Chronology from John

“It must be explained that the reader does not get confused: at first there was an author’s script for the film about the conflict of Ivan the Terrible and Metropolitan Philip, then he turned into the directorial script of Pavel Semenovich Lungin, then there was the film“ Tsar ”, which represented Russia at the festival in Cannes. And then the novel “Chronology from John” appeared, written according to the author"s scenario. And the novel is in many ways diverging with the film.
This is not a historical narrative, although almost all its heroes are real historical personalities, but the eschatological concept of the oprichnina, developed by the doctor of historical sciences Andrei Lvovich Yurganov, is based on. This is a mystery novel. In it, the riders of the Apocalypse appear over the Kremlin, and the queen turns into a biblical locust, Jesus burys Russian warriors chopped near Polotsk in it, and Grozny feasts with warlocks, sorcerers and dead. The novel is not a chronicle of the atrocities of “pogoshnikov”, 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 the Savior of his people, the Christ of the second coming. And establishes the oprichnina - the Order of the Protection of Faith. If the people believe in the king as in God, the king will become a miracle worker. With a wave of his hand, he will plunge all enemies into dust and cover the ground with obese fields. It is only necessary to force the people to believe in the king. Forced by force - terror of the oprichnina. But the Solovetsky abbot Philip, a simple and clear man, cannot serve the king as God. And then the eyes are mixed into the eyes, and a cross rises against the swing of the ax. ”
Alexey Ivanov