Our Notes & References

An extensive manuscript of moral and religious, often unconventional stories about afterlife miracles and interactions with the dead, impressive for the sheer quantity of full-page watercolours – and the very limited text, often being just two lines per page to briefly comment the illustration opposite.

Initially intended as a guidance for commemorating the deceased during divine services, such works are known in Orthodox Christianity as ‘Sinodiks’, which in the late 17th century gradually evolved to compendiums of texts concerning the afterlife, such as the significance of remembering the dead, the virtues of repentance, and the fleeting nature of worldly pursuits. The content of these collections was determined by their compilers, who most of the time chose extracts from the Old and New Testaments, lives of saints, and instructive words of Basil the Great, John Chrysostom and other church fathers.

Such compilations were created by Old Believers to pass on the main dogmas and principles of their beliefs in a compact and accessible form to the next generations: “First, it instilled moral values in young people and emphasised the importance of faith. And secondly, it fostered a deep connection with ancient Russia” (Medvedeva, our translation).

This manuscript opens with the depiction of Genesis, extending to the account of Cain and Abel. It then presents a parable illustrating the afterlife trials of both a righteous and a sinful man, alongside the impact of prayers offered by a priest for the departed soul. Additionally, it explains the fate of the human body and soul on the third, ninth, and fortieth day after death. This particular section, detailing the traditional commemorative days in Orthodox Christianity, draws from the Synaxarion, a compilation of short stories about feasts and saints, and now could be read in liturgies during Meat Saturday, a day dedicated to honouring deceased parents, just over a week before Great Lent.

Special emphasis is placed on the theme of charity, as seen on leaf 29 which portrays the noble deeds of Basil of Caesarea (Basil the Great), and on leaf 31 referencing Psalm 40, “Blessed is he that considereth the poor.” Other watercolours typically illustrate longer narratives, often unconventional and little known to traditional Orthodox Christianity: one notable story involves depictions of Christ among beggars, even disguising himself as one. Eventually Christ reveals his crucifixion wounds to a doubting man, leading one of the beggars in his company to witness an image of the crucifixion; this person then brings the icon to the church, where it begins to levitate (leaves 33-49).

The following illustrations also portray a peculiar tale of a man who one day discovers two dead bodies that miraculously appeared in his home and whose burial Basil of Caesarea later organised. Another story, purportedly recorded by Anastasius of Antioch and depicted on leaves 62-78, recounts the life of a pious man who gave away his possessions to the poor, asked his friend to sell him into slavery, and to distribute the proceeds among beggars. While enslaved, he was seduced by his master’s wife and immediately felt ashamed. Determined to punish himself and cleanse his soul, he began beating his head against the wall, startling the seductress to death. Falsely accused of murder, he was imprisoned until the woman revived and confessed her wrongdoing. The man was then released and was given all the property of his master who renounced worldly pursuits and went to the Nitrian mountain, while his wife became a nun. The slave eventually settled in Caesarea and lived there inconspicuously until his death at 99; when he died, a fragrance from his body filled the city.

The next leaves 79-108 show an amusing and uncommon portrayal of the mid-15th century Tale of Posadnik Shchil, a Novgorod money lender who became rich and decided to build a church. He received the blessing of the Archbishop, who soon realised that it was a mistake as Shchil was a sinner. Upon Shchil’s return to seek consecration for the new church, the Archbishop ordered him to lie in a coffin in the church and undergo a funeral service, during which Shchil died, and his coffin fell into the abyss. The Archbishop then commissioned icon artists to depict Shchil’s descent into hell on the walls of the church which was sealed and left unconsecrated. Meanwhile, Shchil’s repentant son devoted himself to fasting, vigil, and performing liturgies for 40 days. After this period, an archdeacon visited the church and noticed a miraculous change: Shchil’s image on the wall began to ascend from hell, initially revealing his head, and in 40 more days his upper body. Following additional 40 days of prayer, Shchil’s image emerged entirely from hell, and his coffin rose from the abyss, signifying the absolution of his sins. The archbishop then performed the funeral service for him and consecrated the church.

Unlike most other manuscripts, the current work ‘doubles’ the miracle by introducing the element of painting Shchil on the wall within the narrative, thereby making the depiction even more fantastical.

No less fascinating is the following Tale of a Sinful Mother (leaves 109-125), originally a Byzantine spiritual story attributed to Paul, Bishop of Monemvasia in the second half of the 10th century. After the death of his prodigal mother, a young devout Christian distributed all her wealth to the poor; hoping that she would be spared the torments of hell, he followed the advice of a hermit elder to stand and pray for seven days in a circle drawn by his staff. On the seventh day he saw a reeking swamp where his mother was among other sinners. With his right hand, he pulled her out by the hair and guided her to a clear water font, where she was cleansed of her sins and granted forgiveness. After the miracle, the man’s right hand, tainted by the swamp’s filth, began to reek itself, and he had to keep it covered in a cloth. Once at dinner with a patriarch, he revealed his story and soon was taken to heaven by angels.

A similar testimony that through prayer and almsgiving the sinful souls of the deceased can be saved from eternal torment is portrayed in the next illustration with the martyr Fekla Felkonid (Saint Thecla), who with her prayers to God saved a soul from hell, here shown as a dragon with a wide-open fiery jaws. Another one is a story of Grigorii Besedovnik (also Grigorii Dvoeslov or Saint Gregory the Dialogist, and later Pope Gregory I) who begged God’s pardon for the errant Emperor Trajan (leaves 127-128).

The book ends with the dramatic message from 1 Thessalonians 4:16: “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first”.

Stylistically similar to Orthodox icons and medieval art imagery in general, the manuscript’s illustrations are nicely rhythmic and rigourous in rendering recurrent patterns and elements; at the same time, they are very lively and amusing with their vivid and varying colours resembling those in popular lubok (folk) images. The elaborate multi-subject compositions often extend their architectural details beyond the illustrations’ frames, and occasionally, these striking compositions are interrupted with dramatic and remarkably surreal representations of an abyss or the underworld.

We could trace another manuscript with very similar illustrations in the St. Petersburg Russian National Library: unfortunately most probably incomplete with only 17 illustrations, it dates from the 17th century, is of smaller format and with a different structure, with 45 leaves of text mainly consisting of prayers for the dead. Still written on laid paper, our manuscript was written later though, but perhaps in the same workshop or Old Believers’ community.

Bibliography

Medvedeva, Nadezhda. “Repertuar staroobriadcheskoi rukopisnoi knigi v Rossii: XVIII–XX v.: obshchii obzor” // Vestnik SPbGIK. 2013. №4 (17).

Temchin, Sergei. “Tserkovnoslavianskaia povest o greshnoi materi (Sinodik, Paterik, Prolog, Izmaragd) i ee grecheskii original (BHG 1449d)” // Slověne. International Journal of Slavic Studies. 2017. №1.

Trufanova, Olga. “‘Povest o greshnoi materi’: pozdniaia redaktsiia teksta v rukopisnom sbornike povestei iz sobraniia po vremennomu katalogu biblioteki MDA // GDL. 2020. №19.