Zhurova Ludmila I.,
Doctor of Philology Sciences, Institute of History of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science, Novosibirsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tales of Skomorokhs in Russian Publicism of the XVIth Century
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2019-2-1
Skomorokhs were among unique phenomena of Russia culture which appeared during the pre-Christian period and had a time of trial during the Christianization of Rus. Much literary evidence on dancing, games and street performance in the essays of XV–XVI cc. are connected with strong criticism expressed by church writers. A significant role in Russian publicism belongs to the essays of Maximus the Greek and Metropolitan Daniel dedicated to this sensitive issue. Maximus the Greek explicitly stated his opinion on Russian skomorokhs in one of his exhortations that was preserved in the only manuscript dated the middle of XVI c. – RSL. F. 256. No. 264, s. 266–273. It is an eloquent monologue of the church writer who believes his duty is to show up this “godawful evil”. The learned monk believed that skomorokh art was demoniacal and enlisted some evidence that their games and dances were sinful, supporting it by the quotations from Evangelical texts, Epistles and Holy Fathers' sermons. An important part of his exhortation is the accusation of authorities' inaction. Whereas Maximus the Greek represented his reasoning as a monotheme set out in one exhortation, Metropolitan Daniel dedicated several essays to this, from the point of view of church, calamitous phenomenon and examined it in the context of other social vices. Daniel dispraised drinking, gluttony and fancy clothes along with reprehending people for their keenness on public performances, dances and playing chess. Metropolitan's exhortations and letters represent pastoral homilies that teach people to take care of their souls in the first place, and extenuate the body with labor instead of searching for pleasures. Whilst Maximus the Greek described skomorokh performances that impressed him as a foreigner, Daniel never described the action itself; he only represented a common reproachful judgment on harmful influence of games and pleasures based on the teachings of church fathers. Comparing the essays of two authors dedicated to one subject allows us to point out not only the similarity of their points of view as churchmen who deemed skomorokhs a devilry, but also difference in the ways of presenting the material, independence and originality of the narration, intonation and rhetoric. The publication of Maximus the Greek's “Exhortation on skomorochs” is attached.
Publishing: 29/04/2019
How to cite: Zhurova L.I. Tales of Skomorokhs in Russian Publicism of the XVIth Century // Historical Courier, 2019, # 2 (4). Article 1. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-2-01.pdf
Links: Issue 2 2019
Keywords: Russian publicism; exhortation; Maximus the Greek; metropolitan Daniel of Moscow; skomorokh; performance; games