On Some Sources Of The LifeScrinium Of Alexander 11 (2015) 281-294 Oshevensky 281 Journal of Patrology and Critical Hagiography www.brill.com/scri

On Some Sources of the Life of Alexander Oshevensky (The Theme of the Family in the Hagiography)

Alexander V. Pigin Institute of Linguistics, History and Literature, Karelian Research Centre of RAS, Petrozavodsk, [email protected]

Summary

The Life of Alexander Oshevensky (1567) is a Northern Russian hagiographical work devoted to the founder of the St. Niсholas Alexander-Oshevensky Monastery, which was located nearby the town of . The article analyses hagiographer Theodosius’ techniques for dealing with literary sources, especially with two Byzantine texts, The Ladder by John Climacus and The Life of Alexis the Man of God. Theodosius uses these sources to develop one of the major themes of his own work, that is, the relationship between St. Alexander and his family. The family theme bears ambiguous meaning. On the one hand, the family is rejected from the standpoint of monastic asceticism, but on the other hand, it is rendered as the ultimate value and stronghold of Christian morality.

Keywords hagiography – Mediaeval Rus’ – family – Alexander Oshevensky

Alexander Oshevensky, secular name Alexey (Alexis) (17 March, 1427 – 20 April, 1479), is the most revered Kargopol saint, the founder of the St. Niсholas Alexander-Oshevensky Monastery, which used to be located on the left bank of Chur’ega River, 42 kilometers (26 miles) north of Kargopol (a town in the region). As Archimandrite Nicodemus (Kononov) wrote, Alexan- der Oshevensky means to Kargopol “the same as St. Antony and Theodosius of

ISSN 1817-7530 (print version) ISSN 1817-7565 (online version) SCRI 1

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Pechora meant to Southern Russia, St. Serguis of Radonezh meant to Muscovy, Solovki Miracle-Workers – Zosima and Sabbatius, and St. Alexander Svirsky meant to Northern Russia” [«является тем же, чем были для южной России преп. Антоний и Феодосий Печерские, для московской – преп. Сергий Радонежский и для северной – Зосима и Савватий, соловецкие чудотво­ рцы, и преп. Александр Свирский»].1 The local celebration in honor of Alex- ander Oshevensky was established with the blessing of Bishop Barlaam between 1576 and 1581. Around 1634 the commemoration of St. Alexander Os- hevensky was included in the commemoration list of Dormition Cathedral in .2 His name was also included in the 1646 Liturgical Calendar pub- lished by Moscow Print Yard.3 However, in the Old Russian era, St. Alexander was not unanimously worshipped by the Church, nor was he canonized.4 St. Alexander’s life and ethos are fairly typical for Northern Russian monas- ticism. Alexander took his monastic vows in the St. Cyril of the White Lake Monastery. He completely inherited the spiritual traditions of this monastic school: love for silence, unselfishness and obedience. Even his duties in the bakery and kitchen of St. Cyril's White Lake Monastery bear the same meaning as St. Cyril’s “rough living”[«жестокое житие»]. Nevertheless, Alexander

Abbreviations: ГИМ – [SHM] State Historical Museum (Moscow); РНБ – [NLR] National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg) 1 Никодим (Кононов), архимандрит. Олонецкий патерик [Nicodemus (Kononov), Archimandrite. Olonets Patericon]. Petrozavodsk: 1910, с. 14. 2 See: С.О. Шаляпин, Е.В. Романенко, “Александр Ошевенский” [S.O. Shalyapin, E.V. Romanenko, “lexander Oshevensky”], in: Православная энциклопедия [Orthodox Encyclopedia], т. 1, Moscow, 2000, с. 531. 3 See: Т.Б. Карбасова, “Святцы 1646 г.: памяти русских святых” [T.B. Karbasova, “A 1646 Liturgical Calendar: Commemorating Russian Saints:”], in: Русская агиография: Исследо­ вания. Материалы. Публикации [Russian Hagiography: Studies. Materials. Publications], т. 2, St. Petersburg, 2011, с. 284. 4 On this basis in 1836 the Holy Synod denied Olonets Archbishop Ignatius’s (Semenov) request for inclusion of St. Alexander’s name in the Liturgical Calendar and publishing his Life and service (see: А.В. Пигин, “Житие Александра Ошевенского в редакциях XIX века” [A.V. Pigin, “19th Century Recensions of the Life of Alexander Oshevensky”], in: Евангельский текст в русской литературе XVIII–XX веков: цитата, реминисценция, мотив, сюжет, жанр [The Gospel Text in Russian Literature of 18th–20th Centuries: Quotation, Reminiscence, Motive, Plot, Genre], вып. 8, Petrozavodsk, 2013, с. 37). Apparently, the inclusion of his name into catalogues of Novgorod and Karelian saints already in the twentieth century can be considered as a fact of his canonization by the whole Church.

