FEVRONIA

PETER AND FEVRONIA - the heroes of the old Russian "The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom", which took shape from 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. Literary processing The story about the saints of Murom was carried out by the writer and publicist of the clergy Yermolai-Erasmus, who was a member of the circle of employees of Metropolitan Macarius who worked on the Great Menaion of the Four. About the popularity of the story says big number lists that have survived to this day. The narrative united two ancient folklore motif- about the serpent fighter and the wise maiden. In a number of lists, the "Tale" is called a life, but Yermolai-Erasmus could not deviate from the folk poetic tradition in the depiction of heroes, in plot construction. Probably, due to this genre uncertainty, the predominance of folklore beginnings in the narrative of the “new miracle workers of Murom”, the work of Yermolai-Erazm was not included by Metropolitan Macarius in the composition of 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 good deeds, intelligence and insight. She is a faithful and caring wife who knows how to fight for her happiness. F. embodies love that neither evil people nor the force of circumstances can defeat. Researchers have repeatedly compared the old Russian story with the Western European novel about Tristan and Isolde, who also encounter various obstacles on the path to happiness.

The main character is active, she herself creates her own fate and the fate of Prince Peter, over whom she moral victory. The image of P. plays a less noticeable role in the narrative, it is, as it were, overshadowed by the bright and colorful figure of F.

Prince P. of Murom, standing up for the honor of his brother's wife, fights with a flying kite that has become accustomed to her. Having mastered the Agric sword, P. wins, but the snake's poisonous blood causes incurable ulcers and scabs on his body. F. heals the prince, putting forward the 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 deeds, but also in the ability to speak in allegory, riddles. So the princely envoy does not understand her, in response to whose questions F. says: “It’s bad when the yard is without ears, and the house is without eyes”; "Father and mother went on loan to cry, and the 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 of the approach of a stranger. The heroine's father and mother went to the funeral, and the beekeeper's brother went about his dangerous trade, climbing tall trees. With wise speeches, F. confounds her future husband.

After F. becomes the prince's wife, the wicked boyars and their wives, "like psi laking," do not want to be ruled by a woman of peasant origin, seek to drive F. out of the city, to separate the heroes. However, even here the power of love prevails. F. wants to take with him the most precious thing - his spouse. P. refuses to reign, leaves Murom together with F. The heroes of the story do not value power and wealth. So the love of P. and F. overcomes social obstacles. In this episode, a certain anti-boyar tendency is noticeable. The creator of the story emphasizes that the "evil" boyars quarreled because of power: each "although to be powerful." 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, they treat their subjects not as mercenaries, but as true shepherds. They are compared to gracious and cordial child-loving parents.

Neither social inequality, nor "evil" boyars can separate the heroes. They are inseparable in the face of death. At the same time, having accepted the monastic rank, P. and F. pray to God: “Yes, in one hour there will be a repose by her”; and bequeathed to be buried in one tomb.

The description of the death of the saints is especially expressive. Before her death, "blessed" F. embroiders "air" with the faces of saints for the cathedral. The prince, feeling his imminent death, sends to tell his wife that he is waiting for her in order 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 no longer wait for you”), the nun princess, who managed to embroider the face and hand of the saint, responds to the call of her husband. Having stuck the needle into the unfinished cover and wrapped the thread around it, F. sends to P. to say that she is ready.

Even the posthumous miracle - an important element in the composition of the hagiographic narrative - reaffirms the inseparability of the marital ties of the characters. People who sought to separate P. and F. during their lifetime 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 Vozdvizhensky church of the convent. In the morning, everyone sees a miracle: the bodies of the prince and princess are 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 Ivanovich 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 narration attracted the attention of writers and composers of modern times. So, the heroine of the story by I.A. Bunin “ Clean Monday"(1944), who has chosen 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). "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 life of the writer, was first published by R.P. Dmitrieva in TODRL (T. XXVI. L., 1971).

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

Lit.: Dmitrieva R.P. Ermopay-Erasmus (Yermolai the Sinful)

// Dictionary of scribes and bookishness of Ancient Rus'. L., 1988. Issue. 2, part 1. pp. 220-225; Likhachev D.S. Great Heritage: Classical Works of Literature of Ancient Rus'. M., 1975. S.253-258; The Tale of Peter and Fevronia. Preparation 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. V.7. pp.131-167.

A.A. Pautkin

literary heroes. - Academician. 2009 .

See what "FEVRONIA" is in other dictionaries:

I, female; unfold Fevronya, and; simple. to Khavroniya, and Khavronya, and. Derivatives: Fevronyushka; Fevronya; Feva; Fesh; Khavronyushka; Khavrokha; Khavrosh; Howrah (Howrah); Khorya. Name days: July 8, Oct 10, Nov 10 Dictionary of personal names. Fevronia See Khavronya ... Dictionary of personal names

Exist., number of synonyms: 2 name (1104) fevronya (2) ASIS synonym dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary

- (in the world Euphrosyne) saint, wife of Prince David of Murom, in monasticism Peter, also canonized. We have already heard about her later origin, in all likelihood the 16th century, which appeared, as one might suppose, at the same time ... ...

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

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

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

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

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

Fevronia, 1670 73 igum. 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 ... Big biographical encyclopedia

Fevronia, 1766 72 igum. 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 ... Big biographical encyclopedia

Books

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

Introduction

Social fairy tales are closer in content to fairy tales about animals. The satirical principle was especially pronounced in them, expressing the social sympathies and antipathies of the people. Their hero is a simple man: a peasant, a blacksmith, a carpenter, a soldier... Storytellers admire his life.

Fairy tales according to their plot structure complex genre. They include heroic tales about the fight against snakes, Kashchei the Immortal, and stories about the search for curiosities - the golden-horned deer, the firebird, and the story of the stepmother and stepdaughter, and many others.

Note that artistic images fairy tales represent a single artistic system that expresses folk ethical and aesthetic ideas. Each of the traditional images has its own permanent characteristic and acts in a fairy tale according to its aesthetic function.

