Ilya Muromets: monk-hero

As one epic hero defended the Russian land for several centuries in a row
1 January The Orthodox Church celebrates the Day of Remembrance of St. Ilya Pechersky, who became the prototype of the epic hero Ilya of Murom. They searched and found traces of a strong monk, who was revered as a defender of the Russian land, and understood the “Russian Planet”.

In the footsteps of the legendary hero

Historians have tried to find traces of the legendary hero in the annals, geographical names, tales of other nations and the tales of overseas travelers. The memory of Ilya Muromets as a real historical character has outgrown his time and passed through several centuries, bringing together people's ideas about the ideal defender of the Russian land.

In the prototypes of the epic hero, the researchers recorded a variety of characters: starting from the chronicler hero Rogdai, the warrior Oleg Moravsky and ending with the impostor Ilya (Eleyka) Korovin, who declared himself Peter the Great and was subsequently executed. For a long time, it was considered that Illya from the city of Murom is a generalized image based on no specific historical character.

The first place to search for his traces was the chronicles. Bogatyr Ilya Muromets in the earliest historical documents - Nikon and Laurentian annals - are not mentioned. At the same time, the brothers of Ilya Muromets in military exploits - Alyosha Popovich and Dobrynya Nikitich - are in the chronicle texts. Perhaps this is due to the fact that both heroes were by that time more famous than Ilya Muromets. Dobrynya made a good career in the princely squad, and Alyosha Popovich, among other things, was from a priest's family. And in the epics themselves Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich at first call Ilya Muromets "a man" and "an unknown redneck."

It is believed that for the first time Ilya Muromets was mentioned in 1574 in a letter from the headman of the town of Orsha Philo of Chernobyl. He wrote about the epic warrior "Ilya Muravlenin" as a defender of the Russian lands and about other warriors who are so lacking in this difficult time.

Stories about Ilya Muromets are found not only in Russia, but also among European peoples. In the ancient Germanic epic, he appears as Ilya Russky, a mighty and invincible warrior. In the Scandinavian sagas, Ilya turned into Ilias. Overseas ethnographers who came to Russia also collected stories known to every Russian boy. A Polish merchant from Lviv, Martin Gruneweg, after returning from Kiev in 1584, wrote that he saw the grave of the legendary hero. Erich Lassota von Steblau, an Austrian traveler and diplomat, also mentioned in the 1594 year the giant Ilya Morovlin and his grave. These testimonies indicated to historians the most likely burial place of the hero.

Monk

One of the monks of the monastery, Athanasius Kalnofsky, published in 1638 the lives of the saints of the monastery. Among them is Ilya Muromets, or Ilya Pechersky, who, according to a monk, lived 450 years before that time. It is with this real historical character, as many researchers believe, that the image of the legendary hero is associated. It is not by chance that in all the epics Ilya Muromets appears as a defender of the people of the Russian and Orthodox faith. For example, the money taken from the robbers, he gave to the construction of temples.

Ilya Pechersky (Ilya Muromets). Photo: vladimirobl.ru

It is believed that Ilya took monasticism closer to the end of his life, after military exploits in the squad of Prince Vladimir the Red Sun (also an epic character, who had, however, a more specific historical prototype - Vladimir the Baptist). However, church legends carry the life of Ilya Muromets from the 11th century to the 12th century. None of the subsequent ecclesiastical historians made up the life of Elijah - perhaps this was because during the monastic period Ilya did not have time to accomplish special feats of faith, as he took the veil shortly before his death. However, epics about the national hero, carefully passed from mouth to mouth, managed to preserve much more details about his life than many written sources.

In the Soviet years, Ilya Muromets tried to “de-Christianize” with all his might. So, for example, in the pre-revolutionary editions of the epic epic, Ilya rose to his feet after meeting Christ and the apostles, who later turned into nameless old men - kalik. However, it was precisely in Soviet times that the final point was reached in the search for the historical prototype of Ilya Muromets. Studies conducted in 1988 by a special commission confirm: a monk from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and an epic character appear to be one and the same person.

