p The acceptance of Christianity in Rus led to the development of a homiletic tradition. Sermons were an important means of spreading the new religious dogma. Didactic sermons, such as those of Feodosy of the Caves or Luka Zhidyata, have no artistic significance and lie beyond the limits of literature.

Alongside the homilies we find solemn, emotional panegyric sermons with clearly political intentions.

Ilarion’s Sermon on
Law and Grace

p One of the finest examples of oratorical prose in the eleventh century is the Sermon on Law and Grace, written between 1037 and 1050 by Ilarion, priest of the royal cathedral at Berestovo. He was evidently a man of extraordinary intelligence, a well-educated, talented writer. His sermon was probably delivered either at the Desyatinnaya Church or in the Cathedral of St. Sophia where it deeply moved Prince Yaroslav the Wise. At his command in 1051 Ilarion was consecrated as metropolitan of Kiev, a post which he did not fill for long. After Yaroslav’s death, the succeeding prince was obliged to make a concession to Byzantium, and Ephrem, a Greek, assumed the office of metropolitan in 1055. Ilarion retired to the Kiev Crypt Monastery and was tonsured under the monastic name Nikon.

p The Sermon on Law and Grace is a profoundly patriotic tribute to Rus and the Russian people who are proclaimed as equals to all Christian peoples and states. Ilarion contrasts the Byzantine concept of a universal empire and Church with the concept of the equality of all Christians. After pointing out the opposition 86 between Judaism (Law) and Christianity (Grace) Ilarion shows that Grace is superior to Law, for the Law was confined to the Jewish people and God gave Grace to all nations. The law of the Old Testament was given by God to the Prophet Moses on Mt. Sinai and applies only to the Jews; the Christian teachings of the New Testament, on the other hand, have a universal significance and each nation is entitled to freely elect this Grace. In this way Ilarion denied Byzantium’s alleged monopoly as the exclusive bestower of Grace. D. S. Likhachev views Ilarion’s sermon as a patriotic interpretation of world history: a hymn to Rus and Prince Vladimir who brought enlightenment to his people.

p Vladimir’s role in the acceptance and dissemination of Christianity in Rus is magnified by Ilarion, for Vladimir brought Rus into the family of Christian lands as a sovereign state. Vladimir ruled, “not a miserable or unknown land”, but “the land of Rus which is known and heeded to the very ends of the earth".

p Ilarion’s tribute to Vladimir enumerates the prince’s services to his native land. He speaks of his contributions to the glory and might of Rus, emphasising that the Russian freely chose Christianity as a result of Vladimir’s efforts, rather than those of the Greeks. The sermon even compares Vladimir to the Emperor Constantine with the former in a distinctly more favourable light.

p The Sermon on Law and Grace called for Vladimir’s canonisation. At the same time it glorified the deeds of Yaroslav who continued the work of his father with great success, helping to spread Christianity in Rus. Ilarion praises Yaroslav for building many churches and for helping to promote a Christian education.

p The Sermon is composed according to a logical, well-considered plan which is laid out in the extended title: “Sermon on the law, given to Moses, and the grace and truth that dwelt in Jesus Christ, and how the law departed and grace and truth filled the land, and the faith spread in all tongues and in our Russian tongue, and a tribute to our Lord Vladimir, who christened us, and a prayer to God from all our people.”

p The first part contrasting Law to Grace is an 87 extensive introduction to the second and central part: the tribute to Vladimir, which concludes with the author’s call for Vladimir to rise from his grave, awake and gaze upon the deeds of his son George (the Christian name of Yaroslav). The second part is intended to glorify Ilarion’s contemporary, the Prince of Rus and his accomplishments. The third part is a prayer for “all our land".

p The Sermon is above all addressed to people “ well-versed in the pleasures of learning and books”, and accordingly the author clothes his work in literary rhetoric. He constantly cites the Bible and compares Biblical texts. The first part opposes Law to Grace, a theological argument illustrated by examples from the Bible itself, in particular the Biblical legend of the patriarch Abraham. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, had no children and so Abraham sired his son Ishmael by the slavewoman Hagar. Soon afterwards Sarah gave birth to Isaac. Ilarion likens Law to the slavewoman Hagar and her enslaved son Ishmael, and Grace to the free Sarah and her son Isaac.

p These parallels are supplemented with the images of Joseph’s sons: Ephraim and Manassah: Manassah is the Law, for he has given up his birthright at the command of his father to Ephraim, who is Grace. These symbolic parallels are intended to give a clearer illustration of Law’s inferiority to Grace.

p In the first part of his sermon Ilarion maintains a consistent antithesis. This is a typical rhetorical device.

p In the tribute to Vladimir he compares the deeds of the Russian prince to those of Christ’s apostles:

p “For the land of the Romans praises Peter and Paul who led them to believe in Jesus Christ, Son of God; Asia and Ephesus and Patmos praise the Apostle John; India—Thomas; Egypt—Mark; all lands and cities and people revere and glorify the teacher who taught them the true faith. Let us too, in accordance with our strength, give what faint praise we are able to that great and wondrous teacher and mentor, our Grand Prince Vladimir, grandson of “old Igor”, son of the glorious Svyatoslav, who ruled with courage and bravery and was renowned in many lands for victories and strength and are remembered and honoured even today.” Ilarion 88 shares the view of the chronicler who stressed that Vladimir was the son of the famed Svyatoslav and grandson of old Igor. He comments on the prince’s military prowess and his purely Christian virtues.

