The question of the mention of Peter and Fevronia in historical chronicles remains open - direct references, unfortunately, have not been preserved. But many are inclined to believe that in the "Tale" we're talking about about the famous prince Davyd Yuryevich and his wife Euphrosyne, since in monasticism they took the names of Peter and Fevronia.

The well-known “Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom” in the form as we know it appeared only in 1547. It was designed by order of Metropolitan Macarius by the writer Ermolai-Erasmus for the Moscow Church Council, at which the saints were canonized.

It’s great that Russia has a Day of Family, Love and Fidelity. The initiative is bright and kind, and it is love that is sorely lacking today. But it is important that in “The Tale” there is not a word about the “romance” that is familiar to us between a man and a woman.

Yes, the story is about fidelity, devotion and Christian love. But first of all - about loneliness in the face of God from birth to death, about the fact that the kingdom on earth is possible only after the recognition of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Peter is a "stone"

The story begins with the reign of Paul and his wife. The devil, “hating the human race from time immemorial,” sent the poor woman a terrible serpent-seducer in the guise of her husband.

Of course, the spouses did not like the reptile’s visits, to put it mildly. At the instigation of her husband, the woman found out the terrible secret of the serpent - that he was destined to die from Peter’s shoulder and from Agrikov’s sword. And Peter, Paul's brother, hearing this, "without hesitation or doubt" took over the mission.

In a story, always pay attention to the names of the main characters. In this case, it is very important that in Greek the name Peter means “stone” (by the way, this is how pierre is translated from French). The key reference is in the Gospel of Matthew, in which Jesus Christ addresses the apostle: “And I say to you: you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”

Why "stone"? The Holy Fathers give different variants interpretations. Some say that this means “strong in Christ” and the Church rests on the unshakable faith of ordinary people. And in the interpretation of the saint righteous John Kronstadt under the main stone we must understand Jesus Christ himself - "The stone was Christ."

Peter from our story justifies the name given to him with his faith, steadfastness and strength. He defeats the serpent with a sword found in the altar wall of the church (which is also an important symbol). So Peter conquers the serpent by the power of God.

It didn't all start with romance

The beginning of the relationship between Peter and Fevronia is not entirely about love. Peter, infected with the poisonous blood of the killed snake, was mortally ill, and Fevronia (translated from Greek Euphrosyne - “well-meaning, joyful”) promises to cure the man if he marries her. The prince was embarrassed by the inequality of marriage: “Well, how can a prince take the daughter of a poison dart frog as his wife!” After the first treatment, he never married, for which he was punished with new scabs.

The second attempt was more successful. This time Fevronia was given a “firm word”, and after repeated treatment, Peter got married.

It is important to say that Peter’s doubts were not caused by a whim, but by a sense of princely duty to marry an equal. After all, Fevronia’s ignoble origin becomes the cause of many discords, and the boyars are preparing a whole conspiracy against the spouses.

The story also teaches us that all earthly power comes from God. The cunning boyars expelled the couple from Murom and subsequently paid for it.

Peter faced a difficult choice. Giving up his reign and leaving everything to unreliable boyars is an extremely irresponsible step for a ruler. But still “The blessed prince acted according to the Gospel: he neglected his reign, so as not to break the commandments of God”.

After all the ups and downs, Peter and Fevronia return safely, “and they ruled in that city, keeping all the commandments and instructions of the Lord impeccably, praying incessantly and giving alms to all people.”

Spouses, but monks

The ideal life of a Christian is monasticism. Of course, in worldly life the most correct decision is big family, but it cannot be represented as an ontologically highest value. Everyone has their own lonely path on the path to the Kingdom of Heaven.

According to the story, before they met, Peter and Fevronia preferred to spend time alone: “It was Peter’s custom to walk alone in churches”; “A girl sat alone at the loom and weaved canvas.”.

Whether the spouses had children is a question. The story itself does not say this - only that Peter and Fevronia gave themselves entirely to God and served people, "like a child-loving father and mother." But if we accept the version about the prototype - Davyd Yuryevich - then the couple still had three children.

At the end of their lives, according to the story, Peter and Fevronia took monasticism and died on the same day. Their bodies were transferred to a single coffin, but with a thin partition, symbolizing loneliness in death.

The story tells us the main thing: the goal of a family is not at all cozy human happiness with children in your arms and a golden retriever by the fireplace. The goal is to look into immortality and give new little souls a chance to find a path to salvation.

A family is a small church where relatives help each other live a righteous life. Think about death every day, especially if you are surrounded by cute children and a retriever. Love and take care of each other, rejoice but - memento mori. This is exactly what the strong family of Peter and Fevronia teaches us.

In ancient times, a prince lived in Murom with his princess. But then a werewolf snake began to fly to the princess. And then the prince advises his wife to find out from the serpent what could cause him death. The princess found out from the werewolf that he was destined to die “from Peter’s shoulder, from Agrikov’s sword.”

The prince's younger brother Peter finds this sword and kills the snake. But the blood of the serpent fell on his face and hands, and he was covered all over with ulcers and scabs. Having heard that the Ryazan land is famous for its healers, he orders him to be taken there. In the village of Laskovo, the prince’s servant enters one of the houses and sees: a girl sitting in the upper room at a loom, and a hare jumping in front of her. Having learned why the servant came, the girl promises to cure the prince if he takes her as his wife. Peter was forced to agree. Fevronia prepares a potion and orders the prince to be washed in a bathhouse and all but one of his ulcers to be smeared. The prince is healed of his illness, but does not fulfill his promise. And then it becomes covered with sores again. Fevronia again treats him, and Peter marries her. However, the boyars and their wives cannot come to terms with the fact that the daughter of the poor “tree frog” has become a princess. They perpetrate all sorts of intrigues on her and finally expel Fevronia and her husband from the Murom region. But then quarrels arise between the boyars, and they are forced to ask Peter and Fevronia to return home, where they live in complete harmony into old age. And when the prince felt death approaching, he sent for Fevronia. She comes and they die together.

This, in brief, is the plot of “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia” - one of the oldest folk legends. After reading it, it is easy to see that “The Tale...” was composed at a time when Christianity had not yet taken deep roots in Rus' and Fevronia was a pagan before meeting Prince Peter. Peter's envoy, entering Fevronia's house, did not see the icons and, therefore, could not exchange Christian greetings with her, but “entering the temple and in vain the vision was wonderful: sitting there was only one maiden, a beautiful weave, and a hare galloping in front of her.” Oral legends clarify that Fevronia prayed not in the church or in the hut in front of the shrine, but under a walnut bush (how can one not recall pagan events in sacred groves!) - this bush and two holes in the ground from Fevronia’s knees were shown by residents of the village of Laskovo back in 20s of our century. And the healing of Prince Peter was carried out by her in a purely pagan tradition: “she took a small taste, drew from her sourness and breath and rivers: “Let your prince establish a bathhouse and let him anoint it on his body... and he will be healthy.” Not the Mother of God prayer, not “Lord bless,” not even the sign of the cross. It was real magic, sorcery, witchcraft. However, in 1547 Fevronia became a Christian saint, that is, certainly a Christian.

But the most interesting thing in “The Tale...” is marriage. The ceremony looked very impressive: the young prince, accompanied by the boyars, came to the bride’s house from afar and brought rich gifts. On the eve of the upcoming wedding, a bathhouse was arranged for the groom...

Russian wedding ceremony and rituals performed during this process, texts of ritual songs and lamentations, their musical language, the nature of performance has been studied for a long time. However, the wedding ceremony is also interesting from a historical point of view. For example, as the Soviet historian A.I. Kozachenko established, one of the most colorful figures of a Russian wedding - the thousand - entered the ritual in the second half of the 13th century. The real thousand is a significant person of ancient Novgorod, where at that time he represented the interests of the craft people, and its administrative center was the church. One can imagine how this folk thousand, the “owner” of the craft village, led the wedding processions, and each ceremony took on the character of a demonstration of Novgorod freedoms - “Novgorod truth”. Of course, a real tysyatsky could not make it to all the weddings, and besides, from the beginning of the 14th century, this position was abolished by the boyars. Therefore, his presence inevitably began to turn into a playful one, and, being consolidated by tradition, into a ritual action. This is how a new wedding rite appeared, which, like many other Novgorod inventions during the Mongol-Tatar invasion, soon spread throughout Rus'.

However, in the Russian wedding ceremony there was a rank, by feudal standards, immeasurably higher than the thousand. This is the prince, who here referred to the hero of the occasion - the groom. But when and under what circumstances did this person appear in the ritual? Why does the ceremony call a young peasant guy in the role of a groom a prince, and the friends accompanying him - boyars? Why should the “prince,” even if he lives in the same village where the bride lives, not go to her house on foot, but come by horse-drawn train and bring gifts? Moreover, the bride, who is by no means called a princess, must then be taken away: without a ride, a wedding is not a wedding.

And here it is here that “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia” involuntarily attracts attention, where the central event describes an unusual marriage, with a sharp violation of class barriers: an appanage prince marries a peasant girl. And although church tradition indicates the lifetime of the heroes of “The Tale...” and identifies Prince Peter with the real Murom prince David Yuryevich, his personality is largely legendary. This means, we can assume that everything that happens to him should be attributed not to the beginning of the 13th century, but to the time of the creation of the “Tale...” - that is, to the first half of the 16th century. The story entirely reflected the views of people of that era, and they concern both the problems of family and marriage, and the attitude of the Russian people to Christianity, since in 1547 Peter and Fevronia were canonized.

What did the author of this legend want to say to his readers and listeners? Judging by the fact that “The Tale...” immediately became one of the most popular literary works, it carried some powerful and relevant idea. After all, some similarity with the “family chronicle” of Peter of Murom appears in the story about the marriage of a more reliable and more significant prince - the baptizer of Rus' Vladimir. As the so-called Korsun legend tells, his bride lived somewhere far away and in order to get her, the prince made a long journey. It is important to note here that the marriage of Prince Vladimir itself, biasedly described by the chronicler, and some of its circumstances were not an accidental or minor insertion into the chronicle. The meaning of increased attention to this private story, apparently, is that Rus', which accepted Christianity, had to accept the Christian wedding ceremony, which is shown in the personal example of Prince Vladimir. That is, this wedding became a prologue to the adoption of Christianity by Vladimir himself, and then to the baptism of Kiev residents and residents of other cities. It can be assumed that the details of this marriage ceremony were also reflected in the wedding ceremony of the ruling class of the then Rus' - matchmaking here is likened to trade (“you have goods, we have merchants”): Vladimir gives a city besieged by his army and then conquered for the bride.

So, the wedding of Prince Vladimir fits organically into the program of the “baptism of Rus'”. However, the marriage of Prince Peter, which in some ways repeats it, being described more than five centuries later, causes at least bewilderment: who was intended to show the princely wedding in early XVI centuries, if Rus' was baptized long ago and church marriage just as long ago became an ordinary phenomenon?

The most convincing evidence was provided by archeology that the baptism of Prince Vladimir did not actually affect even the feudal elite of the then Rus'. Along the entire path of the Mongol-Tatar invasion in 1237-1241, many treasures were found in old Russian cities containing gold and silver attire of princesses and boyars - tiaras, kolta, bracelets. According to the nature of the symbolism, all products fall into two categories: the more ancient ones bear images of birds - Sirins, griffins, simargles, ideograms of water, sun, vegetation - the full pagan nomenclature. But from the beginning of the 13th century, the symbolic language of jewelry changed dramatically: the Deesis rank, Jesus Christ, and various saints appeared on things of this time. It turns out that for two centuries after the “baptism” the Russian feudal lords lived in a world of pagan images and ideas. And the process that took place at the turn of the 12th-13th centuries, with all its depth and spontaneity, is obviously associated with a change in worldview: in choosing personal belongings, people were unlikely to lie to themselves. Consequently, the time of actual adoption of Christianity by the ruling class of Rus' may have been the end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th century.

This situation, strange at first glance, can probably be explained by the fact that the accepted Christianity was needed by the ancient Russian state to solve problems, mainly of an international nature. At the level of the individual, the need for a new religion at the end of the 10th century had not yet matured. Therefore, conversion to Christianity took place everywhere by force - the missionaries convinced the common people more with weapons than with sermons. “Volodimer sent an ambassador throughout the city, saying: if anyone does not speak the word... let him be disgusted with me,” wrote the Kiev chronicler. The meeting of the Novgorodians with the missionaries resulted in a “slaughter of evil”, after which the conquered townspeople were forcibly baptized: “those who do not want to be baptized are warriors, men above the bridge, and wives below the bridge.”

But in the future Kievan Rus, officially considered Christian, revealed a rather cool attitude towards the fulfillment of Christian duties. Russian scribes compiled dozens of “Words” and “Teachings” in which they denounced the reluctance of townspeople to attend churches - especially on the days of major pagan festivals - to get married, to baptize children. True, they managed to gather parishioners into the church, but here they amused themselves by not being embarrassed by the holiness of the place, drawing caricatures on the plastered walls, writing anything they wanted, including curses, and even cutting out pieces of church frescoes they liked.

Elements of Christianity had not yet penetrated into the home life of the townspeople of this time. The chronicler condemned this phenomenon with a short but expressive phrase: “... the word is called a peasant, but he lives like a bastard.” The same situation is reflected in the artistic document of the late 12th century - “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” From descriptions Everyday life princes and squads (minus two phrases at the end of the work), it is impossible to glean absolutely no information about the role and place of Christianity, as if it does not exist at all. The princes do not know their patron George, Yaroslavna does not call upon either the Virgin Mary or Paraskeva-Friday, neither Sophia, the Wisdom of God, nor any of the lamps of the Christian pantheon appears to Svyatoslav of Kyiv in a dream. It’s unlikely that all this can be explained artistic design author. Chronicle news from the entire Kyiv period clearly shows that Christian values ​​were a pure formality for most princes: kissing the cross, which strengthened oaths, was broken, in any case, with excellent ease. In the heat of internecine struggle, the victorious prince dealt not only with the squad of the vanquished, but also destroyed churches, considering them nothing more than repositories of valuable property. So, for example, in 1177, Prince Gleb of Ryazan, fighting near Vladimir, “made much evil of the Bogolyubskaya Church... he ordered that church to be plundered by knocking down the doors with the filthy... and many churches were set on fire.”

