The Tale ofSS Boris and Gleb
p Original hagiographical works appeared in connection with Rus’ political struggle to confirm religious independence and show that the Russian land had its own intermediaries and intercessors to bring their pleas to God. By swathing the prince in an aureole of holiness vitae helped to consolidate the feudal system.
p The anonymous Tale of SS Boris and Gleb was the model for Old Russian royal Vitae. Although it was probably written in the late eleventh or early twelfth century it has survived in late twelfth century copies. It is based on a historical event: Svyatopolk’s murder of his younger brothers Boris and Gleb in 1015. This was recorded in the chronicles in the form of a historical tale. Later in the 1040’s Yaroslav induced the Byzantine Church to canonise the murdered brothers; a new text glorifying the spiritual achievement of the martyrs and Yaroslav’s vengeance for their death was then required. On the basis of the chronicle account the anonymous Tale of SS Boris and Gleb was composed.
p This Tale retains its historicism, recounting in detail all of the circumstances of the murder. Like the chronicle the Tale sharply condemns the murderer, “ Svyatopolk Okayanny" (the Accursed), and speaks against all fratricides, defending the patriotic ideal of the unity of 98 “the Great Land of Rus".
p Byzantine hagiography had none of the historical concreteness of the Russian Tale which also propounded the critical political concept of familial seniority in the system of royal succession. One goal of the Tale was to consolidate feudal law and order and glorify the obedience of vassals: Boris and Gleb could not go against their older brother who took the place of a father for them. Thus Boris will not consent to the urgings of his guardsmen to take Kiev by force. Similarly Gleb voluntarily goes to meet his killers, despite the warning of his sister Predslava; he keeps his faith with his older brother. The servant youth Georgy, who shields his prince with his own body, is likewise praised for his loyalty.
p Traditional vitae describe the entire life of the saint, from birth to death. The Tale, however, recounts only one episode from the lives of the heroes: their foul murder. SS Boris and Gleb are portrayed as ideal Christian martyrs who willingly accept the “crown of thorns”. The glorification of this Christian feat is accomplished in the traditional hagiographical manner. There are many monologues in the narrative: laments of the heroes, prayers, and so on. These serve as a means of expressing their religious sentiments. Boris’ and Gleb’s monologues are in the tradition of ecclesiastical literature. They are not devoid of imagery, dramatic power and lyricism. Rhetorical questions and exclamations, characteristic of religious oratorical prose, are also evident in these monologues. At the same time we find many vivid elements from oral folk laments which lend additional lyricism and give clearer expression to the emotions.
p Gleb’s tearful plea to his murderers is particularly moving: “Do not cut me down for I have not yet lived out my time! Do not cut down the unripe ear of corn, that holds the milk of innocence! Do not cut down the vine that has not yet matured but still bears fruit! " The pious thoughts, prayers and laments uttered by SS Boris and Gleb help to reveal their inner world and psyqhology.
p Many such monologues are pronounced “in their 99 thoughts" or “in their hearts”. These are the product of the author’s imagination and give a unique picture of the pious emotions and thoughts of these ideal heroes. The monologues also include quotations from the Psalter and the Parimiynik.
p Descriptions also show the heroes’ psychological state, as, for example, in the scene where Boris has been abandoned by his guardsmen: “with grief and sorrow and a downcast heart he entered his tent, weeping, sick at heart, but rejoicing in spirit, and said with plaintive voice....” Here the author is attempting to show opposing feelings experienced by the hero: sorrow due to foreknowledge of impending death and joy in his capacity of ideal martyr awaiting the crown of thorns. Here true feelings constantly conflict with etiquette. When Gleb catches sight of ships at the mouth of the River Smyadin sailing toward him, he rejoices with youthful trust, “expecting a warm greeting”. Then evil murderers begin to leap into Gleb’s boat with bared swords that glisten like the water: “the oars fall from their hands and all go numb with fear”. At this point Gleb realises their intentions and with tears in his eyes, “weakened” in body, implores the murderers: “Do not touch me for I have done you no evil, my dear beloved brothers! Lay not your hands upon me, my lords and brothers, touch me not! " This is genuine living truth; later it mixes with etiquette fitting the behaviour of a saint.
p Boris and Gleb are wreathed in a halo of sanctity in the Tale. This is accomplished not only by glorifying their Christian virtues, but by describing many fantastic posthumous miracles connected with the saints, a typical hagiographical device which can be seen in the Tale’s conclusion. Posthumous miracles magnify and glorify the saints as does the tribute with which the Tale ends. Here the author employs traditional Biblical similes, forms of prayerful address, and citation of Holy Scripture (these also abound in the heroes’ monologues).
p In addition the author attempts to give a general picture of the appearance of his heroes—a fairly mechanical catalogue of virtues. Boris is described as follows: “Tall and handsome of corpus, round-faced, broad- 100 shouldered, with a narrow waist and beautiful eyes; a cheerful face; a slight beard and moustache, for he was still a young man and shone forth like a king, firm of limb, adorned in every way, and blossomed forth in his youth; courageous in battle, giving wise counsel and sound judgement, and God’s grace shone in him.” Obviously the author is attempting to recreate only the most general positive features of this saint and prince, the ideal hero.
