Ruler Martyrs on the Periphery of Medieval Europe

Autor: Simon Malmenvall
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Bogoslovska smotra
Volume 90
Issue 5
ISSN: 0352-3101
1848-9648
DOI: 10.3986/9789610505440_01
Popis: From the early tenth to the early twelfth century the northern and eastern periphery of Europe was composed of polities which had recently adopted Christianity as the official religion. Here a special type of veneration of saints or martyrs emerged. This type of sainthood refers to historical personalities characterized by a martyr’s death caused out of political self -interest by Christians themselves—not by members of other religions as a result of hatred against the Christian faith as such. The veneration of martyr rulers was unknown both in (Latin) southern Europe and the Byzantine Empire of the time. This article is dedicated to a historical, theological, and literary analysis of three saints: Boris and Gleb (died in 1015) from Kievan Rus’, Jovan Vladimir (died in 1016/1018) from Dioclea, and Magnus Erlendsson (died in 1115/1117) from the Orkney Isles, at the time a part of Norway. All of these saints share the same fundamental characteristics: in the face of mortal danger, they did not resort to revenge or fratricide as a means of struggle for power, but rather voluntarily accepted their deaths for the benefit of peace in their homelands. The phenomenon of ruler martyrs focuses on the example of their voluntary sacrifice, highlighting a duality between the righteousness of an innocent victim and an unfair act of a murderer. Ruler martyrs were regarded by their contemporaries as promoters of a new ideal of Christian monarchs and as symbols of the rejection of the recent pagan past. This phenomenon is also connected with the self -esteem of the ecclesiastical and secular elite of the newly Christianized peoples—they saw their homelands, despite their relatively late adoption of Christianity, as religiously »mature« and therefore on equal footing with others, which was to a large extent possible due to the emergence of the first local saints.
Od početka 10. do početka 12. stoljeća sjevernu i istočnu periferiju Europe činile su političke tvorevine koje su nedavno primile kršćanstvo u svojstvu službene religije. Na tim prostorima pojavio se poseban tip štovanja svetaca, odn. mučenika. Ovaj tip svetosti odnosi se na povijesne osobe za koje je karakteristična mučenička smrt kao posljedica političkih interesa samih kršćana – ne pripadnika drugih religija zbog mržnje prema kršćanskoj vjeri kao takvoj. Kult vladara mučenika nije bio poznat ni u tadanšjoj (latinskoj) južnoj Europi, ni u Bizantinskom carstvu. Ovaj članak posvećen je povijesnoj, teološkoj i literarnoj analizi triju svetaca: Borisa i Gljeba (poginuli 1015. godine) iz Kijevske Rusije, Jovana Vladimira (poginuo 1015/1018. godine) iz Duklje i Magnusa Erlendssona (poginuo 1115/1117. godine) sa Orkneyskih otoka, u ono doba dio Norveške. Sve upomenute svece povezuju iste temeljne karakteristike: uoči smrtne opasnosti, nisu se zatekli ka osveti ili bratoubojstvu kao sredstvu borbe za vlast, nego su dobrovoljno primili svoju smrt u korist mira u njihovim domovinama. Fenomen vladara mučenika usredotočava se na primjer njihove dobrovoljne žrtve, naglašavajući dvojnost između nevine žrtve i nepravednog postupka ubojice. Vladare mučenike njihovi suvremenici tumačili su kao promotore novog ideala kršćanskog monarha i simbol odbijanja nedavne paganske prošlosti. Ovaj fenomen povezan je također sa samosviješću crkvene i svijetovne elite novopokrštenih naroda – oni su svoje domovine, nezavisno od njihovog relativno kasnog primljenja kršćanstva, doživljavali kao religiozno »zrele« i, stoga, jednakopravne drugima, što je bilo u velikoj mjeri moguće upravo zbog pojavljivanja prvih domaćih svetaca.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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