Our younger heroes, which include Ilya Muromets, have supernatural power, this power has limits and does not burden its owners. They apply this power to the cause: they serve their native land, they fight with its enemies, external and internal. They are "assigned" to some city, usually to Kyiv. They are no longer demigods, but humans.
Ilya Muromets is the favorite hero of the people. This is an ideal personality, in which the best features of the national character are expressed, by studying him, we can find out our national ideals.
There are many epics about him, and they tell his whole life. Until the age of thirty, Ilya Muromets did not control his legs and sat in his father's hut. Healed him and gave him strength passers-by elders, who ordered him to drink three cups.
Ilya's first feat in healing is a good deed, helping his parents: he goes to the field where they worked, and during their sleep clears the field of roots and stones. Having obtained a horse for himself, Ilya asks his father for blessings - to go to Kyiv to Prince Vladimir to serve the Russian land.
Ilya turns out to be a loving and respectful son - one of the main features in his character, this feature is also inherent in our other heroes. It testifies to the strength of the family principle in ancient Russian life. Ilya's father, the peasant Ivan Timofeevich, blesses his son. Kindness, ascending to generosity, is the main feature of his moral image, where possible, there he spares the enemy as well. Closely related to this is self-control and calmness, also its characteristic features.
All the exploits of Ilya Muromets are sedate and thorough, and everything in him is sedate. He is not for the shedding of blood, and, where possible, shirks from striking. Peace never leaves him. In this hero, despite the terrible strength, one sees even more strength of mind. Of the various cases when Ilya generously spared the enemy - a meeting near the heroic outpost with Sokolnik the hunter. Ilya threw the enemy, who entered into battle with him and knocked him to the ground, under the clouds, but took pity on him, did not let him break, but caught him in his arms. According to Ilya's questions, Sokolnik turns out to be his son (Ilya once left for a foreign land and got married there). This epic is reminiscent of an episode from the poem about Rustem and Zorab, their battle. Rustem corresponds to Ilya, Zorab - to Sokolnik, just like in our epic, the son initially wins, then the father. But Rustem does not spare Zorab, but insidiously kills him.
Ilya accomplishes many feats, fights against the enemies of the Russian land. In addition to the indicated properties of character, these feats also express other properties: courage, self-confidence, selflessness, lack of love of power, the ability to defend one's human dignity, selfless love for the Motherland, hatred of enemies. When, on his first trip from home to Kyiv, he liberated Chernigov from the Tatars besieging him, he refused the gifts that the Chernigovites brought him, and refused the offer to be their governor. He did not want to take a ransom for the Nightingale the Robber, which was offered to him by the Nightingale's wife. Ilya is pious, as all our heroes are pious. Heading to Kyiv, he wants to be in time for matins.
A wonderful epic about Ilya Muromets and Pogan Idolische. It is distinguished by the moral highness of its content: Idolishche is here a representative of brute, purely animal strength - he boasts of his size, that he eats and drinks a lot. Ilya laughs at him for such boasting. Ilya in this song is a representative of spiritual strength, moral strength.
Most likely, Ilya Muromets is a certain collective image of a Russian person, a true defender of his native land.
The memory of the great heroes of Ancient Russia has remained for centuries. One of them is the hero Ilya Muromets. My report is dedicated to this amazing hero.
Epics about the hero
About heroes in ancient Russia legends and epics were made. Epics are heroic songs that old storytellers performed by playing the harp. This is such an old stringed instrument.
There are many epics about Ilya Muromets, and each has several dozen more options. These works were very popular in antiquity. Especially in the Russian North, where most of the works dedicated to Ilya Muromets and his service to Prince Vladimir have been preserved. In the southern regions, Ilya Muromets was often portrayed as a Cossack and did not serve anyone. But the enormous strength of Elijah and his the role of the defender of the Russian land from the invaders.
