The story of Peter and Fevronia Murom heroes. About “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom. The Tale of Peter and Fevronia heroes

Peter and Fevronia of Murom are spouses, saints, the brightest personalities of Holy Rus', who with their lives reflected its spiritual values ​​and ideals.
The life story of St. miracle workers, the faithful and reverend spouses Peter and Fevronia, existed for many centuries in the traditions of the Murom land, where they lived and where their honest relics were preserved.
He recorded the story of Peter and Fevronia in the 16th century. priest Ermolai the Pregressful (monastically Erasmus), a talented writer, widely known in the era of Ivan the Terrible. Preserving folkloric features in his life, he created an amazingly poetic story about wisdom and love - the gifts of the Holy Spirit with a pure heart and humbleness in God.
Peter was the younger brother of Pavel, who reigned in Murom. One day, trouble happened in Pavel’s family - due to the devil’s obsession, a snake began to fly to his wife. The sad woman, who succumbed to demonic power, told her husband everything. The prince ordered his wife to find out the secret of his death from the villain. It turned out that the adversary’s death was “destined to come from Peter’s shoulder and Agrikov’s sword.” Having learned about this, Prince. Peter immediately decided to kill the rapist, relying on God’s help. Soon, during prayer in the temple, it was revealed where Agrikov’s sword was kept, and, having tracked down the serpent, Peter struck him down. But before his death, the snake sprinkled the winner with poisonous blood, and the prince’s body became covered with scabs and ulcers.
No one could heal Peter from a serious illness. Enduring the torment with humility, the prince surrendered to God in everything. And the Lord, providing for His servant, sent him to the Ryazan land. One of the young men sent in search of a doctor accidentally walked into the house, where he found a lonely girl named Fevronia, the daughter of a tree frog, at work, who had the gift of insight and healing. After all the questions, Fevronia ordered the servant: “Bring your prince here. If he is sincere and humble in his words, he will be healthy!”
The prince, who could no longer walk himself, was brought to the house, and he sent to ask who wanted to cure him. And he promised him that if he cured him, he would get a big reward. “I want to cure him,” Fevronia answered bluntly, “but I don’t demand any reward from him. Here’s my word to him: if I don’t become his wife, then it’s not right for me to treat him.” Peter promised to marry, but in his heart he was lying: the pride of the princely family prevented him from agreeing to such a marriage. Fevronia scooped up some sourdough, blew on it and ordered the prince to wash himself in the bathhouse and lubricate all the scabs except one.
Since Fevronia saw through Peter’s wickedness and pride, she ordered him to leave one scab undone as evidence of sin. Soon, from this scab, the whole illness resumed, and the prince returned to Fevronia. The second time he kept his word. “And they arrived at their patrimony, the city of Murom, and began to live piously, without breaking God’s commandments in anything.”
After the death of his brother, Peter became autocrat in the city. The boyars respected their prince, but the arrogant boyars’ wives disliked Fevronia, not wanting to have a peasant woman as their ruler, and taught their husbands evil things. The boyars tried to level all sorts of slander against the princess, and one day they rebelled and, having lost their shame, offered Fevronia, taking whatever she wanted, to leave the city. The princess wanted nothing but her husband. The couple sailed down the river on two ships.
In the evening they moored to the shore and began to settle down for the night. Before they had time to wake up, ambassadors from Murom arrived, begging Peter to return to reign. The boyars quarreled over power, shed blood and were now again looking for peace and tranquility. Peter and Fevronia humbly returned to their city and ruled happily ever after, giving alms with prayer in their hearts. When old age came, they took monasticism with the names David and Euphrosyne and begged God to die at the same time. They decided to bury themselves together in a specially prepared coffin with a thin partition in the middle.

Characteristics of Fevronia. The heroine of the story is the maiden Fevronia. She is wise with folk wisdom. The first appearance in the story of the girl Fevronia is captured in a visually distinct image. She is found in a simple peasant hut by an envoy of the Murom prince Peter, who fell ill from the poisonous blood of the serpent he killed. In a poor peasant dress, Fevronia sat at the loom and was engaged in a “quiet” task - weaving linen, and a hare was jumping in front of her, as if symbolizing her merging with nature. Her questions and answers, her quiet and wise conversation clearly show that “Rublev’s thoughtfulness” is not thoughtless. Fevronia amazes the messenger with her prophetic answers and promises to help the prince. Well-versed in healing potions, she heals the prince. Despite social obstacles, the prince marries the peasant girl Fevronia. The swaggering wives of the boyars disliked Fevronia and demanded her expulsion.

