The syncretic image of a saint in The Life of Saint Cuthbert by Saint Bede the Venerable

  • Natalia S. Zelezinskaya Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliezhnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

Abstract

The study considers the image of a saint in the work of early English hagiography (Vita Sancti Cuthberti by Saint Bede the Venerable) to show a syncretic structure of this image. It combines the features of an epic hero, an ascetic, a hermit, a wonder worker, a visionary, a bishop, and a martyr. Its syncretic nature is explained by Saint Bede the Venerable’s attempt to involve the tradition of Celtic (Irish) Church of accepting pagan folklore and mythic sources, to tell the story of a real English monk, to follow the Roman canon of hagiographic genre (after the Synod of Whitby of 664) and the example of Gospels as a prototype of hagiography. Syncretism is observed on semantic, structural, and paradigmatic levels of the image. The article dwells upon the composition, the author’s intentions and the style. The relevant religious, cultural, political, and literary contexts are touched upon. Saint Bede the Venerable’s sources are mentioned to show that the author’s purpose was to tell his brethren about a real man and about the ideal of the age as the Roman Church saw it. His conflicting intentions are reflected in the motives of the life. Much attention is paid to the motives of prophecy, help, hermitage, wonders, piety, love, death as well as to the vision as a motive (and potentially a genre). The methodology of historical poetics by A. N. Veselovsky provides the research with both paradigmatic and syntagmatic dimensions. The image of a saint in Saint Bede the Venerable interpretation is one of the most influential images of English literature (both religious and civil) since the 8th century until now. This is the first study on English hagiography conducted in Belarus. 

Author Biography

Natalia S. Zelezinskaya, Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliezhnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

PhD (philology), docent; associate professor at the department of foreign literature, faculty of philology

