Editing Ivan the Terrible (section)

== Posthumous reputation ==
{{see also|Ivan the Terrible in Russian folklore|Category:Cultural depictions of Ivan the Terrible}}
[[File:Ivan grozny frame.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Ivan IV in the ''[[Tsarsky titulyarnik]]'', 1672]]
Ivan's notorious outbursts and autocratic whims helped characterise the position of tsar as one accountable to no earthly authority but only to God.<ref name="Bogatyrev, Sergei 1584" /> Tsarist absolutism faced few serious challenges until the 19th century. The earliest and most influential account of his reign prior to 1917 was by the historian [[Nikolay Karamzin]], who described Ivan as a 'tormentor' of his people, particularly from 1560, though even after that date Karamzin believed there was a mix of 'good' and 'evil' in his character. In 1922, the historian [[Robert Wipper]] wrote a biography that reassessed Ivan as a monarch "who loved the ordinary people" and praised his agrarian reforms.<ref>Maureen, Perrie (2001). ''The Cult of Ivan the Formidable in Stalin's Russia''. New York: Palgrava. pp. 6, 12-17</ref>

In the 1920s, [[Mikhail Pokrovsky]], who dominated the study of history in the Soviet Union, attributed the success of the ''oprichnina'' to their being on the side of the small state owners and townsfolk in a decades-long class struggle against the large landowners, and downgraded Ivan's role to that of the instrument of the emerging Russian bourgeoisie. But in February 1941, the poet [[Boris Pasternak]] observantly remarked in a letter to his cousin that "the new cult, openly proselytized, is Ivan the Terrible, the ''Oprichnina'', the brutality."<ref>{{cite book |last1=McSmith |first1=Andy |title=Fear and the Muse Kept Watch, The Russian Masters - from Akhmatova and Pasternak to Shostakovich and Eisenstein - Under Stalin |date=2015 |publisher=New Press |location=New York |isbn=978-1-59558-056-6 |page=233}}</ref> [[Joseph Stalin]], who had read Wipper's biography, had decided that Soviet historians should praise the role of strong leaders, such as Ivan, [[Alexander Nevsky]] and Peter the Great, who had strengthened and expanded Russia.<ref>Perrie, Maureen (1987). ''The Image of Ivan the Formidable in Russian Folklore''. Cambridge, UK: Pitt Building.</ref> 

A consequence was that the writer [[Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy|Alexei Tolstoy]] began work on a stage version of Ivan's life, and [[Sergei Eisenstein]] began what was to be a three-part film tribute to Ivan. Both projects were personally supervised by Stalin, at a time when the Soviet Union was engaged in a war with Nazi Germany. He read the scripts of Tolstoy's play and the first of Eisenstein's films in tandem after the [[Battle of Kursk]] in 1943, praised Eisenstein's version but rejected Tolstoy's. It took Tolstoy until 1944 to write a version that satisfied Stalin.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McSmith |title=Fear and the Muse |page=236}}</ref> Eisenstein's success with ''[[Ivan the Terrible (1944 film)|Ivan the Terrible Part 1]]'' was not repeated with the follow-up, ''The Boyar's Revolt'', which angered Stalin because it portrayed a man suffering pangs of conscience. Stalin told Eisenstein: "Ivan the Terrible was very cruel. You can show that he was cruel, but you have to show why it was essential to be cruel. One of Ivan the Terrible's mistakes was that he didn't finish off the five major families."<ref>{{cite book |last1=McSmith |title=Fear and the Muse |page=240}}</ref> The film was suppressed until 1958.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

In post-Soviet Russia, there was a campaign  to seek the granting of [[sainthood]] to Ivan IV,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121021152642/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-317469.html "Russians Laud Ivan the Not So Formidable; Loose Coalition Presses Orthodox Church to Canonize the Notorious Czar"]. ''[[The Washington Post]]'', 10 November 2003.</ref> but the Russian Orthodox Church opposed the idea.<ref>[http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-6258666_ITM "Church says nyet to St. Rasputin"]. UPI NewsTrack. 4 October 2004</ref>
The first statue of Ivan the Terrible was officially open in [[Oryol]], Russia, in 2016. Formally, the statue was unveiled in honor of the 450th anniversary of the founding of Oryol, a Russian city of about 310,000 that was established as a fortress to defend Moscow's southern borders. Informally, there was a big political subtext. The opposition thinks that Ivan the Terrible's rehabilitation echoes Stalin's era. The erection of the statue was widely covered in international media like ''The Guardian'',<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/14/russias-first-monument-to-ivan-the-terrible-inaugurated "Russia's first monument to Ivan the Terrible inaugurated"]. ''[[The Guardian]]'', 14 October 2016.</ref> ''The Washington Post'',<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/10/14/ivan-the-terrible-a-bloodthirsty-conquerer-gets-his-first-statue-in-russia/ "Russia just gave Ivan the Terrible his first statue ever"]. ''[[The Washington Post]]'', 14 October 2016.</ref> ''Politico'',<ref>[https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-falls-back-in-love-with-ivan-the-terrible-statue-monument-oryol// "Russia falls back in love with Ivan the Terrible"]. ''[[Politico]]'', 14 October 2016.</ref> and others. The Russian Orthodox Church officially supported the erection of the monument.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/02/russian-orthodox-church-head-backs-ivan-the-terrible-sculpture|title=Russian Orthodox church head backs Ivan the Terrible sculpture|website=[[The Guardian]]|date=2 August 2016}}</ref>