Visualising the Middle Ages

Edited by

Eva Frojrnovic, University of Leeds (UK)

Editorial Board

Madeline H. Caviness, Tufts University (USA)

Catherine Harding, University ofVictoria (Canada)

Diane Wolfthal, Rice University (USA)

VOLUME 6

The titles published in this series are listed at brilLcom/vma

IIii

t1

Jerusalem as Narrative Space

Erzahlraum jerusalem

Edited by

Annette Hoffmannand

Gerhard Wolf

BRILL

LEIDEN'BOSTON2012

NIGHT FLIGHT TO JERUSALEM-A NARRATIVE FOR A FAR-AWAYHOLYPLACE

Anastasia Keshman

At the centre of this paper stands a medieval Russian narrative known asthe StoryofthejoumeyofArchbishopjohn ofNovgorodupon theDevll's backto jerusalem. This narrative is well known to Russian medievalists, butmuch less familiar to western scholars. This source, often examined throughfolkloristic and legendary (and therefore not historically Significant) lens­es, deserves, in my opinion, a closer assessment, not only within the frame­work of Russian literary studies, but also from a broader narratologicalperspective. In spite of the uniqueness of this narrative, its various textualparallels to different topoi can be presented, emphasizing its significanceto the miraculous traditions regardingJerusalem in the Middle Ages.

The relatively short story, about eight manuscript pages long, appearsas a part of the VitaofSaint John of Novgorod. Most ofwhat we know aboutJohn comes from his vita, but he is also mentioned in other historicalsources.'John (or Ioann in the Russian transcription, also known as Ilya­his monastic name) lived during the second half of the twelfth century inNovgorod the Great, an important centre in Northern Russia. He startedhis ecclesiastic career as a monk, later to become a priest in the church ofSaint Vlasius (Blasius) in Novgorod. In n6S, he was chosen as a bishop ofthat city and two years later, in n67, when Novgorod became an Arch­bishopric,John became its first archbishop. Before his death, John returnedto monastic life. He died in n86 and was buried as a monk in the CathedralofHagia Sophia in Novgorod. His relics, forgotten over the course of time,were miraculously rediscovered in the year 1439.John of Novgorod was

1 Archbishop John's name is mentioned a number of times in the First Chronicle ofNovgorod from n65 to n86; TheChronicle ofNovgorod,ed. by Robert Michell/Nevill Forbes(Royal Historical Society, Camden Third Series, 25), London 1914-For the historical contextofjohn ofNovgorod's tale and some possible connections to the medieval Russian pilgrimageto the Holy Land see esp. AlexanderVasilievich Nazarenko:,4pe61i.11RPyc« HaMe3KOyHapo()HbLXIIymJ!X: MeJ/C()ucljurl/luHapHble Oneptcu KplbmypHbLX, Topz06bLX, Ilonumunecxux CeJl3eUIX-XIIeeK06 (International Relations ofAncient Bus. The MultidisciplinaryStudies on theCultural; Commercial and PoliticalConnections ofRussia in the 9th-12th centuries) (Studiahistorica), Moscow 2001, pp. 634-635.

ANASTASIA KESHMAN NIGHT FLIGHT TO JERUSALEM 479

canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in a council of Moscow in

1547.2

Several editions of the vita ofJohn of Novgorod exist," The version thatincludes the miraculous stories about Saint john was probably a compila­tion of different earlier sources. The earliest version of the vita only in­cluded factual information aboutjohn's life and his main accomplishments.This original version was written in the fifteenth century, following thediscovery of the saint's relics. According to Dmitriev," two early copies ofthe text, from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, were very brief (andthe miraculous flight narrative was not included in themj.' However, anextended version of the vita had already been composed by the fifteenthcentury. The extended version contains three major additions to the orig­inal short text. The first is a story that recounts the battle between thepeoples of Novgorod and Suzdal, including a miraculous intervention ofthe icon of the Virgin on behalf of the Novgorodians." This story wasadded to the original text with no special title. The second story is John'snocturnal journey to Jerusalem upon the devil's back, and the third addi­tional story is the revelation of the saint's relics in the fifteenth century.These latter two stories were written as separate accounts: both have theirown titles and include a short introduction and closing paragraphs. Thethree stories added to the original vita can most likely be dated to after1439,when the saint's relics were discovered." (The passage translated hereis part of the extended version, from a manuscript dated to the end ofthefifteenth century),"

2 Oleg Viktorovich Tvorogov: 110aHH (l1.7Ib1I). apxaerracxon HOBfOP0,ll;CKlrii (Ioann [ilia],Archbishop of Novgorod. in: CnoeapeKHWlCHUKOB UKnuscnocmic/ipeeneiiPycu(DictionaryofScribesand Book-learningofAncient Russia). ed. by Dmitry Sergeyevich Likhachev, vol. I(nth - first half of the iath century). Leningrad Ig87, pp. 208-210.

3 Lev Aleksandrovich Dmitriev: iKHTHe l10aHHa HOBfOP0,ll;CKOfO (Vita of John ofNovgorod), in: ibid; vol. II (second half of the iath- 16th century), part 2, Leningrad Ig8g,pp. 514-517·

4 Ibid.5 The two earliest copies, probably made very closely to the original protograph, are:

Russian State Historic Archives. St. Petersburg, QfHA. cp. 834. on. 3,N°3933 (yean47g) andThe Library of the Academy of Sciences, Moscow, BAH,33.12-4 (ifith century).