Fevronia makes wise riddles and knows how to resolve life's difficulties without fuss. She does not object to her enemies and does not insult them with open teaching, but resorts to allegory, the purpose of which is to teach a harmless lesson: her opponents themselves realize their mistakes. She works miracles in passing: she makes the branches stuck for the fire bloom into a large tree overnight. Her life-giving power extends to everything around her. Crumbs of bread in her palm turn into grains of fragrant incense. Intelligence, nobility and meekness help Fevronia overcome all the hostile actions of her strong opponents. In every conflict situation, the high human dignity of the peasant woman is contrasted with the low and selfish behavior of her high-born opponents. Fevronia used the wisdom given to her not for herself, but for her husband. She led him, helped him in affairs, including state affairs, and was a real assistant to him. Fevronia did not force the prince to do what she wanted. A wise wife is always a joy for her husband and for those around her. Fevronia, as we know, glorified and exalted both herself and her husband, Peter, with her wisdom. There is a saying that family life is a ship and the captain on it is the husband, but this whole huge ship is in the hands of the wife. Thus, wherever she turns the steering wheel, the ship will float there, and she can turn it towards a quiet and calm sea, or maybe towards the reefs. “A wise woman will build her house, but a foolish woman will destroy it with her own hands.” (Proverbs 14:1) Fevronia died in 1228 on the same day as her husband. Both of them, according to the will, were laid in the same coffin. In 1547, their memory was established to be celebrated “everywhere in Murom” on the 25th day of June. The relics of Saint Prince Peter and Saint Princess Fevronia rest hidden in one shrine in the Murom Cathedral Church.

Fevronia: The image of the “wise maiden” F. goes back to a Russian fairy tale. The daughter of a beekeeper (“tree climber”) from the village of Laskovo, Ryazan land, is famous for her good deeds, intelligence and insight. She is a faithful and caring wife who knows how to fight for her happiness. F. embodies love, which neither evil people nor the force of circumstances can defeat. Researchers have more than once compared the ancient Russian story with the Western European novel about Tristan and Isolde, who also encounter various obstacles on the path to happiness. The main character is active, she creates her own destiny and the destiny of Prince Peter, over whom she wins a moral victory.

The image of P. plays a less noticeable role in the narrative; he is, as it were, overshadowed by the bright and colorful figure of F. Murom Prince P., having stood up for the honor of his brother’s wife, fights with the flying snake that has become accustomed to her. Having mastered the Agric sword, P. wins, but the poisonous blood of the snake causes incurable ulcers and scabs on his body. F. heals the prince, setting a condition: she will cure P. if he takes her as his wife.

The prince does not want to marry a simple peasant woman. But after a second appeal to F. for help, the ashamed prince takes the peasant girl as his wife.

F.'s wisdom is manifested not only in deeds and actions, but also in the ability to speak in allegories and riddles. This is not how the princely envoy understands her, in response to whose questions F. says: “It’s bad when the courtyard has no ears, and the house has no eyes”; “Father and mother went to cry, and brother went through the legs of death to look into the eyes.” F. herself explains the meaning of what was said: the ears of the house are a dog, and the eyes are a child.

They, each in their own way, will warn the owner about the approach of a stranger. The heroine's father and mother went to the funeral, and her brother, a beekeeper, went to practice his dangerous craft, climbing tall trees.

With his wise speeches, F. also baffles her future husband. Peter: After F. becomes the prince’s wife, the evil boyars and their wives, “like a bark,” do not want to be ruled by a woman of peasant origin, they strive to expel F. from the city and separate the heroes. However, even here the power of love prevails. F. wants to take with him the most precious thing - his spouse.

P. renounces his reign and leaves Murom together with F. The heroes of the story do not value power and wealth. This is how P. and F.’s love overcomes social obstacles. A certain anti-boyar tendency is noticeable in this episode. The creator of the story emphasizes that the “evil” boyars fought over power: everyone “would like to have power.”

The townspeople beg P. to rule Murom as before. Returning to the city, P. and F. rule not with rage, but with truth and justice, and treat their subjects not as mercenaries, but as true shepherds.

They are compared to merciful and warm-hearted child-loving parents. Neither social inequality nor “evil” boyars can separate the heroes.

They are inseparable even in the face of death. Having simultaneously accepted the monastic rank, P. and F. pray to God: “May she be reposed in one hour”; and bequeathed to bury themselves in the same tomb. The description of the death of the saints is especially expressive. Just before her death, “blessed” F. embroiders “air” with the faces of saints for the cathedral.