Scientists have found that the monk, whose relics are located in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, lived in the XI – XII century, his age - 40-55 years - fully corresponds to the epic description. The biggest surprise awaited scientists in the study of the musculoskeletal system. Bone deformities, which are formed as a result of paralysis of extremities in youth, were discovered. The body of the monk also bore the marks of numerous battles, and he died from an extensive wound in his heart. Perhaps this happened during the Polovtsy raid on the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

One of the heroes

Volodymyr Propp, a prominent specialist in folklore, wrote: “The epic stories about Illya Muromets are a reflection of all the eras passed by the Russian people: crowding out paganism by Christianity, fighting the Tatars, injustice and greed on the part of the boyars and the grand prince (king) of the emerging centralized state, the Time of Troubles and popular uprisings ... We will not be able to guess all the historical heroes and antiheroes, whose actions pushed the people to create epics, everyone who became the prototype of the characters of the works about the "epic time" of the Russian people. "

But this means that the Monk Ilya Pechersky, Oleg Moravsky, Rogday and even Elika Muromets are only some of the number of folk heroes who were embodied in the same image from century to century. Therefore, there will be enough warriors for our time.

Comments

[Koshak]

"Therefore, there will be enough heroes for our time."
Thanks for the article, we look forward to continuing!

[parusnik]

In the ancient Germanic epic, he appears as Ilya Russky, a mighty and invincible warrior. The legend says that in one in a fierce battle Ilya nearly died, but miraculously survived and made a vow to retire to the monastery, devote himself to God and never again pick up the sword. Ilya came to the walls of the Lavra, took off all military armor, but could not throw his sword and took it with him. He became a monk of the Pechersk Lavra and spent all his days in his cell in prayers. But once the enemies approached the walls of the monastery, and Ilya saw with his own eyes the death of the abbot of the Lavra, who was hit by a mortal blow. And then Ilya, despite the vow, again picked up the sword. But he felt that his legs again refused to serve him. He still managed to block his hand from a mortal blow with a spear, but his strength was already leaving him ...

[shasherin.pavel]

