Ilya Muromets refused to become Chernigov governor. Why Ilya Muromets refused to be a governor

To the question why Ilya Muromets refused to become the Chernigov governor and what helped the glorious Svyatorusky hero defeat the nightingale asked by the author Caucasian the best answer is
What helped him win was that he did good deeds (and in epics, the one who is kinder always turns out to be smarter, stronger, more cunning, more dexterous, etc.). In addition, he loved his squad, his warriors and took care of his people. He was chosen to become the true glorious defender of his homeland. Behind him stood the power of truth, the power of spirit, the power of love and the power of faith.
And now about this - a little more detail.
According to epics, the hero Ilya Muromets “did not control” his arms and legs until he was 33 years old (the age at which Christ began to preach and died), and then received miraculous healing from the elders (or passers-by).
They, having come to Ilya’s house when no one else was there, ask him to get up and bring them water. Ilya replied to this: “I have neither arms nor legs, I’ve been sitting on a seat for thirty years.”
They repeatedly ask Ilya to get up and bring them water. After this, Ilya gets up, goes to the water carrier and brings water. The elders tell Ilya to drink water.
Ilya drank and recovered, after the second drink he feels an exorbitant strength in himself, and he is given a drink a third time to reduce it.
Afterwards, the elders tell Ilya that he must go into the service of Prince Vladimir. At the same time, they mention that on the road to Kyiv there is a heavy stone with an inscription, which Ilya must also visit.
Afterwards, Ilya says goodbye to his parents, brothers and relatives and goes “to the capital city of Kyiv” and comes first “to that motionless stone.” On the stone was written a call to Ilya to move the stone from its fixed place.
There he will find a heroic horse, weapons and armor. Ilya moved the stone and found everything that was written there. He said to the horse: “Oh, you are a heroic horse! Serve me faithfully." After this, Ilya gallops to Prince Vladimir.
The confrontation between Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber, and sometimes with the Idol called the Glutton, is also attributed to Ilya Muromets and the liberation of the princess from the serpent...
There is often a confusion between Ilya of Muromets and Ilya the Prophet. This confusion also occurred in the supposed epic homeland of Ilya Muromets, in the minds of the peasants of the village of Karacharovo (near Murom). A study of the “biography” of Ilya Muromets leads to the conviction that the name of this popular hero has been superimposed on many fabulous and legendary wandering warriors.

Answer from Masha Belova[newbie]

Answer from luxury[newbie]
Ilya Muromets refused to become the Chernigov governor because he was a true patriot of his ancestral land, he did not want to serve anyone, but wanted to serve his homeland.

Answer from Lera Mudryak[newbie]
Ilya Muromets refused to become the Chernigov governor because he was a true patriot of his ancestral land, he did not want to serve anyone, but wanted to serve his homeland.

Answer from Adaptability[active]
Ilya Muromets refused to become the Chernigov governor because he was a true patriot of his ancestral land, he did not want to serve anyone, but wanted to serve his homeland.

Today, most people living in Russia have a slightly distorted understanding of who the invincible “Russian hero” was, and did the epic hero Ilya Muromets really live?

Facts and investigations

In the nearby caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, scientists found evidence that the monk Reverend Ilya buried there and the epic hero Ilya Muromets are one and the same person.

But, even if Ilya Muromets existed in real life, why did he suddenly leave military life and go to a monastery? What reasons forced the hero to never pick up a sword again?

Until this time, evidence of the existence of Ilya Muromets was only guesswork. Chronicles and other historical documents do not mention one word about the existence of the legendary hero. Could it be that for some offense he could have been erased from the chronicles of Kievan Rus?

It turns out that in 1718 a terrible fire destroyed all the original books of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.

The only mention of Ilya Muromets was preserved in the accidentally surviving records of the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Anastasius Kalnofoysky. They date back to the XYII century. And this is the first reliable mention of Saint Elijah of Pechersk.

The monk wrote: “The people considered this saint a hero and a great warrior, in a word, a brave man.” This is the word “brave” that was used to call heroes back then.

And the word ‘hero’ appeared much later. Therefore, the combination ‘brave hero’ is simply a tautology, like oil or wind.

XII century. Kievan Rus is torn apart by civil strife. And from the southern borders the state is threatened by a new terrible enemy - the Polovtsians. They were short, yellow-skinned and very cruel nomads. They did not build cities and towns, did not farm, but only killed, robbed and drove prisoners into slavery.

Bloodless Rus' was easy prey for them. Hordes of Polovtsians seize cities and lands and are quickly approaching Kyiv. At this threatening moment, the Kiev prince invites heroes to the city - selected warriors with exceptional physical strength.

Who were the heroes really?