References

  1. Mikhailov AD, editor. Problema zhanra v literature Srednevekov’ya [The problem of genre in the literature of the Middle Ages]. Moscow: Nasledie; 1994. 392 p. (Literatura Srednikh vekov, Renessansa i barokko; issue 1). Russian.
  2. Moreskini K, Norelli E. Istoriya literatury rannego khristianstva na grecheskom i latinskom yazykakh. Tom 1: ot ap. Pavla do epokhi Konstantina [History of the literature of early Christianity in Greek and Latin. Volume 1: from the Apostle Paul to the era of Constantine]. Aleksandrova TL, Solov’ev RS, Zolotukhina AI, translators. Moscow: Greko-latinskii kabinet Yu. A. Shichalina; 2021. [The earliest literature on martyrs]; p. 409–417. Russian.
  3. Macintyre A. After virtue: a study in moral theory. London: Duckworth; 1981. 252 p.
  4. Turner P. Truthfulness, realism, historicity. A study of Late Antique spiritual literature. Farnham: Surrey and Burlington; 2012. 232 p. DOI: 10.4324/9781315549590.
  5. Otto R. The idea of the holy: an inquiry into the non-rational factor in the idea of the divine and its relation to the rational. Harvey JW, translator. New York: Oxford University Press; 1924. 228 p.
  6. Lelen H. Sanctity as a story? Preliminary remarks on the narrative aspects of sanctity. In: Lelen H, editor. Sanctity as a story: narrative (in)variants of the saint. Warsaw: Peter Lang; 2020. p. 25–40 (Series: Mediated fictions studies in verbal and visual narratives; volume 17). DOI: 10.3726/b17454.
  7. Adrianova-Peretts VP. Ocherki poeticheskogo stilya Drevnei Rusi [Essays on the poetic style of Ancient Rus]. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo Akademii nauk SSSR; 1947. 188 p. (Nauchno-populyarnaya seriya). Russian.
  8. Levshun LV. Istoriya vostochnoslavyanskogo knizhnogo slova XI–XVII vv. [History of the East Slavic book word of the 11th–17th centuries]. Minsk: Ekonompress; 2001. 351 p. Russian.
  9. de la Rosa AC, de Jones LG. Saints and sanctity in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Striving for remembrance. London: Routledge; 2020. 290 p. DOI: 10.4324/9781315142562.
  10. Grekova IV. The image of a saint as a key figure in a biography text (linguistic features of a phrase). Bulletin of Kemerovo State University. 2012;3(4):142–147. Russian.
  11. Heffernan TJ, Burman TE, editors. Scripture and pluralism. Reading the Bible in the religiously plural worlds of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Leiden: Brill; 2005. 246 p. (Studies in the history of Christian traditions; volume 123).
  12. Ott JS. Between Heaven and Earth. In: Ott JS, Vedris T, editors. Saintly bishops and bishop’s saints. Proceedings of the 3rd hagiography conference organized by Croatian Hagiography Society «Hagiotheca» and International Hagiography Society; 2010 May 27–30; Porec, Croatia. Zagreb: Hagiotheca-humaniora; 2012. p. VII–XV.
  13. Yatsyk SA. [Formation of the exclusive right of the pontiff to canonisation]. Srednie veka. 2016;77(1–2):89–118. Russian.
  14. Bakhtina ON. Problems of the analysis of hagiographical texts of Russian literature (cultural-historical traditions and culture code). Tomsk State University Journal of Philology. 2009;4:47–61. Russian.
  15. Shaitanov IO. Komparativistika i/ili poetika. Angliiskie syuzhety glazami istoricheskoi poetiki [Comparative studies and/or poetics. English stories through the eyes of ancient poetics]. Moscow: Russian State University for the Humanities; 2010. [Was «Historical poetics» completed?]; p. 35‒86. Russian.
  16. von Contzen E, Bernau A, editors. Sanctity as literature in late medieval Britain. Manchester: Manchester University Press; 2015. 288 p. (Manchester medieval literature and culture).
  17. Colgrave B. The earliest saints’ lives written in England. London: Oxford University Press; 1958. 60 р.
  18. Nenarokova MR. Beda Dostochtimyi – ritor, agiograf, propovednik [Bede the Venerable is a rhetorician, hagiographer, and preacher]. Moscow: A. M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences; 2003. 271 p. Russian.
  19. Omel’nitskii MP, translator and editor. Drevneangliiskie svyatye. Drevneangliiskie propovedi i zhitiya ob anglosaksonskikh svyatykh: Al’bane, Etel’trut, Mildred, Neote, Drikhtkhel’me, Ferzi i Chade [Old English saints. Old English sermons and lives about the Anglo-Saxon saints: Alban, Etheltruth, Mildred, Neoth, Drychthelm, Ferzi, and Chad]. Moscow: TsAI; 1999. 304 p. Russian.
  20. Chekhonadskaya NYu. [Saint Gilda and the Irish tradition, or The three ages of Gilda]. Atlantica. Zapiski po istoricheskoi poetike. 2004;6:192–206. Russian.
  21. Klimova MN. On the learning (investigation) of hagiographic tradition in Russian literature of 19–20th centuries. Tomsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin. 2009;4:156–161. Russian.
  22. Klimova MN. Holiness and temptation (the image of Mary of Egypt in Russian literature). Tomsk State University Journal of Philology. 2013:4:90–95. Russian. DOI: 10.17223/19986645/24/8.
  23. Arlow U. Ewfrasinnja Polackaja [Euphrasinya of Polotsk]. Minsk: Mastackaja litaratura; 1992. 220 p. Belarusian.
  24. Garanin SL. Shljahami dawnih vandravannjaw: gistarychna-tjearytychny narys razviccia belaruskaj palomnickaj litaratury XII–XVI stst. [Along the paths of ancient wanderings: a historical-theoretical outline of the development of Belarusian pilgrimage literature of the 12 –16th centuries]. Minsk: Tehnalogija; 1999. 201 p. Belarusian.
  25. Melnikaw AA. Z neapublikavanaj spadchyny: managrafii, artykuly, vershy, matjeryjaly navukovaj kanferjencyi, uspaminy suchasnikaw [From the unpublished heritage: monographs, articles, poems, proceedings of a scientific conference, memories of contemporaries]. Chamiarycki VA, editor. Minsk: Four quarters; 2005. [Euphrasinya of Polotsk (life of Eufrasinna of Polatsk with comments by A. A. Mielnikaw)]; p. 14–316. Belarusian.
  26. Melnikaw AA. Kiryl, episkap Turawski. Zhycco, spadchyna, svetapogljad [Kirill, bishop of Turaw. Life, heritage, worldview]. Minsk: Bielaruskaja navuka; 1997. 462 p. Belarusian.
