with Joseph's efforts to bolster the position of Russia's grand princes, who were now increasingly referred to as tsars, succeeding to the title of universal emperors of Byzantium. Joseph Volotsky restated the formula of an early Byzantine ecclesiastical writer Agapetus that the tsar was a "man in essence, but his power is that of God" and that he was God's deputy on Earth. According to Joseph, however, since the main duty of the tsar is to care for the well-being of the Christian Church, he is legitimate only as long as he adheres to Church rules and moral obligations. Struggle against heresies Joseph Volotsky is also known to have been a staunch opponent of the heretical sect which was spreading in Russia at that time ("Judaizers"). During the Church Sobor of 1504, he demanded that all heretics be executed by the state. In his major work, called The Enlightener (Просветитель), which consisted of 16 chapters, he tried to prove the wrongfulness of the "new teaching" in order to be able to prosecute the heretics and convince people not to believe in the sincerity of their repentance. Taking inspiration from the Roman-Byzantine treatment of heresiarchs and the Dominican-led persecutions in Spain and Portugal, he called for a civil inquisition against heretics and championed their imprisonment and execution. As with the controversy over monastic ownership of estates, Joseph Volotsky was opposed in this matter by Saint Nilus of Sora. Joseph's sainthood was officially accepted by the Russian Orthodox Church following his local canonization in 1579 and national canonization in 1591. References External links Russian biography Saint Joseph's epistle on veneration of holy icons T. Allan Smith, "Divine economy and repentance in Discourse 4 of The Enlightener by Iosif Volotskii," Canadian Slavonic Papers 60, no.1-2 (2018) People of the Grand Duchy of Moscow Russian theologians Russian saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church 1515 deaths 16th-century Christian saints Year of birth unknown 15th-century Eastern Orthodox theologians 16th-century Eastern Orthodox theologians 15th-century Russian writers 16th-century Russian writers