6 There is a late 15th century Novgorodian icon, kept today in the Novgorod IntegratedMuseum-Reservation, depicting the battle of Novgorod and Suzdal (also known as the Iconwith the Miracle of the Virgin Orans), which represents the figure ofJohn the archbishop.see Byzantium Faith and Power (1267-1557). ed. by Helen C. Evans, New York/New Haven2004, pp. 155-157. cat. no. 7g.

7 Dmitriev iqxq (as in n. 3), pp. 514-517.8 See appendix.

The autonomous character of the additional stories has been inter­preted differently in Russian historiography. According to this interpreta­tion, although the first two additional stories (the Virgin's intervention inthe battle and the nocturnaljourney to Jerusalem) are not recorded beforethe fifteenth century, they nevertheless preserve an early oral tradition,and should be dated to medieval times, more precisely to the twelfth cen­tury,? Taking a cautious position, however, one should bear in mind thatthere is no concrete evidence for the existence of "one of the oldest Novgoro­dian legendst'? prior to the fifteenth century.'! This alluring assumption,uncontested in Russian historiography, must therefore be approachedcritically.

The original title of the story is long and descriptive: Thesecondstoryaboutthe sameGreatPriest]ohn, Archbishop ofNovgorodthe Great; onhowhegotfrom Novgorod to theCity of]erusaLem duringonenightand thencamebackto the GreatNovgorod duringthe same night,l2 The story can be sum­marized as follows: a demon came to temptJohn by entering his washingvessel. John heard him and caught him there by performing the sign of thecross.P The saint agreed to free the demon on one condition only: that thedemon would bring him to Jerusalem and back to Novgorod during thecourse of one night. The demon transformed himselfinto a horse and tookthe saint to Jerusalem upon his back. There the holy man prayed inside theChurch of the Holy Sepulchre, the doors of which opened by themselvesbefore him. Upon their return to Novgorod that same night, the demon

9 Serge Alexander Zenkovsky: MedievalRussia'sEpics,Chronicles, and Tales,NewYorkIg63, p. 261; Elena Ivanovna Maleto: AHTO.7IOlWl XOJKeHHH pyccxax nyTeweCTBeHHHKOBXII-XVsexa: HCC.7Ie,ll;oBaHIDI, TeKCTbl, KOMMeHTapHH (Anthology ofthe Accounts of RussianTravelers of the izth-igth centuries: Researches, Texts, Commentaries). Moscow 2005,pp. 386-388, esp. p. 388; Dmitriev Ig8g (as in n. 3), pp. 514-517; Nazarenko 2001 (as in n. 1),pp. 634-635. Still, the second story, the battle ofthe people of Novgorod and Suzdal, wasalso dated separately to the 1340S-1350S, DmitrieVlg8g (as in n.3), pp. 514-517;Tlausmuuxunumepamypu ZipeeneiiPycu; XIV-cepeiJuHaXVeexa (Literarymonuments ofthe OldRus,tath-middle 15th centuries), ed. by Lev Aleksandrovich Dmitriev/Dmitry SergeyevichLikhachev (IIaMHTHHKH znrreparypsr ,n;peBHeH PyCH, 4 [Literary Monuments of the OldRus, 4], Moscow Ig81.p. 583.

10 Zenkovsky igfig (as in n. g). p. 261.II Sometimes, the desire to prove the antiquity ofthe flight in the devil narrative lead

to an absurd way of argumentation. Nikolai Gogol's novel ChristmasEve (written between182gand 1832)was used as proofofthe prior existence of this topos in the popnlar oral Slavictradition of ancient times; Literarymonuments Ig81 (as in n, g), p. 584.

12 The translation ofthis episode is found in the appendix to this article.13 There is a copper washing vessel still kepttoday in the Novgorod Museum of History

and Culture, which is believed to be the original one that belonged to ArchbishopJohn­for its reproduction see Literarymonuments Ig81 (as in n. g). ill. 27 (not numbered).

ANASTASIA KESHMAN

threatened that should John tell of what had happened, he would be se­verely punished. Thoughjohn recounted the miraculous event in an indi­rect manner, the demon was angered and the saint was punished: he wascharged as having had a relationship with a woman (who was, in fact, ademonic delusion) and was consequently slandered as a libertine and bit­ten by the people. After performing a miracle that proved his innocenceby floating against the river's course, the people of Novgorod understoodthat they were wrong about the holy man, asked for his forgiveness andurged him to retum to his ecclesiastical position, which he did. John wasthen able to explain everything and told the whole miraculous story to hiscongregation.

This story about John stands out as unique. I do not know ofany exactparallel to it in other literary traditions. Yet some interesting parallels tosome of the central components of the Russian narrative can be offered.

I. THE DEMON IMPRISONED IN A VESSEL

The Russian story describes how the demon was caught and sealed insidea vessel by the holy man. By 1907, Dumovo, in his article "Legend on theImprisoned Demon in Byzantine and Old Russian Literature", had alreadyremarked that the topos of a demon held in a water vessel, which is foundin all the three monotheistic religions, originates from the Talmudic legendsabout King Solomon.l? The source of this tradition, although not Talmudic,is the Jewish text from Hellenistic times known as The Testament ofSolomonv: In this pseudo-biographical text, King Solomon recounts, in thefirst person, his ability to master and control the demons. The relevantepisode happens as follows:

And I said to him: Tell me by what angel thou art frustrated: And he an­swered:'ByIameth.'And I glorifiedGod I commanded the spirit to be throwninto a phial along with ten jugs of sea-water of two measures each. And Isealed them round above the marbles and asphalt and pitch in the mouth

14 Nikolai Nikolaevich Dumovo: Jlereazra 0 3aKmOQeHHOM Bece B BH3aHTHHcKoH HCTapHHHOH PyCCKOH JIHTepaT)'pe(Legend on the Imprisoned Demon in Byzantine andOld Russian Literature), in: ,4pe6Hocmu: Tpyou Clla6JlHCKOU KOMUCCUU MocxoecxoeoApxeonoeuuecxoeo 06Z!&ecm6a (Antiquities: Proceedings ofthe Slavic Commission oftheMoscowArcheologicalSociety), 4 (1)1907, pp. 54-152, esp. p. 54. I would like to thank OlgaKaraskova for her generous help with this bibliographical material.

