What fabulous techniques for portraying the heroine. Was there a serpent?

FEVRONIYA

PETER AND FEVRONIA are the heroes of the ancient Russian “Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom”, which took shape in the second half of the 15th century. based oral legends and legends. The narrative finally took shape in connection with the canonization of P. and F. (1547) in the middle of the 16th century. The literary treatment of the plot about the Murom saints was carried out by the writer and publicist of the clergy Ermolai-Erasmus, who was part of the circle of Metropolitan Macarius’s collaborators who worked on the Great Menaions of the Fourth. The popularity of the story is evidenced by the large number of copies that have survived to this day. The story combines two ancient folklore motifs - about the snake fighter and about the wise maiden. In a number of lists, the “Tale” is called a hagiography, but Ermolai-Erasmus was unable to depart from the folk poetic tradition in the depiction of the heroes and in the construction of the plot. Probably because of this genre uncertainty, the predominance of folklore principles in the narrative about the “new miracle workers of Murom”, the work of Ermolai-Erasmus was not included by Metropolitan Macarius in the Great Menaion of the Four.

The image of the “wise maiden” F. goes back to a Russian fairy tale. The daughter of a beekeeper (“tree climber”) from the village of Laskovo, Ryazan land, is famous for her good deeds, intelligence and insight. She is a faithful and caring wife who knows how to fight for her happiness. F. embodies love, which neither evil people nor the force of circumstances can defeat. Researchers have repeatedly compared ancient Russian story with a Western European novel about Tristan and Isolde, who also encounter various obstacles on the way to happiness.

The main character is active, she creates her own destiny and the destiny of Prince Peter, over whom she wins a moral victory. The image of P. plays a less noticeable role in the narrative; it seems to be overshadowed by the bright and colorful figure of F.

Prince P. of Murom, having stood up for the honor of his brother’s wife, fights a flying kite that has taken to her. Having mastered the Agric sword, P. wins, but the poisonous blood of the snake causes incurable ulcers and scabs on his body. F. heals the prince, setting a condition: she will cure P. if he takes her as his wife. The prince does not want to marry a simple peasant woman. But after a second appeal to F. for help, the ashamed prince takes the peasant girl as his wife.

F.'s wisdom is manifested not only in deeds and actions, but also in the ability to speak in allegories and riddles. This is not how the princely envoy understands her, in response to whose questions F. says: “It’s bad when the courtyard has no ears, and the house has no eyes”; “Father and mother went to cry, and brother went through the legs of death to look into the eyes.” F. herself explains the meaning of what was said: the ears of the house are a dog, and the eyes are a child. They, each in their own way, will warn the owner about the approach of a stranger. The heroine's father and mother went to the funeral, and her brother, a beekeeper, went to practice his dangerous craft, climbing tall trees. With his wise speeches, F. also baffles her future husband.

After F. becomes the prince’s wife, the evil boyars and their wives, “like a bark,” do not want to be ruled by a woman of peasant origin, and strive to expel F. from the city and separate the heroes. However, even here the power of love prevails. F. wants to take with him the most precious thing - his spouse. P. renounces his reign and leaves Murom together with F. The heroes of the story do not value power and wealth. This is how P. and F.’s love overcomes social obstacles. A certain anti-boyar tendency is noticeable in this episode. The creator of the story emphasizes that the “evil” boyars fought over power: everyone “would like to have power.” The townspeople beg P. to rule Murom as before. Returning to the city, P. and F. rule not with rage, but with truth and justice, and treat their subjects not as mercenaries, but as true shepherds. They are compared to merciful and warm-hearted child-loving parents.

Neither social inequality, neither the “evil” boyars can separate the heroes. They are inseparable even in the face of death. Having simultaneously accepted the monastic rank, P. and F. pray to God: “May she be reposed in one hour”; and bequeathed to bury themselves in the same tomb.

The description of the death of the saints is especially expressive. Just before her death, “blessed” F. embroiders “air” with the faces of saints for the cathedral. The prince, feeling his death approaching, sends to tell his wife that he is waiting for her to leave this world together. F. asks her master to wait until she finishes her work. After P.’s third appeal to her (“I’m leaving this world, I can’t wait for you anymore”), the princess-nun, who managed to embroider the face and hand of the saint, responds to the call of her husband. Having stuck a needle into the unsewn cover and wound a thread around it, F. sends to P. to say that she is ready.

Even a posthumous miracle - an important element in the composition of a hagiographic narrative - reaffirms the inseparability of the marital ties of the heroes. People who sought to separate P. and F. during their lives separate them twice after death: P.’s body was laid in the city, “in the cathedral church of the Most Pure Mother of God,” and F.’s body was buried “outside the city,” in the Church of the Exaltation convent. The next morning everyone sees a miracle: the bodies of the prince and princess end up in a common tomb.

The images of P. and F., beloved by the people, were captured more than once by icon painters. By order of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich and Tsarina Irina, the cover of the relics of the Murom miracle workers was embroidered - a wonderful monument of gold embroidery medieval Rus' (1594).

Old Russian storytelling attracted the attention of writers and composers of modern times. Thus, the heroine of I.A. Bunin’s story “ Clean Monday"(1944), who chose the path of a nun for herself, quotes from memory two fragments from the story (the opening lines and words about the end of the earthly life of the saints). The “inseparable love” of the heroes of the ancient legend inspired A.M. Remizov. His work “Peter and Fevronia of Murom” (1951), which was not published during the writer’s lifetime, was first published by R.P. Dmitrieva in TODRL (T. XXVI. L., 1971).

Based on the material of the story, combined with the Kitezh legend, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera “The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia” (1904 - libretto by V. Belsky) was created.

Lit.: Dmitrieva R.P. Ermopai-Erasmus (Ermolai the Sinful)

//Dictionary of scribes and bookishness Ancient Rus'. L., 1988. Issue. 2, part 1. pp. 220-225; Likhachev D.S. Great Legacy: classical works literature of Ancient Rus'. M., 1975. P.253-258; The story of Peter and Fevronia. Prep. texts and research by R.P. Dmitrieva. L., 1979; Skripil M.O. The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom and its relation to the Russian fairy tale

//TODRL. M.; L., 1949. T.7. P.131-167.

A.A.Pautkin

Literary heroes. - Academician. 2009 .

Synonyms:

See what "FEVRONIA" is in other dictionaries:

And, female; decomposition Fevronya, and; simple to Khavroniya, and Khavronya, and. Derivatives: Fevronyushka; Fevronya; Fewa; Fesha; Khavronyushka; Khavrokha; Khavrosha; Khovrya (Khovra); Khorya.Name days: July 8, Oct. 10, Nov. 10. Dictionary of personal names. Fevronia See Khavronya... Dictionary of personal names

Noun, number of synonyms: 2 name (1104) Fevronya (2) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary

- (in the world Euphrosyne) saint, wife of the Murom prince David, in monasticism Peter, also canonized. News about it has reached us of a later origin, in all likelihood the 16th century, which appeared, as one might assume, at the same time... ...

