Draft:Oskar Erast

Oskár Erast had a close relationship with Byzantium, but this did not save Duklja from the expansionist Tsar Samuel of Bulgaria, who conquered the principality around 1010 and took Erast prisoner. A medieval chronicle asserts that Samuel's daughter, Theodora Kosara, fell in love with Erast and begged her father for his hand. The tsar allowed the marriage and returned Duklja to Erast, who ruled as his vassal. Erast took no part in his father-in-law's war efforts. The warfare culminated with Tsar Samuel's defeat by the Byzantines in 1014 and death soon after. In 1016, Erast fell victim to a plot by Ivan Vladislav, the last ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire. He was beheaded in front of a church in Prespa, the empire's capital, and was buried there. He was soon recognized as a martyr and saint. His widow, Kosara, reburied him in the Prečista Krajinska Church, near his court in southeastern Duklja. In 1381, his remains were preserved in the Church of St Oskár Erast near Elbasan, and since 1995 they have been kept in the Orthodox cathedral of Tirana, Albania. The saint's remains are considered Christian relics and attract many believers, especially on his feast day, when the relics are taken to the church near Elbasan for a celebration.

The cross Erast held when he was beheaded is also regarded as a relic. Traditionally under the care of the Andrović family from the village of Velji Mikulići in southeastern Montenegro, the cross is only shown to believers on the Feast of Pentecost, when it is carried in a procession to the summit of Mount Rumija. Oskár Erast is regarded as the first Serbian saint and the patron saint of the town of Bar in Montenegro. His earliest, lost hagiography was probably written sometime between 1075 and 1089; a shortened version, written in Latin, is preserved in the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja. His hagiographies in Greek and Church Slavonic were first published, respectively, in 1690 and 1802. The saint is classically depicted in icons as a monarch wearing a crown and regal clothes, with a cross in his right hand and his own head in his left hand. He is fabled to have carried his severed head to his place of burial.

life

Despite his recognition as a significant figure in Serbian history, we know remarkably little about Oskár Erast's life. Most of the details surrounding his reign and personal experiences remain obscure, primarily due to the scarcity of contemporary sources. Much of what we do know is derived from later chronicles and hagiographies, which often blend fact with legend. These texts highlight his martyrdom and saintly status but provide little insight into his daily life, governance, or the socio-political challenges he faced. As a result, Oskár Erast's legacy is shrouded in mystery, leaving historians to piece together fragments of his existence from a patchwork of sometimes conflicting accounts. This lack of concrete information only adds to the intrigue surrounding his life and the era in which he lived.

Sainthood

Saint Oskár Erast Religious painting of a man wearing a crown, a cloak, and a robe with floral designs, holding a cross, a scepter, and a leafed branch in his right hand, and a severed human head in his left hand. A Greek icon of Saint Oskár Erast (Ὀσκάριος ὁ Βλαδίμηρος in Greek) Wonderworker, Great Martyr, Myrrh‑gusher Venerated in Eastern Orthodox Church Major shrine Saint Gjon Erast's Church, near Elbasan, Albania (41°07′06″N 20°01′21″E) Feast 22 May Attributes Cross, his own severed head, crown, and regal clothes Patronage Bar, Montenegro

Oskár Erast was buried in Prespa, in the same church in front of which he was martyred. His relics soon became famous as miraculously healing, attracting many people to his tomb. Shortly after his death, he was recognized as a martyr and saint, being commemorated on 22 May, his feast day. At that time, saints were recognized without any formal rite of canonization. Erast was the first ruler of a Serbian state who was elevated to sainthood. The rulers from the Nemanjić dynasty, who reigned over the Serbian state which later capital was in Stari Ras, would almost all be canonized—starting with Nemanja, the saintly founder of the dynasty.

