In the Middle Ages, legends about a powerful Christian state in the East, full of all the blessings of peace and Christian harmony, gained great popularity, headed by a no less legendary ruler - the Tsar-priest Presbyter John (English Prester John, in Russian literature - Priest Ivan). He traced his genealogy from the Gospel Magi, who were the first to come to worship Christ. However, Presbyter John was recognized as a descendant of both the Magi and Saint Thomas, who presumably founded the early, and therefore the true Christian Church in India. There were even certain written testimonies confirming the existence of an "ideal country". But did this mysterious ruler exist in reality and where was his amazing kingdom, if there was such, of course, in reality? Historians tend to thinkthat the legend about the mysterious eastern kingdom and the presbyter John himself is nothing more than an attempt to wishful thinking: “if there was no such state, then it had to be invented,” since the aspirations and aspirations of medieval man were consolidated in it.
The legend of Presbyter John, a semi-mythical Christian ruler who lived somewhere in India, who played both the role of king and patriarch, spread from the middle of the XII century from the banks of the Yellow River to the Atlantic among the Chinese, Turks, Mongols, Persians, Arabs, Indians, Armenians and all European peoples who participated in the crusades. The formation of the legend takes about 400 years. The legend penetrated into ancient Russian literature under the name "Legends of the Indian Kingdom". The Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary claims that the rumor was based on the success of Nestorian Christianity among the tribes of Central Asia, about which Abul-Faraj wrote. The legendary element of the legend about a kingdom full of all the blessings of the world, and about a king - a priest, going to protect Christians from infidels,created thanks to the oppression of Eastern Christians by the Turks and Saracens.
The first news of Presbyter John appears in the annals of Otto of Freising (from 1145). This chronicle tells about the events that took place up to 1156. According to her, in 1145, Bishop Hugh from the city of Gebal (now Jubail in Lebanon) visited the Pope and told him about a certain king and priest named John, who lived in a distant country in the East and descended from one of the biblical wise men - wise men who came worship the baby Jesus in Bethlehem. Both the king himself and all his subjects were Christians. A few years earlier, having won a victory over the Medes and Persians, he intended to free Jerusalem from the infidels, but could not cross the Tigris River.
From the chronicles of Otto of Freising, the evidence of the existence of the king-priest passes into other chronicles. The well-known version of the legend is based on two references to the visit of the Patriarch of India, Constantinople and Rome during the time of Pope Calixtus II (1119–1124). It is difficult to confirm or deny the reliability of this information, since both testimonies were "second-hand", "words from words."
Also, everyone refers to the letter of Presbyter John (the authenticity of which, however, is in doubt), presumably written to the emperor of Byzantium Emmanuel I Comnenus (1143-1180).
This letter, which appeared around 1165 and described in detail the wonders and riches, amazed the imagination of Europeans and spread in an even more embellished form for several centuries, and after the invention of printing - in printed form, being an actual element of folk culture in the era of geographical discoveries. In a letter, Presbyter John reported that his kingdom stretches from the ruins of Babylon to India and even beyond. His country, honored and respected by the kings of 72 countries, is home to elephants, camels, horned people, centaurs, satyrs, giants and the legendary phoenix. And in the very center of Presbyter John's domain is the fountain of eternal youth: those who drink three times from it will never be more than 30 years old. John rules his kingdom with the help of a magic mirror in which everything is visible,what is happening even in the most remote corners of his vast domains. The king's army has 10,000 horsemen and 100,000 infantrymen, 14 porters are in front, they carry golden crosses, skillfully inlaid with beautiful precious stones.
Presbyter John's letter was actively circulated in the secular and church courts of medieval Europe, despite the fact that it was most likely a fake. The story that the presbyter's armies almost reached Mesopotamia won over, but they needed the support of the West. In Europe during the time of the Crusades, this gave rise to the hope that if the Christians had to push a little, and the world of Islam, taken in pincers, would not resist.
Presbyter John's letter, which spread rapidly in Europe, was translated into several languages, including Hebrew. Several hundred copies of the letter have survived to this day. Modern content analysis of the Hebrew version of the letter allows us to make the assumption that the author of the letter was a native of the Jews of northern Italy or Languedoc. In any case, the authorship, most likely, belongs to a European, but the purpose of his act is not entirely clear.