Fevronia- February onya, February onya... Russian spelling dictionary

Fevronia- Russian female name … Dictionary of personal names and patronymics

Fevronia- Venerable Martyr (III IV centuries); lived in Mesopotamia, in the mountains. Sivapol; suffered in 310. Her memory is June 25...

Fevronia- saint (VI VII centuries). She was the daughter of Emperor Heraclius and from her early youth she labored in solitude. Memory of St. Fevronia October 28... Complete Orthodox Theological Encyclopedic Dictionary

Saint, wife of the Murom prince David, in monasticism Peter. About Fevronia, news has reached us of a later origin, in all likelihood the 16th century, which appeared, as one might assume, simultaneously with the canonization of the Murom miracle workers.... ... Biographical Dictionary

Fevronia, 1670 73 abbot. Arkhangelsk. Nikol. Mon., Nizhny Novgorod. Bishop Russian biographical dictionary in 25 volumes. Ed. under the supervision of the Chairman of the Imperial Russian Historical Society A. A. Polovtseva. Saint Petersburg: Type. I. N. Skorokhodova... Large biographical encyclopedia

Fevronia, 1766 72 abbot. Trinity Penza mon. Russian biographical dictionary in 25 volumes. Ed. under the supervision of the Chairman of the Imperial Russian Historical Society A. A. Polovtsev. St. Petersburg: Type. I. N. Skorokhodova, 1896 1918 ... Large biographical encyclopedia

Books

• Peter and Fevronia. Tales about holy spouses and that love is stronger than death, Elena Viktorovna Trostnikova. The holy spouses Peter and Fevronia of Murom are widely revered in Russia as the patrons of family and marriage; the day of their memory has become an official holiday of love and fidelity. Ancient legend about them in...

Essay on the topic: “What is the beauty of Fevronia”

Fevronia is the heroine of “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom”. Fevronia was one of those girls who, despite the fact that they are from a low family, still have a sense of self-esteem. Fevronia was a confident girl. She did not allow anyone, not even Prince Peter, to use her. The girl believed that she deserved more. Fevronia was very smart and wise. She answered all the questions and requests of the prince and boyars with wisdom. Fevronia, despite everything, achieved her goal and married Prince Peter. This speaks of her extraordinary willpower.

The girl was also kind. She had a very tender, sensitive and loving heart. Having fallen in love with the prince, Fevronia treated him very sensitively and tenderly. The girl knew how to achieve her goal. It was thanks to this character trait that she achieved the love of the prince. Fevronia was an honest girl. She did not allow herself to be deceived. This is evidenced by her action when she healed the prince for the first time. Fevronia was a believer. When the prince was dying, she decided to fill the air with the faces of saints.

In Russian folk tales there are also girls similar to Fevronia. They are just as wise, honest, and loving in heart. And almost all of them are children from poor families.

The sequence of functions of the characters leads to a monotonous construction of fairy tales, and the stability of functions leads to the uniformity of fairy-tale images. However, the actual number of characters does not correspond to the number of characters, since different characters are assigned the same function. So, the role of the pest is played by the snake, Koschey, the little man with a marigold, Baba Yaga and others, the role of the donor is played by the backwater grandmother, wonderful birds, etc. In fairy tales there are other characters. Evil is represented in them as fantastic, disgusting monsters. This is, first of all, Koschey the Immortal - a terrible, strong old man who kidnaps women - as a rule, the mother, wife or bride of the hero of the fairy tale. This is Baba Yaga - “a bone leg, itself on a mortar, its nose to the ceiling, one leg to the right corner, and the other to the left.” This is the Serpent Gorynych, blazing with fire, with three, six, nine or twelve heads. It could be “a little man with a fingernail - a beard with an elbow,” etc. These monsters bring death to people and kingdoms. They are unusually strong and aggressive. But the evil principle is also embodied by human characters. This is the stepmother who hates her husband’s children, these are the hero’s older brothers, etc.

The main characters fight with all of them for life and death. fairy tales- Ivan Tsarevich, Ivan the Fool, Ivan Bykovich. They are distinguished by modesty, hard work, loyalty, kindness, willingness to help, and selflessness. All this delights us. We sympathize with them Hard time, we rejoice at their victories. Together they embody the unwritten moral code of the people. Ivan Bykovich, without hesitation, goes to protect the people from the Serpent; Ivan Tsarevich goes in search of his mother, who was suddenly kidnapped by Koschey; Ivan the Fool unquestioningly fulfills the request of his deceased parent to come to his grave.

Fairy tales say: he will emerge victorious in the fight against the enemy who loves his people, honors his parents, respects his elders, remains faithful to his loved one, who is kind and fair, modest and honest.

Despite all the differences in plot, fairy tales have a unity of poetic structure. This is expressed in the strict correlation of motives that consistently form developing action from the beginning through the development of action - to the climax leading to the denouement. The action of the fairy tale is built on the principle of escalation: each preceding motive explains the next one, preparing the events of the main, culminating one, which conveys the most dramatic moment of the plot action: Ivan Tsarevich defeats Koshchei, carries out difficult assignments for the sea king, Ivashka burns the witch, the king reveals the witch’s machinations and returns him to his wife , turned into a trot, the appearance of a beautiful queen, the climax, or, in other words, the central, motif is specific to each plot. The rest can vary, i.e. be replaced by motifs similar in content within the framework of a given plot.

Conflict, expressed in a sharp contrast between the main characters, is an indispensable condition for plot action. In a fairy tale, she is always motivated. Traditional motivations that determine the actions of heroes are marriage, the desire to receive wonderful objects, the destruction of an enemy who causes some harm to the hero (his family or people in general), for example, the destruction of crops, the kidnapping of a princess, etc. One fairy tale can contain two motivations ( for example, Ivan Tsarevich defeats the snake and at the same time finds in underground kingdom his wife). Depending on the direction of the plot, motivations can take on a heroic, everyday or social connotation. The composition of a fairy tale is simple in its own way, but this simplicity is the clarity of the complex, the result of centuries of polishing the fairy tale in the process of its existence. The stepdaughter politely answers Morozka and he rewards her; the stepmother’s daughters are rude to Morozka and die.