DownloadedScrinium from Brill.com10/01/202111 (2015) 281-294 03:51:50AM via free access On Some Sources Of The Life Of Alexander Oshevensky 283 stands apart from other ascetics of Northern Thebaid because of his close ties with his family, which he retained until the end of his life. The Life of Alexander Oshevensky was written by Theodosius, a hieromonk of the Alexander-Oshevensky Monastery, in 1567, eighty eight years after the saint’s death. He collected information about St. Alexander’s life and his good deeds from “ancient monks and the saint’s relatives” [«древних инокъ и сродникъ святаго от рода его»] (л. 210 об.).5 As a result, according to V.O. Kly- uchevsky, the hagiographer managed to write “an extensive Life of excellent contents” [«обширное и превосходное по содержанию житие»].6 The text has survived in a large number of manuscripts from the sixteenth–nineteenth centuries (about 90 are known at present) and in several recensions, the earli- est of which are the long recension (original, 1567), and the abridged vulgate recension (apparently, at the turn of 1570s–1580s).7 Also church services, pan- egyrics (including the Old Believer ones) exist in honor of the saint, prayers to him and an Akathistos hymn. Ivan Yakhontov, one of the first researchers of the Life of Alexander Osheven- sky, comes to the conclusion that this text is a compilation. According to his observations, the Life is compiled on the basis of the Lives of Alexander Svirsky (most extensive extracts are taken from there), Cyril of the White Lake, Zosima and Sabbatius of Solovki, Anthony the Roman and Sergius of Radonezh.8 How- ever, the significance of these findings might be somewhat undermined, since Ivan Yakhontov dealt with the abridged vulgate recension of the text (the ­manuscript of РНБ, Соловецкое собрание [NLR, the Solovki Collection], № 992/1101, 17th century), not the long one. He questioned the literary and

5 From here on in The Life of Alexander Oshevensky is cited as in the copy of the longer recen- sion, deposited in ГИМ, коллекция Барсова [SHM, Barsov’s collection], № 783, 16th century, and specified after cited sheets. 6 В.О. Ключевский, Древнерусские жития святых как исторический источник [V.O. Klyuchevsky, The Old Russian Hagiography as a Historical Source], Moscow, 1871, с. 298. 7 About the correlation between these recensions see: Т.Б. Карбасова, “О Пространной редакции Жития Александра Ошевенского” [T.B. Karbasova, “On the Longer Recension of Alexander Oshevensky’s Life”], in: Прошлое Новгорода и Новгородской земли: Материалы научной конференции 11–13 ноября 1997 года [The Past of Novgorod and Novgorod Land: Proceedings of the conference, November 11–13, 1997], Novgorod, 1997, с. 93 – 95; А.В. Пигин, “Пространная редакция Жития Александра Ошевенского” [A.V. Pigin, “The Longer Recension of Alexander Oshevensky’s Life”], in: Русская агиография [Russian Hagiography], т. 3, St. Petersburg (in print). 8 И. Яхонтов, Жития св. севернорусских подвижников Поморского края как истори­ ­ческий источник [I. Yakhontov, The Lives of Northern Russian St Ascetics of Pomor Region as a Historical Source], Kazan, 1881, с. 88–110.

