Christ, Pilgrim on Russian soil∗

Abstract

According to ancient and hallowed Russian peasant tradition, every year, from Easter until Ascension Day, Jesus Christ wanders across the land, passing through villages, stopping beneath windows and listening to what people are saying. During this period you are told not to throw your dirty water out of your windows for fear of soaking the Lord. This idea of Christ making an annual pilgrimage across Russia stems from the image of the pilgrim Christ of popular moral legends. Dressed in the rags of a mendicant and begging for alms, the Son of God turns up at the doors of both rich and poor, the mean and the generous, the cruel and the compassionate alike, but people carry on behaving in their normal way. They don't realise that they are being put through the test of Christian love by God himself in a way which doesn't demand any special theological knowledge. They only have to welcome the pilgrim, share their food with him, allow him to stay the night in their homes. The consequences of the test are unexpected and yet precise: Christ will perform a miracle. The merciful who share their last crust will be rewarded not just at the Last Judgment and in the life to come but right away in the here and now. The cruel and miserly will be punished at once. The riches they have hoarded will be given to the good and generous poor; their homes will go up in flames; some awful disaster will strike them.