Batu’s invasion directly and menacingly affected Ancient Rus' in the winter of 1237/38, when Ryazan, Kolomna, Moscow, Vladimir, Suzdal, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Dmitrov, Torzhok were burned. Monuments of art and architecture were destroyed, craft centers were ruined, craftsmen were driven away... However, material ruin in the form of paying tribute to the Horde did not prevent the princes from accumulating significant funds and preparing to overthrow the yoke. And here the need for unity before a formidable enemy became a powerful Christianizing factor: the unification of people was helped by the preaching of universal brotherhood in Christ. In Rus', with the beginning of Batu’s invasion, it covered the lower parts of the city suburbs. One after another, news appears on the sheets of chronicles indicating that Christian symbols have become a real value for the urban people. So, in the year 1255, in connection with the arrival of the Batu “numbers”, “kissed the Holy Mother of God of the Menshii, why should everyone - either life or death for the truth of Novgorod, for their fatherland”; under 1259 - “let us die honestly for Saint Sophia”; under 1293, the artisans of Tver forced the boyars to kiss the cross in the fact that they would not betray Duden in the face of the Mongol-Tatar troops... The movement of the settlement towards the church gave the lower classes of the city new moral forces, the opportunity to feel the whole city (including the “city” or “krom” ) as “our own”, as a single whole.

Thus, the beginning of the actual adoption of Christianity by the urban settlement appears to be the second half of the 13th century. This assumption is confirmed by data from other areas of culture created by the population of Posad, which mastered Christianity creatively. And the church was forced to accept the nomination of living bearers of the Christian idea, such as it was understood by the urban lower classes - soothsayers, accusers, martyrs (direct successors of the tradition of the pagan Magi) - they were called holy fools, blessed ones and were later canonized. The Russian Church has canonized 17 holy fools, the earliest of them being Procopius of Ustyug, who died around 1330. But besides those officially recognized, of course, there were (especially in the early days) spontaneous preachers who were not awarded such an honor. This is also convinced by the fact that the very promotion of the posad holy fools was a kind of protest against the lethargy of the ruling church, against the ineffectiveness of that Christianity, the bearers of which were the boyars so often condemned by the posad. “Let us die honestly for Saint Sophia” - this was not the cry of the priest of this temple or the boyar, but the voice of one of the predecessors of the city ascetics.

Posad people began to look in a new way at some Christian saints of Greek origin, who then acquired unexpected, previously unknown functions. So, biblical prophet Elijah became the thunderer, the owner or source of thunder and lightning; The local Thracian saints Florus and Laurus, who were stonecutters in their homeland, that is, builders, in Novgorod now turn out to be “horse breeders.” The time and reasons for the emergence of the “horse breeding” cult is indicated by the fact that at all early icons the saints were depicted in military armor, and horses, if they were shown separately, were saddled in a military manner. It turns out that this cult is not agricultural, but urban, and its authorship obviously belongs to the posad, which, with the beginning of the Mongol-Tatar invasion, rose to defend its cities. The whole phenomenon as a whole dates back to the second half of the 13th century on the basis of icon painting: it was then that Grecophile traditions were actively overcome and the basis of national art was created. This especially applies to Novgorod painting, the peculiar style of which was later called “Novgorod letters.”

Townsmen began to build in a new way and Christian churches- small-sized stone churches, different and appearance, and the interior. Such, for example, is the Church of St. Nicholas on Lipne, built in 1292. The appearance of these churches reflected the tastes of the merchant and artisan population; a great influence is noticeable in it wooden architecture. Creative approach to construction Christian shrine suggests that the townsmen built each temple to serve their religious needs.

And the genre of epics - in the form in which it survived until the 19th century - took shape during the years of the Mongol-Tatar invasion. Even N.A. Dobrolyubov made such an assumption. At first glance, this is strange, because the central character of the epic is Vladimir the Red Sun. And why did the people suddenly start singing these tales, reflecting the life of the squad and going back to the table “glories” performed at princely feasts? But the process of Christianization of the settlement was underway, and it is quite possible that ordinary people, having mastered the genre and the main set of plots, began to compose their own “antiques,” reflecting in them their understanding of what was happening. For example, the marriage of Prince Vladimir, glorified in the epic, only vaguely resembles the chronicle story. As in the Korsun legend, it says that the bride lives quite far away and to get her, a battle is needed, in this case, beating the retinue of the future father-in-law. The bride is the daughter of the “king” of the Golden Horde, but Christian realities - such as the cathedral church, priests, deacons, weddings - already occupy a fairly high place here.

However, there is still a lot of paganism in marriage rituals. Thus, for the hero Danube Ivanovich, who married at the same time as Prince Vladimir, the betrothal to the bride consisted of walking around the “circle of the broom bush.” This was followed by a wedding in the church, after which - a feast, joint with Vladimirov, which is represented by the main act in the legalization of marriage.

So, the gap between the actual acceptance of Christianity by the ruling class and the lower classes of the urban settlement was relatively small - about half a century. Is it possible to see in this a manifestation of a certain pattern and assume that after another half century the peasants also became Christians? Such a picture would turn out to be very harmonious, but it would not correspond to the truth.

No news about the Christianization of Russian farmers was found in chronicle sources. Most likely they are absent altogether. In the opinion of the church and church writers, all Russians from the moment of the “baptism” of Rus' are Christians (in pre-Mongol Rus' this was what all Russians were called). During the years of the Mongol-Tatar invasion, this term most strongly designated the “tax-paying population” (including farmers), then it increasingly moved to the agricultural class, and by the end of the 15th century all Russian farmers began to be called “Christians.” However, any sympathies of farmers towards the church were not recorded. And what could the monastery scribe note if the peasants really showed an increased interest in Christianity? That they became Christians? So formally they were them before. No, the peasants were introduced to the new faith gradually. At the end of the 15th century, they began to involve “ the best people"from the black-growing peasantry, each of whom had to undergo the procedure of “kissing the cross.” This means that Christians could appear in the Russian village at this time - in direct connection with the stratification of property. But those were, of course, isolated cases.

We really don’t know how the Russian people of the 14th-16th centuries looked at the problem of Christianization of peasants. The above view is just a hypothesis, widely accepted today because it is the most understandable to us. However, it is very likely that a person of the distant past, who thought in other categories, approached the issue of the religion of farmers differently. The existence of the Russian Middle Ages was clearly divided into two poles: state life, concentrated in cities (“state”, “the business of the sovereign”), and the church was adjacent to it; and the life of the people is “the land”, “the matter of the land”. These were areas that, until the zemstvo reform of Ivan IV, did not mix and did not have any points of contact other than economic (annual payment of rent). That is, until the middle of the 16th century, the state did not interfere in the inner world of the peasants, which, by the way, was a condition for the formation of folk culture. It is no coincidence that the people's sphere was called “land”: arable land and people on the arable land were represented as a single whole. How this person lives, what he believes in, does not matter; it is enough that the arable land bears fruit and supplies its fruits to the city. Based on this view, the city simply did not see or know the religious life of the village and simply could not write about it.

When did Russian peasants begin to consider themselves Christians? Let's try to approach this problem “by contradiction” - consider the eras during which farmers reliably were not farmers. Thus, in the 14th century, mound burials with things were widespread - a purely pagan rite. In the burial mounds of the village of Matveevskoe near Moscow (now within the boundaries of Moscow), Christian crosses and icons were found among the accompanying things, but their position (not at the neck, but on the headdress) suggests that they served not as objects of worship, but as decoration - also a pagan technique . Burials under mounds have been practiced since the 15th century, and in “dead places” - at the beginning of the 16th century. The concept of “deafness” is relative here. Novgorod Archbishop Makariy wrote to Vodskaya Pyatina (directly bordering Novgorod) in 1534, condemning the “Christians” for the fact that they “lay their dead in villages and in burial mounds and graveyards... but do not take them to churches to bury them.” In the future, news of this kind is no longer found, therefore, the transition from pagan to Christian rituals occurred at the border of the 15th-16th centuries.

However, with the help of a calendar it turns out that this can be determined more accurately. The Russian people accepted Julian calendar, that is, he switched to the church calendar from the previous pagan one and transferred to it the entire volume of his agrotechnical signs and predictions - starting from the 16th century, since the days of the solstices in the monthly calendar are considered to be June 12 and December 12 - which actually happened in this century. Calendar (Vlasov V. About the Russian calendar style. - “Around the World”, 1986, No. 8.) - the core of the whole peasant life, the essence of which is: when to plow, when to sow, when to “awaken” fruit trees, when to observe dew, fog, frost - and make broad predictions based on them. At that time, the calendar was the custodian of a special rhythm of life, expressed in the alternation of holidays and ritual actions, in their inextricable unity with economic activity.

The seven-day week, familiarity with which in Rus' was noted before the adoption of Christianity, became a standard calendar phenomenon from the end of the 10th century, while the names of the days of the week were used Slavic (Bulgarian). From that time to this day, the church calls the week (seven days) “week”, and its seventh day - “week” (from the expression “no work”). And it was gradually introduced into urban life by the church. There is reason to believe that in popular culture the seven-day rhythm with the last non-working day was unknown. Why did it suddenly become impossible to work every seventh day? The famous researcher of Slavic antiquities L. Niederle noted this surprise among the Pomeranian Slavs; in Russia it resulted in the creation of a new term to designate the seventh day of the week - “resurrection”, which happened in the 16th century. For Christian concepts, it is not new: this is the name of the day of Easter - “the bright resurrection of Christ,” which falls annually on a “week.” Of the 52 “weeks” of the Christian calendar, one is called “resurrection”, considered the largest annual holiday that requires serious preparation (seven weeks of “Lent”). And suddenly every non-working day of the seven-day cycle begins to be called “Sundays” (Easters). In the conditions of a stable Christian culture, this metamorphosis is absolutely impossible: over the previous five centuries, a strong and unshakable tradition should have developed that would not allow encroachments, and especially such blasphemous ones - forcing the Christian god to resurrect weekly. The peasants' misunderstanding of the essence of Christian Easter is easily linked to the spectacle of a large mass of peasants who suddenly found themselves in the city - having moved here or brought here for construction ("city work"): they were amazed by the rigid city routine, where the non-working day was determined not by the peculiarities of the craft and not by the vagaries of the weather, but just a schedule. And if they caught the Easter holiday, then each new non-working “week” was for them “like a resurrection,” and over time, just a “resurrection.”

But, one wonders, why did people then switch from a calendar where the main holiday milestones were Yarila - Kupala - Kolyada, to a calendar with Easter - Trinity - Christmas? Obviously, due to interest in the rituals of new festivals and in the place where these rituals are performed, that is, in the church. After all, Russian peasants accepted the Christian annual ritual circle at that time - they joined the church and Christianity.

So, at the end of the 15th century, a powerful process of adoption of Christianity by the main and most numerous class of Russia, the agricultural class, was born and from the beginning of the 16th century, which was almost not noted by history, only some indirect evidence of this found its way onto the pages of documents and was imprinted in cultural monuments.

The life of the Vologda ascetic Herodion Iloezersky reports that in the period from 1538 to 1541 the surrounding population began to bury the dead in his monastery, baptize infants, perform marriages, and in the warm refectory “eat meat and drink drunken offerings and piyahu that.” Yesterday's pagan habitually believed that main part there must be a feast of sacred rites. In Stoglav in 1551, a number of cases of incorrect performance of Christian rituals and amazement at the very behavior of the flock were noted: “in the churches of God... they stand without fear and in tafyas, and hats, and with staffs... and talking, and murmuring, and everything contradictions, and conversations, and shameful words.” The authors of Stoglav were confused by the seething activity of the parishioners, but it becomes understandable and natural if one sees behind it the traditions of pagan festivals, to which the posture of constraint and silence is alien.

If, with the Christianization of the town, town holy fools began to appear among the Russian saints, it is natural to expect that the introduction of peasants to Christianity should cause a similar phenomenon. And indeed: the peasant ascent to Christian Olympus began at the very end of the 15th century and mainly took place in the first half of the 16th century. The life of Anthony of Siya, who died in 1556, is richest in everyday details. He comes from “the village, the verb Kekhta, from the borders of the Dvina region, and near the Cold Sea of ​​​​Akiyan.” His life is far from a biography, but it is also quite revealing. The most acute point here is the canonization of representatives of the peasantry - this suggests that the Christianization of Russian farmers has reached such a level when a conscious need arose among them for their own intercessors and intercessors before God. Therefore, most Russian saints appear in the 16th century.

So, there are quite enough reasons to consider the first half of the 16th century as the time of the actual adoption of Christianity by Russian peasants. And when this time came, they were obliged to adopt a church wedding, but with a new ritual that made such a drastic change in marriage traditions understandable and inevitable. Why? Yes, because it was performed by holy people. And instead of going around the sacred bush three times and splashing water, you need to go with the groom and his retinue (to the volost or monastery church), since the Virgin Fevronia once left with Prince Peter (to Murom, where they got married). When the wedding entered the Christian channel, the groom in the eyes of every Russian girl became like a prince - the wedding ceremony was replenished with a new rank.

It turns out that the literary display of the wedding ceremony at the beginning of the 16th century was quite relevant: it was needed by the Christianizing village. The severity of the situation, apparently, lay in the fact that the existing ritual, dating back to the marriage of Prince Vladimir, turned out to be unacceptable for the peasants. And so, in order for the main part of the urban ritual to take root in the village, a new legend was created, extremely grounding the image of the prince: he makes not a conquering, but a deeply humble campaign and finds a bride - not a Greek princess, but a Russian peasant woman.

Why did Prince Peter marry Fevronia? IN Russia XVI centuries, he is the bearer of the old, centuries-old Christianity. And he got married because it was at this time that Christianity and Christian marriage came to the Russian village. The legend tells about a little-known, most likely unreal, semi-legendary prince. He is a prince purely nominally and does not at all evoke the idea of ​​supreme power. After all, Christianity did not come to the village “from above,” not through the efforts of the Moscow government and the metropolitan see. But then why did Fevronia marry Prince Peter and even initiate the marriage? Yes, because the Russian village at that time accepted Christianity, which until then had been concentrated in the city.

