Where Susanin died. What is Ivan Susanin famous for? Biography, feat and interesting facts. The cult of Ivan Susanin during the Russian Empire

His feat is truly heroic, however, unfortunately, little is known about the national hero. Since when the feat was conceived, they were the least concerned about TRUTH: when the country orders to be a hero, ANYONE becomes a hero in our country.
Modern praises of feats are not far from the ancient science fiction writers:
"After the death of Ivan the Terrible, a time of great turmoil began in Russia. Famine, the invasion of Poles, impostors on the Russian throne.
The militia of Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky managed to knock out the Poles from Moscow, liberate the Russian Land from the invaders.And at the same time: "Polish troops for a long time they wandered the Russian land.
It became clear to some at the general Zemsky Sobor that boyar Mikhail Romanov would become the new tsar. The Poles found out about this and decided to find the future king.
"The tsar at that time was in Domnina - the patrimony of his mother. The Poles went to the village. The area is swampy, and all around the militia. What to do? The Poles took the local residents (militias?) And, threatening reprisals, forced them to show them the way."
One of the “guides” was Ivan Susanin. For a long time he led the Poles through forests and deaf paths, as a result, the detachment went to the Isupovsky swamp. The guide killed himself and the Poles.
This is the main thing:How can you get lost IN WINTER?... It was that there were absolutely YOUNGS - blind people or kaliks - pedestrians - who went to beg for alms from the FUTURE king? Or were they all the same grown-up people, well-armed, able to navigate both in the forests and in the steppes? And sane enough to come back IN OWN TRACKS BACK !!!

The question is: how did the folk hero know that "the Tsar was at that time in Domnina - the patrimony of his mother," I do not put it - because in those distant times, any "simple peasant" easily ran to have tea with the Tsar - and deftly sorted out his ideas from him - where he was going be..

"He laid down his life for the Motherland, for the Tsar and for the Faith. Ivan understood that if Mikhail Romanov was killed, then ..." instead of him, a new one would be immediately chosen - a holy place is never empty.

Susanin's feat really took place in the textbook of Russian history. This is confirmed by the following facts. Grasping what a helluva lot of fantastic story, Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov in 1619 handed Susanin's son-in-law, Bogdan Sobinin, a Certificate of Merit, freed the offspring from duties, and also awarded an allotment of land.
Rewarding real heroes - thousands and thousands of peasants who really fought with the Poles - is very expensive. So there will not be enough land. And then we managed to reward only one - invented. And the wolves are fed, and the sheep are safe.
But I agree that Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich, Ivan Susanin are examples of courage, resilience and heroism, simple men who gave their lives for the benefit of their compatriots.

In addition to the article about Suzdal, another piece of mine came out - about a small trip to the Susanin places. It was written in a format close to travel notes, so I will publish it in my journal, accompanied by my own photographs from this trip.

Get lost on the Susanin trail / "Rest in Russia", No. 2 (75), March 2014

The name of Ivan Susanin is familiar even to schoolchildren in our country. But how many people know where the swamp into which he led the Poles is located, and what they were doing there? In search of answers to these questions, Pavel Chukayev pretty much wandered around the Susanin places, but nevertheless returned home safely to tell the readers of Otdykh v Rossii about this.

The way from Kostroma to Susanino in slushy winter weather cannot be called pleasant. The quality of the road surface leaves much to be desired, from under the wheels of cars rushing by, dirt constantly flies, forcing to spend almost liters of windscreen washer. Involuntarily, you begin to sympathize with the Poles, who were brought here by a difficult four centuries ago.

The district center of Susanino appears on the horizon after about an hour's journey - it emerges somehow immediately and suddenly - to the left in front, across the river. In the center of the panorama very soon there is a five-domed church with a hipped-roof bell tower, the outlines of which may seem familiar to many. Do not be surprised - you really, most likely, saw the Resurrection Church of the end of the 17th century more than once - of course, not alive, but in the painting by Alexei Savrasov "The Rooks Have Arrived". The outstanding Russian landscape painter created his main work right here - though not in Susanino, but in Molvitino - this is what the village was called until 1939. You will hardly be able to find the angle from which Savrasov wrote his Rooks in modern Susanino - most likely, while working on the picture, the artist very freely rethought the landscape that was opening up to his eyes.