When taking into account plot differences and author's interpretations, fairy-tale characters appear as a wide gallery of typical images. Among them, the image of the hero is especially important, because it largely determines the ideological and artistic content of fairy tales, embodying folk ideas about justice, kindness, true beauty; it is as if all the best qualities of a person are concentrated in him, thanks to which the image of the hero becomes artistic expression ideal. High moral qualities heroes are revealed through their actions. However, in fairy tales one can find elements psychological nature, attempts to convey inner world heroes, their spiritual life: they love, rejoice, are upset, are proud of victory, experience betrayal and infidelity, look for a way out of difficult situations, and sometimes make mistakes. That is, in the fairy tale we already find outlines of the image of the personality.

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Teaching children to draw should be aimed primarily at developing their creative independence and activity. primary goal plot drawing- teach the child to convey his impressions of the surrounding reality.

• -teach image semantic connection between objects
• -transfer of spatial relationships between them;
• -develop compositional skills (draw on the entire sheet, drawing a horizon line);
• -develop a sense of color.

The subject of plot drawing in the older group is determined primarily by the impressions that the child receives from observing the surrounding reality. For children of this age, the content of each topic should be specifically defined. They should not be given general themes, such as “Holiday”. They may draw something that is not relevant to the topic or set themselves a daunting task that is not suited to their skills, such as drawing a demonstration.

When drawing on literary themes, preschoolers should be given a specific task. For example, in the first quarter, children are asked to depict an episode from the fairy tale “Two Greedy Little Bears” when they share cheese. Children are already familiar with drawing a teddy bear. Drawing fairy tale images, they also depict teddy bears with the same rounded parts and simple design. All objects are located on the same line.

Later, the teacher leads the children to a more correct compositional use of a sheet of paper when depicting the sky and earth, giving a ready-made background for the sky. So, when depicting a winter story, children are given blue paper, which frees them from the need to draw the sky. The guys paint over a more or less wide area of ​​the ground (snow) with white paint; the rest is the sky. This technique leads children to independently use the correct compositional solution in other topics. The color scheme of the composition is determined in accordance with the plot.

The teacher can offer the children one or another background that matches the theme (for example, blue or gray paper to depict winter scenes). The background of the sheet will also determine the choice of colors, which the children work on independently. In contrast to dark, light colors stand out best: white, blue, yellow. Autumn landscapes They look more expressive on blue or white backgrounds, with which various warm tones go well: yellow, red, orange.

Purchased by children senior group skills and abilities allow the teacher to complicate the tasks of teaching children 6-7 years old. To do this you need:

• - diversify the content of children’s drawings, teach children to independently determine the plot of the drawing on given topic or by design;
• - teach how to change the shape of objects in connection with their actions in the plot (for example, turning the body, bending, running, etc.);
• - to develop compositional skills - to teach how to convey on a sheet wide spaces of earth and sky, the location of objects: close ones - at the bottom of the sheet and distant ones - at the top (without changing sizes);
• -develop a sense of color - learn to independently convey color that matches the plot.

At this age, children’s analytical thinking is already more developed, which allows the teacher to set the task of independently choosing a plot on the proposed topic. For example, when drawing on the theme of fairy tales “Geese-Swans”, “Morozko” and others, children choose from the work the episode that they would like to depict.

Independent choice of plot teaches them to comprehend perceived phenomena, understand connections and relationships between characters, and clearly imagine the situation and time of action. If the choice occurs unconsciously, the child sometimes combines objects and actions that do not coincide in time in one drawing. More often this happens when drawing on themes of fairy tales and stories, when the child knows its content. Unable to divide the work into separate episodes, he combines them in one drawing. Such works indicate that the child does not yet understand the originality visual arts, conveying only one moment of action, and not its entire sequence in time. The teacher must help the children understand this.

The effectiveness of developing the creative imagination of preschoolers largely depends on what methods and techniques the teacher uses when working with children.

G.G. Grigorieva notes that gaming techniques introduce children to depicted situations, direct them to find their own ways of depicting, and help maintain interest in the activity. The drawing guide uses the following gaming methods and techniques:

• -playing with objects, toys;
• - playing with the finished image;
• -playing out a still unfinished (created) image;
• -playing out visual material(pencils, paints, additional material);
• -game techniques with elements of role-playing behavior;
• -use of didactic and educational games to develop the imagination of preschoolers.

Playing with objects (toys) helps to attract children's attention to what is being depicted; motivate, justify the task, interest in the upcoming work; explain image techniques; examine, examine the depicted object. In the process of using this technique, children are given game tasks by asking questions: “How to help Luntik get to the moon,” “What could be inside the magic chest,” etc.

Another gaming technique is playing with the image. It has several varieties, these are: playing with a finished (already completed) image and a plot-visual game with an unfinished (being created) image. WITH voluminous figure you can play, thereby combining creativity and play. This means that a child can feel like a creator, a wizard who can create an image out of nothing and bring it to life.

The technique of playing with a finished (completed) image is usually used after the drawing is completed. The resulting image is used as a kind of toy.

Playing out an unfinished image (an image that is still being created) can be called a “plot-figurative game”

A special place in all drawing classes belongs to playful motivation. It not only allows you to avoid setting the task in a categorical form (“Children, today we will draw…”), but also makes you want to come to the aid of a fairy-tale hero, and makes it possible to be in reality, filled with play.

Game techniques with elements of role-playing behavior are also aimed at developing the creative imagination of preschoolers. Children are offered the role of an artist, actor, writer, designer, etc. Thus, their activities in the classroom are thought of as one or another activity of an adult. Acting in character, children are especially keen on drawing, show ingenuity, creativity, and carefully fulfill the requirements placed on them.

Drawing classes can also include games and exercises, the content of which is aimed at developing children's imagination. For example, “Wonderful transformations”, “What is it like”, “Riddles and answers”, “Sea pebbles”, etc.

The following exercises are of particular interest to children:

• - “Draw something unusual.” The teacher invites the children to draw an unusual car in which they can go to magical land; an unusual tree that grows unusual fruits, etc.
• - "An animated figurine." The child is told: “You have received a wonderful gift, everything you draw comes to life. What would you draw?..
• - "Non-existent animal." An adult asks the child to imagine distant planets inhabited by unknown, fantastic animals. And also imagine that a zoo has appeared where you can look at these animals. The adult invites the child to come up with and draw some unusual animal for this zoo. The child must draw an imaginary animal, give it a name, and tell a story about it.
• - "Let's help the artist." The adult tells the children that the artist did not have time to finish drawing the figures and asks the children to help him.
• - “Change the object so that you get a new image.” Instructions may be given: “Turn a butterfly into a flower, a crocodile into a car, a tumbler into a princess, etc.”
• - "Good and evil." The child is asked to draw an evil or good fairy tale character.

The artistic word creates the true beauty of the language, emotionally colors the work and its content, therefore it evokes acuteness of thought and feeling, influences, convinces, educates.

By cultivating an interest and love for fiction, a kindergarten teacher develops in children the ability to prefer some works to others: children learn to consciously choose what they like best. A preferential attitude towards a particular work - the ability to choose - is a prerequisite for the development of artistic taste, for the development of the ability to simply evaluate a work of art.