We don't need Valentine,
That overseas gentleman
What helps lovers
Young couples are getting married!

***
In Rus' there is a tale about
Like Fevronia and Peter
Were an exemplary couple,
Friendly, loving and faithful.

We suffered a lot of troubles,
But they couldn't part,
They kept the marriage faithfully
And they respected each other!
The time has flown by
No Fevronya, no Peter.
But they are an example of a family,
Honest, sincere love!

Saints Peter and Fevronia are the patrons of family and marriage. In ancient times, Saints Peter and Fevronia were considered the patrons of family and marriage. They pray to them for the good upbringing of children. And this is no coincidence, their life testifies to love and fidelity, patience and wisdom - the gifts of the Holy Spirit, accessible to a pure heart and humble in God. Prince-Snake Fighter The romantic love story of Saints Peter and Fevronia is described in detail in the ancient Russian “Tale of Peter and Fevronia”, created by the priest Ermolai the Pregreshny (monastically Erasmus), a talented writer, widely known in the era of Ivan the Terrible.

Preserving folklore features in his life, he created a surprisingly poetic story that inspired Orthodox married couples for many centuries. ...In the city of Murom, Prince Pavel ruled, and he had a younger brother Peter (in the repetition of the apostolic names we hear a reminder that the holiday in honor of Saints Peter and Fevronia - July 8 - always falls on Peter's Fast). The enemy of the human race, trying to destroy Prince Paul, appears to his wife at night in order to seduce her into fornication.

At the same time, the cunning demon, a werewolf snake, took on the guise of Paul. Wanting to get rid of the demonic machinations, the princess found out from the werewolf what his death was, and learned that he would die from Peter’s shoulder and Agrikov’s sword. When Peter learned about this, he wanted to find the sword and help his older brother get rid of evil spirits. Soon, during prayer in the Church of the Exaltation of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, a bright youth appeared to him and showed him a recess in the altar wall where Agrikov’s sword was located. In the evening of the same day, having visited his brother, Peter went to bow to his daughter-in-law. Imagine his surprise when, in the princess’s chambers, he saw his brother again. Realizing that a werewolf snake is hiding under the guise of Pavel, Prince Peter draws his sword and enters the fight. Finally, the prince strikes the snake, but the poisonous snake blood gushing from the wound splashes the young prince from head to toe. Peter's entire body was covered with non-healing painful sores and scabs (leprosy). No one could heal Peter from a serious illness.

With humility enduring the torment, the serpent-fighting prince, who repeated the feat of St. George the Victorious, surrendered to God in everything. And the Lord performed a miracle. “A wife is destined for her husband from eternity.” One day, while looking for a doctor, the prince met Fevronia, the daughter of a “tree climber” beekeeper (who extracted wild honey) in the village of Laskovo, on Ryazan land. She was a beautiful, pious and wise girl, she had the gift of insight and healing, and even wild animals listened to her. The prince promised a big reward for the healing. But Fevronia answered bluntly that if she did not become his wife, then it would not be appropriate for her to treat him. These were words spoken not for any mercantile reasons. The author of “The Tale” comes to the idea of ​​marriage as a spiritual medicine, with which a person is healed not only from bodily ailments, but also from spiritual defects, despite the fact that marriage itself is often concluded not only by God’s command, but, moreover, by God’s coercion. Since, according to biblical concepts, “a wife is destined for her husband from eternity,” then, of course, the “insolence” of the wise Fevronia, who recognized her betrothed in Peter and, before healing him, gives him her “ultimatum,” will not be surprising.

Peter promised to marry, but in his heart he was lying: the pride of the princely family prevented him from agreeing to such a marriage. Fevronia scooped up some sourdough, blew on it and ordered the prince to wash himself in the bathhouse and lubricate all the scabs except one. The blessed maiden prescribed such treatment not by chance. Just as the Lord and Savior, healing lepers, the blind and the paralytic, healed the soul through bodily ailments, so Fevronia, knowing that illnesses are allowed by God as a test and for sins, prescribed treatment for the flesh, implying a spiritual meaning. Seeing Peter's wickedness and pride, she ordered him to leave one scab undone as evidence of sin. Soon, from this scab, the whole illness resumed, and the prince returned to Fevronia. Having been healed again by her, Peter now kept his word - he got married and thereby received complete healing for himself. Their wedding took place in the Cathedral Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. “And they arrived at their patrimony, the city of Murom, and began to live piously, without violating God’s Commandments in any way,” says the Tale. Gradually the prince realizes that Fevronia is his only love, and their union is God’s blessing. And the holy spouses carried love for each other through all the trials! “What God has united, man does not separate” After the death of his brother in 1203, Peter became autocrat in Murom. Fevronia “diligently visited the temple of God, fed and watered the wanderers, clothed the naked, looked after the sick, visited those sitting in prison, gave alms to the poor.”

However, the arrogant boyar wives disliked Fevronia. Not wanting to have a peasant woman as their ruler, they “taught their husbands bad things.” And they tried to level all sorts of slander against the princess, and one day, having lost their shame, they offered Fevronia, taking whatever she wanted, to leave the city. The princess did not want anything other than her husband. Peter, having learned that they wanted to separate him from his beloved wife, chose to voluntarily renounce power and wealth and go into exile with her, saying the words of the Savior: “What God has joined together, man does not separate.” Gathering several close associates, the exiled spouses sailed along the Oka on two ships wherever God would send them. They began to live ordinary people, rejoicing that they were together, and God was helping them. On the way, another characteristic episode happened. A certain man, sailing with his family in the same boat with Fevronia, looked at the princess.

The holy wife immediately guessed his thoughts and gently reproached him: “Draw water from one side and the other of the boat,” the princess asked. “Is the water the same or is one sweeter than the other?” “The same,” he answered. “So female nature is the same,” said Fevronia. “Why are you, having forgotten your wife, thinking about someone else’s?” The convicted person was embarrassed and repented. Hearing how wisely Fevronia caught this man, many realized that she was far from an ordinary woman from the peasants. Their wandering did not last long. Soon messengers arrived from Murom with a plea for Peter to return to reign. It turned out that the love of Peter and Fevronia was not only their personal shrine, but the shrine of all of Murom, having lost which the city lost the grace that overshadowed it. The boyars started a real massacre for the princely title, bloodshed and discord. The unrest and internecine strife reached such strength that the people were simply forced to return (return with honor!) the holy spouses back. The spouses did not remember the boyar threats and insults, they returned to their native lands, where they began to reign as before. They ruled “keeping all the commandments and instructions of the Lord immaculately, praying unceasingly and giving alms to all the people who were under their authority, like a child-loving father and mother,” says the Tale. The power of love between Peter and Fevronia defeated deceit and hatred! Faithful to each other not only to the grave, but also beyond the grave! When Peter and Fevronia reached old age, they took monasticism.

There was then a pious custom in Rus' to end one’s earthly life in a monastery in order to prepare one’s soul for eternal life. Peter, named David, lived in the men's monastery, Fevronia, named Euphrosyne, lived in the women's monastery. Being separated by the monastery walls, they asked God to die for them overnight and be laid in one coffin, which they had long ago prepared for themselves. This will, in essence, resolves the seemingly insoluble contradiction between marriage and monasticism. Spouses, even dressed “in monastic robes,” wish to die at the same time not only because they continue to love each other, but also because by marriage, according to the views of the Church, husband and wife are united “into one being - into one person with one soul, but in two persons.” Well, if death cuts off one part, one half, from a single being, then how is it possible for the other half to remain alive? The Lord, as always, heard their prayers.

When Peter felt the approach of death, he warned Fevronia through a messenger to be ready. And at that time she was embroidering air (the veil of the Holy Gifts) into the cathedral church with gold embroidery and asked him to tell him to wait for her. After some time, the novice came running again with the message that her husband was dying. Euphrosyne hurried, she really wanted to finish the sacred work. But when the messenger crossed the threshold of the cell for the third time, the nun stuck a needle into the fabric, twisted the thread and answered: “Tell him: “And I am going with you at this hour.” So, the pious spouses reposed at the same hour, at the same moment, each in his own cell. They remained faithful to each other not only to the grave, but also beyond the grave. This happened on June 25 (July 8, NS) 1228. Having violated the will, they were buried in different coffins - because they considered it indecent to bury a monk and a nun in a common coffin. But the next day, their bodies miraculously ended up in the same tomb. Again and again they tried to separate the already dead spouses - but the next morning their bodies were found together.

Only then did it become clear to everyone that this was God’s special favor, and the Lord Himself accepted their love under His protection. After that, no one dared to separate them. Since then, the relics of this “holy duo” have rested in a single coffin, exuding fragrance and helping everyone who comes to them with faith. The example of such a blessed repose of Saints Peter and Fevronia confirms us in the correctness of the words of Saint John Chrysostom, who believed that “in the next century everything faithful spouses will fearlessly meet and dwell forever with Christ and with each other in great joy.” And this is not accidental, because “love changes the very essence of things,” the saint asserted. And the Apostle Paul wrote that “love will never fail, although prophecies will cease, and tongues will be silent, and knowledge will be abolished”! With their lives, Peter and Fevronia embodied on earth the image of a heavenly marriage - the complete unity of spouses in love, which opens a direct entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven for a person. Lessons from the lives of Saints Peter and Fevronia What lessons can a modern person, who probably has troubles and problems in life, learn? family life, from the example of the pious life of the holy princes?

The story of Peter and Fevronia begins with a battle with a serpent in order to once again remind us of the role and purpose of a man. God's command to Adam is to cultivate the garden, that is, to take care of the whole world, and Eve is called to take care of Adam. A man is focused on the external, a woman is focused on the internal. For a man, business is more important; for a woman, relationships and fortunes are more important. Any external activity in the world, be it work, war or creativity, is always, to one degree or another, a battle with the serpent, because aggression is its engine. Man is designed in such a way that without splashing out aggression and anger, without being a fighter, he will not build, explore, create, or form anything. But, just as snake fighting is a dangerous activity that carries the risk of being wounded or dying, so the struggle for victory, for success in any activity often embitters, embitters a person, makes him heartless and proud. Killing a monster is a good thing, but being in constant battles with monsters, don’t you yourself become like them, aren’t their habits contagious for you? Having won the victory over the serpent, Peter needs someone who would defeat the serpentine infection in himself. And Fevronia becomes his assistant, both a doctor and a medicine. Why does the prophetic maiden promise to heal Peter only if the young prince marries her?

Their marriage is not a payment for treatment, but rather further doctor's orders - this is what you must change in your life so as not to find yourself in such a situation again. The cause of Peter’s illness is not just snake blood, but the incompleteness of the young prince’s existence: “It is not good for a man to be alone” (Gen. 2:18). Is it easy to fight snakes if after the fight no one is waiting for you, no one is in a hurry to console you, lubricate your wounds and inspire you to new exploits? Fevronia heals Peter, making up for his incompleteness. But does every wife have healing properties? Of course, not everyone, but only those leading a contemplative life. That is why in the old days they hid girls in mansions and high towers - so that they would not pick up worldly dirt and lose their healing properties. Nowadays, many girls, feeling the need to stay in a high tower on top of a lonely cliff, and not having a real opportunity to hide behind stone walls, build psychological walls around themselves...

Why didn’t Peter immediately decide to marry his ideal bride? No, not even because of “class contradictions” - just marriage with a girl of low origin implies less responsibility. A peasant woman next to a prince is a creature without rights; if something goes wrong, you can always show your commoner wife the door, and a clan of influential relatives will not stand up for her. According to psychologists, the greatest fear among men is the presence of intelligence in women. Peter was frightened by Fevronya’s wisdom - what if she, possessing such a mind, would turn everything in her own way, manipulate me and the entire principality? But true feminine wisdom consists in serving as a mirror for your spouse, reflecting and helping to correct shortcomings, and never encroach on his freedom! When Peter refuses to fulfill his promise for the first time, Fevronia does not rush to catch up with him and does not threaten heavenly punishment. She humbly waits until Peter himself comes to the understanding that this marriage is destined for him by God.

Brides can be hardworking and pleasant, but both of these qualities can rarely be found simultaneously in the same person. Few of us choose a spouse, having the humility of our forefathers Isaac and Rebekah, who sought only God's will - rather, we strive to “grab” someone according to our passions. A drunkard dreams of a lover of drink, a freedom-loving person - of someone who is ready to keep him company, a miser - of a hoarder like himself... And the Lord, for the sake of our correction, sends us those who are unlike us, opposite, and thereby, denouncing, admonishing. The life of Peter and Fevronia is perfect example spiritual unity in sorrows, support and encouragement of each other in difficulties. And this is an amazing example of combining two perfect different people- people brought up differently, belonging to different classes, who have learned different habits from their parents. Nevertheless, it was these people who showed a striking example of a meek, like-minded and calm life. We dare to suggest that such a life was not a given.

Rather, it was the result of their hard work on themselves, careful compliance and indulgence. And how then, against this background, should we consider the well-known “they didn’t get along”, so often used today to justify extreme selfishness and the inability to tolerate the shortcomings of another? And the lives of the saints clearly demonstrate the posthumous indissolubility of the marriage union, as the Church teaches. And how, unfortunately, does this contrast with the modern frivolous attitude towards a marital union, they say, if I don’t like it, I’ll leave and find another life partner... Helpers in various family problems In the 16th century, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized Peter and Fevronia. And in 1552, Tsar Ivan the Terrible, during a campaign against Kazan, served a prayer service for Peter and Fevronia in Murom, promising to erect a stone cathedral over their relics in the event of victory over Kazan. And the tsar fulfilled his promise: soon a beautiful temple rose over the grave of the saints, and then the tsar sent to the temple an icon of Saints Peter and Fevronia, “written in gold.” Unfortunately, this temple has not survived.

