The council of 1490 as the basis of the construction of the “heresy of the judaizers”

The heresy of the “Judaizers” constantly attracted the attention of scholars. However, there is still no single view of the essence of the heresy. In this work, on the basis of texts studied for a long time, an attempt is made to explain the significant discrepancies in historiography. First of all, the earliest texts related to heresy are considered - the Epistles of Gennady (Gonzov), Archbishop of Novgorod, as well as the Council judgment of 1490 and the Teaching of Metropolitan Zosima of Moscow and All Russia. Substantial analysis, coupled with a collation of the texts of the Epistles of Bishop Prokhor of Sarai and the former Archbishop Joasaph (Obolensky), allows us to conclude that there is a “proto- literature”, a common source of these Epistles. Both substantively and codicologically, these Epistles of Archbishop Gennady do not overlap with the Epistle of Bishop Niphont of Suzdal. The Epistle of Archbishop Gennady of Novgorod to Metropolitan Zosima reinforces substantive contradictions. There are two indications of different sources of heresy: an anonymous Jew from the retinue of Mikhail Olelkovich and Fyodor Kuritsyn, who returned from Hungary. At the same time, Fyodor himself is accused not of “Jewish wisdom” at all, but of “grieving” for heretics before the Grand Duke. The key testimony of Archbishop Gennady about heresy is in the last Epistle - to the Council of Bishops. In it Archbishop Gennady asks to jointly condemn all the heretics indicated by him and the persons protecting them. The Council of 1490 fulfills this request. Thus, there is a mixture of at least five different groups - “Judaizers”, blasphemers, “co-servants”, “pechalniki” and the “strigolnik” Zakhar.