Scrinium 11 (2015) 281-294 Downloaded from Brill.com10/01/2021 03:51:50AM via free access 284 Pigin historical value of the Life and considered large verbatim extracts and some particular stylistic formulas (which, it should be noted, constitute the common body of Russian hagiography) to be direct borrowings from the above-men- tioned Lives. The study of the original (long) recension of the Life, unknown to Ivan Yak- hontov, allows us to expand the list of sources used by Theodosius significantly. For example, the opening part of the Life contains a piece that is a verbatim repetition of a passage from the Life of Isidore of Rostov (Tverdislov [“Constant of Word”]). The prayer, contained in the chapter “About the above-mentioned Simeon, Alexey’s son” [«О прежереченнем Симеонѣ, Алексеове сынѣ»], has parallels with the closing part of the eleventh-century Kiev Metropolitan Hi- larion’s Sermon on Law and Grace. As T.B. Karbasova determined, the descrip- tion of the awakening nature in spring in the chapter “On St. Alexander’s Solitude” [«О уединении преподобнаго Александра»], is reminiscent of Gregory of Nazianzus’ Sermon on the New Week.9 The chapter about a conflict between the boyar Johan Yuryev and the Monastery contains an allusion to the Life of Nicholas of Myra. Finally, as in the majority of other texts of Old Russian hagiography, the Life of Alexander Oshevensky incorporates quotations from Scripture and liturgical poetry. An important objective of the study of a hagiography is not only to identify its sources, providing an idea of the hagiographer’s literary horizons, but also to examine methods and functions of including the “other’s word” in the text of the manuscript. Numerous papers on the subject of quotation (in the broad- est sense) in hagiographic literature, homiletics, and other genres provide evi- dence that ancient Russian authors, when referring to the previous literary tradition, used different techniques. Here are only a few types of borrowings: exact quotes with and without reference to the source, citing from memory, paraphrasing, making compilations by putting together long excerpts from various books, creating a plot line imitating that of another narrative.10

9 See: Т.Б. Карбасова, “О Пространной редакции,” с. 95. 10 See, for example: Ф. Вигзелл, “Цитаты из книг Священного Писания в сочинениях Епифания Премудрого” [F. Wigzell, “Quotes from Scripture in the Works by Epiphanius The Wise”], in: ТОДРЛ, т. 26, Leningrad, 1971, с. 232–243; Е.Б. Рогачевская, “О некоторых особенностях средневековой цитации (на материале ораторской прозы Кирилла Туровского)” [E.B. Rogachevskaya, “On Some Peculiarities of Medieval Quotation (Con- sidering Oratorical Prose by Cyril of Turov”], in: Научные доклады высшей школы: Филологические науки [Scientific Papers of Higher Learning: Philological Studies], 3 (1989), с. 16–20; Н.М. Герасимова, “О поэтике цитат в «Житии» протопопа Аввакума” [N.M. Gerasimova, “On Quotation Poetics in The Life of Archpriest Habbakkum”], in: ТОДРЛ, т. 48, St. Petersburg, 1993, с. 314–318.

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Let us demonstrate Theodosius’s techniques for dealing with sources as ­exemplified in two texts, which, as it seems, have not been considered yet in relation to The Life of Alexander Oshevensky. They are The Ladder of Divine As- cent by John Climacus and The Life of Alexis the Man of God. The methods of including these sources are completely different, but they all ultimately serve to explore one of the major themes of this work, namely the family. The Ladder of Divine Ascent by John Climacus (first half of the 7th cent.) is considered by Orthodox Slavs to be one of the most authoritative Byzantine works in translation. The Ladder, consisting of 30 chapters or “stages,” was per- ceived as a guide to the spiritual ascent of a man (foremost a monk) to God. As T.G. Popova puts it, “in the Middle Ages no large Slavic monastery could do without the manuscript of The Ladder and, as a rule, its copies were in abun- dance” [«в Средние века ни один крупный славянский монастырь не обходился без списков Лествицы, и при этом рукописей, как правило, было множество»].11 The copies of The Ladder were stored in the library of the Alexander-Oshevensky Monastery; at least one of them, made in the six- teenth century by Jonah Moshennikov, a monk at this monastery, has survived up to the present (РНБ, Соловецкое собрание [NLR, the Solovki Collection], № 293/313). Five quotations from The Ladder have been established in the long recen- sion, two of them containing a direct reference to this source. The chapter about the saint’s childhood contains the first quotation: “As John Climacus says in his writings: ‘The face blooms, when the heart joys’” [«Якоже Иоаннъ Лѣс­ тв­ичникъ въ своих писаниих рече: “Сердцу веселящуся, цвѣтетъ лице”»] (л. 15) (Ladder 30:17).12 With this quotation, Theodosius conveys the state of divine joy, experienced by the adolescent Alexey after the prayer to grant him “understanding of everything” [«разума о всем»] and “some divine appari- tion” [«некоего Божиего явления»] (л. 14 об.–15). The quote originates from the Bible (Prov 15:13), but Theodosius borrows it from The Ladder. One more brief quote (this time without referring to the source) is located in the story about St. Alexander’s premonition of death: “For it is written: ‘Sighing and la- ments cry out to the Lord, and tears, caused by fear, pray to God’” [«Писано бо