1215 l Crop failure in Novgorod. Yaroslav closes the trade routes to Novgorod, where severe hunger begins. Rostov boyar Alexander Popovich - the warrior of Prince Konstantin became the prototype of the hero Alyosha Popovich.
1188 l., "Got to his feet *" under the city of Murom in the village of Karacharovo, which is on the river Smorodinka, 19 dec., According to the old (January 1 new style) Ilya from the thick forest, later Gushchin, nicknamed Ilya from Murom in the annals .
* It was written "born."
But died in 1203.
Fifteen years of service and the 33 year of juvenile paralysis of the legs went wherever, but not 15 the same years of life. An examination of the relics of the Monk Ilya indicated an age of 40-55 years. Here we get 48 years of life, taking into account the fact that youthful disease has revived with age.
At the beginning of the 1203 summer, the Polovtsy sacked Kiev as allies of Chernigov. Prince Smolensk Rurik Rostislavich during the assault on the Kiev Pechersk monastery killed the Monk Ilya Pechersky, in the world Ilya Ioannovich Gushchin - Muromets (Chobotok) from the village of Karacharova. Canonized in 1643, Father John Timofeevich Gushchin. Wife of Ilya Muromets Zlatigorka (woman Goryninka) son Sokolnichek.
The Gushchins clan to this day is distinguished by great strength in men.
The author should pay more attention to historical facts or chronicles. The article is illiterate for the historical narrative.
Although the real story is in many ways not the same as they bring us, and here is a fact for reflection.
By 1380 l., The situation of Mamaia worsened. The legal successor of the Golden Horde was Tokhtamysh - Khan of the Blue Horde. Western Siberia, Northern Kazakhstan, Irtysh and Ob. At this time, battles with the army of Mamaia on the river. Drunk and on the river. Woof. Dmitry Donskoy breaks with Mamai and proclaims king of Tokhtamysh. Victory over the Tatars on the river Vozhe. Parting words of Sergius of Radonezh to Prince Dmitry: “Almost by gifts and give honor to the wicked Mamaia, but seeing your humility, the Lord God will exalt you, and his not tame rage and pride will depose.” The words of the boyar Bryansky, from the city of Lyubutsk on the Oka River, on the land of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia, Alexander Peresvet: “Such is the word“ The Lutches would have cast their own swords rather than from the filthy ones ”, were said in the middle of the battle, when“ others are already lie crossed by Don the Great on the shore. " Rodion Oslyabya was tonsured a monk under old age and served with Metropolitan Cyprian. Note that Rodion Oslyabya was not in the ministry of Sergius of Radonezh, just as the governor Alexander Peresvet could not be in the service of Sergius. The relations of Sergius of Radonezh and Dmitry Donskoy were not enough to say strained, since it was Sergius who wrote letters to the prince with a request to reconcile with Mamai. Dmitry announced the collection of all regiments in Moscow and Kolomna on 15 August. The princes brought their regiments to help him.
And why is it connected that Sergius of Radonezh addresses Dmitry with a request to reconcile with Mamai?
“In the 1252 summer, Alexander Nevsky, having a label on the Grand Duchy ... suppresses the excitement of the Russian population protesting against the tribute to the Tatars. Alexander’s peace policy was appreciated by the Russian church that got along with the khan: after Alexander’s death she declared him “saint”. ” Here is where you should think: "getting along with the khan of the Russian church." And after what events did the blessing of Dmitry Donskoy from Sergius of Radonezh to the battle in 1382 summer go? Just think and answer: after the victory of Dmitry Donskoy on the Kulikov field! Let's get back to this issue in 1382 summer ...

[bober1982]

Listen, dear shasherin.pavel, all your comment is a cheap retelling of the same cheap and nasty article published on VO under the authorship of Mr. P.R.
If you recall one character from the film, then we can wish you (in the words of this movie hero) - "...... you should write novels by your boss ....."

[shasherin.pavel]

Respected! Before writing, I need to think about it, this is part of a two-year work that I have not even completed yet, the only thing where I can’t bring in anything new for myself and others, it’s two hundred years BC. And this is still in the draft stage, but I use a variety of sources, and I even have to re-translate some of the chronicles, since I gained experience in translating from Old Slavonic and Church Slavonic when translating the Church Slavonic text of the Bible, which took 15 years. Here are excerpts from several works, where sometimes it is necessary to change the dates in the annals. If you noticed, I had to change the time of Ilya's birth according to the Ipatiev Chronicle to "got on his feet", for some reason no one had done this before. I can compete with you if you can list the genealogy of Rurik to his great-pa = great-great-grandfather ... well ... at least the position of his grandfather at the court of Emperor Augustus I the Great. Try to develop this topic if you have a couple of months free. Learn materiel.

[Alexey-74]

What kind of nonsense? mister historian .... again retelling of alternative history? for what?

[Darkness]

Strange, but in many epics, the "defender of the Orthodox faith" appears to be a rather cheerful character who ravaged churches and chased priests.
Who should believe in such an alarming time?

[Sinecote]

Quote: Darkness

Strange, but in many epics, the "defender of the Orthodox faith" appears to be a rather cheerful character who ravaged churches and chased priests.
Who should believe in such an alarming time?

Where did you find such epics?

[RUSS]

Quote: Sinecote

Quote: Darkness

Strange, but in many epics, the "defender of the Orthodox faith" appears to be a rather cheerful character who ravaged churches and chased priests.
Who should believe in such an alarming time?

Where did you find such epics?