The use of literary works expands the themes of children's drawings and is at the same time a method of teaching them, promoting the development of creative initiative. A verbal artistic image reveals the specific features of an object or phenomenon and at the same time allows the listener to speculate on both the image itself and the situation in which the action takes place. For example, for the heroine of Charles Perrault's fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood" external signs: a red hat, a basket with treats for the grandmother, everything else when drawing is invented by the child himself - the girl’s pose, her face, hairstyle, clothes, shoes.

Children of the older group successfully cope with the depiction of such verbal images, the idea of ​​which is based on the perception of homogeneous objects in life: Little Red Riding Hood - a girl, a doll; greedy bear - toy bear; teremok - a small house, etc.

Some fairy-tale images are presented in toys - Pinocchio, Doctor Aibolit, etc.

Playing with them makes these images alive for children, active, and concrete, which makes them easier to depict. But for children in the older group, such direct visual reinforcement of a verbal image is not necessary. Their imagination can, based on several features present in an artistic image, create it entirely.

Usage artistic images helps in revealing the idea. Before you start drawing according to your own plans or for a given plot theme You should help the child from the whole mass of impressions to select what relates to this topic, since it is completely independent choice sometimes it is random, incomplete, incorrect. Literary work should be divided into a number of episodes, where the text itself defines the characters, place and time of action. Children of five years old cannot always cope with this on their own. At the beginning of the lesson, the teacher explains to them what pictures can be drawn using this work what happened first, then, how it ends. The teacher himself can suggest the topic of an episode or give the children several episodes to choose from. For example, when drawing on the theme of the fairy tale "Teremok", the teacher suggests depicting animals knocking on the door one after another, and who exactly, the child chooses according to at will. Or from the fairy tale “The Fox, the Hare and the Rooster,” children are asked to portray a crying bunny near a hut, and the children themselves choose who he complains to - a bear, dogs or a rooster. Wanting to express positive attitude to the depicted character, children try to decorate it, color it bright colors, make patterned clothes. This is especially evident when drawing for fairy tales.

Well aware of the limits of what is available to children preschool age In the sense of expressing their intended images and plot, educators develop in children the level of demands possible for their age regarding the expressiveness of the drawing.

Thus, drawing classes not only equip the child with skills and abilities, but awaken the intellectual and creative activity of the preschooler, teach him to plan his activities, make changes to technology, and implement his plans. Children develop the ability to analyze phenomena, compare them, discover new ideas, new paths, and draw original conclusions; There is a desire for the original, a denial of the usual, and a desire to transform the surrounding reality according to the laws of beauty.

Let us continue our study of “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom” and from the battle between the prince and the serpent we will move on to the most important moment of this monument - the acquaintance of the future faithful spouses. This meeting of Peter (David) and Fevronia (Euphrosyne) also haunts critics of “The Tale...”.

So, we remember that Peter becomes seriously ill. He was able to defeat the enemy, but, by God’s permission, the demon inflicted bodily ulcers on him, which spread throughout his body in scabs like leprosy.

The prince sought help from many doctors, but no one could heal him. Having heard that there are many good healers in the Ryazan land, the Murom ruler orders him to be taken there. In search of doctors, one of the prince’s servants (youths) wandered into the village of Laskovo and went into the house of a certain “dart frog,” that is, a collector of wild honey. Here he met unusual girl: she was weaving canvas, and a hare was jumping at her feet. At first the boy did not take her seriously and said that he wanted to talk with the owners of the house. The girl, seeing such an attitude towards herself, did not give direct answers - she spoke to the guest in riddles. He was struck by her wisdom, and he finally said that he had been sent to the Ryazan region to find a doctor for his sick master.

Fevronia (I will call both the prince and princess by their generally accepted hagiographic names) answered the youth: “If someone took your prince for himself, he could cure him.” (In another translation of “The Tale ...” it is said not “took”, but “demanded”, which is closer to the ancient Russian source.) “What are you saying?! - the boy cried. - Who can take my prince for himself? If anyone cures him, the prince will richly reward him. But tell me the name of the doctor, who he is and where his house is.” She answered: “Bring your prince here. If he is sincere and humble in his words, he will be healthy.”

“The young man quickly returned to his prince and told him in detail about everything he had seen and heard. The noble Prince Peter commanded: “Take me to where this girl is.” And they brought him to the house where the girl lived. And he sent one of his servants to ask: “Tell me, girl, who wants to cure me? Let him heal and receive a rich reward.” She answered bluntly: “I want to cure him, but I don’t demand any reward from him. Here is my word to him: if I do not become his wife, then it is not right for me to treat him.” And the man returned and told his prince what the girl had told him.

Prince Peter treated her words with disdain and thought: “Well, how is it possible for the prince to take the daughter of a poison dart frog as his wife!” And he sent to her, saying: “Tell her - let her heal as best she can.” If she cures me, I will take her as my wife.”

This is how “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia” describes the background to the prince’s healing.

Let's think about the riddles of Fevronia and her no less mysterious words about the method of healing the sick prince.

Riddles of the wise maiden

I will not quote verbatim the very interesting and poetic riddles of the wise maiden; I think everyone interested should familiarize themselves with them in the text of the “Tale...”. Our task is different: to understand what in the great monument of ancient Russian writing is an undoubted historical fact, what can be considered completely reliable, and what can be attributed to folklore element. So, to many researchers, it is Fevronia’s riddles that seem to be one of the most folklore, fairy-tale components of the “Tale”. Indeed, there is a clear echo here with the folk oral creativity: with sayings, proverbs, riddles, which we find in abundance in Russian fairy tales and epics. But it is important to understand whether the words of the maiden Fevronia are “folklore”, or whether the future princess is simply actively using figurative folk word in his speech.

Let's start with the fact that the life of the ancient Russian peasant of the 13th century was simply inseparable from everything that we now call folklore. Young peasant girls spent their leisure time singing songs, telling fairy tales, and asking riddles. Russian people sang drawn-out, fairy-tale songs while working. Even classical literature XIX centuries, he constantly puts sayings, proverbs, and jokes into the mouths of village residents. Fevronia, of course, was very familiar with all this. Hence her manner of constantly using proverbs, parables and riddles in her speech, many of which are known to us from other folklore sources.

Fevronia is a person not of this world, a bit of a holy fool. The will of God is revealed to her

Second point: Fevronia is not simple girl. She is a person not of this world, if you like - a little holy fool. Her behavior is extraordinary. Even what she keeps in the upper room forest dweller- a hare, unusual. But all this is not surprising to us: holy people often behaved strangely, unusually for those around them, and their words sometimes had a mysterious, enigmatic meaning, which was revealed later. By the way, the hare tamed by Fevronia should not cause much surprise, because many holy people, living in harmony with nature, were friends with wild animals. Let us remember how Father Seraphim of Sarov fed bears with bread, and Saint Gerasim of Jordan tamed a lion and even carried water on it for the monastery.