Despite its name, the regional center has no direct relation to the legendary feat of Ivan Susanin - the historical events of the end of the Time of Troubles unfolded about ten kilometers from here - in the vicinity of Domnino. Nobody cleans the "lapel" to this village to the asphalt, so the road is much cleaner and more picturesque. Domnino himself meets travelers with a neat white-walled church with graceful blue domes, but on the whole outwardly differs little from thousands of other Russian villages.

The only difference is in the historical content. According to the canonical version of Russian history, at the end of winter - early spring of 1613, the founder of the Romanov dynasty, Mikhail Fedorovich, was just elected to the kingdom and did not even know about it in Domnino, the ancestral domain of his mother. The church at the entrance to the village stands exactly at the place where at the beginning of the 17th century the estate house of the Shestov boyars was located, from whose family the mother of the newly elected sovereign came. In addition, according to one of the versions, it is on the territory of the temple that the grave of the most famous Russian guide and concurrently national hero Ivan Susanin is located.

Susanin was also from Domnino and, as we know from jokes, had leadership qualities and the ability to lead people. By 1613, however, he already lived in Derevenki - a settlement a couple of kilometers from Domnino. Apparently, it was there that Susanin met the Polish detachment, scouring the Kostroma outback in search of the newly elected Russian sovereign. Realizing that a meeting with lost Polish "tourists" does not promise Mikhail Fedorovich anything good, Susanin sent his son-in-law to Domnino with alarming news, and he himself, promising to show the uninvited guests the way there, led them in exactly the opposite direction.

In contrast to the well-preserved Domnino, only a small brick chapel, built for the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, reminds of the existence of Derevenki these days - sort of like on the very place where Ivan Susanin's hut stood. The chapel can be seen from the road that leads here from Domnino. Another couple of minutes of driving along the "highway" of densely packed snow, and the next fork meets us with an unusual road sign. That is, the pointer looks quite usual - white letters on a blue background - everything is in accordance with GOST, only the inscription on it is non-standard: "The place of the feat of I. Susanin." And the main thing - no arrows that set the direction of movement. And around only a snow-covered forest, snowdrifts - and not a soul. In general, a bit mystical place - you will not envy a motorist who, having lost his way, will find himself in front of this sign. Worse, perhaps, is the only billboard warning that you have entered the territory of the "Bermuda Triangle".

Going over the goose bumps, we decide to turn right and very soon we run into a huge boulder standing on the edge of the cliff, from which an impressive view of the Isupovskoe bog overgrown with small forests with an area of \u200b\u200babout two thousand hectares opens. The boulder is covered with a layer of frost from bad weather, through which another laconic inscription appears: “Ivan Susanin. 1613 ". This memorial sign was installed here in the late 80s, when the 375th anniversary of Susanin's feat was celebrated in the country. Then an asphalt road was laid here. They say that local residents are still grateful to their famous fellow countryman for this no less than for saving the tsar from the Poles.

As soon as we got out of the car, a colorful grandfather in felt boots, a cap with earflaps and a luxurious mustache curled upwards floated out from behind the stone. The spitting image of Susanin, we decided. "You just don't leave trash after yourself!" - the first thing he warned. It turned out that it was one of the elderly residents of Dominna who chose himself to be responsible for keeping the historical place clean and now he walks here every day on duty.

“Vooon there Susanin died,” our new acquaintance pointed at a red pine tree in the middle of the swamp and held out his army binoculars so that we could better see it. A 2.5-kilometer trail through the swamp is laid out with boards to the pine tree. The descent to it begins right behind the memorial stone. Is it worth it to go into the swamp without a guide (especially in winter) - decide for yourself. But remember that given the historical background, hiring a local guide is also not a good idea. Although, they say, in fact, for tourists here they arrange whole theatrical programs. Sightseers rush along the wooden walkways into the depths of the swamp after the mummer Susanin, and the group is closed by an escort dressed as a Polish nobleman, who periodically asks Susanin if he has forgotten the way.