After the revolution, the tomb of Peter and Fevronia was transferred to the Murom Museum. In 1989, the shrine with the relics of the saints was returned to the Church and in 1993 it was solemnly transferred to the Trinity Convent in the city of Murom. Honored like a priceless treasure Orthodox people miraculous relics of these saints. The faithful spouses generously help everyone who, with faith in their intercession, comes to them to pray for the gift of a good bride (good groom), family world and the well-being, unanimity and admonition of an unbeliever or non-church spouse. But even those who do not have the opportunity to venerate their holy relics can, with faith and repentance, call upon them in prayer in every place. There are many known cases when, after a prayerful appeal to the holy princes, the Lord gave a child to desperate childless spouses. So the sisters of the monastery say that the wife of one of the sponsors who helped restore the monastery, through the prayers of the saints, gave birth to a daughter. The wife at that time was 42 years old and had no children, despite the fact that she and her husband had been married for more than 10 years. Many married couples at the holy relics affirmed the idea that it was necessary to get married. For a long time, one woman’s relationship with her husband did not work out; things were heading towards divorce, but through the prayers of Saints Peter and Fevronia, everything got better in the family.

The mother of one Moscow priest said that she prayed at the holy relics for the gift of a pious spouse, and the Lord arranged her life... Family is when the seven “I” With their lives, the faithful Peter and Fevronia fully showed the height of the marriage union that they want to see God is in every union of husband and wife. The holy couple had five children: sons Svyatoslav, Yuri, Yaroslav, David and daughter Evdokia. So they had a real family, as people say, seven “I”s - dad, mom, and five children. Russian families have always been rich in children - from princes to peasants. But it is Saints Peter and Fevronius who should ask for grace-filled help in raising children. It is from them, who managed to raise children in the spirit of piety, obedience and love, that the famous expression“four sons and a sweet daughter.” It is known, for example, that Evdokia became the beautiful wife of another saint - the blessed prince Svyatoslav Yuryevsky, in whose marriage they had a son, Dimitri, who was also mentioned as a saint in the ancient calendar.

And like her holy parents, Evdokia ended her life in the Murom monastery, taking monastic vows when her son came of age. Over hundreds of years, through the prayers of Saints Peter and Fevronia, many believers have received help, making sure that, truly, these saints help make family life truly happy! Icons with their image should be in every Orthodox family, as an example of true and mutual marital love until the last breath. The memory of the holy noble princes Peter and Fevronia is celebrated on the day of their “commemorative” repose on July 8 (according to New Style).

PRAYER to the Holy Blessed Prince Peter and Princess Fevronia

About the greatness of the saint of God and wonderful miracle workers, the good faith of Prince Peter and Princess Fevronia, the intercessor and guardian of the city of Murom, and about all of us zealous prayer books for the Lord! We come running to you and pray to you with strong hope: offer up your holy prayers to the Lord God for us sinners, and ask from His goodness all that is useful to our souls and bodies: faith in justice, hope in goodness, unfeigned love, unshakable piety in good deeds prosperity, peace of peace, fruitfulness of the earth, prosperity of the air, health of the body and salvation of souls.

Petition from the Heavenly King the Holy Church and the entire Russian Empire for peace, silence and prosperity, and for all of us a prosperous life and a good Christian death. Protect your Fatherland and all Russian cities from all evil; and all the faithful people who come to you and worship your holy relics, overshadow with the grace-filled effect of your God-pleasing prayers, and fulfill all their requests for good. Hey, holy wonderworkers! Do not despise our prayers, offered to you today with tenderness, but awaken for us to intercede with the Lord in your dreams, and with your help make us worthy to improve eternal salvation and inherit the Kingdom of Heaven: let us glorify the ineffable love for mankind of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, in the Trinity we worship God, in forever and ever. Amen.

In Moscow, on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street, in the Church of the Ascension of the Lord (“Little Ascension”), opposite the Conservatory, there is a chapel of Russian saints Peter and Fevronia. These saints are glorified by the Church not as saints, although they accepted the schema at the end of their lives, and not as martyrs and confessors, although they were expelled from their city. Fasting and prayer were part of their family life; they were subjected to humiliation and danger because they remained faithful to each other. Saints Peter and Fevronia set an example of ideal Christian family. It is for this that they are awarded church veneration, which is why their life for more than eight centuries has served as an example of the proper attitude of spouses towards church marriage and to each other. We would like to address the life experiences of these people in this article.

We learn the circumstances of their lives from “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia,” written in the first half of the 16th century. Its author was the priest of one of the Kremlin cathedrals, Ermolai (in monasticism, Erasmus), who was part of the circle of church writers and hagiographers formed around St. Macarius of Moscow.

More than 300 years passed from the time of the repose of the saints to the time of writing “The Tale,” and although it can be assumed that the local veneration of Peter and Fevronia began immediately after their common death (which was probably especially facilitated by the miracle that happened shortly after it), oral tradition did not preserve many facts of their life. Ermolai-Erasmus was faced with the task of recreating the appearance of these people, hidden both by the veil of time and the secret of holiness, which protects every righteous person from immodest glances. Such a reconstruction must be not only reliable, but also accessible. Therefore, Ermolai-Erasmus, in order to make his narration colorful and entertaining, in order to captivate the reader with it, supplemented it with folklore material. The result was not so much a “biography” of saints as a work that, together with a few facts from the life of Peter and Fevronia, teaches the doctrine of Christian marriage, and at the same time fascinating and accessible - thanks to the involvement of folklore motifs - to the reader of the 16th century. .

Just like a story about how Christian family, what stages in its development it goes through, what its purpose is, what trials befall the spouses and what crown is in store for those who have labored worthily in this field, we suggest reading this “Tale” again.

Background

The life together of two people cannot begin suddenly, “by magic.” A long, difficult path must be covered before a person who until then - no matter what circumstances and persons surrounded him - was ultimately alone in the world and in the face of God, could approach another unique person and give her his will : to unite with her into one mind, into one heart, “into one flesh” - that is, to create family. One of the most important stages of this path is the meeting of two people who, by the unknown Divine Providence about them, are destined to become husband and wife.

However, Ermolai-Erasmus begins his “Tale” not with a description of the meeting of Peter and Fevronia. He prefaces it with the story of Peter’s snake-fighting.

Prince Pavel lived in Murom, and grief befell him. A certain serpent began to fly to his wife with the aim of seducing her into fornication, and for everyone around him he acted in the guise of a legal spouse. The woman, by cunning, learned the secret of the serpent: he can only die “from Peter’s shoulder, from Agrikov’s sword.” Paul actually had a younger brother, Peter, who from his youth was distinguished by piety and had the “custom of going to churches alone.” In one temple, a certain youth appeared to him and pointed out Agrikov’s sword, which was kept in the altar wall. Then Peter realized that it was he who had to kill the serpent. Peter had to endure a difficult test, because the serpent was in the guise of his brother. And although Peter had just seen Prince Paul in his chambers, after a short time, he saw in the chambers of his daughter-in-law someone who was as similar to Paul as two peas in a pod. Because of this similarity, it was not easy for him to lift his sword against the werewolf. However, Peter gathered all his courage and killed the evil serpent.

The source of this story is beyond doubt: it was the motive of the duel between the knight and the monster, so widespread in fairy tale. We do not know how this episode of “The Tale” relates to the real events in the life of the historical prince Peter and his older brother Paul. Most likely, such a correlation was not intended by the author. Oral tradition, apparently, did not convey information about Peter’s youth to Ermolai-Erasmus. He decided to make up for the lack of this information by using a folklore motif, which the reader had to interpret allegorically. With this understanding, this story can serve as an image of the path Prince Peter had to go through before meeting Fevronia and what was the reason for this meeting.

Without going into details, we note that in Chapter I of the Tale “attention is focused on the psychological experiences and doubts of Prince Peter, who must decide to kill the snake in the appearance of his brother.” He double-checks his guess that the person he saw in his daughter-in-law's upper room in the guise of his brother is actually a snake. These doubts are not accidental: Prince Peter is aware of the degree of responsibility that lies with him. Only he can kill the snake that threatens his brother’s family, but at the same time, if he shows too much zeal, he can become a fratricide. In fact, this is an image of the life path of a person who is endowed with power, in this case a prince, responsible for his subjects. But not only the prince. At the same time, this is an image of a man’s vocation in general: every man on his life’s path takes responsibility for others, that responsibility when the life of another depends on his determination and courage.

But while Peter is alone, the burden of such responsibility turns out to be destructive for him. It’s not that he failed in his task, on the contrary: the serpent is defeated, but before his death he sprinkled Peter with his poisonous blood, and Peter falls ill. The illness of Prince Peter, that is, in the language of allegories: a certain inferiority of his nature in general, is the plot of “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia.” Moreover, Peter’s illness is so serious, the inferiority of his nature is so significant that if it is not corrected, life itself is impossible for Prince Peter. His courage, his determination, all other human qualities have not left him, but he is “harassed” and cannot use them. Only a connection with another person can heal him.

The ailing Peter goes in search of healing.
Meeting-Recognition

The search for healing comes down to the prince, according to Ermolai-Erasmus, to a search doctor, that is, a person who would help him heal. Moreover, the search is a conscious action aimed at getting rid of the inferiority of one’s nature. Only the Creator can correct such defectiveness, and, thus, the search for a doctor for Peter is a search for the Will of God for himself. It is this search that leads him to a meeting with the maiden Fevronia, who turns out to be able to heal Peter. It is noteworthy that the prince meets her when his illness led him to complete exhaustion: by that time he was already so weak that he could neither walk on his own nor sit on a horse. His mental strength was also already running low. So the Lord reveals His Will about us only when we have reached the greatest tension in our questioning, and our whole being has already become thinner in order to accept His Will.

Ermolai-Erasmus describes this meeting as follows. One of Prince Peter’s servants met an unusual maiden in the village of Laskovo: the daughter of a beekeeper-“tree climber” was modestly weaving cloth in her house, and a hare was jumping in front of her. But he was even more amazed by her wise speeches. Fevronia appears here in a halo of folklore images: the author uses in his “Tale” a fairy-tale plot about seventeen girl(that is, doing seven things at the same time), whose intelligence forces the prince to marry her.

It turned out that she also knew how to heal the prince:

“Yes, bring your prince here. If he is soft-hearted and humble in his response, may he be healthy!” says Fevronia. The prince, through his youths, asks her: “Tell me, maiden, who is there to heal me? May he heal me and give me much wealth.” She said without hesitation: “Although I am there to heal, I do not demand that he accept the property. The imam’s word to him is this: if the imam does not have a spouse for him, you do not need me to heal him.”

The condition for the prince's healing is marriage to Fevronia. And in the language of allegory, this marriage itself is a medicine that makes up for the lack of Peter’s nature. Thus, Fevronia’s words contain the answer to Peter’s question about what the Lord’s plan for him is. But Peter had not yet recognized her answer as the Will of God about himself: “How can a tree-dwelling prince want to take a wife!” , - he mentally exclaims.

The plot of “The Tale” develops according to the laws of a fairy tale about wise maiden, but at the same time the author also reveals the laws of the development of human relations. After two people meet, there comes a period during which they get to know each other. What happens in life over a long time consists of many stages, in Ermolai-Erasmus it is compressed into one episode: the episode of Fevronia’s test by Peter.

The prince sets an impossible task for Fevronia: while he is washing in the bathhouse, she must weave enough linen from a bunch of flax so that there is enough for him to wear clothes, and then sew them. This is not a test of needlework skills, but of Fevronia’s wisdom. Peter prefaces his task with the words: “This girl wants a wife for wisdom.” He doubts whether she really has spiritual vision, vision of the heart, or whether her speeches are just a trick explained by the desire not to miss a brilliant match. In other words, Peter tests the mind of Fevronia - that mind which, according to patristic understanding, is the focus of the human personality. He wants to know not her words, not the skills that were given by her upbringing, but Fevronia herself in the depths of her heart.

And this is what Fevronia replies to the servant who handed over the prince’s task to her:

“Come on out to our oven and pick up some logs from the beds and carry them.” He, having listened to her, took down the log. She, having measured out an inch, said: “Cut this from this log.” He will cut it off. She said: “Take this duck log of this wood, and go and give it to your prince from me, and say to him: at what hour will I comb this weight, and let your prince prepare for me in this duck the camp and the whole building, with which his linen will be woven.”<…>The prince said: “Wonderful maidens, it’s impossible to eat a tree in such a small time and create a calico structure in such a small time!”<…>The girl renounced: “Is it possible for a man of a man’s age to eat flax in a small year, and in the same year he will remain in the bathhouse, create srachitsa, and ports, and ubrusets?” The servant told the prince. The prince was amazed at her answer.”

Peter is not just surprised at how successfully Fevronia got out of her difficult situation. He is surprised as a person to whom the innermost inner appearance of another has been revealed. Without knowledge of a person, without the innermost being of his being being revealed to us, our relationships with him, which in the future can become family relationships, are impossible. But this knowledge in itself does not mean that we are ready to accept this particular person as our integral part, as our destiny.

Fevronia, who emerged from the ordeal with honor, heals the prince. But he is not going to get married and goes to Murom. And here it is discovered that his illness is not limited to skin peeling, that its causes are much deeper. On the way home he becomes covered in scabs again. A certain inferiority of his nature is now revealed to Peter himself. She can only be cured by connecting with the girl whose words so struck the prince. Peter returns to the village of Laskovo and agrees to marry Fevronia. Only now is he completely healed. Together with the young princess, Peter returns to Murom.

Subsequently, Ermolai-Erasmus no longer resorted to borrowings from folklore in his “Tale”. We can assume that he uses the oral Murom tradition, which has preserved real facts from the lives of the saints, which now has as its center the fulfillment of Christ’s commandments, as Ermolai-Erasmus emphasizes:

“She returned to her homeland, the city of Murom, and lived in all piety, leaving nothing behind God’s commandments.”

What the fulfillment of the commandments in relation to each other consists of becomes the subject of further narration.

Life of Saints Peter and Fevronia
Tests

The period of recognition, when two people walked towards each other, no matter how beautiful it may be in itself, is still only a prelude to family life. From the moment of marriage, a fundamentally different life begins for these two, full of its own joys, but also special trials, previously unknown to the young people. It is on the trials that befell Peter and Fevronia that Ermolai-Erasmus focuses his attention. He does this because in such situations the path of following the commandments of God is most clearly revealed.