Purpose: To characterize the traditional images of heroes and anti-heroes in Russian fairy tales.

V.Ya. Propp, who studied the tale in terms of the functions of the characters, establishes seven basic principles in the fairy tale. actors: pest (harms the hero, his family, fights with him, pursues him), donor (gives the hero a magic tool), helper (moves the hero, helps him in the fight against the pest), queen (desired character), sender (sends the hero), hero, false hero.

Give an analysis of the main artistic techniques, with the help of which central image receives an in-depth description;

Explore the varieties of magical Russian fairy tales that depict the image of heroes and anti-heroes.

Artistic techniques, with the help of which the central image receives an in-depth characterization

The sequence of functions of characters leads to the uniform 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 actors, since different characters are assigned the same function. So, a snake, Koschey, a little man with a marigold, a baba-yaga and others act as a pest, a backyard grandmother, wonderful birds, etc. act as a donor. There are other characters in fairy tales. Evil is represented in them by 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 a fairy tale. This is Baba Yaga - " bone leg, herself on a mortar, nose to the ceiling, one foot to the right corner, and the other to the left. This is the Serpent Gorynych, bursting with fire, with three, six, nine or twelve heads. It can be “a 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 inclination embodies and human characters. This is the stepmother who hates her husband's children, these are the older brothers of the hero, etc.

With all of them, the main characters of fairy tales, Ivan the Tsarevich, Ivan the Fool, Ivan Bykovich, are fighting not for life, but for death. They are distinguished by modesty, diligence, fidelity, kindness, willingness to help, disinterestedness. All this makes us admire. We sympathize with them Hard time We rejoice in their victories. Together they embody the unwritten moral code 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 the deceased parent to come to his grave.

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

With all the plot differences, fairy tales have a unity of poetic structure. This is expressed in the strict correlation of motives that form a consistently developing action from the plot through the development of the action - to the climax leading to the denouement. The action of the fairy tale is built on the principle of growth: each previous motive explains the next one, preparing the events of the main, climactic, which conveys the most dramatic moment of the plot action: Ivan Tsarevich defeats Koshchei, fulfills the difficult orders of the sea king, Ivashka burns the witch, the king reveals the witch's intrigues and returns to his wife , turned into a lynx, the image of a beautiful queen, Culminating, or, in other words, central, the motif is specific to each plot. The rest can vary, i.e., be replaced by motives similar in content within the framework of a given plot.

Conflict, expressed in a sharp opposition of the main characters, is an indispensable condition for plot action. In a fairy tale, she is always motivated. The traditional motivations that determine the actions of heroes are marriage, the desire to receive wonderful objects, the destruction of an enemy that causes some harm to the hero (his family or people in general), for example, the destruction of crops, the abduction of a princess, etc. One fairy tale can contain two motivations ( for example, Ivan Tsarevich defeats a snake and at the same time finds in underworld own wife). Depending on the direction of the plot, motivations can receive heroic, everyday or social overtones. 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-old polishing of a fairy tale in the process of its existence. The stepdaughter politely replies to Frost and he rewards her, the stepmother's daughters are rude to Frost and die.

When taking into account the plot - differences, 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 performances about justice, kindness, true beauty; everything is concentrated in it best qualities person, thanks to which the image of the hero becomes artistic expression ideal. The high moral qualities of the heroes are revealed through their actions. However, elements of a psychological nature can be found in fairy tales, attempts to convey inner world heroes, their spiritual life: they love, rejoice, grieve, are proud of the victory, experience betrayal and infidelity, look for a way out of difficult situations, sometimes they make mistakes. That is, in a fairy tale we already find outlines of the image of a person.

And yet, it is possible to speak about the individualization of images with a certain degree of conventionality, since many features inherent in the hero of one plot will be repeated in the heroes of other fairy tales. Therefore, the opinion about the image in fairy tales of a single folk character is fair. This folk character was embodied in different types heroes - male and female images.

The fairy-tale hero is essentially nameless. The name Ivan allows any substitutions - Vasily, Frol, Ivan the peasant's son, Ivan Medvedko and others.

At the beginning of the tale, he is named among other characters: "Once upon a time there was a king, he had three sons" - such is the typical beginning of most fairy tales. In order to distinguish the hero from the secondary characters, the tale introduces a number of traditional positions and situations associated only with the hero. He is young, among the brothers he is always the youngest and therefore he is not trusted. The definition of "junior" can be not only

age, but also social: Ivan the Fool is despised by his older brothers, he is disinherited, Ivan the peasant son, as the youngest, is opposed to the royal sons.

It is not uncommon for a hero to be distinguished miraculous birth: the queen eats a pea, drinks water from a well or stream - she gives birth to twin sons. Ivan Medvedko will be born from the marriage of a man and a bear, a miraculous fish is eaten by a queen, a servant and a cow, each of them has a son, but the son of a cow (Ivan Bykovich) shows the features of a hero in the future.

These motifs that begin the tale, due to their traditional nature, are, as it were, signal situations that draw the attention of listeners to the hero and, accordingly, determine the attitude towards other characters. This bias enhances emotional perception.

In most fairy tales, the hero, unlike other characters, is endowed with extraordinary power. His heroism is already revealed in childhood, he "grows by leaps and bounds", "goes out into the street, grabs someone by the hand - hand away, grabs someone by the leg - foot away." He is only capable of a wonderful horse, which awaits the rider on its own in the dungeon, chained with twelve chains. Setting out on his journey, the tsarevich orders himself a club worth twelve poods. The same power is hidden in Ivan the Fool (“Sivka-Burka”): “...He grabbed the nag by the tail, skinned it and shouted: “Hey, flock, jackdaws, hags and magpies! Here is the father sent you a stern "

It should be noted that any quality the hero of the tale gives is not like sparing the animals; Ivan the Fool ransoms a dog and a cat with the last money, frees a crane that has fallen into a snare; the hunter, in need, feeds the eagle for three years. The same manifestation of ideal qualities is the fulfillment of duty, honoring elders, following wise advice. Usually advice comes from old men and women who embody life experience, the ability to foresee events. These characters often act as wonderful helpers. In the tale of the three kingdoms, Ivan Tsarevich, setting off in search of his kidnapped mother, defeats a many-headed snake, following her order "not to strike with weapons twice" or rearrange the barrels with "strong and powerless water." The plot “Go there, I don’t know where” is all based on the fulfillment by the archer of the wise advice of his wife. Failure to comply, violation given word are regarded as a misdemeanor and carry grave consequences: miraculous objects, the bride, are stolen from Ivan Tsarevich.