Miraculous healing and the first exploits of Elijah
Epics say that for 33 years Ilya could not get up: his legs were paralyzed. But one day strangers came to the house. They so asked the patient to bring them water that Ilya could not stand it and tried to get up. He succeeded, he brought water, but the strangers told him to drink it himself. He drank the water, was healed and gained great strength. The wanderers told Ilya where to find the heroic horse and armor and sent Ilya to Prince Vladimir. On the way, the Russian hero accomplished a feat by protecting the city of Chernihiv from nomads.
Victory over the Nightingale the Robber
Chernigov residents complained to Ilya about the Nightingale the Robber, and the hero won and took the criminal prisoner. Scientists believe that it was either the leader of a real band of robbers, or the commander of a detachment of nomads. Ilya shot, wounded Nightingale and took him to the prince. Vladimir ordered the robber to whistle. From this whistle everyone was very frightened, and several people died. Ilya executed Nightingale so that he could no longer cause harm.
Idolishe filthy
Then Ilya defeated the filthy Idolishche, which captured Kyiv. The hero accomplished this feat, disguised as a beggar wanderer, in order to penetrate the palace, already captured by the enemy. He easily defeated Idolisch by grabbing it with one hand. Then the hero went out into the courtyard and killed all the enemies with a stick, that is, a wanderer's crutch.
Kalin-king
Ilya Muromets - one of the most beloved heroes among the people, because he was from the peasants. He was the most respected and revered. Even in the painting by V.M. Vasnetsov “Three Heroes”, the mighty hero is depicted in the center as the strongest. But the prince did not like Ilya. Once he kept the hero in prison for three years, wanting to starve him to death. But the prince's daughter secretly brought Ilya food. And when Kalin Tsar attacked Kyiv, the prince repented that he had killed the hero, and his daughter admitted that she fed the hero and he was alive. Ilya was released, and he, not concealing anger in the face of a common danger, went to battle. But other heroes, also offended by the prince, did not want to fight for Vladimir. Having killed almost all the enemies, Ilya was nevertheless captured. But other heroes come to his aid, and together they defeat the enemy.
Alien hero
Ilya also became famous for his victory over some strange hero, equal in strength to him. They fought for three days and three nights, and only at the end Ilya nevertheless won and smashed the enemy to the ground.
Reverend Elijah
Surprisingly, Ilya Muromets there was a prototype - a monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. After examining his relics, scientists came to the conclusion that he really suffered for a long time from a serious illness of the spine and could not walk. But then he recovered and became a hero. About 40 years old - it was then considered already old age - he went to the monastery and died at about 45 years old. Monk Ilya Muromets is considered a saint.
The real Ilya was also famous for his enormous physical strength, heroic build and military victories. But he could not serve Prince Vladimir, because he lived 200 years later.
Ilya Muromets is both a hero of epics and a real hero of Ancient Russia.
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In Kyiv, the Park of Friendship of Peoples is being renamed. Now, when the Russian-Ukrainian war is going on, the name inherited from the USSR is considered irrelevant. From now on, the recreation area will be called Muromets. A slippery topic, because the origin of the warrior has not been established.
Muromets Park is located on an island in the middle of the Dnieper. According to legend, there was a camp there, from where the heroes went to hire to. The island is 100% Ukrainian, but whose is Ilya?
It is impossible to find out from the remains of the hero. Traditionally, the relics stored in the caves of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra were attributed to Ilya Muromets. Thirty years ago, the bones were examined by forensic scientists. The growth of the deceased during his lifetime was established - 177 centimeters, quite heroic dimensions for the Middle Ages. Mounds on the bones speak of developed muscles, healed fractures - of a military past. The skull has signs of acromegaly. Such a pathology can be traced, for example, in boxer Nikolai Valuev.
According to legend, Ilya lay paralyzed on the stove for 33 years until he was healed by the elders. Indeed, the experts examined traces of spondyloarthrosis on the vertebrae of the skeleton, which can confine a person to bed and is treated by chiropractors.
Inflammatory disease that limits the mobility of the spine.