No where, since there are none, just in a puddle of p ...

[Darkness]

In what epics does he bend the poppies of churches with his bow?

[shasherin.pavel]

And you only read epics from children's books or cartoons, if you read not literary works but real texts, so Muromets was captured at the beginning of the journey to Nightingale, but ruined the dungeon ... So the chronicled Nightingale did not whistle, but captivated people walking by . And with Vladimir, his relationship was much worse than for a feature film. And how he filled his wife Gorynyanka, so at least publish in Playboy, in short, not for those who still go to school.

[Alexey-74]

I wonder where you read such epics? Only early Soviet propaganda was capable of this .....

[shasherin.pavel]

And this is not excluded: the time was such that Russia was only baptized, first Askold was baptized in Byzantium, and received the name at baptism Nicholas, the same Saint Nicholas, to whom the "Church of St. Nicholas" was installed in his memory, and he did that before Vladimir Red Sun, personality is extremely contradictory at the beginning and at the end of life. But he was baptized as the prince of Kiev. Oleg killed Askold-Nicholas and returned Kiev to paganism. The son of Igor, the grandson of Rurik, was baptized already in the Crimea, where then there was a Christian trend condemned at the Nicaea Council as heretical, different from the Byzantine one. So we can assume the existence of a "true" Byzantine church from Vladimir, "heretical" from Askold-Nicholas, as well as pagan temples. To think that there was peace and quiet in Russia or Russia in Christianity, to put it mildly, is not true. And Alexy Mikhailovich did not disdain to burn down a foreign heretical church, and Peter I, at the beginning of his youth, burned the Old Believers along with the churches. And only at a more mature age "changed the execution of the Old Believers for a double tax." For two hundred years in Russia bonfires of gusli, pity, flutes and bagpipes blazed. You just have to think that only in the Russian pronunciation "bagpipes" explains from whose skin leather furs were originally made "VOLynok"

[surrozh]

The topic is just for HE, historical academicism is not enough. But +.

[shasherin.pavel]

Quote: surozh

historical academicism is not enough.

And you according to academician Volkogonov? The party said so to write, so that is how history happened.

[bober1982]

D.A. Volkogonov was a professional political instructor, is it possible to refer to him, and the party is useless here.
As for your proposal to compete, I will say this: you and I are not at different poles, but in different worlds, very far from each other.
I don’t know the position of Grandfather Rurik at the court of Augustus the Great, and I don’t want to know.
I wish you all the best.

[shasherin.pavel]

Wimp! What do you want to know at all?

[Sinecote]

In general, Ilya Muromets is known rather for defeating the Nightingale the Robber on the Smorodinka River. Or the fact that forty bandits on the road alone won. Or that the "tugar" won. And about whether he is a protector of the church or robbed priests, you can hardly hear anywhere.

[Darkness]

He never defended the church. He defended the people, it was then that the priests all misinterpreted in their favor.

[Pvi1206]

An interesting thing is historical memory: first we forget everything, then we try to restore it. Apparently, it is difficult for contemporaries to appreciate the significance of an event or character. Much is being done from far away ...

[George 275]

Of course, I would like historians to dig deeper and write about Russian history before the baptism of Russia. Some people say that barbarians and nomads lived on these lands, although in England libraries in the library contain maps of Great Tartaria. It’s beneficial for someone not to know about ourselves there’s nothing to fear, let’s remember the West, it sits on the genome level in the Slovenian peoples, and does everything possible tends to poison the peoples, is afraid of the greatness of the Slovenes. I think once upon a time that the awakening will wake up, it will come true.