The initial erroneous behavior gives special persuasiveness to the right actions. Ivan Tsarevich thinks where to get the heroic horse. When asked by an oncoming backyard grandmother, what he thought about, he answers with rudeness, but then changes his mind, asks the old woman for forgiveness and receives the necessary advice.

The personality of the hero is manifested in his actions, in his reaction to the outside world. The plot action (situations in which the hero is placed) serves to reveal and prove the truth. positive qualities of a person, the correctness of his actions, as corresponding to the norms of human behavior in society. For each good deed, the hero is rewarded with magical items: an invisibility cap, a self-assembled tablecloth, wonderful animals - a heroic horse, helper animals. The reward can be in the form of advice - where to find a horse, how to find the way to the betrothed, to overcome the snake.

A fairy tale knows two main types of heroes: Ivan Tsarevich - the hero of magical and heroic plots (“Three Kingdoms”, “Kashchei the Immortal”, “ Rejuvenating apples", etc.) and Ivan the Fool - the hero of the fairy tales "Sivka-Burka", " magic ring”,“ Miraculous Gifts ”,“ The Little Humpbacked Horse ”, etc. The existence of various types of heroes finds its historical and aesthetic conditionality, the latter is determined by the desire to comprehensively reveal the national ideal. The goal of the hero in different plots is different: to return to people the light that the snake swallowed, to get rid of

monster mother and find the brothers, restore the sight and health of the old man, turns the queen into a white duck, and then tries to kill her children.

Revealing the images of its heroes, the fairy tale conveys folk ideas about people, their relationships, affirms kindness and fidelity. The image of the hero is revealed in a complex system of plot oppositions. Antithesis - this is an artistic technique by which the central image receives an in-depth characterization. Contrasting the hero with his opponent (the pest) is of particular importance, since the relationship of these characters is an expression of various life principles and thus become a means of revealing the ideological content of fairy tales.

The main types of heroes - active (Ivan Tsarevich) and passive (Ivan the Fool, stepdaughter) - the types of opponents also correspond. Conventionally, they can be divided into two groups: monstrous opponents of the "other" kingdom - snakes, Kashchei, Baba Yaga and others, and opponents of "their" kingdom - the king, princess, brothers, etc.

Monstrous Enemies - Characters of heroic stories. Folk fantasy paints them as fantastic monsters. Intentionally depicting the heroes as outwardly ordinary people - a good fellow, a red maiden, the fairy tale resorts to hyperbole when describing enemies: a nine-headed snake, a man with a fingernail - a beard with an elbow. All of them are aggressive, bring death and destruction to people: they kidnap women, children, burn kingdoms. But the more monstrous the enemy, the more determination and courage the hero must have.

The antagonistic relationship between the hero and his opponent is plot basis all fairy tales. But with a general resemblance plot plot none of the tales, however, repeats the other. This difference lies, in particular, in the plot diversity, which is largely due to the numerous images of opponents. Each of them has

a specific traditional function in the plot, hence the differences in appearance, attributes, properties that give rise to special forms of struggle with them. The number of opponents of the hero will increase even more if we take into account that different characters can be hidden behind one name.

Thus, in addition to the main characters - the hero and his opponent - there are many other characters in the fairy tale, each of which has its own purpose in the plot action; among them, the group of characters who give miraculous helpers, and the miraculous helpers themselves, is especially numerous. These are characters from a fairy tale.

In fairy tales, domestic and wild animals always stand on the side of the hero: the horse helps to defeat the snake, the cow Burenushka does hard work for her stepdaughter, the cat, etc. a dog returns the ring stolen by the princess, a bear, a wolf, a hare help the prince get Kashchei's death or deal with the sorcerer - his sister's lover.

Since ancient times, wishing to save oneself from illnesses and accidental dangers, striving to ensure good luck in all matters, the popular imagination endowed bread, water, fire, as well as a wide variety of objects with a magical function: flint, towel, needle, mirror, ring, knife, etc. This belief finds confirmation in numerous rites and customs, it was reflected in a peculiar way in the fairy tale about the miraculous properties of individual objects, with the help of which the hero performs difficult assignments and avoids danger. Miraculous objects in a fairy tale are, as a rule, outwardly ordinary household items - a comb, a brush, a towel. Miraculous properties are contained in their action: a tablecloth feeds all the hungry, a towel spreads like a river, a comb turns into an impenetrable forest.

Heroes and anti-heroes in Russian fairy tales

1. Artistic techniques, with the help of which the central image receives an in-depth characterization

The sequence of functions of characters leads to the uniform 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 actors, since different characters are assigned the same function. So, a snake, Koschey, a little man with a marigold, a baba-yaga and others act as a pest, a backyard grandmother, wonderful birds, etc. act as a donor. There are other characters in fairy tales. Evil is represented in them by 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 a fairy tale. This is Baba Yaga - "a bone leg, itself on a mortar, nose to the ceiling, one leg to the right corner, and the other to the left." This is the Serpent Gorynych, bursting with fire, with three, six, nine or twelve heads. It can be “a 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 in human characters. This is the stepmother who hates her husband's children, these are the older brothers of the hero, etc.

With all of them, the main characters of fairy tales, Ivan the Tsarevich, Ivan the Fool, Ivan Bykovich, are fighting not for life, but for death. They are distinguished by modesty, diligence, fidelity, kindness, willingness to help, disinterestedness. All this makes us admire. We sympathize with them in difficult times, rejoice in 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 the deceased parent to come to his grave.