Who and where Ilya was from cannot be established exactly because of the scarcity of written sources. Therefore, WAS gives a set of facts that supporters of various versions use:
1. Bogatyr Ilya is the main character of 15 Russian and 4 Ukrainian epics. All of them were recorded no earlier than the middle of the 19th century.
2. Knight Ilya from Russia (Ilias von Riuzen) appears in the German epic poems of the 13th century. Old Russian chronicles do not know such a warrior.
3. The first mention of Ilya Muromets was found in a letter, which in 1574 the headman of Orsha Filon Kmita sent to the caretaker of the Trakai castle. The message is written in the language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which, depending on their citizenship, scientists now call "Old Belarusian", "Old Ukrainian" or "Western Russian":
Nieszczasnij ja dworanin, zhib jesmi w nendzy, a bolsz z žalu: ludi na kaszy perejeli kaszu, a ja s hołodu zdoch na storožy. Ilii Murawlenina i Sołowia Budimirowicza, prijdet czas, koli budiet služb naszych potreba.
"Bogatyrs", Viktor Vasnetsov, 1881-1898 Ilya Muromets in the center. Source: Tretyakov Gallery
4. Ilya is named in the letter an ant. The Austrian diplomat Erich Lassota, who visited Kyiv in 1594, writes about the hero Morovlin. Known other variants of the nickname: Muravlenin, Murovets, Muromlyan, Murin.
5. Russian epics say that Ilya comes from the "village of Karacharovo near Murom", Ukrainian - that from the "city of Muroml".
Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber. Lubok, 1887. Source: New York Public Library Digital Collections / nypl.org "Strong and brave hero Ilya Muromets." Russian lubok, lithograph by Ivan Golyshev, 1868.
Epics about Ilya Muromets known to most of us since childhood. But not everyone knows that the hero was by no means an epic character, but a very real person.
To look at Ilya Muromets, it is enough to go to the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow or, in extreme cases, find a reproduction of Viktor Vasnetsov's painting "Bogatyrs". Ilya Muromets is depicted on it in the middle. Sits in chain mail on a black horse. He looks wary from under a leather-gloved hand, on which hangs a huge mace. A gray strand is knocked out from under the helmet. The hero is no longer young, he feels not only calm, confident strength, but also life experience.
Painting by Vasnetsov Three Bogatyrs
Behind the back is a shield, the left hand is on a long spear. On the left in the picture on a white horse is another hero - Dobrynya Nikitich, on his head is a pointed helmet, a blond beard almost to the waist. In his left hand is a huge shield, the right hero pulls out a sword. He is not only strong, but his eyes also shine with intelligence and wisdom. The youngest of the trinity of epic heroes is Alyosha Popovich. He is on the right in the picture. With one hand he holds a bow, the other behind on the harp. He is handsome, singer and musician. He has rings on his fingers. This one, if he does not take it by force, will overcome it with resourcefulness and ingenuity. The heroes stand on the border of the forest and the field, from where the enemies of the Russians - Polovtsy or Pechenegs - may appear. The sky in the picture is disturbing, gray.
In the first version, the picture was called long: “Dobrynya, Ilya and Alyosha Popovich at the heroic exit - they note in the field if there is a enemy somewhere, if they offend anyone somewhere.” Now it is often called simply "Three heroes."
History of the Three Bogatyrs
Historians say that in real life, three epic heroes could hardly meet. Dobrynya lived at the end of the 10th century and was the governor of the Kyiv prince Vladimir the Red Sun, who was an uncle. The Suzdal boyar Alexander Popovich, a century and a half younger, served at the end of his life to the Kyiv prince Mstislav the Old and died with him in the Battle of Kalka in 1223. In the epics, Ilya, like Dobrynya, also serves Vladimir, but historical facts show that he lived later, when, in the 12th century.
However, this is not so important. After all, Vasnetsov painted an artistic picture, and not a historical canvas. All three characters on it have one thing in common - they are heroes of epics. However, Ilya Muromets still stands out among them.
