July 08, 2016

Fevronia's Day


Fevronia's Day

On July 8, Russia celebrates the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity, a holiday aimed at promoting traditional family values. It is also an important day in the Orthodox faith, the Day of Pavel and Fevronia, a cherished saint couple of the church. It is more commonly known as Fevronia's Day.

The story of Fevronia and Peter begins in Murom, during the reign of Peter's brother Pavel, in the twelfth century. As legend had it, Pavel’s wife was being visited at night by a black snake, aka a servant of the devil. Angry and fearful, Pavel asked his wife to appease the monster for a night, to use her guile to find a way to destroy it. Pavel's wife spoke sweetly to the snake, which dropped its guard and confessed how it might be killed: “by Peter’s hand and the Agrico sword.” After a long search, Paul's brother Peter found the Agrico sword, wielded it and killed the snake. But as the serpent writhed in pain, it spattered Peter with its evil blood.

Peter’s body was covered in painful, seemingly incurable sores. The search for a cure led him to Ryazan, where his met a beekeeper's daughter, Fevronia, who claimed to know the cure, and volunteered to treat Peter, but only if he would marry her. Peter did not take Fevronia's request seriously – how could he, a man of noble blood, consider marrying a peasant? Nonetheless, he promised he would if he were healed.

Fevronia gave Peter a jar of sourdough and instructed him to anoint all his sores but one, which Peter did. The next morning, Peter woke up healthy – but for the one, untreated sore. Yet he reneged on his promise to marry Fevronia, instead showering her with gifts, which she refused. Then, as Peter returned to the city of Murom, the sores began to multiply, and so he returned to Fevronia. She healed him completely and he took her as his wife.

Many years later, Paul died, and Peter began to rule Murom. The boyars disliked Fevronia due to her peasant blood and they said to Peter, “Let her take some gold and leave Murom!” At dinner, the men repeated the same request to Fevronia herself. She agreed, but requested that she only be allowed to take her spouse. The boyars were pleased with this decision, since each of them desired to rule Murom.

Peter and Fevronia sailed away down the Oka river. Yet before long they saw the people of Murom approaching the ship as it came ashore. The townspeople begged the couple to return to the city, which had been beset by the strife of competing boyars. Peter and Fevronia returned, ruling humbly and justly, later taking monastic vows.

Later in their monastic life, the couple prayed that they be allowed to die at the same time and to be buried in the same coffin. They did both died on June 25, yet, despite their wishes, their bodies were placed in separate coffins. The coffin they planned to share was placed in the corner of the Church of the Virgin. Then, the next morning, their individual coffins were empty, and they were discovered in the single coffin. People, adhering to traditions, separated the bodies. But the following morning, once again the couple was found side by side in the shared coffin. The people dared not touch the bodies any more, and in the end buried Peter and Fevronia together.  

The couple were later made saints by the Orthodox Church, and July 8 (June 25, Old Style), has been hailed as a Russian Valentine’s Day, reflecting the couple’s role as the model of timeless love. It is said that those who come in faith to visit their remains in Murom will receive healing. 

Murray from the right bank of the Oka
Murom from the right bank of the Oka river. 

Image at top of post: A monument to Peter and Fevronia in Irkutsk. Author Fanzuga (CC). Murom photo: Arzy CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27628356

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
How Russia Got That Way

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955