Nestor the Chronicler

Nestor the Chronicler or Nestor the Hagiographer (1056 – 1114) was a monk from Kievan Rus' who is known to have written two saints lives, namely the Life of the Venerable Theodosius of the Kiev Caves and the Account about the Life and Martyrdom of the Blessed Passion Bearers Boris and Gleb.
Traditional historiography has also assumed him to have been the author of the Primary Chronicle (PVL), the most revered chronicle of Kievan Rus', thus earning him the nickname "the Chronicler". But several modern scholars have concluded he was not the author, because the Chronicle and known works of Nestor barely align, and frequently contradict each other in terms of style and contents. Given the authorship controversy, some scholars prefer calling him Nestor "the Hagiographer", to be identified with the two hagiographies which they agree he did write.
Biography
In 1073 AD, Nestor became a monk of the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev. The only other detail of his life that is reliably known is that he was commissioned with two other monks to find the relics of St. Theodosius of Kiev, a mission which he fulfilled successfully.
Nestor died around 1114 and was buried in the Near Caves. He has been glorified (canonized) as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church. The body of St. Nestor may be seen among the relics preserved in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. His feast day is celebrated on October 27. He is also commemorated in common with other saints of the Kiev Caves Lavra on September 28 (Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of the Kiev Caves) and on the Second Sunday of Great Lent.
Purported authorship of the Primary Chronicle
Veneration
Nestor the Chronicler was canonized by including his name in the Synaxis of all Venerable Fathers of the Kiev Caves.
Feast Day
27 October – main commemoration, (with: Nestor of Thessaloniki and Nestor of the Far Kiev Caves)
Fixed Feast Day (Synaxes)
25 May – Synaxis of Saints of Volhynia (ROCOR and Greek Orthodox Church)
15 July – Synaxis of All Saints of Kiev (ROC)
28 September – Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of the Kiev Near Caves
10 October – Synaxis of Saints of Volhynia (ROC)
27 October – Synaxis of All Saints of Kiev Theological Academy and Kiev Theological Seminary [Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)]
Moveable Feast Day (Synaxes)
Synaxis of all Venerable Fathers of the Kiev Caves – movable holiday on the 2nd Sunday of the Great Lent
Synaxis of the Saints of the Kievan Caves Monastery, venerated in the near caves of Venerable Anthony – movable holiday on the 1st Saturday after Leavetaking of the Elevation of the Cross (21 September)
Liturgical hymns
Troparion St. Nestor — Tone 4
Великих князей русских деяния/ и преподобных отец Печерских жития и чудеса написавый,/ свое же, Богомудре Несторе, многих ти ради добродетелей имя/ написано на Небеси стяжавый,// моли и нам написатися в Книги Животныя.
Velikikh knyazey russkikh deyaniya/ i prepodobnykh otets Pecherskikh zhitiya i chudesa napisavy,/ svoe zhe, Bogomudre Nestore, mnogikh ti radi dobrodeteley imya/ napisano na Nebesi styazhavy,// moli i nam napisatisya v Knigi Zhivotnyya.
Common Troparion St. Nestor — Tone 4
Времена и лета достопамятных деяний,/ подвиги и труды́ Богоносных отец,/ Несторе премудре, написуя,/ любовию возгорелся еси последовати стопам первоначальных,/ с нимиже не престай молитися Христу Богу,// спастися душам нашим.
Vremena i leta dostopamyatnykh deyany,/ podvigi i trudy Bogonosnykh otets,/ Nestore premudre, napisuya,/ lyuboviyu vozgorelsya esi posledovati stopam pervonachalnykh,/ s nimizhe ne prestay molitisya Khristu Bogu,// spastisya dusham nashim.
Kontakion St. Nestor — Tone 2
Яко сый Богоноснаго Феодосия ученик/ и истинный жития того подражатель,/ первый честны́х его мощей самовидец бы́ти сподобился еси,/ яже с прочиими святолепно пренес,/ наследил еси с темиже Царство Небесное,// еже получити и нам, чтущим тя, Господеви молися.
Yako siy Bogonosnago Feodosiya uchenik/ i istinny zhitiya togo podrazhatel,/ pervy chestnykh ego moshchey samovidets byti spodobilsya esi,/ yazhe s prochiimi svyatolepno prenes,/ nasledil esi s temizhe Tsarstvo Nebesnoe,// ezhe poluchiti i nam, chtushchim tya, Gospodevi molisya.
Known works
Life of the Venerable Theodosius of the Kiev Caves (1080s)
Account about the Life and Martyrdom of the Blessed Passion Bearers Boris and Gleb (1080s)
(disputed) Primary Chronicle, or The Tale of Bygone Years (ca. 1113)
Notes
References
Bibliography
(First edition published in 1930. The first 50 pages are a scholarly introduction.)
(assoc. ed. David J. Birnbaum (Harvard Library of Early Ukrainian Literature, vol. 10, parts 1–3) – This 2003 Ostrowski et al. edition includes an interlinear collation including the five main manuscript witnesses, as well as a new paradosis ("a proposed best reading").
– A 2014 improved digitised version of the 2002/2003 Ostrowski et al. edition.
(also published at Kritika, Kyiv, 2005)
External links
Venerable Nestor the Chronicler of the Kiev Near Caves Orthodox icon and synaxarion
Visitor information for Kyiv Pechersk Lavra
Eastern Orthodox chroniclers
Eastern Orthodox monks from Ukraine
Ukrainian Christians
12th-century Eastern Orthodox Christians
12th-century Christian saints
12th-century historians
1050s births
1110s deaths
12th-century Christian monks
Primary Chronicle
Writers from Kievan Rus'
Monks from Kievan Rus'
Russian scientists