15 For the editorial history of this text see Dennis C. Duling: Testament of Solomon:Retrospect and Prospect, in:Joumalfor the Study ofthe Pseudepiqrapha, 2, 1988,pp. 88-91.

NIGHT FLIGHT TO JERUSALEM

of the vessel. And having sealed it with my ring, I ordered it to be depos­ited in the Temple of God.I6

In his article, Dumovo stated that the Solomonic tradition was carried overto various stories about Christian saints like Marina or Conon, who man­aged to imprison a demon by evoking the name of Solomon.'? However,the Greek story about the monk Longin is especially important for thisdiscussion. In this particular story (also known from a fifteenth centuryRussian translationj'" the demon is not forced to enter the vessel againsthis will, but the saint merely noticed him there, and locked him in the ves­sel-as is the case in the story of'john of Novgorod. After a dialogue be­tween the two, in which the demon revealed all his methods for temptingnegligent monks, Longin freed the demon, sending him back to the fire ofhell. The demon exited the vessel "as a black snake" filling the saint's cellwith a smelly smoke.P According to Dumovo, the Longin narrative wasvery likely the direct source for this part of the Russian story about John;otherwise they refer to another common origin.s" Dumovo further pointsout that the demons sealed by King Solomon are also echoed in laterMuslim traditions, from which stories of genies bound to vessels areknown.s' These genies can take the form of black and smelly smoke-"and-more interestingly for us-the form of a saddle-horses" and a humanbeing.24 (For more on Muslim traditions, see below.)

16 Frederick Comwallis Conybeare: The Testament of Solomon, in: Thejewisn QuarterlyReview,TI, 1898/99, pp.1-45, esp. p. 34·

17 Dumovo 1907(as in n.14), pp. 55-56.18 The story is Greek in origin, the earliest copy known to Dumovo in 1907 was the

manuscript from the igth century (today in Moscow Historical Museum, Synod. no. 409);Dumovo 1907 (as in n.14), p. 55. Dumovo referred to four manuscript versions of Russiantranslation dated from the 15th to the 17th century; ibid; p. 61.

19 Ibid.,pp. 65-67. In the John of Novgorod story the demon is described as "darkness".20 The John of Novgorod narrative is the earliest Russian example of the legend of the

imprisonment of a demon in a vessel; Dmitrievrgdq (as in n, 3), pp. 514-517. The later Russianversion of the imprisonment of the demon can be found in the vita of Avraamii of Rostov;Dumovo 1907 (as in n. 14),p. 61.

21 In the "Thousand Nights and One Night" several stories told of genies, for examplethe story of the Fisherman and the Genie. It tells that the old man fished a copper jar outof the sea, which was sealed with Solomon's seal, and freed a genie from inside it.

22 Dumovo 1907 (as in n. 14),p. 59.23 In the ThousandNights and OneNight story of Hasan of Basra, three genies tumed

themselves into horses and, traveling on foot, took five riders on their backs.24 D.E.McDonald et al.: s.v,Djinn, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. II, Leiden/NewYork

1993,pp. 546-550;Toufy Fahd: Anges, demons et djinns en Islam, in: Genies, angesetdemons,ed. by Marcel Leibovici (Sources Orientales, 8), Paris 1971, pp. 155-214.

ANASTASIA KESHMAN

II. THE DOORS OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE OPEN BY THEMSELVES

The theme of the doors of the Holy Sepulchre opening by themselves infront of a holy person is found also in the tenth century vita of SaintNicholas, written by Simon Metaphrastes. The vita tells how the saint sailedto the Holy Land and saved the entire crew from certain drowning duringa storm caused by the devil. Having safely arrived in the Holy Land, SaintNicholas went straight to Jerusalem. The Holy Sepulchre was closed atnight, but the doors of the church miraculously opened themselves to allowthe holy man to enter and pray inside.25 The same motif is found in an­other account, a seventh-century vita of Mary of Egypt, but in negativerelief. The saint recounts how she was in the crowd and tried to enter theHoly Sepulchre on the day of the Holy Cross, but was stopped time andagain on the threshold by a mysterious force that prevented her from cross­ing the church's door, because of her sins. This, according to the vita, wasthe exact moment of revelation, in which the corrupt woman abandonedher sinful ways and became a saint.26

III. MIRACLE ON THE WATER-FLOATING AGAINST THE RIvER'S COURSE

The motif of the saint's victorious survival, by floating against the river'scourse, thus demonstrating his innocence and proving his holy status tothe disbelievers, concludes the story of John of Novgorod. This motif isfound in two other Russian vitae, those of the bishop Vasily of Ryazan andthe bishop lakov ofRostovP These men most probably lived in the four­teenth century. Their stories, therefore, are relatively late and cannot bethe source for this part of the story ofJohn of Novgorod. The line ofinflu­ence is very likely to be the opposite, that the miracle ofJohn ofNovgorodon the river influenced these two vitae. Still, all three stories could derivefrom a common literary source unknown to me.

