Artemi Werkolski

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Icon Artemis by an unknown artist, 18th century

Artemi Werkolski (also Artjomi Werkolski , Russian Артемий Веркольский , * 1532 in Werkola in today 's Arkhangelsk Oblast , Russia ; † July 6, 1545 ibid) is a Russian Orthodox saint . He was canonized in 1619 .

Hagiology

The hagiography Werkolskis originated in the early 17th century, which grew over time to 85 handwritten manuscript pages. Numerous versions of it are known. Accordingly, Artemi was the son of Kosma and Apollinarija, a devout farming family from the village of Werkola, about two hundred kilometers southeast of the small town of Pinega upstream on the upper reaches of the Pinega of the same name . His character traits have been benevolently described as obedient, meek, and hardworking. At the age of 13, he and his father were raking a field when a thunderstorm came and lightning struck the boy. In their ignorant but strict folk beliefs , the villagers considered sudden death to be God's punishment for secret sins.

According to the Slavic cult of the dead, Naw , it was believed that those who died tragically and prematurely would not find the peace of the dead , return to the world of the living and continue their existence on earth as mythical beings. “Because what had happened, they had doubts about the religious valuation of this death,” they did not bury the body, but instead deposited it on the other bank of the river in a clearing in a pine forest, covered it with brushwood and branches and fenced the place . As a legend tells, 28 years later a deacon of the Church of St. Nicholas accidentally discovered the fence while collecting mushrooms and found the boy's body completely intact and without any signs of decay. The body of Artemis was then laid out in the village church.

«В том году, попущением Божиим, в Двинском краю распространилась злокачественная лихорадка. Многие умирали от этой тяжкой болезни, особенно женщины и дети. Заболел недугом этим и сын Веркольского селянина Каллиника. В сильной скорби Каллиник молился об исцелении сына, потом пошел в церковь, приложился ко гробу праведного Артемия и, взяв бересты, покрывавтей нетленные мощи его, с верою привесил ее к кресту на груди умиравшого сына. Больной выздоровел. Обрадованный Каллиник рассказал о том всем своим односельчанам, которые с радостию собрались в церкви святителя Николая и начали петь молебны и творить память по праведном отроке Артемие. И умилосердился Господь над рабами Своими: лихорадка в той стране скоро прекратилась. »

“That year, by the grace of God, a vicious fever broke out in the Northern Dvina area. Many died from this serious illness, especially women and children. The son of the farmer Kallinik from Werkola also fell ill with this disease. In great mourning, Kallinik prayed for the healing of his son, then went to church, went to the tomb of the righteous Artemi and took the birch bark that covered his immortal relics and, believing on the cross, hung it on his dying son's chest. The sick boy recovered. Kallinik happily told all the villagers who gathered in the church of St. Nicholas with joy and began to sing psalms and pray for the righteous boy Artemi. And the Lord had mercy on his servants: the fever in that land soon ceased. "

Numerous miraculous healings were then documented in connection with the presence of Artemis. The first written record was in 1584. Several icons were painted on the old boards of his coffin. The healing stories quickly spread in the surrounding communities. In 1610 the body of Artemis was reburied in a special shrine and blessed by the Novgorod Metropolitan in 1619 at a time when the established popular veneration had already taken over the body.

In 1648 the orthodox Artemi Werkolski monastery was built on the spot where the child had lain for 28 years after a chapel had been built in his honor there in 1635. On November 17, 1649, the body of Artemis was transferred to the monastery, which quickly became a popular place of pilgrimage and grew because income could be generated. In 1695 a fire destroyed much of the building, but the reliquary was miraculously unscathed. It was believed that the heat peeled off the plaster and smothered the fire before it could spread to the shrine. Almost 90 years later, on December 9th, 1789, another fire destroyed the church and again the relic was spared and then moved to another site. It was not until 1806 that a new stone church with two side chapels could become the new resting place for Artemi.

Artemis coffin was opened for the first time in 1920. The finding is controversial today. There are sources that claim that a mixture of bricks and nails was found in it; according to other sources, the monastery was dissolved when the Bolsheviks came to power and the body was stolen; he has since disappeared.

reception

The miracle of Artemi Werkolski, which led to his canonization, dates back to the early days of Christianization in this region. Parts of the old popular belief were still present among the rural population. Pre-Christian beliefs were depending on each other. A. Ryschowa still widespread and are reflected on the reality of life. The canonization of Artemis is part of an extensive canon of similar hagiographies of that time. Georgi P. Fedotow names several children, some of them princely, especially very young (innocent) children, whose fate of violent death offered themselves to martyrdom because of their inexplicable, untimely sacrificial death. Child martyrs were popular in these worlds of belief and were later stylized as selfless socialist heroes "in the 1920s and 1930s as central founding and sacrificial myths of the Soviet system".

In the south-eastern administrative district of Moscow there has been a chapel that bears his name since 2015 on the edge of a large, public play and leisure area.

Remembrance day

Artemi Werkolski's feast day is June 13th July. / 23 June greg. and October 10th jul. / October 20th greg. .

literature

  • Праведного Артемия, Веркольского чудотворца. In: Жития Святых на русском языке, изложенные по руководству четьих-миней Св. Димитрия Ростовского с дополнениями, примечаниями и изображениями святых. Book 2, October 1992, pp. 462–467 (Russian, reprint of the 1902 edition, reproduced on orthlib.ru).;

Web links

Commons : Artemi Werkolski  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Je. A. Ryschowa: "The story of the life of Antonius von Siysk" and the North Russian hagiography of the second half of the 16th century. Saint Petersburg 1993.
  2. ↑ a b Georgi P. Fedotow: Holy men and women in ancient Russia. (pdf; 172 kB) In: Voice of Orthodoxy . 1992, pp. 19-23 , accessed June 16, 2021 .
  3. ↑ Праведного Артемия, Веркольского чудотворца. In: Жития Святых на русском языке, изложенные по руководству четьих-миней Св. Димитрия Ростовского с дополнениями, примечаниями и изображениями святых. Book 2, October 1992, pp. 462–467 , accessed June 16, 2021 (Russian, reprint of the 1902 edition, reproduced on orthlib.ru).
  4. ^ Franziska Thun-Hohenstein: Pawlik Morosow - a Soviet "hero pioneer": On the media construction of a socialist child martyr. (pdf; 5.2 MB) In: Border Crossers of Religious Cultures. Cultural studies contributions to the present and history of the martyrs. Edited by Silvia Horsch and Martin Treml. Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Munich, 2011, p. 315 , accessed on June 16, 2021 ( ISBN 978-3-7705-5076-0 ).
  5. ↑ храм-часовня (Temple-Chapel) on Google Maps .
personal data
SURNAME Werkolski, Artemi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Artjomi Werkolski, Артемий Веркольский
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian saint
DATE OF BIRTH 1532
PLACE OF BIRTH Werkola , Arkhangelsk Oblast
DATE OF DEATH July 6, 1545
PLACE OF DEATH Werkola , Arkhangelsk Oblast