p The ideal Christian heroes—princes and martyrs—of the Tale are placed in opposition to a negative character: “Svyatopolk the Accursed”, possessed by envy, pride, love of power and a violent hatred of his brothers. These vices are explained by the author in terms of his origins: Svyatopolk’s mother was a nun taken from her cloister and given in marriage to Yaropolk. When Yaropolk was killed by Vladimir she became the latter’s wife. Thus Svyatopolk was born of two fathers, a fact which helps to create the antithesis between him and his brothers Boris and Gleb. Svyatopolk embodies all negative human and Christian traits. The author spares no colours to depict this. Svyatopolk is “accursed”, “thrice accursed”, “a second Cain”, whose thoughts are caught up by the devil; he has “most foul lips" and “a vile voice”. For his crime Svyatopolk is fittingly punished. Beaten by Yaroslav he takes flight in panic. “His bones were weakened so that he could not even sit on his horse and was carried on a stretcher.” He constantly imagines the sound of horses’ hooves as though Yaroslav was coming after him: “Run! They’re coming closer! Alas,” he would cry, “I cannot bear to stay in one place.” In the wilderness, among Czechs and Poles he “gave up his evil ghost”. While the brothers murdered by him will “live throughout the ages" and remain the “tower” and “affirmation” of the Russian land, with imperishable bodies that exude a sweet fragrance, Svyatopolk’s grave which “remains to this day" gives forth “a foul stench so that all may bear witness”.
p Svyatopolk is contrasted, not only to the “earthly angels" and “heavenly mortals" Boris and Gleb, but? to the ideal earthly king Yaroslav who avenges his brothers. Yaroslav’s piety is emphasised by having him utter a 101 prayer, allegedly spoken before the battle with Svyatopolk. The battle itself occurs on the very site of Boris’ murder on the River Alta; this has symbolic significance. Yaroslav’s victory is related to the end of internecine strife in the Tale, evidence of its political topicality.
The dramatic, emotional narrative coupled with mention of recent political events (Svyatopolk’s murder of his two brothers) made the Tale extremely popular among medieval readers. It is no wonder that the Tale has survived in 170 copies.
Nestor’s Lection of the Lives
of SS Boris and Gleb
p Due to its extensive narrative and detailed historical facts the Tale was not conductive to liturgical purposes. In the 1080’s a special service was composed by Nestor and entitled the Lection of the Lives of SS Boris and Gleb. The Lection corresponds to traditional hagiographical canons. On the basis of Byzantine models Nestor begins with an extended rhetorical introduction which is somewhat polemical. In accordance with literary etiquette he speaks of his “vulgarity and lack of understanding" and particularly stresses Vladimir’s role in the adoption of Christianity as the state religion.
p The central part of the Lection presents the vitae of Boris and Gleb; these lack the concrete details of the Tale and are more abstract. The death of the martyrs represents the trimph of Christian humility over diabolical pride which leads to enmity and internecine warfare.
p Numerous miracles testifying to the glory of the martyrs, a tribute and a prayer to the saints conclude the Lection.
Comparison of the Lection and the Tale show that Nestor was primarily concerned with religious, didactic aims. The cult of SS Boris and Gleb had great political importance due to this, treatment. At the same time Nestor’s faithfulness to Byzantine models, in particular the vitae of SS Romanus and David, deprived his work of the vividness and emotional qualities characteristic of the anonymous Tale.
102The Kiev Crypt Patericon
p Apart from princely vitae we find purely religious hagiography. The Kiev Crypt monks not only kept a chronicle record of events, but took pains to collect legends about the lives and deeds of their fellows. These legends served to explain the monastery’s leading role on Russian religious life and its active interference in areas of secular life. In the mid-thirteenth century these legends and tales were collected in the anthology which, in the fifteenth century, was given the name Kiev Crypt Patericon.
p The Patericon was started when Simon, Bishop of Suzdal, began a correspondence with the Kiev Crypt monk Polikarp, and also contains an epistle from Polikarp to Hegumen Akindin, written in the 1220’s.
p Not content with being a simple monk Polikarp dreamed of the episcopal mitre and attempted to use his influence with Prince Rostislav Rurikovich’s wife Anastasia (Verkhuslava) to attain a higher ecclesiastical position. His intrigues and pride disturbed Bishop Simon of Suzdal who wrote to Polikarp criticising the monk for “loving high rank" and reminding him of the sanctity of the Kiev Crypt Monastery. Simon declared that he himself was willing to give up his bishop’s rank for a quiet undisturbed life in the holy cloister. The monastery was so renowned for its holiness that the mere fact of being buried in its confines, as Simon saw it, absolved one of all sins.
p Simon emphasised the cultural role of the Kiev Crypt Monastery for all the Russian land: it had given the country many renowned Christian teachers, Leonty and Isaiah of Rostov, Metropolitan Ilarion, Bishops Herman and Nifont of Novgorod, and Efrem of Suzdal, among others. He notes that there were at least fifty such figures.