11 Т.Г. Попова, Славянская рукописная традиция Лествицы Иоанна Синайского [T.G. Popova, Slavic Manuscript Tradition of John Sinaites’s The Ladder of Divine Ascent], , 2010, с. 5. 12 Parallel spots in The Ladder have been established using 16th-century manuscript: РНБ, Соловецкое собрание [NLR, the Solovki Collection], № 293/313 (л. 23 об., 31 об. –34, 336 об. and others). Compare also the translation of The Ladder into Russian: Иоанн, игумен Синайской горы, Лествица, возводящая на небо [John, Father Superior of Mount Sinai, The Ladder of Divine Ascent], Moscow, 2001, с. 464.

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есть: “Въздыхание убо и скорбѣние вопиютъ ко Господу, а яже от страха слезы та молятъ Бога”»] (л. 88) (Ladder 7:7).13 More extensive extracts from The Ladder are of particular interest , they are attributed to the Father Superior of Cyril of the White Lake Monastery, where St. Alexander took his vows. Even before the time when Alexander did this and later, during his monastic service in this monastery, he asked the Father Supe- rior several times for spiritual guidance. He is concerned about his parents: before taking his monastic vows he is afraid to make his parents unhappy be- cause of his withdrawal from the secular world, and after becoming a monk he asks the Father Superior to give him his blessing to visit them. Both times the Father Superior tries to persuade Alexander that it is necessary for a monk to withdraw completely from contact with his parents. He cites the parable of men invited to a big supper from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 14:16–24). Theodo- sius transplanted this piece from The Life of Alexander Svirsky. However, one can see, in comparison of the latter with The Life of Alexander Oshevensky, that the theme of ascetic withdrawal from the world is significantly stressed by Theodosius using some extracts from The Ladder:

1. It is better to make your parents unhappy than God, because He has created and saved us, but parents often do harm to those to who they give birth and expose them to eternal torment. Love for God puts out love for parents, and who says he possesses both (kinds of love) deceives himself. For it is written: ‘No one can serve two masters’ (Mt 6:24), and so forth. ‘Think not, – the Lord says, – that I am come to send peace on earth (Mt 10:34), love between parents and their sons or love between brothers, desiring to work for Me, but I came to bring strife and a sword in order to split those who love God from the ones who love mundane matters, to split those who favor flesh from the ones who favor spirit and those who love glory from the ones who favor the wisdom of humility’. For the Lord rejoices at separation and division brought about by the love for Him. Do not give in to the tears of your parents and friends when they surround you like bees (Ps 117:12), or it is better to say like wasps crying over you, otherwise it is going to be you who will be eternally crying. For it is impossible for one eye to look at the sky and the other one look down at the ground (л. 44 об. – 45 об.) (Ladder 3:12, 15, 16, 22). [Добро есть опечалити родителя, а не Бога, овъ бо и созда и спасе, ови же множицею ихже родиша погубиша и муцѣ предаша. Любовь

13 See: ibid, с. 162.

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Божия отрази любовь родителей, глаголяй же обоя имѣти себе прельсти. Слыша глаголющаго: “Никтоже можетъ двема господинома работати” (Мф. 6, 24), и прочая. “Не приидох, – рече Господь, – мира вложити на землю (Мф. 10, 34) и любовь родителем къ сыномъ и братиям къ братии, работати Ми произволившим, но рать и ножь: раздѣлити боголюбныя от миролюбных и вещных от невещественых, славолюбных от смиреномудрых”. Веселитъ бо ся Господь о раздвоении, разлучении, ради яже к Нему любве бываемѣм. Не ущедри родителняя и дружня слезы, аще ли ни вѣчно хощеши слезити, внегда тя обыдуть якоже пчелы (Пс. 117, 12), паче же осы, рыдание свое творяще о тебѣ. Якоже не мощно единѣм убо окомъ на небо, а другым на землю зрѣти» (л. 44 об. – 45 об.)].14 2. Our Lord himself repeatedly left his earthly parents. And when someone told him: ‘Your mother and brothers are looking for You’ (Mt 12: 46–47 // Mk 3: 32), our blessed Lord and teacher immediately showed us an example of passionless hatred, saying: ‘My mother and My brothers are whoever does the will of My Father who is in Heaven’ (Mt 12: 49–50 // Mk 3: 35). Let your father be whoever is able and willing to work with you on toppling the burden of your sins, and let your mother be tender- ness that cleanses you of filthiness, and let your brothers be interlocu- tors and aids who help in your aspiration for Heaven. Find your inseparable spouse – the memory of death, let your offspring be your heart groans, let your slave be your body, and friends be the holy forces which at the time of the departure of your soul will be helpful for you, if they are your friends. These are the relatives of whoever seeks the Lord (Ps 23:6)” (л. 49 об.–50 об.) (Ladder 3:13, 14). [«Многажды же и Самъ Господь нашь по плоти родителя остави, и от инѣх слышавъ: “Се мати Твоя и братия Твоя ищут Тебе” (Мф. 12, 46–47; Мр. 3, 32), въскоре добрый нашь Господь учитель бестрастную ненависть показа нам, рекъ: “Мати Моя и братия Моа сии суть творящеи волю Отца Моего, Иже есть на небесѣх” (Мф. 12, 49–50; Мр. 3, 35). Буди тебѣ отецъ иже о бремени грѣховнем потрудитися с тобою могый и хотя, мати же – умиление омыти тя от скверны могуще, братия же – иже к течению горнему съпоболѣвая и бесѣдуя, стяжи сожителницу неотторжену – память исхода, чада же ти да будут воздыхания сердечная, рабы притяжи свою плоть, другы же – святыя силы, яже во время исхода успѣх ти могут