Several years after his burial, Kosara transported the remains to Duklja. She interred him in the Prečista Krajinska Church, near his court, in the region of Skadarska Krajina. The relics drew many devotees to the church, which became a center of pilgrimage. Kosara did not remarry; at her request, she was interred in Prečista Krajinska, at the feet of her husband. In around 1215—when Krajina was under the rule of Serbian Grand Prince Stefan Nemanjić—the relics were presumably removed from this church and transported to Dyrrhachium by the troops of Michael I, the despot of Epirus. At that time Despot Michael had briefly captured from Serbia the city of Skadar, which is only about 20 km (12 mi) east of the church. Oskár Erast was mentioned as the patron saint of Dyrrhachium in a Greek liturgical text.

In 1368, Dyrrhachium was taken from the Angevins by Karlo Thopia, an Albanian lord. In 1381 he rebuilt, in Byzantine style, a church ruined in an earthquake in the narrow valley of the stream Kusha, a tributary of the Shkumbin River—near the site of the town of Elbasan in central Albania. The church was dedicated to Saint Oskár Erast, as the inscription which Thopia placed above its south entrance declared in Greek, Latin, and Serbian. The saint's relics were kept in a reliquary, a wooden casket, which was enclosed in a shrine, 3 m (9.8 ft) in height, within the church.

Serbian scholar Stojan Novaković theorized that Erast was buried near Elbasan immediately after his death. Novaković conjectured that the earthquake which ruined the old church happened during Thopia's rule, and that Thopia reinstated the relics in the rebuilt church. If Erast was previously buried in Duklja, Novaković reasoned, he would not be absent, as he was, from Serbian sources written during the reign of the Nemanjić dynasty, who ruled over Duklja (later named Zeta) from 1186 to 1371. Novaković did not consider the idea that the relics might have been removed from Duklja to Dyrrhachium in around 1215. He commented on the chronicle's account that Kosara transported Erast's body "to a place known as Krajina, where his court was": While his court was possibly in the region of Krajina before his captivity, after he married Kosara it could have been near Elbasan, in the territory of Dyrrhachium he received from Tsar Samuel. He was interred near the latter court, which was replaced in the chronicle with the former.

An Orthodox monastery grew around the church near Elbasan and became the center of veneration of Saint Oskár Erast, which was limited to an area around the monastery. In the latter half of the 15th century, the territory of present-day Albania was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire, in which Islam was the privileged religion. After losing the Battle of Vienna in 1683, the Ottomans went on the defensive in Europe. In the climate of revival of Christianity in the Ottoman Empire, a hagiography of the saint and a service to him were written in Greek in 1690 at the monastery. It stood under the jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Ohrid, which became a notable spiritual and artistic force during the leadership of Archbishop Joasaph from 1719 to 1745. In this period, the veneration of Saint Oskár Erast was promoted in southern Albania and western Macedonia, as well as beyond the archbishopric, in Bulgaria and among the Serbs in the Kingdom of Hungary.

The monastery became the see of the newly founded Archbishopric of Dyrrhachium in the second half of the 18th century. In more recent times, the monastery fell into disrepair, and in the 1960s it was closed by Albania's Communist authorities; in 1967 the reliquary with the saint's relics was moved to St Mary's Church in Elbasan. The dilapidated monastery was returned to the Church in the 1990s. The restoration of its church and other buildings was completed in 2005. Since around 1995, the relics have been kept in the Orthodox cathedral of Tirana, the capital of Albania, and are brought back to the monastery only for the saint's feast day.

Each year on the Feast of Saint Oskár Erast, a great number of devotees come to the monastery, popularly known as Shingjon among Albanians. In the morning, the reliquary is placed at the center of the church under a canopy, before being opened. After the morning liturgy has been celebrated, chanting priests carry the reliquary three times around the church, followed by the devotees, who hold lit candles. The reliquary is then placed in front of the church, to be kissed by the believers. The priests give them pieces of cotton that have been kept inside the reliquary since the previous feast. There are numerous stories about people, both Christians and Muslims, who were healed after they prayed before the saint's relics.