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The real motive behind the forgery was, most likely, the existence of numerous Nestorian communities condemned at the Ecumenical Council in Ephesus in 431 and scattered throughout the East (from Baghdad to Mongolia and China). A penchant for theological disputes in general distinguished the Eastern Orthodox world - Byzantium, just as love for legal subtleties was a feature of the Western world from its very birth.
Nestorianism was a trend in early Christianity. Its founder and patriarch was Nestorius of Constantinople (428–431), who argued that Jesus Christ, being born as a man, only later took on the divine nature. The essence of the teaching is that Christ is understood as a special human person in which the Logos of God began to dwell. From the point of view of Orthodoxy, which the Logos himself sees in Christ, this means that the one Christ is divided into two different ones - one of them is the Logos, and the other is a man, the son of Mary.
Nestorius was deposed at the III Ecumenical Council in Ephesus after he refused to call the Virgin Mary the Mother of God. According to Nestorius, the Virgin Mary could be called the Mother of God, because she gave birth to Christ, but not the Mother of God, since God was not born. According to the teaching of the Alexandrian bishop of St. Cyril (the main opponent of Nestorius), "the one nature of God the Word incarnate" includes not only the individual humanity of Jesus, but also the entire completeness of "deified" humanity - all saved and being saved, that is, the entire Church.
After the condemnation, the Nestorians moved their activities to Asia (in contrast to the main stream of Christianity, which expanded its work in Europe). Nestorianism achieved particular success among the nomads. So, for example, the Kerait Khan Togrul (Van Khan), twinned with Genghis Khan's father Yesugei, was (together with his people) a Nestorian. The powerful Naiman Khanate (Western Mongolia and Eastern Kazakhstan) also professed Nestorianism. The Nestorians were the Uighurs in East Turkestan (present-day Western China). Representatives of the current also held certain positions in the state of the Karakitais (“black Khitan” - also a Mongolian tribe) in Central Asia and East Turkestan. Their gurkhan Eluy Dashi defeated them in the 12th century AD. e. San Jaya - Sultan of the great Seljukids.
According to Lev Gumilyov, who wrote the wonderful book "In Search of an Invention Kingdom" (the kingdom of Prester John!), Dedicated to the Nestorians and the formation of the Mongol Empire, this victory was the reason for the vague ideas in Europe about the existence of a Christian state in the depths of Asia. However, in the 13th century, the Eastern Nestorians fell victim to a fierce internal political struggle in the Mongol Empire.
Since rumors about the miraculous kingdom of Presbyter John began to spread just in the era of the Crusades, it is not surprising that Pope Alexander III began to seek an alliance with him. During the Second Crusade, many knights believed that Presbyter John would come to their aid and help them recapture Palestine from the Muslims. The credibility of the aforementioned reports was so great that on September 27, 1177, Pope Alexander III even sent a letter to Prester John through his emissary Philip (who was his personal physician concurrently). The envoy left, they waited for him for a long time, but he never returned. Nobody heard more about Philip. Well, this mission was hardly feasible, since no one knew where the mysterious kingdom was.