14 Ibid, с. 53–56.

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сотворити, аще друзи ти будут. Сей род ищущих Господа (Пс. 23, 6)» (л. 49 об.–50 об.)].15

Both pieces are word-for-word borrowings from the same chapter (stage 3), but Theodosius combines quotes in a somewhat different order than in the origi- nal: some “verses” are missing and some are misplaced. The Father Superior of the Cyril of the White Lake Monastery refers to John Climacus one more time, when he is trying to stop Alexander from attempting to leave the monastery and keep silent alone in a hermitage:

As John Climacus puts it: ‘Woe to the one, who falls into gloom, drowsi- ness, laziness or despair, for there is no man to save him. ‘And where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them’ (Mt 18:20) – the Lord says’ (л. 50 об. – 51) (Ladder 1:26).

[«Якоже Иоаннъ Лѣствичникъ въ своих писаниих глаголеть: “Еди­ ному горе, – рече, – яко аще впадет во уныние, или сонъ, или разл­ ѣнение, или отчаяние, нѣсть возвижай его въ человѣцѣх. «А идѣже еста собрани два или трие о имени Моемъ, ту есмь посредѣ их» (Мф. 18, 20), – рече Господь”» (л. 50 об.–51)].16

One could conclude from the further narrative that Alexander seems to violate all these precepts: he leaves the monastery of Cyril of the White Lake, meets his parents, and builds his own abode in the vicinity of their home, on the other bank of the river. In spite of living close to his relatives, constantly com- municating with them and becoming offended by them, Alexander at the same time strictly observes his vows and remains “secluded at that place” [«уединенъ на мѣсте томъ», л. 69 об.]. This, at first glance, strange paradox (on the symbolic level of the text), is solved implicitly by allusions to another literary source, The Life of Alexis the Man of God. The hagiographic legend of Alexis, who allegedly lived under Roman Em- perors Arcadius and Honorius (at the turn of the fourth and fifth centuries), was known to all Christian literature. According to the authoritative opinion of Varvara Pavlovna Andrianova-Peretz,

… none of the ascetics of the Russian land have aroused such interest or evoked such sympathy for their living as Alexis the Man of God. We

15 Ibid, с. 53–54. 16 Ibid, с. 41.

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mean… that warm feeling of admiration for his life of suffering which has generated and retained in our people’s memory numerous Lives and spir- itual verses praising Alexis the Man of God, who was of alien origin but has become a close relative by the mindset.

[«ни один из подвижников русской земли не вызывал к себе такого интереса, не пробудил такого сочувствия к своей жизни, как Алек­ сей человек Божий. Мы разумеем… то теплое чувство преклонения перед его страдальческой жизнью, которое создало и поддерживает в народной памяти у нас и многочисленные жития, и духовный стих, воспевающий чужого по происхождению, но ставшего родным по настроению Алексея Божиего человека»].17

