Тексты о святых архива Эстонского литературного музея
Authors:   Center for Belarusian Culture, Language and Literature Research National Academy of Sciences, Belarus, Boganeva Elena , Kõiva Mare ,   Department of Folkloristics, Estonian Literary Museum, Estonia
Published: November 2022

The aim of our study is the description and initial systematization of the texts about saints in the Russian collection of the ELM folklore archive labeled ERA Vene – the records from the 1920s-40s, created by the ELM collectors belonging to the Russian population of Estonia. Among the texts about saints in the Russian collection of the ELM archive we can find fairy tales (magical and legendary), spiritual and ethical legends, lore (stories about local landscape features, natural and cultural objects), bylichkas (mythological stories), stories about miracles (legends-bylichkas), legendary stories about help and punishment from saints. Thus, texts about saints in the Russian archive can be divided into 2 large groups: 1) narrative texts, i.e. texts that tell a story; 2) discursive texts-descriptions of beliefs, customs, perceptions. The most frequent protagonists of the texts of different genres and beliefs are such saints as St. Nicholas of Myra (commonly known as Nicholas the Wonderworker or Saint Nicholas), the Great Martyr George the Victory-bearer (known among Estonian Russians as Yegoriy), the Old Testament prophet Elijah (Elijah the Prophet), the Venerable John Cassian the Roman (popularly known as Kasyan the Merciful). Russians of Estonia also knew local saints or saints of the nearby lands - St. John Archbishop of Novgorod (12th century), Monk Makariy Roman of Novgorod (late 15th - early 16th centuries), Monk-martyr Korniliy of Pskov-Pechersk, Monk Nikandr of Pskov (16th century), Izborsk righteous man Matvey the Miserable (early 20th century). The list of all the saints is quite extensive: Archistratigus Michael, King Solomon, John the Forerunner and the Baptist, Apostle Andrew the First-Called, Venerable Sergius of Radonezh, Great Martyr and Healer Pantheliimon, Great Martyr Paraskeva Friday, Martyrs Kirik and Julita, Hymenless and Wonderworkers Cosmas and Domian, Martyrs Florus and Laurus, Great Martyr Anastasia of Sirmium, Monks Savvatiy and Zosima of Solovtsy, Holy Martyr Antipas of Pergamon, etc. At the same time, King Solomon is a protagonist of fairy tales, in one tale the main character is Andrew the First Called, the other saints are mentioned in connection with the beliefs about what needs they help with, what prayers are addressed to them, what holidays and how they are celebrated. In many cases, the customs coincide with those of the Seto ethnic group living in the same area, and there are similarities with the Latvians living in the Ludza region, and Belarusians. The texts combine the elements of the Christian canonical, apocryphal, and folkloric traditions. This philosophy includes various etiological (including cosmological), eschatological, ethno-confessional perceptions, a set of ethical norms, the most important components of which are notions of good and evil, sin and miracle. As for the veneration of St. Nicholas, according to the ELM archive, he was considered a „universal“ helper with all the problems of life, while other saints had their own particular «specialization». At the same time the popular saint Kasyan, nicknaed «the Unmerciful» had nothing in common with his canonical prototype, Saint John Kasyan the Roman, a Christian monk and theologian, the founder of monasticism in Gaul, and a theorist of monastic life. Thus, the texts of the Russian ELM archive on saints constitute a unique collection that is a reflection of the peasant worldview peculiar to the 1920s and 1940s.