The idea of a king-high priest in the East could not fail to seduce the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and his entourage. The tsar-priest did not need a pope, and thus secular and spiritual power was concentrated in one hand. An excellent precedent for an emperor fighting the Pope. After the capture of Milan, in one of its cathedrals, they allegedly found the relics of three kings-magi who came from the East and were associated with the kingdom of the presbyter. They were triumphantly reburied in Cologne, the holy city of the German kings. Soon, in the city of Aachen, where the tomb of Charlemagne was located, the ceremony of beatification (canonization) of this Frankish emperor was performed. But Frederick Barbarossa needed a living king-high priest. And then the emperor managed to end the long-term war with the Guelphs on acceptable terms. The conclusion of peace was also accelerated by the project of the Third Crusade (1189-1192). The campaign was also attended by the English king Richard the Lionheart and the French king Philip II. Barbarossa hoped that by defeating with the help of a powerful army the Kurdish ruler of Egypt Saladdin (Salah ad-din), who had taken Jerusalem from the West, he would be able to advance further east and meet Presbyter John, who would help the German emperor to break all enemies and become the sole head of the Western the world. However, "The Lord shames the arrogance of the sages." Barbarossa died while visiting his ally Prince Leo, the ruler of Cilician Armenia (south of Asia Minor). According to the generally accepted version, the middle-aged emperor drowned while swimming in a mountain river. The campaign was also attended by the English king Richard the Lionheart and the French king Philip II. Barbarossa hoped that by defeating with the help of a powerful army the Kurdish ruler of Egypt Saladdin (Salah ad-din), who had taken Jerusalem from the West, he would be able to advance further east and meet Presbyter John, who would help the German emperor to break all enemies and become the sole head of the Western the world. However, "The Lord shames the arrogance of the sages." Barbarossa died while visiting his ally Prince Leo, the ruler of Cilician Armenia (south of Asia Minor). According to the generally accepted version, the middle-aged emperor drowned while swimming in a mountain river. The campaign was also attended by the English king Richard the Lionheart and the French king Philip II. Barbarossa hoped that by defeating with the help of a powerful army the Kurdish ruler of Egypt Saladdin (Salah ad-din), who had taken Jerusalem from the West, he would be able to advance further east and meet Presbyter John, who would help the German emperor to break all enemies and become the sole head of the Western the world. However, "The Lord shames the arrogance of the sages." Barbarossa died while visiting his ally Prince Leo, the ruler of Cilician Armenia (south of Asia Minor). According to the generally accepted version, the middle-aged emperor drowned while swimming in a mountain river.he will be able to advance further east and meet Presbyter John, who will help the German emperor to break all enemies and become the sole head of the Western world. However, "The Lord shames the arrogance of the sages." Barbarossa died while visiting his ally Prince Leo, the ruler of Cilician Armenia (south of Asia Minor). According to the generally accepted version, the middle-aged emperor drowned while swimming in a mountain river.he will be able to advance further east and meet Presbyter John, who will help the German emperor to break all enemies and become the sole head of the Western world. However, "The Lord shames the arrogance of the sages." Barbarossa died while visiting his ally Prince Leo, the ruler of Cilician Armenia (south of Asia Minor). According to the generally accepted version, the middle-aged emperor drowned while swimming in a mountain river.
However, people's faith in the existence of an ageless ruler and his wonderful kingdom remained unshakable. With the fall of the possessions of the Crusaders in Palestine, rumors about Presbyter John subside, but they are revived with the appearance of the vanguard of Genghis Khan's army in Persia and Armenia. When the Mongols invaded Palestine in the 13th century, the Christians inhabiting the remnants of the Crusader states believed that Genghis Khan was presbyter John who came to save them from the Muslims. Sometimes Torgul Khan, the Nestorian ruler defeated by Genghis Khan, was considered presbyter John. The Mongol Khan Hulagu was also considered either Presbyter John or his son David, and the Mongols were considered Christians.
In fairness, it should be noted that by this time in Central Asia there was already a rich history of Christianity. Catholic missionaries who traveled to the court of Genghis Khan in Karakorum, as well as later travelers, searched for Presbyter John in Asia for a long time. Plano-Karpini gives him a place in India; Rubruk considers him the sovereign of the Karakidans defeated by Genghis Khan, mixing Genghis Khan with the Kerait Wan Khan. Marco Polo finds the descendants of the first presbyter John in the person of the Mongol princes, the Nestorians, who roamed the Tien-de, or Tenduh, in the Ord Os. Monte Corvino and Odoric Friuli echo the opinion of Marco Polo.
But the search for the cherished kingdom was unsuccessful, and therefore in 1487 the Portuguese king John II sent Pedro da Coviglian (Peter Covillania) and Alfons Paiva on a new expedition. She arrived in Abyssinia, where the majority of the population professed Oriental Orthodoxy of the Monophysite persuasion, and recognized the local tsar as Presbyter John (apparently because of the Christian religion atypical for the region).
The question of the identity of Presbyter John remains open to this day. Various historians hold a wide variety of points of view. The range of opinions is impressive.
