Chronicles from John

This is not a historical narrative, although almost all of its characters are real historical figures, and it is based on the eschatological concept of the oprichnina, developed by Doctor of Historical Sciences Andrei Lvovich Yurganov. This is a mystery novel. In it, horsemen of the Apocalypse appear over the Kremlin, and the queen turns into a biblical locust; in it, Jesus buries Russian warriors who were slain near Polotsk, while Grozny feasts with sorcerers, witches, and the dead. The novel is not a chronicle of the atrocities of the 'brutals', but a parable about the curse of Russian power. Ivan the Terrible awaits the End of the World. In the pride of autocracy, he imagines himself as the savior of his people, the Christ of the second coming. And he establishes the oprichnina—a order of the defense of faith. If the people believe in the tsar as in God, the tsar will become a miracle worker. With a wave of his hand, he will cast all enemies to dust and cover the land with fertile fields. It is only necessary to make the people believe in the tsar. To force them by means of terror—the terror of the oprichnina. But the Solovetsky abbot Philip, a simple and clear man, cannot serve the tsar as God. And then eyes meet eyes and against the swing of the axe, a cross is raised.