People attribute superhuman capabilities to heroes. According to popular belief, these were very strong men who rode huge horses and held heavy weapons in their hands that an ordinary mortal could not lift.

After the attack of the Polovtsians, dozens of such heroes began to gather in Kyiv. Among them was a modestly dressed peasant of very powerful build named Ilya Muromets.

He was born in a village near the Russian city of Murom. It is the surname Muromets that indicates the origin of the hero.

But there is some inconsistency in historical facts.

The Russian city of Murom is located one thousand five hundred kilometers from Kyiv. Now this city is geographically located in the Vladimir region.

A natural question arises: how long in the 12th century could a person cover this distance on a horse? Exactly unknown. But absolutely all epics claim that Ilya Muromets arrived in Kyiv at the prince’s call in five hours.

Few people know that in the Chernigov region not far from Kyiv there is a village called Murovsk. And both small cities - Russian Murom and Ukrainian Murovsk now consider themselves the birthplace of the epic hero Ilya Muromets.

There is nothing strange about this. Six Greek cities are vying for the right to be called the homeland of the mythical hero Hercules.

Chernigov region, approximately 70 kilometers from Kyiv, the village of Murovsk. In the 12th century there was a city here and it was called Muroviisk. There are dense forests and swamps all around, and Kyiv is only one day away by horse. Many historians believe that the hero Ilya was actually born here in Muroviisk. But in modern Murovsk (the town is now called that) no one realizes that nine centuries ago the future epic hero was born here.

It was not customary to celebrate birthdays at that time and this event was not given much attention.

After all, it is quite likely that at some stage during the retelling of the epics there was a glitch: someone misheard something and then passed on a new, slightly modified version. As a result, Ilya from Murovsk turned into Ilya Muromets.

Ilya Muromets and the terrible curse

Did Ilya really sit on the stove for 30 years and 3 years? For what offense did the boy receive a terrible birth curse - paralysis of his legs?

Mid-12th century, Muroviisk. The rebellious pagans who lived in this city resisted accepting Christianity for many centuries.

When Kyiv had long ago renounced Perun, Muroviisk continued to worship the ancient pagan gods. Until one of the local clans fell under a heavy curse.

Once upon a time, Elijah’s father, who was a sworn pagan, cut an Orthodox icon into pieces in one of the battles. For this his family was cursed: “From now on, all boys in the family will be born disabled.” The curse began to come true 10 years later, when the blasphemer had a boy, Ilya, and his legs gave out immediately after birth.

Whatever his family did. But all the conspiracies did not help. The boy grew up strong, cheerful, but absolutely helpless. All day long Ilya sat on the bench and looked out the window at the children who were playing in the street. At these moments, the boy clenched his fists like a child and promised himself that one day he would become healthy and would no longer be a burden to anyone.

So 30 years passed. A strong man was already sitting on a bench near the window. Even now he could not get up and could not feel his legs. But none of his relatives knew that every day Ilya, stubbornly gritting his teeth, trained his arms: lifting weights and straightening horseshoes. He can do everything, his body obeys his every order, but his legs now seem to belong to another person.

When Ilya turned thirty-three years old, he was ready to resign himself to fate and atone for the blasphemy of his family at home on the stove. So what if he felt heroic strength in his hands? After all, an adult man remained a helpless child.

But everything changed one day when wandering elders appeared near his house. They entered the house and asked for water. Ilya explained that he could not do this because he had never been able to get up. But the guests did not seem to hear him and repeated their request. This time the request sounded like an order. The 33-year-old man almost burst into tears from insult. But suddenly I felt an unknown strength in my legs.

From now on he could walk. Who these elders were, Ilya never found out. How did they know about him and why did they help? Modern doctors cannot explain this case. The only thing they are convinced of is that this man really only began to walk in adulthood.

healing phenomenon

No one really knows what happened, but many are inclined to believe that psychology can play a decisive role here.

Modern medicine has not yet reached the level of knowledge to explain this healing phenomenon.

The elders left, but before leaving they gave Ilya the order to atone for his grandfather’s sin and protect his land from the hordes of enemies who would descend upon Rus' like a cloud. The healed Ilya agreed, and then made a vow to the elders to devote his life to God.

Having gotten to his feet, he takes on the hardest physical work: in a day he uprooted an entire field of mighty oak trees, and on his shoulders he easily carries logs that two horses cannot move. The old parents rejoice at their son's recovery, but they are even more surprised by his superhuman strength. They had no idea that Ilya had been training his hands for years. The happy parents hoped that now their son would be their helper and support.

But Ilya did not want to stay at home. The years spent in paralysis changed his body. His hands became unusually strong, in such hands the sword itself begs to be held.

He remembers his vow to the elders: to protect his homeland from enemies and devote his life to serving God.

