In the modern Russian Orthodox Church, a tradition has developed to baptize a baby on the fortieth day, since a young mother, after the birth of a child, can enter the temple only after forty days, when the priest reads a special cleansing prayer over her; however, this was not always the case.
For example, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was baptized 12 days after his birth: the poet was born on May 26, 1799, according to the old style, and the baby was baptized, giving him the generic name of the Pushkins Alexander "on June 8th" in the Yelokhov Church of the Epiphany, about which there is a record in the archives (E. Lebedeva "The Cathedral of the Epiphany in Yelokhovo. The history of the temple and the parish").
This solemn event was attended by the poet's grandmother Olga Sergeevna (nee Chicherina) and Count Artemy Ivanovich Vorontsov.
What is this Sacrament?
Baptism is one of the oldest seven Sacraments of the Russian Orthodox Church, meaning the birth of a person for God, the birth into a new Eternal life.
This Sacrament goes back to the Old Testament custom of circumcising Jewish babies on the 8th day of life, which made them members of the community and made it possible to start the Easter meal. In the Old Testament, there was a custom for purification to perform a ritual dipping in water - a mikveh.
The baptism performed by John the Baptist filled this rite with a new meaning - it was repentance for sins.
And only the Baptism of the New Testament became the only way to unite a person with God, free him from original sin, and gave the Christian a chance to enter the Kingdom of God. This is what Christ himself said: “...Truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:5).
Children feel grace more strongly
The Gospel testifies that the apostles, whom the Savior himself gave the ability to baptize with the Holy Spirit, baptized entire families and houses, together with children and babies. So, for example, the whole house of a certain centurion Cornelius was baptized, who, during a prayer, saw an angel who commanded him to call the apostle Peter, to accept Holy Baptism and thereby be saved. The centurion did not disobey the Angel, baptized his entire family, and made a temple out of his house.
The custom of baptizing babies in Christianity is also connected with the evidence that children, even foolish ones, can feel God's grace and rejoice in it. This is clearly indicated by the episode of the Gospel, when the Mother of God comes to Elizabeth; the first bears under the heart of Christ, and the second - the Forerunner. And the baby in the womb of Elizabeth "jumped", feeling the close presence of God. The same thing happens with a child - he does not understand the full depth of Orthodoxy, but he accepts the Sacraments and Gifts with joy and willingness.
How does this happen
In the Russian Orthodox Church, the Baptism of an infant is preceded by several rites: on the day of birth, a prayer is read over the baby “for the wife of a child to give birth”, on the eighth day the naming of the newborn follows, when the prayer “in a hedgehog to appoint a child” sounds, after which the troparion of the Presentation of the Lord is read.
And on the fortieth day, they read a cleansing prayer over the woman and pray for the churching of the child, after which he is baptized - this should be done according to the Treasury - the liturgical book, which describes how the sacraments should be performed.
Archpriest Andrey Efanov (Moscow) mentions this in his interviews.
If the child is healthy, then he should be baptized on the fortieth day after birth, but if he can die, then they are baptized as early as possible. It happens that an unhealthy baby is baptized in the hospital, right in intensive care.
In the Russian Orthodox Church, the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation are one common whole - after baptism, the infant is anointed. Among Catholics, the sacraments are separated, and the child is smeared with myrrh for the first time only at confirmation, many years after birth.
Before the revolution, children were baptized on the eighth day; At the same time, the mother was most often absent due to the ban on visiting the temple.
Baby needs a guarantor
According to the rules of the first council, a baby needs a godfather - a guarantor before God; a man if it's a boy, and a woman if it's a girl. The tradition of having two godparents appeared in Russia in the 14th century and was not spread in other countries.
Superstitious people often associate many signs and incomprehensible beliefs with the Sacrament, but in fact you should know one thing - if you want your child to receive God's grace, you must baptize him.
They can baptize both by immersion in holy water, and by sprinkling, pouring from above.
No restrictions
There are no restrictions for Baptism related to holidays or fast days, Great Lent or mourning in the family. The priest can transfer the Sacrament to another day only because of the heavy workload, but if there are special circumstances, he will perform it on any day.
It should be remembered that in case of an immediate threat to the life of the baby, the Sacrament of Baptism can be performed by a layman - for this he needs to dip the baby three times in holy water with a prayer, and if the child remains alive, then the priest fills the Sacrament of Baptism with chrismation.
Very often, the parents of a child cannot immediately gather in church, illnesses, the death of relatives, business trips interfere, they cannot find godparents, and in the meantime the child is growing up. Rector of the temple in honor of the icon Holy Mother of God"The Tsaritsa" (Dimitrovgrad) Peter Guryanov believes that if the parents are churched Orthodox Christians, then there are no canonical obstacles to the baptism of the child, and in this case it must be done as soon as possible.
Christmas part
By the end of the 18th century, the territory of St. Petersburg was divided into 11 administrative parts. Among them was the Christmas part. It was located behind the Foundry part in the space limited by the bend of the Neva. The first Christmas streets appeared in 1780-1798. and the rest in 1804 - 1817. Also, the names of the streets of the Christmas part were united by one geographical theme. They were named after the cities of the provinces of central Russia.
Pre-revolutionary postcard addressed to the area "Sands"
The Christmas part began to be populated in 1720, at the same time the first church was built here. It was transferred from the Traveling Palace brought from Ust-Izhora. This area was called Sands. In 1752, a place was assigned to the Office of the Construction of Houses and Gardens on the Sands. This institution occupied a prominent place in Russian art of the 18th century. It was in charge of the construction of palaces and court buildings.
Church of the Nativity
From the book of V.V. Antonov, A.V. Kobak Shrines of St. Petersburg Historical and Church Encyclopedia in 3 volumes. St. Petersburg. Chernyshev Publishing House, 1994. I vol. s.221-222
In 1781, for the artisans of the office who lived on the Sands, the Church of the Nativity of Christ was laid according to the project of P.E. Egorov in the style of classicism. It was designed for 3000 people. The temple was located on the corner of 6th Rozhdestvenskaya Street and Rozhdestvensky Lane. In 1777 the first boundary of the temple was consecrated. In 1788 they consecrated the boundary in honor of the Nativity of the Virgin, and a year later the main boundary of the Nativity of Christ. Tsarevich Pavel and his family were present at the consecration. In the temple there was a locally venerated icon of the Nativity, which was considered the patroness of the Sands. Before her, they prayed for help in childbirth and the upbringing of children. In 1901, after a wonderful dream, a small icon of St. Guria, Samona and Aviva. (The feast day of these saints falls on the first day of Advent. These saints are considered the patrons of the family). Extensive charitable activities were carried out in the Church of the Nativity of Christ.
The old coexisted with the new. The streets in the Rozhlestvensky part of Petrograd still bore the old name, here the Church of the Nativity of Christ and the district committee of the party, which also bore the name "Rozhdestvensky", coexisted. But in 1923, Rozhdestvensky streets were renamed into Soviet, and Rozhdestvensky lane into Krasnoborsky. And in 1934, the Church of the Nativity was closed and dismantled, and a square was laid out in its place.
Christmas card early.20th century from the collection of the author
Christmas time
All Svyatki people indulged in various fun and amusements, but also during this period there were many charity events. For this purpose, charity balls and Christmas trees were organized, at which monetary donations and gifts were collected, which went to the needs of the poor, to shelters, hospitals, other charitable institutions and prisons.
Waits
The songs and games that accompany the Christmas holidays were called carols. They were especially widely developed in Little Russia and Belarus. In Russia there was a custom of glorifying the Nativity of Christ . Khristoslavs or simply praisers went from house to house and sang spiritual verses on the theme of the holiday. In the 17th century, spiritual canta songs were widely distributed. They, as a rule, were composed in the cities by seminarians and during the holidays they were transported to small towns and villages of vast Russia.
In Little Russia, walking with a nativity scene and a star made of paper and singing, known as kaleda, is called caleda. As researchers of Russian life and folk traditions, this custom, more widespread for rural Russia and the Russian hinterland, was still preserved at the end of the 19th century in large cities. And even in Moscow and St. Petersburg there was a custom of glorifying the children of the Nativity of Christ. In whole groups, led by the elder, carrying a star with a flashlight, they went from house to house. At the same time, they dressed up, depicting the Gospel witnesses of Christmas: angels, wise men, Joseph, Herod. Entering the house, at the beginning the Christmas troparion was sung, and after that other verses glorifying the Nativity of Christ: I am a little lad, I brought a sheaf to God, I magnify Christ, and I congratulate you ". This was followed by congratulations to the owner and his house: “ Congratulations on the owner's holiday, we wish you good health". After that, the owner of the house presented the Khristoslavs with sweets and dainties, which they put in a bag that they carried with them. Not to accept Christoslavs was considered a sin and a great insult.