25 BU3aHmUUCKUe neeendu (Byzantine Legends), ed. by Sofia Viktorovna Poliakova,Moscow 1994, p. 144.

26 Ibid; pp. 91-92 .

27 Georgii Fedotov: CBJIJ1lble ,4peBHeu Pycu (SaintsofOldRussia),Moscow 1991,p. 225.

NIGHT FLIGHT TO JERUSALEM

IV. THE MIRACULOUS FLIGHT TO JERUSALEM

This is the main theme of the story and the focus of this paper. Parallels tothe supernatural flight to Jerusalem exist not only in Christian sources, butalso in the Muslim and Jewish traditions.

A prototype for the miraculous journey to Jerusalem by means of ademonic force is, I suggest, already found in the Gospel. Christ is temptedby the Devil, who takes him from the desert to the roof of the Temple injerusalem.P' It is not clear how Christ was brought to Jerusalem, but in atleast one twelfth-century French Romanesque capital, found today in theMetropolitan Museum of Art, Christ i~ depicted as sitting on the Devil'sback, as if riding on him.29 The New Testament story could be the narrato­logical seed that sprouted in the Christian tradition, legitimizing the pos­sibility ofusing demonic power to bring a pious or holy person to pray inJerusalem.

A good parallel for this motifcan be found in the bookDiaLogus Miracu­lorum, by the preacher Caesarius of Heisterbach (c. u8o-c. 1240).30 In thefifth chapter, "On Demons", Caesarius recounts different incidents ofpeo­ple who did not believe in the existence of demons. In one ofthe incidents,he tells of a Lombard knight, Everhardus, who was brought to Jerusalemby a demon." Surprisingly, the demon in this story almost acts as a positivefigure. He does not plan to trick the man, nor has he any secret intentionto possess his soul. It almost seems that the demon volunteers to fulfil theman's wishes before his death. The demon finds out that Everhardus wish­es to separate from his wife and proposes that he take him to Rome on hishorse in order to get him papal approval for his divorce. Next, the demonasks the knight whether he would like to see Jerusalem, the city where hisLord was crucified and buried. At that moment the knight realizes that thefigure in front of him is a demon, but still answers positively: volaet desid­era. The knight is instantaneously taken by the demon over the sea toJerusalem, to the Holy Sepulchre, where he prays in front of the holy relics.Then the demon takes the knight and shows him various sites: his king, his

28 Luke4:I-13 ("The devilled him [Iesus] to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highestpoint of the temple") and Matthew 4:I-ll ("Then the devil tookhirn [Iesus] to the holy cityand had him stand on the highest point of the temple").

29 Lucy A. Adams: The Temptations of Christ. The Iconography of a Twelfth-CenturyCapital in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in: Cesta,28 (2), 1989, PP.130-135, fig. 3.

30 CaesariiHeisterbacensis Monachi Dialogus Miraculorum, ed. by Joseph Strange(Capitulum IV "De Daemonibus"), vol. I, Koln/Bonn/Brussels 1851,pp. 321-323-

31 See also Durnovo 1907 (as in n. 13), p. 61.

ANASTASIA KESHMAN

army, his enemy, a certain Sephadinus, as well as other places of which hehas always heard but never seen. This intriguing story, which criticizes thebreaking up of familial ties for journeying to far away places with papalauthorization, probably echoes oppositional voices, raised against theinfluential propaganda in favour of the Crusades. For the present discus­sion, however, it is only important to notice the resemblance betweenEverhardus' supernatural journey to Jerusalem and the miraculous flightof]ohn of Novgorod to the same city.32

The miraculous flight to Jerusalem is a rare topic in the Christian traditionbut, as we have seen, not unknown. Its role in the Muslim tradition, bycontrast, is much more prominent and, naturally, here I refer to Muham­mad's nocturnal journey to Jerusalem on the back of Al-Burak. The pointsofresemblance between Muhammad's flight and the Russian narrative onJohn of Novgorod deserve special attention.

Although it is not described in detail in the Our'an, according to theaccounts ofthe prophet's life and deeds, the Hadith, and the accompanyingcommentary literature, the Tafsir, Muhammad's night journey happenedas follows.v' One night the archangel Gabriel (Jibril) appeared toMuhammad and woke him up. Gabriel brought with him a miraculoushorse-like creature, winged and woman-faced, named al-Burak. On top ofthis horse Muhammad flew, according to the seventeenth Sura, fromMasdjid al-Haram (the Sacred Mosque) to al-Masdjid al-Aksa (the FarthestMosque). According to common Muslim tradition, these places were re­spectively identified as Mecca and the Temple Mount injerusalem.s? There,near the entrance to the Temple Mount, the prophet left his horse.(According to local Jerusalem tradition, the exact place where he tied al­Burak can still be seen). Muhammad met number of patriarchs and other,earlier prophets at the Temple Mount, such as Ibrahim, Musa and Isa (that

32 In the same source there is another story about a devil taking a man, during a partof a day, from India to Germany (not to the Holy Land): "Concerning Gerard, a Knight,whom the Devil Carried in a Moment from the Church of St. Thomas in India to His OwnCountry"; DialogusMiraculorum1851(as in n. 29), vol. II, pp. 131-133.

33 On Muhammad's flight see B. Schrieke et al.: s.v. Mi'rad], in: Encyclopaedia ofIslam,vol. VII, Leiden/New York 1993, pp. 97-105;Michael Sells: s.v,Ascension, in: Encyclopaediaofthe Qur'an, vol. I, pp.176-181;A. A. Bevan: Mohammed's Ascension to Heaven, in: Studienzur semitischenPhilologie und Relionsgeschichte. Festschrift]uliusWellhausen, ed. by KarlMarti (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 27), Giessen 1914,Pp·49-61.