The life story of Ilya Muromets
In 1643, he was canonized as a saint and since then has remained the only holy epic hero. The memory of the Monk Ilya Muromets is celebrated on January 1. However, it is not mentioned in ancient Slavic manuscripts. Perhaps simply because Muromets was not of princely blood.
The Orthodox Church did not compile his "official biography" - a canonical life. We know more about Ilya from epics than from surviving historical documents. However, more epics are dedicated to Ilya than to any other Russian hero, and they quite accurately convey to us the details of the life of Muromets. In fact, epics tell us about Ilya from his birth to his death.
For example, Ilya leaves "Whether from that city from Murom, from that village from Karacharov". There is such a city on the map, and such a village has been preserved. The Oka flows nearby. Epics say that Ilya once changed its course by throwing several oaks into the river. Maybe. Residents of Karacharovo show visitors the ruins of the Trinity Church, which, according to legend, was founded by the legendary hero. At its base, he put several oak trees, which he brought from the river bank to a steep mountain.
By the way, ancient bog oaks in three girths at the bottom of the Oka are still found today.
The old-timers of the village will definitely point out the springs, which, according to legend, arose from the hops - the blows of the hooves of the horse of Ilya Muromets. Small children in Karacharovo are told that "thunder comes from the fact that Ilya Muromets rides six stallions." The local Gushchin dynasty considers Ilya to be their distant ancestor. They say that the house where Ilya was born stood almost in the forest itself, in the thick of trees. From here, at first, the nickname arose - Gushchin, and then the surname also went.
Now, at the birthplace of the epic hero, there is a house at number 279 on Priokskaya Street. This is what the locals think. Many descendants of Muromets were remarkable for their remarkable strength. Born at the end of the 19th century, Ivan Afanasyevich Gushchin easily pulled a cart loaded to the brim with firewood. During fisticuffs, he was only allowed to push with his shoulders. Without calculating the force of his blow, he could simply kill a person.
In one storyteller of epics missed. According to legend, the hero was predicted that "death in battle is not written for him." Therefore, in fairy tales, at the end of his life, the hero either turns to stone along with the faithful horse, or swims away somewhere and no longer gives news of himself. In fact, Ilya fell in battle against enemies. This can be said almost exactly.
The fact is that the relics of the hero are stored in one of the caves. Above the tomb hangs the image of St. Elijah of Muromets. The inscription at the head reads - "Ilya from the city of Murom." The holy remains were studied. The results are impressive. Ilya's height was determined to be 177-180 centimeters.
In the 12th century, such a person looked almost like a giant. Ilya was broad in the shoulders, he had a heroic build. In the old days, people like him were said to have a slanting sazhen in the shoulders. As is known from the epics, Ilya sat on the stove for thirty years and three years and was healed by kaliks passers-by, that is, by wandering monks.
The epics mention that Ilya sat in jail for 30 years. Indeed, the child was sick from childhood - he could not walk. He was resigned to his weakness and only prayed to God. But one day in his hut there appeared “passing kaliks” who asked him to bring them a drink. Wanting to please the elders, Ilya suddenly got to his feet...
He just trusted the Kaliks that he could do it. And it worked! At the request of the elders, Ilya himself drank the water, while receiving "great power." So the paralyzed Ilya Chobotok turned into the hero Ilya Muromets, whom our land needed so much - that was the time of endless raids on Russia.
Surprisingly, this impressive episode is supported by science.
Researchers found a curvature of the spine to the right in Ilya's lumbar region. In addition, abnormal processes were found on the vertebrae. This suggests that the hero had a displacement of the vertebrae in childhood (perhaps from birth or as a result of an injury). In other words, in his youth, Ilya suffered paralysis of the legs, from which he was later able to recover. Most likely, the Kaliki simply put the displaced vertebrae in his place.
How Saint Ilya of Muromets died
Ilya Muromets died in January 1188. And after 500 years, he was canonized as a saint: to this day, his imperishable relics can be venerated in the Anthony caves of the Lavra.