Not only ordinary people, but also the king took part in the glorification. From the time of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, it was introduced to go to Christmas time to praise even to their subjects. This glorification began at noon on the holiday. The royal procession was preceded by two drummers. They were followed by the tsar with choristers and a crowd of princes and boyars. They rode sleighs and visited noble court nobles. The king entered the house of a nobleman, where, together with the singers, he sang church festive hymns. The owner brought the king a gift and a treat to his retinue, after which they went to another nobleman. This tradition was very much loved and supported by the founder of our city, Peter I. He even issued a Decree that if one of the courtiers was recorded as a Slaver and did not go, he was supposed to be punished with a whip.
In addition to the Slavs, they walked around the yards with a nativity scene. It was a two-tiered box in which scenes related to the Nativity of Christ were represented with different wooden figures: the appearance of angels, the adoration of the Magi, the flight to Egypt. In the upper tier, the death of Herod was represented, and in the lower tier, dances. At the same time, the deacon lit candles with which the nativity scene was consecrated. Boys walked with the nativity scene, sometimes accompanied by a horn or violinist.
Unfortunately, after the Petrine era, this custom left the palaces. And not only in the capital, but also in the provinces, with the ever-increasing influence of European traditions and culture, it began to be filled with the influence of paganism and superstitions, which are known under mummers and all kinds of fortune-telling. All this is not only quite well described in historical documents, but is also familiar to us from Russian literature. It is enough to re-read the poem "Svetlana" by Zhukovsky or the 5th chapter of "Eugene Onegin" by Pushkin, or the works of Russian prose of the early 19th century - romantic stories, which later became the prototype Christmas stories late XIX - early. XX century. A completely opposite picture of Russian life and spiritual traditions of the turn of the century is described by the works of I. Shmelev, B. Zaitsev, Nikiforov-Volgin, Zurov, E. Poselyanin.
Among the amusements of the royal court, there were often Christmas games. Here is how such games are described on Christmas Day 1765: the empress played different games with the courtiers, sang and danced in Russian, after which they danced minuets and country dances. In all these games, the Empress deigned to be herself and danced in Russian together with Count Panin, during these amusements seven ladies came out of the sovereign’s morning chambers: they were Count Grigory Orlov, Stroganov, Golovin, Pasek, the master of the horse Naryshkin, the chamberlain in a woman’s dress. Junkers: Baskakov, Prince Beloselsky. All were sweaters, skirts, caps. Prince Beloselsky was the simplest dressed of all, as he represented the governess and looked after the other ladies. The mummers were seated at a round table, appetizers were placed, punch was brought, and then everyone danced and played naughty.
Festivities
Among the Christmas entertainments of the people in the Northern capital, one can single out: horseback riding, from the icy mountains and ice skating. This is what the Christmastime amusements looked like, widely described in the notes of foreigners of the late 18th century: “There is nothing more cheerful and original than the winter scenes on the Neva. Hardly a day went by without a walk in the morning and a ride along the Neva in a sleigh. Many carriages and sledges and countless pedestrians continuously crossing it give the impression of an endless stream. The ice is also littered with scattered and gathered groups of people, and everyone is busy with what they like. In one part there are several fenced areas for skating. In another part, the crowd is watching what is called a luge race. The path is an elongated section about a mile long. It has only one sleigh, which is harnessed by a pair of horses. The art of the rider is to make the root horse run faster, and the other is drawn into a gallop.
Ice mountains were arranged in the first decades of the founding of St. Petersburg, and they served as a prototype for roller coasters. Initially, a high mountain was found, which was flooded with water, then covered with straw and flooded again until a thick layer of ice formed. Instead of a sled, a thin straw mat was used, three people sat on it one by one. The first grabbed the edge of the rug, the rest clasped each other under their arms and legs behind the torso. When descending, one had to be especially careful, because, rapidly flying down, one could be crippled by flying off the mat and tear the trousers to shreds. As soon as these three were ready to leave, a sign was given to push them, at that moment timpani and trumpets began to play, the sound of which was accompanied by the cries of the audience and the descenders themselves.
“Ice mountains are extremely widespread and represent an inexhaustible source of entertainment for the population. A high platform is erected on the river with a platform at the top, they climb up the stairs there. From above to the river there is an inclined smooth surface made of boards, which is filled with water. Everyone who has a sled climbs the stairs and rolls down the top of the hill, flies from a considerable height, keeping the sled in balance when descending. So, thanks to the gained speed, they rush a considerable distance on the ice of the river. In addition, they also built two slides opposite each other. A man, having rolled down from one mountain, fell on the opposite one, repeating this fun as often as he likes.
The boys are also constantly rolling down these mountains. They usually glide on one foot, not two. Small children indulged in another fun. It consisted in the fact that the lower sledges were tied to a long rope and with the help of a wheel they were accelerated in a circle.
These icy mountains give the river a pleasant appearance, thanks to the trees with which they are decorated and moving people who are constantly descending from the mountains.
And here is another evidence of the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, written in the autobiographical essay “Finland” by the Silver Age poet Osip Mandelstam: “... In winter, at Christmas, Finland, Vyborg. Pre-revolutionary Petersburg breathed Finland, from Vladimir Solovyov to Blok, pouring sand in his palms and rubbing light Finnish snow on his granite forehead, in his heavy delirium, listening to the bells of undersized Finnish horses. I have always vaguely felt the special significance of Finland for a Petersburger, and that people came here to think out what was impossible in St. Petersburg, pushing the low snowy sky to the very eyebrows, falling asleep in small hotels where the water in jugs is ice cold.
They went to Vyborg to the local old-timers, Vyborg merchants - the Sharikovs. Willy-nilly, I got into the thick of the winter flirtation of the Vyborg beauties. Somewhere in the Fazer confectionery with vanilla cookies and chocolate, behind the blue windows the sledge creaks and the running of bells ... Shaking right out of the frisky, narrow sled into the warm steam of a rich Finnish coffee shop. Fast sledge, punch, cardboard Swedish fortress, Swedish speech, military music. The Belvedere Hotel, where the First Duma later gathered, was famous for its cleanliness and dazzling linen as cool as snow. Everything here was foreign - and Swedish comfort. A stubborn and sly little town, with coffee grinders, rocking chairs, wool rugs and Bible verses at the head of every bed.
Baptism
One of the mass actions that attracted foreign observers with their unusualness was the blessing of water in Jordan. On the day of Epiphany, there was a rite of blessing on the river. The guards and the entire Petersburg garrison lined up on the Neva, where the building was arranged with arches, and in it there was an ice-hole with steps to the very water. His Majesty left the palace at 11 o'clock and, arriving at the river, stood in front of the Preobrazhensky regiment. After that, he went to the Trinity Church, where the archbishop of Kolomna served mass. When the water was blessed, the people, men and women, ran to the river in great numbers to dip in it. Despite the cold, some women dipped small naked children into the water.
In 1737, this action was observed by the English doctor J. Cook: “A square hole was made in the ice. There are many carpets around it. There is a canopy on top. At the end of the service, the clergy leave the church and form a procession, following each other according to their rank, and go four or five in a row, a total of several hundred people. Those walking carry a large banner, a large lantern and a large image of our Savior and the saints. They march in this order, accompanied by noble and ordinary people, the empress is at the head of the procession, and prayers are sung all the way along the river. The priests step outside the fence and bless the water. When they find that the water is sufficiently consecrated, a signal is given to 1200 guards, who surround it all in three rows and immediately give frequent volleys, repeated three times; then large cannons are fired from the fortress and about 300 guns are also saluting three times. After the consecration, you can see how the priests baptized many newborns on the Neva. Others, young and old, jumped naked into the icy water; two guys standing over the hole immediately pulled them back. In addition, some people scooped water from the river and immediately drank it or took it home to save it. Thus ends this ceremony, performed in almost the same way throughout Russia.
It is gratifying to note that the traditions of our spiritual culture described here are being revived again in all their richness and diversity, re-entering our lives, enriching it.
Vadim KustovIllustrations from the author's collection
Submitted by the author on January 12, 2012
Role godparents It is impossible to understand the early Christians without knowing the conditions in which they lived.
According to imperial edicts, Christianity was outlawed as a harmful sect. Initiating anyone into a creed that denied the divinity of the reigning Augustus and forbade making obligatory sacrifices to the gods and images of the emperor was considered a state crime and prosecuted under the law of insulting the majesty of the emperor.
For the Roman Christians, it was important that the newly baptized be trained and brought up in such a way that would help them become true members of the Church. The situation was particularly complicated by the fact that, unlike in later times, the bulk of those baptized were not infants, but adults who came to baptism consciously. This compelled Christians to keep for them a long period of pronouncement to assimilate the essence of the dogma and to help them, keeping them from doubts and deviations.
In the homes of wealthy Romans, domestic slaves lived - servants, educators, nurses for children. In fact, they were the younger members of the family, involved in all its affairs. Christianity gradually spread among them, and it was natural for a person attached to children to try to save a child for a future life. This provided a basis for the secret teaching of children in the basics of the Christian faith and their baptism by people who are not related to them by blood. These people became their godparents.
