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Chapter 1 - My Origins
 was born Dmitri Ivanovich Russo,
to Ivan Vladimirovich Russo and Anastasia Osepovna (Shuisky) Russo, on
November 2, 1556. My home was in the city of Kaluga, region of Kaluga,
Russia, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible (reigned 1547 - 1584). My
grandparents on my father's side were fur merchant-traders, Vladimir
Dmitrovich Russo and Natalia Ivanovna Russo. My maternal grandparents were
Osep Osepovich Shuisky and Katarina Fyodorovna Shuisky, a very powerful
political family. During this time in Russian history, Ivan the Terrible had already earned his reputation as cruel and sadistic, and still had years to go before his death. One of his many infamous deeds was the slaughter of many noble Russian families who he felt opposed his rule. The Shuisky family, my mother's, was very strong, and was one of the families singled out during his reign, and most of my family on her side was killed or banished. My own immediate family was killed during this, and I was left as an orphan at age 2 at Optina Pustin, the small local Russian Orthodox monastery. The only one who knew my identity was the old monk who ran the monastery. For the next dozen years, I studied as an acolyte at the monastery, specializing in the library, learning to read many languages and studying the genealogy of the region, in an attempt to discover my own heritage. I could no longer live as Dmitri the Orphan. For quite a while, my foster father refused to give me the information, citing various excuses of not knowing, not remembering, or telling me that it was for my own good. After a few years of wearing away at him, he finally decided I was able to handle the information responsibly, and he told me that I was the only surviving son of Ivan and Anastasia Russo, who were murdered by the government when I was a child. I now knew my name, and with the monastery records, I was able to track down even more information. I still had to keep it a secret, however, because I was considered a fugitive, and my whereabouts would be sought out by the government if they knew I was still alive. In private, however, I used my full name, with both my patronymic and a second patronymic indicating my grandfather, so that I could trace my heritage back to a third generation. (Since the men's side of my family used a three-name repeated pattern for the male line, I could have gone on infinitely.) I was now Dmitri Ivanovich Vladimirov Russo, son of Ivan and Anastasia, last surviving member of my family. My life was still lonely and dull, but at least now I had my family back, sort of. Since I believed I had no chance of a real life outside of the monastery, I decided to spend my life there as a monk, like I had already been doing. There was nothing else for me. That was before the feast of St. Nicholas, halfway into my 14th year...   |
