Bearing in mind these traces of the very ancient existence of the monastery, one more monastic legend cannot be ignored. On the south-eastern side of the Church of Demetrius of Thessalonica, behind the monastery fence, an unusually tall pine tree grows. It should be noted that in all the areas around the monastery, at a distance of 50 miles in all directions, there is not a pine or spruce anywhere in the forests. This is the so-called “black forest”. Pine and spruce are found only in gardens and are very rare; moreover, they reach insignificant growth. But the pine tree, outside the fence of the Dmitriev Monastery, is about four arshins in circumference, and more than 5 quarters of an arshin in cross-section. Its top rises significantly above the church; Moreover, eight years ago, the upper part of the pine tree was knocked down by lightning. In order to achieve such enormous growth in soil not native to these trees, it takes more than one hundred years. But according to the stories of the brethren of the monastery, in the village of Dmitrovka, about eight years ago, a woman who was 90 years old died. This woman used to say that her grandfather knew the monastery pine tree as a huge one compared to all the surrounding trees. The monastery carefully protects this pine tree, and although it is outside the monastery fence, it is surrounded by a fence. The monastery maintains a tradition that this pine tree is contemporary with the founding of the monastery under Dmitry Donskoy, and it is believed that it was planted on the grave of one of the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo, who was buried here.
About the monuments that glorified the Battle of Kulikovo.
Reading by I.P. Khrushch.
The literary monuments that glorified the Battle of Kulikovo consist of three independent works, modified in some particulars: 1) a legend included in the chronicles; 2) a poetic legend attributed to priest Zephaniah and 3) “Zadonshchina” discovered and published by U Idolsky. In histories of literature, the chronicle legend is usually not mentioned, but the last two are dealt with. Karamzin based his story on the chronicle legend; he treated Sophonieva with distrust as fairy tale, and was indignant at its anachronisms. Shevyrev, under the impression of Karamzin, also reacted unfriendly to this legend, although he looked for poetry in it.
Kostomarov, as a historian, spoke about Dmitry Donskoy on the basis of the poetic, so-called Sofoniev, legend, trusting him more than the chronicle. After “Zadonshchina” became known, academician Sreznevsviy, publishing a new text of Zadonshchina, noted in the so-called Sophonie’s legend all the places that were distinguished by their gusler style and thought about the question: were there special, unrecorded songs with which Dmitry and the Battle of Kulikovo were glorified?
Here is a brief history of the fate of these legends in science.
I allow myself to submit to the attention and judgment of the members of the Society my view of these monuments, which were of great importance in our literature, as evidenced by the countless lists of both poking. They were rewritten, slightly changing, over the course of three centuries. The tales of the Battle of Kulikovo were something of a favorite folk heroic poem for our scribes and, despite the variations, they retained the integrity and inviolability of their original written treatment. All the narratives about the Battle of Zadonsk known to us in many lists, without exception, each represent only an edition of either the so-called Sophonievsky story, or the reverence of the chronicle, or even more rarely of the Zadontsmna. In my opinion, these three special works are independent of one another and each belongs to a special literary form or treatment.
The first school is his Northern Russian chronicle. The ZGA school produced several chronicles, such as. about Alexander Nevsky, about the invasion of Tokhtamysh. This school is characterized by too much artificiality, strict bookishness, officiality, and commonplaces. The event of the Battle of Zadonsk received special treatment at this school.