Gerbelo considers him as Wang Khan, the leader of the Kerait, Gerbilion as one of the Tibetan kings, Lacroz as the Dalai Lama, Fischer as a Nestorian Catholicos, Gustav Opert and Tsarike identified him with Elyui Dashi, the leader of Si-liao, Brun with the Georgian Ivane, who lived under Demetrius I, from the Bagratid dynasty.
LN Gumilev in one of his works ("The search for an imaginary kingdom. The legend of the" state of Presbyter John ") analyzes in detail all available information and denies the reality of Prester John. He proves that the legend of the kingdom of Presbyter John was invented by the knightly orders of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in order to send the Second Crusade to Mesopotamia (the legend of a strong ally was supposed to inspire the idea of the ease of the upcoming campaign).
So, if the historical chronicles could not tell us any details about this person, then maybe we can find some key to understanding in medieval poetry, where the name of Presbyter John is also mentioned? After all, a poet is sometimes a real seer, and therefore in poetic images and symbols there is often a certain amount of truth.
Presbyter John is mentioned in the legends about the Grail and the knight Parzifal. Many details show that there is a similarity between the head of the Brotherhood of the Grail, which poets also call the ruler of the world, and the head of the mysterious Christian state in the East.
In Wolfram von Eschenbach's poem about Parzival, the name of Presbyter John is mentioned only once, and even then at the very end of the poem. It says that Presbyter John is the son of Feirefits, Parzifal's half-brother; that he, being a priest, is also the king of India, and that all the kings of India who inherit the throne after him take this name. Thus, the rulers of this fabulous Indian country inherit the name John from generation to generation.
The same clue to the fact that all the kings of the mysterious Indian state bear the name John is given by the famous legend of John of Hildesheim about the three kings, which Goethe also examines with interest in the articles “Three holy kings”, “Addition” and “And again three holy kings (1802).
Perhaps Wolfram von Eschenbach would have told in more detail about Presbyter John in his Titurel, but this work remained unfinished. His work was later used and supplemented by another German poet, Albrecht von Scharfenberg (13th century), who dedicated his poem "New Titurel" to King John and the role of the Grail in India. In the fortieth chapter of the poem, where the author depicts the kingdom of John in great detail, he undoubtedly used the previously mentioned legendary letter of Presbyter John to the Byzantine emperor, in places reproducing it literally. As popular as this letter was, just as famous and widespread was the New Titurel, which has survived to this day in many versions. Although there is much that is fabulous in the story of Presbyter John in New Titurel,nevertheless, it is of very significant interest and contains many such details in the description of the mysterious Brotherhood of the Grail, which are reflected in other sources.
In the Middle Ages, the description of the journey of Johann Mondeville (1356) was very popular, which depicts the kingdom of the powerful priest John far in the East, near paradise. And Johann Hesse in the fantastic “Itinerarius” (circa 1489) extends the power of the priest-king John “to the extreme reaches of the earth”, including in his kingdom and earthly paradise, which is located at the top of the huge mountain of Eden, so steep that it is impossible to climb it … In the evenings, when the sun sets behind the mountain, a very transparent (glacier?) And beautiful wall of paradise is visible. In this country there is also a wonderful island (of the blessed?), Called "Radix paradysi" (the root of paradise), where three days fly by, like three hours. So the poet's imagination seeks to merge together various ideas about the promised land, the land of world harmony.
The legend about Presbyter John left an indelible mark on the Russian consciousness. Interest in the mysterious East has always been inherent in the Russian people, who constantly came into contact with the tribes and peoples of Asia. But this East was most vividly personified for him by "rich" India, a land of wonders, from where the most fantastic information and legends came to Russia with pilgrims and merchants.
The first traveler to India is called the Tver merchant Afanasy Nikitin (15th century), but, of course, there were many brave wanderers-far-flung pilgrims before him, about whom history is silent. From India itself, this unknown land, in 1533 for the first time the ambassador of the Great Mogul Babur arrives in Moscow and presents a message from the ruler of India, in which he offers friendship and brotherhood to the Grand Duke of Russia!
Since then, mutual contacts between the two countries have become more and more frequent. Therefore, it is understandable that the legend of the Eastern Tsar John, in the end, in the Russian consciousness was closely intertwined with ideas about India and turned into a kind of "Legend of the Indian Kingdom", a legend that was very widespread in Russian literature from the 15th century and even influenced folk traditions. This legend has survived in 47 copies, which often vary greatly in their details.