At the baptism of an adult, the beneficiary was a witness and guarantor for the seriousness of the intention and for the right faith of the person being baptized. At the baptism of infants and the sick, deprived of the gift of speech, the godparents made vows and pronounced the Creed. The 54th canon of the Carthaginian Council provided: “The sick, who cannot answer for themselves, will be baptized when, at their will, others will utter a testimony about them, under their own responsibility.”
In the development of the 83rd and 72nd canons of the Carthaginian Council, the Trullian Council in the 84th canon established that the children found, about whose baptism there is no reliable information, should also be baptized. In this case, the recipients actually became the mentors of the children.
Initially, only one godparent participated in the baptism: at the baptism of a woman - a woman, men - a man. Subsequently, the analogy with physical birth was extended to baptism: both the godfather and the godmother began to participate in it.
Church rules (and, in full agreement with them, the civil laws of the Empire that adopted Christianity) did not allow the physical parents of the person being baptized (people already close to him), minors (people who are not capable of spiritual guidance due to their age) and monks (people renounced from the world).
In Russia in the 18th-19th centuries, in the villages, children were baptized in infancy a few days later, less often weeks after birth. The latter was connected not with any special customs, but, for example, with the remoteness of the village from the temple.
As a rule (exceptions were extremely rare), sponsors participated in the baptism of children. They tried to choose among well-known people, more often relatives.
Among the Slavic peoples, including among the Russians, the custom of having both a godfather and godmother. They had to be of age, able to responsibly treat their duties. In 1836, the Synod set a lower age limit for godparents - 14 years. When performing the sacrament itself, the duties of the godfather included paying all material expenses for its conduct and the subsequent celebration, as well as taking care of the cross for the baby. The godmother was required to present the baby with rizki - the fabric in which he was wrapped, taking out of the font, a blanket and a baptismal shirt.
Often they tried to find godparents among blood relatives who, in the event of the death of parents, could take responsibility for raising children. This practice was not condemned: it was believed that family relations were only getting stronger.
annotation
Keywords
Time scale - century
XVII XVI
Bibliographic description:
Rakitina M.G. Rites of birth and baptism of royal children in Russia in the 16th–17th centuries. // Research on the source study of the history of Russia (until 1917): collection of articles / Russian Academy Sciences, Institute Russian history; resp. ed. S.A. Kozlov. M.: IRI RAN, 2009. S. 46-70.
Article text
M.G. Rakitina
Rites of birth and baptism of royal children in Russia in the 16th-17th centuries.
Ceremonies and rituals associated with the private life of Russian tsars in the 16th-17th centuries, including the birth and baptism of children, have been poorly studied. Meanwhile, they are not only a source for understanding the worldview and self-consciousness of the people of that era, but also an important evidence of the formation of the system of absolute monarchy in Russia.
Back in the 19th century many famous historians considered the study of documents related to the childhood of famous historical figures as an idle curiosity. The only works on this topic were the works of I.E. Zabelin, in which many archival documents of the 17th century were published and studied, concerning various aspects of the domestic life of sovereigns. However, at the present stage of the development of historical science, many documents addressed by I.E. Zabelin need a new understanding.
In Soviet and post-Soviet historiography, only a small article by O.G. Ageeva is devoted exclusively to the rites associated with the birth and baptism of royal children, but it already refers to the beginning of the 18th century. An article by M.V. Martynova “The Private Life of Russian Tsars” was published on English language in the catalog of the foreign exhibition of the Moscow Kremlin Museums and remained virtually unknown to a wide range of historians. From foreign literature, one can single out the article by the American researcher Isolde Tyreth ““Blessed be the womb of the queen”: the myth of a miraculous birth and royal motherhood in Moscow Russia” . It raises the question of the appearance in the XV century. and the subsequent long existence of legends about the miraculous conception and birth of royal children.
Let's try to consider the problems associated with the birth of royal children in more detail. The birth of children was one of the most important events in the life of not only the royal, but also the family of any class. An old proverb said: "He who has many children is not forgotten by God." However, if in the families of ordinary people, numerous offspring, primarily male, promised primarily material well-being and secure old age for parents, then in the families of the nobility it was about the future status of the clan: its heirs had to make a successful career and enter into profitable marriages. In the royal family, it was about the well-being of the dynasty and thus the entire state. Therefore, the social position of a woman of any class was largely determined by her reproductive function. Waiting for an heir was a big problem for all women, but for empresses it often became a real tragedy.
After 20 years of a childless marriage with Solomonia Saburova, Vasily III sent his wife to a monastery. Having entered into a second marriage with Elena Glinskaya, at the moments of separation, he corresponded with her, which reflects his concern about the condition of his young wife. He persistently asks questions about how Elena feels, if she is sick. Together with the letter, he sends the princess an icon of the Transfiguration of the Lord, a prayer before which should contribute to the transformation of Elena herself from a “childless” wife to a “child-bearing” one. From the letter it becomes clear what state the grand ducal couple was in all the years of expecting a child. Pilgrimages to distant monasteries, rich contributions and various vows should have contributed to the birth of the long-awaited heir. In 1528, Vasily and Elena made a many-month journey to the Kirillov and Ferapontov monasteries.
But even the onset of Elena's pregnancy did not bring her peace. Evil tongues claimed that the problem of the childlessness of the grand-ducal family lay in the Grand Duke Vasily III himself, who was no longer young. Detractors believed that after 4 years of marriage, the young princess became convinced of her husband's infertility and took a lover. Only studies of the royal tombs, carried out in the middle and at the end of the 20th century. in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin and in the necropolis of the Ascension Monastery, they finally restored the truth and proved irrefutably: Tsar Ivan the Terrible was, without any doubt, the son of Vasily III and a direct descendant of Sophia Paleolog.
Constantly under strong social pressure, the great princesses and queens, according to I. Tayret, resisted him with all their might, creating a myth of the highest blessing, which provided them with the role of a vessel of divine mercy at the conception of a future ruler.
The beginning of this myth, apparently, is in the middle of the 15th century, when the Ermolinskaya and Voskresenskaya chronicles cite the prophecy of the Novgorod holy fool Mikhail Klopsky, connected with the birth of the future Grand Duke Ivan III. The text with the prophecy, which refers to the formidable temper of Ivan and his future victories over the Novgorod Republic, is also contained in the life of Mikhail Klopsky. Since Academician V.L. Yanin convincingly proved that the monk-fool Michael, who suddenly appeared in the Klopsky Monastery near Novgorod, was in fact the son of Anna Ivanovna, the sister of Dmitry Donskoy, and the voivode Dmitry Bobrok-Volynsky, that is, the great-uncle of the Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich, this prophecy should be considered in more detail. The life of Mikhail Klopsky clearly shows that the position taken by the saint in all the conflicts between Novgorod and Moscow was openly pro-Moscow. He repeatedly predicts various disasters for Novgorod and its posadniks if they do not make peace with Moscow and submit to the Grand Duke. According to the Life, everything he promised will soon come true. The prophecy of 1440 about the birth of Prince Ivan also had to somehow play into the hands of the Moscow princes, and in this case it is clear that it could have been made on the direct instructions of the Grand Duke's house. After all, the prophesying monk Michael was a relative of the Moscow princes, although not many contemporaries knew about this.
The prophecy of Mikhail Klopsky about the birth of Prince Ivan Vasilyevich marked the beginning of a number of similar predictions that accompanied the birth of children in the grand ducal and royal families until the end of the 17th century. These prophecies clearly testified to the process of sacralization of the grand ducal and royal power. They are evidence of a very active position taken by the grand ducal, and then the royal family (and especially its female half) on the issue of the divine sanctification of their power. Representatives of the grand-ducal and royal families used every opportunity to convince everyone that the heirs they had born were the fruit of a special mercy revealed from above.
The chronicle claims that Grand Duchess Sofia Fominichna, after several years when only daughters were born to her, gave birth to the future Vasily III only after a walking pilgrimage to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. In answer to her prayers, the saint appeared to her, holding an infant in his arms, whom he then threw into the princess's lap. The birth of the future heir to the throne on March 25, on the feast of the Annunciation, was also perceived as a blessing from above and strengthened the dynastic positions of both himself and his mother: her conception was equated with the conception of the Mother of God Jesus Christ. But the record of the birth of the second son Yuri on March 23, 1480 is not embellished with any miraculous events. There are no special details in the annalistic records about the birth of the following sons.
The birth of the future Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich by Elena Glinskaya was also accompanied by a legend that it was predicted by the holy fool Dementy: he told the Grand Duchess that she would be born "Tit - a broad mind". The memory of the apostles Bartholomew and Titus was celebrated on August 25, the day when the heir was born, whom Vasily III had been waiting for for more than 20 years. No matter how you treat the authenticity of the legend, it undoubtedly contains a grain of truth: it confirms the anxiety of Elena, who worries not just about the safe birth of a child, but a son.
Another saint who assisted the grand ducal couple in the birth of an heir was Cornelius Komelsky. On his way to pilgrimage to the Kirillov Monastery, Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich also visited the monastery of Cornelius, but did not find him. He ordered the hermit to wait for him on the way back. At the meeting, the prince asked him to pray for the granting of offspring to him. Soon the saint's prayer was fulfilled.
Tsar Ivan Vasilievich himself and his first wife Anastasia Romanova also had no children for the first two years of their marriage. Their wedding took place in February 1547, and at the end of the year the queen made a pilgrimage on foot to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, which in the XV-XVI centuries. was the place of baptism of grand ducal children. When, after a year and a half of marriage, he still remained barren, Anastasia again sets off on foot to the monastery, and she makes this procession without the tsar's escort. The chronicles do not name the reason for the pilgrimage of the queen in September 1548, but the fact that Anastasia walked alone and on foot emphasizes her special humility, and not just the veneration of the day of memory of St. Sergius.
The hopes of Ivan and Anastasia were justified: after Princess Anna, a second daughter, Maria, was born, and then a son, Tsarevich Dmitry. However, the death of Anna and Mary, which followed in infancy, and then the tragic death of Tsarevich Dmitry during a pilgrimage to the Kirillov Monastery, renewed the royal couple's anxiety about an heir. "Life of St. Nikita, Pillar of Pereyaslavsky” tells that the royal family went to Rostov to pray to the miracle workers of Rostov, especially St. Leonty, and then went to Pereslavl. The fifth posthumous miracle of St. Nikita is entitled "On the royal journey to holy places and on their royal children, and a miracle about the water of St. Nikita, and about the spread of his monastery" . Under the same title, it was included in the Book of Powers. The miracle of holy water from the Nikitsky Monastery tells that Tsar Ivan, together with Tsarina Anastasia, went around different monasteries, but only a prayer service at the tomb of St. Nikita "put aside grief" for Tsarevich Dmitry from the hearts of the reigning couple. On the same day, they "entered the city of Pereslavl and joyfully rested in their royal house, and there the queen conceived in the womb." Soon a new child was born to them - Tsarevich Ivan. After that, the tsar began to promote the spread of the cult of St. Nikita. At the end of 1557, Tsar Ivan, together with Tsarina Anastasia and Tsarevich Ivan, went to the Nikitsky Monastery again.
From the story of the Nikitsky Monastery it also becomes known that in 1564 the tsar came to the monastery again, already together with Tsarina Maria Temryukovna. She had no children, except for her son Vasily, who died in infancy in 1563. This time the royal family was present at the consecration of the church in honor of St. Nikita Stylite. According to chapter 22 of the life of Nikita, Tsarina Maria Temryukovna postponed her departure from the monastery in order to turn to the brethren. After the distribution of alms among the monks, she asked the abbot to pray for the health of the royal family and especially that "God would give us the fruit of the womb to inherit our kingdom." The episode tells that Tsarina Maria, having converted to Orthodoxy, got acquainted with the legends about Russian saints, through whose prayers royal offspring were conceived. Probably her attention to the monastery of St. Nikita was attracted to Pereslavl by Metropolitan Athanasius, who prepared her for baptism before her marriage to the Tsar. The next pilgrimage of Tsarina Maria in December 1565 also included a visit to Pereslavl and the Nikitsky Monastery. However, the zealous prayers of the queen were not heard - after Vasily, she had no children.
In the second half of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, despite the presence of two sons, the problem of royal heirs did not lose its relevance. The tsar tonsured two wives, Anna Koltovskaya and Anna Vasilchikova, in a monastery, referring to their infertility (although according to the canons of the Orthodox Church, there is no such reason among the reasons for divorce). Apparently, then they set a certain official period during which the new wife had to give him or his eldest son an heir - three years. If there were no children during this time, then another wife went to the monastery. It was this fate that befell the first two wives of Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich. Probably, only for the wife of the second son, the term was not set, because the tsar did not prepare Tsarevich Fedor to take the throne. Therefore, Irina Godunova managed to avoid tonsure during the life of her formidable father-in-law. While Tsarevich Ivan was the heir, the tsar could even see a positive side in her childlessness. After all, the birth of children by a younger brother before the appearance of offspring by an older one created serious dynastic problems.
The birth of Tsarevich Dmitry saved the last wife of the tsar, Maria Naguya, from tonsure. Interestingly, the myth of a miraculous conception or birth was applicable only to canonically legal marriages that did not raise any doubts, i.e. to the first and second. The status of the sixth wife was completely different - she did not dare to appear publicly with the tsar during pilgrimages, to talk openly with the monks, as Anastasia Romanovna and Maria Temryukovna did, or to put veils embroidered with her own hands into the cloisters. Despite the fact that Tsarevich Dmitry was officially canonized, there were no legends about his miraculous birth. This indicates that Tsarevich Dmitry was never thought of by his contemporaries as the legitimate heir to the kingdom.
Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich in 1584 inherited the throne of his father, having been married for a long time (according to some historians, since 1577, according to others, since 1580), but without heirs. However, already in 1586, the threat of tonsure hung over Tsarina Irina: a petition was submitted to the Tsar from some court circles for a divorce from his barren wife. It is not the name of the opportunity to analyze here the complex political intrigues of various groups, it is only necessary to note that there was no canonical reason for a church divorce. Tsarina Irina in 1586 was about 26 years old, and she was not barren, so her enemies were clearly in a hurry. The fervent prayers of Tsar Fyodor and Tsarina Irina to various saints for granting them an heir can be the subject of a separate study. On May 29, 1592, the queen gave birth to a daughter named Theodosia. The princess was baptized in the Miracle Monastery for the first time by Patriarch Job himself. There is no doubt that the king considered her as the heir to the throne, and when the girl was not even a year old, he began to think about plans for her marriage with one of the European princes. But these plans were not destined to come true: in early 1594, Princess Theodosius died. Tsar Fedor and Irina had no more children. The early death of the princess did not allow the formation of legends about her miraculous birth.
Modern research carried out in the necropolis of the Ascension Monastery made it possible to establish that Tsarina Irina had practically no chance of giving birth to a healthy child. Examination of the bone remains of Irina Godunova showed that she had a pathology of the pelvic bones.
A new stage in the development of the myth of the miraculous conception dates back to the 17th century, when the task of ideological and sacred establishment of a new ruling dynasty was faced by the Romanov family.
After an unsuccessful engagement and the first short marriage, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich finally marries Evdokia Lukyanovna Streshneva of his own choice. However, three years pass, and there is no son yet - in 1627 and 1628. the queen gives birth to daughters, Irina and Pelageya. It would seem that there are no particular reasons for concern - the king and his wife do not suffer from infertility, and the girls were born quite healthy. However, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich was no longer young by the standards of that era, he was over 30 years old, and at that time, based on the total life expectancy and the state of medicine, his health began to deteriorate rapidly. So the anxiety of himself, his parents and courtiers is increasing all the time, because the absence of heirs from the king of the newly elected dynasty threatens the whole country with a repetition of the terrible events of the Time of Troubles, which were still alive in the memory of all contemporaries.
The royal family turns for help to one of the most revered monasteries - Solovetsky. However, fundamental changes had already taken place in the status of the royal power and its relationship with the monasteries. If a hundred years earlier, Grand Duke Vasily III, together with his young wife, himself set off on a many-month difficult journey to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, now Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich summons one of the most revered monks, Eleazar of Anzersky, from the Solovetsky Monastery to Moscow. Interestingly, the choice of a prayer leader for the royal family is determined solely by the news of the pious life and holiness of the founder of the Anzer Skete, and not by his official status. At that time there were very few monks in the Anzersky Skete, but the abbot of the Solovetsky Monastery itself did not, apparently, receive an invitation to come to Moscow.
In 1628, Eleazar of Anzersky arrives in Moscow and predicts the birth of a son to Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. However, the worried king does not let him go back, but asks him to stay until the birth of the heir. At first, the prayers of the saint do not bring success: Tsarina Evdokia Lukyanovna is expecting another child, but in January 1629, before reaching the age of one, the little princess Pelageya dies. There is no doubt that the spiritual support of the holy elder helped the empress survive the grief from the loss of her child. Only in the spring of 1629, after the birth of the long-awaited son, the future Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Eleazar Anzersky received permission to leave the capital. The Tsar's mercy to the Anzersky skete was not slow to affect: soon the small skete received the status of a separate monastery, independent of the large Solovetsky monastery.
However, the documents show that not everyone believed in the miraculous birth of the royal children. So, in 1633, the archimandrite of the Khutynsky monastery Theodoret spoke about Tsarevich Alexei: “God knows if the prince is straight, is it not anonymous for good luck?”
The last prediction about the birth of an heir dates back to 1672, when a certain mysterious old man came to the palace and informed Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich about the birth of his son Peter to Tsarina Natalya, and then disappeared. But here the main emphasis of the legend is somewhat shifted compared to the above legends: the unknown old man predicts not the conception of the future sovereign, but only his safe birth and name.
I. Tyret emphasizes the importance of the myth of the miraculous conception and birth of the future sovereign, not only in ideological, but also in social terms. The myth ensured the tranquility of the queen in the period between pregnancies, when the fate of her and the whole kingdom lay on the scales, or a reprieve if the pregnancy did not come for a long time, because there was always a hope that God and the saints could send offspring to her. This hope inspired the empress, not allowing her to fall into despair, and forcing her to take active steps that allowed her to raise her status in the eyes of the court environment, the clergy, and all subjects - pilgrimages, almsgiving, rich contributions, which could include items of facial sewing, etc.
So, the conception of children of the royal family was considered by contemporaries as a matter of exceptional importance. Often it was associated with supernatural intervention and was performed through the prayers of holy monks and holy fools, or after the pilgrimage of the royal couple to revered shrines.
Both in the common people and in the royal family, much attention was paid not only to the very birth of a child, but also to the entire previous period. The documents did not retain any mention of what customs and rituals the Russian queens observed at that time. However, ethnographic studies clearly show that during pregnancy, every woman was considered especially vulnerable to the "evil eye". There is no doubt that the queen was especially carefully protected from damage. In addition, prayer services were served for her, miraculous icons were sent to her mansions, and alms were distributed on her behalf.
Considering the great importance of the birth of heirs in the royal family, immediately before the commission important event the sovereign had to perform special ceremonies. Documents mention that a few days before the expected birth of a child, the tsar visited in turn all the shrines of the Kremlin: Uspensky, Arkhangelsk, Blagoveshchensky cathedral s, Chudov and Ascension monasteries, as well as the courtyards of the Trinity-Sergius and Kirillo-Belozersky monastery in the Kremlin. It is possible that in the XV century. there could have been a real trip of the Grand Duke on a pilgrimage to the Trinity, however, from the moment the monastery courtyard was erected in the residence itself - the Moscow Kremlin, they were limited only to visiting the Trinity Compound, which also clearly characterizes changes in the relationship between royal power and influential monasteries.
There was another symbolism in the ritual walk around the Kremlin shrines: as before the wedding, the future father visited the burial places of the ancestors of the royal family. In some cases, the queen could also accompany him. She could not go around every church (apparently, this largely depended on the state of her health), but a visit to the Ascension Monastery was obligatory, where the young empress asked for blessings from her royal predecessors.
I.E. Zabelin gives interesting news about the ceremony, which was performed shortly before the birthplace already in the palace itself. For the queen, a prayer service with water blessing was served in her mansions, and then she “sat down.” Documents have been preserved on the performance of this rite by Tsarina Evdokia Lukyanovna in 1628 and Natalya Kirillovna in 1673. Therefore, we can assume that if this rite was recorded for three generations, then it should have arisen much earlier. Most of the rites of the XVII century. arose either in the second half of the 16th century, or belong to an earlier time. As for the meaning of this rite, the most fruitful search is in the field of ethnography. If similar rituals observed in the life of other classes are found, then we can conclude that it has very ancient roots.
On March 30, 1628, 18 days before the birth of Tsarevna Pelageya Mikhailovna, “at the Empress Tsarina Evdokia Lukyanovna, a prayer service was sung in a horomekh and the water was blessed, as she, Empress, sat down in her place. And the empress granted Ivan Semyonov and his comrades, 6 people, half a ruble, as a cross clerk. This document does not provide any more details, so it is difficult to reconstruct the rite itself.
In the document of 1673, which describes the ceremony performed by Natalya Kirillovna on August 14, 8 days before the birth of Princess Natalya Alekseevna, there is somewhat more information. Firstly, the location of the rite is precisely indicated here: it took place in the Cross Chamber of the Tsaritsyns in chorus. Since the queen's mansions were made of wood, they naturally did not survive. However, judging by the surviving chambers in the stone Terem Palace of the Kremlin, the Cross Chamber occupied a very important place among other premises. Unlike the Front Chamber, which was intended for receptions of a wide range of servants of the court, distribution of awards, birthday cakes and similar crowded meetings, the Cross played a role similar to the role of the living room in later times. A much narrower circle of close associates gathered here. Not all servants, but only noble noblewomen, had the right to enter here.
For the rite, the Cross Chamber was specially decorated: “the benches are dressed with velvet tops dug; the ladlers were taken from the Stoker's Chamber ... ". The outfit of the shops suggests that the ceremony took place in the presence of noblewomen and other high officials of the queen's court. But the most important evidence is that the "seat" on which the Empress Empress sat, in this case, was not an armchair, but a bed. It is the outfit of this bed that is described in particular detail: “a Kyzylbash carpet… a bed of swans… a golden blanket on the navels of sables”. A spare carpet was also prepared, which lay "by decree in the Treasury hut." Although it is not specified by whose decree this was done, this suggests that the rite was prepared very carefully, under the personal supervision of the boyars sent by the queen. The mention of the Treasury hut is also very significant. After all, it was in this room that the royal treasury was kept, including state regalia, including the Cap of Monomakh. It is possible that the carpets were the same ones that were used during the solemn exits of the sovereign.
The cross chamber of the queen was dressed up in advance: the document says that dressing up the mansions began with early morning, “an hour before light”, and the rite itself took place “on the same day at the fifth hour, the great empress, the queen deigned to sit down.” Mentions of sitting in the place of the sovereign are usually associated with the most solemn ceremonies. "The Sovereign's Place" was prepared in the Assumption Cathedral before the wedding to the kingdom. In addition, since the 1550s, there was a permanent “prayer place” in the cathedral - the Monomakh throne, on which the sovereign sat during solemn church services. Much attention is paid to documents and the arrangement of the royal seat in the Faceted Chamber during the reception of foreign ambassadors. So the "royal place" evoked strong associations with the throne - one of the main symbols of state power. So we can draw an interesting conclusion that, in relation to the empress, not only a throne or an armchair, but also a bed was called a “place”.
It is clear that the ceremony, during which the queen sat on the bed, is directly related to the upcoming birth of a child. Apparently, this was the last reception by the queen of close boyars, after which she no longer received anyone and was completely occupied only with preparing for childbirth. Unfortunately, no exact ethnographic parallels to this custom have yet been found. However, it is known from ethnography that even in peasant life, with the approach of decisive day pregnant women tried to narrow the circle of communication not only with strangers, but also with loved ones - the woman, as it were, renounced the world.
Naturally, there are no reports about the homelands themselves in official documents. G.I. Kotoshikhin points out some details in his essay: “when the time comes for the prince to be born, and then the queen is in the soap house, and with her the grandmother and a few other wives.” This tradition, which existed in royal palace, sacredly observed among the people. Usually homelands did not take place in living quarters, because according to church canons, they would then be considered unclean for 40 days. In addition, folk instinct unmistakably pointed to the room where the possible danger to the mother and baby was minimized: the bathhouse was the cleanest room, it always had required amount hot water.
Among the descriptions of the decoration of the choir of various royal palaces, a description of the decoration of the royal soapboxes has been preserved. One should not think that the sovereign's soapbox resembled wooden rural baths. The royal soap house is a complex of several rooms, which differed little in decoration from other royal chambers. It had a vestibule with benches and a “moving bed”. In the soap house itself there was a valuable (tiled) stove and the so-called. "soap dishes", and the floor was lined with lead tiles.
At birth, according to Kotoshikhin, only the narrowest circle of close noblewomen and a midwife were present. An experienced midwife had to know not only the special techniques of her craft, but also prayers, and all maternity rites. It is interesting to note that certified doctors who received a European education, taking childbirth not only in the 17th, but even in the first half of the 19th century, often considered it completely unnecessary to wash their hands. At the same time, midwives always performed many cleansing rites, in which water was necessarily used, and, therefore, they could not start their work with unwashed hands. This should force researchers to rethink the question of the meaning of various "superstitions and prejudices" of the Middle Ages.
Everyone who knew about the event was careful not to tell outsiders about it, and here the court customs completely coincided with the folk customs noted by ethnographers in later eras. In this, the Russian court tradition was decisively different from Western European ones, where the queen was often forced to give birth in the hall in the presence of not only all representatives of the royal family, but also the court nobility. The secluded palace of the Petit Trianon in Versailles, where Queen Marie Antoinette often stayed, did not speak of whims or a craving for unbridled luxury, but had a completely different purpose. The modest room on the second floor of the Trianon, decorated with chintz, was called "chambre de accoucher". This small building made it possible for the queen to give birth to children not in the huge chambers of the always crowded Palace of Versailles, but in a secluded room, and only a narrow circle of close relatives could be present in Trianon at that moment. In enlightened France, medieval customs associated with the birth of royal children were changed only at the end of the 18th century, just before the revolution!
The main protagonist of all the rituals performed at the birth of a child in the royal family was the “horse”, that is, the palace priest. In the 17th century he was called immediately after the birth of a child, he said a prayer in front of the queen, the baby, the midwife and other women, naming the newborn with the name of the saint whose memory was celebrated on this day. “And as the spiritual father gives a prayer, and then the king enters the soapbox to look at the newborn, and without giving prayer, no one enters or leaves the soapbox.”
For the fulfillment of this “requisition”, the confessor received a reward for a significant amount of expensive fabrics, sables, and sometimes also silver goblets. So, in 1627, after the birth of Tsarevna Irina Mikhailovna, the court archpriest Maxim received “10 arshins of damask karmazin, an arshin each ruble, forty sables at 50 rubles, a total of 60 rubles.” The largest reward was received by the confessor of Peter I in 1714: then, for the "announcement of the birth" of Princess Margarita Petrovna, the priest was paid 2,000 rubles from the Order of the Great Treasury. In addition, the documents mention a special reward "for a lullaby prayer." Thus, even when a newborn was placed in the first cradle in his life, it was in the nature of a solemn ceremony that took place in the presence of the king. The cradle of the royal children that has survived to this day, made of precious fabrics at the end of the 17th century, is now kept in the collections of the Moscow Kremlin Museums. Presumably it was made for Tsarevich Peter Alekseevich, although it is possible that it could have been used for his older brothers as well.
After the birth of a child in the royal family, bells rang all day in Moscow, and a solemn prayer service was served in the Assumption Cathedral. Notification on behalf of the king "about the joy" of the patriarch, church authorities and secular officials was carried out by special messengers. The abbots of the capital's monasteries and the wives of high-ranking officials were notified separately from the name of the queen herself. As for the notification of the entire population of the country, the joyful news dispersed to all cities with letters on behalf of the great sovereign. At the same time, “praying letters” were sent from Moscow by the spiritual authorities. These letters were read publicly in churches, after which prayers of thanksgiving were served in all cities. After that, the name of the newborn prince or princess was to be commemorated during church services along with the names of other members of the royal family.
The sovereign himself, having received news of the successful resolution of the tsarina from the burden, as well as before the birth of a child, again made a detour of the Kremlin cathedrals and monasteries, while distributing alms to the "poor and needy." After the prayer service in the Assumption Cathedral, he went to the Archangel Cathedral, the Miracles and the Ascension Monasteries, the Trinity and Kirillov Compound. The king, according to Kotoshikhin, “feeds the blacks and gives alms. Likewise, great alms are sent to prisons and almshouses. Yes, the guilty ones are released from prisons, except for the greatest deeds.
Then the tsar followed through the Annunciation Cathedral to the palace, to the Dining Room or the Front Chamber. Here he received the first congratulations from the court and Moscow officials, as well as representatives of the clergy who were in Moscow. At the same moment, as a sign of "sovereign joy", the distribution of ranks and positions could be made, although more often this happened after the "native" or "christening" table. I.E. Zabelin points out that immediately after the announcement of the birth of Tsarevich Peter Alekseevich, his grandfather K.P. Naryshkin and A.S. Matveev were “said deception”, which speaks of the sincere joy of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.
Unfortunately, not a single "rite of birth" of the royal children has survived to this day in its entirety. The only document in the RGADA funds refers to the birth of Princess Feodora Alekseevna in 1674, but its main part has been lost, only the first sheet has survived. In the inventory of documents of the royal archive, compiled in 1626, there is also a record of the birth and solemn baptism in 1549 of Princess Anna Ivanovna. This suggests that all the rituals associated with the birth of royal children have been formalized into an official state document since the time of Ivan the Terrible. Similar "ranks" were also drawn up for the ceremony of crowning the kingdom, the sovereign's wedding, as well as for the solemn "announcement" of the heir to the throne who had come of age.
One of the first tasks that faced the royal family immediately after the birth of a child of any gender was the choice of a wet nurse. G.I. Kotoshikhin writes: “And for the upbringing of a prince or princess, they choose all sorts of ranks from a wife who is kind and pure, and milk is sweet and healthy, and that wife lives with the queen in the Top for upbringing for a year. And as the year goes by, or if that wife is of a noble family, the tsar will grant her husband to the voivodship in the city or give her a fiefdom. And a clerk or other service rank, they will add honor and give a salary a lot. But a township man, and therefore a considerable salary will be given, and taxes and taxes on the king from her husband do not take her to their stomachs. From this we can conclude that the nurse could be chosen from any class, from nobles to taxable townspeople. In any case, the position of the nurse of the royal baby was extremely profitable: in just a year, the family of the nurse could count on everything that was the object of dreams of every class. True, it remains unclear what principle was taken as the basis for choosing a wet nurse. Probably, the recommendations of the close boyars or relatives of the queen played a decisive role here. The only inaccuracy in Kotoshikhin is that, according to him, the nurse lived "at the Top" until the child was one year old. In fact, children could be breastfed up to 2 - 2.5 years. Usually, then the nurse received another position at court, for example, a nanny or servant, since from the very first days until the age of 7, the prince was surrounded by a whole staff of female servants who protected his every step. With the princesses, as they grew older, the former nurses and nannies were appointed to new positions and were engaged in training their pupils, their wardrobe, etc.
The first solemn ceremony, when a wide range of courtiers saw the newborn prince, was baptism.
The first sufficiently detailed annalistic records of the baptism of grand-ducal children date back to the 15th century. One of the most important messages dates back to 1440: on January 22, Ivan Vasilyevich (the future sovereign of all Russia Ivan III) was born, who was baptized by the abbot of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery Zinovy. During this period, the metropolitan was not in Moscow: Photius died in 1431, and the Greek Isidore, who arrived in 1437, went to Italy a few months later to participate in the work of the Ferrara-Florence Cathedral. But circumstances that happened by chance laid the foundation for a tradition that existed before the accession to the throne of the Romanov dynasty. Throughout the time from the middle of the 15th to the end of the 16th century, the abbot (or one of the highest elders) of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery necessarily took part in the baptism of the grand-ducal and royal children. The constant involvement of representatives of the monastery, which was already considered one of the main shrines of Russia, to the rite of baptism testified to a new stage, which the Moscow princely family had risen to by the middle of the 15th century. Unfortunately, the chronicle does not indicate where the baptism itself took place - in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery itself or in Moscow.
The baptism of the future Ivan III is reported by several chronicle sources. Only in the Typographic Chronicle it is said that a certain Pitirim baptized the baby. Probably, this refers to the participation of Pitirim, Bishop of Perm. Considering that since 1440 the tradition of baptizing the children of the grand-ducal family by abbots of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery has become constant, one should probably still trust the message of most chronicles. The Lviv Chronicle reports that in 1441 the next son, Yuri, was also baptized by the Trinity hegumen Zinovy. Vasily III, Ivan the Terrible and his brother Yuri were also baptized by the abbots of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery.
Baptism of royal children in the XVI century. other solemn ceremonies accompanied it - the laying of votive churches in monasteries, rich contributions, etc. According to most researchers, the Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye was erected by order of Vasily III in 1530, after the birth of the long-awaited heir Ivan Vasilyevich.
The events surrounding the birth of the first child of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich himself and Anastasia show that the royal parents really perceived it as a miraculous event. On the following Saturday after the birth of the girl, the tsar takes part in the consecration of the church of St. Joachim and Anna, parents of the Mother of God, in the Novodevichy Convent. A few days later, the princess was baptized in this church, receiving the name Anna. This ceremonial act clearly compares the birth of the king's daughter to the miraculous birth of Anna the Virgin Mary. It was not the Metropolitan who baptized her, but the abbot of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery Serapion. The tsar chose Elder Andreyan from the Andronov Hermitage and Elder Gennady from the Sarai Hermitage as godfathers.
Thus, the tsar founded a new tradition: if the grand ducal sons, like the tsar himself, were baptized in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, then the Novodevichy Convent was chosen for the first tsar's daughter. True, this tradition did not last long, and all the following children of the king, princes Ivan and Fedor, as well as princess Evdokia, were baptized in the Miracle Monastery. Princess Theodosia Fedorovna was baptized by the elder of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery Varsonofy Yakimov. Under the Romanov dynasty, all the royal children were baptized without any exceptions only in the Kremlin.
It is possible that the construction of the Church of the Conception of St. Anna in the Suzdal Intercession Monastery, which was started by the king in 1551, is also associated with the birth of his first child, Princess Anna. Anna's death is reported in March 1551, and exact date The foundation stone of the temple is unknown, so it may be that the foundation stone of the temple of the Intercession Monastery was made in memory of a deceased child and at the same time was an expression of hope for the birth of new children.
Sources contain very conflicting information about the day after the birth of the child the baptism took place. In the XIV-XV centuries. the infant was usually baptized when he was 5-14 days old. In the 17th century the time of baptism was not strictly defined and, according to some authors, was performed on the 8th day, others - on the 40th day. Officially, according to church canons, baptism was to be performed no earlier than 40 days after the birth of a boy and 60 days after the birth of a girl. But in fact, very often, because of the poor health of children, these terms were violated: they were baptized earlier, after 1-2 weeks, and sometimes 2-3 days after birth, because they were afraid that children might die unbaptized.
At baptism, it was necessary to give the name of the saint whose memory fell on the 8th day after the birth of the child. Sometimes this rule was observed very precisely. So, Tsarevich Fyodor Alekseevich was born on May 30, and was baptized in honor of Fyodor Stratilat, whose memory is celebrated on June 8. The choice of a name and a patron saint for grand-ducal and royal children can serve as the object of a separate historical study.
It should be noted here that for the XIV-XVI centuries. Another characteristic custom is to have two names in honor of two saints - on the day of which the child was named after birth and in memory of the one whose name was given at baptism. It is no coincidence that the holy fool Dementy calls the future son of Elena Glinskaya not Ivan, but Titus. The construction of votive churches was often associated with the name of the saint on whose day the child was born. So, the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible, Tsarevich Dmitry, was born on October 19, the day of St. Martyr Ouar, and one of the chapels of the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin is dedicated specifically to St. Ouar. In the 17th century this custom disappears, the palace priest immediately names the children of Tsars Mikhail Fedorovich and Alexei Mikhailovich with the name under which they will be baptized. However, all their lives they continued to honor the saint on whose day they were born. It is no coincidence that the first cathedral in St. Petersburg was founded in honor of the apostles Peter and Paul, on the day of whose memory Peter I was baptized, and the second, St. Isaac's, was dedicated to St. Isaac of Dalmatia, on whose day Peter was born.
The recipients of the royal children in the XVII century. usually there were members of the Romanov family - older brothers, sisters or aunts. So, the godfather of the older children of Mikhail Fedorovich was their grandfather, Patriarch Filaret, the godfather of Tsarevich Peter Alekseevich was his elder brother Fyodor Alekseevich. This made it possible to strengthen both family ties and the authority of the new dynasty, emphasizing that only the closest relatives of the royal baby could be awarded such an honor.
Baptism itself in the 17th century. usually performed either in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin or in the main cathedral of the Chudov Monastery, which, unfortunately, has not survived to this day. The royal children were brought here in a rich sleigh or wagon with a seat and cushions upholstered in gold brocade. After baptism, the baby, according to Orthodox custom, cut off a few hairs, wrapped them in a piece of wax and put them in the innermost place of the temple in order to protect the newborn from troubles and misfortunes.
The child was taken to baptism and back by his "mother" - a noble noblewoman, who was responsible for the entire staff of nannies and nurses directly to the queen. The position of "mother" of the royal children was considered so important that her annual salary was equal to that of the boyar. It was one of the highest positions of the female queen's rank.
The christening of the royal children was accompanied by the gifting of clerics on behalf of the king and the presentation of gifts for the newborn from relatives, representatives of various classes and officials. These gifts also had their own symbolism: “Money was given to the mother for the child in remembrance of the fact that the Magi, after the birth of Christ, offered him gold.” Special gifts were presented to the baby in the person of his mother-queen and father-king before the native or baptismal tables from the ranks, guests, the Living Room and the Cloth Hundreds, metropolitan settlements and serving foreigners. Giving gifts for a newborn was strictly obligatory and resembled the collection of tribute received from various classes and localities throughout the country. Of particular importance was the feast in the palace in the Anterior Chamber, as well as on the day the baby was born. On such days, the tsar, in joy, favored all the courtiers with vodka, honey and wine, sweet cakes and concoctions from his own hands.
On the 3rd or 4th day after the birth of a child, a “home table” was arranged in the Faceted or Golden Chamber - a feast for the courtiers, where they served mainly ritual sweet dishes. In addition to the symbolic meaning, these dishes were a sign of the king's special favor to the courtiers, which was associated with the high cost of sugar. Ordinary feasts were distinguished by the abundance of all dishes, with the exception of just sugar desserts. So, after the birth of Tsarevich Peter Alekseevich, on the table were: “a large sugar gingerbread coat of arms of the Moscow state, a large sugar head painted with color weighing two pounds 20 pounds, a large cast white sugar eagle, another large red sugar eagle with powers, weighing one and a half a pood each, a cast sugar swan weighing 2 poods, a cast sugar duck weighing 20 pounds, a cast sugar parrot weighing 10 pounds, a cast sugar pigeon weighing 8 pounds, a sugar city of the Kremlin with people on horseback and on foot, a large tower with an eagle, a medium tower with an eagle, a quadrangular city with cannons” and many other wonders of culinary art. Interestingly, in the peasant life of the XIX century. the native table usually consisted of serving tea with pies, i.e. in those sweets that were available to any family.
The baptismal table was arranged separately for the male and female society - the boyars were usually invited to the queen's chambers. The participation of the courtiers in the birth and christening table was obligatory. If one of the invitees could not be present at the palace for a good reason, then the "cups and food" were sent to his house.
Finally, the last ritual of the royal christening was the arrangement of special tables for the poor. "Feeding" lasted several days, at the same time up to 300 poor people and even more sat down at the table. In addition, on the occasion of the birth of a child, the tsar pardoned the disgraced, released prisoners from prisons and richly endowed churches and monasteries. In 1592, after the birth of the long-awaited daughter Theodosius, Tsar Fedor Ivanovich, in joy, also sent rich alms to Jerusalem and "to the whole Palestinian land."
In addition to the religious rites generally accepted in the Orthodox Church, the birth of children in the royal family was accompanied by special ceremonies, which were sometimes not typical even for families of the highest nobility. A measure was taken from a newborn prince or princess, and a “measured icon” was made from it with the image of the saint whose name the child received at baptism. Such an icon protected its owner all his life, and after his death was placed on the tomb in the Archangel Cathedral. Of the complex of similar monuments of the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin, unfortunately, only a few items have survived - the setting for the measured icon of Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich of 1554, which depicts St. John of the Ladder, and the measured icon of the future Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich of 1629 depicting Alexei the Man of God. Both icons are currently on display at the Armory.
The complex of female burials in the Ascension Monastery did not have measured icons, since all the queens were from families of poor nobility, and not the highest nobility. At the birth of children in noble families of average income, apparently, they did not write dimensional icons at all. To this day, measured icons of princesses have been preserved, which were buried not in the Ascension Monastery of the Kremlin, but in the Novodevichy Convent. There are measured icons of princesses Evdokia Alekseevna and Sofya Alekseevna.
However, later the custom of painting measured and maternity icons spread to wider social strata. In the State Russian Museum, the exposition of the Stroganov Palace presents maternity icons of the 18th-19th centuries that belonged to the Stroganov family, in particular the icon "Saint Sophia" of 1883, very similar to the royal measured icons of the 16th-17th centuries. The maternity icon of Natalya Ivanovna Stroganova, the wife of Sergei Grigoryevich Stroganov, has also been preserved. She was born on May 7, 1796, so the image of the martyr Akakios was painted for her, whose memory is celebrated on this day. As family relics of the Stroganov family, “measures of the growth of babies from a cut cord” were also preserved. In the imperial family, the custom of painting measured icons, which disappeared during the time of Peter I, was revived at the end of the 18th century. Catherine II at the birth of her grandchildren.
After the solemn baptism of the royal children, which was announced to the whole country, they led a secluded life in their chambers. Often their names disappear from the pages of official documents for a long time. Sometimes the only next news is the record of the death of a little prince or princess. In the royal family, as was usual in the Middle Ages, a lot of children were born, but most of them died in childhood. Here the kings were no different from mere mortals. So, of the eight children of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, only three survived infancy, and four of the ten children of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich had six sons, and Peter Alekseevich was the last, and seemed to have no chance of taking the throne. However, all five of his brothers died young.
“Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you,” says the Lord Jesus Christ to his disciples. Teaching faith, catechesis or proclamation is God's commandment.
“Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you,” says the Lord Jesus Christ to his disciples. Teaching faith, catechesis or proclamation is God's commandment. The need for an announcement is confirmed by the 46th canon of Laodicea and the 78th canon of the Sixth Ecumenical Council.
Who are the catechumens?
The catechumens (or in Greek - "catechumens") are primarily Christians. They had not yet received baptism, but were already considered members of the Church of Christ and were present at part of the services, listened to Holy Bible. In the II-III centuries, the period of announcement was at least three years. Persecution and heresies, doctrinal disputes demanded from Christians steadfastness and knowledge of their faith. Therefore, the Church took a very responsible approach to accepting new members into its bosom and was very reverent towards the very sacrament of baptism. And by the time when, in the 6th century, Christianity became the state religion in Byzantium and many pagans went to church, persuaded by Christian relatives or wanting promotion (the status of a Christian contributed to this), the Church met them with the already proven practice of lengthy preparation for baptism. To some extent, the catechumenate was a buffer between the Church and the world: on the one hand, the Church spoke to the world through catechumens; on the other hand, the institute of catechumens protected the Church from the penetration of the spirit of this world into it. But most importantly, this intermediate stage between the consciousness of a pagan and a faithful Christian was needed by the catechumens themselves: to test their loyalty to Christ, repentance, “change of mind” in the most direct sense - a change in priorities, values, the whole worldview and behavior. The main task of catechesis was not so much teaching the foundations of the faith, but rather introducing the catechumens into the life and Tradition of the Church.