Adherence to folklore was not only characteristic of Saint Fevronia. Some of our Russian ascetics also loved him extremely. Elder Ambrose of Optina in letters to different people not only constantly used idioms Russian language, but he himself came up with sayings and proverbs. Saint Theophan the Recluse also often resorts to folk phraseological units in his teachings.

Saint Fevronia was flesh and blood of the simple Russian people, and the fact that she knew oral folk art well and loved it is not surprising.

Forced marriage or knowledge of God's will?

But more complex riddle are not the allegories with which Fevronia speaks to the princely youth, but her words that the prince can only be cured by the one who takes or even demands the prince for himself. Of course, we are not talking here simply about the doctor taking the patient into his home and treating him, so to speak, as an inpatient. This was already implied, because in the “Tale...” it is said that the prince was already so weak that he could not sit on a horse: he was brought to the Ryazan lands on a cart. In addition, the text does not say “to oneself,” but “to oneself.” No, it's much deeper than that.

The explanation of these words is very close to me wise maiden, which is given by the famous philologist, researcher of ancient Russian writing Anna Arkhangelskaya. According to her, Fevronia says with this allegory: “Healing is an intervention in someone else’s body. “If I’m not his wife, then how can I treat him?” She’s not a professional doctor.” Indeed, nowhere is it said that Fevronia was engaged in healing. The princely envoy came across her home, as it seems to him, by accident. He just wants to ask for directions to famous doctors in the area. And those who see Fevronia as some kind of practicing folk healer are completely wrong.

But in fact, this meeting is completely non-random. And its goal is not even to cure the prince, but to fulfill the will of God. It is not known whether Fevronia had the gift of healing or whether it was simply revealed to her from God that the Lord would heal Peter through her, but it is certain that she knows the will of God. And it always leads a person to salvation. The girl knew - it was revealed to her from the Lord - that the prince would recover only if he promised to become her husband. Her chosen path along this path was also revealed to her. By the way, in the lives of saints the theme of chosenness, knowledge by the saint himself or his relatives about his special life path, occurs quite often.

Fevronia follows the will of God, and to think that she is blackmailing the prince is blasphemous

So, Fevronia did not take advantage of the moment to successfully marry a rich and noble groom, as many may think. She is submissive to the will of God, which was revealed to her. And the Lord revealed to her that it was this path that would lead both her and the prince to holiness and salvation. Therefore, the idea that Fevronia is somehow manipulating Peter, blackmailing him and forcing him to marry her is simply blasphemous.

One more point: yes, the righteous married life of Saints Peter and Fevronia is a model of family life for us. But under no circumstances should we blindly copy the experience of the saints and imitate them in everything without any reasoning. Saints are special people, to whom very great knowledge about their future life. In some ways we, undoubtedly, must follow them, but some moments of their lives are their personal, unique feat. As an example, I will cite the life of the Monk Alexy, the man of God. After his marriage, he first wedding night left home, leaving his young wife and parents. Having spent many years in great exploits and wanderings, Alexy returned to native home, but in a completely unrecognizable guise of a beggar. He was sheltered in the hallway, where he lived for several years, unrecognized by anyone, and only before his death he wrote a letter to his parents, where he told about his life. Why did he do this? It's a mystery to us. But one thing is clear: the Lord revealed His will to him, and he followed this path. Should we not knower of secrets, act like this? Of course not.

But let’s return to “The Tale...”. So, Prince Peter, although outwardly he accepted Fevronia’s condition and promised to take her as his wife if he was healed, was not at all going to keep his word. But the wise maiden warned: “If he is sincere and humble in his words, he will be healthy!” Further, the legend once again shows that Fevronia knew everything that was going to happen next. She sends the patient to take a steam bath, while she herself prepares an ointment from sourdough bread. On the girl’s orders, the prince smears this remedy on all the scabs, except one. The next morning his whole body became healthy. Peter sends gifts to the beekeeper's daughter, but does not want to fulfill his promise to marry her. Soon after the prince's arrival in Murom, his body again becomes covered with ulcers. He returns to Fevronia, repents and asks for forgiveness with shame. “She, not at all angry, said: “If he becomes my husband, he will be healed.” He gave her a firm word that he would take her as his wife,” says “The Tale...”. The treatment is repeated, and the prince marries a commoner. Like this instructive story. As he says folk wisdom: “Without giving a word, be strong; and having given, hold on.”

By the way, the prince, as a person endowed with power from God, and therefore a strictly responsible person, should doubly not break his word. The prince’s sin also lies in the fact that he goes against the will of God, although he understands that Fevronia is endowed with knowledge of this will. His servant told him about this, and he himself, before taking treatment, arranged a test for his healer, later marveling at her wisdom.

Boyar revolt

Some time after the wedding, Peter's elder brother died, and the prince became the ruler of Murom. But not everyone liked the young wife of the new prince, and not everyone liked him himself. The power-hungry boyars planned a “palace coup.” The reason was the marriage of their ruler to a simple peasant woman. “The Tale...” describes this episode, of course, very artistically.

At the instigation of their wives, the boyars first began to turn the prince against his wife. They blamed her for the thrifty peasant habit of collecting crumbs from the table in her hand after a meal. Peter, having decided to check the words of the nobles, one day after dinner, he unclenched Fevronia’s palm and... saw grains of fragrant incense. For many, this plot may remind us of the famous fairy tale about the Frog Princess. Remember how Vasilisa the Wise poured drinks from the table into her sleeve and collected bones? Yes, there are certain similarities. But Vasilisa did this on purpose, and not out of habit of frugality. And the wives of the older princes even began to imitate her, trying to repeat the miracle of turning leftover food into a lake with swans, but nothing worked out for them.

Apparently, having perceived in this place of the biography of the holy princes too obvious a consonance with folklore, Saint Philaret (Gumilevsky) did not include it in his life of the faithful Peter and Fevronia. Just as he did not use another episode from the history of the boyar unrest:

“A lot of time passed, and then one day his boyars came to the prince in anger and said: “Prince, we are all ready to serve you faithfully and have you as autocrat, but we do not want Princess Fevronia to rule over our wives. If you want to remain an autocrat, another princess will be your path. Fevronia, having taken as much wealth as she wants, let her go wherever she wants!” Blessed Peter, whose custom was not to be angry at anything, answered with meekness: “Tell Fevronia about this, let’s listen to what she says.”

