On November 9, the Orthodox Church honors the memory of St. Nestor the Chronicler. He is known as the compiler of The Tale of Bygone Years, the first Russian chronicle that tells the history of the Russian state and church.
Life of St. Nestor the Chronicler
The Monk Nestor was born around 1056 in Kyiv. As a seventeen-year-old youth, he became a novice of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery with the Monk Theodosius. He received tonsure from Abbot Stephen, successor of Theodosius. While staying in the monastery, Nestor served as a chronicler.
Painting by Vasnetsov “The Chronicler Nestor” 1919. Photo: Public Domain
Nestor died around 1114. He was buried in the Near Caves of St. Anthony of the Pechersk Lavra. A liturgical service in his memory was composed in 1763.
The Orthodox Church honors his memory on November 9 and October 11 - during the feast of the Council of the Reverend Fathers of the Kiev-Pechersk in the Near Caves, as well as on the 2nd Week of Lent, when the Council of all the Kiev-Pechersk Fathers is celebrated.
What is known about the chronicler’s works?
The first written works of Nestor the Chronicler were “The Life of Saints Boris and Gleb”, as well as “The Life of St. Theodosius of Pechersk”. His main work is considered to be the chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years,” written by him in 1113. Its full title is “This is the story of the bygone years, where the Russian land came from, who began to reign first in Kyiv, and where the Russian land came from.”
The Monk Nestor was not the only author of the Tale; even before him, his predecessors worked on collecting material. When compiling the chronicle, Nestor used Russian chronicles and legends, monastery records, Byzantine chronicles, various historical collections, stories of the old boyar Jan Vyshatich, traders, warriors and travelers. The merit of the Monk Nestor was that he collected, processed and presented to his descendants his historical work and presented in it information about the Baptism of Rus', about the creation of the Slavic charter by Saints Cyril and Methodius, Equal-to-the-Apostles, about the first metropolitans of the Russian Church, about the emergence of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery, about its founders and devotees.
Nestor's "Tale" has not been preserved in its original form. After the death of the patron of the Pechersk monks Svyatopolk Izyaslavich in 1113, Vladimir Monomakh became the prince of Kyiv. He came into conflict with the top of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery and handed over the chronicle to the monks of the Vydubitsky Monastery. In 1116, Abbot Sylvester of Vydubitsky redid the final articles of the Tale of Bygone Years. This is how the second edition of the work appeared. The Tale of Bygone Years has survived to this day as part of the Laurentian Chronicle, the First Novgorod Chronicle and the Ipatiev Chronicle.
(~1056–1114)
On the way to monasticism
The Monk Nestor the Chronicler was from Kyiv. We know nothing about the exact date of birth or the details of his childhood and youth. There is reason to believe that Nestor was born in the 50s of the 11th century.
At the age of seventeen, Nestor, wanting to connect his life with monastic work, appeared to two blessed fathers: St. Anthony (the founder of Russian monasticism) and St. Theodosius. Understanding the ascetics as the righteous of God, he humbly asked them not to drive him away, but to allow him to remain with them in obedience.
At this time, Anthony lived in a secluded cave, in sacred silence, pleasing God with unceasing heartfelt prayer. Theodosius was busy setting up a monastic monastery. By the providence of God, Nestor remained with the reverend fathers.
Even before his initiation into monasticism, he showed them a readiness to live a strict monastic life. Despite his youth and numerous difficulties associated with the weakness of the flesh, Nestor showed his fathers firmness in his desire to follow the path of salvation.
Through them he was sanctified and enlightened as through two great lamps of God. He zealously and resignedly fulfilled the obediences assigned to him, learning humility, meekness, fasting, vigil, heartfelt prayer and free poverty. Having the most sincere respect and love for his mentors, he fulfilled every word without complaint, with joy and trust.
Angelic Ministry
After the blessed death of Anthony (1073) and Theodosius (1074), he himself seemed to have died to the world.
From the abbot of the Pechersk monastery, Venerable Stephen, Nestor accepted the angelic image, and soon he was elevated to the rank of hierodeacon.
The monks of the Pechersk Monastery were famous for many virtues. Wanting to imitate the Redeemer, they willingly performed the most difficult daily feats. Some ate only raw or boiled grass, some labored in prayer vigils, some in prostrations. All of them were united by the fact that they unanimously remained in faith, hope, love, as befits the brethren of the Orthodox monastery.
Having adopted an angelic image (double: as a monk and as a deacon), Nestor became like the disembodied heavenly servants: with even greater zeal he began to please God with obedience and prayer, and began to increase Christian virtues in himself. At the same time, he did not hypocritically consider himself a sinner unworthy of God's gifts.
