Šimon (

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

: ''Sigmundr'') was a

Varangian The Varangians (; non, Væringjar; gkm, Βάραγγοι, ''Várangoi'';Varangian
" Online Etymo ...

(

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

) whose story is related in the

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

an ''

Patericon Patericon or paterikon ( el, πατερικόν), a short form for πατερικόν βιβλίον ("father's book", usually Lives of the Fathers in English), is a genre of Byzantine literature of religious character, which were collections of sa ...

'' and his story concerns the creation of the Kievan cave monastery, where he is reported to have been its most important donor.

Story

Šimon was the son of Afrikan (ON: ''Afreki''), a king in the land of the

Varangians The Varangians (; non, Væringjar; gkm, Βάραγγοι, ''Várangoi'';Varangian
" Online Etymo ...

. Afrikan was the brother of

Yakun Yakun or Jakun, deriving from Old Norse ''Hákon'', was a Varangians, Varangian (Viking) leader who is mentioned in the ''Primary Chronicle'' and in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, Cave monastery in Kyiv. The chronicle tells that he arrived in Kievan Rus' ...

(ON: ''Hákon'') who took part in the

Battle of Listven The Battle of Listven (1024) was part of the succession struggle following the death of Vladimir the Great (Volodymyr) in 1015. It was fought between Mstislav of Chernigov and Kievan forces supporting Yaroslav the Wise; Mstislav defeated Yaroslav. ...

. When Afrikan died Jakun expelled Šimon and his brother Friand (ON: ''Friandi'').Androshchuk 2004:44 Šimon would live in

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...

for the rest of his life, and he first served

Yaroslav I the Wise Yaroslav the Wise or Yaroslav I Vladimirovich; russian: Ярослав Мудрый, ; uk, Ярослав Мудрий; non, Jarizleifr Valdamarsson; la, Iaroslaus Sapiens () was the Grand Prince of Kiev from 1019 until his death. He was als ...

and later his son. In 1068, he joined Yaroslav's three sons in the

Battle of the Alta River The Battle of Alta River was a 1068 clash on the Alta River between Cuman army on the one hand and Kievan Rus' forces of Grand Prince Iziaslav I of Kiev, Prince Sviatoslav of Chernigov, and Prince Vsevolod of Periaslavl on the other in which t ...

against the

Polovtsians The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian exonym ), were a Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation. After the Mongol invasion (1237), many sough ...

. It is reported that before the battle, saint

Anthony of Kiev Anthony of Kiev also called Anthony of the Caves ( uk, Антоній Печерський, russian: Антоний Печерский; c. 983–1073) was a monk and the founder of the monastic tradition in Kievan Rus'. Together with Theodosius ...

, predicted a dire outcome for the battle, but he also predicted that Šimon would be saved through a miracle. Šimon survived the battle, but he was severely wounded. Anthony took care of Šimon and healed his wounds. In recognition, when Anthony founded the cave monastery, Šimon donated a belt and a wreath of gold that his father Afrikan had used to adorn a crucifix. The gifts were worth 50 gold

grivna Grivna (гривна) was a currency as well as a measure of weight used in Kievan Rus' and other East Slavic countries since the 11th century. Name The word ''grivna'' is derived from from . In Old East Slavic it had the form ''grivĭna ...

s. The Varangian was probably one of the first to be buried in the monastery and he was the first one to receive a written remission from the monastery that both he and his descendants were pardoned for all their sins. His son Georgi also showed affection for the cave monastery and sent gold and silver from

Suzdal Suzdal ( rus, Суздаль, p=ˈsuzdəlʲ) is a town that serves as the administrative center of Suzdalsky District in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which is located on the Kamenka River, north of the city of Vladimir. Vladimir is the admin ...

to the decoration of the grave of Saint

Theodosius of Kiev Theodosius of Kiev or Theodosius of the Caves (russian: Феодосий Печерский; uk, Феодосій Печерський) is an 11th-century saint who brought Cenobitic Monasticism to Kievan Rus' and, together with Anthony of Kiev, ...