34 Our'an; Sura 17=1: "Glory to (God) Who did take His Servant for a journey by nightfrom the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque".

NIGHT FLIGHT TO JERUSALEM

is Abraham, Moses, andJesus). This first part of his journey is described asa horizontal movement (from Mecca to Jerusalem) and is named Isra' (ajourney). Then the second part of the journey then began-this can bedescribed as a vertical ascension (from earth to heaven); this part is tradi­tionally named Mi'rag (an ascent). Muhammad ascended to the SevenHeavens, at the end of which he finally met God and held seventy thousandconversations with him. He also visited Paradise and Hell on this occasion.Finally, the prophet was returned to his original place in Mecca. The jour­ney was so quick that his bed was still warm and the water that he hadaccidentally spilled at the moment of his sudden departure was not fullyout of the overturned glass. After returning from his journey, he told thepeople of Mecca about it, but they did not believe him, since there weresome details that the prophet could not recall. God himself showedMuhammadjerusalem once again in his mind, thus allowing him to validatethe truthfulness of his story."

This Muslim tradition clearly shares some common features with thelater Novgorod tale: (1) the flight from a distant place to Jerusalem and backto the original place in one night on the back of a horse, initiated by a su­pernatural power; (2)the tying of the horse before entering the holy place;and (3)the mistrust of the people regarding the storyafter the return. Otherfolkloristic-like motifs in the Novgorodian tale also reflect Muslim litera­ture, in particular the description of the genie, as discussed above. Muslimliterary heritage could have come into contact with Russian culture at thetime of the Crusades, or during the long period of the Mongol invasions(since the Mongols partly adopted Islam in the late thirteenth century), oreven later, through contact with the Turks. Another possible avenue isEurope. In the thirteenth century, the narratives of Muhammad's nightflight and his ascension to the heavens were translated into Latin and OldFrench. The Book ofMuhammad's Ladder was known and copied inMedieval Europe." In fact, it is not impossible that there are clues in theNovgorod narrative itself indicating that the Muslim tradition could havebeen the one that shaped it. According to the Russian story, the miraculousnightjourneywas firsttold byJohn to his disbelieving listeners in the third

35 On Muhammad's flight in Art, see Marie-Rose Seguy: The Miraculousjourney ofMahomet,London 1977;Eva Baer: Visual Representations ofjerusalem's Holy Islamic Sites,in:]ewishArt, 23/24, 1997/98, pp. 384-392.

36 Reginald Hyatte: The ProphetofIslam in OldFrench. TheRomance ofMuhammad(1258) and TheBookofMuhammadsLadder (1264) (Brill's Studies in Intellectual History, 75),Leiden 1997. A widely debated assumption is that this very source served as an inspirationto Dante's DivineComedy; see, e.g., ibid.,pp. 25-27.

ANASTASIA KESHMAN

person, as something that happened to someone else ("I know one man,who during one night arrived [...] to Jerusalem-city [...] and that same nightreturned'T'? I would like to tentatively propose that this piece of the ac­count reflects the retelling of the Muhammad tradition on Russian soil.

The miraculous transportation of a man by divine intervention from a far­away place to Jerusalem is also known from Jewish sources. Regarding thistradition, Nisan has raised a possibility that Muhammad's nocturnal jour­ney is based on a Rabbinic translation exegesis in Aramaic, attributedperhaps to R Yonatan Ben Uziel from the Tannaitic period (late first-secondcenturiesj.s" This exegesis comments on Exodus 19=4, in which the ChildrenofIsrael are said to be taken by God on clouds, as "on eagles' wings", fromthe desert to the future location of the Temple in Jerusalem-in order tooffer the Passover sacrifice there-and were returned miraculously to Egyptin the same night.39

Another Jewish source is the sixth-century Midrash Qoheleth Rabbah(or Ecclesiastes Rabbah), which tells of Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa, who wastransferred from Galilee to jerusalem."? The sage wanted to bring his of­fering-a stone that he himself had carved and polished-to the temple,

37 The transformation of the positive miraculous creature AI-Burak to the evil demoncan also be supposed. Al-Burak's appearance as a winged horse with a woman's face couldhave been easily interpreted as a monster within Christian comprehension.

38 Mordechai Nisan: Note on a PossibleJewish Source for Muhammad's 'Nightjourney',in: Arabica, 47 (2).2000. pp. 274-277- I would like to thank Annette Hoffmann who broughtto my knowledge this source.

39 In Nisan's words: 'The Aramaic translation describes how God placed the Israeliteson clouds, as if on the wings ofbirds, and carried them from Pilusin, to be identified withRamses in Egypt, and brought them to the site of the Beit Mukdasha (Temple) situated inJerusalem. Thus, as the Yonatan Ben Uziel exegesis continues to explain, the Israelites werebrought to the Temple in order to slaughter the Passover sacrifice animal there, that samenight returning to Pilusin in Egypt. So the Israelites who were in the desert were broughtto Mount Moriah. where the Temple would later stand. and there offered the sacrificialPassover lamb on the altar; thence, they quickly returned that same night to Egypt"; ibid;p. 276. It is interesting to note that a similar Christian narrative exists: on the eve of theVirgin's death. the Apostles, who were already spread around the Ecumene to teach Christ'sword, were miraculously transferred on clouds to Jerusalem. to stand by Mary's deathbed­first recounted by Pseudo-Melito (early ath century); Bellannino Bagatti: Ricerchesull'iconografia della Koimesis 0 Donnitio Mariae, in: Liber Annuus, 25, 1975, pp. 225-253,esp. pp. 241-243.