Engaged in ascetic work and experiencing Divine goodness through experience, Nestor did not deny the importance of theoretical knowledge. He valued godly books as a treasury of Truth and allegorically compared them to rivers flooding the universe. It is believed that his special obedience was the compilation of chronicles.
So, in the 80s of the 11th century, he recorded the life of his spiritual teacher,. But perhaps the most outstanding creative work of Nestor the Chronicler was the history of the development of the Russian land. It is believed that he completed this work by 1112-1113.
In essence, it included a complex of various legends, processed and presented in the form of a single integral work. Historical facts are closely intertwined in it with the history of the development of the Church. The history of Rus' itself is presented here as an important and integral part of world history. The fundamentality and clarity of the work reveals the author as a man of great learning and faith.
In 1091, the brethren, moved by the Holy Spirit, gathered together, led by the abbot, for a council, where, after consulting, they decided to dig up the relics of St. Theodosius, previously buried in a cave, and solemnly transfer them to the Pechersk Church. According to the word of the abbot, Nestor, having prepared the necessary tools, chose assistants from the brethren and headed for the burial of the saint. They said prayers and began to dig. They dug alternately, evening and night; however, it was not possible to get to the honest relics. And only when the bell was struck, at that very moment Nestor suddenly realized that he had gotten to the bottom of the relics.
This event itself was accompanied by a miraculous sign: the brethren in the monastery saw pillars of fire. The relics were reverently transferred to the prepared place. Subsequently, Nestor witnessed other miracles and signs performed by the power of God through this shrine.
The deeds of the great Russian princes / and the venerable father of Pechersk, who wrote the lives and miracles, / his own, the God-Wise Nestor, for the sake of many virtues, the name of many of you / was written in heaven, acquired, // pray for us to be written in the Book of Animals.
(memory September 28/October 11 (Cathedral of the Reverend Fathers of the Kiev Caves in the Near Caves (St. Anthony) reposing), October 27/November 9)
The Monk Nestor the Chronicler was born in the 50s of the 11th century in Kyiv, and at the age of 17 he entered the Kiev Caves Monastery. He was a novice of St. Theodosius. He received tonsure from Abbot Stephen, successor of Theodosius. With purity of life, prayer and obedience, the young ascetic soon surpassed even the famous Pechersk elders. He was ordained a hierodeacon.
His high spiritual life is indicated by the fact that he, along with other reverend fathers, participated in the exorcism of the demon from Nikita the Recluse, later the Novgorod saint (January 31), who was seduced into Jewish wisdom. The Monk Nestor is the compiler of the original history of our Fatherland, or chronicle, where he sets out, year by year, the legend about the beginning of the Russian land and the subsequent events of its history until the year 1100. In addition, he wrote the life of the holy princes Boris and Gleb, “The Legend of the First Pechersk Ascetics” and so on. Nestor reached a ripe old age and died peacefully around 1114.
The history of the country's cultural development can be symbolically represented by a list of the names of its great men. One of such symbolic names in Rus' has always been the name of Nestor the Chronicler.
At the age of 17, he came to the newly founded Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. Soon from his pen came a masterpiece of ancient Russian hagiography - “The Tale of Boris and Gleb,” the life of the first (at the time of canonization) Russian saints.
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Nestor can be called the first church historian to provide a theological substantiation of Russian history. It was he who compiled the famous chronicle - “The Tale of Bygone Years”. This work became his spiritual testament.
Thanks to this chronicle, our contemporaries learned about the creation of the Slavic charter, the first Christian church built in Rus', about Princess Olga - the first Russian saint, about the Baptism of Rus'.
On the first pages of his famous work, Nestor wrote: “Behold the tales of bygone years, where the Russian Land came from...”. Thus, the main purpose of creating the chronicle for the Reverend was to describe the formation of the Russian state. And until his death, he painstakingly and tirelessly devoted all his strength to his chosen service.
It is not easy to bear on your shoulders the service of a chronicler, who is entrusted with great responsibility before history and descendants. When you need to become an objective eyewitness, tell the truth, without confusing the facts, without expressing your opinion, but only conveying the story of the events as they actually happened. Along with the ascetic life of the saint, this service revealed the feat that Nestor humbly performed for the glory of God.