p In order to support his contentions Simon relates a “Tale of the Holy Crypt Monks" which contains nine accounts of the holy fathers “who, like the sun’s rays, shone forth to the ends of the universe”, and the story of the building and adornment of the Crypt Cathedral.
p Under the influence of Simon’s epistle Polikarp in 103 turn writes to Akindin, Hegumen of the Kiev Crypt Monastery, telling of the feats of thirty other monks so that others could learn of “the holy life of sainted fathers”.
p Later the tales of Simon and Polikarp were put together, supplemented with the vita of St. Feodosy of the Caves (written by Nestor in the late eleventh century) and a chronicle tale of the Crypt monks (entered in The Tale of Bygone Years under the year 1074). This was the form of the oldest surviving manuscript of the patericon dating to 1406; edited by Arseny, Bishop of Tver, this redaction is known by his name. In 1460 and 1462 Hegumen Kassian of the Kiev Crypt Monastery issued another, fuller redaction under the name the Kiev Crypt Patericon.
p The Patericon begins with a story of how the frescoes in the Crypt Cathedral were painted. The stone church was built in 1073 in the name of the Dormition of the Holy Theotokos. It served as an architectural model for many later Churches of Dormition built in Rostov, Suzdal, Vladimir-on-the-Klyazma, and Vladimir Volynsky. Its construction was wreathed in legends, many of them fixed in the Patericon.
p The Patericon contains short stories of spiritual feats performed by the Crypt monks—“brave men in the service of God”. Based on oral monasterial legends, the tales are often fantastic, describing miracles, visions and struggles with demonic powers. At the same time many dark sides of daily monastic life can be viewed beneath the fantastic narratives. The legends contain many historical details and deal with political questions as well.
p Much space is devoted to portraying the relations of the monks with the Great Prince of Kiev. As a rule in clashes between the monastery and secular authorities, the monks are victorious. Prokhor the Elder puts Svyatopolk Izyaslavich to shame by transforming ashes into salt. This tale of fTokhor-lebednik (the man who carried lebeda [orach] collected for baking bread—Tr.} reflects the competition between the Great Prince, the Kievan merchants and the Monastery in the salt trade and the efforts of Kievan merchants to get the Great Prince to support their monopoly in this trade. By producing his 104 own salt and distributing it to the population, Prokhor triumphs over them and Svyatopolk is forced to make peace with the Hegumen.
p Elders Fedor and Vasily are so strong in spirit that no tortures can make them reveal the secret of a treasure discovered by Fedor in the Varangian Cave to Prince Mstislav. Here the Patericon condemns the selfishness and greed of Mstislav Svyatopolkovich who is punished accordingly. After shooting Vasily, the prince himself is killed in a battle with Igor Davydovich by the same arrow, just as the elder predicted.
p All those who fail to venerate the monastery and its elders are cruelly punished. This is the mpral of the tale about the monk Grigory who was ordered drowned in the Dnieper by Prince Rostislav. As he fled from the Polovtsy, the prince himself was drowned in the same river, a fitting fate. As to the monk, he was seen in his cell miraculously rescued. “He was bound, with a stone tied to his neck. His clothes were dripping, but his face radiant, and he looked safe and sound.”
p Princes Svyatoslav, Vsevolod and Vladimir Monomakh are treated with great sympathy in the Patericon. “Faithful” Prince Svyatoslav began to dig the foundations of the Crypt Cathedral with his own hands and gave 100 grivnas of gold toward its construction. Vsevolod and Vladimir Monomakh venerated the monastery and its monks.
p Many takes relate struggles against demons, personifying the lower impulses, passions and motives. Demons take on various forms: dogs, a foreign invader, a monk and even an angel. Usually the pious monk triumphs and the demon is put to shame and forced to labour for the holy cloister: grind grain, bake bread, or drag heavy logs. Beneath the religious, fantastic elements one can discern many details from monastic life. Monks were also hypocritical, envious, selfish, and desirous of the pleasures of worldly life.
p One such hypocrite was the spiritual son of the Blessed Onisifor who “pretended to fast and abstain, but secretly drank and ate and lived in vice”. The Elder Fedor dreams of returning to his previous wealthy worldly life when he finds a treasure and is kept on the 105 path of righteousness only by heeding the teachings of Vasily.
p The monastery’s renown was gained not only through ascetic feats of its monks, the Patericon stresses, but through their ability to heal (Agapit), their literary mastery (Nestor), their beautifully composed canons (Grigory), their knowledge of Scripture (Nikita), their grasp of foreign languages (Lavrenty spoke Latin, Hebrew and Greek) and their master icon-painters (Alimpy). Their glory spread “throughout the land of Rus”.
p Under conditions of feudal disintegration when Kiev had already lost its role of a political centre, the Patericon was extremely important for it recalled a former glory, the grandeur of Kiev and the role of the Kiev Crypt Monastery as a symbol of the unity of the Russian land.
Pushkin praised the art of the Patericon which delighted him with its “charming simplicity and imagination”.
Notes