Josephians and the History of the Grand Prince of Moscow Revisited

The History of the Grand Prince of Moscow traditionally attributed to Prince Andrei Kurbskii presents the “Josephians” (Iosifliane) in a very negative light. Donald Ostrowski contends that the History did not describe the Josephians as a Church “party.” However, the History did describe the Josephians as monks who pursued material wealth, supported Ivan the Terrible’s tyranny, and persecuted opponents of monastic possessions, a Church party even if the text lacked such a concept. The History did not invoke the supposed founders of the Church parties, Iosif of Volokolamsk and Nil Sorskii, nor was it equally precise in portraying the opponents and victims of the Josephians. Nevertheless, the nineteenth-century creators of the paradigm of Josephian/Non-Possessor (Trans-Volga Elders) Church parties, which Ostrowski has strongly criticized, did not misinterpret the History in using its passages to formulate their conceptualization of sixteenth-century Muscovite Church history.