Пророк Илия в былинном сюжете о крещении Руси
Elijah the Prophet in an Early Bylina About the Conversion of Rus

Summary/Abstract: The byliny depicting Ilya Muromets’ defeat of Solovei the Brigand (Solovei-razboinik) and Idolishche share structural similarities with other early oral sources. This makes it possible to reconstruct the outlines of an early song about the victory of the prophet Elijah over the pagan idol of Perun in Kiev. Widespread echoes of this song suggest that it likely served as a central national myth celebrating the conversion of Rus. Initially, the two bylina episodes — about Solovei and about Idolishche — formed a single narrative. The transformation of the prophet Elijah into a Russian warrior named Ilya Muromets is a late development; originally, the hero was thought to come from Constantinople, the cradle of the East Slavic Church. The “Tale of Igor’s Campaign” contains motifs that refer to the song about Elijah and the idol. Several other narratives likely derive from offshoots of this central myth: the legend of Dobrynia’s confrontation with the pagan priest Solovei (reported in the loachim Chronicle), the legend of Avraamii’s struggle with the Rostov idol of Veles, and a legend in the Trinity Compilation Chronicle about the liberation of Kiev from a gathering of pagan forces. A close connection is undeniable between the early song about Elijah, the bird, and the idol, and the dukhovnyi stikh (spiritual verse) about St. George, a giant bird, and the idolatrous Persian king, though the precise nature of this connection remains to be clarified.

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