  27. Mikulinskii V. [The lives of saints: social and cultural aspect]. In: Nikolaev O, compiler. Berdyanskie chteniya. Svyatost’ kak vershina dukhovnoi kul’tury. Materialy II Mezhdunarodnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii; 3–5 sentyabrya 2008 g.; Berdyansk, Ukraina [Berdyansk readings. Holiness as the pinnacle of spiritual culture. Proceedings of the 2nd International scientific and practical conference; 2008 September 3–5; Berdyansk, Ukraine]. Simferopol: N. Orianda; 2009. p. 157–174. Ukrainian.
  28. Vinogradov AYu, Grishchenko AI. Andrei Pervozvannyi: opyt nebiograficheskogo opisaniya [Andrei Pervozvanny: experience of non-biographical description]. Moscow: Molodaya gvardiya; 2013. 405 p. (Zhizn’ zamechatel’nykh lyudei). Russian.
  29. Dorofeeva LG. Chelovek smirennyi v agiografii Drevnei Rusi (XI – pervaya tret’ XVII veka) [A humble man in the hagiography of Ancient Rus (11th – first third of the 17th century)]. Kaliningrad: Aksios; 2013. 435 p. Russian.
  30. Esaulov IA. Kategoriya sobornosti v russkoi literature [The category of conciliarity in Russian literature]. Petrozavodsk: Izdatel’stvo Petrozavodskogo universiteta; 1995. 288 p. Russian.
  31. Smirnova SA. [The word svyatoi in etymological and historical dictionaries]. Eurasian Union of Scientists. 2014;5(part 4):71–73. Russian.
  32. Toporov VN. Svyatost’ i svyatye v russkoi dukhovnoi kul’ture. Tom 1, Pervyi vek khristianstva na Rusi [Holiness and saints in Russian spiritual culture. Volume 1, The first century of Christianity in Rus]. Moscow: Gnozis; 1995. 875 p. Russian. Co-published by the «Shkola “Yazyki russkoi kul’tury”».
  33. Trofimov AA. Svyatye zheny Rusi [Holy wives of Rus]. Moscow: Khram Rozhdestva Presvyatoi Bogoroditsy; 1993. 240 p. Russian. Co-published by the «Entsiklopediya rossiiskikh dereven’».
  34. Borbat TI, Chmarava MI. [A monument of Old Belarusian writing «The story of the life of Euphrasinya of Polotsk» and the traditions of Byzantine and Old Russian hagiographic literature]. In: Somaw SE, editor. Kuljashowskija chytanni. Matjeryjaly Mizhnarodnaj navukova-praktychnaj kanferjencyi; 21 krasavika 2016 g.; Magiliow, Belarus [Kulyashov’s readings. Proceedings of the International scientific and practical conference; 2016 April 21; Mogilev, Belarus]. Magiliow: Mogilev State A. Kulyashov University; 2016. p. 98–103. Belarusian.
  35. Sanok C. Hagiography. In: Jahner J, Steiner E, Tyler E, editors. Medieval historical writing: Britain and Ireland, 500–1500. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2019. р. 420–436. DOI: 10.1017/9781316681299.025.
  36. Bartlett R. Why can the dead do such great things? Saints and worshippers from the martyrs to the Reformation. Princeton: Princeton University Press; 2015. 816 p.
  37. Farmer DH. The age of Bede. London: Penguin Classics; 1988. Introduction; р. 7–40.
  38. Loomis CG. The miracle traditions of the Venerable Bede. Speculum. 1946;21(4):404–418. DOI: 10.2307/2856762.
  39. Simeon Metafrast. Zhitie svt. Grigoriya Velikogo [Life of Saint Gregory the Great]. Timofeev MA, translator. Al’fa i omega. 1997;12:189–195. Russian.
  40. Tiernan K. Cuthbert of Farne: a novel of Northumbria’s warrior saint. Durham: Sacristy Press; 2019. 298 p.
  41. Toporova AV. Ocherki po istorii zhanrov srednevekovoi religioznoi literatury. Italiya, XIII–XV vv. [Essays on the history of genres of medieval religious literature. Italy, 13–15th centuries]. Moscow: Russian State University for the Humanities; 2020. 304 p. Russian.
  42. Head Th. Medieval hagiography: an anthology. New York: Routlage; 2001. 886 p. DOI: 10.4324/9781315656465.
  43. Klyuchevskii VO. Drevnerusskie zhitiya kak istoricheskii istochnik. Tom 3 [Old Russian Lives as a historical source. Volume 3]. Moscow: Izdanie K. Soldatenkova; 1871. 465 p. Russian.
  44. Likhachev DS. Chelovek v literature Drevnei Rusi [Man in the literature of Ancient Rus]. Moscow – Leningrad: Izdatel’stvo Akademii nauk SSSR; 1958. 186 p. Russian.
  45. Agievich A. [Holiness as the pinnacle of spiritual culture of Kiev Rus]. In: Nikolaev O, compiler. Svyatost’ kak vershina dukhovnoi kul’tury. Materialy II Mezhdunarodnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii; 3–5 sentyabrya 2008 g.; Berdyansk, Ukraina [Berdyansk readings. Holiness as the pinnacle of spiritual culture. Proceedings of the 2nd International scientific and practical conference; 2008 September 3–5; Berdyansk, Ukraine]. Simferopol: N. Orianda; 2009. p. 138–148. Russian.
  46. Monk of Lindisfarne. Two lives of Saint Cuthbert; a life by an anonymous monk of Lindisfarne and Bede’s prose life. Congrave B, editor and translator. London: University of Durham; 1940. Vita Sancti Cuthberti; p. 141–310.
Published
2023-10-31
Keywords: life (vita), hagiography, hagiology, the image of a saint, the motive of sanctity, syncretic image, Saint Bede the Venerable, Saint Cuthbert, English medieval literature, historical poetics, the history of ideas, A. N. Veselovsky
How to Cite
Zelezinskaya N. S. The syncretic image of a saint in The Life of Saint Cuthbert by Saint Bede the Venerable // Journal of the Belarusian State University. Philology. 2023. 3. PP. 28-39.
Issue
No 3 (2023): Journal of the Belarusian State University. Philology
Section
Literary Research

Copyright (c) 2023 Journal of the Belarusian State University. Philology

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

The authors who are published in this journal agree to the following:

  1. The authors retain copyright on the work and provide the journal with the right of first publication of the work on condition of license Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial. 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
  2. The authors retain the right to enter into certain contractual agreements relating to the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work (e.g. post it on the institutional repository, publication in the book), with the reference to its original publication in this journal.
  3. The authors have the right to post their work on the Internet (e.g. on the institutional store or personal website) prior to and during the review process, conducted by the journal, as this may lead to a productive discussion and a large number of references to this work. (See The Effect of Open Access.)