40 Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:1. :1Ntl0i1 i1:l1 WliO ,(11'V) O'1nN' .l1:l.l'1:l1V ':lit 0i11:lNO'W'1' ,.l"J1Vn ,i1:l1 n?i1j? (Abraham Tzvi Steibnerger et al. (ed.), The Annotated MidrashRabbah: Qohelet Rabbah.jerusalem.agqg [Hebrew)).

NIGHT FLIGHT TO JERUSALEM

but was unable to do so since the stone was much too heavy to lift.41RabbiHanina sought assistance. First, he asked five labourers who said that theywould only help him in exchange for gold coins, but the poor man did nothave enough money. Then, five angels in human form agreed to help RabbiHanina on one condition-that he must lend them a hand. The momentthey touched the stone, allsix men found themselves standing in Jerusalemnear the Temple. Immediately after this, when Rabbi Hanina wanted topay to his helpers, he could not find them, for they had disappeared.Although this Midrashic tale does not describe an event that happened atnight, and no horse-like creature is involved, the motif of the miraculoustransportation to Jerusalem still corresponds well to the aforementionednarratives.

To summarize, it can be said that in all the stories mentioned above, ademon or an angel reveals Jerusalem to the eyes of man, with the aid ofsome superhuman figure. This immediately brings to mind the apocalypticrevelations of the Heavenlyjerusalem." In the BookofReveiation,John theEvangelist was lifted up in his spirit by an angel who took him to a greatand high mountain. From there, he saw the Heavenly Jerusalem, madefrom all sorts ofprecious materials. This Jerusalem of the End ofthe Daysis situated outside space and time, and not confined to the boundaries ofthe terrestrial world. The nocturnal flight emphasizes the non-physicalityof Jerusalem, since night-time is, in a sense, 'no-time', during which realgeography disappears and the scale of time becomes flexible (note thatMuhammad's flight to Jerusalem and his ascension to heaven took only asplit second in the earthly timeframe, and that John managed to fly toJerusalem from Novgorod, pray there and return home during a singlenight). In all the stories mentioned above, Jerusalem is not presented as areal and living city, but only as an emblematic essence represented by onearchitectonic compound, or even one building-the Holy Sepulchre struc­ture or the Temple Mount complex. Yet the miraculous accounts pre­sented in this study are not devoid ofhistorical context: they treatJerusalemas a focal point in the past and as the centre of the universe in the present.No matter how far away the tale's protagonist is located, he is aware oftheexistence of this city and feels the urge to visit it. The miraculous flights toJerusalem therefore stand between two major narrative traditions: the

41 Rella Kushelevsky: The Stone That 'Transports Itself. A Comparative Study of Songof Songs Rabbah (1,4) and The Dialogue on Miracles (8,63) byCaesarius of Heisterbach, in:Fabula.es (3).2003. pp. 237-254.

42 Another parallel in Jewish scriptures is the Book ofEnoch 39:3-13.

488 ANASTASIA KESHMAN NIGHT FLIGHT TO JERUSALEM

apocalyptic descriptions, on the one hand, and the pilgrims' detailed etin­eraria, on the other. The protagonist miraculously arrives injerusalem.butthe terrestrial Jerusalem, not the heavenly one. The goal of his journey isconcrete, even though the arrival was fantastic. As such, these storiescombine the pilgrims' experience, but at the same time they stand in obvi­ous contrast to their etineraria, which describe the long, tedious, anddangerous-but real and possible-ways of reaching and venerating theHoly Land and its various loca sancta.

APPENDIX

The translation of the text follows the late-fifteenth-century manuscriptfrom the National Library of Russia, Saint Petersburg." The previous par­tial English translation of the text (without the final passages) was madeby Zenkovsky in 1963.44 Unlike Zenkovsky's literary and sometimes inter­pretative rendering of the text, the translation 1offer here attempts to re­main close to the original.

The second story about the same Great Priest john (Ioann), Archbishop ofNovgorod the Great; on how he gotfrom Novgorod to the City ofJerusalemduring one night and then came back to the Great Novqorod during the samenight4 5

One should not keep silent about what God did regarding his priestJohn.It happens many times that God sends temptation to the saints in orderthat they be glorified and shine as gold, magnificently elaborated.'''Whosoever glorifies me'-said He-'I shall glorify himm

•4 6 For God ismarvellous through his saints; God himself glorifies his saints,"? As Christsaid: "Igave you power over the evil spirits'v'"

43 PHB, COJIOBeIJ,KOe cofip., N° 500 (519),fols. 200-203V., published in: Literary monuments1981(as in n. 9), pp. 454-463, p. 584 (text prepared and translated into modem Russian byDmitriev).

44 Zenkovsky 1963 (as in n. 9), pp. 261-264, no. 30. Zenkovsky's translation is based onNikolaj Kallinikovich Gudzy: XpeCTOMaTIDI no ApeBHeM pyCCKoM JIHTepaTYPe Xl-XVIIBeKOB(Areader for Old Russian Liter, nth-rrth century), Moscow 1955,pp. 207-209.

45 Zenkovsky's title translation: "The Story of GreatJohn, Archbishop of Novgorod theGreat; How, in One Night, He Was Taken from Novgorod to the City ofJerusalem, and ThenReturned to Novgorod the Great That Same Night", Zenkovsky igog (as in n. 9), p. 261.

46 1 Samuel 2:30: "For those who honor me I will honor".47 Psalms 68:35: "God is wonderful in His Saints [...J".48 Matthew 10:1; Mark 6:7.

One day the saint was saying his night prayers as usual in his bedcham­ber. There stood the washing vessel with water, from which he washedhimself. When he heard that someone was splashing in the water insidethis vessel, he approached quickly and realized that this was a demonicdelusion. And by carrying out a prayer, he sealed the vessel with the signof a cross and imprisoned the demon inside of it. The demon wanted toscare the saint but, since when falling upon a hard diamond one cannotquake the diamond, so he, the evil one himself, was trembled.