And when he heard about the terrible invasion of the Polovtsians and the prince’s call to defend his homeland, he went to Kyiv to gain military glory and defend the land.

The shortest route from Muroviisk to Kyiv goes through a dangerous forest. There, near a mighty oak tree, lived a huge monster, which with its whistle killed every companion. This monster was called the Nightingale the Robber.

The epics told: Ilya Muromets drove into the forest and loudly challenged the monster to a battle. The nightingale whistled so loudly that the horse sat down under the hero. But Ilya was not afraid. The fight between them was short. Ilya easily defeated Nightingale the Robber, tied him up and took him to Kyiv as a gift to the prince.

But what could this meeting actually look like?

Is it a nightingale or a robber?

Scientists believe that Nightingale the Robber could really live in the Chernigov forests. And this was not a mythical monster, but a very real person. There is even a memory of him in the chronicle.

The robber's name was not Nightingale, but Mogita. He robbed in the forests near Kyiv. Perhaps it was he who was defeated by the real Ilya Muromets. Like the epic Nightingale, Moghita was caught and brought to Kyiv for trial.

There, according to the epic, Ilya met with Prince Vladimir - Red Sun. But the arrogant prince did not like the simply dressed peasant. Instead of the promised reward for Nightingale the Robber, Vladimir threw his worn fur coat at Ilya’s feet, as if it were some kind of beggar.

The hero became seriously angry and began to threaten the prince. The guards barely managed to grab him and throw him into prison. Frightened Vladimir ordered not to give the impudent man bread and water for thirty days.

Meanwhile, Kyiv is surrounded by a horde of enemies. Their Khan offers to surrender the city and remove the crosses from the church. Otherwise, he will destroy the city, burn out the churches and trample the holy icons with horses. He threatens to flay the prince himself alive. It was then that Vladimir remembered the hero who was sitting in prison. He asks Ilya Muromets to forget the insult and come to the defense of Kyiv.

This is how the ancient epics tell. But in fact, Ilya Muromets could not meet Prince Vladimir in time, because... lived a hundred years later than him.

Why did the epics hide this? And could Ilya Muromets really help defend Kyiv?

The epics shifted people from two eras in time. There is nothing strange about this. After all, folk stories from generation to generation were supplemented with new details and characters. In epics they often mixed and performed their heroic deeds together.

Three legendary epic heroes: Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich could never meet each other in real time because they are separated by three centuries.

The hero Dobrynya Nikitich lived in the 10th century and was in fact the uncle of Prince Vladimir the Great. The hero Alyosha Popovich fought with a monster - a snake in the 11th century, and Ilya Muromets defended Rus' in the 12th century. But which of the princes did Ilya serve?

When Ilya Muromets arrived in Kyiv, Prince Svyatoslav, the great-grandson of Vladimir Monomakh, was on the throne. He could not disdain the hero.

The first military campaign of Ilya Muromets

Svyatoslav was a sensible and balanced politician. During his reign, he tried to unite the Russian princes against the Polovtsians. Already in their first campaign under the leadership of Svyatoslav, the Russians defeated the hordes of Polovtsians.

It was in this campaign, according to historians, that the hero Ilya Muromets first took part. They suggest that he was part of the prince’s squad and took part in all the battles that took place during that period of time.

Ten years passed in military campaigns. Ilya became a famous hero, about whom legends began to be made.

Meanwhile, he himself was in no hurry to fulfill the promise he made to his healers. He was not ready to leave worldly life for a monastery and believed that he still had many military feats ahead of him. But he didn’t have long to fight.

In 1185 Svyatoslav's son, Prince Igor, gathers his squad on a campaign against the Polovtsians. Seven thousand Russian soldiers, led by Igor, are simply marching into the heart of the Polovtsian land.

Then they did not yet know that this campaign would end in defeat for them, the most brutal in the history of Kievan Rus. It was this battle that was described by an unknown chronicler in the work “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”

The decisive battle between the Russians and the nomads

There were so many of them that the dust from under the hooves covered the ground. The forces were unequal and the ranks of the Russians were fading. Prince Igor sees that the Polovtsians are pressing the Russians to the river bank.

Ilya is attacked by several nomads at once. A heavy blow throws him off his horse. The Polovtsian raises a curved scimitar over the head of the hero. One more moment and that’s it...

And then an epiphany seemed to descend on Ilya. Only now, in the face of death, did he remember his promise to atone for his old grandfather’s sin by serving God. Ilya Muromets mentally asks the elders who healed him for help for the last time. If he survives this battle, he will never pick up a weapon again.

Ilya Muromets received very serious wounds in this battle with the Polovtsians. And this became the reason for his departure from military affairs. And his life was saved by the Rusich’s arrow, which managed to pierce the Polovtsian.

