Many second-hand booksellers, collectors of antique books, have a cherished dream - to get the "Devil's Bible", or "black book". For a long time, there are legends about the "black books", which are textbooks on the occult. As, however, there is also evidence that such a "black book" is still one. The people call it "the Bible of the devil". This role in Russia is claimed by the "Black Magic" written by Pyotr Mogila, one of the copies of which seems to be in the Moscow Historical Library.
According to one of the legends, the first and last edition of "Black Magic" was printed in the 16th century in Kiev. Having found out about this, Tsar Ivan the Terrible ordered to destroy all copies, but those who were related to the publication were executed or sent to monasteries so that they would repent there until the end of their days … But there is another version: they say, the books were not destroyed, and they were walled up in a stone pillar. But no one can take them from there, because the spell imposed on the pillar interferes … And yet, there are rumors that several copies of the terrible book still went from hand to hand, and up to our time they are used by witches and sorcerers.
The "Devil's Bible" was next revealed in the 17th century. In 1676, a denunciation was received against the boyar and the head of the streltsy army Artamon Matveyev, who was the uncle of the second wife of the late Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and the mother of the future Tsar Peter I, Natalya Naryshkina, in which he was accused of sorcery. In those days it was a very serious accusation … Witnesses said during interrogations that Matveyev, having locked himself in his wards, was reading the "black book" and calling the devil. They did not execute the boyar, but deprived of his rank and all estates, exiled far to the north - to Mezen, located near Arkhangelsk. Maybe he survived only because after searching his chambers, the detectives did not find anything, no "black books" …
There is a version that Matveyev was able to transport the "Bible of the devil" to the place of his exile. And by the way, he eventually returned safely from exile back to Moscow - it was only the unclean one who helped, the superstitious people whispered …
There are legends that, having ascended the throne, Peter I strenuously tried to find a mystical book, which was hidden by his great-uncle. The new tsar did not really like Orthodoxy, and he needed urgent protection from the dangers threatening from all sides … According to legend, the tsar sent his messenger Mikhail Akulov to Mezen for the book. However, later in the forest they found Akulov's mutilated corpse with a pectoral cross stuck in his mouth … The horse was tied to a tree, next to him lay the messenger's personal belongings, including a tightly packed wallet with money. Oddly enough, the remains were not touched by the forest beast … Apparently the killers were hunting for the book … There was a rumor: Akulov managed to find it, he was carrying the book with him, but some Satanists tracked him down, killed him and took the book in order to create with its help their dirty deeds …
After the traces of the "Bible of the Devil" are lost in the centuries and appear only after the October Revolution. Legend has it that: in the first years of Soviet power, when the persecution of the Orthodox Church began, the rector of the St. Petersburg Church of the Savior of the Origin of Honest Trees delivered a folio to the Cheka administration, which was sewn into canvas. And there was a book inside with black pages and white text … The priest had the hope that if he gave the Chekists this priceless relic, his temple would be spared, not touched … However, although the relic was taken from him, the church was still closed, and in 1932 it was demolished …
However, a Chekist named Tuchkov, who got the book, still did not know what to do with it, and handed it over to one of the most prominent members of the Central Committee and an active fighter against religion, Yemelyan Yaroslavsky, who wrote a "Bible for Believers and Unbelievers," in which he exposed Christianity … So the "Devil's Bible" was kept by Yaroslavsky until he died in evacuation in Chita in 1943. It is not known exactly where the book went. They say that Yaroslavsky's heirs sold out his library on the cheap. Most likely, “The Bible of the Devil” ended up in one of the Siberian second-hand bookshops. One way or another, in 1955 it was allegedly acquired by Anatoly Mordovtsev, an employee of one of the Krasnoyarsk museums.
As soon as the book got into his house, he caught fire during a thunderstorm from a lightning strike. Mordovtsev managed to escape, but the fateful book disappeared … Either it burned down, or someone took it from the conflagration …
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Another myth claims that one of the copies of the "Devil's Bible" is kept in the storage of the Historical Library in Moscow, in a closed safe. It is removed from there only at the direction of the authorities and only in the presence of the priest, who holds the sprinkler with holy water ready …
In 1996, intruders infiltrated the "Historic" and took out three hundred valuable old volumes. But in reality they were interested in the "black book", and they could not get the last from the safe … However, if you ask someone from the library staff about this book, they will just shrug their shoulders and say that they have never heard of it …
Irina Shlionskaya