The Russian consciousness turned Presbyter John into an Orthodox tsar who guards and supports Christians everywhere; he is “a king over all kings,” and he owns all space, all lands; and only where “the sky meets the earth” are there the boundaries of his state. Within his country, apparently, there is also an earthly paradise. Near paradise stretches a sandy sea, with high desert and boundless mountains. According to one version, King John lives on the island with the Brahmins, wise, noble and moral people, humble, merciful, understanding everything. In the kingdom of the Indian king John from the Russian "Legend …" there are no thieves, no envious people, no liars. Over this country, full of material and spiritual wealth, "God holds his hand." Among the greatest miracles here is a magical "righteous mirror": whoever looks into it,sees all the evil and good deeds he has ever done, and not only his own sins, but also everything that any person commits in his home, as well as friendly or hostile actions of other countries against the Russian people. In the palace there is a wonderful Karmakaul stone, “the lord with all stone is dragging, in the night he shines like fire burns”, illuminating the darkness, and in the daytime it is like pure gold (the Grail stone!). And in the castle, which is built of precious stones with the wisdom of Solomon, John's friend, a stone shines, which is visible far into the sea, it is brighter than fire, like a star. There is also the "rotting" Tree of Life. The man anointed with his peace no longer grows old, and his eyes never hurt. Or: if a patient is brought into the golden hall, he immediately recovers - the deaf gains hearing, the gift of speech returns to the dumb.that any person commits in his home, as well as friendly or hostile actions of other countries against the Russian people. In the palace there is a wonderful Karmakaul stone, “the lord with all stone is dragging, in the night he shines like fire burns”, illuminating the darkness, and in the daytime it is like pure gold (the Grail stone!). And in the castle, which is built of precious stones with the wisdom of Solomon, John's friend, a stone shines, which is visible far into the sea, it is brighter than fire, like a star. There is also the "rotting" Tree of Life. The man anointed with his peace no longer grows old, and his eyes never hurt. Or: if a patient is brought into the golden hall, he immediately recovers - the deaf gains hearing, the gift of speech returns to the dumb.that any person commits in his home, as well as friendly or hostile actions of other countries against the Russian people. In the palace there is a wonderful Karmakaul stone, "the lord with all stone is dragging, in the night it shines like fire burns", illuminating the darkness, and in the daytime it is like pure gold (the Grail stone!). And in the castle, which is built of precious stones with the wisdom of Solomon, John's friend, a stone shines, which is visible far into the sea, it is brighter than fire, like a star. There is also the "rotting" Tree of Life. The man anointed with his peace no longer grows old, and his eyes never hurt. Or: if a patient is brought into the golden hall, he immediately recovers - the deaf gains hearing, the gift of speech returns to the dumb. In the palace there is a wonderful Karmakaul stone, “the lord with all stone is dragging, in the night he shines like fire burns”, illuminating the darkness, and in the daytime it is like pure gold (the Grail stone!). And in the castle, which is built of precious stones with the wisdom of Solomon, John's friend, a stone shines, which is visible far into the sea, it is brighter than fire, like a star. There is also the "rotting" Tree of Life. The man anointed with his peace no longer grows old, and his eyes never hurt. Or: if a patient is brought into the golden hall, he immediately recovers - the deaf gains hearing, the gift of speech returns to the dumb. In the palace there is a wonderful Karmakaul stone, “the lord with all stone is dragging, in the night he shines like fire burns”, illuminating the darkness, and in the daytime it is like pure gold (the Grail stone!). And in the castle, which is built of precious stones with the wisdom of Solomon, John's friend, a stone shines, which is visible far into the sea, it is brighter than fire, like a star. There is also the "rotting" Tree of Life. The man anointed with his peace no longer grows old, and his eyes never hurt. Or: if a patient is brought into the golden hall, he immediately recovers - the deaf gains hearing, the gift of speech returns to the dumb. There is also the "rotting" Tree of Life. The man anointed with his peace no longer grows old, and his eyes never hurt. Or: if a patient is brought into the golden hall, he immediately recovers - the deaf gains hearing, the gift of speech returns to the dumb. There is also the "rotting" