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Abstract
This is the first publication of a tale about a journey to the other world from two seventeenth-century manuscripts kept in St.Petersburg. In the 1580s, the soul of a poor miner Nicholas from the Macedonian village of Izvor was mistakenly and prematurely snatched from his body by an angel who accompanied him through the heavens. After Nicholas’ return to life, he described his adventures, which, although reminiscent of the famous Byzantine visions of the afterlife, still diverge from them in some important details. The tale not only helps to recreate the social life of the mining area of Siderokausia, but also portrays the infighting among the local Orthodox Christian clergy.
Notes
1 Not mentioned in S. Lampakes, Οι καταβάσεις στον κάτω κόσμο στη Βυζαντινή και στη Μεταβυζαντινή λογοτεχνία (Athens 1982).
2 I. N. Lebedeva, Opisanie rukopisei biblioteki AN SSSR. T.5. Otdel grecheskikh rukopisei (Leningrad 1973) 130‒1.
3 Lebedeva, Opisanie, 131.
4 B. Feida, Ἱστορικὴ ἐξέλιξη τῆς ὀργανώσεως τῆς ἐκκλησίας Μακεδονίας’, Ἐπιστημονικὴ Ἐπετηρὶς τῆς Θεολογικῆς σχολῆς τοῦ Πανεπιστημίου Ἀθηνῶν 30 (1995) 67.
5 I. N. Lebedeva, Opisanie, 119‒20.
6 Ioakeim is believed to be the author of the poem about the Cretan war. See T.A. Kaplanis, Ioakeim Kyprios’ Struggle; a narrative poem on the ‘Cretan War’ of 1645-1669. Editio Princeps [Texts and Studies in the History of Cyprus LXVII] (Nicosia 2012). This work was not available to us.
7 I. N. Lebedeva, Opisanie, 119.
8 It was renamed (because of its Slavic origin) only in the 1920s.
9 G. Theocharidou, Κατεπανίκια της Μακεδονίας (Τhessalonike 1954) 78; D. Papachrysanthou, Ὁ Ἀθωνικὸς μοναχισμóς (Athens 1992) 124‒26.
10 J. C. Alexander, ‘The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away: Athos and the confiscation affair of 1566–1569’, in K. Chrysochoides (ed.), Mount Athos in the 14th-16th centuries (Athens 1997) 163‒64, 176.
11 A. T. Vacalopoulos, History of Macedonia. 1354–1883 (Thessalonike 1973) 153, 552‒3; G. Ostrogorsky, Serska oblast posle Dushanove smerti (Belgrade 1965) 69‒79.
12 V. Dimitriades, ‘Ottoman Chalkidiki: an area of transition’, in A. Bryer, H. Lowry (eds.), Continuity and Change in Late Byzantine and Early Ottoman Society (Birmingham 1982) 46; N. Nerantzis, ‘Pillars of power: silver and steel of the Ottoman empire’, Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 9/2 (2009) 75‒76. The dissertation of I. Borbe, Τα Μαδεμοχώρια Χαλκιδικῆς κατὰ τὴν Τουρκοκρατία: οἱ κοινότητες καὶ ἡ ὀργάνωση καὶ ἐκμετάλλευση τῶν μεταλλείων (Thessalonike 2000), was not accessible to us.
13 M. Rozen, ‘The corvée of operating the mines in Siderokapisi and its impact on the Jewish society of Salonika in the sixteenth century (in Hebrew)’, in eadem, The Days of the Crescent: Chapters in the History of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire (Tel Aviv 1996) 13‒38.
14 N. Radojčić (ed.), Zakon o rudnicima despota Stefana Lazarevića (Belgrade 1962) passim.
15 E. Zegkine, Οι Μουσουλμάνοι Αθιγγάνοι της Θράκης (Thessalonike 1994) 24‒25.
16 The authors are indebted to colleagues from the Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität (Vienna) who kindly shared with us the not yet published entry on Pharaonitai.
17 A. Fraser, The Gypsies (Oxford 1992) 109.
18 D. Papachrysanthou, Ὁ Ἀθωνικὸς μοναχισμός, 125 n. 245.
19 For a general overview of the genre, see J. Baun, Tales from Another Byzantium (Cambridge 2007).
20 H.-G. Beck, Die Byzantiner und Ihr Jenseit (Munich 1979) 50‒1.
21 The Life of Saint Basil the Younger, eds. D.F. Sullivan, A.-M.Talbot, S. McGrath (Washington, D. C. 2014) 518.
22 Ibid. 255, 263, 275 etc.
23 Michael Psellos, Funeral oration for his daughter Styliane, in Κ. Sathas (ed.), Μεσαιωνικὴ Βιβλιοθήκη 5 (Athens 1876) 62–87, at 83.
24 H. Delehaye (ed.), Synaxarium ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Brussels 1902) 114.25‒45; cf. Gregorii Papae I, cognomento Magni, Dialogi, Migne, PL 77 (1862) 381–88. The motif of the soul prematurely snatched by the messengers of the Other World was so popular in Byzantium that it was parodied in the satirical dialogue Timarion in the twelfth century.
25 J. Wortley, ‘Death, judgment, heaven, and hell in Byzantine “Beneficial Tales”’, DOP 55 (2001) 56.
26 The Life of Saint Basil the Younger, 516‒42.
27 N. Constas, ‘ “To sleep, perchance to dream”: the middle state of souls in Patristic and Byzantine literature’, DOP 55 (2001) 108‒9.
28 εἰς τοῦταις ταῖς ἡμέραις
29 ἤγουν ἀπαυτουνοὺς ὁποῦ σκάπτουν καὶ εὐγάζουν τὸ χῶμα ὁποῦ εὐγαίναι τὸ ἀσίμι καὶ τὸ χρυσάφι
30 ἔζουσε
31 κακὰ ὁποῦ βλάβουν τὴν ψυχὴν
32 καὶ δὲν ἔβλαβε τίποτε
33 ἢ πῶς δὲν ἐπέρνα τὴν ζωὴν του ἐναρέτους καὶ καλοὺς ἀνθρώπους
34 πῶς εἶχε γυναῖκα καὶ δὲν ἤξευρε μηδὲ γράμματα
35 ἐπῆρε τὴν ψυχὴν τοῦ παιδίου
36 ὁποῦ ἔκαμεν εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν υἱόν του
37 καθῶς τὸ ἔχει ὁ κα[θ’ἡ]μᾶς συνήθειαν
38 οἱ γείτονες
39 ἄλλοι ἐτοίμαζαν τὰ πρὸς τὴν ταφὴν
40 κριώση
41 καὶ ἡ πενθερά του
42 καὶ ἡ πενθερά του
43 ὡσὰν συγχυσμένος πολλὰ
44 ἕως ἡμέρας γ΄
45 εἰς τὴν γειτονία
46 καὶ εἶχεν πολλὴν πόνον
47 καὶ θαρρεῖς ὅτι ἐσάπη εἰς τὸν τάφον
48 ἐγνώρισε καλὰ γυναῖκα μου ὅτι αὐτὸς
49 μακάρι παντέριμα νὰ ἤμασθαν
50 καὶ αἰώνιον ὁποῦ ποτὲ δὲν ἔχει τέλος
51 ἢ στενοχωρίαν, ἀλλὰ ἔχει ἀνάπαυσιν πολλὴν καὶ ζωὴν χαρᾶς μεγάλης
52 καὶ ἀνάπαυσιν
53 ὦ γερόντισσα
54 καὶ ζωὴν αἰώνιον
55 Ἡ δὲ πενθερά του
56 καὶ μὴ κρύψης τίποτε ἀπὸ ἐμένα
57 καὶ ἐγνώριζεις
58 ἄρχισε καὶ ἔλεγε
59 εὔμορφον καὶ ἔκλαμπον ὅτι δὲν ἠμπορῶ νὰ εiπῶ τὴν εὐμορφίαν ὁποῦ εἶχε
60 πάντα τοῦ κόσμου τούτου
61 νὰ χωρήσω τὰ μάτια μου ἀπ’ ἐκεῖνον
62 Ὁμοίως
63 ἀπὸ ὕψος καὶ τὸ τριγύρισμα τὸ συχνὸ δὲν θυμοῦμαι καλὰ πόσοι νὰ ἦσαν
64 ἢ καὶ περισσοτέρους
65 στραβὰ
66 βουνὰ
67 κατὰ λεπτὸν διότι ἦταν θαυμαστά.
68 ἔχει καιρὸν ἀκόμι
69 εἰς τὸν ἴσκιον αὐτοῦ
70 καὶ σχῆμα τοῦ κορμίου ἦταν ὅοι
71 καὶ τῆς καλοσύνης καὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας
72 ἢ μέθης ἢ ἄλλης τινὸς ἁμαρτίας
73 ὁτοὺς ἔβλεπα ἐδῶ
74 ἐγὼ ἤμουν πατέρας τους
75 ἀπὸ ἕνα τόπον καθῶς εἶναι ἐδῶ
76 εἰς τὴν γραφὴν
77 ἡ δευτέρα παρουσία τοῦ Κυρίου· τότε γὰρ ἐν τῇ φοβερᾷ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς κρίσεως
78 καὶ εὐμορφώτερον τόπον ἀπὸ τοῦτον ὁποῦ βλέπεις
79 ὁσὰν μικρὰ παιδία καὶ
80 ὁποῦ ἔβλεπα ἐδῶ εἰς τὸν κόσμον
81 καὶ ἀγριώτατον θήριον
82 ὁποῦ δέχεται ὅλους τοὺς ἁμαρτωλοὺς καὶ τοὺς ἀπίστους ἐκείνους ὁποῦ δὲν ἐπίστευσαν εἰς τὸν Χριστὸν
83 ὅτι ὅλα μου τὰ κόκαλα καὶ τὰ νεῦρα καὶ αἱ κλείδοσεις ἐσάλευσαν.
84 ἡ γρία ἡ πενθερὰ
85 τάγματα καὶ στρατιὰς αγγέλλων ἢ χωροὺς ἁγίων
86 ταῦτα μάλιστα ἐπιστώθηκαν καὶ ἀπὸ τὴν φωνὴν
87 σκανδαλοῦργος καὶ φθονερὸς
88 ἀρχιερεῖς ὁμοίως καὶ μοναχοὺς ἀναξίους τοῦ μοναχικοῦ σχήματος
89 ὅτι ἐκεῖνοι οἱ πρῶτοι ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ μοναχοὶ ὁποῦ ἔβλαψαν πολλοὺς με τὰ κακὰ λόγια καὶ με τὰ κακὰ ἔργα τους, ὅτι νὰ πηγαἱνουν αὐτοὶ μπροστὰ
90 ἀδερφοὶ καὶ πατέρες ὠνομάσθημεν
91 φῶς καὶ ἅλας ἡμεῖς οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ ἱερεῖς καὶ μοναχοὶ
92 ὅσοι εἶναι ἐσκοτισμένοι νὰ τοὺς φωτίζομεν ἡμεῖς καὶ νὰ τοὺς γυρίζωμεν εἰς μετάνοιαν με καλαῖς διδαχαῖς καὶ με τὰ καλὰ μας ἔργα, ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ μετ’ ἐμῶν συνέλθωσιν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν /φ. 48v τῶν ούρανῶν
93 αἴτιοι ὁποῦ μέλει νὰ εἴμασθεν
94 καὶ νὰ ταῖς ἀφανιζόμεν με καλαῖς διδαχαῖς καὶ με καλῆ ἔργα, ἡμεῖς τὸ ἀνὰ πάλιν ὅλον εἰς τὸ ἐνάντιον στεκόμεθα.
95 Here RAIK 130 breaks off.
96 We take the meaning from a passage in the chrysobull of Alexios I Komnenos, a. 1102: στραβοξυλῆς τῆς πρὸς τὰ κάτεργα καὶ πλοῖα ἐπιτηδείας. See Actes de Lavra, Première partie. Des origines à 1204, ed. A. Guillou et al. (Archives de l'Athos V) (Paris 1970) 286.
97 Instead of ἔφευγαν, we adopt the conjecture ἔφεγγαν.
98 With the conjecture λεπτουργὸς instead of λευτουργὸς the word would mean craftsman/carpenter.
99 John 14:2: ‘In my Father's house are many mansions'.
* This study was supported by the Academic Fund Programme of The National Research University-Higher School of Economics, in 2014‒15 (research grant No. 14-01-0031).