The Life of Alexis was known in Russia before the Mongol invasion (1237). It has survived in a great number of manuscripts and in several recensions. Spiritual verses, early drama and panegyrics were based on it. The Life of Alexis has influ- enced a number of Old Russian Lives – The Narration on Boris and Gleb, The Life of Alexander Nevsky, The Life of Constantine of Murom, and The Story of Mercury Smolensky.18 Obviously, The Life of Alexander Oshevensky should be added to this list. Word-for-word borrowings from The Life of Alexis are not present in The Life of Alexander Oshevensky. Nevertheless, an affinity between these two texts can be felt on a very deep level. Nicodemus (Kononov) expressed this in his Akathistos hymn to Alexander Oshevensky written in 1897 with the following salutation (Chairetismus): “Rejoice, the soulmate of Alexis the Man of God!” [«Радуйся, Алексию человѣку Божию единодушниче!»].19 The founder of the Oshevensky Monastery was born on 17 March, the feast day of Alexis the Man of God, and was named in his honour. The name in the Middle Ages de- termined man’s destiny and, in hagiography, it served as a basis for the person’s likeness to the ancient saint he was named after. For example, Mercury of Smo- lensk was likened to the Great-Martyr Mercury, Anthony of Caves was likened to Anthony the Great, Maximus the Greek to Maximus the Confessor, etc.

17 В.П. Адрианова, Житие Алексея человека Божия в древней русской литературе и народной словесности [V.P. Adrianova, The Life of Alexis the Man of God in Ancient Rus- sian Literature and Folklore], Petrograd, 1917, с. 127. 18 See: ibid, с. 145–148. 19 Акафист преподобному отцу нашему Александру Ошевенскому чудотворцу [Akathist to Our Father St. Alexander Oshevensky the Wonderworker], in: РНБ, собрание Санкт- Петербургской духовной академии [NLR, the Collection of Theologi- cal Academy], № АII/345, л. 3 об.

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“At that, the very name of the saint was often a ‘clue’ to understanding the saint’s ‘doings’ and his spiritual destiny” [«причем само имя святого нередко является “ключом” к пониманию “делания” святого, его духовной пред­ назначенности»].20 Like “the Man of God”, Alexander Oshevensky was born after many prayers of his mother; at a young age, thanks to his successful book studying, he com- prehended the divine wisdom; meekly tolerated insults, avoided glory, took alms from his relatives, and so forth. Monologues of the saints’ parents, con- tained in both texts, are full of love, sorrow, reproach and suffering:

Woe is me, my Lord! Why have you done this to us and brought sorrow to our souls? Woe is me, the dear child of my womb, the light of my eyes! Why have you done this to me? How could you have lived unrecognized in my house for so many years?

[«Увы мнѣ, господи мои! Почто нам сице сътворил еси и печаль души нашеи принесе? Увы мнѣ, чядо любезное моея утробы, свѣте моею очию! Почто ми сице сътворил еси, како не познанъ бысть толико лѣтъ сый в дому моемь?»]21 (The Life of Alexis the Man of God);

Oh, child Alexy! What have you done! Concealed from your father your intention! Why haven’t you told it your mother? <…> Now I don’t see you sitting with us at repast, or having fun with your brothers. Now we don’t hear you uttering divine words.

[«О чадо Алексее! Что се сотворил еси? Утаилъ еси от отца помыслъ свой! Почто ми не повѣда, матери своей? <…> Уже не вижу тя на трапезѣ с нами сѣдяща, ни съ братиями веселящася. Ни слышим от устъ твоих божественых словесъ»] (The Life of Alexander Oshevensky, л. 27 – 27 об.).

In the hagiographical works dedicated to “the Man of God” these monologs are pronounced after Alexis’s death, whereas in The Life of St Alexander after

20 О.В. Панченко, “Поэтика уподоблений: (к вопросу о «типологическом» методе в древнерусской агиографии, эпидейктике и гимнографии)” [O.V. Panchenko, “Poetics of Likeness: on the Question of ‘Typological’ Method in Old Russian Hagiography, Epide- ictic Oratory and Hymnology”], in: ТОДРЛ, т. 54, St. Petersburg, 2003, с. 495, 508. 21 Адрианова, Житие Алексея человека Божия, с. 489 (the Great Menaion Reader recen- sion, 16th century).