Ilya no longer remembered how the faithful horse carried its rider from the battlefield. And when consciousness returned to him, the first thing Ilya saw were Orthodox crosses on the church.

Kiev-Pechersk Monastery

A wounded man of about forty arrived here on a horse. Near the walls of the monastery, he unsaddled and released his horse, and then took off his armor. In the Lavra, the hero was received by Hegumen Vasily. He was not just a monk, but the main defender of the main Russian shrine. He greeted the new novice hospitably and hoped that Ilya Muromets would help the monks defend the Lavra from frequent raids. Therefore, the hegumen allows Ilya to take a sword with him to his cell.

But Muromets immediately tells the monks that he will never pick up a sword again, will never kill anyone, but will fulfill the vow that he once made to the holy elders.

He took monastic vows in honor of the prophet Elijah. In his cell he led an ascetic lifestyle and did not communicate with anyone.

In a 15th-century manuscript, memories were found of the extraordinary humility of the former hero, who vowed never to raise a hand against his neighbor. During his stay in the monastery, the gift of foresight and healing came to him. But did Elijah have a chance to die in peace and prayer? Chronicle sources say no.

In 1203 Hordes of Prince Rurik Rostislavovich burst into Kyiv. In order to expel his nephew from the city, the prince brought with him the Polovtsy, greedy for robbery and robbery, and after the siege he gave Kyiv to them to be torn to pieces.

And a great evil happened on Russian land. Nothing like this has happened since the baptism of Rus'. These sad events are described in "Tales of Bygone Years."

The Polovtsy burned Podol, robbed St. Sophia of Kyiv and the Tithe Church and destroyed all the monks and priests. The civilian population was mercilessly destroyed. And then we approached the gates of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.

Everyone who was in the monastery stood up to fight with them. The only one who did not go out with everyone was the monk Ilya. From his cell he heard echoes of the battle. But he remembered that he came to the monastery and made a vow never to take up arms.

The Muromets leaves his cell, ready to bow his head before the Polovtsian sword. But suddenly he sees Hegumen Vasily, who is holding an icon in his hands. With it, he slowly walks across the battlefield towards the enemy. And then Ilya saw how the hegumen fell, and the broken icon became red with blood. And then Hegumen Ilya breaks his promise for the last time. He raises his sword to, as before, cut off the heads of his enemies with one blow, but suddenly he feels severe weakness in his legs. He can't take a single step.

A moment later he sees a vision - an icon desecrated by his deed. Surrounded by enemies, Muromets gathered his last strength, but he was no longer able to get to his feet, but only felt how he was hit by an enemy spear.

On that day, all the monks of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra suffered martyrdom. Among them was the monk Ilya. He was buried with the others.

And when half a century later the monks discovered his burial, they were very surprised. The body of Ilya Muromets was not touched by decay. The fingers of his right hand were folded as if he were making the sign of a cross.

Scientists have not yet found an explanation for this phenomenon. And no one knows the exact circumstances of Ilya Muromets. It is only known that he died, receiving a fatal blow from a spear while defending the holy monastery. At the last moment of his life, Ilya Muromets was both a heroic warrior and a reverend monk at the same time.

In 1643 he was canonized under the name of St. Elijah. So the monks hid the truth about the real Ilya Muromets for many centuries. People still come to the relics of St. Elijah for healing, especially people with leg disease.

They pray not to the epic hero who became the hero of fairy tales and jokes, but to the one who found the strength to overcome an incurable illness and renounce worldly life forever.

Conclusions of forensic medicine specialists

In 1990 a group of Kyiv scientists received an unprecedented opportunity. They were instructed to explore the holy Kiev-Pechersk relics. These bodies were kept incorrupt for almost a thousand years in the caves of the Lavra. People who come to these caves are convinced that these relics have an invaluable gift of healing. But who were they in real life and where did they get such power?

Forensic medicine specialists visited the nearby caves of the Lavra and conducted a full examination of fifty-four bodies there. Among them, the relics of St. Ilya of Muromets were also examined. The results were incredibly surprising and simply amazing.

“He was a tall, strong man who died at the age of 45 - 55 years. He was one meter seventy-seven centimeters high.”

Here it should be understood that ten centuries ago a man of this height was indeed considered and considered a giant, for the average height of men of that time was much smaller. But this is not the only thing that struck the researchers.

They came to the reasonable conclusion that the monk’s name does not simply coincide with the name of the epic hero, and here’s why. On the bones of St. Elijah, scientists discovered echoes of many battles in the form of various injuries. On the bones of St. Elijah, scientists also found traces of blows from a spear, saber, sword, and broken ribs. But these injuries were not the cause of death.

Description of Ilya Muromets based on the results of the examination:

Experts say that during his lifetime this man had highly developed muscles, an unusually thick skull and arms that were much longer than those of ordinary people.