[shasherin.pavel]

430 l. From Elbrus, then the clans of the Belogorov, Beloyars and Novoyars (those that survived after the wars with the Goths and Huns) moved to the Dnieper. Prince Kiy, according to the "Book of Veles", led the Russians to the Dnieper through Cap-grad. In the future, the fortress of the Khazar Kaganate is Sarkel. The Khazar name is Sharkil. The traditional name Sarkel is taken from the Greek language, where the sound "sh" does not exist, therefore it is transmitted through the "s". In 965 Sarkel was defeated by Prince Svyatoslav. After that, the settlement came under the rule of Russia and began to be called in Russian Belaya Vezha.
Prince Kiy was the successor to Bus Beloyar.
So in the Dnieper region and along the banks of the Ros, Skuf Kievskaya was born. Kiy built the city of Kiev-on-Dnepr on the site of an ancient settlement, the foundation of which is the Novgorod Chronicle from the collection of E.V. Barsov (a copy of the 430th century) refers to the year XNUMX, which fully coincides with the dating of the "Book of Veles", which refers to the foundation of Kiev-on-Dnepr in the time of Attila.
"And so we got green grass and land, and fed our cattle, and proclaimed glory to the Gods."
Cue reigned thirty years (430 — 460). His death was a tragedy for the people:
“And then the relatives began to share - who should be the eldest. Cue went to the fathers and forefathers of the dead. Cue left us - and trouble came. And then the great swara defeated the Rus, who began to fight for separation - and divided.
And we knew about two edges - one of the Vedas, and the other - ready. And then the Goths came to us, and these Goths intensified, and the Vedas weakened. And around us there was a miracle, and there was also Lithuania, and they were called Ilms, and from us they were called Ilmers.
In the first two decades of the XNUMXth century. the Huns advanced along the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region. Apparently, they could not overcome the "Serpent Shafts" and left Golunskaya Rus' alone.
Initially, Prince Kiy went from the Don to the Huns-Bulgarians. Tells about the same campaign
Nikon Chronicle. According to the "Book of Veles", after the campaign against Bulgars, Kiy entered Voronezhets, where he added the Polyan warriors to his army. Then he found the settlement of Golun and took Kiev.
After Kiy (430-460 gg.) Ruled his son Lebedyan, who was also called Slaven.
He, as the "Book of Veles" says,
"He sat by the city of Kiev near the mountain, and was intelligent, and ruled from the temple."
He ruled for twenty years (460-480 gg.). He was the governor of Torchin (or Torquay, Tiberts-Taurus, then they were Turovs, Tveryaks).

[shasherin.pavel]

And you would dare to expose the churchmen in the historical truth in the tsarist time, as Nikon wrote to Alexei Mikhailovich, "that you shouldn't feel sorry for heretics and burn them together in their filthy churches and unclean icons." To remind you of the situation: Anyone who blasphemes an Orthodox church on a street or square is sentenced to confiscation of property and deportation to Siberia with his entire family. Anyone who blasphemes the Orthodox Church in his home is publicly expelled from his home and exiled to Siberia alone. There are eight more provisions ...

[amba balamut 77]

Orthodox priests, as honest chroniclers as veterans of the Wehrmacht. We have won about the victory 70 years ago ... they poured so much, the devil himself will break his leg in some matters, and only church clerks believe what was there 1000 years ago .... By the way, they and Nikolai the second are holy.

[shasherin.pavel]

Quote: amba balamut 77

By the way, they and Nikolash the second are holy.

Apparently they are preparing no less to revive the empire? Apparently the Romanovs were not enough for them, another Khodynka, the Japanese pro-th, half of Sakhalin there, arrange a Bloody Sunday, and Lose the whole empire in all respects. They do not even believe the members of the imperial army's supreme headquarters, who arrested him on the train and forced him to sign his abdication, they do not believe the Provisional Government, which demoted him and deprived him of all titles, and he became "Citizen Romanov" and exiled him from Petrograd to Siberia. They do not believe in the Soviet power either ... Apparently they have their own history of the country, where there was no famine in 1897-99, 1902-1904, where Nikolashka returned corporal punishment to the army in 1915. And to knock out the soldiers' teeth - no one paid any attention to this.