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Alexander’s retiring to the monastery. In both texts parents receive sorrowful news from the writings written by their sons, and the mothers are compared to a swallow [«ластовица»].22 Some of these motifs are embodied in other works of Byzantine and Russian hagiography and should be viewed as hagiographic topoi;23 some of them were transplanted in The Life of Alexander Oshevensky within large extracts from The Life of Alexander Svirsky. It should be noted that the two saints’ “unity of souls” [«единодушие»], as it is called in the Akathistos, is established at the very beginning of The Life of Alexander Oshevensky by means of the saint’s secular name and his birthday. That is why the listed motifs were aimed at sustaining this association in the reader’s mind. As a hagiographer, Theodosius was in quite an unusual position. On the one hand, he had to present Alexander Oshevensky as an exemplary monk who abandoned all worldly things, left his father and mother (compare: Mt 10:37– 38), demonstrated, as John Climacus put it, a “passionless hatred” [«бесстрас­ тную ненависть»]. However, on the other hand, the hagiographer could not ignore the fact that the saint founded his monastery in the vicinity of his par- ents’ house across the river, and he did not cut his family ties. The image of Alexis the Man of God, as a hagiographic prototype, perfectly fitted Alexander: living in the parents’ house, seeing them every day, the saint at the same time remained as though outside of it and was alien to his relatives and “unrecog- nized” [«незнаемый»]. Unlike The Life of Alexis, The Life of Alexander Oshevensky, of course, does not contain descriptions of how servants beat the saint and pour slops over him, but the motif of an alien at home remains. Like in Alexis’s case, Alexan- der’s relatives also make him suffer. One of his brothers, Ambrose, full of anger and fury, with an axe in his hand, is going to break down the doors of the mon- astery in order to use force and make his son and nephew, who made their vows to the “criminal” [«злодей»] Alexander, return home. Under the influ- ence of another brother, Lucian by name, Ambrose recognizes his guilt and asks the saint to forgive him. But soon nephews begin to experience the feeling of “hatred” [«ненависть»] towards the saint, “be ashamed of him and stay

22 In Old Russian literature a wife, longing for her husband, can also be compared to a swal- low. One can come across this image in folk lyrics, for example, in laments (see: В.П. Адрианова-Перетц, Очерки поэтического стиля Древней Руси [V.P. Adrianova- Peretz, Essays on poetic style of Old Russia], Moscow–Leningrad, 1947, с. 74–77). 23 See: Т.Р. Руди, “О композиции и топике житий преподобных” [T.R. Rudi, “On Texture and Topoi of Lives of the Holy Monks”], in: ТОДРЛ, т. 57, St. Petersburg, 2006, с. 431–500.

Scrinium 11 (2015) 281-294 Downloaded from Brill.com10/01/2021 03:51:50AM via free access 292 Pigin away from him” [«срамитися его и удалятися от него»] (л. 84 об.). Finally, they abandon the monastery. Alexander’s spiritual life is incomprehensible and alien to them. That is how the motif of saint unrecognized by his relatives is transformed in The Life of Alexander Oshevensky. It should be noted that the development of family theme in The Life of Alex- ander Oshevensky is far from being unambiguous. The wording by B.I. Berman, a very shrewd interpreter of The Life of Alexis the Man of God, cannot be ap- plied to St. Alexander: Alexis is “‘the Man of God’, the one of God only, the man of God entirely… The sufferings of his relatives do not mean anything in the world of hagiography as long as he gladly and humbly accepts being humiliat- ed at his home and by doing so he pleases God” [«это “человек Божий”, только Божий, целиком… Страдания его близких не имеют ровным счетом никакого значения в мире жития, пока он с радостью и смирением прин­ имает унижения в доме своем и этим угоден Богу»].24 Unlike St. Alexis, the tears and grief of Alexander’s parents matter a lot to him: he always thinks of them and is afraid to make them unhappy. Having decided to “serve” in the Cyril of the White Lake Monastery for some time, Alexander sends his parents a letter full of love. Meeting his father after a long separation, he falls to his knees, sheds “pitiful tears” [«жалостныя слезы»] and begs him to forgive him:

Oh, father! Forgive me, I have angered your old age and upset your heart with my retardation and carelessness. <…> What shall you order the slave of yours? <…> I want to enjoy viewing the beauty of your old age. I shall rejoice in looking at your grey hair. And I shall kiss your feet …

[«О отче! Прости мя, прогнѣвах твою старость и огорчих твою утробу своим замедлениемъ и небрежением. <…> Что велиши рабу своему? <…> Да наслажуся, видя доброту старости твоея. Да возвеселюся, зря седины твоя. И облобызаю нозѣ твои…» (л. 34 об.–35)].