The cause of death of the hero is an extensive wound in the region of the heart. This area is covered by the right hand. It also shows signs of severe damage. It seems that Ilya in his last battle covered his chest with his hand, and with a blow of a spear she was nailed to the heart. Perhaps, in his declining years, Ilya settled in the monastery of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery. However, he did not have to end his days in silent prayers.
In 1203, the Cumans attacked Kyiv. The city was taken, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, the monastery and plundered. Ilya could not stay away during these events. He joined the ranks of the city's defenders and died a heroic death.
The relics of Ilya were carefully studied by specialists already in our time, and it turned out that in fact the growth of the hero was
unusually tall for its time - 177 centimeters. Signs of diseases of the bones and joints were also found, as well as traces of wounds received in battles.
What do Ilya Muromets pray for
They pray to St. Ilya Muromets first of all for healing from bodily weakness, for recovery after suffering strokes.
Prayer to the Monk Ilya of Muromets
O holy venerable father Elijah! Holy intercessor of Russia, a mighty warrior, a spiritual and bodily warrior appearing to her, faithfully serving the good of the Russian people and the glorification of the Christian God in his life, and after the resignation of his intercession for us, ask, holy, from the All-merciful Lord to our Fatherland Tsar, peace and prosperity, well-being of the Church, deliverance to the Orthodox people from the wicked, victory to the Russian warrior in the military and to the enemies plotting evil to the Church and the Orthodox Fatherland, overcoming, intercede for all of us, and we also ask thee, holiness of God, send us reason from God, yes let us know our sins, and spiritual strength, may we repent of our sins, and bodily strength, may we be able to correct our lives and revive Holy Russia, and pass into the Kingdom of Heaven from it, and there with you and all the saints be able to unceasingly praise the glorious God in the Trinity Father and Son and Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen!
Kalin tsar
Sculptural portrait of Ilya Muromets, recreated by criminologist and sculptor S. Nikitin (reconstruction of the soft parts of the face from the skull)
Relics of Ilya Muromets
The legendary hero of the Russian epic Ilya Muromets- the most famous epic hero. It is curious that he is the main character not only of many Russian epics, but also of German poems of the 13th century, which, in turn, are based on earlier legends. In them, he is presented as the mighty knight Ilya the Russian ...
All that we know today about Ilya Muromets is approximately: he was born around 1143, in the village of Karacharovo near Murom (Vladimir region), in the family of a peasant Ivan Timofeev and his wife Evfrosinya. His name has not yet been found in the chronicles. Perhaps the mention of him simply did not survive, since Russia was going through hard times at that time: hordes of conquerors more than once completely burned and destroyed cities. Meanwhile, the hero really existed, but was buried in the caves of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra as one of the 69 saints
The Russian Orthodox Church venerates Ilya of Muromets as a saint (he was canonized in 1643). According to the church calendar, the day of memory of Ilya Muromets is December 19 according to the old style, or January 1 in a new way. Ilya Muromets is not a mythological character, not a collective image of a Russian hero, but a real historical figure.
Elijah's healing
In 1988, scientists examined the relics of the Reverend Ilya of Muromets. Scientists say that Ilya was a well-built man of enormous height for those times - 177 cm (the average height of men then was 165 cm, that is, Ilya was a head taller than the average man).
It turned out that this man died at the age of 45-55 years. The body of Muromets, scientists found multiple fractures of bones, ribs, traces of a blow from a spear, saber, sword. This confirmed the legend that Ilya was a warrior, a participant in fierce battles. They also found out that in his youth he had paralysis of the limbs and the young man could not move for many years, as the epics say: “Ilya sat in his seat for thirty years and three years and did not have walking at his feet.”
But when Ilya turned 33, the day came that changed his whole life. The prophetic beggars wanderers entered the house - kaliks passers-by and asked the young man to give them water. He explained that he could not walk. But the guests insistently repeated the request - it already sounded like an order. And Ilya, suddenly feeling an unprecedented strength, for the first time stood on his feet. Kaliki and blessed him for feats of arms.