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

With all the plot differences, fairy tales have a unity of poetic structure. This is expressed in the strict correlation of motives that form a consistently developing action from the plot through the development of the action - to the climax leading to the denouement. The action of the fairy tale is built on the principle of growth: each previous motive explains the next one, preparing the events of the main, climactic, which conveys the most dramatic moment of the plot action: Ivan Tsarevich defeats Koshchei, fulfills the difficult orders of the sea king, Ivashka burns the witch, the king reveals the witch's intrigues and returns to his wife , turned into a lynx, the image of a beautiful queen, Culminating, or, in other words, central, the motif is specific to each plot. The rest can vary, i.e., be replaced by motives similar in content within the framework of a given plot.

Conflict, expressed in a sharp opposition of the main characters, is an indispensable condition for plot action. In a fairy tale, she is always motivated. The traditional motivations that determine the actions of heroes are marriage, the desire to receive wonderful objects, the destruction of an enemy that causes some harm to the hero (his family or people in general), for example, the destruction of crops, the abduction of a princess, etc. One fairy tale can contain two motivations ( for example, Ivan Tsarevich defeats a snake and at the same time finds his wife in the underworld). Depending on the direction of the plot, motivations can receive heroic, everyday or social overtones. 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-old polishing of a fairy tale in the process of its existence. The stepdaughter politely replies to Frost and he rewards her, the stepmother's daughters are rude to Frost and die.

When taking into account plot differences, 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 it, thanks to which the image of the hero becomes an artistic expression of the ideal. The high moral qualities of the heroes are revealed through their actions. However, in fairy tales one can find elements of a psychological nature, attempts to convey the inner world of heroes, their spiritual life: they love, rejoice, grieve, are proud of their victory, experience betrayal and infidelity, look for a way out of difficult situations, sometimes they make mistakes. That is, in a fairy tale we already find outlines of the image of a person.

And yet, it is possible to speak about the individualization of images with a certain degree of conventionality, since many features inherent in the hero of one plot will be repeated in the heroes of other fairy tales. Therefore, the opinion about the image in fairy tales of a single folk character is fair. This folk character was embodied in different types of heroes - male and female images.

The fairy-tale hero is essentially nameless. The name Ivan allows any substitutions - Vasily, Frol, Ivan the peasant's son, Ivan Medvedko and others.

At the beginning of the tale, he is named among other characters: "Once upon a time there was a king, he had three sons" - such is the typical beginning of most fairy tales. In order to distinguish the hero from the secondary characters, the tale introduces a number of traditional positions and situations associated only with the hero. He is young, among the brothers he is always the youngest and therefore he is not trusted. The definition of "junior" can be not only

age, but also social: Ivan the Fool is despised by his older brothers, he is disinherited, Ivan the peasant son, as the youngest, is opposed to the royal sons.

Not infrequently, a hero is distinguished by a miraculous birth: the queen eats a pea, drinks water from a well or stream - twin sons are born to her. Ivan Medvedko will be born from the marriage of a man and a bear, a miraculous fish is eaten by a queen, a servant and a cow, each of them has a son, but the son of a cow (Ivan Bykovich) shows the features of a hero in the future.

These motifs that begin the tale, due to their traditional nature, are, as it were, signal situations that draw the attention of listeners to the hero and, accordingly, determine the attitude towards other characters. This bias enhances emotional perception.

In most fairy tales, the hero, unlike other characters, is endowed with extraordinary power. His heroism is already revealed in childhood, he "grows by leaps and bounds", "goes out into the street, grabs someone by the hand - hand away, grabs someone by the leg - foot away." He is only capable of a wonderful horse, which awaits the rider on its own in the dungeon, chained with twelve chains. Setting out on his journey, the tsarevich orders himself a club worth twelve poods. The same power is hidden in Ivan the Fool (“Sivka-Burka”): “...He grabbed the nag by the tail, skinned it and shouted: “Hey, flock, jackdaws, hags and magpies! Here is the father sent you a stern "

It should be noted that any quality the hero of the tale gives is not like sparing the animals; Ivan the Fool ransoms a dog and a cat with the last money, frees a crane that has fallen into a snare; the hunter, in need, feeds the eagle for three years. The same manifestation of ideal qualities is the fulfillment of duty, honoring elders, following wise advice. Usually advice comes from old men and women who embody life experience, the ability to foresee events. These characters often act as wonderful helpers. In the tale of the three kingdoms, Ivan Tsarevich, setting off in search of his kidnapped mother, defeats a many-headed snake, following her order "not to strike with weapons twice" or rearrange the barrels with "strong and powerless water." The plot “Go there, I don’t know where” is all based on the fulfillment by the archer of the wise advice of his wife. Failure to comply with the order, violation of this word is regarded as a fault and carries grave consequences: miraculous objects, the bride, are stolen from Ivan Tsarevich.

The initial erroneous behavior gives special persuasiveness to the right actions. Ivan Tsarevich thinks where to get the heroic horse. When asked by an oncoming backyard grandmother, what he thought about, he answers with rudeness, but then changes his mind, asks the old woman for forgiveness and receives the necessary advice.

The personality of the hero is manifested in his actions, in his reaction to the outside world. The plot action (situations in which the hero is placed) serves to reveal and prove the truly positive qualities of a person, the correctness of his actions, as corresponding to the norms of human behavior in society. For each good deed, the hero is rewarded with magical items: an invisibility cap, a self-assembled tablecloth, wonderful animals - a heroic horse, helper animals. The reward can be in the form of advice - where to find a horse, how to find the way to the betrothed, to overcome the snake.