The frantic boyars, having lost their shame, decided to throw a feast. They began to feast, and when they became drunk, they began to conduct their shameless speeches, like barking dogs, depriving the saint of God’s gift, which God promised her to preserve even after death. And they say: “Madam Princess Fevronia! The whole city and the boyars are asking you: give us whoever we ask you!” She answered: “Take whoever you ask!” They, as if with one mouth, said: “We, madam, all want Prince Peter to rule over us, but our wives do not want you to rule over them. Having taken as much wealth as you need, go wherever you wish!” Then she said: “I promised you that whatever you ask, you will receive. Now I tell you: promise to give me whatever I ask you.” They, the villains, rejoiced, not knowing what awaited them, and swore: “Whatever you name, you will immediately receive it without question.” Then she says: “I ask for nothing else, only my husband, Prince Peter!” They answered: “If he wants to, we won’t say a word to you.” The enemy clouded their minds - everyone thought that if Prince Peter was not there, they would install another autocrat: but in their souls, each of the boyars hoped to become an autocrat.

Blessed Prince Peter did not want to break God’s commandments for the sake of reigning in this life; he lived according to God’s commandments, keeping them, as the God-voiced Matthew says in his Gospel. After all, it is said that if someone drives away his wife, who has not been accused of adultery, and marries another, he himself commits adultery. This blessed prince acted according to the Gospel: he equated his wealth to manure, so as not to break the commandments of God.”

It is interesting that Saint Philaret, with his characteristic historical accuracy, notes: the Murom boyars, in their desire to overthrow the prince, were instigated by his closest relatives, who claimed to reign: younger brother and nephew. Saint Philaret describes the story of the expulsion of the noble princes very briefly. The boyars approach the prince and give him an ultimatum: “either let him let go of his wife, who insults noble wives with her origin, or leave Murom. The prince firmly remembered the words of the Lord: “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder. Whoever lets his wife go and marries another is an adulterer” (see: Matt. 19: 6, 9). Therefore, true to the duty of a Christian spouse, the prince agreed to renounce the principality. After that, he was left with poor means of subsistence, and sad thoughts involuntarily came to his mind. But the smart princess told him: “Don’t be sad, prince, the merciful God will not leave us in poverty.” Irreconcilable discord soon opened up in Murom, power seekers grabbed swords, and many of the nobles lost their lives. The Murom boyars were forced to ask Prince David and Princess Euphrosyne to return to Murom. So the prince, faithful to his duty, triumphed over his enemies.”

Why does the story about the boyars' rebellion greatly shorten? I think not only because he sees in it some parallels with Russian fairy tales. Indeed, the details of this story are described quite folklore. Although the story about turning crumbs into incense, in my opinion, is quite acceptable for the lives of saints. Yes, Fevronia’s cunning, thanks to which she takes the prince with her, has very similar analogues in Russian folk tales: when a wife is forced to separate from her husband, she asks to take the most precious thing from the house and, of course, takes her beloved. But, as we know, Fevronia is an expert in folklore, so is it any wonder if she acts “like a fairy tale.” In addition, the plot “about the most precious thing” is not only Russian, but, so to speak, universal. What should be the most precious thing for a woman? Of course, my beloved man. The wives of the German city of Weinsberg did the same: when those besieging it allowed them to leave and take with them as much as they could carry on their shoulders, they, of course, took - carried out - their husbands.

But this is not what confuses us in the story of the prince’s exile. Peter does not make the decision himself - he sends the unruly nobles to his wife: they say, ask her what she thinks about it. Could this have happened in the 13th century, and even in the family of a prince? Of course not. For the Russian Middle Ages, such a situation is completely incredible. I think it was precisely for this reason, and not because of its folklore, that this episode was not included in the lives of both St. Philaret (Gumilevsky). It can be assumed that such a not very plausible version of the story about the expulsion of the noble princes ended up in the “Tale ...” because it was written according to oral traditions. folk legends about the holy couple: its main author was the simple Russian people. Therefore, the peasant woman Fevronia appears as her most important character. And the prince, bowing before her wisdom, consults with her in everything.

I like Filaret’s version of the conversation between the prince and the boyars much more than the same dialogue in “The Tale...”. Peter firmly remembers the words of the Gospel about the indissolubility of marriage and, faithful to Christian marital duty, prefers to renounce the principality. But Old Russian princes They often forgot about their family duty. Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible, under whom the faithful Peter and Fevronia were canonized, imprisoned his two wives in a monastery. His father, Vasily III, tonsured him a nun legal spouse Solomonia Saburova for her infertility and married Elena Glinskaya. We must also not forget that in the 13th century, siblings killed each other in order to add another plot to their lands. So to give up reign for the sake of preserving the family and love for his wife is the greatest feat for the ruler of that time. They also say that in the lives of Peter and Fevronia there is no mention of their love. Here she is, real love! And for this feat of love, the Lord returns the principality to Peter.

Saint Philaret, as if to confirm the story of Peter’s exile, gives another example of his humility. He, relying on the chronicles, says that the noble prince of Murom helps restore justice to the Grand Duke Vsevolod and participates with him in the fight against the Pron and Ryazan princes. As a reward for this, Peter received from Vsevolod the rich Pronsky principality. When the former Pron princes went to war against him, the meek Peter “sent to tell them: “Brothers! I didn’t occupy Pronsk on my own: Vsevolod put me here. Pronsk is yours.” And he calmly returned to Murom. What lofty selflessness! What deep respect for the duty of love and honor!” - exclaims Saint Philaret. Such selflessness was, indeed, very rare during the times of princely civil strife. But Peter was not at all some kind of pacifist. According to the chronicles, he was a brave warrior and took part in several military operations. And in 1220 his troops were on a glorious campaign against the Volga Bulgars.

In his biography of the holy princes, Filaret includes the case of a man who, forgetting about his wife, became fascinated by the beauty of Fevronia. This episode is given in full, along with the answers of the wise princess, but for some reason the saint dates it not to the time of the expulsion of the princes, but to their peaceful reign that followed after their return.

It’s interesting that when you visit Murom, you cannot get rid of the feeling of the reality of everything that is described in “The Tale...”. This small town it simply breathes with antiquity, “there is a Russian spirit there, it smells of Russia.” Of course, the buildings from the time of Peter and Fevronia have not survived, but still in their hometown You touch their lives in a completely tangible way. And when you pray at the relics of the blessed couple, and when you simply wander along the streets of Murom, and when you stand on the Oka embankment and look at the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian, erected by Ivan the Terrible... And it seems that now the boats will glide along the river, carrying away the prince and princess to the other bank, away from the rebellious boyars.

Saint Philaret, speaking about the pious life and wise Christian rule of the saints after returning to Murom, writes that it “was truth-loving, but without severe severity, merciful, but without weakness. The intelligent and pious princess helped her husband with advice and charitable deeds. Both lived according to the commandments of the Lord, loved everyone and did not love either pride or unrighteous self-interest; they gave rest to wanderers, eased the lot of the unfortunate, honored the monastic and priestly ranks, protecting them from needs.”