If, unlike the Polish pioneers, you are lucky to return safely from the Isupovskiy bog, on the way back you can still stop by the regional center and visit the museum of the feat of Ivan Susanin. Moreover, it is located in the very church that is depicted in the painting "The Rooks Have Arrived." The exposition of the museum tells not only about the feat itself, but also about the cult of Susanin, the perpetuation of his deed in art (one of the most interesting exhibits is a music box in working order playing a fragment of Glinka's opera "A Life for the Tsar"), and about the followers of the "guide" -patriot.

The museum contains the stories of more than fifty people who, in different years and wars, repeated the feat of Susanin. For example, in August 1919, the Altai peasant Fyodor Gulyaev not only brought 700 Kolchak cavalrymen into the swamp, but also managed to get out of this alteration safe and sound. For this feat, the revolutionary received a silver watch and a saber from Lenin's hands, and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, by a special decree, gave him an honorary name - Susanin.

P.S. It is curious that the Susanin-Molvitinskaya land gave our country another king-rescuer - the nodding master Osip Ivanovich Komissarov, a native of Molvitin. On April 4, 1866, he withdrew his hand with a pistol from the terrorist Dmitry Karakozov who attempted to kill Emperor Alexander II near the Summer Garden in St. Petersburg. For this he was elevated to the hereditary nobility with the surname Komissarov-Kostromskaya, and in Molvitino until 1917 there was even a monument to him.

WHERE IS THE GRAVE OF THE SUSANIN?

It would seem, what kind of grave can there be for a person who died either in a swamp, or in the middle of a thicket? However, the question of the place of burial of Ivan Susanin has excited the minds of scientists for several centuries. According to one legend, the national Russian hero was buried in the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma, according to another version - his remains were buried near the church in the village of Domnino. But in 2003, a group of archaeologists discovered fragments of the remains, presumably belonging to Susanin, at the site of a necropolis in the village of Isupovo, after which the swamp is named, which was considered the place of death of the Polish detachment and its selfless guide.

HOW CAN I GET TO

Susanino is located 64 kilometers north-east of Kostroma along the P-99 highway. To get to the Isupovsky swamp, you need to drive along this road for another 3.5 kilometers and turn right onto a country road in the direction of the village of Domnino. The sign "Place of Ivan Susanin's Feat" will appear about 3 kilometers after this settlement. In the absence of personal transport in Susanino, you will most likely have to take a taxi. The very same regional center from Kostroma can be reached in an hour and a half by buses (buses to Bui are also suitable), which run every 30-40 minutes.

WHERE TO STAY

Kostroma is not only the capital of the region, but also the city of the Golden Ring, so the choice of accommodation options here is quite wide. One of the most luxurious hotels - Azimut (from 3600 rubles for a double room) - is located in the southern part of the city and has its own bath complex. In the historical center, you should pay attention to the Kostroma business hotel (from 2800 rubles). Another interesting option is the Ostrovnoy Pryhal boutique hotel (from 1300 rubles), located on a floating landing stage on the Volga. You can also choose accommodation outside the city - for example, in the park-hotel "Berendeyevka" (from 1000 rubles), separate wooden houses of which are located just on the way to Susanino.

WHAT TO Bring

Despite the rich history and tourist attraction of Susanino, travelers are unlikely to be able to "profit" here with something other than a magnet on duty in the museum of Ivan Susanin's feat. Another thing is Kostroma, where all kinds of nesting dolls, bells, whistles and products made of wood and birch bark are presented in abundance. The region is also famous for the Peter's clay toy and for its dairy products - primarily the Kostromskoy and Susaninsky cheeses.

Not a single royal dynasty came to the throne so extraordinarily as the house of the Romanovs. This remark belongs to the famous writer Ivan Gogol, who, not without reason, believed that the feat of Ivan Susanin inextricably linked the tsar with his subjects. What is known about this incident, significant for the history of Russia?

Volkov Adrian - picture Death of Ivan Susanin

Due to the limited source base, the biography of Ivan Susanin is the subject of historical controversy. The only documentary source about his life is the diploma of Mikhail Fedorovich in 1619. It talks about giving Susanin's son-in-law half of the village with the deliverance from all taxes and duties, while the folk hero is mentioned rather briefly. The rest of the data on the life of this person are legendary.

It is generally accepted that Ivan Susanin was born in the village of Domnino, 70 miles away from Kostroma. According to one version, he was a serf peasant of the Shestov nobles, according to another, he served as a patrimonial headman. It is known that he had a daughter, Antonida, and a son-in-law, Bogdan Sabinin.