But what struck me most was something else. It turned out that during his life this monk suffered from a serious illness of the spine and for a very long period of time he could not move at all.

It became known that he really had serious problems with the musculoskeletal system, which actually confirms the version about the epic hero Ilya Muromets, who could not move until he was thirty-three.

What could have caused the illness of such a physically strong man?

The director of the Museum of Medicine, V. Shipulin, claims that initially experts had a version that the deceased suffered from bone tuberculosis. But after a detailed analysis of the relics, it turned out that this man suffered from polio almost from birth.

Poliomyelitis (from the ancient Greek πολιός - gray and µυελός - spinal cord) is infantile spinal paralysis, an acute, highly contagious infectious disease caused by damage to the gray matter of the spinal cord by poliovirus and characterized mainly by pathology of the nervous system.

This disease caused complete paralysis. These were the two main versions of the reasons for immobility. That is, Ilya Muromets, described in epics, and the Monk Ilya, buried in the cave of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, are one and the same person!

And 800 years ago he ended his life in this monastery.

The Orthodox Church honors Ilya Muromets as a saint, and the people as the main hero of the Russian land.

Why is the hero holy?

The word “hero” is associated with remarkable strength and courage. But if we think deeper, we can easily see something else there - the word “God” or “rich”. The Russian people selected words with care, so that even after many centuries they reveal important meanings to us. The word “hero” appeared in chronicles in the 13th century and began to mean a person gifted with wealth and divine abundance of strength. Before him, the Slavs used more unambiguous words: “brave” or “horobr”, that is, “daring man”. They say that the strength of heroes is not only physical in origin. They are superior to the enemy in that they stand on the side of truth. And God, as you know, “is not in power, but in truth.” And the thirty years that the hero spent “on the stove” should be understood not as years of idleness and idleness, but as a time of learning humility and preparing for service.

Why was he sitting on the stove?

It is known from epics that Ilya Muromets spent his entire childhood and adolescence on the stove. It is reported that at the age of 30, “Ilya could not walk on his feet.” Scientists who examined the relics of the saint noted a curvature of the spine in the lumbar region to the right and clearly defined additional processes on the vertebrae. This means that in his youth the saint could actually suffer from paralysis. The “passing Kaliki” who came to Ilya in the epic could, according to one version, be folk healers who set Ilya’s vertebrae and gave him a healing decoction. And according to another, healing and strength are a miracle given to Elijah by God.

Nickname Chobotok

“Ilya Muromets” sounds much more serious and impressive than “Ilya Chobotok”. However, both of these nicknames belonged to the holy Venerable Elijah of Pechersk. Chobotok is, as you know, a boot. Ilya Muromets received this nickname after he once had to defend himself from enemies with a boot, which he put on his foot at the moment when he was attacked. Here is how the document from the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery tells about it:
“There is also one giant or hero, called Chobotka, they say that he was once attacked by many enemies while he was putting on a boot, and since in his haste he could not grab any other weapon, he began to defend himself with another boot, which had not yet been put it on and defeated everyone with it, which is why he received such a nickname.”
But this was not the first time that Ilya had to defend himself with such weapons. In one of the epics, a helmet helped a hero defeat countless robbers:

"And he started here
wave the shell,
How he waves to the side -
so here is the street,
Ay will wave at a friend -
"Duck alley."

Censorship omissions

Not everyone associates the image of the epic Ilya of Murom with Saint Elijah, whose relics rest in the caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. This division - into the fabulous Ilya and the real person - was largely due to the Soviet government, which made considerable efforts to make a fairy-tale hero-warrior out of the saint. It was necessary to secularize this image, to de-Christianize it. For example, it was at this time that the episode of the epic in which the “passing Kaliki” healed Ilya was distorted. In the pre-revolutionary edition of the epic it was stated that the “Kalikas” were Christ and the two apostles. The Soviet publication is silent about this.

Descendants of Ilya Muromets

The village of Karacharovo is now part of the city of Murom. And in the place where the Muromets hut stood, not far from the Trinity Church, where the hero dragged a bog oak from the Oka to the mountain, which a horse could not drag, stands the house of the Gushchin sisters. Priokskaya Street, 279. The Gushchin sisters consider themselves descendants of Ilya Muromets in the 28th generation.

The great-great-grandfather of the Gushchin sisters, Ivan Afanasyevich, inherited the heroic strength of Ilya Muromets. He could easily pull a cart if the horse could not cope. And local authorities at one time banned him from participating in fist fights due to the deadly force of the blow. According to another version, this man still participated in the battles, but with one limitation: his hands were tied.
It’s interesting that recently, while cleaning the Oka, several more ancient bog oaks, each three girths in size, were found. But they couldn’t pull it ashore!