A fairy tale knows two main types of heroes: Ivan Tsarevich - the hero of magical and heroic plots ("Three Kingdoms", "Kashchei the Immortal", "Rejuvenating Apples", etc.) and Ivan the Fool - the hero of fairy tales "Sivka-Burka", "Magic Ring", "Wonderful Gifts", "Humpbacked Horse", etc. The existence of various types of heroes finds its historical and aesthetic conditionality, the latter is determined by the desire to comprehensively reveal the national ideal. The goal of the hero in different plots is different: to return to people the light that the snake swallowed, to get rid of

monster mother and find the brothers, restore the sight and health of the old man, turns the queen into a white duck, and then tries to kill her children.

Revealing the images of its heroes, the fairy tale conveys folk ideas about people, their relationships, affirms kindness and fidelity. The image of the hero is revealed in a complex system of plot oppositions. Antithesis is an artistic technique by which the central image receives an in-depth characterization. Contrasting the hero with his opponent (the pest) is of particular importance, since the relationship of these characters is an expression of various life principles and thus becomes a means of revealing the ideological content of fairy tales.

The main types of heroes - active (Ivan Tsarevich) and passive (Ivan the Fool, stepdaughter) - also correspond to the types of opponents. Conventionally, they can be divided into two groups: monstrous opponents of the "other" kingdom - snakes, Kashchei, Baba Yaga and others, and opponents of "their" kingdom - the king, princess, brothers, etc.

Monstrous opponents are the characters of heroic plots. Folk fantasy paints them as fantastic monsters. Intentionally depicting the heroes as outwardly ordinary people - a good fellow, a red maiden, the fairy tale resorts to hyperbole when describing enemies: a nine-headed snake, a man with a fingernail - a beard with an elbow. All of them are aggressive, bring death and destruction to people: they kidnap women, children, burn kingdoms. But the more monstrous the enemy, the more determination and courage the hero must have.

The antagonistic relationship between the hero and his opponent is the basis of all fairy tales. But despite the general similarity of the plot plot, none of the tales nevertheless repeats the other. This difference lies, in particular, in the plot diversity, which is largely due to the numerous images of opponents. Each of them has

a specific traditional function in the plot, hence the differences in appearance, attributes, properties that give rise to special forms of struggle with them. The number of opponents of the hero will increase even more if we take into account that different characters can be hidden behind one name.

Thus, in addition to the main characters - the hero and his opponent - there are many other characters in the fairy tale, each of which has its own purpose in the plot action; among them, the group of characters who give miraculous helpers, and the miraculous helpers themselves, is especially numerous. These are characters from a fairy tale.

In fairy tales, domestic and wild animals always stand on the side of the hero: the horse helps to defeat the snake, the cow Burenushka does hard work for her stepdaughter, the cat, etc. a dog returns the ring stolen by the princess, a bear, a wolf, a hare help the prince get Kashchei's death or deal with the sorcerer - his sister's lover.

Since ancient times, wishing to save oneself from illnesses and accidental dangers, striving to ensure good luck in all matters, the popular imagination endowed bread, water, fire, as well as a wide variety of objects with a magical function: flint, towel, needle, mirror, ring, knife, etc. This belief finds confirmation in numerous rites and customs, it was reflected in a peculiar way in the fairy tale about the miraculous properties of individual objects, with the help of which the hero performs difficult assignments and avoids danger. Miraculous objects in a fairy tale are, as a rule, outwardly ordinary household items - a comb, a brush, a towel. Miraculous properties are contained in their action: a tablecloth feeds all the hungry, a towel spreads like a river, a comb turns into an impenetrable forest.

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Let's continue the study of "The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom" and from the fight of the prince with the serpent we will move on to the most important moment of this monument - the acquaintance of the future spouses. This meeting of Peter (David) and Fevronia (Euphrosyne) also haunts the critics of the "Tale ...".

So, we remember that Peter is seriously ill. He was able to overcome the enemy, but, by the permission of God, the demon inflicts bodily ulcers on him, which spread throughout the body in scabs like leprosy.

The prince sought help from many doctors, but no one could heal him. Hearing 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 (lads) 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 wove a canvas, and a hare jumped at her feet. At first, the lad 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. Togo was struck by her wisdom, and he finally told that he had been sent to the Ryazan Territory to find a doctor for his ill master.

Fevronia (I will call both the prince and the 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 not said “took”, but “demanded”, which is closer to the ancient Russian source.) “What are you talking about ?! - cried the lad. - Who can take my prince 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. Blessed 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? May he 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 fitting for me to treat him. And the man returned and told his prince what the girl had said to him.

Prince Peter, however, 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 healing of the prince.

Let's reflect on the mysteries of Fevronia and on her no less mysterious words about the method of healing the ailing prince.

Riddles of the wise maiden

I will not quote verbatim the very interesting and poetic riddles of the wise maiden; I think that everyone who is interested should familiarize themselves with them in the very text of the Tale .... Our task is different: to understand that in the great monument Old Russian writing is an undoubted historical fact, which can be recognized as quite reliable, and which can be attributed to folk element. So, for many researchers, it is the riddles of Fevronia that seem to be one of the most folklore, fabulous components of the Tale. Indeed, there is a clear echo with folk oral art: 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 simply actively uses figurative vernacular in his speech.

Let's start with the fact that the life of the old Russian peasant of the XIII century was simply inseparable from everything that we now call folklore. Young peasant girls spent their leisure time singing songs, telling fairy tales, and guessing riddles. Russian people sang lingering, fabulous songs while they were working. Even the classical literature of the 19th century constantly puts sayings, proverbs, jokes into the mouths of the villagers. 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 others. folklore sources.

Fevronia is a person not of this world, a little holy fool. She has the will of God

Second point: Fevronia is not a simple girl. She is a person not of this world, if you like - a little holy fool. Her behavior is extraordinary. Even the fact that she keeps a forest dweller, a hare, in her room is 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 recall 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 characteristic not only of Saint Fevronia. Some of our Russian ascetics also loved him extremely. Optina elder Ambrose 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 the flesh of the flesh of the simple Russian people, and the fact that she knew oral folk art and loved him, no wonder.

Forced marriage or knowing the will of God?

