Dostoevsky's Father Zosima

[Evgeny Steiner]

Dear Daniel,

The idea of uncorrupted relics (netlennye moshchi) came to Russia 
through Byzantium from early Christianity and is linked to pre-
Christian ideas of the corporal presence of the dead holy person in 
the world of the alive. The cult of naturally mummified bodies of 
masters was quite common in Tibetan and Sino-Japanese Buddhism (Zen 
and Shugendo). The last and most striking example is the "alive" 
(absolutely not dead) body of the Buryat lama Itigelov who died (more 
correctly to say, entered nirvana) in 1927 and asked to exhumate him 
after 75 years. It was made in 2002, and his body was uncorrupted, 
soft and elastic. It emitted an unidentified but very benign odor.

YOurs,
Evgeny Steiner

----- Original Message -----
From: Daniel Rancour-Laferriere <darancourlaferriere at COMCAST.NET>
Date: Saturday, August 5, 2006 2:10 pm
Subject: [SEELANGS] Dostoevsky's Father Zosima

> 5 Aug 06
> 
> Dear Colleagues,
> As you probably recall, the body of the recently deceased Father 
> Zosima 
> in _Brothers Karamazov_ unexpectedly produces an "odor of 
> corruption."  
> This is cause for scandal, and upsets Alyosha Karamazov, the good 
> monk's 
> protege.
> 
> My question is this: what are the sources for the idea that the 
> body of 
> a very holy monk will not decay?  Is this a folk belief in Russian 
> or 
> other Slavic cultures?  Does the belief come in from Byzantium, or 
> from 
> other non-Slavic cultures?
> 
> Regards to the list,
> 
> Daniel Rancour-Laferriere
> Emeritus Professor of Russian
> University of California, Davis
> 
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