. THE FIRST ROMANOVS The zemsky sobor which elected Michael (1613-1645) con tinued its session for three years, helping the new Tsar to restore the disorganized and ravaged country. A second zemsky sobor was then summoned which pursued for three more years the work of pacification. The co-operation of the tsar with the repre sentatives of different social groups was becoming a regular sys tem. But as the third year's session began (1619) the father of Michael, now patriarch, Philarete came back from Polish cap tivity, and until his death in 1633 he ruled Russia as the "second lord" at the side of his weak son. The peace with Sweden and Poland was concluded at Stolbova (1617) and Deulino (1618), with the loss of the Finnish seashore and Smolensk. But the struggle on the western, as well as on the southern frontier was far from being finished. Anticipating new conflicts the Govern ment reconstructed entirely the army: they invited foreign com manders and hired whole regiments of mercenary infantry. To cover the increased expenses they had to introduce new heavy taxation. New registers of lots of cultivated land which had survived the devastation of the "Troubled times" were. established. However, an attempt to take back Smolensk from the Poles Proved unsuccessful and the Government did not feel strong enough to wage war with the Turks to retain Azov, a fort ress on the sea of Azov which had been taken by a Cossack raid in 1642. The Russian colonization at that time went no further than the lines of Belgorod and those of Simbirsk and Zakamsk, which were fortified in 1636-56. To the south of the "Belgorod line" there developed at that very time a cross current of Little Russian (Ukrainian) colonization from the western bank of the Dnieper. The new Cossack settlers (Poltava, Kharkov) felt the more independent from the Poles the further they went east, and in 1654 their hetman Bogdan Chmielnicki voluntarily sur rendered the Ukraine to the protectorate of the "eastern orthodox tsar." A large autonomy of the Ukraine was acknowl edged by Tsar Alexis. A war with the Poles ensued, in which the Russians finally took Smolensk, occupied Vilna and Kovno and forced Lublin to surrender. But before finishing with the Poles Moscow was implicated in a war with Sweden. By the resulting peace of Kardis (i66i) Russia gave Livonia to Sweden ; by the peace of Andrussovo, she resigned Lithuania, but kept for herself Smolensk, the eastern Dnieper bank and Kiev (1667).
European Influence: The Raskol.—The reigns of the first two Romanovs are closely connected in home as well as foreign policy. Moral and intellectual development was steadily influenced by the increasing intercourse with Western Europe. Since the "time of troubles" foreigners had come in crowds to Moscow. The clergy objected to too close relations with these foreigners which began to have their reflection in a change of habits and even religion. Consequently, about 1652, foreigners were relegated to a suburb called "the German suburb." However, this proved still worse for the Old Russian tradition, as the European culture now formed a single and undiluted unit which strongly influenced the court and the upper social classes. Russian boyars—such as Ordyn-Naschokin, Rtischev, Matveyev, Golitsyn —began to learn foreign languages, to acquire foreign books, to wear foreign clothes, to furnish their apartments with foreign household goods. Translations of foreign books increased in number from 24 in the first half of the 17th century to 94 in the second half. Tsar Alexis was especially accessible to the allure ments of foreign comfort and pastime, going so far as to enjoy in private "English comedy" in German adaptations.
The national religious tradition of the 16th century appeared antiquated. The patriarch Nikon found that certain rites of the national Church which distinguished it from Greek orthodoxy, far from proving Russian superiority in faith, were based on ignorant distortion of ancient Greek originals of the books of Service. He asked some scholars of the theological academy of Kiev (founded by Peter Moghila about 1625) to prepare a revised edition. The majority of the clergy declared this attempt sacrilegious, as the Old Russian saints had saved their souls according to the old books and rites. Nikon insisted on his "corrections." He invited two patriarchs (cf. Alexandria and Antioch) to come to Moscow and at a council of 1667 the "schismatics" were excommunicated. A long struggle began between the "old faith" and the "Nikonian ism," as the official Church was now generally called. Popular masses followed the "schism" (Rciskol) and as hopes for re conciliation passed they began to believe that the end of the world was approaching.