But more complex riddle are not the allegories that Fevronia speaks with the princely youth, but her words that only the one who takes or even demands the prince for himself can cure the prince. Of course, this is not just about the fact that the doctor took the patient to his house and treated him, so to speak, permanently. 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 itself", but "to itself". No, it's much deeper than that.

I am very close to the explanation of these words of the 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 am 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 dwelling, as it seems to him, by accident. He just wants to ask for directions to the well-known doctors in this area. And those who see in Fevronia some kind of practicing folk healer are completely wrong.

But in fact, this meeting is not at all accidental. And its goal is not even the cure of the prince, but the fulfillment of the will of God. It is not known whether Fevronia had the gift of healing or 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 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. It was revealed to her that she was chosen for this path. By the way, in the lives of the saints, the theme of being chosen, knowledge by the saint himself or his relatives about his special life path, is quite common.

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

So, Fevronia did not at all take advantage of the moment to successfully marry a rich and noble groom, as it may seem to many. 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 somehow manipulates Peter, blackmails him and forces him to marry her is simply blasphemous.

One more thing: yes, the righteous married life of Saints Peter and Fevronia is a model of family life for us. But in no case should we blindly copy the experience of the saints, without any reasoning, imitate them in everything. Saints are special people to whom very great knowledge about their future life. In some ways, we, of course, should follow them, but some moments of their lives are their personal, unique feat. As an example, I will cite the life of St. Alexis, a man of God. After his marriage, he left home on his wedding night, leaving his young wife and parents behind. Having spent many years in great deeds and wanderings, Alexy returned to his home, but already in a completely unrecognizable guise of a beggar. He was sheltered in the entrance hall, where he lived for several years, unrecognized by anyone, and only before his death wrote a letter to his parents, where he spoke about his life. Why did he do this? For us it is a secret. But one thing is clear: the Lord revealed His will to him, and he followed this path. Is it worth it for us, who do not know secrets, to act in this way? Of course not.

But back to the "Tale ...". So, Prince Peter, although outwardly he accepted the condition of Fevronia 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 should happen later. She sends the patient to take a steam bath, and at this time she prepares an ointment from sourdough bread. At the command of the girl, the prince smears all the scabs with this remedy, except for one. The next morning his whole body was healthy. Peter sends gifts to the beekeeper's daughter, but he does not want to fulfill his promise to marry her. Shortly after the arrival of the prince in Murom, his body again becomes covered with ulcers. He returns to Fevronia, repents and shamefully asks for forgiveness. “She, not in the least angry, said:“ If she becomes my husband, she will be healed. He is hard word gave her 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 davshi - hold on.

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

Boyar rebellion

Some time after the wedding, Peter's older 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 either. The power-hungry boyars conceived 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 picking up crumbs from the table after a meal in her hand. Peter, having decided to check the words of the nobles, somehow after dinner opened Fevronia's palm and ... saw grains of fragrant incense. This story may remind many 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 it on purpose, and not out of the habit of thrift. And the wives of the senior princes even began to imitate her, trying to repeat the miracle of turning the remnants of food into a lake with swans, but nothing came of them.

Apparently, having caught too obvious consonance with folklore in this place of the biography of the holy princes, St. Philaret (Gumilevsky) did not include it in his life of the faithful Peter and Fevronia. As he did not use another episode from the history of the boyar turmoil:

“A considerable time passed, and then one day the boyars came to the prince in anger and said: “Prince, we are all ready to faithfully serve you and have you as autocrat, but we do not want Princess Fevronia to command our wives. If you want to remain an autocrat, you will have another princess on your way. Fevronia, taking wealth as much as she wants, let her go wherever she wants! Blessed Peter, in whose habit it was not to be angry at anything, meekly answered: “Tell Fevronia about this, let's hear what she will say.”

Furious boyars, having lost their shame, decided to arrange a feast. They began to feast, and when they got drunk, they began to conduct their shameless speeches, like barking dogs, depriving the saint of God's gift, which God promised to keep her even after death. And they say: “Madam Princess Fevronia! The whole city and the boyars are asking you: give us whom we will ask you!” She replied: “Take whoever you ask!” They, as 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 whom I ask of you.” They, the villains, rejoiced, not knowing what awaits them, and swore: “Whatever you name, you will immediately receive without question.” Then she says: “I don’t ask for anything else, only my wife, 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 there was no Prince Peter, they would put another autocrat: but in their hearts 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, observing them, as the God-voiced Matthew prophesies in his Gospel. For it is said that if a man drives away his wife, who is not accused of adultery, and marries another, he himself commits adultery. This blessed prince acted according to the Gospel: he equated his property to manure, so as not to violate the commandments of God.

It is interesting that St. Philaret, with his characteristic historical accuracy, notes that the Murom boyars, in their desire to overthrow the prince, were incited by his closest relatives who claimed to reign: younger brother and nephew. St. Philaret describes the story of the expulsion of noble princes very briefly. The boyars approach the prince and put forward an ultimatum to him: “either let him let go of his wife, who offends noble wives with her origin, or leave Murom. The prince firmly remembered the words of the Lord: “What God has combined, let no man separate. Whoever lets go of his wife and marries another is an adulterer” (see Matt. 19:6, 9). Therefore, faithful to the duty of a Christian spouse, the prince agreed to renounce the principality. He was left after that with poor means of subsistence, and sad thoughts involuntarily came to his mind. But the smart princess told him: "Do not be sad, prince, the merciful God will not leave us in poverty." In Murom, irreconcilable strife soon opened up, seekers of power grabbed their 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, true to his duty, triumphed over his enemies.

Why does the story of the rebellion of the boyars 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 of turning crumbs into incense, in my opinion, is quite acceptable for the life of the saints. Yes, Fevronia's trick, thanks to which she takes the prince with her, has very similar analogues in Russian folk tales: when a wife is forced to part with her husband, she asks to take the most precious thing from home and, of course, takes her beloved. But, as we know, Fevronia is a connoisseur of folklore, so is it any wonder if she acts "in a fabulous way." In addition, the plot “about the most expensive” is not only Russian, but, so to speak, universal. What should be the most precious thing for a woman? Of course, beloved man. The wives of the German city of Weinsberg did the same: when the besiegers allowed them to leave and take with them as much as they could carry on their shoulders, they, of course, took - carried - their husbands.