. When Gregori died, he left a letter to his family asking them to help the monastery financially. Šimon's great-grandchildren were buried in the Dmitri church in Suzdal, which was built by its bishop Jefrem who had been ordained in the cave monastery.

Scandinavian sources

Based on

Vilhelm Thomsen Vilhelm Ludwig Peter Thomsen (25 January 1842 – 12 May 1927) was a Danish linguist and Turkologist. He successfully deciphered the Orkhon inscriptions which were discovered during the expedition of Nikolai Yadrintsev in 1889. Early life and ed ...

's identification between the names ''Alfrekr'' and ''Alrikr'', Stender-Petersen connected Afrikan to the Alrekr who appears on the runestones Sö 101 and Sö 106 in Sweden.Pritsak 1981:417

Omeljan Pritsak Omeljan Yosypovych Pritsak ( uk, Омелян Йосипович Пріцак; 7 April 1919, Luka, Sambir County, West Ukrainian People's Republic – 29 May 2006, Boston) was the first Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvar ...

, however, opposes this idenfication as he considers Jakun to have been Jarl

Hákon Eiríksson Haakon Ericsson (Old Norse: ''Hákon Eiríksson''; no, Håkon Eiriksson; died c. 1029–1030) was the last Earl of Lade and governor of Norway from 1012 to 1015 and again from 1028 to 1029 as a vassal under Danish King Knut the Great. Biograph ...

who died in 1029, while Alrekr would not yet have been born.Pritsak 1981:418 The first scholar who undertook to identify the people mentioned in the Patericon was Fyodor Braun, and he suggested that ''Afrikan'' was based on an archaic pronunciation of the Old Norse dialect of

Södermanland Södermanland ( or ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latin form ''Sudermannia'' or ''Sudermania'', is a historical province or ''landskap'' on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västmanla ...

. The form would have been an

oblique case In grammar, an oblique (abbreviated ; from la, casus obliquus) or objective case (abbr. ) is a nominal case other than the nominative case, and sometimes, the vocative. A noun or pronoun in the oblique case can generally appear in any role exc ...

of *''afreki'', i.e. *''afriką'' (son) < *''afrikan''. The name ''Friand'' would not have been the name of a person, since the name is otherwise not attested among the Old Norse names, and Braun suggested that it was the appellative form of ''frjá'' ("to love"), ''frjándi'', and which meant "nephew" in some Old Norse sources. Likewise, he did not consider ''Šimon'' to be derived from ''Sigmundr'' because ''ši'' reflected the Södermanland pronunciation of ''si'', and thus ''Šimon'' referred to a Varangian having the Christian name ''Simon''. According to Braun, the Patronicon was based on the account of a Varangian who would have reported that "Jakun had expelled his nephew (*''frjándi'') Simon Afrekąson". Basing himself on Braun's analysis, Pritsak suggests that Jarl Hákon Eiríksson had a brother named *''Afreki'' who is unattested in Old Norse sources. This brother would have died and then Hákon banished his nephew Simon which may have been due to Afreki having cooperated with

Olaf II of Norway Olaf II Haraldsson ( – 29 July 1030), later known as Saint Olaf (and traditionally as St. Olave), was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he was posthumously given the title ''Rex Perpet ...

. Simon would have been only c. 12 years old.Pritsak 1981:419

Notes

Bibliography

* Pritsak, O. (1981). ''The origin of Rus'.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts: Distributed by Harvard University Press for the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.
Androshchuk, F. "Kristna nordbor i Rus / Scandinavian Christians in Rus", in Berg, K. & Olsson, O. (eds.): ''Historiska Nyheter – Olga & Ingegerd''. Statens historiska museum 2004-2005. p. 44.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simon Varangians 11th-century Vikings

Story

Scandinavian sources

See also

Notes

Bibliography