The first test that Peter and Fevronia (like all young families) are subjected to is the test of everyday life, namely, the difference in habits and everyday skills that each of them received during their upbringing and accumulated during their independent lives. Meeting and getting to know each other cannot reveal this difference in detail that exists between young people; only living together can reveal and smooth it out over time; Moreover, the environment of young people can both facilitate and complicate the process of getting used to each other and erasing this difference. It is the second option that we observe in the lives of Peter and Fevronia.

We find them at the time when Peter began to reign in Murom after the death of his brother Paul. And then the difference in origin and upbringing that existed between him and Fevronia becomes the reason for the next incident.

“Once upon a time, someone from those who were standing next to her came to the noble Prince Petrov to infest her with nudes, as if “from whom,” he said, “he leaves his table without rank: never having time to get up, he takes the crumbs into his hand, as if she were smooth!” The noble Prince Peter, although I was tempted, ordered me to dine with him at the same table. And as soon as I had finished dinner, she, as was her custom, took the crumbs from the table into her hand. Prince Peter took me by the hand and, reconnaissance, saw good-smelling Lebanon and incense. And from then on I will leave the days so that you will not be tempted.”

Peter, albeit gently, wants to reproach and wean his wife from her habit. With his gesture, he seems to want to say: “Look! Why are you doing this? These are just crumbs!” And then what was just crumbs turns out to be incense. Peter's gesture, in which one can sense a shade of superiority over his wife and, perhaps, an already prepared lesson, turns out to be meaningless: the “custom” of the wife, even if incompatible with the habits of her husband and even contrary to court etiquette (this “rite” is only a human institution), is holy and should be accepted by the husband with reverence or corrected with patience and without exaltation over her. Moreover, he should not accept someone’s slander against his wife. Every third person is a stranger to a husband and wife. Peter “from those days” stopped “tempting” Fevronia, checking whether her behavior corresponded to a certain order accepted in his house. In their relationship, the main thing was love and mutual patience, and not the desire to subordinate the other to their own habits.

But trials arise not only within the family; they often come from outside as well. Such a test befell the family of Prince Peter. Many years later, when peace and love were already permanent guests in his house, the nobility of Murom launched a persecution against their princess.

“And after many times, his furious boy came to him, roaring: “We want everything, prince, to serve you righteously and have you as autocrat, but we don’t want Princess Fevronia to rule over our wives. If you want to be an autocrat, let him be a princess. Fevronia, taking the wealth to her satisfaction, will go away, whatever she wants!” Blessed Peter, as if it were not his custom, having no rage about anything, answered with humility: “Yes, he speaks to Fevronia, and as he speaks, then we hear.”

The reason for the boyars’ request is the envy of their wives, which Ermolai-Erasmus explains in two ways. On the one hand, they envy the fact that the peasant woman has become a princess, on the other hand, they see God’s obvious favor towards the wife of their prince:

“His princess Fevronia, his boyar, does not love his wives for the sake of his own, as if the princess was not the fatherland for her sake, but glorifying God for the good for the sake of her life.”

The boyars not only demand the expulsion of Fevronia, from their very first words they think of the spouses separately: “We want Peter to stay, but Fevronia to leave; take yourself another wife, don’t you care!” From the very beginning, they do not seem to take into account that their prince and princess are husband and wife, that they are one, that people cannot separate them; from the very beginning they neglect marriage as a sacrament, as a divine institution.

We may be surprised: why does Peter send the boyars to Fevronia, why does he not immediately refuse them? Peter's answer demonstrates one of the most important features of Christian marriage, namely, that each spouse has authority over the other. Moreover, this power extends to the most intimate aspects of the other’s personality. The boyars pose the question this way: either you, Peter, are an autocrat, or you are Fevronia’s husband. Peter is a prince, an autocrat by vocation. He, according to the testimony of the boyars themselves, has all the necessary qualities to be the head of the city; for sure, he also has a personal inclination for this. Moreover, he was placed in this place by God's Providence. But it is precisely in the question of whether he should be a prince, that is, whether he should follow his natural and Divine calling, that he turns to his wife for advice. She has to share with him all the hardships of his path, so she has the right to agree to her husband’s path or to close this path for him.

And so the boyars throw a feast, hoping to get Fevronia’s consent to leave the city when her mind may be clouded by wine.

“They, in their frenzy, filled with desperation, plotted to establish a feast. And I will create. And when she was cheerful, she began to extend her cold voices, like a pleading, taking away from the saint God’s gift, which God communed with her inseparably even after death.”

Last words Ermolai-Erasmus reveals the essence of what is happening. The boyars not only have political gain in mind and indulge the vanity of their wives, but are gradually encroaching on something more: they dare to separate husband and wife, to take away from Fevronia God's gift, God communicated it to her inseparably after death.

These words can be repeated again and again, reminding everyone living in a marriage of the preciousness of the gift that they possess.

Fevronia knows its value. She is not indignant at the boyars’ demand: reign is a temporary value. She doesn’t want wealth, because she wants only one treasure: “I ask for nothing else,” says Fevronia, “except my husband, Prince Peter!” .

Peter also knew the value of what he had. In addition, above his calling, above power, honors, and habitual comfort, was for him the commandment of Christ:

“Blessed Prince Peter did not love the temporary autocracy, except for God’s commandments, but walking according to His commandments, adhering to these, just as the God-voiced Matthew in his gospel preaches, as if he lets his wife, the development of the word of an adulterer, and marries another, commits adultery. This blessed prince, according to the Gospel, create his own self-control, as if he were mindful, so that he would not destroy the commandments of God.”

Together with Fevronia, Peter leaves the city.
The Dignity of Christian Marriage

Expelled from their city, Peter and Fevronia sail along the Oka River on ships given to them by the boyars who expelled them. In this, apparently, the most difficult time for their family, Fevronia again shows her wisdom, high moral sense and remarkable endurance. Her wisdom is revealed in the next episode.

On the ship on which Peter and Fevronia were sailing into the unknown, there was a man and his wife. He saw Fevronia and looked at her with carnal thoughts. She understood his thoughts and asked him to scoop up and drink water from one side of the vessel, and then from the other. After he obeyed, Fevronia asked: “Do you think the water tastes the same?”

“He said: “There is only one, lady, water.” Again she said to her: “And there is one female nature. Why, having left your wife, are thinking about other people’s thoughts!” Same person<…>afraid to think such a thing.”

Let's read Fevronia's words. At first glance, they are very simple and accessible: “From the point of view of your nature,” she seems to be saying, “all women are the same, and if you think of finding something new with someone else’s wife, you are mistaken. Wouldn’t it be better for you to remain faithful to yours!” But we can the second sentence from Fevronia’s phrase - “For what reason, leaving your wife, you think of someone else’s thoughts!” - read and with emphasis not on the word my, but in words wife. Then this simple statement will reveal to us the depth Christian teaching about marriage.

With such a reading, it will become clear to us that the wife was given to the husband not for the sake of satisfying his natural desire, but her calling is incomparably greater. The wife's personality is not limited to her physicality. Her soul and her spirit also enter into relationship with the corresponding aspects of the husband's personality. In marriage they are united into one spirit, for they have common spiritual aspirations - towards Christ, into one soul, for they must have common life interests, into one body. Only such a union produces a full-fledged Christian family. Such a union makes the mutual love of the spouses the path that leads them to transformation by Christ’s grace, to salvation. And then Fevronia’s words can be paraphrased as follows: “Think about what your wife is for you, think about her dignity before God! It is connected not only to your body, but to your spirit and soul. Do not covet someone else's wife, because if you violate your fidelity, you will destroy this mysterious unity! And it is unique and more valuable than any other callings, unities and desires.”

It is noteworthy that Ermolai-Erasmus compositionally places the episode revealing the doctrine of Christian marriage precisely after the narrative of the expulsion of Peter and Fevronia, thereby, as it were, additionally convincing the reader that the choice made by the saints was correct and the only one possible for a Christian, thereby further once again reaffirming the essential value of Christian marriage.

On the same day, in the evening, when the exiles were preparing to spend the night on the banks of the Oka, the following conversation took place between the spouses.

“Blessed Prince Peter began to think: “What will happen, having been driven away by the will of autocracy?” Precious Fevronia said to him: “Do not grieve, prince, the merciful God, the Creator and Provider of everything, will not leave us in the lowest state of being!”

Peter began to be tormented by doubts whether he had acted correctly by leaving Murom, without resisting the boyars, without insisting on his own. Apparently, the thought that he had arbitrarily abdicated the responsibility for his city, for his people, which the Lord had entrusted to him, was especially difficult for him. Perhaps mixed with this was the secret thought that now poverty and the difficult life of a wanderer awaited him. And at this moment, the word of his wife turns out to be healing for him, dispelling both dark thoughts. Fevronia speaks to her husband about God, about His mercy and Providence, calling him to seek His Will, reminding him that the Creator, who called him to princely service, can show him a new path or return him to the old one. She consoles him, explaining that God, who united them into husband and wife, will not allow the destruction of their union, and will give them what they need for life.

In one phrase of Fevronia, all her courage is manifested, all her loyalty to her calling. If a man’s calling is to take upon himself and bear responsibility for others, then a woman’s calling is different; it is called upon to preserve unity, integrity, and the spirit of the family in any circumstances. In confirmation of Fevronia’s encouraging words, the following happens that same night.

“On that day I prepared food for blessed Prince Peter for his supper. And even more so<= посече>cook his trees are small, and the cauldrons hang on them. After supper, the holy princess Fevronia, walking along the shore and seeing the tree, blessed it and said: “May this tree be great in the morning, having branches and foliage.” As soon as it happens. When I got up in the morning, I found a tree with great ancient branches and leaves.”

If the family has not broken up, if the spouses courageously hold on to each other, to mutual love, then the lost well-being will arise, like young tree, which has grown overnight, will return to its original form and grow thanks to the love and care of his wife.

In the morning, the truth of Fevronia’s words was confirmed in another way.

Before the wanderers had time to leave their place of accommodation for the night, a nobleman galloped up from Murom with the news that after the expulsion of the prince, civil strife began in the city, and many boyars were killed: “Even though you might have power over them, you yourself will destroy them.” Those who remained alive and all the people tearfully asked the prince to return back: “Now we are slaves with all our houses, and we want, and we love, and we pray, so that her servant will not leave us!” .

Let us pay attention to the fact that in their speech the boyars use forms of the dual number: rabbi vayu , not at all will leave us... Now they too think of the spouses only together, as a single whole, and agree to be slaves of both of them: both Peter and Fevronia.

The prince and princess return to Murom. And this is how Ermolai-Erasmus describes their further reign.

“Behu is sovereign in that city, walking in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord without blemish, in unceasing prayers and alms and to all people under their authority, like a loving father and mother. Besta, for love is equal to everyone, not loving pride, nor robbery, nor corruptible wealth, sparing, but growing richer in God. Besta for his city is a true shepherd, and not like a mercenary. The city is truly and meekly, and not furious and ruling. The strange are accepting, the greedy are satisfying, the naked are clothed, the poor are delivered from misfortune.”

This is the ideal of Christian government. For everyone they were like their subjects father and mother, and not as rulers. Thus, they realized the image of earthly life that the Monk Simeon the New Theologian formulated a century before them: “God created father and son for being in the world. Without violence and poverty, no one would be a slave or a mercenary.” They succeeded in this because the gracious love that they acquired in their marriage began to abound and poured out on everyone around them; the boundaries of their family seemed to expand and include many, many. But even then, the family itself, mutual love for each other remained an unconditional value for Peter and Fevronia. We will see confirmation of this in the final episode of “The Tale”.

We know nothing about whether the holy spouses had children. Perhaps oral tradition simply did not convey information about this to Ermolai-Erasmus. And yet it is noteworthy that he himself did not use any folklore image, did not fantasize on this topic, and did not touch upon it in a single word. For him and his narrative about Christian marriage, this circumstance from the lives of his heroes does not matter. They achieved holiness not by having many children, but by mutual love and maintaining the sanctity of marriage. This is precisely its meaning and purpose.

Epilogue
tonsure-death-posthumous miracle

Years have passed. When Peter and Fevronia grew old, and “when her pious repose arrived,” they begged God to let them die in one hour. They could not live even for a short time without each other. While awaiting their death, according to the customs of that time, they simultaneously took monastic vows. Peter in monasticism was named David, Fevronia - Euphrosyne. For them, monasticism is a way to get away from princely worries, devote more time to prayer and thus prepare for death with dignity. Marriage vows, even after tonsure, remain valid for them, because they also fulfill their last promise to each other - to die at the same time. This is the touching description of their death that Ermolai-Erasmus gives.

“At the same time, the Venerable and Blessed Fevronia<…>The air flows into the temple of the Most Pure Cathedral Church, and on it are the white faces of saints. The Venerable and Blessed Prince Peter<…>sending the verb to her: “Oh sister Euphrosyne! I want to get away from the body already, but I’m waiting for you so that we can get away.” She denied: “Wait, sir, until I breathe air into the holy church.” He sent a second message to her, saying: “I won’t wait much longer for you.” And as if she sent a third, saying: “I already want to die and I’m not waiting for you!”

And she was already finishing her work; all she had to do was embroider the vestments of one saint, whose face was already completed.

“And stop, and watch your needle in the air, and turn it into a thread, which you sew with it. And he sent to blessed Peter, who was named David, about his death by the purchase. And, having prayed, his holy soul betrayed<двойственное число - A. B.> in the hand of God.”

Saints Peter and Fevronia, before being tonsured, bequeathed to bury themselves together, in one coffin, which was hewn out of stone for them during their lifetime. But the spouses were buried separately, “roaring, as it is not acceptable to place the saints in a single tomb in the same image.” Then a miracle happened that glorified Saints Peter and Fevronia. The next morning people found both separate coffins empty. The holy bodies of Peter and Fevronia lay in the city in the cathedral church of the Most Pure Mother of God, in one coffin, which they themselves ordered to create. Thus, the Lord glorified not only His saints, but also once again sealed the holiness and dignity of marriage, the vows of which in this case turned out to be no lower than monastic vows.

