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The Prayer of Daniil Zatochnik, also translated as The Supplication of Daniel the Exile or Praying of Daniel the Immured (russian: Моление Даниила Заточника, translit=Moleniye Daniila Zatochnika), is an Old East Slavic text created by the Pereyaslavl-born writer Daniil Zatochnik during the 13th century (estimated time 1213—1236)., 1989 ''Andrew Kahn, Mark Lipovetsky, Irina Reyfman, Stephanie Sandler (2018)''
A History of Russian Literature
— Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 56—57
Original text and translation
at the
The Prayer of Daniil Zatochnik
analysis by Dmitry Likhachov (in Russian) East Slavic manuscripts Medieval literature Cyrillic manuscripts 13th-century manuscripts Old East Slavic
The Prayer of Daniil Zatochnik, also translated as The Supplication of Daniel the Exile or Praying of Daniel the Immured (russian: Моление Даниила Заточника, translit=Moleniye Daniila Zatochnika), is an Old East Slavic text created by the Pereyaslavl-born writer Daniil Zatochnik during the 13th century (estimated time 1213—1236).A History of Russian Literature
— Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 56—57
Text
The work is written in the form of an epistle to Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, Prince of Pereyaslavl and Suzdal. The author appears to be in great need and begs the prince for help, depicting him as a defender of all his subjects. The text combines quotations from theBible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
and Old Russian Chronicles
Old or OLD may refer to:
Places
* Old, Baranya, Hungary
* Old, Northamptonshire, England
*Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD)
*OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, ...
with a highly rhythmic language, aphorisms, elements of humour and satire aimed against boyars
A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgaria, Russia, Wallachia and Moldavia, and later Romania, Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. Boyars wer ...
and clergy; according to Dmitry Likhachov, "Daniel’s deliberate coarseness and buffoonery are in the tradition of the skomorokh
A skomorokh ( in Russian, in Old East Slavic, in Church Slavonic. Compare with the Old Polish , ) was a medieval East Slavic harlequin, or actor, who could also sing, dance, play musical instruments and compose for oral/musical and dramatic p ...
(a wandering minstrel-cum-clown)".
History
The origins of both the author and the text is a subject of speculation. Some researches state that ''The Supplication'' is based on the 12th-century The Speech or The Oration of Daniel the Exile (russian: Слово Даниила Заточника, translit=Slovo Daniila Zatochnika) which was, in turn, addressed to some Prince Yaroslav, "the son of the great tsar Vladimir" (it is suggested that it was one of the sons ofVladimir II Monomakh
Vladimir II Monomakh (Old East Slavic: Володимѣръ Мономахъ, ''Volodiměrŭ Monomakhŭ''; uk, Володимир Мономах, translit=Volodymyr Monomakh; russian: Владимир Мономах; Christian name: ''Vasiliy'' ...
, although he had no children by the name of Yaroslav). Others believe that ''The Oration'' itself is a late edition of ''The Supplication'', yet the questions of literary correlation between the texts remain open.
Daniel is mentioned in the ''Simeonovskaya Chronicle'' (late 15th century), year 1387, in connection to some priest who was exiled to the Lake Lacha
Lake Lacha (russian: Ла́ча, Ла́че) is a freshwater lake, located in the south of Kargopolsky District of Arkhangelsk Oblast in Russia, south of the town of Kargopol. It is the largest lake in Arkhangelsk Oblast, with a surface area of ...
by Yuri Dolgorukiy
Yuri I Vladimirovich ( rus, Юрий Владимирович, Yuriy Vladimirovich), commonly known as Yuri Dolgorukiy or the Long Arm ( rus, Юрий Долгорукий, Yuriy Dolgorukiy, meaning "Far-Reaching", c. 109915 May 1157) was a Ru ...
"same place as Daniel the Exile"; yet nothing is known about Daniel himself, only that he did not belong to the ruling class and that he had been previously exiled after falling out of favour with the prince. Fyodor Buslaev
Fedor Ivanovich Buslaev (russian: Фёдор Ива́нович Бусла́ев; April 25, 1818 – August 12, 1898) was a Russian Empire philologist, art historian, and folklorist who represented the Mythological school of comparative literat ...
suggested that he was the son of one of the prince's slaves, Mikhail Tikhomirov Mikhail Nikolayevich Tikhomirov (russian: Михаи́л Николáевич Тихоми́ров; 31 May 1893 — 2 September 1965) was a leading Soviet specialist in medieval Russian paleography.
Tikhomirov was born and spent his whole life in M ...
concluded that Daniel was an artisan
An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art ...
, while Dmitry Likhachov indicated that he belonged to intelligentsia and served as a ''milostnik'' (prince's personal servant, a position similar to ministerialis).
Some researchers consider ''The Oration'' and ''The Supplication'' to be the first examples of Russian opinion journalism
Opinion journalism is journalism that makes no claim of objectivity. Although distinguished from advocacy journalism in several ways, both forms feature a subjective viewpoint, usually with some social or political purpose. Common examples inclu ...
, while others name them among the "pioneers of Russian samizdat
Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...
".''Dmitry Strovsky (1998)''. Contemporary History of the National Journalism: Lectures. — Yekaterinburg: Ural State University, p. 219
References
{{reflistLinks
Original text and translation
at the
Pushkin House
The Pushkin House (russian: Пушкинский дом, Pushkinsky Dom), formally the Institute of Russian Literature (), is a research institute in St. Petersburg. It is part of a network of institutions affiliated with the Russian Academy of ...
electronic library (in Russian)The Prayer of Daniil Zatochnik
analysis by Dmitry Likhachov (in Russian) East Slavic manuscripts Medieval literature Cyrillic manuscripts 13th-century manuscripts Old East Slavic