Alexander asks the Father Superior of the Cyril Monastery several times to let him see his parents and eventually leaves the monastery in order to establish his own monastery close to his parents’ house. And what is more, his father chooses the site for building the monastery. This attachment to his parents (rather unusual for a monk) evokes certain sympathy from the hagiographer:

24 Б.И. Берман, “Читатель жития (Агиографический канон русского средневековья и традиция его восприятия)” [B.I. Berman, “Hagiography Reader (Hagiographic Canon and the Tradition of its Perception in Medieval Russia)”], in: Художественный язык средневековья [Poetic Language of the Middle Ages], Moscow, 1982, с. 176.

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“Who knows what grief can children bring to their parents? – he asks. – Pity can break one’s heart and sadness can devour one’s soul” [«Кто бо вѣсть, ка­ кова скорбь родителем о чадѣх бываетъ? – вопрошает он. – Съкрушаетъ же сердце жалость, снѣдаетъ печаль душу» (л. 27 об.)]. Alexander’s return to his parents is explained by divine Providence; there is an allusion to the Gospel parable of the Prodigal Son: in the dialogue with his father, Alexander calls himself “a wandering sheep” [«овца заблудшая»] and “a perished child” [«чадо погибшее»] (л. 35). Theodosius draws special attention to the family theme. This is determined not only by the circumstances of Alexander Oshevensky’s biography, but also by a high esteem of the family in Muscovy in the sixteenth century. Within the system of values of that epoch the family was defined not only in terms of moral, but also in terms of the state and its politics. According to the Domo- stroy (the middle-16th-cent. Muscovite ideological work which used in its title a Byzantine theological term οἰκονομία not in its normal meaning of Incarna- tion and Redemption but for the allegedly “divine” dispensation of the whole everyday life], a family (“home”) is the state in miniature. “Father’s curse shall drain you, and mother’s curse shall uproot you” [«Отча клятва иссушитъ, а матерня искоренитъ»] – this maxim, used both in Domostroy25 and The Life of Alexander Oshevensky (л. 43 об.), indicates the affinity between the concepts of these two texts. The union of (St. George) the Dragon Fighter and Wisdom, which is the theocratic ideal of the Tsardom of Muscovy, is also allegorically depicted as a family in The Narration of Peter and Febronia of Murom (late 1540s).26 The glorification of state power in The Life of Alexander Oshevensky looks quite logical in this context: one of the chapters begins with an extensive panegyric in honor of Ivan the Terrible. To sum up, the discussed examples prove that Theodosius used different techniques for dealing with literary sources. He borrowed from them extensive verbatim extracts or brief exact quotes, sometimes with reference to the au- thor; borrowings from The Ladder are of this kind. Theodosius uses The Life of Alexis the Man of God as some sort of metatext: the “hints,” scattered through- out the text, are to help the reader correlate the feats of these two saints. This provides the story of Alexander Oshevensky with profound symbolic meaning.

25 See: Домострой, изд. подг. В.В. Колесов, В.В. Рождественская [Domostroy, ed. V.V. Kole- sov, V.V. Rozhdestvenskaya], St. Petersburg, 1994, с. 30; Compare also with Измарагд [The Izmaragd] (Ibid., с. 282). There is no exactly same expression in the Bible, but compare with Sir 3: 8–9. 26 See: М. Плюханова, Сюжеты и символы Московского царства [M. Plyukhanova, Plots and Symbols of the Tsardom of Muscovy], St. Petersburg, 1995, с. 203–232.

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The family theme is what The Ladder and The Life of Alexis have in common. The comprehension of this theme in The Life of Alexis is definitely paradoxi· cal: monkhood is interpreted as complete withdrawal from secular world and family but, however, the family is also presented as an unconditional value, and any intrusion into it is a violation of God’s commandments. Alexander Oshevensky is portrayed as an ideal monk and, at the same time, as an ideal son. “Love for God puts out love for parents, and who says he possesses both (kinds of love) deceives himself” [«Любовь Божия отрази любовь родителей, глаголяй же обоя имѣти себе прельсти»] – these words from The Ladder, cited in the Life as an unquestioned truth, do not absolutely or exactly corre- spond to St. Alexander’s life story. Theodosius’s rather inconsistent and per- haps not quite intentional attempts to combine the ideals of monastery and family could not result in their complete harmonization. Thus, The Life of Alex- ander Oshevensky is not only an interesting text in terms of literature, but a valuable historical source as well. It reflects some cultural and religious sub- jects, topical for Muscovy in the sixteenth century.

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