This is how it ended earthly life Saints Peter and Fevronia. After their death, their veneration gradually spread beyond the Murom land and, by the 16th century, probably covered the majority of the inhabitants of the Moscow state. In 1547, through the works of St. Macarius of Moscow, they were ranked among the Russian Orthodox Church to the saints. Saint Macarius deserves special mention in connection with our saints, since through his care people who achieved righteousness thanks to life in a Christian marriage were glorified.

The effectiveness of prayer to these saints, which the Church has been doing for 450 years (the anniversary of their glorification was celebrated last year), convinces us of the authenticity of the appearance of Peter and Fevronia, which was recreated by Ermolai-Erasmus in his “Tale”. They truly became the patrons of Christian marriage. It is they who should pray for peace to be sent into the family, for strengthening marital ties, and for achieving family happiness.

The author of “The Tale” prefaces his narrative with a preface in which he briefly reminds the reader of the Orthodox teaching about the Trinity, the creation of the world, and the economy of salvation. He ends his opening remarks with a reminder of the Christian's vocation. Thus, Saints Peter and Fevronia are included in the majestic picture of the Christianly understood history of the world; they are placed on a par with the apostles and martyrs and other great saints. And they were awarded such glorification “for the sake of courage and humility” that they showed in keeping the commandments of God regarding marriage. In this way they fulfilled their calling as Christians. This means that each of those who strive in Christian marriage and follow their example can be placed in this rank and can win the crown that Saints Peter and Fevronia of Murom were awarded.

1. Murom Prince Peter Yuryevich (in the tonsure of David), according to chronicles, died in 1228, therefore, the life together of Peter and his wife Fevronia dates back to the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries. © A. L. Beglov, 1998
2. “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia” differs markedly from the generally accepted examples of hagiographic literature in the Makaryev era. This led to the fact that already in the 16th century. it has been revised several times. See Dmitrieva R.P. Ermolai-Erasmus - author of the Tale of Peter and Fevronia // The Tale of Peter and Fevronia / Preparation of texts and research by R.P. Dmitrieva. L., 1979. - P. 117; Dmitrieva R.P. Secondary editions of the Tale of Peter and Fevronia // Ibid. - Ss. 119–146.
3. The latter were included in the literary tradition, in which the genre of the parable was very developed, suggesting an allegorical reading of its plot. It is possible that the Old Russian reader, exceptionally sensitive to the parable genre, folklore images He also perceived our “Tale” as allegories and interpreted them in accordance with the main theme of this work.
4. Unity in marriage was established by God Himself, and therefore is carried out in non-church marriages - all the more serious consequences are caused by desecration of the sacrament of marriage, conscious or unconscious.
5. The story of the lives of the new miracle worker saints of Murom, the good and venerable and praiseworthy Prince Peter, named in the monastic rank of David, and his wife, the faithful and reverend and praiseworthy princess Fevronia, named in the monastic rank Euphrosyne // The Tale of Peter and Fevronia. - Ss. 211–213 (hereinafter: Tale). For all references to this monument, we use the text of its first edition, defined in the publication by R. P. Dmitrieva as the author’s. See The Tale of Peter and Fevronia. - Ss. 209–223.
6. Although the motif of snake fighting in “The Tale” is correlated with folklore, the very fact of demonic werewolf is known to Orthodox asceticism. In particular, an incident from the life of Archbishop Theodore (Pozdeevsky; †1937), similar to that described above, was recorded by priest Sergius Sidorov (†1937). Vladika Theodore Last year During his rectorship at the Moscow Theological Academy, he cared for a certain mentally ill woman. When one day he did not allow her to leave Sergiev Posad, “she asked me why I did not let her into the station, and assured that I had been with her in the morning and tried to persuade her to leave Sergiev. I then took her words for delirium, clearly sick. The next morning, having put part of the relics of St. Sergius into the panagia, I went to the sick woman. She was sitting on the bed, and my double sat opposite her and convinced her to immediately leave Sergius. I stopped, amazed, on the threshold. The double turned to me and, pointing at me to the girl, said: “Don’t believe this, this is the devil.” “You’re lying,” I said and touched him with my panagia. My double immediately disappeared and no longer disturbed the girl, who had completely recovered from mental illness who tormented her from the age of seven” (Priest Sergius Sidorov. Notes / Publication by V. S. Bobrinskaya // Chrysostom. No. 2. - pp. 306–307; indicated by M. S. Pershin). It is noteworthy that this event immediately preceded the persecution of Bishop Theodore in the liberal press and his subsequent removal from the post of rector of the Academy.
7. Tale. - P. 221.

Peter Muromsky, in monasticism David (+ 1228), holy noble prince. Commemorated on June 25, in the Cathedrals of Vladimir and Ryazan Saints.

Fevronia of Murom, in monasticism Euphrosyne (+ 1228), holy noble princess. Commemorated on June 25, in the Cathedrals of Vladimir and Ryazan Saints.

The blessed Prince Peter was the second son of Murom Prince Yuri Vladimirovich. He ascended the Murom throne in 1203. A few years earlier, Saint Peter fell ill with leprosy, from which no one could cure him. In a dream vision, it was revealed to the prince that he could be healed by the beekeeper’s daughter, the pious maiden Fevronia, a peasant woman in the village of Laskovo, Ryazan province. Saint Peter sent his people to that village.

When the prince saw Saint Fevronia, he fell in love with her so much for her piety, wisdom and kindness that he vowed to marry her after healing. Saint Febronia healed the prince and married him. The holy spouses carried love for each other through all trials. The proud boyars did not want to have a princess of ordinary rank and demanded that the prince let her go. Saint Peter refused and the couple were expelled. They sailed on a boat along the Oka from hometown. Saint Febronia supported and consoled Saint Peter. But soon the city of Murom suffered the wrath of God, and the people demanded that the prince return with Saint Fevronia.

The holy spouses became famous for their piety and mercy.

They died on the same day and hour, June 25, 1228, having previously taken monastic vows with the names David and Euphrosyne. The bodies of the saints were laid in one coffin.

The glorification of the holy couple followed at the Moscow Council in 1547. Nowadays the relics of the holy spouses are in the Murom Holy Trinity Novodevichy Monastery.

You can get acquainted with the story of the life and love of Saints Peter and Fevronia by reading “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom”. This is a literary adaptation of a legend beloved by the Russian people, performed by order of Metropolitan Macarius by the writer and publicist Ermolai-Erasmus for the Moscow Church Council of 1547. At this cathedral the holy Murom spouses were canonized.

“The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom,” which tells about the life of Prince Peter and his wife Princess Fevronia, has become a hymn to marital love and fidelity. The Russian people loved to read the story of the Murom miracle worker saints - hundreds of copies of this work in the 16th-17th centuries speak about the popularity of the work of Ermolai-Erasmus. But this love story is also interesting to our contemporaries, especially now, when in Russia the Day of Peter and Fevronia of Murom (July 8) began to be celebrated in 2008 as the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity.

Below is a modern Russian-language version of “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom” (the original story was written in Old Russian).

YERMOLAI-ERAZM

THE TALE OF PETER AND FEVRONIYA OF MUROM

THE NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF THE NEW MUROMSKY HOLY WONDERWORKERS, THE BLESSED, AND REVEREND, AND PRAISE-WORTHY PRINCE PETER, CALLED DAVID, AND HIS WIFE, THE BLOSSESS, AND REVEREND, AND PRAISE-WORTHY PRINCESS FEVRONIYA, CALLED EPHROSYNE IN MONSTITUDE, BLESS, FATHER

There is a city in Russian land called Murom. It was once ruled by a noble prince named Pavel. The devil, who has hated the human race from time immemorial, made it so that the winged serpent began to fly to the wife of that prince for fornication. And with his magic he appeared before her in the image of the prince himself. This obsession continued for a long time. The wife did not hide this and told the prince and her husband about everything that happened to her. The evil snake took possession of her by force.

The prince began to think about what to do with the snake, but was at a loss. And so he says to his wife: “I’m thinking about it, wife, but I can’t figure out how to defeat this villain? I don't know how to kill him? When he begins to talk to you, ask him, seducing him, about this: does this villain himself know why his death should happen? If you find out about this and tell us, then you will be freed not only in this life from its stinking breath and hissing and all this shamelessness, which is shameful even to talk about, but also in the future life of the unhypocritical judge, Christ, thereby you will appease.” The wife firmly imprinted her husband’s words in her heart and she decided: “I will definitely do this.”

And then one day, when this evil snake came to her, she, holding her husband’s words tightly in her heart, turned to this villain with flattering speeches, talking about this and that, and in the end, with respect, praising him, asking: “A lot of things.” you know, but do you know about your death - what it will be like and from what?” He, an evil deceiver, was deceived by the forgivable deception of his faithful wife, for, neglecting the fact that he was revealing the secret to her, he said: “I am destined to die from Peter’s shoulder and from Agrikov’s sword.” The wife, having heard these words, firmly remembered them in her heart and, when this villain left, she told the prince, her husband, what the snake had told her. The prince, having heard this, was perplexed - what does it mean: death from Peter’s shoulder and from Agrikov’s sword?

And the prince had brother named Peter. One day Paul called him to him and began to tell him about the words of the serpent, which he said to his wife. Prince Peter, having heard from his brother that the serpent had called the one by whose hand he was to die by his name, began to think without hesitation or doubt how to kill the serpent. Only one thing confused him - he didn’t know anything about Agric’s sword.

It was Peter's custom to walk alone in churches. And outside the city stood in a convent the Church of the Exaltation of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross. He came there alone to pray. And then the youth appeared to him, saying: “Prince! Do you want me to show you Agrikov’s sword?” He, trying to fulfill his plan, replied: “Let me see where he is!” The boy said: “Follow me.” And he showed the prince a gap in the altar wall between the slabs, and in it lay a sword. Then the noble prince Peter took that sword, went to his brother and told him about everything. And from that day he began to look for a suitable opportunity to kill the snake.

Every day Peter went to his brother and his daughter-in-law to pay homage to them. One day he happened to come to his brother’s chambers, and immediately he went from him to his daughter-in-law in other chambers and saw that his brother was sitting with her. And, going back from her, he met one of his brother’s servants and said to him: “I went out from my brother to my daughter-in-law, and my brother remained in his chambers, and I, without stopping anywhere, quickly came to my daughter-in-law’s chambers.” and I don’t understand how my brother ended up in my daughter-in-law’s chambers before me?” The same man said to him: “Sir, after your departure your brother did not leave his chambers!” Then Peter realized that these were the wiles of the evil serpent. And he came to his brother and said to him: “When did you come here? After all, when I left these chambers from you and, without stopping anywhere, came to your wife’s chambers, I saw you sitting with her and was very surprised how you came before me. And so I came here again, without stopping anywhere, but you, I don’t understand how, got ahead of me and ended up here before me?” Paul answered: “Brother, I did not leave these chambers anywhere after you left, nor did I visit my wife.” Then Prince Peter said: “This, brother, is the machinations of the evil serpent - you appear to me, so that I do not decide to kill him, thinking that it is you who are my brother. Now, brother, don’t go anywhere from here, I’ll go there to fight the snake, I hope that with God’s help this evil snake will be killed.”

And, taking the sword called Agrikov, he came to his daughter-in-law’s chambers and saw a serpent in the form of his brother, but, firmly convinced that it was not his brother, but an insidious serpent, he struck him with the sword. The serpent, turning into its natural form, trembled and died, sprinkling the blessed Prince Peter with its blood. Peter, from that evil blood, became covered with scabs, and ulcers appeared on his body, and a serious illness seized him. And he tried to find healing from many doctors in his domain, but not one cured him.

Peter heard that there were many doctors in the Ryazan land, and ordered to be taken there - due to a serious illness, he himself could not sit on a horse. And when they brought him to the Ryazan land, he sent all his close associates to look for doctors.

One of the princely youths wandered into a village called Laskovo. He came to the gate of one house and saw no one. And he went into the house, but no one came out to meet him. Then he entered the upper room and saw an amazing sight: a girl was sitting alone at a loom, weaving canvas, and a hare was jumping in front of her.

And the girl said: “It’s bad when the house has no ears, and the room has no eyes!” The young man, not understanding these words, asked the girl: “Where is the owner of this house?” To this she replied: “My father and mother went to cry on loan, but my brother went through the legs of death to look into the eyes.”

The young man did not understand the girl’s words, he was amazed, seeing and hearing such miracles, and asked the girl: “I came in to you and saw that you were weaving, and a hare was jumping in front of you, and I heard some strange speeches from your lips and I can't understand what you're saying. First you said: it’s bad when the house has no ears and the room has no eyes. About her father and mother she said that they went on loan to cry, but about her brother she said - “he looks into the eyes of death through the legs.” And I didn’t understand a single word of yours!”

She told him: “And you can’t understand this! You came to this house, and entered my upper room, and found me in an unkempt state. If there was a dog in our house, it would sense that you were approaching the house and would bark at you: these are the ears of the house. And if there was a child in my upper room, then, seeing that you were going to the upper room, he would tell me about this: these are the eyes of the house. And what I told you about my father and mother and about my brother, that my father and mother went to cry - they went to a funeral and mourned the dead man there. And when death comes for them, others will mourn them: this is crying on loan. I told you this about my brother because my father and brother are tree climbers, they collect honey from the trees in the forest. And today my brother went to be a beekeeper, and when he climbs up a tree, he will look through his legs to the ground so as not to fall from his height. If anyone breaks down, he will lose his life. That’s why I said that he went through the legs of death to look into the eyes.”

The young man says to her: “I see, girl, that you are wise. Tell me your name." She replied: “My name is Fevronia.” And that young man said to her: “I am the servant of the Murom prince Peter. My prince is seriously ill, with ulcers. He was covered with scabs from the blood of the evil flying snake, which he killed with his own hand. In his principality, he sought healing from many doctors, but no one could cure him. Therefore, he ordered to bring himself here, since he had heard that there were many doctors here. But we don’t know their names or where they live, so we ask about them.” To this she replied: “If someone asked for your prince, he could cure him.” The young man said: “What are you saying - who can claim my prince for himself! If anyone cures him, the prince will richly reward him. But tell me the name of the doctor, who he is and where his house is.” She answered: “Bring your prince here. If he is sincere and humble in his words, he will be healthy!”

