Avraamii Palitsyn

(before becoming a monk, Averkii Palitsyn). Died Sept. 13, 1626. Russian political figure and writer.

Avraamii Palitsyn was born into an old family of the service nobility. In 1588, during the reign of Fedor Ivanovich, he fell into disfavor and took monastic vows at the Solovetsk monastery. Returned from exile in 1600 by Boris Godunov, he became steward of the Troitse-Sergievo monastery (now Zagorsk) in 1608. He was in Moscow while it was under Polish siege. In 1610 he was a member of the delegation to the Polish king Sigismund III; through rich gifts, he got the king to confirm the rights of the monastery. In 1612, along with other leaders of the monastery, he actively aided the victory of the militia led by K. Minin and D. Pozharskii. He participated in the elected Zemskii Sobor (National Assembly) in 1613. In 1618 he directed the defense of the monastery against Polish troops. Because of the hostility of Patriarch Filaret, who had returned to Russia from Poland, in 1619 he was forced to go to the Solovetsk monastery, where he later died.

Avraamii Palitsyn’s work Legend, describing the events of 1584–1618, is full of factual material. It was written around 1620. It includes earlier works of Avraamii Palitsyn as well as six chapters written, perhaps, by Dionisii, the archimandrite of the Troitse-Sergievo monastery, around 1610–11 (in the opinion of P. G. Vasenko, around 1612–13) and edited by Avraamii Palitsyn. The evidence produced by Avraamii Palitsyn in his work illuminates the social causes of the events of the early 17th century. The theory of the divine origin of autocracy, the glorification of the Romanov family, and the idea of the immutability of the feudal structure run through his works. An important theme of his work was the concept of a patriotic struggle against foreign interventionists. In Legend, Avraamii Palitsyn shows a masterful grasp of figurative literary language and rhythm. His work was popular in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.