Visit St.Petersburg

Today is Saint-Valentine’s day. Now we started to celebrate it for fun, the restaurants are busy on this day, but is it just for fun but it is not Russian but a catholic tradition to celebrate this day. We also make special Day of Love city tours (me too). Russian day of Love takes place on the on the 8^th of July, the memory day of Saint Prince Peter and his wife Fevronia, they are patrons Saint of family and marriage according to Russian orthodox tradition and called the day of Family, Love and Fidelity. And you can see the difference it is not just love but Family and Fidelity.The symbol is not the heart but the flower of chamomile.

The love and life story of Peter and Fevronia inspires me. This is a strange story and as soon as the people are Saint it is difficult to comment. Please, judge for yourself.

It is really strange story because the girl in the story made the prince get married her without even meeting him and there was no information about love on her side at that moment, the thing is that she was a simple and poor girl and he was a prince. She made him get married her. And finally they became the example to follow and saints after his death. The story is strange, interesting and inspiring. May be it was the beginning of feminism. I cannot but inspired by the girl who makes the man obey and do the things she wants him to do.

It happened in the 13^th century and the story goes as follows.

There was a prince in Murom town in Vladimir region, which is in about 300 kilometers (186 miles) to the east from Moscow. His name was Pavel. But he is not the main character of the story. 

When he was not at home a Fiery flying serpent came to his wife to make love with her. For the other people the serpent looked like prince Pavel himself. The wife told her husband prince Pavel all the truth and he ordered her to ask the serpent how to kill it. It was really funny question for the serpent I believe.

The serpent was stupid enough to tell the princess that its death would be caused by Peter’s shoulder and the Agrikov’s sword.

Pavel had a brother Peter. Being Peter, Peter decided that is was up to him to murder the serpent but he didn’t know there to get the sword. One day there was a boy in a church who showed him the sword in the stones of the altar stand. Peter took the sword.

One day Peter came to his brother Paul – he was at home sitting in his rooms. Paul explain it to Peter that the snake takes his own image. Peter told his brother stay there he was and then went to his sister-in-law rooms and his brother Paul was also there. Though Peter left his brother Paul in the other rooms of the house. Peter realized that it was not Paul but the snake and killed it with the sword.

When Paul-the snake was dying it turned back into snake and sprinkled Peter with his blood which cause leprosy. Nobody was able to cure him.

When Peter was sleeping he had a dream that the person who can cure him is a simple girl, daughter of Honey hunter who was climbing the trees to get honey from the tree hollow. At that time honey hunting was popular because of too many forests. Later they started to cut the forest down and the process of getting honey turned into Apiary or bee yard, they were not honey hunting anymore).

The girl’s name was Fevronia and she lived in the village Laskovo in the land of Razan.

So. What happened the next. Peter send the messenger to find the girl. She was sitting in one of the houses in the village. She was weaving canvas at the loom with a hare jumping next to her.

She was testing the guest asking sophisticated questions. She wanted to check his knowledge of language of wisdom.

She said – it is bad when there are no ears in the house and no eyes in the room!”

The messanger didn’t understand her words and asked “Where is the owner of the house?”

She answered “My father and mother went to cry on loan and my brother went to look in the eyes of death through the legs.”

The messanger didn’t understand her and told her about it. She explained the meaning.

You came into the house and into the room and saw me not dressed up. If we had a dog in the house it would smell you coming and would bark – this is the ears of the home. If there was a baby in the room, it would tell me that you are coming – it is the eyes of the home.

The father and mother went to the funeral and there they are mourning the dead, when the death comes to take them the others will be mourning them and it is crying on loan. About the brother. My father and the brother are climbing the trees to get honey and when the brother is climbing the tree he will be looking at the ground through his legs not to fall down.

The messenger saw that she was really clever and wise and said that they are looking for doctors to cure the prince.

The name of the girl was Fevronia. She said “If somebody demanded the prince for himself he would be able to cure him.”

