Let's look, how Catholics acted in relations with Russia.
Attack of the Roman Catholic Church to Russia was started in several sectors. The task was to spread in Russia "holy books" of Latin modification.
The 1st direction of Catholicism aggressionwas conducted through Greece (Constantinople):
• in 1577 they founded the St. Athanasius Collegium in Rome, specially dedicated to the Greek youth. This collegium could provide its pupils education and maintenance for free;
• Education was conducted by Catholics and homecoming Greeks were the conductors of papal power ideas;
• with the permission of the Turkish government Jesuits in 1600 in Constantinople (in Galata) began to found schools, orphanages, hospitals, etc. Jesuits looked as benefactors of Christianity in conditions of a heavy Turkish opression;
• in Rome they reprinted Orthodox books inserting Latin opinions into them and spread them at the East;
• Catholic orders acted in the Ottoman Empire, founded monasteries, schools, openly walked preaching throughout towns and villages, seducing Orthodoxes with money donation.
After they managed to subjugate the Greek orthodox church, the Catholics began to say, that the Russian faith was corrupted and it was necessary to get back to the correct Greek faith.
2nd direction of Catholicism aggressionwas conducted through Poland.
Jesuit Order operated in Poland under the patronage of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Stephen Báthory (Stefan Batory) (1533-1586).
In 1578 Báthory founded a Jesuit college in Wilno (Jesuit Academy (College) of Vilnius), which was to become the starting point of attack to the Eastern Europe. The main task of the college was to teach Orthodox students and to convert them to Catholicism. The entire enormous arsenal of Jesuit order educational tools was used. There was a whole network of educational institutions subordinate to the college in Wilno.
3-rd main direction of Catholicism aggressionwas conducted through internal "dissidents" in Russia and their supervisors-Latins.
Even at the time of Ivan the Terrible a Jesuit, apostolic legate and vicar (bishop without a diocese) of all the Nordic countries Antonio Possevino (Antonius Possevinus) (1534-1611) appeared in Russia. He wrote the book "Muscovia" about his stay in Moscow.
Possevino didn`t conceal purpose of visit to Muscovy: according task of the Pope, he was to convert Russia to Latin faith.
Possevino required, that Ivan agreed to the Latin faith, promising him, in this case, the title of emperor.
Possevino offered the Pope using the following methods of introducing the Catholic religion in Muscovy[57]
• To establish a seminary in Wilno or Polotsk (Polatsk) for Russians from the Kingdom of Poland, and for those, who were taken prisoner in the war in Muscovy.
• To use methods, used on Greek colleagues, and it may be useful for Russians in high extent.
• To send to the Papal Seminaries those people, who can be taken out from Moscow. They should not have shortage of housing and catering facilities.
• It is necessary, that the Venetians send one or two merchants, even individuals, but people who are honest, in order they try to use any opportunity and to assist the Catholic clergy to be able to gain a foothold in this country.
• It is necessary to take advantage of the fact that "some of the princes, as for example, in Ostrog[58]and Slutsk have printing houses and schools, in which the schism is supported."
The Time of Troubles.
It is known, that there was a "time of troubles"[59]at the beginning of the XVII century in Russia.
Many reasons for time of troubles are called: cooling, lean years, the struggle for power within the Russian elite, and so forth.
"Some Russian historians directly calledconstant aspirations of papacy to subjugate the Russian Orthodox Churchand the skillful work of the Jesuits as the main causes of time of troubles (N. N. Kostomarov). Rome, gestating plans to spread Catholicism in Russian lands, decided, that they needed to put prince - Catholic on the Russian throne, so the Pope supported the Polish-Lithuanian intervention to the Moscow State at the XVII century beginning[60]... "
False Dmitry (Pseudo-Demetrius) (Grishka Otrepyev), on whom Catholics had high expectations, having put him on Russian throne, did not meet them. Here, Gregory Mamaev[61] writes about it:
"Grishka-Anathema was not an ordinary person. It is incorrect to regard him as limp doll in the hands of the Poles, the Jesuits and the Moscow boyars ... He lead and those and others a pretty dance for a rather long time. It is known, that he accepted Catholicism, but as though he didn`t not refuse of Orthodoxy... Most likely, he was neither Catholic nor Orthodox. Most likely, he wasa supporter of the ancient Aryan heresy.
A huge colony of demonstrative and masked Arians existed in the XVII century in Poland - Gregory Otrepyev labored in it after escaping from the Chudov monastery and before the appearance at the Polish court.
So False Dmitry was an Arian, - there are a lot of evidences. Apparently, the Arians and their secret patrons promoted fugitive Russian monk to the uppermost parts of the Polish nobility. Perhaps, there were Arians in Moscow also ...
He paid promises greater than money to Poland, didn`t hurry to fulfill the main requirement of Polish elite: ceding Russian lands, granting privileges for Catholicism. "
Author is likely right. By that time Arianism was not completely destroyed and resisted the Vatican expansion, but the forces were not equal.
K. Valishevsky[62]also inclined to opinion, that Gregory Otrepyev was a supporter of Arianism: "On the sight (According estimations) of people, who could estimate, his Orthodoxy (Orthodoxy of Gregory - author) had always been noticed in having shade of Arian and Socinian heresies[63]".
Here Melnikov-Pechersky[64]writes about the activities of the Roman Catholics in Russia:
"In the Moscow State all people had still fresh memory of recent events of trouble times andfanatical atrocities of the Roman Catholics in the very walls of the Kremlin."
Romanovs come to power
In 1613 Mikhail Romanov comes to power.
This was the result of Filaret collusion with Sigismund, and Englishmen.
Patriarch Filaret (Feodor Romanov) father of Michael was arrested by the Poles in 1611 and returned to Russia in 1619.
Kessler[65]:
"This man managed to organize the election Tsar of All Rus` of his underage son Michael, in addition he (Filaret) was "elected Velikiy Gosudar` (Great Sovereign, Great Prince)", i.e. Tsar, while remaining the Patriarch, and single-handedly ruled Muscovy until his death in 1633".
It is clear, that Romanov dynasty become tsars in Muscovy asthe result of a Europe-wide political agreement. The actual founder of the new Russian dynasty Filaret probablybought prospective autocracy from Catholic Europe, i.e. political and religious independence of Muscovy, in exchange for the replacement of "corrupt doctrine" to "correct" Catholic doctrine.
Filaret, staying in captivity, was forced to accept the demands of the Catholics, under the condition, that his claim to the Russian throne would be supported by the West.
He began his activity with immediate correcting religious books and in fact created the correct-believing (pravorernuyu) church, which was later renamed the Orthodox.
This caused the resistance of society, and resulted, Filaret didn`t manage to achieve the final goals set by the Vatican.