Entry exams
In ancient times, the sacrament of baptism was not a private, but a public and solemn event. On the eve of Pascha and Pentecost, on Christmas Eve and Epiphany Eve, all those who had passed the catechetical period and an intensive course in studying the foundations of the faith were baptized. In the II-III centuries, the announcement could last from one to three years. Pagans who believed in Christ as the Son of God, when they first came to church, had to undergo an interview with the bishop or another member of the clergy appointed by him: a presbyter or a deacon. Future catechumens spoke about themselves and the reasons for their intention to be baptized; the bishop gave them a short sermon about what the Christian life is and how Christianity differs from paganism.
After that, initiation into catechumens (catechumens) took place. In the East, the rite of passage consisted of the overshadowing of the seal of the cross (the overshadowing of the sign of the cross on the forehead and chest), the exorcist "breath" with the reading of a prayer, and the laying on of hands. In the West, to this was added the tasting of a pinch of salt by the future catechumens as a sign of the salt of the Word of God that he would taste during the catechumens. Having passed the rite of passage, the catechumens began classes, where they were told about Christ himself, about the prophets who predicted the coming of the Messiah, about the creation of the world and about God's plan.
The catechumens tried to combine theory with practice, correcting their lives in harmony with the Christian spirit. Often classes were held daily, in the morning, to interrupt the pious pagan tradition of visiting temples before going to work. The catechumens were allowed to attend all divine services, with the exception of the liturgy of the faithful.
Only those who had been in the rank of catechumens for a sufficient number of years, had changed their lives, had evidence of the faithful about the seriousness of their intentions, could personally profess the faith and did not have possession, could proceed to baptism.
St. Justin the Philosopher (2nd century), who himself taught Christian doctrine in the school for catechumens he founded, wrote in his book on catechesis: “Whoever is convinced and believes that this teaching and our words are true, and it is promised that he can live in accordance with them, those are taught to ask God for remission of former sins with prayer and fasting, and we pray and fast with them. Then we bring them to where there is water, they are reborn ... as we ourselves were reborn, that is, they are then washed with water in the Name of God the Father and the Lord of all, and our Savior Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
Intensive Course
Those who passed the catechumen and wanted to be baptized on the coming Pascha were waiting for another exam: a second interview with the bishop, where the catechumen had to tell about the changes that had happened to him over a two to three year period. The godparents of the catechumen were necessarily present at the interview, testifying to the truth of his words.
After passing the interview, the person wrote down his name in the list for baptism for the next Easter or another of the days mentioned. From that moment on, he was called "enlightened", that is, preparing for "enlightenment" (baptism).
Those who were being enlightened were obliged to attend categorical classes, to fast (to abstain from meat and wine, as well as from food dedicated to pagan idols (“sacrificed to idols”) as a sign of repentance. Although this was not obligatory, the faithful (who had already been baptized) could also fast and attend these classes in order to renew the experienced conversion and purify the soul and adequately prepare for the meeting of the Easter holiday.According to some information, Great Lent occurred from the fast of the enlightened and sympathetic faithful.
After an interview with the bishop, the enlightened person was transferred to an "intensive" course. The "course" of St. Cyril of Jerusalem began with a "preparatory conversation", where the saint spoke to the enlightened about the change in their status in the Church and exhorted them not to miss classes, to learn what was said, but not to speak about it to the catechumens, and also not to be curious about what they were doing at the liturgy faithful. Further conversations were devoted to the interpretation of the Creed, the prayer "Our Father" and some other doctrinal, moral and ascetic aspects of Christianity. Before Second Ecumenical Council(381), which adopted the Niceno-Tsaregrad Creed (which we read today), each local Church used its own baptismal symbol, which was a short confession of faith pronounced by the enlightened during the sacrament of baptism (hence it appeared). The dogmatic content in such confessions remained the same, but the wording was different.
Secrets of Faith
The study of the Creed was a kind of privilege of the enlightened: the catechumens did not know it, and they were not supposed to know it. Perhaps there were only two things that were not told either to the outside or to the catechumens: the doctrine of God the Trinity and the Eucharist. As the most complex and paradoxical, they could be misunderstood and would only bring harm, because “even the sick ask for wine; but if it is given untimely, then madness produces, from which two evils are born: the patient dies, and the doctor remains in disgrace. So, if the catechumen hears something from the faithful, then the catechumen will fall into madness, because he does not understand what he hears, however, it defames and ridicules what is being said, and the faithful is condemned as a traitor to this mystery ”(St. Cyril of Jerusalem, “Instruction of precondition”) .
The enlightened studied Sacred History, they were told about the sacrament of baptism. It is known that St. Cyril of Jerusalem, not yet a bishop, conducted catechumens several times a week for several hours. In such classes, in addition to the conversations themselves, the enlightened prayed, and spells (exorcisms) were pronounced over them, which prepared the enlightened for the rite of renunciation of Satan, performed before baptism.
After passing the intensive, the enlightened were again waiting for the exam. On the eve of the day of baptism, for example, on Good Friday, they recited the Creed and the Lord's Prayer by heart in the presence of the bishop, and in the Western Church - of the faithful.
Baptism was preceded by the rite of renunciation of Satan, which emphasized the break with the pagan past, and the rite of union with Christ. In our age of skepticism, it is sometimes ridiculous and embarrassing for many who receive baptism to spit and blow “at the devil,” but former pagans in the 2nd-4th centuries treated such things with complete understanding.
After being baptized, the new Christians listened to another series of conversations - now secret-guiding (introduction to the sacraments of the Church). The meaning of the sacrament of baptism, as well as chrismation and the Eucharist, was explained more deeply. The neophytes already knew something about the sacrament of baptism, but they talked about the Eucharist only after baptism.
Who could catechize
Classes were held by specially blessed people, not necessarily priests. For example, the Christian writer and theologian Origen (first half of the 3rd century) began teaching at the Alexandrian catechumens school in his early youth, after the martyrdom of his father (not having a rank at that time), replacing his teacher and also church writer Clement, who was a priest, in this post. .
Could be catechists and women appointed to serve as deaconesses. They had to teach “simple rural women clear church rules at home, how to respond to a baptized woman and how to live after Baptism,” as the Fourth Council of Carthage prescribed.
The catechumens of St. John Chrysostom, Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory of Nyssa, Ambrose of Milan, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Augustine the Blessed have come down to us. All these conversations are a living word addressed to living listeners, therefore it is more interesting to read them than the catechisms that we got from the Synodal period. The latter have been heavily influenced by Catholic scholasticism, so although they are well structured, they are very boring. The catechumens of the holy fathers seem to have one drawback: their translations into Russian were made in the nineteenth century, and their language may seem complicated to the modern reader.
At what age should you be baptized?
Historians say that there is no way to fix the moment when the practice of baptism appeared in infancy. We do not know for sure whether children were baptized in the apostolic age, but New Testament tells us about the baptism of entire families, in which, of course, there were small children (Cornelia (); Lydia - “she and her household were baptized” (); prison guard “and all those who were in his house” (); Crispus: “Crispus but, the head of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his house "(); Stefan "I also baptized Stephen's house" (). In the Apostolic Tradition of St. Hippolytus of Rome (about 215) it is said: children. All those who can talk about themselves, let them speak. For those who cannot talk about themselves, let their parents or one of their relatives speak." were able to speak (but these might not have been newborns). Saints Irenaeus of Lyon and Origen, referring to the apostolic tradition, speak of the practice of baptizing infants. At the Carthaginian councils of the 3rd century, there were disputes about the baptism of infants. A decision was made: "... not forbid [Baptism ] to a baby who, barely born, did not sin in anything silt, except that, having come from the flesh of Adam, he received the infection of ancient death through birth itself, and who proceeds to accept the remission of sins all the more conveniently because he is forgiven not his own, but other people's sins. However, the practice of baptizing adults who could consciously proceed to baptism was very common for a long time. It is known that John Chrysostom was baptized at 23 (25?) years old, Basil the Great - at 26 years old, Gregory the Theologian, who came from a bishop's family - at 28, Blessed Peacock of Nolansky - at the age of about 37 years. Blessed Augustine, who was admitted to the catechumens in infancy, was baptized after long spiritual wanderings and struggles at the age of 33 (34?) years.
In addition to fundamental considerations, there were outright abuses of the time of pronouncement, especially when Christianity became the state religion from the 4th century: catechumens were considered Christians, which means that they enjoyed all the rights before state laws, freeing themselves from the obligations of Christian life. The Church fought against this trick, but not very successfully. For example, St. Gregory the Theologian, objecting to such a selfish approach to the sacrament of baptism, wrote: “Let us be baptized now, let us not alienate good deeds from ourselves… let us not wait until we become worse, so that we will be forgiven more; let us not be Christ-cultivators and Christ-merchants. ... Hurry to the gift, while you are still in control of your mind, while you are not sick both in body and spirit ... until your tongue stutters, does not grow cold and can clearly pronounce (not to mention more) the words of the Arcane, ... until the gift is obvious to you, and not doubtful, grace touches the depths, and not the body is washed for burial.
The practice of infant baptism became widespread in the Christian Byzantine Empire, and it was from that time that the practice of catechesis was supplanted.
Journal "Neskuchny Sad"