But this is not what confuses in the story of the princely exile. Peter does not make a decision himself - he sends the unbridled nobles to his wife: they say, ask her what she thinks about it. Could this be in the XIII century, and even in the family of the prince? Of course not. For the Russian Middle Ages, such a situation is absolutely unbelievable. I think it is for this reason, and not because of its folkloric nature, that this episode was not included in the life 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 folk traditions 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 prince's conversation with 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, true to Christian marital duty, prefers to renounce the principality. But the old Russian princes often forgot about their family duty. Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible, under whom the faithful Peter and Fevronia were canonized, imprisoned two of his wives in a monastery. His father, Vasily III, tonsured his legal wife Solomonia Saburova as a nun for her infertility and married Elena Glinskaya. It should also not be forgotten that in the 13th century, siblings killed each other in order to add another allotment to their lands. So to give up reigning for the sake of preserving the family and loving his wife is greatest feat for the ruler of that time. And they also say that in the life of Peter and Fevronia nowhere is it said about 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. Based on the chronicles, he tells that the noble Murom prince helps to restore justice to the Grand Duke Vsevolod and participates with him in the struggle against the Pronsk and Ryazan princes. As a reward for this, Peter received from Vsevolod the rich Principality of Pronsk. When the former princes of Pronsk went to war against him, meek Peter “sent to say to them: “Brothers! I did not occupy Pronsk by myself: Vsevolod put me here. Pronsk is yours.” And calmly returned to Murom. What high disinterestedness! What deep respect for the duty of love and honor!” exclaims Saint Philaret. Such disinterestedness was, indeed, a great rarity in times of princely civil strife. But Peter was not at all some kind of pacifist. According to the chronicles, he was a brave warrior, took part in several military operations. And in 1220 his troops were on a glorious campaign against the Volga Bulgars.

Filaret includes in his biography of the holy princes and the case of a man who, forgetting about his wife, stared at the beauty of Fevronia. This episode is given in full, along with the answers of the wise princess, but for some reason the saint refers it not to the time of the exile of the princes, but already to their peaceful reign, which followed after their return.

It is interesting that when you are in Murom, you cannot get rid of the feeling of the reality of everything that is described in the "Tale ...". This small town simply breathes with antiquity, "there is a Russian spirit, there it smells of Russia." Of course, the buildings of the times of Peter and Fevronia have not been preserved, but still in their hometown you really touch their lives. And when you pray at the relics of the blessed couple, and when you just 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 are sliding down the river, carrying the prince and princess to the other side, away from the rebellious boyars.

St. Philaret, speaking of the pious life and wise Christian rule of the saints after their return to Murom, writes that it “was truthful, but without harsh severity, merciful, but without weakness. The intelligent and pious princess helped her husband with advice and charity. Both lived according to the commandments of the Lord, loved everyone and did not love either pride or unrighteous self-interest; rested the wanderers, alleviated the fate of the unfortunate, honored the monastic and priestly rank, protecting him from needs.

Children of the "childless couple"

Another stumbling block, and, by the way, not only for secular critics, but also for some Orthodox, is the lack of mention of their children in the Tale of Peter and Fevronia. Even in the works of modern theologians, one has to come across the idea that Saints Peter and Fevronia allegedly deliberately renounced bodily marital communion for the sake of the purely feat of abstinence and chastity. And hostile critics use the lack of information about the children of the couple in the life as a counterargument in polemics with the Orthodox: they say, what kind of family patrons are they if they deliberately refused to have children?

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

Note: the fact that the pious Murom couple had children, which for some reason even some church writers deny, 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 Genealogy of the Princes of Murom, and the Genealogy of the Princes of Vladimir and Suzdal, and the Laurentian Chronicle, and the lives of the Blessed Prince Svyatoslav of Vladimir and his son, the Blessed Prince Demetrius, testify about the children of the noble princes of Murom ... By the way, the holy prince Svyatoslav was the son-in-law of Peter and Fevronia, and the right-believing Prince Dimitri - 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 the death of his father, Svyatoslav and daughter Evdokia. The names of their grandchildren are also known: Yaroslav - the son of Yuri; John and Vasily - the children of Svyatoslav - and the son of Evdokia Dimitri.

Prince Yuri accepted 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.

Svyatoslav in 1220, together with his father, participated 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 Murom, was at this wedding. Evdokia had a son, Dimitri, who, after the death of his father, became Prince Yuryev-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 the Yuriev prince Dimitri - 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, then, 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 is explained quite simply. The lives of the saints, as a rule, tell about the children of ascetics when they somehow took part in their feat or were themselves saints. In the life of Peter and Fevronia, compiled by St. Demetrius of Rostov, their children are not mentioned, most likely also for the same reason. And St. Philaret writes about only one son of the Murom couple - Svyatoslav; it can be assumed that he is of interest to the compiler of the 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 passed away to the Lord on the same day. Saint Philaret, leaning on historical documents, says that they reposed in April, on the Easter week of 1228, and, according to their will, were buried in one coffin. He does not mention that foolish people wanted to break the testament of the saints and put them in separate coffins, and each time they ended up together again. But this does not mean at all that this episode is fictional: in the lives of the saints we find descriptions of much greater and incomprehensible miracles. The life compiled by St. Philaret is rather brief; his task was to subject Yermolai-Erasmus' Tale to critical historical analysis and, if possible, to select verified and most reliable facts.

Why do we celebrate the day of the repose of the faithful Murom princes not in the spring, in April, but on June 25 according to the old style (respectively, July 8 in a new way)? 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 the celebration of the death of the holy couple (so as not to make it a passing day because of the Easter week) was simply timed to coincide with the day of finding the relics. But this is only an assumption. Neither in the time of St. Philaret, nor even more so in our days, was it found out on what exact day the relics were opened.