Murom or Morovsk?

Not long ago, there were passionate debates among scientists, and some of the opponents were convinced that the birthplace of the saint was not Murom, but the city of Morovsk (Moroviysk) in Ukraine.
“In the glorious city of Murom, in the village of Karacharovo” - this is how the epics tell us about the birthplace of the hero. More than once he himself recalls his native places, lost among dense forests and impenetrable and swampy swamps.
In the same Chernigov region as Morovsk, there is the city of Karachev, consonant with Karacharov. And even the village of Devyatidubye and the Smorodinnaya River.
However, now the place of origin of Ilya Muromets has been established precisely. This is the Russian city of Murom, the village of Karacharovo.

In the West

Surprisingly, Saint Elijah of Murom is also known in the West, because he is the main character not only of Russian epics, but also, for example, of German epic poems of the 13th century, based, of course, on earlier legends. In these poems he is also called Ilya, he is also a hero, yearning, moreover, for his homeland. In the German epic of the Lombard cycle, in the poem about Ortnit, the ruler of Garda, the uncle of the ruler is Ilya the Russian (Ilian von Riuzen). He takes part in a campaign on Sudere and helps Ortnit get a bride. Ilya did not see his wife and children for almost a year, and the poem talks about his desire to return to Rus'.

Another example is the Scandinavian sagas recorded in Norway around 1250: the Vilkina Saga or Thidrek Saga from the northern corpus of stories about Dietrich of Berne. The ruler of Rus' Gertnit had two sons from his legal wife Osantrix and Valdemar, and a third son from his concubine - Ilias. Thus, Ilya Muromets, according to this information, is no more and no less, but the blood brother of Vladimir - later the Grand Duke of Kyiv.

Why did Ilya Muromets refuse to become the Chernigov governor and what helped the “glorious hero of the Holy Russian” defeat the Nightingale the Robber? How does the epic express the attitude of the people towards the hero and what brings him closer to the heroes of folk tales? How does Ilya Muromets appear before us? Try to draw an oral portrait of the hero using the text of the epic.

Answer

Ilya Muromets did not go to Chernigov as a governor, because he did not want to get to Chernigov, but to the capital city of Kyiv. Ilya Muromets defeated the Nightingale the Robber thanks to his fearlessness and perseverance.

The attitude of the people towards the hero in the epic is expressed with the help of epithets and hyperboles, using which the narrator describes the hero and his actions: “a distant, portly, kind fellow”, “a glorious hero of the Holy Russian”, “an old Cossack”; Ilya Muromets tramples “great power” with his horse, knocks out Nightingale the Robber’s “right eye with a braid,” that is, with a temple, and is not tempted by the promises of the daughters and sons-in-law of the Nightingale the Robber.

Ilya Muromets is brought closer to the heroes of folk tales by his heroic strength, with the help of which he liberates the earth from black power, captures the Nightingale the Robber and answers to Prince Vladimir.

Ilya Muromets reached Chernigov, liberated it from enemies and then went to Kiev not along a safe roundabout road, but through a dangerous “direct road.” This act speaks of the determination and fearlessness of the epic hero.

When Ilya Muromets approached the Smorodinka River, the Nightingale the Robber whistled like a nightingale and shouted like a snake. Ilya Muromets's horse got scared and began to stumble. The hero whipped him with a “silk whip,” and then shot from an “explosive bow” at the robber and “lowered” the Nightingale “on the damp ground.”
During the battle, Ilya Muromets showed fearlessness and perseverance. He knew that he was fighting the Nightingale the Robber so that people in their native land would live peacefully, without fear:...

You're full of tears and fathers and mothers,
It's enough for you to widow young wives,
You have a lot to lose orphans and little children.

An unprecedentedly large number of stories dedicated to Ilya Muromets provides a unique opportunity to present in a more or less complete form the biography of this hero (as it seemed to the storytellers).

According to epics, the hero Ilya Muromets “did not control” his arms and legs until he was 33 years old (the age at which Christ began to preach and died), and then received miraculous healing from the elders (or passers-by). They, having come to Ilya’s house when no one else was there, ask him to get up and bring them water. Ilya replied to this: “I have neither arms nor legs, I’ve been sitting on a seat for thirty years.” They repeatedly ask Ilya to get up and bring them water. After this, Ilya gets up, goes to the water carrier and brings water. The elders tell Ilya to drink water. Ilya drank and recovered, after the second drink he feels an exorbitant strength in himself, and he is given a drink a third time to reduce it. Afterwards, the elders tell Ilya that he must go into the service of Prince Vladimir. At the same time, they mention that on the road to Kyiv there is a heavy stone with an inscription, which Ilya must also visit. Afterwards, Ilya says goodbye to his parents, brothers and relatives and goes “to the capital city of Kyiv” and comes first “to that motionless stone.” On the stone was written a call to Ilya to move the stone from its fixed place. There he will find a heroic horse, weapons and armor. Ilya moved the stone and found everything that was written there. He said to the horse: “Oh, you are a heroic horse! Serve me with faith and truth." After this, Ilya gallops to Prince Vladimir.

