What Was Stefan Yavorsky Silent about? Undelivered Sermons as a Multiple Equation

Abstract

This article examines the circumstances behind Metropolitan Stefan Yavorsky of Ryazan and Murom’s not delivering a sermon about the truth persecuted everywhere on the Day of St John Chrysostom on November 13, 1708. The text is marked as non dictum in the manuscript by the author. In historiography, Yavorsky’s undelivered sermons are often used to characterise the critical mood of the preacher in the context of the protracted Northern War and the author’s intentions, as he allegedly changed his mind in time to deliver an accusatory sermon. The author of the article suggests that the chief factor that prevented Yavorsky from preaching on the day of St John Chrysostom was the anathematisation of Hetman Ivan Mazepa (in 1708), which preceded the event, and the death of Dimitri Rostovsky, a close friend of the Metropolitan's (in 1709). The article provides arguments confirming the author’s intentions to voice the ideas of this sermon, such as the usage of its fragments in other texts. For the first time, the sermon for the Day of St John Chrysostom is presented in the context of Yavorsky’s preaching heritage, and its content is analysed considering the author’s complex intention (the article also contains rare Yavorsky’s poems in Latin and translations thereof). The research emphasises the need to publish the full text of Stefan Yavorsky’s sermons and further study their place in the public sphere and intellectual culture of the Petrine era.