Strange saints of the day of family, love and fidelity

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

On Sunday, July 8, the Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of the saints Peter and Fevronia, the wonderworkers of Murom - the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity. Upon closer examination, the figures of David and Euphrosyne completely lose their faithful brilliance.

From Orthodox news feeds:

"On Monday, July 8, the Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of the saints. Petraand Fevronia, Murom miracle workers - Day of family, love and fidelity. The life, love and piety of the saints began to be revered as a model of Christian marriage, and the saints themselves are its patron. It was on the day of memory of the faithful Peter and Fevronia - July 8 - in 2008, a holiday of an all-Russian scale was established - the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity."

How did it happen that for some reason this couple was made a symbol of love, family and fidelity in Russia.

As is usually the case, this story has nothing to do with Christianity. According to researchers, the story combines two folk-poetic plots: a fairy tale about a fiery snake and a tale about a wise maiden. Even Wikipedia is forced to admit that this legend "does not match" either with real history or with the lives of the saints.

Prince Peter is not mentioned in the chronicle sources. Some researchers identify Peter and Fevronia with the Murom prince Davyd Yuryevich and his wife, known from the chronicles, but all this is written with a pitchfork on the water …

There is a 1979 book published by Nauka Publishing House - this is "Academic Research of the Story of Peter and Fevronia", which was made under the editorship of Academician Alexander Mikhailovich Panchenko, it contains both Prilukskaya and Chudskaya editions, and Murom editions, which are considered the most complete.

Let's remember what we are talking about when talking about Peter and Fevronia.

Peter, struck, by all appearances, with some very severe dermatitis or eczema, stays with her in the forest. How he contracted the blood of an insidious serpent who committed fornication with his brother's wife is part of another fairy tale, we are interested in the continuation, about a strong family and loyalty.

So, she is a commoner, the daughter of a tree frog (bee keeper), a healer at that time. He is the prince, the elite of that time, recently defeated the magic serpent.

Peter begs him to be cured, Fevronia heals him, but sets a condition: I will cure you, but you take me as your wife. Peter agrees and promises to do so. Fevronia, being not stupid, apparently understands that she can be swindled, and she, performing manipulations to heal scabs, "leave one scab not anointed."

That is, she leaves one ulcer, one scab for divorce, in order to protect herself. Her plan is paying off.

Having refused to marry after being cured, Prince Peter leaves, but he does not have time to reach his Murom: “And from that scab started many scabs to disperse on his body. And he was all struck with many scabs and ulcers, as if for the first time."

Of course, he again returns to Fevronia, she again sets him a condition: either you take me as your wife, or I will not treat you. He agrees, realizing that there is no other way out.

After the second case, when she was treating him, he, most likely fearing that somewhere something else remained unhealed and the third time might not be, marries her.

Thus, we are talking about the fact that the girl, by gross blackmail, forces the prince to marry herself.

Further, the plot turns even more interesting for the main symbols of family and loyalty.

This couple has been living in Murom for some time, then they get divorced. Moreover, apparently, the couple was also childless, because neither the fancy edition, nor the Murom edition provide any information about the children.

Why did the divorce happen? Because both decide to take monastic vows: both Peter becomes a monk, and Fevronia becomes a nun.

Monasticism is a complete rejection not only of one's own worldly name, not only of worldly habits, not only taking certain vows, but it is necessarily a complete cessation of everything related to personal life, family life, this is a mandatory divorce.

The childless, blackmailing couple divorces and turns thriller about the dead.

Peter is going to die, constantly sends messengers to Fevronia in order to force her to die in about one day.

After urgent admonitions, Fevronia also dies, and these people, separated by monastic vows, divorce, are buried in different places. Buried in different coffins, of course.

Even in our time, no one can think of putting a monk and a nun in the same coffin.

But in our thriller, as soon as the burial takes place, the next morning the people of Murom find a monk and a nun in one coffin, in a completely different place. How they slipped down in order to lie down in one coffin, and what they did there, history and life are silent. But this does not happen once, but several times.

To summarize: the symbol of Russian love, family and fidelity is becoming a childless, divorced, blackmailing couple who, after death, for some reason, through the Murom mud, gathers in one coffin.

Happy Holidays.