Saint in the space of the city (by the monuments of Novgorod hagiography)

Abstract

The article offers a look at the relationship city–person on the material of medieval Novgorod hagiography. The saint, canonized by the church, in his earthly life is an example of the concentrated relationship of the individual and the city as a locus and as a community of its inhabitants. These relationships are multidimensional and can be represented as confrontation and unity. The city is an arena for the manifestation of human passions, and therefore staying in it becomes a test. Ascetics retire to the desert to be able to communicate with God and their inner selves, but they cannot be completely outside the city, they enter into diverse relationships with the urban community and its individual representatives, and the confrontation often turns into the unity of the saint and the city during the life of the ascetic. The city is a God-chosen and preserved place, and prayer for it as a prototype of the Heavenly Jerusalem and for its inhabitants becomes the constant care of the saint. The saint himself, after his earthly journey, becomes an eternal inhabitant of the city, being present in it with his relics, shrines associated with him, the very name that the townspeople worship. The city, saved by the prayers of the righteous, becomes a sacred space that organizes the spiritual life of its inhabitants.

Keywords

• novgorod hagiography
• city
• saint
• sacralisation of space
• confrontation
• unity
• heavenly jerusalem
• prototype