Children of the “childless couple”

Another stumbling block, and, by the way, not only for secular critics, but also for some Orthodox Christians, is the absence in “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia” of any mention of their children. One comes across even in the works of modern theologians the idea that Saints Peter and Fevronia allegedly specifically abandoned physical marital intercourse for the sake of a special feat of abstinence and chastity. And hostile critics use the lack of information about the couple’s children in their lives as a counter-argument in polemics with the Orthodox: they say, what kind of patrons of the family are they if they deliberately refused to bear children?

Let's start with the fact that for the medieval Russian ruler, childlessness was a great tragedy. I mentioned above that some rulers even went against their conscience and the canons of the Church for the sake of giving birth to an heir. Childlessness was a particularly difficult problem for the prince during the times of feudal fragmentation. Each prince wanted his sons and grandsons to continue managing his estate. Otherwise, after the death of the prince, the principality could pass to his relatives, who were sometimes his enemies. None of the princes, at least out of a sense of responsibility to the people and the lands entrusted to them, would consciously refuse to continue the family line - even for the sake of feats of chastity. It is very unlikely that Saint Peter of Murom would have agreed to this.

Note: the fact that the pious Murom couple had children, which for some reason is denied even by some church writers, is completely irrefutable from a historical point of view.

In the first part of the article, I already spoke about the historical identification of Saints Peter and Fevronia, and the historicity of these Murom princes is confirmed by a large number of very authoritative sources.

The children of the noble princes of Murom are evidenced by the “Genealogy of the Murom princes”, and the “Genealogy of the Vladimir-Suzdal princes”, and the “Laurentian Chronicle”, and the lives of the noble prince Svyatoslav of Vladimir and his son, the noble prince Dimitri... By the way, the holy prince Svyatoslav was the son-in-law of Peter and Fevronia, and the noble prince Dimitri is their grandson.

Peter and Fevronia had three children: the eldest son Yuri, who inherited his throne after the death of his father, Svyatoslav and daughter Evdokia

Peter and Fevronia had three children: the eldest son Yuri, who inherited his throne after his father’s death, Svyatoslav and daughter Evdokia. The names of their grandchildren are also known: Yaroslav - son of Yuri; John and Vasily - the children of Svyatoslav - and the son of Evdokia Dimitri.

Prince Yuri took over the Principality of Murom in 1228, was a brave warrior, fought against the Mordovians, according to the Novgorod Chronicle, fought with Batu. In 1237 he died fighting the Mongols.

In 1220, Svyatoslav and his father took part in a campaign against the Volga Bulgars. The Laurentian Chronicle says that he died in 1228, on Easter week, a few days before the righteous death of his parents.

The daughter of Peter and Fevronia Evdokia married the son of Vsevolod the Big Nest - Prince Svyatoslav. By the way, the chronicle says that her father, Prince Muromsky, was at this wedding. Evdokia had a son, Dimitri, who, after the death of his father, became Prince Yuriev-Polsky. I was able to visit this wonderful small town, now a little neglected, but still beautiful, with ancient monasteries, temples and other ancient monuments. And there they keep the memory of Prince Dimitri of Yuryev, the grandson of Peter and Fevronia.

Both the son-in-law of Peter and Fevronia, Svyatoslav, and the grandson, Dimitri, were glorified by the Church as holy noble princes.

Why does “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia” not give us information about the children of the holy princes, despite the fact that their names were very well known at the time of its writing? I think this gap can be explained quite simply. The lives of saints, as a rule, report on the children of ascetics when they somehow took part in their feat or were saints themselves. In the life of Peter and Fevronia, compiled by St. Demetrius of Rostov, there is no mention of their children, most likely also for the same reason. And Saint Philaret writes only about one son of the Murom couple - Svyatoslav; it can be assumed that he is interesting to the compiler of his life because he died on the same Easter week with his parents.

Day of death or name day?

As we know from “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia,” from all their lives, as well as from chronicle sources, the noble princes departed to the Lord on one day. Saint Philaret, leaning on historical documents, says that they rested in April, on Easter week 1228 and, according to their will, were buried in the same coffin. He does not mention that unreasonable people wanted to violate the will of the saints and put them in separate coffins, but every time they ended up together again. But this does not mean at all that this episode is fictitious: in the lives of saints we find descriptions of much greater and incomprehensible miracles. The Life compiled by Saint Philaret is quite brief; his task was to subject the “Tale…” of Ermolai-Erasmus to critical historical analysis and, if possible, select verified and maximally reliable facts.

Why do we celebrate the day of repose of the noble Murom princes not in the spring, in April, but on June 25 according to the old style (accordingly, July 8 according to the new style)? The saint writes: “If according to the chronicle they died in April, then the 25th day of June must be recognized as the day of the discovery of the relics.” That is, he believes that the day of celebrating the death of the holy couple (so as not to make it a moving day because of Easter week) was simply timed to coincide with the day of the discovery of the relics. But this is just a guess. Neither in the time of St. Philaret, nor even more so in our days, was it clear on what exact day the relics were discovered.

Regarding the memory of Saints Peter and Fevronia on June 25 (July 8), I have my own version. Very often, when the exact day of memory of a saint is unknown to us, the celebration of his death is set on his name day. IN church calendar we can find many saints with the same names, but who lived in completely different time, whose memory falls on the same day. June 25 is the day of the Martyr Fevronia the Virgin, a saint of the 4th century. She is the heavenly patroness of the blessed Fevronia of Murom - there is no other Fevronia in the month. But there are quite a lot of saints with the name Peter. Therefore, without knowing exact day death of the Murom miracle workers, they established a day of remembrance to celebrate June 25.

Days church holidays- this is not always the case exact date some historical event. We know that even the date of the Nativity of Christ is arbitrary, and in general a moving holiday.

There is an absolutely false opinion that the day of veneration of Saints Peter and Fevronia as heavenly patrons family and marriage is a completely new, modern trend. They say they wanted to come up with a Russian analogue to Valentine’s Day, so they established the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity in 2008. Yes, in our time, the day of Saints Peter and Fevronia has acquired special significance. New temples to these saints are being built, monuments are being erected, everything more people They celebrate their memory, and most importantly, they begin to pray to them. But Peter and Fevronia have been revered as patrons of the family for a long time. In the 19th century, Saint Philaret wrote that the holy princes “in their lives were models of Christian marriage, ready for all hardships for the Gospel commandment of an indestructible union. And now with their prayers they bring down heavenly blessings on those entering into marriage. This is what many experiences in their afterlife show.” And they turned to Saints Peter and Fevronia for help in family life long before the 19th century.