The above-mentioned royal charter says that in the winter of 1613, the newly elected Tsar Mikhail Romanov lived with his mother Martha in the village of Domnino. At that time, the Troubles turned from a civil war into a struggle against the interventionists from Poland. The gentry decided to seize the newly elected tsar, for this purpose a small Polish-Lithuanian detachment went to Domnino.

On the way, the interventionists met the peasant Susanin, who was ordered to show the way to the village. But he led the detachment in the opposite direction, and sent his son-in-law Bogdan to Domnino to warn the king and his mother of the impending danger. Susanin led the Poles deep into the forest, and then to the Isupovsky swamp, for which he was tortured and killed. It is assumed that at that time this person was already in old age. In impassable terrain, the enemy detachment also died. At this time, Mikhail Romanov took refuge in the Ipatiev Monastery.

After 6 years, the tsar thanked the relatives of the peasant who saved him by giving them land and exemption from taxes. The death of Ivan Susanin was not forgotten even later. The descendants of the national hero repeatedly received letters of commendation and preferential decrees until 1837.

The cult of Ivan Susanin during the Russian Empire

In tsarist Russia, the image of Ivan Susanin was the subject of a cult. Paintings, sculptures, musical and literary works were dedicated to his feat. It was his name that official propaganda actively used during the suppression of the Polish uprisings and the war of 1812.

In 1838 the central square of the city of Kostroma was officially named Susaninskaya. In addition, the hero was depicted among other prominent historical figures at the monument "Millennium of Russia" (1862). Propaganda had its effect, two centuries later, what Susanin did was to some extent repeated by Osip Komissarov, who saved Emperor Alexander II from death. Interestingly, Komissarov was born near the native village of Susanin.

Nevertheless, it was in pre-revolutionary Russia that the first criticism of the official version of the feat was voiced. So, the historian N. Kostomarov believed that the only reliable fact in the entire history of Susanin was his death from one of the robber groups in the Time of Troubles. S. Soloviev was also known for critical reviews of this story, who believed that the peasant was tortured to death by the Cossacks.

supposed place of death

During the Soviet era, the initial attitude towards Susanin was negative. So, in 1918, the monument to Ivan Susanin was thrown from the pedestal. The folk hero began to be called the royal servant, and the feat for which he became famous was a fairy tale.

Attitudes changed dramatically in the late 1930s. He again entered the list of folk heroes. The regional center, next to which Susanin once lived, was renamed in his honor. At the same time, the version spread that he was a "patriot of the Russian Land" who fought against foreign invaders, and did not save the tsar. In the 60s of the last century, a monument to Susanin was even erected in Kostroma.

In post-Soviet Russia, Susanin's personality is interpreted in two ways. Most historians continue to call him a folk hero, while admitting that vassal loyalty rather than patriotism prompted him to feat. There are also several versions of how the events took place. For example, A. Shirokopad believes that Susanin suffered from the predatory raid of the Zaporozhye Cossacks.

• In some publications, Susanin is credited with the patronymic Osipovich. However, there is no mention of this in the sources, in addition, in the 17th century, it was not customary to call peasants by patronymic.
• In Soviet times, the peasant Matvey Kuzmin was no less famous than Susanin. In 1942, at the cost of his own life, he led a German detachment under machine-gun fire from Soviet soldiers. The enemy squad was destroyed, but the German commander managed to kill Kuzmin. After the end of World War II, a book appeared describing the exploits of 58 "followers" of Susanin.

In 2003, in the necropolis of the village of Isupovo, remains were discovered that may belong to Susanin. However, professional archaeologists and historians dispute their authenticity.

Arseny Zamostyanov tells about Ivan Susanin, his feat and the significance of this story for the Russian statehood.

Feat of Ivan Susanin

Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich began the three-hundred-year reign of the Romanov dynasty - and this happened after a dashing, shameful decade of turmoil.

“Not a single royal house began so extraordinarily as the house of the Romanovs began. Its beginning was already a feat of love. The last and lowest subject in the state brought and laid down his life in order to give us a tsar, and with this pure sacrifice he has already tied the sovereign to the subject inextricably "- these are the words of Gogol.

