Poltergeist in Moscow, 1666

[Aleksandr]

An excerpt from a rare book by the Russian poltergeist researcher Igor Vladimirovich Vinokurov,
The Terror: An Illustrated Account of the Poltergeist (Moscow, 1991)

It recounts one of the earliest documented poltergeist cases in Moscow. Of particular interest is the dialogue between the monk and the poltergeist.

At the Devil's End of Nowhere (u chorta na kulichkakh) or Don’t Tell Children to Go to Hell

Indeed, the logic of stories about poltergeist cases and so‑called haunted houses always raises doubts — but only among listeners and readers. For those who have suffered from these phenomena, for their eyewitnesses and witnesses, doubts are usually the last thing on their minds. They are consumed by a far more pressing concern: how to get rid of this affliction, regardless of how impossible and illogical what has happened may seem.
Poltergeist phenomena, especially in their most extreme and unusual manifestations, are capable of leaving a deep impression on the mind — sometimes even on the mind of an entire nation, the Russian one, for instance. This is what we learned from the ethnographer and folklorist Ivan Mikhailovich Snegirev (1793–1868), a professor of Roman literature and antiquities at Moscow University. He was among the first to begin collecting materials on Russian ethnography and folklore.
He published extensive collections of Russian folk proverbs, parables, and sayings, supplied with scholarly commentary. And in his book Moscow: A Detailed Historical and Archaeological Description of the City, published in 1865, he briefly described a highly unusual event that, in his words, is alluded to by the well-known Moscow saying "at the devil's end of nowhere" (u chorta na kulichkakh). All subsequent accounts of that extraordinary event were based on this brief retelling by I. M. Snegirev. What interested me, however, was the primary source. After all, it might contain details that were omitted in the retelling but are crucial for a more complete identification of those long-ago events with manifestations of poltergeist activity.
And so I set out to find the primary source. When I found it, I realized my expectations had not been disappointed. It was The Life of the Most Reverend Hilarion, Metropolitan of Suzdal, Former First Builder of the Florishcha Hermitage — an early 18th-century document. And the event that had caught my interest was recorded from the words of an eyewitness, the monk Mark, who stated "that he was at that time with the venerable man himself in those almshouses, and was an eyewitness to this!"
With the help of I. M. Snegirev and other sources, I was able to determine the place and time of that strange event. It took place in a charitable almshouse founded by the first Patriarch of Moscow, Job, attached to a church built in honor of the holy unmercenaries, the righteous healers Cyrus and John. It stood on Kulizhki, beyond the Varvarsky Gate, near St. John's Monastery, in the Bely Gorod — in Moscow. This church, Snegirev tells us, was noteworthy for its almshouse, where elderly women lived and raised orphans and foundlings, and also for the spiritual feat of the Blessed Hilarion (1632–1708). The time of that spiritual feat falls in the autumn and winter of 1666.
So what did Father Mark tell of the event that, by its absurdity and unprecedented nature, unsettled not only the minds of Muscovites of the time, but also disturbed the peace of mind of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich himself? It turns out that into the patriarchal almshouse "through the action of a certain sorcerer, a demon took up residence and perpetrated various outrages upon those dwelling there"!
This demon tormented the old women in all sorts of ways: he gave them no rest day or night, loudly shouted various obscenities, threw people off their beds and benches, and banged and crashed on the stove, the sleeping platforms, and in the corners. Word of what was happening reached the pious Alexei Mikhailovich and troubled him deeply. He ordered the priests to exorcise the malicious spirit through prayer. But the men of the cloth, despite their repeated attempts, made not the slightest progress. They only provoked in the devil a tremendous fury, so that he began to denounce them for their own transgressions! Like a lion, the devil reproached the priests ever more fiercely, "openly declaring their sins, exposing and shaming them," driving them out themselves with terror and blows. No wonder they were left in dismay!
Then one of the tsar's attendants directed him to the venerable Hilarion, who happened to be in Moscow at the time. Hilarion was still very young — he had barely passed the age of Jesus Christ. But he was already renowned for his ability to drive out unclean spirits through his prayers. The tsar ordered that the venerable man be summoned. The messenger found Hilarion on the road. He was wearing a sheepskin coat girded with a bast rope, and over the coat a threadbare woolen cassock: in Moscow, in the late autumn of 1666, it was already cold. The messenger informed Hilarion that the tsar required his presence immediately, but did not say why. Hilarion was frightened, suspecting "some slander against him had reached the tsar." Although Alexei Mikhailovich was known as "the most gentle," it was also known that he would often "flare up and burn with anger." And denunciations, encouraged by the Sobornoye Ulozheniye of 1649, had long since become commonplace. So there was reason enough for concern, and serious reason at that.

The messenger brought the venerable man and presented him before the tsar. Hilarion, thinking that "some wrath from the tsar would fall upon him," prayed and silently bowed to the ground before the tsar. But the tsar reassured Hilarion:

—"Do not fear, venerable father, for I have called you here not to instill fear, but for good counsel!" And he told how he had heard much good about Hilarion.

—"Do not disregard our request," —the tsar said to Hilarion, —"go to those women's almshouses and pray to the Lord God with your fervent prayer, and drive out the demon from there."

But the venerable man began to demur, arguing that "this matter exceeds our measure," for it could only be accomplished by the great holy fathers who had shone forth in virtue and received from God the power and authority over unclean spirits. Hilarion begged the tsar to have mercy and let him, a wretched man, go repent of his own sins: "for I am impure before God." But the tsar persisted — evidently, Hilarion was his last hope. And only when the tsar invoked the Holy Scriptures did Hilarion agree to attempt to cast out the demon. Yet he doubted his own ability: yielding to the tsar's will, he still qualified his consent:

—"I shall go, a sinner, against my own strength."