A little more about legends and myths

Some researchers, mainly philologists and cultural experts, like to compare “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia” with Celtic and other Western European legends, especially with the novel about Tristan and Isolde. And indeed, if you wish, you can find in the ancient Russian “Tale...” something similar to this knightly tale. What is this? Did Ermolai-Erasmus’ “Tale” really incorporate European legends that somehow penetrated into Rus', or is this just a coincidence?

Let's start with the fact that the priest Ermolai collected materials for writing the lives of the holy noble princes in Murom and Ryazan regions, that is, in the Central Russian zone. These are legends not even of Kievan, but of Vladimir Rus'. It is very difficult to assume that at a time when the penetration of foreigners into the central part of Russia was minimal, some Western legends were brought to the Vladimir region.

There are many works that present comparative analysis"Tales..." and the novel about Tristan and Isolde. I read quite a few articles on this topic, but in none of them did I find an explanation for these coincidences. Academician D.S. Likhachev in his work “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom” does not at all insist on any borrowing of Western legends. He admires “The Tale...”, its amazing poetic language, images and writes that “there is something in common... with the Western European medieval narrative of Tristan and Isolde.” But are these two stories really that similar?

“The Tale of Peter and Fevronia” is about marital love and fidelity; the novel "Tristan and Isolde" - about adultery and fornication

I re-read the novel about Tristan and Isolde as presented by Joseph Bedier. I’ll be honest: if you don’t set the task of finding parallels in it with Erasmus’s “Tale...”, you may not even notice any commonality between these two works. In the entire novel, I see only two episodes similar to those in the biography of the Murom princes. Tristan also defeats the dragon and falls ill from its poison, putting the dragon's tongue in his pocket. He is found unconscious and brought to Isolde’s house, but it is not she who treats him, but her mother, the queen: it is she who prepares the potion, and Isolde only helps her. And the second similar point is the death of Tristan and Isolde: they also die on the same day. At the same time, Bedier’s novel is a rather voluminous work, several times larger than “The Tale...”. Tristan performs various feats (killing the dragon is not the most important of them), a lot of events happen to him and Isolde, completely different from the events in the lives of Peter and Fevronia. The plot of the legend is very cleverly woven, and Isolde is not alone at all - there are two Isoldes in the novel. And most importantly: “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia” is a hymn to marital love and fidelity. Spouses carry their love through their entire earthly life, and then have its continuation in eternity. But the chivalric romance about Tristan and Isolde is quite the opposite: it is a story about adultery, about lustful passion. About two lovers who cannot be together and unite, dying on the same day. By the way, there are versions of the novel from which this sad ending is removed.

We will not dwell on the dragon in detail. Many, many peoples have tales about snakes and snake fighters. Dragons were fought not only in Rus' and Western Europe, but also in Iran, Babylon, Greece, not to mention China, Japan and India. With whom have they not compared, for example, the victorious snake! We have already discussed where the legends about dragons come from in the first part of the article. The serpent, the dragon, was the favorite guise of the devil in ancient times, which is why for many peoples the dragon is the embodiment of evil (although not everywhere; in some countries dragons were deified, but, nevertheless, they fought with them). There is also a theory that dragons are preserved ancient lizards.

It is much more important to explain the similarity of the characters' demise Celtic legend and Russian saints. But first of all, let's not forget that, unlike fictional characters novel, Peter and Fevronia - real people, and their death on the same day is not fiction, but historical fact. Further: in Bedier's novel, Tristan and Isolde are placed to the right and left of the chapel, and then a thorn tree grows that connects their two graves. And if here this is just a beautiful poetic image, then the joint burial of Peter and Fevronia is, again, reality: they were really buried together. By order of Ivan the Terrible, the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was built over the grave of the saints. They lay together under the south side of the church. Later, their relics were discovered and transferred to the temple itself. Now they rest in the Trinity Monastery, where they were transferred in our time.

As for the motive for the death of people who passionately love each other on the same day, it is not European or Russian, but universal. K.G. Jung called this the “collective unconscious.” There is a “collective unconscious”, inherent in a particular ethnic group, and there is a universal human unconscious. All humanity was created by God as a single human race, and despite all the ethnic and cultural differences, all peoples have a lot in common. Therefore, it is not surprising that in similar situations we think the same way and very similar images emerge in our minds. To confirm that the motive of death on one day is common to completely different nations, you can cite the poem by the 15th century Turkic author Alisher Navoi about two lovers “Leili and Majnun”. Here are the lines from it telling about their death: “The beloved raised her hands, / gave her soul to her beloved. / The beloved bowed down without breathing, / his soul went to his beloved.”

We know that Peter and Fevronia had an ardent desire to leave together and asked God “so that they could die at the same time.” And the Lord fulfilled the request of the two loving hearts.

A little more about amazing coincidences, universal human images and the collective unconscious. There are works on the study of the origin of myths in which very interesting comparisons can be found. Here is a European legend about King Arthur: in London, in the center of the city, there was a chapel; near her lay a stone with a sword sticking out of it; the sword, which no one could remove, was taken out by the young man Arthur; after some time, the hand of the Lady of the Lake, appearing above the waters, will give him the sword Excalibur. And now a Vietnamese legend: the nobleman Le Loi was commanded by spirits to lead an uprising against the Chinese invaders; From the lake near which he lived, a giant turtle swam out with a sword in its mouth. The hero takes this sword, with the help of a wonderful weapon, drives away the Chinese and becomes king. It seems? It will be cooler than Tristan and Isolde.

Let's summarize some results. “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom” is a wonderful and very instructive work of ancient Russian literature. Over the centuries, “The Tale...” has firmly entered church use and enjoys great popularity and authority among the Orthodox people. Yes, it was not included in the Makaryev Chetya-Minea, but was included in other collections of lives, such as the Godunov and Milyutin Menaion.

We do not find in it any obvious absurdities or distortions of church teaching. We can say that the only factual error"Tales..." is a confusion with princely names.

The Church is a living organism; it itself rejects everything harmful and accepts what is beneficial.

When compiling the biographies of saints, no one has ever strived for absolute, documentary accuracy. Something else was important: the spiritual authenticity of life. In the “Tale ...” of Father Erasmus there is a lot of literature, but the famous “Lives of the Saints” of St. Demetrius of Rostov are also very literary. The lyrical digressions, details, dialogues, prayers that he puts into the mouths of saints clearly have artistic character. In addition to historical data, his lives also widely use folk tales about ascetics.

Many generations of our Orthodox ancestors were raised on Dimitriev’s Chetya-Minea. People have been reading for centuries hagiographic literature and received spiritual benefits. “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia” also brings edification and spiritual consolation to many and serves as a textbook of marital love and fidelity.