This last subject is the peasant Ivan Osipovich Susanin, a key figure in the autocratic ideology. Remember the triad of Count Uvarov - "Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality"? The Minister of Public Education formulated it in the 1840s, but in historical reality this ideology has existed for centuries. Without her, it would be impossible to overcome the turmoil. This very "nationality" was personified by Ivan Susanin - a peasant from the village of Domnina, which is seventy miles from Kostroma, a serf of the Shestov nobles. The nun Marfa Ivanovna, she - Ksenia, the wife of the boyar Fyodor Romanov and the mother of Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich - in her girlhood bore the surname Shestov, and the village of Domnino was her fiefdom.

The name of Ivan Susanin in Russia is known to everyone, but only fragmentary and vague information about his life has survived. The Orthodox - especially the Kostroma people - venerate the hero, but in response to the age-old question about canonization, it sounds reasonable: “We need to study, research the biography of the martyr. We need to learn more about him ... ”.

Official version

How was it? Let's turn to the official version - on which all the Romanovs were brought up.

In February 1613, a Polish detachment scoured the Kostroma region in search of Mikhail Romanov and his mother, nun Martha. They intended to capture or destroy the real Russian claimant to the Moscow throne. Or maybe they wanted to seize him in order to demand ransom. According to legend, which was passed down from generation to generation in the Domnino parish, the future tsar, having learned about the approach of the Poles, fled from the village of Domnina and ended up in settlements, in the house of Susanin. The peasant regaled him with bread and kvass and covered him in the barn pit, throwing firebrands and burnt rags at it.

The Poles ran into Susanin's house and began to torture the old man. He did not betray Mikhail. The Poles did not manage to find him with the dogs: the embers interrupted the human smell. The drunken enemies hacked Susanin to pieces and galloped away. Mikhail got out of hiding and, accompanied by the peasants, went to the Ipatiev Monastery.

Another interpretation of events is better known. Not far from Domnin, the Poles met the village head Ivan Susanin and ordered him to show the way to the village. Susanin managed to send his son-in-law - Bogdan Sabinin - to Domnino, with instructions to equip Mikhail Romanov to the Ipatiev Monastery. And he himself led the Poles in the opposite direction - to the swamps. He was tortured and executed - but it was Susanin's feat that allowed Mikhail to get to Ipatievsky unharmed.

Susanin was buried first in his native village, and after a few years the ashes were transferred to the Ipatiev Monastery, which became a symbol of the salvation of the dynasty. True, this version is often questioned - there are several alleged graves of Ivan Susanin. And ten years ago, archaeologists (not for the first and probably not for the last time) discovered the place of Susanin's death ...

In a word, a secret shrouded in a secret. Even the day of the hero's memory has not been established. The most probable date of feat and death is February 1613, 400 years ago ... Before the revolution, honor was brought to the savior of the first royal Romanov on September 11, on the feast of the Beheading of the head of the Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John. A special funeral commemoration of the national hero was performed. This tradition was revived in the 21st century.

The late His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II addressed the legendary hero's fellow countrymen: “Kostroma, for several centuries called the“ cradle of the Romanovs' house ”, overshadowed by the All-Russian shrine - the miraculous Feodorovskaya icon of the Mother of God - was of particular importance in the events of 1613, which marked the beginning of overcoming the Time of Troubles. An appeal to the memory of Ivan Susanin is seen by Us as a good sign of the spiritual revival of the Kostroma region and all of Russia. Remembering with love our visit to the places of life and deeds of Ivan Susanin in 1993, now with all the Kostroma flock, We offer our Primary Hierarchical prayers for the blessed repose of the servant of God John in the villages of the righteous, “where there is no illness, no sorrow, no sighing, but life is endless ".

The story is symbolic, parable, mysterious.

Why was the legend about Ivan Susanin necessary?

The point is not only that the village headman has become a model of sacrificial, selfless devotion to the sovereign. A vivid (albeit mysterious) episode of the massacre of a peasant who lured a Polish detachment into impassable swamps became the last manifestation of the time of troubles - and so it remained in the people's memory. Troubles - this is civil war, and anarchy, and betrayal of the ruling circles, and the brutality of the people, and the rampant imposture, and the atrocities of the conquerors ... Ivan Susanin gave his life in the name of ending this disaster.

