Ilya (Archbishop of Novgorod)

Ilya (Russian: Илья), also known as Ioann (his name upon entering the Great Schema and the name by which he is known in Russian Orthodox hagiography), was Archbishop of Novgorod from 1165 to his death in 1186.

Life

The son of a priest, Ilya was himself priest of the Church of St. Blaise south of the Novgorod Kremlin. The church was rebuit in 1407, destroyed during the Second World War, and has been rebuilt again; it still stands today. It is believed that Ilya was his first monastic name, thus his baptismal name is not known.

Ilya was appointed bishop of Novgorod by Metropolitan Ioann of Kiev in 1165. [Michael C. Paul, "Episcopal Election in Novgorod Russia 1156-1478" "Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture" 72, No. 2 (June 2003),259.] He was the first to hold the title of archbishop in Novgorod after the office was elevated to the archiepiscopal dignity a few months later. That being said, Nifont (1130-1156) held the title as a personal honor.

Ilya carried out a number of construction projects in Novgorod along with his brother, Gavril (also known as Grigorii), who succeeded him as archbishop (1186-1193).

Ilya died on September 7, 1186 and is buried in the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom in the west gallery next to the Predtechenskaia Porch. [Arsenii Nikolaevich Nasonov, ed. Novgorodskaia Pervaia Letopis, Starshego i Mladshego Izvodov (Moscow and Leningrad, ANSSR, 1950), 31-38, 219-; See Robert Michell and Neville Forbes, The Chronicle of Novgorod, 24-33. See also Michael C. Paul, "A Man Chosen by God": The Office of Archbishop in Novgorod, Russia 1165-1478". Ph.D. Dissertation University of Miami 2003 ] He was originally buried below the floor in the Martirievskii Porch (where his brother is still buried), but his relics were later moved. [Valentin Lavrent'evich Ianin, "Nekropol Novgorodskogo Sofiiskogo sobora: tserkovnaia traditsiia i istoricheskaia kritika" (Moscow: Nauka, 1988); T. Iu. (Tatiana Iur’evna) Tsarevskaia, "St. Sofia’s Cathedral in Novgorod", D. G. Fedosov, trans. (Moscow: Severnyi Palomnik, 2005). This is an English translation of "Sofiiskii sobor v Novgorode". 2nd ed. (Moscow: Severnyi palomnik, 2005).] His relics were desecrated during the Soviet anti-religious campaigns on April 3 1919. [See the account online at http://scepsis.ru/library/id_736.html.] They are now in a new sarcophagus with a new sarcophagial effigy (from the 1990s) covering it.

Ilya was canonized at the Moscow Council of 1547. His feast day is September 7 (OS)/September 20 in the Gregorian Calendar.

Ilya in literature and art

Ilya appears in a number of medieval tales (some of them set centuries after his death) as the quintessential archbishop of Novgorod. (He is almost always referred to as Ioann in them). The most famous tale depicts him conquering a devil and forcing it to transform itself into a horse and fly him to Jerusalem and back in a single night. In Jerusalem, he took the measurements of the Holy Sepulchre. [The legend is available online at http://lib.pushkinskijdom.ru/Default.aspx?tabid=4994] This tale was developed to explain how a chapel matching the exact measurements of the Holy Sepulchre was established in the Cathedral. Ilya's monastic cell was kept in the archiepiscopal palace and transformed into a church several centuries after his death. The copper washing basin in which he is said to have captured the devil was shown to visitors at least into the early twentieth century.

Ilya is also depicted in the two fifteenth and sixteenth century Icons of the Battle of the Novgorodians with the Suzdalians housed in the Novgorod Museum and the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg. He is shown bringing the Icon of Our Lady of the Sign from the Church of the Transfiguration on Ilin Street to the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom during the Suzdalian siege of the city in 1169. The Mother of God is said to have saved the city at that time. He is also featured prominently in the tale that surrounds the event and the chronicle accounts of the siege. [The story is available online at http://lib.pushkinskijdom.ru/Default.aspx?tabid=4994]

Ilya is also depicted in a 19th Century wall fresco in the Pretechenskaia Porch of the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom.

References