Regarding the memory of Saints Peter and Fevronia, it is on June 25 (July 8) that I have my own version. Very often, when the exact day of the memory of the saint is unknown to us, the celebration of his death is set on the name day. In the church calendar, we can find many saints with the same name, but who lived in completely different 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 faithful Fevronia of Murom - there is no other Fevronia in the calendar. But there are a lot of saints with the name Peter. Therefore, not knowing the exact day of the death of the Murom miracle workers, they set the day of their memory to be celebrated on June 25th.

days church holidays- this is not always the exact date of some historical event. We know that even the date of the Nativity of Christ is conditional, but in general a passing holiday.

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

More about legends and myths

Some researchers, mainly philologists and cultural scientists, 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 Old Russian "Tale ..." something similar to this chivalric legend. What is this? Did Yermolai-Erasmus' Tale really incorporate European legends that somehow penetrated Rus', or is it just a coincidence?

Let's start with the fact that the priest Yermolai collected materials for writing the life of the holy noble princes in the 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 where comparative analysis"Tales ..." and a novel about Tristan and Isolde. I have read quite a few articles on the subject, but none of them have explained 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 Western legends. He admires The Tale..., its amazing poetic language, images, and writes that "there is something in common... with the Western European medieval story of Tristan and Isolde." But are these two stories so similar?

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

I re-read the novel about Tristan and Iseult as presented by Joseph Bedier. To be honest, if you do not set the task of finding parallels in it with Erasmus' Tale ..., you may not notice any commonality between these two works at all. In the whole novel, I see only two episodes similar to those in the biography of the Murom princes. Tristan also defeats the dragon and becomes ill from its poison, putting the dragon's tongue in his pocket. He is found unconscious, brought to Isolde's house, but it is not she who heals him, but her mother, the queen: it is she who prepares the potion, and Isolde only helps her. And the second similar moment 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 life of Peter and Fevronia. The plot of the legend is very cunningly gossip, and Isolde is not alone at all - there are two Isolde 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 the whole earthly life, and then have its continuation in eternity. And the chivalric novel about Tristan and Isolde is quite the opposite: it is a story about adultery, about fornication. 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 has been removed.

We will not dwell on the dragon in detail. Legends about snakes and serpent fighters are among many, many peoples. Dragons were fought not only in Rus' and in Western Europe, but also in Iran, Babylon, Greece, not to mention China, Japan and India. With whom they just did not compare, for example, the victorious snake! Where legends about dragons come from, we have already discussed in the first part of the article. The serpent, the dragon - the favorite mask of the devil in ancient times, therefore, among 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 death of the characters of the Celtic legend and Russian saints. But first of all, let's not forget that, unlike the fictional characters of the 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 Iseult are placed to the right and left of the chapel, and then a thorn bush grows that connects their two graves. And if here it is just a beautiful poetic image, then the joint burial of Peter and Fevronia is, again, a reality: they really were buried together. By order of Ivan the Terrible, the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin was built over the graves of the saints. They lay together under the south side of the church. Later, their relics were opened and transferred to the temple itself. Now they rest in the women's Trinity Monastery, where they were transferred in our time.

As for the motive of death hotly loving friend friend of people in one day, then he is not European and not Russian, but universal. K.G. Jung called this the "collective unconscious". There is a "collective unconscious" inherent in a separate ethnic group, and there is a universal human unconscious. All mankind was created by God as a single human race, and with all the ethnic and cultural differences, all peoples have a lot in common. Therefore, it is not surprising that in similar situations we think in the same way and very close images emerge in our minds. In support of the fact that the motif of death on the same day is common to completely different peoples, we can cite the poem of the 15th-century Turkic author Alisher Navoi about two lovers "Leyli and Majnun". Here are the lines from it, telling about their death: “The beloved raised her hands, / she gave her soul to her beloved. / The beloved bowed without breathing, / his soul went to his beloved.

We know that Peter and Fevronia had an ardent desire to leave together and asked God "to die by them at the same time." And the Lord fulfilled the petition of two loving hearts.

A little more about amazing coincidences, universal images and the collective unconscious. There are works on the study of the origin of myths, in which one can find very interesting comparisons. Here is a European legend about King Arthur: in London, in the center of the city, there was a chapel; near it lay a stone with a sword sticking out of it; the sword, which no one could draw, was drawn 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 the Vietnamese legend: the spirits commanded the nobleman Le Loi to lead an uprising against the Chinese invaders; from the lake near which he lived, a giant tortoise swam out with a sword in his mouth. The hero takes this sword, drives off the Chinese with the help of a wonderful weapon and becomes king. It seems? It will be cooler than Tristan and Isolde.

Let's sum up some results. "The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom" is an excellent and very instructive work of ancient Russian literature. Over the centuries, "The Tale ..." has firmly entered into church life and enjoys great popularity and authority among Orthodox people. Yes, it was not included in Makaryev's Cheti-Minei, but was included in other collections of lives, such as Godunov's and Milyutin's Menaia.

We do not find in it any obvious absurdities and distortions of church teaching. It can be said that the only factual error of the "Tale ..." is the confusion with princely names.

The Church is a living organism; she herself rejects everything that is harmful and accepts what is beneficial.

Compiling the biographies of the saints, no one has ever strived for absolute, documentary accuracy. Something else was important: the spiritual authenticity of life. There is a lot of literary content in Father Erasmus' "Tale...", but the famous "Lives of the Saints" by St. Demetrius of Rostov are also very literary. Lyrical digressions, details, dialogues, prayers, which he puts into the mouths of the saints, are clearly artistic in nature. In addition to historical data, his lives make extensive use of folk tales about the ascetics.

Many generations of our Orthodox ancestors were brought up on Dimitriev's Menaia. People have been reading hagiographic literature for centuries and have received spiritual benefits. "The Tale of Peter and Fevronia" also brings edification to many, spiritual consolation and serves as a textbook of marital love and fidelity.