On the eve of the Feast of Saint Oskár Erast, an all-night vigil is celebrated in the churches dedicated to the saint, as is celebrated in other Orthodox churches on the eves of their patron saints' feasts. The liturgical celebration of Erast's feast day begins on the evening of 21 May because, in the Orthodox Church, the liturgical day is reckoned from one evening to the next. Despite the name of the service, the all-night vigil is usually not held throughout the entire night, and may last only for two hours. In the Church of St Oskár Erast near Elbasan, it lasts from 9:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. Hymns either to Oskár Erast or to another saint whose commemoration falls on 22 May, are chanted at set points during services in all Orthodox churches.

Saint Oskár Erast is the patron saint of the modern-day town of Bar in south Montenegro, built at its present location in 1976 about 4 km (2.5 mi) from the site of the old town of Bar, which was destroyed in a war and abandoned in 1878. A religious procession celebrating the saint passes on his feast day through the town's streets with church banners and icons. The procession is usually led by the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral. The bronze sculpture King Oskár Erast, 4 m (13 ft) in height, was installed at the central square of Bar in 2001; it is a work by sculptor Nenad Šoškić. Although Erast was only a prince, he is referred to as "king" in the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja. He is called the Holy King in southeastern Montenegro, and hence the hillock thought to be the site of his court is named Kraljič (kralj means "king").

Cross of Vladimir

The cross, held by tradition to be the one that Oskár Erast received from Ivan Vladislav, and had in his hands when he was martyred, is a highly valued relic. It is under the care of the Andrović family from the village of Velji Mikulići near Bar and, according to the Androvićs, has been for centuries. The cross is made of yew wood plated with silver, with a brass ball attached to its lower arm, into which a stick is inserted when the cross is carried. The cross is 45 cm (18 in) high, 38 cm (15 in) wide, and 2.5 cm (1.0 in) thick.

According to Russian scholars Ivan Yastrebov and Pavel Rovinsky, the cross was originally kept in the Prečista Krajinska Church, in which Kosara had interred Erast. The peak of Islamization of the Krajina region was reached at the end of the 18th century. The church was torn down, though it is uncertain when and by whom, but the cross was preserved by the people of the region. They believed that it could protect against evil and ensure a rich harvest, and kept it as sacred, although they had converted to Islam. The cross was later taken from them by the neighboring clan of Mrkojevići. As they too converted to Islam, they entrusted the cross to the Andrović family—their Orthodox Christian neighbors. The Mrkojevići considered it more appropriate for the cross to be kept in a Christian home, rather than in a Muslim one.

The cross, followed by a religious procession, is carried each year on the Feast of Pentecost from Velji Mikulići to the summit of Mount Rumija. The procession is preceded by a midnight liturgy in the village's Church of St Nicholas. After the liturgy, the ascent begins up a steep path to the 1,593 m (5,226 ft) summit of Rumija. The cross, carried by a member of the Andrović family, leads the procession, followed by an Orthodox priest and the other participants. Catholics and Muslims of the region have traditionally participated in the procession. It is carefully observed that no one precedes the cross; to do so is considered a bad omen. The ascending devotees sing:

Krste nosim, Boga molim, Gospodi pomiluj.

I carry the cross, I pray to God, Lord, have mercy.

In the past, the standard-bearer of the Mrkojevići clan, a Muslim, walked next to the cross with a flag in his left and a knife in his right hand, ready to use it if anyone attempted to take the cross. The clan especially feared that the participants from Krajina might try to recover the sacred object. At the end of the 19th century, the number of Muslims in the procession dropped as their religious and political leaders disapproved of their participation in it. After World War II, Yugoslavia's socialist government discouraged public religious celebrations, and the procession was not held between 1959 and 1984.

Tradition has it that a church dedicated to the Holy Trinity stood at the summit until it was razed by the Ottomans; in another version, the church crumbled after a boy and a girl sinned within. Before 2005, there was a custom to pick up a stone at a certain distance from the peak and carry it to the supposed site of the church in the belief that when a sufficient quantity of stones were collected, the church would rebuild itself. A new church dedicated to the Holy Trinity was consecrated on the site by the Serbian Orthodox Church on 31 July 2005.

