Architecture and archeology seminar at the State Hermitage Museum

On 25 February, 2003, the State Hermitage Museum hosted the roundtable meeting at which was presented the book Studies on Ephraim of Pereyaslavl by D.G. Khrustalev, published in 2002 in St. Petersburg by Eurasia Publishing Group. Guests from academic institutions of St. Petersburg attended the event organized by the Hermitage Department of Architecture and Archeology.

Ephraim of the Caves (died ca. 1098) is one of the pivotal figures of Russian history in the latter part of the 11th century. He was monk of the Cave Monastery in Kiev, Metropolitan (about 1073 or 1077), then Bishop of Pereyaslavl (from 1091). “One of the first monks at the Caves, he had to flee to Byzantium because of a conflict with Kievan King Izyaslav Yaroslavich, subsequently returning to Russia as a Hierarch (Metropolitan) and pursuing in the early 1090s a policy which is sometimes called ‘pro-Western’,” says D.G. Khrustalev in his book. “This was a transitory epoch for the country in many respects: Russian literature was being born, first chronicles were written, national architecture began to appear, regional styles in fine arts were developing, economy was thriving, new towns were founded and secular and ecclesiastical organization was undergoing changes.”

Metropolitan Ephraim of Pereyaslavl played a key role in these processes. He brought from Constantinople the Studite Typicon, a collection of disciplinary and liturgical precepts put together by St. Theodore of Studium (8th century). Ephraim of Pereyaslavl authored a number of texts celebrating St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and introduced in Russia the western feast of the translation of his relics from Myra in Lycia to Bari. As the commissioner of many churches, Ephraim took part in the creation of the original architectural school of Pereyaslavl.