p With the establishment of direct ties between the Russian Church and the Christian East the genre of religious journies arises. As they mastered the tenets of the new Christian religion the Russian began to long to see the places described in the Scriptures. Already in the eleventh century we find Russians making pilgrimages to the Christian East to see these “holy places”. As a sign that he had been in Palestine, the traveller returned with a palm branch, thus the name “pilgrim” (palomnik in Russian); pilgrims were also called kalikas, a word derived from the Greek term for a particular kind of footware (kaliga) favoured by such travellers. Pilgrimages helped to broaden and consolidate Kievan Rus’ international relations and helped to work toward national consciousness.

p When pilgrimages began to be widespread, however, the secular authorities attempted to curtail them, for they caused serious harm to the state economy. 106 Gradually not only laymen, but monks as well were forbidden to make the journey to Palestine and all were advised “not to seek God and salvation with their feet”, but to perform their vows and fulfil their obligations at home. Those people who could not go to Palestine had to be satisfied with descriptions of pilgrimages. One of these was The Pilgrimage of Abbot Daniil to the Holy Land written in the early twelfth century.

p Abbot Daniil journeyed to Palestine in 1106, stayed for sixteen months in Jerusalem and returned to his native land in 1108. He describes this sojourn in Palestine in his Pilgrimage.

p The long journey was undertaken at the compulsion of “thoughts and impatience" to see the holy city of Jerusalem and the promised land. “Due to my love for these holy places,” writes Daniil, “I have described everything that I have seen with my own eyes.” The work is designed for a certain readership, “for the faithful”, so that those who have heard of these holy places might visit them in their thoughts and hearts and thus gain equal reward from God as those who travelled to the places themselves. Thus Daniil intended his Pilgrimage as both a source of information and a means of moral instruction: he wishes his readers to make the journey in their minds and to receive the same spiritual benefits as the traveller himself.

p Daniil’s Pilgrimage is of great interest for its detailed descriptions of “holy places" and due to his own personality as author.

p It begins with the topos of self-denigration: Daniil refers to himself as “unworthy”, “most miserable of monks”, and asks that the reader not condemn his poor reason and vulgarity. At the same time he emphasises his status as a Russian Hegumen, which is to say that throughout his journey he sees himself as the plenipotentiary of the entire land and not merely his own region or monastery.

p In his account of the difficult journey Daniil notes that it was difficult “to experience and witness all the holy places" without “a good guide" and a knowledge of the language.

p He is extremely eager to learn about the landscape, 107 the location of cities, the architecture of Jerusalem and the irrigation system around Jericho. He gives a good deal of interesting information on the River Jordan whose banks are flat on one side and steep on the other and bear a strong resemblance to the Russian river Snov. The Russian pilgrim notes that he has “measured and drank of" this famed river and crossed from one bank to the other. To give a clearer picture of the Jordan for his Russian audience Daniil repeatedly stresses that “in all ways it is like the River Snov in breadth and depth, and in that it has a swift current and many bends, just like the Snov River”. He notes that the small trees growing on the Jordan’s banks are like the Russian pussy-willow and that the bushes resemble Russian willow-bush. Apparently the Russian abbot also sampled the water which he describes as “very cloudy and sweet to drink and those who do cannot get enough: no one falls ill from it or suffers untoward effects”.

p There are many descriptions of the fertile lands about Jerusalem where “good wheat grows" because “the soil is good and fertile, and the fields beautiful and even, and nearby there are many date palms which grow quite tall and all sort of fruit trees”. His zealous eye for economic details can be seen in his accounts of the island Samos, rich in fish, and Ikos, rich in cattle and well-populated.

p Daniil likewise tries to convey the feelings of a pilgrim as he approaches Jerusalem, the “great joyfulness" and “abundant tears”. He gives a detailed description of the road to the city gates, past the Tower of David, and of the architecture and dimensions of churches.

p As many specialists have observed Daniil’s description allows us to get a good idea of the topography of Jerusalem in the early twelfth century.

p There are many religious-fantastic legends in the Pilgrimage. Daniil either heard these during the pilgrimage or read of them beforehand and accordingly resolved to verify them on the spot. He easily combines canonical writings and apocrypha. With utter conviction he writes that outside the walls of the Church of Ressurrection behind the sanctuary is the “navel of the earth”, 108 and twelve sazhens further lies the site of the crucifixion with a stone higher than a spear that has an opening about one lokot deep—here the cross upon which Christ was crucified was placed. Beneath this stone lies Adam’s skull and when Christ was crucified the stone split in two and Christ’s blood washed Adam’s skull, thus cleansing the human race of its sins. Daniil hastens to “prove” this “fact” in the manner of the chronicle: “And that cleft can be seen in that stone to this very day.” This apocryphal legend gives a vivid illustration of the dogma that Christ died for man’s sins and was firmly entrenched in Old Russian painting as well.

p Although Daniil’s attention is mainly focused on religious questions he nevertheless thinks of himself as the representative of the Russian land in Palestine. He proudly states that he, a Russian Hegumen, was received with honour by King Baldwin (at the time Jerusalem was in the hands of the Crusaders). He prays at the Holy Sepulchre for the entire Russian land. When the icon lamp placed by Daniil in the name of the Russian land is lighted by the Holy Light and the Prankish lamp is not, he sees this as a sign of God’s especial mercy and goodwill toward Rus.

Thus a journey undertaken with purely religious goals displays the same patriotism as the chronicle and other works of literature written in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

Sources

p 1. V. P. Adrianova-Peretz, “Zadachi izucheniya agiograficheskogo stilya Drevnei Rusi" (“Problems of Studying the Hagiographical Style in Old Rus”), TODRL, vol. 20, 1964.

p 2. N. K. Gudzy, htoriya drevnerusskoi literatury (A History of the Old Russian Literature), 7th edition, M., 1966.

p 3. I. P. Eremin, “Skazanie o Borise i Glebe. K kharakteristike Nestora kak pisatelya”, Literature Drevnei Rusi (“The Tale of Boris and Gleb. Nestor as a Writer”, in Literature of Old Rus), M.-L. 1966.

p 4. D. S. Likhachev, Velikoe nasledie (The Great Heritage), M., 1975.

p 5. A. S. Orlov, Vladimir Monomakh, M., 1946.

p 6. B. A. Rybakov, Skazaniya, Byliny, Letopisi (Tales, Bylinas, Chronicles), M., 1963.

p 7. Khrestomatiya po drevnei russkoi literature XI-XVII vehov (Anthology of Old Russian Literature from the Eleventh to 109 Seventeenth Centuries). Compiled by N. K. Gudzy, 8th edition, M., 1973.

8. Khudozhestvennaya proza Kievskoi Rusi XI-XIII vekov (The Literature of Kievan Rus from the Eleventh to the Thirteenth Centuries),M., 1957.