Skeptics will throw up their hands: yes, he could not think about such matters as the salvation of statehood or national sovereignty ... At best, the peasant showed vassal loyalty.

Perhaps he was hostile to the Catholics of other faiths, but Susanin was not and could not be any conscious statesman ... Yes, Susanin was hardly a politically literate patriot. It is unlikely that he thought in terms of "state", "sovereignty", "war of liberation." Perhaps he did not even have a chance to see the great Russian cities. But the meaning of any act is determined over the decades ...

In 1619, during a pilgrimage trip, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich remembered the winter of 1613. Most likely, it was then, in hot pursuit of events, that he was told about the deceased peasant. Russian autocrats often made trips to monasteries, but Mikhail Fedorovich chose the Trinity-Makarievsky Monastery on the Unzhe River for the prayer of thanksgiving. This monastery is associated with the works of the Monk Makarii Zheltovodsky. The holy elder lived 95 years, died in 1444 - and was in Tatar captivity, in Kazan, which had not yet been conquered. He (even before the canonization, which took place just during the reign of Mikhail Fedorovich) prayed for the salvation of the captives. The tsar's father, Patriarch Filaret, was released from captivity safe and sound - and the Romanovs saw in this the patronage of the Zheltovody elder. There is a version that in February 1613, when Ivan Susanin killed the Polish detachment, Martha and Mikhail were heading to Unzha, to the Trinity-Makaryevsky Monastery.

Susanin's feat prevented the plunder of the monastery and the capture of the future king. The tsar, bowing to the relics of the Monk Macarius, decided to reward the relatives of the fallen hero. It was then that the sovereign drew up a letter of gratitude to Ivan Susanin's son-in-law - Bogdan Sobinin. This is the only document that testifies to the feat! Let's not forget: these lines were written six years after the events of February 1613, when the memory of them has not yet faded:

“By the grace of God, we, the Great Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhailo Fedorovich, autocrat of all Russia, according to our royal mercy, and on the advice and request of our mother, the Empress, the great elder nun Martha Ivanovna, granted Esma of the Kostroma district, our village Domnina, peasant Bogdashka Sobinin, for service to us and for the blood, and for the patience of his father-in-law Ivan Susanin: how we, the great sovereign, the tsar and the grand duke Mikhailo Fedorovich of all Russia in the past 121 (that is, in 1613 from the birth of Christ!) were in Kostroma, and at that time Polish and Lithuanian people came to the Kostroma district, and his father-in-law, Bogdashkov, Ivan Susanin at that time, the Lithuanian people seized and tortured him with great, immeasurable tortures and tortured him where in those days we, the great the sovereign, the tsar and the grand duke Mikhailo Fedorovich of all Russia were, and he is Ivan, knowing about us, the great sovereign, where we were at that time, suffering from those Polish and Lithuanian people unmeasured torture, about us, the great sovereign, by those Polish and Lithuanian He did not tell people where we were at that time, but the Polish and Lithuanian people tortured him to death.

And we, the Great Sovereign, the Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhailo Fyodorovich of All Russia, granted him, Bogdashka, for his father-in-law Ivan Susanin to serve us and for blood in the Kostroma district of our palace village Domnina half of the village of Derevnishchi, on which he, Bogdashka, now lives, a quarter and a half of the land was ordered to whitewash the half-village from that half-village, with a quarter and a half to whitewash on it, on Bogdashka, and on his children, and on our grandchildren, and on our great-grandchildren, no taxes and fodder, and carts, and all sorts of planned dining and grain supplies , and in the city crafts, and in the bridge-building, and in the other, they did not order any tribute imate from them; they told them to whitewash that half of the village in everything, both their children and grandchildren, and the whole family motionless. And it will be that our village Domnino, in which there will be a monastery and in return, that half of the village of Villages, they did not order to give one and a half quarters of land to which monastery with that village, they ordered him, Bogdashka Sobinin, and his children, and grandchildren, according to our royal salary, to own him. , and to their generation for ever and ever. This is our royal certificate of honor in Moscow in the summer of 7128 (from the Nativity of Christ - 1619) November 30th day ”.

