March 7, 19 18 
Land & Water 
17 
Moscow's Stolen Treasures: ByG. C.Williamson 
I 
T lias been ar- 
nounccd in the 
Press that a verv 
serious robbery 
has taken place" 
at Moscow, the patri- 
archal treasures having 
been stolen at some un- 
known moment, but the 
theft has only recently 
been discovered. If the 
information is true — and 
there seems little doubt 
about its accuracy — 
Russia has sustained an 
exceedingly serious loss ; 
and if the wonderful 
treasures contained in 
this Sacristy have been 
melted up for the sake 
of the gold, the result is 
absolutely disastrous. 
In 1910, I paid a pro- 
longed visit to the Patriarchal Sacristy, and on presentation 
of the Imperial order which I carried, the Patriarch appointed 
an Archimandrite of high rank to take me round the rooms 
and show me all I desired to see. I well remember, after 
having been there for about a quarter of an hour, expressing 
a desire to handle a particular object before me, and being 
met by the remark that as it had been anticipated I should 
want to handle many things, permission had accordingly 
been given, and I might 
Processional Cross of the 
Patriarch Nicon 
have anything m my 
hanijs, including many 
of the precious objects 
which, as a rule, were 
handled only by the 
highest ecclesiastics. 
The three great fea- 
tures of the wonderful 
collection contained in 
the two rooms which 
constitute the Sacristy 
were the mitres, the port- 
able pyxes, and the 
sacerdotal robes. The 
mitres are seven in num- 
ber according to the 
careful catalogue pre- 
pared by Bishop Sabas 
in 1865 — a very rare 
document , which the 
Patriarch was good 
enough to place at my 
disposal when leaving the 
Sacristy, and from which 
these illustrations are 
taken. The most import- 
ant of the mitres belonged 
to the Patriarch Job,.and 
was worn by him in 
1595. when- he assumed 
office. It is a dwarf cap 
of blue silk, bordered 
with, fine ermine, and 
upon it is embroidered, 
in superb gold work, 
decorated with pearls, an 
inscription commending 
the wearer to the protec- 
tion of the Mother of 
God, and stating that the 
mitre was prepared in Sejitember, 1595, for the purjjose 
of being worn by the first I'atriarch of Moscow. The work 
is of exquisite beauty. 
Another of the mitres belonged to the Patriarch Nicon, 
who ascended the patriarchal throne in 1652, and this more 
closely resembles the cap of an emperor. It was enamelled 
on gold, sot with wonderful precious stones, find especially 
with a large ruby in the very front, on which was engraved a 
representation of the Resurrection, while round it were small 
representations in enamel of the Evangelists, and of scenes 
from sacred history. It was prepared by order of the Grand 
The three Mitrc-i at the top are, from left to right, the Patriarch Job's, St. Cyiil's, and 
the Patriarch N icon's. The centre one is not named. Tht- three at the bottom are all 
called after the Patriarch Nicon 
Duke Alexis, and, like the other, bore a full and elaborate 
inscription, stating the very month in which it was made, 
and for what purpose. There were three other mitres that 
were also made for the same Patriarch Nicon ; one has the 
whole of the inscriptions in Greek, and was a gift from the 
Greeks to the head of the Russian Church ; another, dated 
1654, was sent to Moscow from Constantinople, as a gift from 
the Patri;u-ch of that place, and a fourth, dated 1653, was 
prepared by tirder of the Grand Duke Alexis when he became 
Emperor, and was perhaps the most remarkable of all the 
group. It was of massive gold, set with wonderful stones, 
and having a series of enamelled tablets upon it, representing 
the Evangelists, each of whicii was richly adorned with 
rubies, emeralds, and sapphires. 
These mitres, in a cupboard at the end of the room, made 
a great display ; but as works of art, they were not to be 
compared witli the Wonderful series of portable pyxes, which 
the Russian bishops and Patriarchs wore around their necks 
on chains, and of which the very finest were contained in an 
octagonal glass-topped table in the centre of the room. The 
most attractive of all was a fourteenth-century one, rough 
and archaic in its workmanship, decorated witli large uncut 
rubies, and having in the centre an ancient onyx, which bears 
in cameo the figure of the Prophet Daniel. Another of the 
panagia (as they are called) was executed for the Emperor 
Ivan the Terrible, in commemoration of the birth of his son 
ill 1.555. ''"d is formed from a sardonyx of the finest possible 
quality, probably the work of Cinquecento date, and in three 
layers^ representing the figure of St. John the Scholastic, and 
having on the reverse of it representations in black enamel of 
St. Mark, Bishop of Arethusa, and Cyril the Deacon. This 
very precious panagia 
(i])en(>d at the back, and 
was actually a relicpiary. 
It contained a tiny mor- 
sel of the purple robe in 
which tradition states 
Our Saviour was clothed, 
and also a bit of the rock 
of Calvary. It was re- 
garded with the highest 
possible reverence, and 
even the Archimandrite 
himself was amazed to 
find, on reference to his 
written instructions, that 
I was permitted to hold 
it in my hand, and ex- 
amine it. The panagia 
worn by the first Patri- 
arch of Mo.scow, Job, was 
another gem, Byzantine 
work of the twelfth cen- 
tur\- around a dark 
brown onyx, on which 
was represented in high 
relief the Crucifixion. On 
the reverse were figures 
of the Emperor Con- 
stantine and his mother 
Helena. The enamelled 
gold mounting belonged 
to the sixteenth century. 
In a case at the other 
end of the room was an 
extraordinary group of 
crosses and tau-shaped 
patriarchal staves. The 
processional cross of the 
Patrinrch Nicon, illus- 
trated on this page, en- 
shrines early Byzantine 
work, mounted in seventeenth-century Russian enamel. 
Three of the enamel groups on it were of very early date, and 
the two engraved sapphires at the back of the Cross 
were declared by the authorities of the Sacristy to be tw.o 
of the oldest gems engraved with scriptural scenes in exist- 
ence, and to be comparable only with the two that are 
preserved in Rome. 
If the thieves had confined themselves to the solid objects 
of gold and silver, which blazed in magnificent splendour in 
the various glass cases in this room, comparatively small 
damage would have been done, because, although these cups 