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

Prince Peter treated her words with disdain and thought: “Well, how is it possible for the prince to take the daughter of a poison dart frog as his wife!” And he sent to her, saying: “Tell her - let her heal as best she can. If she cures me, I will take her as my wife.” They came to her and conveyed these words. She, taking a small bowl, scooped up some leaven with it, blew on it and said: “Let them heat your prince’s bathhouse, and let him anoint his whole body with it, where there are scabs and ulcers. And let him leave one scab unanointed. And he will be healthy!”

And they brought this ointment to the prince, and he ordered the bathhouse to be heated. He wanted to test the girl’s answers - whether she was as wise as he had heard about her speeches from his youth. He sent a small bundle of flax to her with one of his servants, saying: “This girl wants to become my wife for the sake of her wisdom. If she is so wise, let her make me a shirt, and clothes, and a scarf from this flax while I am in the bathhouse.” The servant brought Fevronia a bunch of flax and, handing it to her, conveyed the prince’s order. She told the servant: “Climb onto our stove and, taking off the log, bring it here.” He, having listened to her, brought some logs. Then she, measuring with a span, said: “Bran off this from the log.” He cut it off. She tells him: “Take this stump of wood, go and give it to your prince from me and tell him: while I comb this bunch of flax, let your prince make a weaving mill from this stump and all the other equipment that will be used for weaving.” canvas for him." The servant brought a stump of logs to his prince and conveyed the girl’s words. The prince says: “Go tell the girl that it is impossible to make what she asks from such a small chick in such a short time!” The servant came and conveyed to her the prince’s words. The girl responded to this: “Is it really possible for an adult man to make a shirt, a dress, and a scarf from one bunch of flax in the short time it takes him to wash in the bathhouse?” The servant left and conveyed these words to the prince. The prince was amazed at her answer.

Then Prince Peter went to the bathhouse to wash and, as the girl ordered, he anointed his sores and scabs with ointment. And he left one scab unanointed, as the girl ordered. And when I left the bathhouse, I no longer felt any illness. The next morning he looks - his whole body is healthy and clean, only one scab remains, which he did not anoint, as the girl punished him. And he marveled at such a quick healing. But he did not want to take her as his wife because of her origin, but sent her gifts. She didn't accept it.

Prince Peter went to his patrimony, the city of Murom, having recovered. Only one scab remained on him, which was not anointed at the girl’s command. And from that scab new scabs appeared all over his body from the day he went to his patrimony. And again he was covered all over with scabs and ulcers, just like the first time.

And again the prince returned to the girl for the tried and tested treatment. And when he came to her house, he sent to her in shame, asking for healing. She, not at all angry, said: “If he becomes my husband, he will be healed.” He gave her a firm word that he would take her as his wife. And again, as before, she prescribed the same treatment for him, which I already wrote about before. He, having quickly recovered, took her as his wife. This is how Fevronia became a princess.

And they arrived at their patrimony, the city of Murom, and began to live piously, without breaking God’s commandments in anything.

After a short time, Prince Pavel died. The noble Prince Peter, after his brother, became autocrat in his city.

The boyars, at the instigation of their wives, did not love Princess Fevronia, because she did not become a princess by birth, but God glorified her for the sake of her good life.

One day, one of those serving her came to the blessed Prince Peter and said to her: “Every time,” he said, “after finishing a meal, she leaves the table inappropriately: before getting up, she collects crumbs in her hand, as if she were hungry.” ! And so the noble prince Peter, wanting to test her, ordered that she dine with him at the same table. And when dinner was over, she, as was her custom, collected the crumbs in her hand. Then Prince Peter took Fevronia by the hand and, opening it, saw fragrant incense and incense. And from that day on, he never experienced it again.

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

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

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

These evil boyars prepared ships for them on the river - a river called the Oka flows under this city. And so they sailed down the river in ships. A certain man was sailing in the same ship with Fevronia, whose wife was on the same ship. And this man, tempted by the evil demon, looked at the saint with thoughts. She, immediately guessing his evil thoughts, denounced him, telling him: “Scoop up water from this river from this side of this vessel.” He got it. And she ordered him to drink. He drank. Then she said again: “Now scoop up water from the other side of this vessel.” He got it. And she ordered him to drink again. He drank. Then she asked: “Is the water the same or is one sweeter than the other?” He answered: “The same water, lady.” After this she said: “So the female nature is the same. Why, having forgotten about your wife, are you thinking about someone else’s?” And this man, realizing that she had the gift of insight, did not dare to indulge in such thoughts anymore.

When evening came, they landed on the shore and began to settle down for the night. Blessed Prince Peter thought: “What will happen now, since I voluntarily renounced the princedom?” Precious Fevronia tells him: “Do not grieve, prince, the merciful God, the creator and protector of all will not leave us in trouble!”

Meanwhile, on the shore, food was being prepared for Prince Peter’s dinner. And his cook cut down small trees to hang the cauldrons on. And when dinner was over, the holy princess Fevronia, who was walking along the shore and saw these stumps, blessed them, saying: “May they be large trees with branches and foliage in the morning.” And so it was: we got up in the morning and found large trees with branches and foliage instead of stumps.

And when people gathered to load their belongings from the shore onto ships, nobles from the city of Murom came, saying: “Our lord prince! We came to you from all the nobles and from the inhabitants of the whole city, do not leave us, your orphans, return to your reign. After all, many nobles died in the city from the sword. Each of them wanted to rule, and in the dispute they killed each other. And all those who survived, together with all the people, pray to you: Our lord prince, although we angered and offended you because we did not want Princess Fevronia to rule over our wives, but now with all our household we are your slaves and we want you to be, and we love you, and we pray that you do not leave us, your servants!”

Blessed Prince Peter and Blessed Princess Fevronia returned to their city. And they ruled in that city, observing all the commandments and instructions of the Lord impeccably, praying incessantly and giving alms to all the people under their authority, like a child-loving father and mother. They had equal love for everyone, did not like cruelty and money-grubbing, did not spare perishable wealth, but grew rich in God's wealth. And they were true shepherds for their city, and not like mercenaries. And they ruled their city with justice and meekness, and not with rage. They welcomed strangers, fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and delivered the poor from misfortunes.

When the time had come for their pious repose, they begged God to die at the same time. And they bequeathed that they should both be placed in one tomb, and they ordered that two coffins be made from one stone, with a thin partition between them. At one time they became monks and donned monastic robes. And the blessed prince Peter was named David in the monastic rank, and the Monk Fevronia in the monastic rank was called Euphrosyne.

At a time when the Venerable and Blessed Fevronia, named Euphrosyne, was embroidering the faces of saints in the air for the cathedral church of the Most Pure Theotokos, the Venerable and Blessed Prince Peter, named David, sent to her to say: “O Sister Euphrosyne! The time of death has come, but I’m waiting for you so that we can go to God together.” She answered: “Wait, sir, until I bring air into the holy church.” He sent a second time to say: “I can’t wait for you for long.” And for the third time he sent me to say: “I’m already dying and I can’t wait any longer!” At that time she was finishing the embroidery of that holy air: only one saint’s mantle had not yet been finished, but she had already embroidered the face; and she stopped, and stuck her needle in the air, and wound the thread with which she was embroidering around it. And she sent to tell blessed Peter, named David, that she was dying with him. And, having prayed, they both gave their holy souls into the hands of God on the twenty-fifth day of the month of June.

After their repose, people decided to bury the body of blessed Prince Peter in the city, near the cathedral church of the Most Pure Mother of God, and to bury Fevronia in a country nunnery, near the Church of the Exaltation of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross, saying that since they became monks, they cannot be put in one coffin . And they made separate coffins for them, in which they placed their bodies: the body of St. Peter, named David, was placed in his coffin and placed until the morning in the city church of the Holy Mother of God, and the body of St. Fevronia, named Euphrosyne, was placed in her coffin and placed in the country church Exaltation of an honest and life-giving cross. Their common coffin, which they themselves ordered to be carved out of one stone, remained empty in the same city cathedral church of the Most Pure Mother of God. But the next morning, people saw that the separate coffins in which they had placed them were empty, and their holy bodies were found in the city cathedral church of the Most Pure Mother of God in their common coffin, which they ordered to be made for themselves during their lifetime. Foolish people, both during their lifetime and after the honest repose of Peter and Fevronia, tried to separate them: they again put them in separate coffins and separated them again. And again in the morning the saints found themselves in a single coffin. And after that they no longer dared to touch their holy bodies and buried them near the city cathedral church of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin, as they themselves commanded - in a single coffin, which God gave for enlightenment and for the salvation of that city: those who fell with faith to the shrine with their relics generously find healing.

Let us, according to our strength, give them praise.

Rejoice, Peter, for you have been given from God the power to kill the flying fierce serpent! Rejoice, Fevronia, for in your woman’s head was the wisdom of holy men! Rejoice, Peter, for, bearing scabs and ulcers on his body, he bravely endured all the torments! Rejoice, Fevronia, for already as a girl you possessed the gift given to you from God to heal ailments! Rejoice, illustrious Peter, for, for the sake of God’s commandment not to leave his wife, he voluntarily renounced power! Rejoice, wonderful Fevronia, for with your blessing, in one night the small trees grew large, covered with branches and leaves! Rejoice, honest leaders, for in your reign you lived with humility, in prayers, doing alms, without being arrogant; For this, Christ has overshadowed you with His grace, so that even after death your bodies lie inseparably in one tomb, and in spirit you stand before the Lord Christ! Rejoice, reverend and blessed ones, for even after death you invisibly heal those who come to you with faith!

We pray to you, O blessed spouses, that you also pray for us, who honor your memory with faith!

Remember also me, a sinner, who wrote everything that I heard about you, not knowing whether others who knew more than me wrote about you or not. Although I am a sinner and an ignorant person, trusting in God’s grace and his generosity and trusting in your prayers to Christ, I worked on my work. While I wanted to give you praise on earth, I have not yet touched upon real praise. For the sake of your meek reign and righteous life, I wanted to weave wreaths of praise for you after your death, but I haven’t really touched on this yet. For you are glorified and crowned in heaven with true incorruptible crowns by the common ruler of all, Christ. To him belongs, together with his beginningless Father and the most holy, good and life-giving Spirit, all glory, honor and worship, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Akathist to the Holy Blessed Prince Peter and Princess Fevronia, Murom Wonderworkers

Kontakion 1

Chosen miracle workers and great saints of the Lord, intercessors of the city of Murom and dreams of prayer for our souls, holy blessings of Prince Peter and Princess Fevronia! Bringing praise to you, we earnestly pray: for those who have boldness in the Lord, through your intercession free us from all troubles, and make us heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, so we joyfully call to you:

Ikos 1

The angels of earth and the people of heaven have truly appeared, blessed Peter and Fevronia, from your youth having a clear conscience and having lived well together in piety and purity, leaving us as an example of imitation of your godly life, to whom we have marveled and illuminated your miracles, we call you voices of praise to us :
Rejoice, you who have loved Christ from your youth and worked for Him with all your heart; Rejoice, guardians of chastity and guardians of mental and physical purity. Rejoice, having prepared your souls and bodies on earth for the abode of the Holy Spirit; Rejoice in being filled with the wisdom and intelligence of the Divine. Rejoice, as in the flesh, as without flesh, live together; Rejoice, for you are worthy to receive honor equal to the angels. Rejoice, for you stand before the Trinity from earth to Heaven and there from the Angels; Rejoice, for with disembodied faces you sing the thrice-holy hymn to Her. Rejoice, glorified in Heaven and on earth by the Lord; Rejoice, having found an eternal, all-bright resting place. Rejoice, rich treasure of the city of Murom; Rejoice, source of inexhaustible miracles.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kontakion 2

Seeing Prince Peter in his recurring illness, a sign of God’s wrath, for not fulfilling his vow, he took the wise Fevronia as his wife, trying to fulfill this and united with her in a legal marriage. Both in marriage, live chastely and godly, blissfully, having one thought in two bodies, to please God; In the same way, now you sing to Him with the Angels a song: Alleluia.

Ikos 2

With a divinely enlightened mind, gifted from above, Saints Peter and Fevronia, love and mercy for the poor and orphans, the offended and helpless, quickly interceded and with many other virtues adorned their earthly reign. For this reason we cry out to you:
Rejoice, blessed and blessed, having lived in love of God and preserved good faith; Rejoice, you are filled with mercy and compassion. Rejoice, quick helper to the helpless; Rejoice, comforters of sad blasias. Rejoice, feeders of orphans and widows; Rejoice, representatives of those in trouble. Rejoice, healers of mental and physical illnesses; Rejoice, joy-creating visitors of sorrowful hearts. Rejoice, having shown your love for God, your love for your neighbors; Rejoice, having maintained your earthly reign righteously and pleasing to God. Rejoice, praise of the Orthodox princes and the establishment of the city of Murom; Rejoice, all Russian lands, intercession.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kontakion 3

We strengthen you with the power of God’s grace, blessed Prince Peter, you would rather leave the city of your fatherland and the reign of Murom than to divorce the wise Fevronia at the insistence of your proud boys. For this sake, God glorify you and create, so that the same bolyars returned together with your wife, you are once again established on the throne of the reign of Murom, but you show us an example of keeping the law of God by your feat, and imitating you in the holiness of keeping the marriage union, we sing to the hero Christ: Alleluia .