Unable to wait any longer the demon started to cry:"Oh,woe betide me!1am burned by fire and can suffer it [no more]! Free me quickly, oh servantofGod!"And the saint said: 'Who are you and how did you get here?" TheDevil said: "Iam the evil demon and 1came to confuse you, since I thoughtthat you, as a man, would be afraid and would stop praying; you, however,to my misfortune, imprisoned me in this vessel. And since 1am burned byfire beyond all bearing, woe is me, the damned! How was I tempted, howdid I come here, I cannot understand! And now free me, servant of God,and 1will never come here again!"

And then the holy man said to the evil one who kept crying: "Becauseof your impudence I order you: this very night take me from the GreatNovgorod to the city of Jerusalem and put me by the church where theHoly Tomb of the Lord is found, and from the city ofJerusalem that verysame night [bring me back] to my chamber, where you dared to enter.Then 1 will set you free". The demon promised in every possible way tofulfil the saint's wish, saying: "Free me, servant of God, I suffer ferociously!"

The saint adjured49 the demon, freed him and said: "May you be as asaddled horse, standing in front of my chamber, and 1will sit on you andfulfil my wish!" And the demon came out of the vessel as [a cloud of] dark­ness''? and stood up as a horse in front of the saint's chamber, just as thesaint had required. And the saint went out of the chamber, armed himselfwith a sign of the cross and sat upon him and the very same night he foundhimself in the city of Jerusalem, by the church of the Holy Resurrection,where the tomb of the Lord and a piece of the life-giving wood [i.e. Cross]are found. And he adjured the demon, [commanding him] that he shouldnot move from that place. And the demon stood still, unable to move fromthe place, as long as the saint was in the church of Holy Resurrection.

49 Zenkovsky 1963 (as in n, 9), p. 262: "without releasing the demon from the power ofthe cross".

50 Zenkovsky 1963 (as in n. 9), p. 262: "as a cloud of darkness", Dmitriev in Literarymonuments 1981(as in n. 9), pp. 514-515: "as a black smoke".

49 0 ANASTASIA KESHMAN NIGHT FLIGHT TO JERUSALEM 491

And [the saint] reached the church doors and he bent his knees andprayed; and the church doors opened up by themselves and the candlesand chandeliers in the church and those by the Tomb of the Lord lit up bythemselves. The saint thanked God in prayer, shed tears, bowed in frontof the Lord's Tomb, kissing it, and he acted similarly to the life-givingwood,and to all the holy images and places that were in the church. When hewent out of the church, having fulfilled his wish, the church doors closedby themselves. And the saint found the demon standing as a saddled horseon the same spot where he had commanded him [to stay]. And the saintsat upon him and found himself that very same night in his own chamberin Novgorod the Great.

And while leaving the saint's chamber the demon said: "John! I wasforced to take you from Novgorod the Great to the city ofjerusalem duringone night, and [back] that very same night from the city ofJerusalem toNovgorod the Great, because of your adjuration, to which, through ties, Iwas firmly held [so much so that] I could hardly bear it all. But you mustnot tell anyone what happened to me. Should you tell [it], I will put youthrough an ordeal. Then you will be judged as a libertine and will be lynchedand put on a raft on a river named Volchov", And when the evil one wastalking idly,the saint made the sign ofthe cross and the demon disappeared.

One day the saint was occupied, as usual, in spiritual conversation withpious abbots and with the most skilful priests and with god-fearing men,and he extended his teaching and was telling [them] saints' life-stories forthe sake of people. The saint's teaching was delightful to the people: hewas not lazy at all in teaching the people. Then, as if talking about someoneelse, he told [them] what had happened to him: "'I'-he said-'know oneman who went from Novgorod the Great to the city ofJerusalem duringone night, who bowed before the tomb of the Lord and then, that samenight, returned to Novgorod the Great". And the abbots, the priests andall other people wondered about this.

And from here on, with God's consent, the demon started to defame thesaint. People of that city saw a loose woman coming out of the saint'schamber many times: it was the demon changed into a woman. But thepeople, not knowing that it was a delusion [caused] by the demon, weresure that the woman was loose and theywere deceived by that. Ithappenedthat officials of the city, when entering the saint's chamber for blessing,saw a women's necklace, sandals and clothes lying there and they took itwrongly, did not know what to say.And all this was shown by the demon's

delusion in order that they would revolt against the saint and slander himunfairly and expel him.

And the people after consulting their officials decided: "It is unjust forthis kind of priest to be on the apostolic seat while he is a libertine: let usgo and expel him". It is this kind of person that David was talking about:"Let the flattering mouths be dumb, talking unjustly against the righteousman in arrogance and humiliation"_51 since they believed the demon'sdelusion, as the Jewish crowd believed.P

But let us return to our story.And when the people came to the saint's chamber, the demon came out

in front of the eyes of the people in the form of a maiden, running as iffromthe saint's chamber. And the people shouted to catch her but they couldnot, even after seeking her for long time.

And the saint, hearing the people talking by his chamber, went out tothem and said: 'What is the matter, my children?" And they told of every­thing that they had seen, and without listening to the saint's words, con­demned him as a libertine. And they took him by force and treated himviolently and, not knowing what to do with him next, decided: "Let us puthim on a raft on the river Volchov-so that he will float away from our citydownstream".