Pay attention: Susanin is called not Ivashka, but Ivan - with reverence. And his son-in-law is Bogdashka. In those years, the autocrats rarely gave such an honor to the "vile people".

Ivan Susanin: a martyr's crown

Since then, Russia has not forgotten about Ivan Susanin.

"Faithful to his Christian duty, Susanin accepted the martyr's crown and blessed, like the ancient righteous Simeon, God, who vouchsafed him, if not behold, then die for the salvation of the youth whom God anointed with holy oil and called him the Tsar of Russia" - in this spirit they wrote about Susanin by the beginning of the 19th century. This is how schoolchildren and high school students recognized the hero.
Is it possible to forget the thought of Kondraty Ryleev - which was studied at school in Soviet times. True, instead of "for the tsar and for Russia" in our anthology it was written: "For dear Russia." In the Soviet tradition, Susanin was the hero of the liberation struggle of the Russian people against the interventionists, and was silent about monarchist aspirations.

These lines are unforgettable:

"Where did you take us?" - Lyakh the old cried out.
- "There, where you need it!" - Susanin said.
- “Kill! torture! - my grave is here!
But know, and strive: - I saved Mikhail!
They thought you found a traitor in me:
They are not and will not be on the Russian land!
In it, everyone loves their homeland from infancy,
And he will not destroy his soul by betrayal. " -

"Villain!" The enemies shouted, boiling:
"You will die under swords!" - “Your anger is not terrible!
Who is Russian by heart, then cheerfully and boldly
And happily dies for a just cause!
Neither execution nor death and I am not afraid:
Without flinching, I will die for the Tsar and for Russia! " -
"Die now!" The Sarmatians cried out to the Hero -
And the sabers over the elder, whistling, sparkled!
“Perish, traitor! Your end has come! " -
And the firm Susanin fell down with ulcers!
Snow, the purest purest blood, stained:
She saved Mikhail for Russia!

With Ivan Susanin, the Russian opera also began, in which a peasant in a sheepskin coat made an impressive statement of himself, singing out in his bass wonderful non-borrowed tunes: “Feel the truth! You, dawn, quickly shine, build quickly, build an hour of salvation! " Great operatic image. By the way, Glinka's Life for the Tsar was not the first opera about that feat. Back in 1815, Katerino Cavos created the opera Ivan Susanin. This plot was perceived as state-forming. But then the time came to revise the usual ideas about the history of Russia. Gilding flew from monarchist myths. “Is it really a shrine? Sheer lies! "

“It could be that the robbers who attacked Susanin were the same kind of thieves, and the event, so loudly glorified later, was one of many that year,” wrote the historian Nikolai Kostomarov, the eternal troublemaker of academic calm and subverter of ideals.

No, the feat of Ivan Susanin is not a falsification, not someone's fantasy, the peasant really fell a victim to the interventionists in the Kostroma swamps. But the main thing in this feat is a parable, a legend, a historical context. If young Mikhail Romanov had not become the first king of a powerful dynasty, history would hardly have retained the name of a pious peasant. In those years, the Russian people often became victims of atrocities - and the first to die were those who remained faithful to their faith and legitimate authority. History itself has woven a laurel wreath for Ivan Osipovich - and the shame of noble ideals has not yet brought happiness to anyone. They talk to us about the slavish ("dog's") devotion of the serf Susanin to his masters. But what grounds do skeptics have for such a cruel diagnosis? According to many testimonies (including the testimonies of foreign guests of Russia), the Muscovite peasants, despite their slave status, developed a sense of their own dignity. Do not throw mud at loyalty, do not be arrogant about it.

Of course, Susanin did not know that a council decision had been made in Moscow to call Mikhail Fedorovich to the kingdom. No matter how hard it is to believe it, there was no radio or the Internet in those years. But we can assume that the wise peasant got the rumor that this young boyar is our future autocrat. And he felt the high significance of the feat - to save the young man, not to let the enemy into Domnino, to give his life for others with prayer ...
The Russian land is glorious for heroes. Many feats have peasant roots. And the first in the people's memory was Susanin - he was (I hope that he remains!) An example for posterity. He will still serve the Fatherland: the heroes who died for the Motherland do not die. A village is not worth it without a righteous man - and without legends and myths.