May 28: In memory of Alexander Panchenko, a philologist who "emigrated to Ancient Rus"
Alexander Panchenko was one of the leading researchers of Russian medieval culture, the literature of the Peter the Great era, and the phenomenon of foolishness for Christ. He lived for 65 years, wrote 350 scholarly works, and left behind the famous phrase: "I emigrated to Ancient Rus'."
Likhachev's student
Alexander Panchenko was born in 1937 in Leningrad, into a family of literary scholars. At the age of five, he lost his father, who died at the front. The future scholar received his education at two universities: in 1958, he graduated from both Leningrad University and Charles University in Prague. At the age of 27, in 1964, he defended his dissertation on 17th-century Czech and Russian literature.
Working under Soviet censorship was difficult. On the advice of his teacher, Academician Dmitry Likhachev, Panchenko chose a "spiritual refuge"—the culture and literature of Ancient Rus'. "I emigrated to Ancient Rus'," he said of this choice.
Buffoons, holy fools, and Orthodoxy
Since the early 1960s, Panchenko worked at the Pushkin House, in the Old Russian Literature Department. While still a student, he went on expeditions across the Russian North, studying folk culture and collecting ethnographic material. He defended his doctoral dissertation on 17th-century Russian poetry at the age of 35.
One of Panchenko's main areas of research is Russian society in pre-Petrine and Petrine Rus'. The phenomenon of foolishness for Christ, the culture of laughter, and buffoonery, in their interplay with Orthodoxy, occupied a special place in his works.
The craft of "merry men" stood in irreconcilable contradiction to the Orthodox interpretation of laughter. The Church strictly and unwaveringly condemned them. However, the mere fact of condemnation does not prove that buffoonery is outside Orthodox culture. Sin is always denounced, but life without sin is simply impossible—God "allows" the demons. Perhaps the "merry men"—the buffoons—were also "allowed" by the authorities of Ancient Rus'?
In historical documents from the 15th and 16th centuries, Panchenko found evidence that buffoons were baptized and remained in the church for long periods. "Association with buffoons was declared entirely voluntary. Everyone was free to use or not use their services," the scholar wrote.
The Quietest and others
Panchenko traced how, beginning in the 17th century, the church permeated all spheres of Russian society: "Previously, piety and joy were, if not equal, then at least in balance. Now, piety, a life of 'prayers, worship, and tears,' is coming to the fore."
In his works, the scholar clarified the meaning of many common expressions—"inertia," "Potemkin villages," "Vaska, there you have it!" He specifically explained why 17th-century tsars were titled "the quietest": "In state phraseology, 'rebellion' is regularly contrasted with 'silence.' It follows that the 'quietest' monarch is the 'possessor of silence,' a tsar who knows how to maintain order."
Educator and laureate
Since the late 1970s, Panchenko headed a group studying 18th-century Russian literature and taught. During perestroika, he headed the department of modern Russian literature at the Pushkin House. In the 1990s, the scholar lectured at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, served on the editorial boards of the journals "Russian Literature" and "Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences," and chaired the Russian Academy of Sciences Commission on the History of Philological Sciences and the Russian Academy of Sciences Scientific Council on Russian Culture.
In 1996, Panchenko won the Russian State Prize for his television series on the meaning and character of Russian history. Two years later, he received the international Cyril and Methodius Prize.
Analyzing the Battles of Kulikovo, Poltava, and Borodino from the perspective of the Russian mentality, Panchenko concluded: "The nation remembered and symbolized victories on the brink of defeat, victories with enormous losses." He called the events of the 20th century "the forced separation of man from history" and developed the idea of viewing historical events through the eyes of the common man.
The scholar never completed his final book, "Another Story." Its drafts were published after his death.
Colleagues described his appearance as follows: “He was tall like a guardsman, his voice like a deacon, and the cane he carried in the last years of his life looked not like a cane, but like a club” (philologist Sergei Dmitrienko).
On May 28, 2002, Alexander Panchenko died in St. Petersburg.