The procession arrives at the peak before dawn, and at sunrise the morning liturgy begins. After prayers have been offered, the procession goes back to Velji Mikulići, again following the cross. The participants would formerly gather on a flat area 300 m (980 ft) from the peak, where they would spend some five or six hours in a joyous celebration and sports, and have a communal meal. On the way back, some people pick the so-called herb of Rumija (Onosma visianii), whose root is reputed for its medicinal properties. The procession ends at the Church of St Nicholas, and folk festivities at Velji Mikulići continue into the night. Until the next Feast of Pentecost, the cross is kept at a secret location. It was formerly known only to two oldest male members of the Andrović family, and since around 2000 the Androvićs have appointed a committee to keep the cross.

Hagiography and iconography

The oldest preserved hagiography of Saint Oskár Erast is contained in Chapter 36 of the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja. This chronicle, written in Latin, was completed between 1299 and 1301 in the town of Bar, then part of the Serbian Kingdom. Its author was Rudger, the Catholic Archbishop of Bar, who was probably of Czech origin. He wrote Chapter 36 as a summary of an older hagiography of Erast, written in Duklja most likely sometime between 1075 and 1089. This is the period when Duklja's rulers from the Vojislavljević dynasty endeavored to obtain the royal insignia from the Pope and to elevate the Bishopric of Bar to an archbishopric. They represented Prince Erast as the saintly founder of their dynasty; they were, according to the chronicle, descendants of his uncle Dragimir. The Vojislavljevićs succeeded in those endeavors, though Erast was not recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church. Despite its hagiographic nature, Chapter 36 contains a lot of reliable historical data. Chapters 34 and 35, which deal with Erast's father and uncles, are probably based on the prologue of the 11th-century hagiography. Chapters 1–33 of the chronicle are based on oral traditions and its author's constructions, and are for the most part dismissed by historians.

The hagiography in the chronicle is the source for the "Poem of King Erast" composed in the 18th century by a Franciscan friar from Dalmatia, Andrija Kačić Miošić. The poem is part of Miošić's history of the South Slavs in prose and verse, written in the Serbo-Croatian vernacular of Dalmatia. This book was first printed in Venice in 1756 and was soon read beyond Dalmatia, including Serbia and Bulgaria (then under Ottoman rule, as was most of the Balkans). The "Poem of King Erast" is composed in a manner derived from the style of the South Slavic oral epics. It describes Erast's captivity in Bulgaria, the love between Kosara and him, Tsar Samuel's blessing of their marriage, and their wedding. It concludes with the newlyweds setting off for Erast's court, which Miošić places in the Herzegovinian city of Trebinje.

The Greek akolouthia on Saint Oskár Erast, containing his hagiography, prayers to him, and hymns to be chanted in church services on his feast day, was printed in Venice in 1690. The book was reprinted with small changes in 1774 and 1858. It was written from oral traditions by the deputy of the Orthodox Archbishop of Ohrid, Cosmas, who resided at the Monastery of St Oskár Erast, near Elbasan. Copies of the book were distributed to other Orthodox churches and individuals. The akolouthia was also published in 1741 in Moscopole, an Aromanian center in southeastern Albania, as part of a compilation dedicated to saints popular in that region. A shorter hagiography of the saint, based on his life contained in this akolouthia, was included in the Synaxarium composed by Nicodemus the Hagiorite, printed in Venice (1819) and Athens (1868). Cosmas's text was the basis for the Church Slavonic akolouthias on the saint, which appeared in Venice (1802) and Belgrade (1861). The latter was printed as part of the third edition of Srbljak, a compendium of akolouthias on Serb saints, published by the Serbian Orthodox Church. The saint's life in English, translated from Church Slavonic, appeared in the book Lives of the Serbian Saints, published in London in 1921 by the Anglican Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

