From the Iconoclast Dionysius to the Kutuzovs: The Synodic of the Ferapontov Monastery from the Beginning of the 16th Century

Abstract

This article presents a comprehensive analysis of a Synodic from the late 15th—early 16th centuries. This manuscript is housed at RGADA (F. 181, Op. 1, D. 539) and is one of the oldest surviving Russian medieval monastic memorials. A conducted source-critical study, an examination of the structure and composition of the families commemorated, as well as a comparison with the 1641 memorial of the Ferapontov Monastery, showed that the manuscript from RGADA dating from the late 15th to early 16th century — is a synodic compiled at the monastery of Ferapont and Martinian of Belozersk in 1502. Subsequently, throughout the first third of the 16th century (primarily the first two decades), the synodic was used at the Ferapontov Monastery, and additions and new entries were made to it. An analysis of the handwriting and the composition of the entries indicates that an earlier memorial book existed, the text of which was included into the original text of the synodic from RGADA. Later, in the middle of the 16th—beginning of the 17th century, another synodic was used at the Ferapontov Monastery, only to be replaced by the memorial of 1641, now held in the Russian National Library. Some of the folia of the manuscript under study were already mixed up by the time the next synodic was compiled, a fact reflected in the arrangement of the texts of the later synods of the Ferapontov Monastery. An examination of the composition of the commemorated families allowed us to identify the new historical facts. For example, the death of Grigory Mamon, a chamberlain close to Ivan the Third, occurred after the death of his sons and nephews; Prince Ivan Vasilyevich Romodanovsky outlived his daughter, Princess Maria Romodanovskaya; Fyodor Vasilyevich Basenok, after the death Vasiliy the Second, was blinded and lived out his life in the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery. Based on an entry in the synod of the Ferapontov Monastery, his monastic name—Theognost—becomes known. The memorial lists landowners from Belozero (the Princes of Belozero, the Monastyrevs, and the Ontonidins), residents of Vologda (the Saraevs and the Chashnikovs), residents of Kargopol, and residents of the Dvina District. However, the majority of the names are those of Moscow officials and grand ducal clerks. Thus, as early as the end of the 15th century, the Ferapontov Monastery had achieved all-Russian status and significance.

DOI: 10.31168/2305-6754.2026.1.05