Information about the author:
Mikhail V. Bibikov
Mikhail V. Bibikov, DSc in History, Professor, Head of the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Philology, Faculty of Philology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, GSP-1, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1st build. of Humanities faculties 119991 Moscow, Russia.
Аbstract:
The article examines the ancient — as old, in fact, as Christianity in Rus’ itself — tradition of pilgrimage of Russian devotees to the Holy Land. A well-known example of purity of thought and piety is the pilgrimage of Euphrosynia of Polotsk from Rus’ to Palestine. The Mother of God “Russian Monastery” in the vicinity of Jerusalem is identified with the monastery within the Lavra of St. Theodosius — the place of the initial burial of the saint. Artifacts of the Russian presence in Palestine are analyzed. The emergence of the Russian St. Michael’s Monastery at the Lavra of St. Sabbas the Sanctified in the Judean Desert and other Russian monasteries is associated with the growing need for the pilgrimage movement among the Russian people. The author compares descriptions of ancient Russian pilgrimages — from Abbot Daniel to Vasily Poznyakov and Trifon Korobeinikov. Categories of “holiness” in relation to land (country), city, mountain and island in Russian literature are touched upon. The beginning of the Russian monastery on Mount Athos, the issues of dating and attribution are examined. The Greek tradition of the Life of Anthony of Pechersk is analyzed.
Keywords: Pilgrimage, Russia, Palestine, Athos, Constantinople, Russian Monasteries in Byzantine Palestine and on Athos, Greek Hagiographies of Anthony Pechersky.