The epic “Svyatogor and Ilya Muromets” tells how Ilya Muromets studied with Svyatogor; and dying, he breathed into him the heroic spirit, which increased the strength in Ilya, and gave up his treasure sword.
[edit] Folklore outside the Russian North
"Bogatyrs". Victor Vasnetsov. 1881-1898. Ilya Muromets in the center

Only a few epic stories with the name of Ilya Muromets are known outside the provinces of Olonets, Arkhangelsk and Siberia (Collection of Kirsha Danilov and S. Gulyaev). Outside of these areas, only a few stories have been recorded so far:

Ilya of Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber;
Ilya Muromets and the robbers;
Ilya Muromets on the Falcon-ship
Ilya Muromets and son.

Splint. "Strong and brave hero Ilya Muromets"

In the middle and southern parts of Russia, only epics are known without the attachment of Ilya Muromets to Kyiv and the prince. Vladimir, and the most popular plots are those in which robbers (Ilya Muromets and the robbers) or Cossacks play the role (Ilya Muromets on the Falcon-ship), which indicates the popularity of Ilya Muromets among the freedom-loving population who lived on the Volga, Yaik and was part of the Cossacks .

Prose stories about Ilya Muromets, recorded in the form of Russian folk tales and passed on to some non-Slavic peoples (Finns, Latvians, Chuvash, Yakuts), also do not know about the Kyiv epic relations of Ilya Muromets, do not mention Prince Vladimir, replacing him with a nameless king; They contain almost exclusively the adventures of Ilya Muromets with the Nightingale the Robber, sometimes with the Idol called the Glutton, and sometimes attribute to Ilya Muromets the liberation of the princess from the serpent, which the epics do not know about Ilya Muromets.

There is often a confusion between Ilya of Muromets and Ilya the Prophet. This confusion also occurred in the supposed epic homeland of Ilya Muromets, in the minds of the peasants of the village of Karacharovo (near Murom), and in the stories of these peasants the relationship of Ilya Muromets to Kyiv and Prince Vladimir is not mentioned at all. A study of the epic biography of Ilya Muromets leads to the conviction that the name of this popular hero is the origin of many fabulous and legendary wanderings.

The poem by A. S. Pushkin “I loved you: love is still, perhaps...” written in 1829. It expresses a feeling of amazing purity and genuine humanity, which in this poem is the meaning of life for the lyrical hero.
This poem is dedicated to Anna Alekseevna Olenina. She attracted the poet with her elegance and grace, and even more with her wit and resourcefulness. Vyazemsky was ironic about his friend’s new hobby: “Pushkin thinks and wants to let others think that he is in love with her.”
What was Pushkin looking for in his feelings for young Olenina, how could this girl, who did not outshine her rivals with her beauty, brilliance of mind, or special talents, attract him? Most likely, the poet’s heartfelt attraction was connected with the desire to find moral support, to meet the selfless reciprocal feeling of the chosen one. He endowed her in his imagination with those traits of sublime femininity and selflessness that were so clearly manifested in the wives of the Decembrists, who amazed all of Russia with their willingness to share exile with their husbands in Siberia.
The poet's unrequited love is devoid of any egoism. He truly loves this woman, cares about her, does not want to disturb and sadden her with his confessions, wants the love of her future chosen one to be as sincere and tender as the love of the poet himself:
I loved you so sincerely, so tenderly,
How God grant you, your beloved, to be different.
However, the feeling of rejected love remains high. The poet does not stop using the words “I loved you.” In the first quatrain, the hero recalls a faded love, most likely unrequited. It should be noted that this love still remained in his heart: “In my soul it has not completely died out.”
The poet animates the feeling; he uses a verb in the past tense (“loved”) to show that love has passed and can never be returned. However, his love is pure and selfless. The author is generous in his love: “But don’t let it bother you anymore.”
What means of artistic expression does the author use in this poem? In creating emotional tension, an important role is played by the threefold repetition of the phrase “I loved you...”, as well as syntactic parallelism (repetitions of the same type of constructions): “silently”, “hopelessly”, “either timidly, then jealously”, “so sincerely, so tenderly” . These repetitions create a variety of lyrical excitement and at the same time an elegiac fullness of the poetic monologue.
In the poem, the author uses the technique of alliteration. In the first part of the poem, the consonant sound “l” is repeated, imparting tenderness and sadness:
I loved you: love is still, perhaps,
My soul has not completely died out...
And in the second part, the soft “l” changes to a strong, sharp sound “r”, symbolizing a break:
...Now we are tormented by timidity, now by jealousy;
I loved you so sincerely, so tenderly...
The harmony and musicality of the poem is given by iambic pentameter with pyrrhic rhymes and precise, simple rhymes, as well as the absence of hyphens and the coincidence of the syntactic structure of phrases and sentences with the poetic line. In the poem, Pushkin uses cross rhyme, both masculine and feminine: “maybe - disturbing”, “not at all” - nothing.
The poem “I loved you: love is still, perhaps...” is a vivid psychological sketch of the poet’s state. Pushkin's lyrics are permeated with optimism, faith in life, in the spiritual capabilities of man, in his ability to love and give love. Belinsky, noting the enlightened and spiritual nature of the great poet’s work, said that his poems are “soul-nurturing humanity.”