And, bowing to the tsar, he departed from the royal chambers.
And at this point in the Life a remark appears that allows for a relatively precise dating: "At that time the ecumenical patriarchs arrived in Moscow. The venerable man, by the tsar's command, went to those almshouses, having clothed himself in deep humility." It is known that the ecumenical patriarchs arrived in Moscow on November 2, 1666. It remains unclear only whether their arrival was in any way connected to the events at the almshouse.

Hilarion arrived at the almshouse by evening. He was not alone. With him were the monk Mark and the monk Joseph, nicknamed Ryabik. And they began to perform the evening prayers, reading the canons to Jesus, the Most Holy Theotokos, and the Guardian Angel, the akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos, the bedtime prayers, and the desert rule. The devil, unable to endure it, began to bang loudly on the sleeping platforms and to shriek in a hideous voice, taunting Hilarion with shameless talk, saying:

—"You, a monk, have come here to cast me out? Come up to me, and I will deal with you!"

But when it came time to read the akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos, the devil — "burned as if by fire through the venerable man's prayers" — fell silent for the entire duration. Yet as soon as the reading of the akathist was finished, the devil began to shriek again in a hideous voice:

—"Oh, what a crybaby you are! You've even started blubbering! Come up to me, and I'll finish you off!"

Later, already in the night, having put out the light, the venerable man and the monks began to perform their cell rule. And Hilarion began to bitterly complain to God about the devil and to exorcise him. The devil cried out very loudly:

—"Oh, oh, monk, you've started blubbering in the dark too!"
At once the devil banged very loudly on the sleeping platforms, declaring:
—"I am coming to you!" — and fell silent.

Mark himself, by his own account, wanted to flee the cell out of fear, but the venerable man held him back, urging him to stand firm in prayer and fear nothing. The devil then began to hinder the venerable man from making his bows to the ground: he turned into a black cat and kept jumping up under Hilarion's knees! He wanted to provoke Hilarion to anger, to turn him away from prayer. But the gentle Hilarion, whenever the cat jumped up under his knees, would simply toss it aside with his hand and continue his bows. Having done everything as required, the venerable man lay down to sleep without fear. But Father Mark, by his own account, buried himself deep under his fur coat out of fear.
Early the next morning, Hilarion left to attend to his monastery affairs. Meanwhile, the devil, giving due credit to the fervor of Hilarion's prayers, delivered a speech before the almshouse women:

—"How well this monk lives before God! When he began to weep during the akathist before Jesus and Mary, he frightened and scorched me terribly, as if with fire, and unable to endure it, I fled. And when he began to pray in the dark, I banged loudly. But he was not frightened in the least, and he urged his disciples not to fear. I, in the form of a black cat, kept jumping up under his knees and hindered him many times — I wanted to provoke him to anger and turn him away from prayer, but I could not."

All this he said while remaining himself invisible. After that, the devil amused himself by rocking an old woman in a baby's cradle: no sooner had she put the infant in the cradle than he, invisibly snatching the child away, just as invisibly placed the old woman herself in the same cradle and began to rock her, chanting:

—"Rock-a-bye, crone, rock-a-bye, silly fool!"

But as Hilarion was returning and already drawing near the almshouse, the devil, leaving the old woman in the cradle, said:

—"That monk is coming back — I'll have a hard time of it with him!"

The venerable man arrived at the almshouse, vested himself, and began the blessing of the waters. The devil once again began to shout all manner of absurdities. He also started hurling large white stones! The impact made all the tables and bowls shake. But the stones did Hilarion no harm — they fell at his feet, on either side, in front and behind. The venerable man was not frightened and continued the blessing of the waters. The devil shouted:

—"Are you blubbering again, monk! Come to me, and I'll deal with you!"

Having blessed the water, the venerable man took the cross in his left hand and the aspergillum in his right, and having sprinkled the holy icons, he walked toward the source of the devil's absurd outcries.

—"Where are you, enemy of all truth," —Hilarion addressed him, —"I am a slave of my Lord Jesus Christ, who endured crucifixion on the cross for us sinners! I fight you in His name! Depart, accursed and unclean one!"

And Hilarion began to sprinkle everything: on the stove and on the sleeping platforms, on the benches and under the benches, leaving not a single corner unblest. Then the devil fell silent and, in fear, hid for a full three days.
Three days later the devil reappeared and began shouting to the almshouse women:

—"How well this monk lives before God! It is impossible for me to come near him! Being near him scorches me like fire!"

When the venerable man returned from somewhere, the devil again began to shout and cry out, but not as boldly as before: he was growing weak and now spoke "haltingly."

The Life then records a most curious dialogue that took place that same day between Hilarion and the devil:

—"Are you still being shameless, accursed one? I adjure you by the name of God: tell me, where were you for the past three days? And when I sprinkled the holy water, where were you hiding?"

—"When you were sprinkling the water, I was sitting under the clothing in one place. When I could no longer stay there, I jumped onto the oven ledge — and you forgot to sprinkle there, so I sat resting on it all this time."

—"And where do you get the white stones?"

—"I get them in the Bely Gorod."

—"What is your name?"

—"My name is Ignatius, of princely rank, though I am still in the flesh. My mammy sent me to Hell, and the demons took me at once."

The venerable man, having adjured the devil by the name of God, commanded him to leave that place. The devil answered:

—"I cannot leave from here. I was sent here — I did not come of my own accord."

—"Depart, accursed one!" —Hilarion exclaimed at last.

After that the devil behaved less boldly, fell silent, and began to quiet down. Altogether, according to the Life, Hilarion struggled with the devil for five weeks, and little by little the devil vanished completely. A relative calm returned to the almshouse.