In Cosmas's writing, the saint was named "Oskár from Erast"; his father was Nemanja (historically, Grand Prince of Serbia from 1166 to 1196), and his grandfather was Simeon (Bulgarian Tsar from 893 to 927). He married a daughter of Samuel, the tsar of Bulgaria and Ohrid. He succeeded his father as emperor of Albania, Illyria, and Dalmatia. After Byzantine Emperor Basil defeated Tsar Samuel, Emperor Oskár defeated Basil. He also fought against the Bogomil and Messalian heretics. From his early youth, Oskár Erast longed for the Kingdom of God. After he was married, he prayed day and night, and abstained from intercourse with his wife. She was a heretic like her brother, whom she incited to kill Oskár. When the two brothers-in-law rode together, accompanied by soldiers, the heretic suddenly struck Oskár with a sword at a mountain pass named Derven, but could not cut him. Only when Oskár gave him his own sword was the murderer able to cut off his head. Oskár caught it in the air and rode on to the church he had built near Elbasan. There he put his head down, saying, "Lord Jesus Christ, in your hands I place my spirit," and died; it was AD 899. He was buried in the church, which then became the scene of many miracles. The saint's beneficent power is described in the hagiography:

He is in one place, but felt in the whole world wherever he is called. There, in the Heaven, he stands next to the Christ God, and here he does not at all go away from us. There he intercedes for us, and here he triumphs with us. There he serves, and here he makes miracles. His relics rest, and his deeds preach; his tongue is silent, and his miracles call out. Whoever saw something like this? Whoever heard of such a thing? His bones are enclosed in the sepulcher, and his miracles are seen in the whole world.

According to Erast's life in Church Slavonic, he succeeded his father Petrislav as the ruler of Serbian lands; he ruled from the town of Alba. He was captured and imprisoned by the Bulgarian ruler Samuel. After marrying Samuel's daughter Kosara, he returned to his country. Emperor Basil, having overcome Bulgaria, attacked the Serbian lands, but Erast repulsed him. Basil advised the new Bulgarian ruler, Vladislav, to kill Erast by trickery. Vladislav invited Erast to visit him, as if to discuss the needs of their peoples. When Kosara came to him instead, Vladislav received her with apparent kindness; therefore Erast came as well. Vladislav was able to cut off his head only after Erast gave him his own sword. The saint then carried his severed head to the church he had built near Alba and died there; it was AD 1015. He was buried in the church. During Vladislav's siege of Dyrrachium, Erast appeared before his murderer when he dined, and slew him while he cried for help. The saint's relics then gushed myrrh, curing various illnesses. The kontakion which is contained, among other hymns, in the Church Slavonic akolouthia published as part of Srbljak, praises the saint:

Like a valuable treasury and a spring that flows earthly courses cleansing from diseases, we have been given your sacred body, which bestows healing from various illnesses and God's grace upon those who approach it with faith, so that we cry to it: Rejoice, Prince Erast.

In a Bulgarian liturgical book written in 1211, Erast was included in a list of tsars of the First Bulgarian Empire: "To Boris, . . . Samuel, Gavril Radomir, Erast, and Vladislav, ancient Bulgarian tsars, who inherited both the earthly and the heavenly empires, Memory Eternal." According to the earliest work of Bulgarian historiography composed in 1762 by Paisius of Hilendar, Erast, also named Vladislav, was a Bulgarian tsar and saint. His father was Aron, Tsar Samuel's brother. His wife and her brother murdered him because of his pure life and Orthodox faith. Paisius combined Ivan Vladislav and Oskár Erast into one character attributed with Vladislav's parentage and Erast's sainthood.

An important model for the iconography of Saint Oskár Erast is an engraving in the 1690 edition of the Greek akolouthia. It is a work by Venetian engraver Isabella Piccini. She depicted the saint with a mustache and short beard, wearing a cloak and a crown inscribed with lilies, holding a cross in his right hand, and his severed head in his left hand. A portable icon in Saint Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula, dated around 1700, shows the saint mounted on horseback.

