| Title of the article: |
Roman Olgovich of Ryazan — the defender of the Orthodox faith (in ancient Russian sources) |
| Author(s): |
ANDREEVA E. A. |
| Section: |
Old Russian Heritage |
| Year: |
2014 |
| Issue: |
№ 3 (33) |
| Pages: |
176-185 |
| Index UDK: |
821.161.1.0 |
| Index BBK: |
83.3(2Рос=Рус)1 |
| Abstract: |
The era of the Tatar-Mongol yoke brought into literature a new type of hero - the prince, the defender of cities, their citizens and the Christian faith. Hero-ism for one’s homeland was often accompanied by tragic death. Old Russian literature knows many such examples, which were recorded less frequently in the hagiographies of the princes and more often in the chronicles. The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways of creating the image of the hero-protector of Orthodoxy in narratives about Roman Olgovich of Ryazan, murdered at the Horde in 1270. The distinctive feature of those narratives is particular emotiveness and naturalism in the description of the last minutes of the life and the death of the prince. The work is based on the chronicle reports about the death of the Ryazan prince and a short hagiography (martyrium) placed in «The Book of Degrees of Royal Genealogy». The result of the examination is the identication of various ways of narration about torment (martyrdom): brief stories, describing the main events and telling directly about the death of Roman Olgovich, and detailed ones, including speeches of the hero and the author’s characteristics of the personage, with the supplement of the chroniclers’ teachings. Hagiography, placed in «Stepennaya book» is one of the most emotional works of old Russian literature. It creates the image of a true defender of Orthodoxy, not wishing to submit to the authority of the Khan. The image of the Ryazan prince who suffered for the faith in Horde, became a landmark of its time. The struggle against the Tatars was getting not only a political but also a spiritual sense. |
| Keywords: |
OLD RUSSIA, HORDE, PRINCE, CHRONICLE, HAGIOGRAPHY, SUFFERING, MARTYR, HOLY |
| Bibliography: |
1 Ermolinskaia letopis` [Ermolinskaya chronicle]. Polnoe sobranie russkikh letopisei [Complete Collection of Russian chronicles]. St. Petersburg, Tip. M. A. Aleksandrova Publ., 1910. Vol. 23. 342 p. 2 Letopisnyi sbornik, imenuemyi Patriarshei ili Nikonovskoi letopis`iu [Chronicle collection named Patriarch or Nikon`s chronicle]. Polnoe sobranie russkikh letopisei [Complete Collection of Russian chronicles]. St. Petersburg, Tip. Min-va vnutrennikh del Publ., 1885. Vol. 10. 244 p. 3 L`vovskaia letopis` [Lvov chronicle]. Polnoe sobranie russkikh letopisei [Complete Collection of Russian chronicles]. St. Petersburg, Tip. M. A. Aleksandrova Publ., 1910. Vol. 20, First part. 418 p. 4 Moskovskii letopisnyi litsevoi svod kontsa XV veka [Moscow chronicle corpus of the end of XV century]. Polnoe sobranie russkikh letopisei [Complete Collection of Russian chronicles]. Moscow, Leningrad, Izd-vo AN SSSR Publ., 1949. Vol. 25. 464 p. 5 Novgorodskie i Pskovskie letopisi [Novgorod and Pskov chronicles]. Polnoe sobranie russkikh letopisei [Complete Collection of Russian chronicles]. St. Petersburg, Tip E. Pratsa Publ., 1848. Vol. 4. 360 p. 6 Simeonovskaia letopis` [Simeonov chronicle]. Polnoe sobranie russkikh letopisei [Complete Collection of Russian chronicles]. Moscow, Iazyki slav`anskich kul`tur Publ., 2007. Vol. 18. 328 p. 7 Stepennaia kniga tsarskogo rodoslovia [The Book of Degrees of Royal Genealogy]. Moscow, Iazyki slav`anskich kul`tur Publ., 2007. Vol. 1. 542–543 p. 8 Fedotov G. Sv`atye Drevnei Rusi [The Saints of ancient Russia]. Moscow, Izd-vo AST Publ., 2003. 77 p. |
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