Relics – Peter and Fevronia
Freso of Peter and Fevronia
Last week, I wrote about the impending arrival of Holy Relics being loaned to the Bishkek dioceses from the Orthodox Church in Russia. Although relics of three saints, (St. Matrona, Peter and Fevronia), were supposed to arrive on Thursday, it seems that only those of Matrona actually made it. There was some story about getting permissions or customs clearance – apparently it’s not so easy to transport Holy Relics across borders.
Well, on Sunday, the relics of Peter and Fevronia finally made it to Bishkek. So, who were they?
The tale of Peter and Fevronia is often compared to that of Romeo and Juliet, or referred to as a Russian version of St. Valentine.
The Saints’ Day for Peter and Fevronia is July 8th and although it was long commemorated in Kievan Russia, it was only recently, (in 2008), incorporated into the official Church calendar. Nowadays, many couples plan to get married on this day.
In some respects, the story reads like a fairy tale, but the couple are taken by the Orthodox as being patrons of marriage and the family as well as being symbols of love and fidelity.
The story of Peter and Fevronia seems to refer to a Prince of Murom lived as a monk and married a commoner and who died at the end of the thirteenth century. The full detailed account that we have, however, dates from the sixteenth century. Although there are several versions, the the author of one of the oldest, and the fullest account, seems to be a monk called Hermoaus Erasmus dates from 1547 at the time iof their official canonization. Although this is fairly well established, it is thought he was merely recording ancient an oral tradition and there were already existing written references to the story from about a century earlier.
The story starts when Peter’s brother, Pavel – or Paul – of Murom discovers that an evil snake has taken to visiting his wife in disguise as the Prince … and seduced her. It seems that she saw the serpent for what he was … but as everyone else thought it was her husband, the Prince, that was with her, she could say nothing. Eventually, when she could bear it no more, she comes clean and reveals to him the secret.
Pavel, whatever doubts he might have harboured, came to believe his wife and told her to quiz the serpent, because he had no idea how to defeat it. When the serpent next came acalling, it began to brag, and she responded by asking, humbly and with respect, “You certainly know everything, and so you must certainly know to what kind of death you are destined.” So taken in by the humility it responded, “My death will come from Peter’s hand and Agric’s sword.”
Pavel and his wife were delighted in that now they knew how to defeat their enemy … but there was still a problem: who was Peter and what was the sword of Agric? The first part of the problem was fairly easy to resolve … Paul had a brother called Peter, but what about the sword of Agric?
Now Peter was fairly devout and one day, when he visited the Church of the Elevation and the Holy Cross, which lay outside the city, a young man approached him and asked him if he would like to see the sword of Agric. Aha … the second part of the problem was solved!
Peter bided his time, waiting for a moment to strike at the serpent. His problem was that only the Princess saw the serpent – everyone else saw him in the guise of the Prince. Then, one day, when he came across the royal couple but was certain that Paul was safely locked away in his chambers, he took the sword and killed the serpent.
All well and good. Before it died, however, the blood of the serpent spilled onto Peter and he became gravely ill, developing sores and ulcers all over his body. All the physicians who came to treat him could do nothing to make him better.
Searching for a doctor to ease his illness, Peter travels to the city of Riazin and in a village nearby encounters a wise young girl, Fevronia. He promises that if she heals him then he will marry her. She prepared an ointment and told the Prince’s page to cover all but one of the scabs after he had been in a steam bath. This is done along with other rituals and he is duly healed … but he fails to keep his promise, instead sending rich gifts to her.
The illness reappears, and he once again goes to Fevronia and she heals him a second time. This time he keeps his promise and the pair are married.
After Pavel’s death, Peter inherits the throne, but the boyars, (Russian nobility), are far from happy at this turn of events – they do not like having a peasant woman as a Princess, and they entreat her to leave, taking whatever riches she wants with her. She agrees sayiong that she wants only one thing … her husband.
The couple leave the city together and the city remains without a Prince. The boyars fight amongst themselves for supremacy and the realm descends into havoc. An envoy is dispatched to urge them to return and they reign for a long and happy time together – eventually dying on the same day and asking to be buried together. This goes against Orthodox tradition but the bodies mysteriously disappear from their separate coffins and are found to have been reunited once more in a common grave.
The remains of the couple are said to be preserved in the Holy Trinity Monastery in Murom, erected in 1642 on the site of an earlier wooden church. After the Bolshevik Revolution, it retained it’s religious function, at least until 1921 when it was converted into an archive, storehouse, and housing. In the eartly 1960′s it was renovated as an historic site and then in 1991 returned to the Orthodox Church.
Also, here is an animation of the story, (with English subtitles):
You can find the story on-line, in Russian, here.
Bishkek