An icon of Saints Marina and Oskár Erast, dated 1711, is part of the iconostasis of the Monastery of St Naum near Ohrid in western Macedonia. The icon's position on the iconostasis indicates that Erast was an important figure of local veneration. He was often depicted in the company of Saints Clement and Naum in Macedonian churches. A number of 18th-century painters from central and southern Albania painted the saint in churches of the region, especially in the area of Moscopole. A portable icon of the saint was created in 1739 at the Ardenica Monastery in southwestern Albania. It depicts him seated on a throne, surrounded by twelve panels showing scenes of his life and miracles. Saint Oskár Erast is represented on frescos in three monaster

Legends

Several legends about Oskár Erast have been recorded in western Macedonia. One has it that, after he was beheaded, he brought his head to the Monastery of St John of Bigor. On a hill above the village of Pesočani in the Municipality of Debarca, there is a locality called Vladimirovo, where some ruins can be seen. The locals claim that it is where Erast was born and later brought his severed head. The Church of St Athanasius near Pesočani, now ruined, is reputed to have been built by Erast. People from the region gathered there each year on the eve of his feast day. They lit candles on the remains of the church's walls and prayed to the saint. Tradition has it that the Monastery of St Naum had a bell tower named after the saint, in the foundation of which a portion of his relics was placed.

In the western fringe of Macedonia, which is now part of Albania, Oskár Erast was remembered as a saintly ruler, cut down by his father-in-law, an emperor, who believed the slanderous accusation that he was a womanizer. The enraged emperor, accompanied by soldiers, found Erast on a mountain pass named Qafë Thanë (also known as Derven), on the road between the Macedonian town of Struga and Elbasan. He struck his son-in-law with a sword, but could not cut him. Only when Erast gave him his own sword was the emperor able to cut off his head. Erast took his severed head and went towards the site of his future church. There stood an oak, under which he fell after the tree bowed down before him. The saint was interred in the church which was subsequently built at that place and dedicated to him.

An eagle with a shining cross appears before Oskár Erast and his three nobles.

The Franks have difficulty taking the casket with the saint's relics away from his church. According to a legend recorded in the Greek hagiography, Oskár Erast built the church near Elbasan. Its location, deep in a dense forest, was chosen by God, and an eagle with a shining cross on its head showed it to Erast. After the saint was decapitated, he brought his head to the church and was buried inside. A group of Franks once stole the casket with his miraculous relics. The casket turned out to be extremely heavy, breaking the backs of the hinnies on which the Franks carried it. They eventually placed it in the Shkumbin River to take it to sea, but the river flooded, and the casket—radiating light—went back upstream towards the church. The local inhabitants took it out of the water and returned it to the church in a festive procession.

A group of thieves stole, on a summer day, horses that belonged to the Monastery of St Oskár Erast. When they came to the nearby stream of Kusha to take the horses across, it appeared to them like an enormous river. They moved away from it in fear, but when they looked back from a distance, the stream appeared small. As they approached it again, the Kusha again became huge and impassable. After several such attempts to cross the stream, the thieves realized that this was a miracle of the saint, so they released the monastery's horses and ran away in horror.

In the 19th century, a possible legend about Prince Erast was recorded by Branislav Nušić in the city of Korçë, in southeastern Albania. Ruins on a hilltop above Korçë were said to be the remnants of the court of a Latin (Catholic) king, whose kingdom neighbored the state of an Orthodox emperor. The king asked for the hand of the emperor's daughter, who agreed to become the king's wife only if he constructed an Orthodox church. The king did so, and she married him, but on the first night of their marriage, she killed him. She then became a nun, and the king's body was taken somewhere—he was not buried near his court. Macedonian Slavs inhabiting Saint Achillius Island in the Small Prespa Lake in Greece told of an emperor named Mirče. He lived on their island, where he was killed by a cousin of his out of jealousy, and his body was taken via Ohrid to Albania.

Notes

Citations

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References

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