The prince, feeling his death approaching, sends to tell his wife that he is waiting for her to leave this world together. F. asks her master to wait until she finishes her work. After P.’s third appeal to her (“I’m leaving this world, I can’t wait for you anymore”), the princess-nun, who managed to embroider the face and hand of the saint, responds to the call of her husband. Having stuck a needle into the unsewn cover and wound a thread around it, F. sends to P. to say that she is ready.

Even a posthumous miracle - an important element in the composition of a hagiographic narrative - reaffirms the inseparability of the marital ties of the heroes. People who sought to separate P. and F. during their lives separate them twice after death: P.’s body was laid in the city, “in the cathedral church of the Most Pure Mother of God,” and F.’s body was buried “outside the city,” in the Vozdvizhensky Church of the Convent. The next morning everyone sees a miracle: the bodies of the prince and princess end up in a common tomb.

“The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom” is a work of the hagiographic genre. Lives of saints are descriptions of the lives of clergy and secular persons canonized by the Christian Church. The modern and ancient Russian meanings of the word “story” are different. In Ancient Rus', this is not a genre definition of a work: “story” means “narration.”

The genre of “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom” is life. In the middle of the 16th century, the writer Ermolai-Erasmus wrote this life about the Murom princes, about whom only folk legends have survived. This life, like other lives, consists of three parts. As a work of Christian culture, the life of Peter and Fevronia of Murom is dedicated to the life of the prince and princess “in God” and is permeated with a feeling of love for people, which in the Gospel is called the main virtue. The actions of the heroes are also dictated by other virtues - courage and humility.

“The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom” is an encrypted text. We need to decipher this text in order to understand what our ancestors thought when reading this unusual life.

1 part. Prince Peter kills the snake.

The serpent in life is the devil, “hating the human race from time immemorial,” the tempter. The devil causes a person to sin, makes him doubt the existence and power of God.

Faith can be opposed to temptation and doubt: Peter finds a sword for fighting the serpent in the altar wall (the altar is the main part of the church). Peter kills the snake, but the enemy’s blood gets onto his body. This is a symbol of the fact that doubt creeps into the prince’s soul; illness is confusion of spirit. Doubt is a sin, and the prince needs a doctor, that is, a deeply religious person, who will help get rid of doubts and cleanse his soul of sin. This ends the first story.

Part 2. Virgin Fevronia treats Prince Peter.

Virgin Fevronia says to the prince: “My father and brother are tree frogs, in the forest they collect wild honey from the trees”: honey is a symbol of divine wisdom. The prince's servant calls the peasant woman a virgin, as women who dedicated themselves to God were called. “He can heal him who demands your prince for himself...”: the prince represents the highest power on earth, and only the Lord can demand him.

Conditions for the prince’s recovery: “If he is kind-hearted and not arrogant, then he will be healthy.”

The prince showed pride: he placed the external - earthly power - above the spiritual, hidden inside; he lied to Fevronia that he would take her as his wife.

Fevronia treated the prince with the help of symbolic objects. The vessel is a symbol of man: man is the vessel of God. Bread leaven: bread is a symbol of the Church of Christ. Bath - cleansing from sins.

From one unanointed scab, sores again began to spread throughout the prince’s body, since one sin gives rise to another, one doubt gives rise to unbelief.

Part 3. The reign of Peter and Fevronia. Exile. Miracles. The death of saints and miracles after death.

Peter and Fevronia reigned piously in Murom: “And the princes lived in that city like a child-loving father and mother. They loved everyone equally, but they didn’t like pride and robbery. They welcomed strangers, fed the hungry, clothed the poor, and delivered the unfortunate from misfortunes.” Material from the site

Before their death, Peter and Fevronia took monasticism. It was forbidden for monks and nuns to be buried even in the same cemetery, much less in the same coffin. These were the rules of the outside world.

When the prince informs Fevronia that he can no longer wait for her and is ready to die, that is, to appear before the Lord, she sticks a needle into the unfinished cover and wraps a thread around the roof of her mouth.

The fact that Peter and Fevronia ended up in the same coffin means that the aspirations of the soul are higher than the external rules established by people.

Didn't find what you were looking for? Use the search

On this page there is material on the following topics:

• Gogol the story of Peter and Fevronia of Murom
• description of the actions of Peter and Fevronia of Murom
• The story of Peter and Fevronia of Murom essay
• The story of Peter and Fevronia of Murom analysis
• genre of the story Peter and Fevronya