Travel Motifs in Old Russian Literary Sources About the Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga and Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir

Abstract

The article for the first time pays attention to the motifs of the journey in the corpus of Old Russian literary sources about the Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga and the Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir. The author explicates two types of such motifs: the motive of the actual journey, expressed in the journey to the Byzantine lands in order to receive baptism, and the motive of the spiritual journey, representing the inner aspiration of the saint to God. Based on the study of sources of hymnographic, hagiographic, and chronicle nature, such as the service to the saint, church lives, «The Tale of Bygone Years», «The Sedate Book of the Royal Genealogy», «Chet'i-Minei» of St. Demetrius of Rostov and others, it is concluded that the motifs of the journey from medieval monuments to monuments of the 16th  century and later period are increasing.