The messenger didn’t understand the meaning. “What does it mean to demand the prince for himself? If somebody have cured the prince, he will be generously rewarded”

She told the messenger the prince should come to her, if he was sincere and humble in words he would be healthy.

The prince came to her place but he was not talking to the girl himself. He was sending the servants to communicate with her all the time. She said she wanted to cure the prince, she didn’t demand any reward but could not treat him if she was not to become his wife.

Peter thought that it was not possible to get married the girl who was not noble but he promised to get married her.

She took bread ferment, blow at it and gave to the messengers. She said the prince should go to banya (Russian sauna) and to smear all the body where the scab was with the substance. But one scab he should leave untouched. And he would be healthy.

They brought the ointment to the prince and he did it as she ordered. The next morning, he appeared to be healthy and just one scab was on his body there he didn’t smear it.

But what happened the next, he didn’t want to get married her because she was not noble and too simple for him. He sent a lot of presents to her which she didn’t accepted.

He went back to his town and soon, starting from the scab which he remained on his body all his body was covered with scabs again.

He went back to the girl and sent the servants to ask her to treat him again. She was not even angry. She just told them, as soon as he becomes her spouse he will become healthy again.

He promised that he will. So she repeated the same treatment and he was healed and got married her. So Fevronia became a Princess.

They came to the town of Murom and started to live according to the God’s commandments.

Sometime later the brother Paul died and Peter became the ruler of the town.

Wives of noble and rich people didn’t like the princess Fevronia because she was a born princess, they envied her.

Noble people told Peter that they didn’t want to have a princess who originally used to be a simple girl and they wanted a different wife for their prince.

Fevroina was ready to leave the town the only thing she wanted to get was Peter.

Peter lived according to the God’s commandments according to which if one kicks away the wife which was not unfaithful and get married another one he will be unfaithful himself. So Peter decided to prefer his wife to his title and left the town together with his wife.

Meanwhile awful things happened in Murom town, everybody wanted to become the ruler of the town instead of Peter and noble people started to fight for power and kill each other. A lot of people were murdered. So they sent a messenger to Peter and his wife and asked them to come back and be the ruler of the town.

 

So Peter and Fevronia came back to Murom and became the rulers of the town.

Then they became old and it was time for them to die soon they prayed the God to let them die at the same time and they made a will according to which they wanted to be buried in two coffins made of one piece of stone with just a thin separation.

They went to monastery and became monk and the nun at one and the same time in different monasteries for men and for women. Then Peter felt that he was dying he sent the messenger to Fevronia to tell her that he was dying and was waiting for her to die together. She was finishing the work. So he was waiting for her to

die at the same moment. Then she sent the messenger to inform Peter that she was ready to die. They prayed and died at the same moment in different places on the 25^th of June. The 25^th of June in Julian Calendar corresponds to the 8^th of July in Gregorian calendar which is used for our religious holidays.

After their death people didn’t want to put them in one and the same double coffin which was made of one stone, they thought that is was not good to be in one coffin for the monk and the nun. So they put them in different coffins and put them in different churches. In the morning the coffins there they put them appeared to be empty and Peter and Fevronia appeared together in their coffin which was made of one stone. People separated them but the next morning they were in one coffin again. After that they didn’t separate them anymore and buried them in the church of Virgin Christmas in Murom town.

During the soviet time the church was destroyed, the bell tower of the church they used as a Fire Tower for a long time, in front of the church they were playing football and the bell tower was used as a locker room. The relics they moved into the Local museum.

Peter and Fevronia lived in the 13^th century and became saint in 1547 year. Their memory day is the 25^th of June (8 July according to Gregorian calendar).

They might be real Russian prince of Murom town in the years 1205-1228 David Urievich and his wife Efrosinia. David became monk and got the name of Peter.

The other say that Peter and Fevronia is just a legend.

Nowadays religion is not considered to be bad anymore.

We started to celebrate it in the year 2008 on the initiative of Svetlana Medvedev, wife of our President at that time Dmitri Medvedev.