The Monk Nestor the Chronicler was born in the 50s of the 11th century in Kyiv. As a young man he came to the Monk Theodosius († 1074, commemorated May 3) and became a novice. The Monk Nestor was tonsured by the successor of the Monk Theodosius, Abbot Stefan. Under him, he was ordained a hierodeacon. His high spiritual life is evidenced by the fact that he, along with other reverend fathers, participated in the exorcism of the demon from Nikita the recluse (later the Novgorod saint, commemorated on January 31), who was seduced into Jewish wisdom. The Monk Nestor deeply valued true knowledge, combined with humility and repentance. “There is great benefit from the teachings of books,” he said, “books punish and teach us the path to repentance, for from book words we gain wisdom and abstinence. These are rivers that water the universe, from which wisdom comes. Books contain innumerable depths, we console ourselves with them in sorrows are the bridle of self-control. If you diligently seek wisdom in the books, you will gain great benefit for your soul. For he who reads books converses with God or holy men.” In the monastery, the Monk Nestor bore the obedience of a chronicler. In the 80s, he wrote “Reading about the life and destruction of the blessed passion-bearers Boris and Gleb” in connection with the transfer of their holy relics to Vyshgorod in 1072 (May 2). In the 80s, the Monk Nestor compiled the life of the Monk Theodosius of Pechersk, and in 1091, on the eve of the patronal feast of the Pechersk monastery, Abbot John instructed him to dig up the holy relics of the Monk Theodosius from the ground for transfer to the temple (the discovery was commemorated on August 14).
The main feat of the life of the Monk Nestor was the compilation of the “Tale of Bygone Years” by 1112-1113. “This is the story of bygone years, where the Russian land came from, who began the reign in Kyiv, and where the Russian land came from” - this is how the Monk Nestor defined the purpose of his work from the first lines. An unusually wide range of sources (previous Russian chronicles and legends, monastic records, Byzantine chronicles of John Malala and George Amartol, various historical collections, stories of the elder boyar Jan Vyshatich, traders, warriors, travelers), interpreted from a single, strictly ecclesiastical point of view, allowed the Monk Nestor to write the history of Rus' as an integral part of world history, the history of the salvation of the human race.
The patriotic monk sets out the history of the Russian Church in the main moments of its historical formation. He talks about the first mention of the Russian people in church sources - in 866, under the holy Patriarch Photius of Constantinople; tells about the creation of the Slavic charter by Saints Cyril and Methodius, Equal-to-the-Apostles, and the Baptism of Saint Olga, Equal-to-the-Apostles in Constantinople. The chronicle of St. Nestor has preserved for us a story about the first Orthodox church in Kyiv (under 945), about the confessional feat of the holy Varangian martyrs (under 983), about the “test of faith” by Saint Vladimir, Equal-to-the-Apostles (986) and the Baptism of Rus' (988). We owe information about the first metropolitans of the Russian Church, about the emergence of the Pechersk monastery, about its founders and devotees to the first Russian church historian. The time of St. Nestor was not easy for the Russian land and the Russian Church. Rus' was tormented by princely civil strife, the steppe nomadic Cumans ravaged cities and villages with predatory raids, drove Russian people into slavery, burned temples and monasteries. The Monk Nestor was an eyewitness to the destruction of the Pechersk monastery in 1096. The chronicle provides a theological understanding of Russian history. The spiritual depth, historical fidelity and patriotism of The Tale of Bygone Years place it among the highest creations of world literature.
The Monk Nestor died around 1114, bequeathing to the Pechersk monks-chroniclers the continuation of his great work. His successors in the chronicles were Abbot Sylvester, who gave a modern look to the “Tale of Bygone Years”, Abbot Moisei Vydubitsky, who extended it until 1200, and finally, Abbot Lavrenty, who in 1377 wrote the oldest copy that has come down to us, preserving the “Tale” of St. Nestor ( "Laurentian Chronicle"). The heir to the hagiographic tradition of the Pechersk ascetic was St. Simon, Bishop of Vladimir († 1226, commemorated May 10), the rescuer of the “Kievo-Pechersk Patericon.” When talking about events related to the life of the holy saints of God, Saint Simon often refers, among other sources, to the Chronicles of St. Nestor.
The Monk Nestor was buried in the Near Caves of the Monk Anthony of Pechersk. The Church also honors his memory together with the Council of Fathers, who rest in the Near Caves, on September 28 and on the 2nd Week of Great Lent, when the Council of all Kiev-Pechersk Fathers is celebrated.
His works have been published many times. Latest scientific publications: "The Tale of Bygone Years", M.-L., 1950: "The Life of Theodosius of Pechersk" - in "Izbornik" (M., 1969; parallel to the Old Russian text and modern translation).
