Joachim's enmity did not cease at the grave, and, under plea of Nikon's degradation, he refused to render episcopal honors to his remains. It required the tsar's interference to check these manifestations of clerical malignity, and, at his command, Cornelius, Metropolitan of Novgorod, officiated at the burial. The monarch himself helped bear the body to its last resting-place, on the spot which Nikon had chosen, and, subsequently, he obtained from the four œcumenical patriarchs letters of absolution for Nikon's soul.
Over the tomb are hanging still the iron cross and heavy chains he wore upon his body, and Russian pilgrims venerate his shrine as a holy place, although solemn condemnation was passed upon him by a council of almost œcumenical dignity.