p Ilarion makes much use of literary metaphors in his sermon, both allegory and simile: Law is a dried-out lake, paganism is idolatrous darkness, the obscurity of demonic allegiance; Grace is a source that overflows, and so on. He frequently employs rhetorical questions and exclamations, typical devices of panegyric oratory which lend emotional power to a speech. The rhythmic organisation of the sermon serves a similar purpose. Ilarion often introduces repetitions and rhyming verb forms, as for example, in the following passage:

p “... Ratnye progoni,
mir utverdi,
sir any ukroti,
glad ugobzi,
bolyary umudri,
grady razseli,
tscrkov tvoyu vozrasti,
dostoyanie svoe soblyudi,
muzhi i zhcny i mladentsy spasi. "

p [“He drove the soldiers off,
and made a lasting peace,
and subdued the land,
and ended famine,
and enlightened the boyars,
and sowed cities,
and increased the church,
and cared for his inheritance,
and saved men, women and children.”

p This device gives the sermon a powerful emotional impact. The art evident in Ilarion’s Sermon on Law and Grace made it one of the more widely read medieval texts and it became a model for writers from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries; they borrowed both devices and stylistic formulas from Ilarion’s work.

The tradition of the panegyric sermon so magnificently worked out by Ilarion, was continued by Kliment Smolyatich and Kirill of Turov.

Kirill of Turov’s Sermons

p If we judge by the chronicle description, Kliment Smolyatich was distinguished by his great learning and was known as a “philosopher”. This evidently led the Council of Russian Bishops to elect him to the metropolitanate in 1147. His most famous work is an Epistle to Presbyter Foma. Foma accused Kliment of vainglory and pride, claiming that he wrote in the tradition of “Homer and Aristotle and Plato who were famed for their Greek deceits”. Kliment’s epistle refutes this, particularly in the second part with a “subtle interpretation of Holy Scriptures”, that is symbolic and allegorical, in the form of questions and answers.

p This sort of allegorical interpretation of the Scriptures was also employed by Kliment’s younger contemporary, the talented late twelfth century writer known as Kirill of Turov. His vita in the prologue gives scant information. His parents, we learn, were wealthy and he was born in the town of Turov. Kirill became a monk and then retired to a tower; later he was consecrated Bishop of Turov. With regard to his literary efforts, the vita notes: “...He told of many things from the Holy Scriptures and was renowned throughout this land.” “...A second Chrysostom came to teach us in Rus and was best of all.” Thus did Kirill’s contemporaries judge his writing.

p Among Kirill’s works are a condemnation of Rostov bishop and heretic Fedorets, an epistle to Andrei Bogolyubsky (not extant), eight panegyric sermons, two homilies, some twenty-two prayers and one canon.

p Kirill’s panegyric sermons were written on the occasion of various religious holy days, and lack the political polemicism and topicality of Ilarion’s Sermon. Kirill’s goal is to clarify the meaning of a given Christian holy day, to “sing”, “glorify”, “adorn with words”, and “praise”. This is accomplished through allegory and symbolic parallels. His imagery is wielded with taste and skill, and is distinguished by a unique lyrical quality and a flair for the dramatic. He alternates monologue, dialogue and lament. Kirill also interprets natural phenomena from a symbolic perspective, as in his Sermon on 90 the First Sunday after Easter.

p All of his sermons are composed in three distinct parts: an introduction, a statement, and a conclusion.

p The introduction is intended to capture the listener’s attention, create a certain mood and prepare him for the following fundamental portion of the speech. This explains the anaphoristic aphorisms in, for example, the introduction to the fifth Sermon: “How unmeasurable are the heights of the heavens; how unfathomable the depths of the abyss; how unknowable the mysteries of Divine Providence. Great and inexpressible is God’s mercy which He bestowed upon the human race....”

p Often Kirill begins a sermon with an extended metaphor; this permits him to use the images in the ensuing statement. An interesting example of this can be lound in the introduction to the eighth Sermon:

p “Just as writers of history and orators, that is, chroniclers and songwriters, attended to battles and fighting among kings, and adorned them with words and magnified those who fought courageously for their king and did not flee from the enemy in wartime, glorifying them and crowning them with praise; how much more fitting is it that we heap praises upon the brave and magnificent warriors of God....”

p Subsequently this comparison of the fathers at the Ecumenical Council smiting the impious heretic Arius with warriors is extended by the author into a unique song of victory.

p Kirill of Turov’s sermons are organically related to ecclesiastical music and painting. He brings the action out of the distant, dim past into the present and forces all who listen to become witnesses of events taking place “here” and “now”. Through amplification the orator conveys spiritual trepidation and ecstasy to his audience. As one of the leading authorities on Kirill of Turov, I. P. Eremin, notes this gives the Biblical plots in his sermons the air of lyrical poetry in prose.   [90•1 

p The concluding part of his sermons was generally either a tribute or a prayer in accordance with the holy day and sounded a final chord in the festive symphony.

Kirill of Turov’s sermons were extremely popular in Rus and were included in the miscellanies known as Zlatoust and Torzhestvennik alongside the sermons of the famed Byzantine orator John Chrysostom. They show the artistic heights of Russian oratory in the late twelfth century.