THE FEATS OF ILYA MUROMTS
Despite the fantastic plots, most of the epics are based on genuine historical events, intricately intertwined with fiction in the memory of many generations. The most famous feat of Ilya Muromets is the battle with the Nightingale the Robber, who seized the direct road to Kyiv and did not give anyone a pass - "neither on horseback nor on foot." During the arrival of Ilya in Kyiv, the throne was occupied by Prince Mstislav, he ordered to organize the protection of trade caravans, which were mercilessly plundered by the Polovtsy. Most likely, the prince entrusted this to Ilya Muromets, who is in the prince's squad. At 10-15 kilometers from Kyiv is the village of Zazimye, near which Nightingale, the Robber of merchants, robbed. Ilya Muromets, having defeated the whistler, cleared the straight road. If a straight road is five hundred miles, then a roundabout way is “a whole thousand”. Cleansing the straight path from robbers was equated by the people with a feat. The liberation by the epic hero of the way to Kyiv is confirmed by historical facts.
Princes Vladimir Monomakh, Vladimir Svyatoslavovich and the pagan Dazh-Bog, the mythical ancestor of all princes, united in the image of Prince VLADIMIR, in all epics Vladimir is the Prince of Kyiv next to Ilya, although Ilya Muromets lived much later than Vladimir. But the historical Ilya Muromets was patronized by Prince SVYATOSLAV, whom Ilya Muromets tried to be like, he admired Svyatoslav and considered this protector of the Russian people the best warrior of all times and peoples.
MONK-BOGATYR
If the feats of arms of Ilya were widely reflected in epics, then little is known about the monastic period of his life. Most likely, the wound received in one of the fierce battles with the Polovtsy forced him to leave for the monastery of the hero. The holy relics of St. Elijah testify to severe injuries - a fracture of the right collarbone and two right ribs after being hit with a battle club. Apparently, the hero took the monastic vows shortly before his death. According to legend, Elijah vowed to enter a monastery and never again take up a sword.
He became a monk of the Pechersk Lavra and spent all his days in his cell in prayer. For Orthodox warriors, this was a completely ordinary step - to change the iron sword to the spiritual sword and spend the rest of their lives in battle not for earthly blessings, but for heavenly ones. When he was tonsured a monk, he was given the name Ilya, a nickname he could also get later.
THE LAST FIGHT OF THE BOGATYR
Scientists have established that the hero-monk died in battle! The study of the mummified remains of the hero by forensic medicine specialists shed light on the cause of his death. Muromets died from an extensive wound in the region of the heart. It looks like it happened in 1204.
On the first day of 1204, Prince Rurik Rostislavich, having concluded an alliance with the Polovtsy, took Kyiv from his son-in-law Roman. The Polovtsy broke into the city, began to rob it, destroy temples and monasteries. Then the monk Ilya Muromets again took up arms and went to his last battle. Several wounds were found on the body of Ilya Muromets, of which only one turned out to be serious - on the arm from a spear, and fatal - also spear, but in the heart area. Apparently, the hero, defending himself, covered his chest with his hand, and with a blow of a spear it was nailed to his heart.
By the way, back in 1701, the pilgrim Ivan Lukyanov narrated: "He saw the brave warrior Ilya Muromets, in incorruption under the cover of gold; he is as tall as today's big people; his left hand is pierced with a spear, the ulcer is all to know; and the right is depicted with the sign of the cross."
Orthodox venerate Ilya of Muromets to this day. The Russian army considers him their patron, and the border guards of Russia consider him the first Russian border guard. But not only people's memory remained about Ilya. His body is incorruptible and is in a state of mummification. In Orthodoxy, it is believed that if the body of the deceased does not decompose, but turns into relics, this is a special gift from God, which is given only to the saints.
Ilya's remains are in the Near Caves of the Kiev Caves Monastery, under a modest inscription over the tomb "Ilya from Murom". I was there dear guys. Bowed to the relics of the Great Russian man, DEFENDER OF THE RUSSIAN EARTH! I, little Filippok, am proud that I am Russian, just as Russian as Ilya Muromets.
