In the first half of the 16th century the ritual, of either Western or Byzantine origin, emerged in Novgorod, where key roles were played by the Archbishop of Novgorod and namestniks. It was imported to Moscow by Metropolitan Makarius. The first attested donkey walk attended by Makarius and Ivan the Terrible took place in 1558, when Trinity Cathedral was under construction. After the completion of Trinity Cathedral in 1561 the processions terminated at its western sanctuary dedicated to the Entry into Jerusalem; the cathedral itself became known as Jerusalem. Western visitors left descriptions of the procession as it existed before the Time of Troubles: Mikhail Kudryavtsev noted that allcross processions of the period began, as described by Petreius, from the Dormition Cathedral, passed through St. Frol's Gate and ended at Trinity Cathedral, popularly known simply as Jerusalem. For these processions the Kremlin itself became an open-air temple, properly oriented from its "narthex" in the west, through the "royal doors", to "sanctuary" in the east. The ritual was mocked and abused by Ivan the Terrible in his 1570 campaign against the Novgorod clergy. After looting the churches of Novgorod, Ivan demoted the archbishop of Novgorod and ordered him, a tonsured monk, to mount a mare backwards, ride to Moscow in a skomorokh's garb, marry there and lead a life of a skomorokh until the end of his days.
Nikon's reform
, among his other reforms, reversed the order of the donkey walk; since 1656 it began at Lobnoye Mesto and terminated in the Kremlin. Nikon's voluntary retirement in 1658 vacated the Patriarch's seat de facto but not de jure; MetropolitanPitirim of Krutitsy acted for the Patriarch during the 1659 donkey walk, causing Nikon's instant, unforgiving response. Nikon, still the head of Russian Orthodox Church, banished Pitirim from his seat and bitterly reprimanded Alexis I of Russia as an accomplice in "promiscuity of spirit". He wrote that for him riding the donkey was a fearful act of being a living icon of Christ himself, a deed and burden that only the Head of Church may bear. Pitirim repeated his act in 1661 and 1662 and was anathemized by Nikon although the retired patriarch's rage had little effect in real politics and Pitirim remained at the helm of the church. According to a description by Adam Olearius, who attended the 1636 procession, the direction of the donkey walk has already been changed by that time. Olearius left an account of the procession starting at Lobnoye Mesto and proceeding into the Saviour's Gate of the Kremlin. The procession was led by a wagon carrying "a beautiful tree whose branches are hung with apples and various other treats" and six boys singing Hosanna. Similar processions, without the tree, were also held on the day of enthronement of the Patriarch in Moscow and ordination of the bishops in other cities, but in 1678 donkey walks outside of Moscow were prohibited by the Synod.
Demise of the tradition
Feeble-bodied tsar Feodor III of Russia, the eldest surviving son of Alexis, was too weak to attend the ceremonies of 1676 and 1677. By 1678 he recovered and participated in that year's donkey walk along with Patriarch Joachim; later, he seems to have attended most of the ceremonies of his short reign until failing to take part in the donkey walk of 1681. After Fyodor's death the throne passed to co-rulers, brothers Ivan and Peter. In 1683 Ivan was sick and Peter led the donkey alone but in the next few years Ivan and Peter participated in the ritual together. As Ivan's health declined, Peter became the sole leader of the procession. After the death of his mother he cancelled the procession; in fact, 1694 became the last year of Muscovite court ritual as it existed under the first Romanovs. Peter, who forced the church into submission to the state, needed no external shows of political harmony and formally abolished the ritual in 1697; instead, it was replaced with a mock drunk orgy of Peter's statesmen and minstrels.
Modern Russia
The ritual was resurrected in the 2000s in Rostov, with key roles being played by the Archbishop of Rostov and Yaroslavl and the governor of Yaroslavl Oblast. Saint Petersburg officially debuted the tradition on Palm Sunday 2014 with the civil and Orthodox leaders of the city in the leading roles.