After graduating from the Kyiv Academy, his two sons, Ostap and Andriy, come to the old Cossack colonel Taras Bulba. Two stalwart young men, healthy and strong, whose faces have not yet been touched by a razor, are embarrassed to meet their father, who makes fun of their clothes as recent seminarians. The eldest, Ostap, cannot stand his father’s ridicule: “Even though you’re my dad, if you laugh, then, by God, I’ll beat you!” And father and son, instead of greeting each other after a long absence, seriously hit each other with blows. A pale, thin and kind mother tries to reason with her violent husband, who himself stops, glad that he has tested his son. Bulba wants to “greet” the younger one in the same way, but his mother is already hugging him, protecting him from his father.

On the occasion of the arrival of his sons, Taras Bulba convenes all the centurions and the entire regimental rank and announces his decision to send Ostap and Andriy to the Sich, because there is no better science for a young Cossack than the Zaporozhye Sich. At the sight of the young strength of his sons, the military spirit of Taras himself flares up, and he decides to go with them to introduce them to all his old comrades. The poor mother sits all night over her sleeping children, without closing her eyes, wanting the night to last as long as possible. Her dear sons are taken from her; they take it so that she will never see them! In the morning, after the blessing, the mother, desperate with grief, is barely torn away from the children and taken to the hut.

Three horsemen ride in silence. Old Taras remembers his wild life, a tear freezes in his eyes, his gray head hangs down. Ostap, who has a stern and firm character, although hardened over the years of studying at the Bursa, retained his natural kindness and was touched by the tears of his poor mother. This alone confuses him and makes him lower his head thoughtfully. Andriy is also having a hard time saying goodbye to his mother and home, but his thoughts are occupied with memories of the beautiful Polish woman he met just before leaving Kyiv. Then Andriy managed to get into the beauty’s bedroom through the fireplace chimney; a knock on the door forced the Polish woman to hide the young Cossack under the bed. Tatarka, the lady's servant, as soon as the anxiety passed, took Andriy out into the garden, where he barely escaped from the awakened servants. He saw the beautiful Polish girl again in the church, soon she left - and now, with his eyes cast down into the mane of his horse, Andriy thinks about her.

After a long journey, the Sich meets Taras and his sons with his wild life - a sign of the Zaporozhye will. Cossacks do not like to waste time on military exercises, collecting military experience only in the heat of battle. Ostap and Andriy rush with all the ardor of young men into this riotous sea. But old Taras does not like an idle life - this is not the kind of activity he wants to prepare his sons for. Having met all his comrades, he is still figuring out how to rouse the Cossacks on a campaign, so as not to waste their Cossack prowess on a continuous feast and drunken fun. He persuades the Cossacks to re-elect the Koshevoy, who keeps peace with the enemies of the Cossacks. The new Koshevoy, under the pressure of the most militant Cossacks, and above all Taras, is trying to find a justification for a profitable campaign against Turkey, but under the influence of the Cossacks who arrived from Ukraine, who spoke about the oppression of the Polish lords and Jewish tenants over the people of Ukraine, the army unanimously decides to go to Poland, to avenge all the evil and disgrace of the Orthodox faith. Thus, the war acquires a people's liberation character.

And soon the entire Polish southwest becomes the prey of fear, the rumor running ahead: “Cossacks! The Cossacks have appeared! In one month, the young Cossacks matured in battle, and old Taras loves to see that both of his sons are among the first. The Cossack army is trying to take the city of Dubno, where there is a lot of treasury and wealthy inhabitants, but they encounter desperate resistance from the garrison and residents. The Cossacks are besieging the city and waiting for famine to begin. Having nothing to do, the Cossacks devastate the surrounding area, burning defenseless villages and unharvested grain. The young, especially the sons of Taras, do not like this life. Old Bulba calm down