And so they leadJohn, the holy, and the chaste, and the great priest ofGod, to the BigBridge on the river Volchov, and they brought him down,and put him on a raft. And thus the evil Devil's plan was fulfilled. And theDevilstarted to rejoice over it, but Godlygrace overpowered, together withthe saint's faith in God and his prayers.

And when John, the priest of God, was put on the raft on the riverVolchov, the raft, with the saint sitting on it, started to float up the river,not pushed by man, over the river's rapid that is just by the Big Bridge,towards the monastery of Saint George.53 And the saint was praying aboutthe [people], saying: "MyLord!Do not blame them for this sin: they do notknow what they do!"54 And the Devil, looking at all this, was dishonouredand cried.

51 Psalms31::18: "Let the lying lips be mute, which speak insolently against the righteous,in pride and contempt".

52 Reminiscence of the judgement of Pilate and his conversation with theJewish crowd(Matthew 27:11-23).

53 Four kilometers from Novgorod-The Yurijev Monastery.54 Luke 23:34: [jesus from the cross] "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they

do" and Acts 7:60: "Lord, do not hold this sin against them".

492 ANASTASIA KESHMAN NIGHT FLIGHT TO JERUSALEM 493

And the people, seeing such a miracle, tore their garments to pieces andregretted, saying: 'We have sinned, acting unjustly-the sheepjudged theirown shepherd. Now we see that all this happened to us by demonic delu­sion!" And they went quickly to the great Holy Wisdom'" and they com­manded the holy council, the priests and the deacons to go up the bank ofthe river Volochov with crosses, to the monastery of Saint George and tobeg the saint to come back to his seat. The holy council quickly took theHoly Cross and the icon of the Holy Virgin, as it should be done, and wentalong the bank of the river Volchov after the saint, begging him to comeback to his seat.

And also the people, who had previously defamed the saint, went alongthe bank of the river Volchov toward the monastery of Saint George, beg­ging loudly: "Come back, honest father, great priestJohn, to your seat, anddo not leave your children orphans, and do not hold it against us that wesinned before you!" And they outstripped the saint and the procession ofthe priests [carrying] the True Crosses,and they stopped about halfa leaguebefore the monastery of Saint George, bowing their heads to the ground,begging the saint and shedding tears, saying this repeatedly: "Come back,honest father, our shepherd, to your seat! And our sin will be on us forev­er-we sinned in front ofyou and were tempted by the evil demon's delu­sion. As we ventured, we beg for your humble forgiveness, do not depriveus of your blessing!" And they said a lot more, begging the saint.

John was unhurriedly floating on the raft against the rapid, as ifhe wascarried respectfully and solemnly by some divine power, so as not to passthose who were walking with the True Crosses on the bank, floating sideby side with the priests and the deacons who were bearing the True Crosses.And when the holy council, with the True Crosses, had arrived at the placewhere the people [already] stood, together they started to beg the sainteven harder to return to his seat.

And the saint heard their begging, and he floated to the bank, as if hewas carried on air, and he stood up from the raft and went ashore. Seeingthat, the people were glad that they had succeeded in begging the saint toreturn and they cried about their sin in front of the saint, asking for hisforgiveness.

And he, his soul free of anger, forgave them all. Many fell down to hisfeet, shedding tears on his feet; others made the sign of the cross uponthemselves with the garment of the saint. And so to say, theywere pushingeach other in order to see the saint. And the saint blessed them. And so

55 Hagia Sophia cathedral in Novgorod.

John, the miracle-working bishop of God, went with [the procession of]the crosses to the monastery of Saint George, together with the holy coun­cil, while singing prayers. And a great multitude of people followed andexclaimed: "God, have mercy!"

And the abbot and the monks of this monastery did not know that John,God's bishop, was approaching the monastery. At that time at there wasone man at the monastery of Saint George, a fool who had received, byGod's grace, the gift of foresight. This man came quickly to the abbot ofthis monastery, knocking on his cell door, saying: "Goout towards the greatpriest of God,John, the archbishop of Novgorod the Great! For he is comingto our monastery!" The abbot did not believe and sent for confirmation ofthis. The messengers went out and learned from the people there what hadhappened with the saint, and they returned quickly and announced it allto the abbot. The abbot ordered the big bells to be rung.

And the monks of this great monastery gathered and took the TrueCrosses, and came out of the monastery to meet God's priest, John. Andthe saint, seeing them, blessed each one of them, went into the monastery,entered the church of the holy martyr-in-Christ, George, together with theabbot of this monastery, the entire holy council, all the ranks ofmonks andthe multitude of people. And after singing praises he returned to his seatin Novgorod the Great, with great honour.

Everything that had happened to him he recounted to the holy counciland to other people: how the demon wanted to frighten him, and how hewent to the city ofJerusalem from Novgorod the Great during one night,and all that had happened to him he told step by step, as described above.And the saint taught them: "My children! Before doing anything, check itfirst, this way you will not be misled by the Devil. For if not so, it might bethat Evil will be interwoven with Virtue, and then you will be guilty byGod's judgement: and it is horrible to fall into hands of the Living God!"

But about that we shall keep silent for the time being.The prince and the officials of that city, after consulting a great number

of people, erected a stone cross on the very spot on the river bank wherethe saint descended to the shore, and [the cross] stands there to this day,as a witness to this most venerable miracle of the saint, and as a sign to thepeople of Novgorod the Great that they should not dare to condemn andexpel their priest without justification.

494 ANASTASIA KESHMAN

For Christ spoke of his saints: "Blessedare the outcasts for the sake ofthe truth, since the heavenly kingdom is theirs!"56 And those who expelsaints unjustly-what will they answer [to that]?

56 Matthew 5:10:"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirsis the kingdom of heaven".