The secret knowledge and skills of the Magi were attractive, but the fear of their mighty power was always stronger. Keep away from me, mind you! - earnestly baptized in Russia only at the mention of sorcerers, but in everyday life they still resorted to their services. So who were these "unafraid of the mighty rulers" people? Why, even after the Baptism of Russia, the sorcerers continued to exert considerable influence on the minds of not only the common people, but also the great sovereigns?
There is no reception against the magician
According to the famous scientist-historian of the 19th century, Professor Zabelin, in the days of paganism, magic and sorcery were commonplace for the Slavs. In the old epic about Volga Vseslavievich, the father gave the young Volga to study with the Magi, where he acquired the ability to turn into a violent tour, and if necessary - an ermine, and a wolf, and a falcon. In everyday life, the pagan priests knew many weather signs, the power and effect of various herbs, and skillfully used hypnosis.
The influence of the Magi on the people was so strong that it persisted for a long time under Christianity. So, the Magi continued to exist in Russian cities and villages after the Baptism of Rus. In the XI-XII centuries. In Russia, uprisings periodically broke out under the leadership of the Magi. In the "Tale of Bygone Years" under the year 1071 follows a story about the performances of the Magi in Kiev, Novgorod and the Suzdal land, in particular in Belozerye.
The highest representatives of the Orthodox clergy used all means to destroy the people's trust in sorcerers.
Already in the Church charter of Saint Vladimir, the punishment for the magi and sorcerers is laid down - burning, which is also confirmed by the charter of Prince Vsevolod, who reigned in Novgorod from 1117 to 1132. The Novgorod Chronicle from 1227 preserved the news of the burning of the four wise men.
In 1410, Metropolitan Photius, in his epistle to the Novgorodians, severely blamed them for their belief in the Magi and for practicing magic. Later, in the tsar's district charter of 1648, and even in the famous book "Domostroy", the authorship of which is attributed by some historians to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, all communication with the Magi was strictly forbidden to true Christians. This means that five hundred years after the Baptism of Rus, the Magi continued to work their magic.
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Quite indicative is the case of 1625 on the accusation of a certain Yakov, who moved to Moscow from Verkhoturye, who resorted to the help of a well-known sorcerer, nicknamed Goat Feet. He persuaded the magician to exterminate his enemy, the merchant Stepanov. The foreigner Larionov, who learned about this, reported the collusion to the authorities.
Having received the potion, Jacob gave it to the merchant, who fell into a daze. When, on the denunciation of Larionov, Yakov was raised on a rack, he confessed everything. They also pulled the Goat Legs Magus to answer. Before the threat of torture with iron, the sorcerer prepared a new potion, which was given to the patient, and he came to life. Out of fear of the sorcerer, he was only expelled from the city, but Yakov was flogged with a whip and exiled to the north, and the informer Larionov was beaten with batogs, "so that it would be discouraged in the future."
Belief in witchcraft and sorcery was so strong among the Russian monarchs that protection from dark intrigues was even specially stipulated in the crucifixion records for loyalty to Tsars Vasily Shuisky and Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov.
Left without saying goodbye
Under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, nicknamed the Quietest, the Secret Political Investigation, created by him himself, was already at the proper height for that time. When the tsar's bride, the beautiful Efimia Vsevolozhskaya, was exhausted out of envy, the case was carried out with passion and managed to identify the culprit: it turned out to be a sorcerer of peasant origin Mikhail Ivanov. It is significant that for “spoiling” the sovereign's bride Mishka should have lost his head, but he was not beheaded, but sent under strong guard to the Kirillov Monastery. Unable to stand on the rack, Ivanov named the customers of the potion, and the cunning Alexei Tishaishy received murderous dirt on some boyar families. And, who knows, did not he later secretly use the magician's potions in his own interests? In the chronicles of the middle of the 17th century, there are many cases of unexpected deaths of people close to the throne.
Peter's reforms literally turned everything upside down in Russia, but the fear of sorcerers proved to be tenacious. The military regulations of 1716, personally edited by Peter I, directly says: "If any of the soldiers is a warlock, a conspirator of a gun and a blasphemous sorcerer, then punish him with gauntlets and imprisonment in glands or burning."
True, to the credit of Peter and the Russian government, the persecution of the Magi soon completely stopped, the fear of them disappeared. Over time, it gave way to the idle curiosity of the enlightened public and the prosaic everyday needs of the lower classes.
Together with the Magi, their knowledge also disappeared. Almost all records, including historical chronicles, were destroyed by Christians. The original written history of the Slavs until the 8th century became unknown. Archaeologists occasionally find only scattered fragments of inscriptions on the stones of destroyed pagan temples and on shards of pottery.