Ikos 3

Having care for his people, the blessed Peter and Fevronia, vigilantly labored for their good, inculcating piety, eradicating wickedness and pacifying enmity. Likewise, the Lord, seeing such feats of yours, bless the land of Murom with fruitfulness and give deep peace to your reign, challenging your people to sing gratefully to you:
Rejoice, saints of God, as partakers of the lives of the great saints; Rejoice, good rulers, people of Murom, who have guided you to salvation. Rejoice, guardians of Christian piety; Rejoice, eradicators of disorder, strife and all wickedness. Rejoice, Christian spouses to the pious life of a mentor; Rejoice, chastity and continence in marriage are the most excellent image. Rejoice, guardians of the righteous judgment; Rejoice, zealots of non-extortion and selflessness. Rejoice, holy kings Constantine and Helen, acquirers of virtues; Rejoice, Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir and Blessed Princess Olga are worthy successors. Rejoice, most honorable and good combination of two, unwaveringly shining with rays of miracles; Rejoice, O blessed lamp of your fatherland.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kontakion 4

The storm of sorrows and misfortunes, raised by the malice of this world, do not weaken your strong love even for God, Blessed Peter and Fevronia, but even more teach you to skillfully repel the kindled arrows of the temptations of the devil: for you, having wrapped yourself in the armor of the faith of Christ, in the deep world have gone beyond the multi-rebellious abyss of everyday life sea, and reach the quiet harbor of salvation, bring us to it with your prayers, so that together with you we sing to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 4

Having heard your pious life near and far, faithful Peter and Fevronia, I glorified the philanthropic God, who gave you strength for all good deeds, in whose image, like shining rays, you shone in your fatherland, where to this day your names are honorable, and your deeds are sung with these praises:
Rejoice, most luminous two, united by God; Rejoice in the light of your pious life, like God’s bright lights shining forth. Rejoice, having acquired the Kingdom of Heaven through alms and prayers; Rejoice, having improved eternal bliss through humility and fasting. Rejoice, for your reward is abundant in Heaven; Rejoice, for your joy is eternal in the light of the saints. Rejoice, beloved servants of Christ; Rejoice, friends of all saints. Rejoice, stars of incorruption, who faithfully point out the path of married life pleasing to God; Rejoice, dew-bearing clouds, driving away the heat of passions and wickedness. Rejoice, givers of God's mercies and bounty to us; Rejoice, an inalienable adornment of your Fatherland.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kontakion 5

The divinely enlightened luminaries of piety and wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia, who loved God with all their souls, kept all His commandments; In the same way, Christ, like the sun and the bright moon, has shown you, most blessed, many miracles with the dawn illuminating the Murom region and the entire Russian country, glorifying your holy and multi-healing relics with incorruption, falling to them, according to your heritage, we bless you and sing with gratitude to the wondrous thing in our saints To God: Alleluia.

Ikos 5

Having seen your righteous life and your generosity, the people of Muromstia glorified you, their merciful rulers, the faithful Peter and Fevronia, but you loved true humility and human praise carelessly, remained proudly invulnerable and thus showed us an image of the highest humility, learning from it, crying out to you with love like this:
Rejoice, you who have imputed the glory of man for nothing; Rejoice, you who have zealously loved the humility of Christ. Rejoice, faithful performers of the commandments of the Lord; Rejoice, followers of the true teachings of the Gospel. Rejoice, servant of the Most High God, having done His will; Rejoice, having kept the faith of Christ to the end. Rejoice, teachers of piety to men named after Christ; Rejoice, you who want to live a godly life according to the wisdom of your teacher. Rejoice, for through your prayers you save us from all troubles; Rejoice, you who fulfill all our good requests. Rejoice, you who have provided grace to heal the ills of those who suffer; Rejoice, patron of the mercy of the Murom country.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kontakion 6

Preachers of the Orthodox faith and zealots of piety, not only in words, but with all their lives, were quick in the city of Murom, praising Peter and Fevronia; In the same way, the Holy Church worthily honors your exploits and labors, in the image of which you labored for the glory of the Most High God, silently singing to Him: Alleluia.

Ikos 6

Shine in the city of Murom with the light of your virtuous life, like God’s bright stars, the blessed Peter and Fevronia, and your memory in it with praises to this day, as even after your death you do not cease to illuminate us, performing many miracles and thus the bright dawn of immortality for us from your relics radiantly, may we please you with the blessings of the chintz:
Rejoice, faithful guardians of the rites and statutes of the Holy Church; Rejoice, reverent worshipers of the servants of the altar of the Lord. Rejoice, zealots of the good customs and traditions of the patrists; Rejoice, eradicators of evil customs and superstitious wisdom of the pagans. Rejoice, the judgments that have been impartial to your people are not impartial; Rejoice, having united your judgments with mercy. Rejoice, meek and gentle followers of Christ; Rejoice, you who have overcome evil with good. Rejoice, imperishable fragrant flowers; Rejoice, unflickering rays of immortality. Rejoice, you who shine on earth with the greatness of miracles; Rejoice, angels in Heaven glorifying God.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kontakion 7

Although the Lord, the Lover of Mankind, will show in your life, Peter and Fevronia, an image of edification not only for worldly people, but also for monastic faces, inspire you in your old age to leave the glory of the earthly reign, and accept the image of a monk, in which you strive for goodness through fasting, vigil and prayer, chanting continually to the Triune God the angelic song: Alleluia.

Ikos 7

You have received the new grace of God in tonsure as a monk, with new deeds you have embellished your life as an angel, and thus you have brought the fruit of spiritual perfection to Christ, and you have received the reward of the saints worthy of Him. Remembering your zeal for spiritual deeds, we glorify you with these worthy praises:
Rejoice, for for the love of the Lord, you have abandoned the reign and glory of this world; Rejoice, for you have diligently accepted the monastic life of equal angels. Rejoice, perfect patience of the ascetic; Rejoice, free men of poverty and blessed money-grubbers. Rejoice, having mortified all passions through abstinence before your death; Rejoice, having received the holy schema into the armor of salvation. Rejoice, you who have exchanged the prince’s scarlet for a monastic hair shirt; Rejoice in fasting, vigil and unceasing prayers for those who have pleased God well. Rejoice, seekers of God-loving solitude; Rejoice, lovers of saving silence. Rejoice, watered with tears of prayer; Rejoice, in the host of saints glorified in Heaven.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kontakion 8

It was a strange and wondrous miracle, when you, blessed Peter, at the end of your life, the petition for the sake of your wife, Saint Fevronia, delayed your outcome until she had finished the church shroud, which she stitched together and, together with you, came to the end of death; and so inseparable in life, inseparable in death, he appeared, and in one day and hour he gave up his holy soul in the hand of God, calling everlastingly alive and dead to the possessing Master God: Alleluia.

Ikos 8

All the wonders and praises of the wondrous God in His saints, when your holy bodies, laid in different tombs, were miraculously found lying in a common tomb, which you prepared for yourself, venerable one, in the cathedral church of the city of Murom, where to this day you rest inseparably, holy miracle workers, inexhaustibly exuding healing to all who come running to you with faith and call:
Rejoice, you have faithfully preserved the union of your love to the grave and beyond the grave; Rejoice, not only in life, but also in death, in the Lord’s unity. Rejoice, in your pious married life imitating your strength and help; Rejoice, you who warm us with the warmth of your love. Rejoice, having passed through temporary death to eternal life; Rejoice, from the Lord incorruptibility and miracles of glorification. Rejoice, for your memory is with praise and your dormition is with the saints; Rejoice, for your names are honorable and blessed in your fatherland. Rejoice, fertile fertilizer for the Russian country; Rejoice, the city of Murom has an indestructible fence. Rejoice, O heavenly representatives who love and honor you; Rejoice, you who ever ask us from the Lord for the gifts of His goodness.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kontakion 9

All the Angels and the faces of the saints rejoiced with great joy, when your holy souls reached the eternal in the abodes of the heavenly villages, and the Creator of Angels and the Most Holy of Holies, the King of Glory Christ, crowned you with immortality and gave you the grace to pray to Him with boldness to many for all those who seek your intercession, Do not deprive us sinners of this, Peter and Fevronia, of worthy praise, humbly singing a song of praise to God who glorified you: Alleluia.

Ikos 9

Human Vetism does not suffice for the worthy glorification of your wondrous life, holy wonderworkers Peter and Fevronius; who confessed all your prayers and fastings, illnesses and labors; who will count all your tears and sighs to God. Both of us, motivated by love for you, dare to sing to you these small and simple praises:
Rejoice, vessels of the grace of the Holy Spirit of election; Rejoice, everlasting joy to us, favorable intercessors. Rejoice, strengthening of God-fearing spouses in piety; Rejoice, formidable reproof for violators of marital chastity and harmony. Rejoice, the wrath of God, righteously moved upon us, quenched by your prayers; Rejoice, you who continually pray to the Lord for the peace of the whole world. Rejoice, fortified enemies, visible and invisible, and our supporters; Rejoice, angelic people. Rejoice, joint heirs of the venerable and righteous; Rejoice, faithful saint of the Most Holy Trinity. Rejoice, blessed inhabitants of the city of Heavenly Jerusalem; Rejoice, triumphant with the saints in the tabernacles of paradise.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kontakion 10

Having inherited eternal salvation from the blessed Peter and Fevronia, your souls in the heavenly abodes abide inseparably in God, and with your holy relics you rest incorruptibly in the temple of God, and you exude abundant healing, and with your miracles gracefully illuminated, we cry out in praise to the Supreme Creator of miracles, God: Alleluia.

Ikos 10

The wall of intercession, your auspicious prayers to God, having found, the holy wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia, we earnestly send up thanksgiving to the Heavenly Father for all His blessings, which you have abundantly shown to all of us, and to you, our representatives, we offer the chic:
Rejoice, heir of the all-blessed Kingdom of Christ; Rejoice, angelic faces of your interlocutor. Rejoice, you who contemplate God in unapproachable glory; Rejoice, Trisiyannogo Deity of the Mystery. Rejoice, you who reign forever with the saints in Heaven; Rejoice, you who mercifully reach from the heights of the earth to the earthly. Rejoice, smell the fragrance of heavenly vegetation; Rejoice, cypress trees of the miracle-working paradise of Jesus. Rejoice, givers of envy-free, free healing; Rejoice, performers of many praiseworthy miracles. Rejoice, you who shower us with many blessings; Rejoice, the mercy of your compassion embraces everyone.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kontakion 11

We bring prayer singing to you, saints of God Petra and Fevronia, and with love we fall before the rank of your holy and multi-healing relics, glorifying your godly life and many deeds. We pray to you earnestly, holy wonderworkers, help us to imitate your virtues, so that we may sing to our Creator in a godly manner: Alleluia.

Ikos 11

The cathedral church of the city of Murom was filled with heavenly light, when by the grace of God your holy relics, Peter and Fevronia, were found safe and fragrant in it, and from the depths of the earth, like a precious treasure, they were worn out, where they rest to this day, inexhaustible healings flowing to the sick and sick. For this reason we cry out to you in song:
Rejoice, imperishable gold, found in the depths of the earth; Rejoice, shining beads who enlighten people with grace. Rejoice, praise has been given to the Holy Orthodox Church; Rejoice, denunciation of heresies and schisms. Rejoice, shine upon your minds, illuminating with the dawn of the Holy Spirit; Rejoice, the world is filled with the fragrance of Christ. Rejoice, having been clothed in the robe of grace-filled incorruptibility; Rejoice, girded with the power of many miracles. Rejoice, for your honest physician revealed cancer as a human disease; Rejoice, for from her everyone who comes with faith receives healing gifts. Rejoice, you who illuminate the darkness of our souls with the light of your miracles; Rejoice, for by the incorruption of your holy relics you show us the dawn of the common resurrection of all.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kontakion 12

Having recognized the grace from above given to you, the holy wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia, with reverence and love we worship your incorruptible and multi-healing power and from them we accept healing in illnesses, consolation in sorrows, gracious help in troubles; In the same way, we glorify you according to your heritage, our heavenly representatives and intercessors, singing praises and thanksgiving to the Master God who has benevolent us: Alleluia.

Ikos 12

Singing your many and glorious miracles, the great saints of God Peter and Fevronia, we bless you as healers, comforters and helpers from the Lord given to us, and we prayerfully celebrate your holy memory, singing to you with gratitude and praise from the love of our hearts:
Rejoice, you who rest incorruptibly in the fragrance of the holy thing; Rejoice, you who come with faith to the race of your relics, sanctifying them with grace. Rejoice, you who call in prayer honest names your speedy hearers; Rejoice, trust in you through God, who lays wonders on your helpers. Rejoice, you who have known the propitiators of the Heavenly King; Rejoice, our mighty protectors from invisible enemies. Rejoice, you have dreamed of the intercessors of salvation for all of us; Rejoice, persistent guardians of the city of Murom. Rejoice, wonderful kindness of the Russian princes; Rejoice, God-given patrons of your fatherland. Rejoice, healing grace of our bodies; Rejoice for our souls’ zeal for the Lord in prayer.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kontakion 13

About the holiness and glory of the miracle workers, the blessing of Prince Peter and Princess Fevronia! Mercifully accept this praiseworthy singing from us unworthy, brought to you in tenderness, and through your intercession from the Lord ask us for confirmation in faith and good deeds, and deliverance from all sorrows and illnesses, temporary and eternal, so that we may be worthy to sing together with you and all the saints in the Kingdom of Heaven An eternal hymn of praise to the Most Holy Trinity: Alleluia.

(This kontakion is read three times, then ikos 1 and kontakion 1)

Prayer

About the greatness of the saints of God and wonderful miracle workers, the good faith of Prince Peter and Princess Fevronia, the representatives and guardians of the city of Murom, and about all of us zealous prayer books for the Lord! We come running to you and pray to you with strong hope: bring your holy prayers to the Lord God for us sinners and ask us from His goodness for all that is good for our souls and bodies: rightful faith, good hope, unfeigned love, unshakable piety, success in good deeds, peace of peace, fruitfulness of the earth, prosperity of the air, health to souls and bodies and eternal salvation. Petition from the Heavenly Tsar for the Russian Empire peace, silence and prosperity, and for all of us a prosperous life and a good Christian death. Protect your fatherland, the city of Murom, and all Russian cities from all evil, and overshadow all the faithful people who come to you and worship you with the power of your auspicious prayers, and fulfill all their requests for good. Hey, holy wonderworkers! Do not despise our prayers, offered to you with tenderness, but awaken for us in your dreams as intercessors to the Lord and make us worthy, with your holy help, to receive eternal salvation and inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, so let us glorify the ineffable love for mankind of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the Trinity of the worshiped God, forever and ever. Amen.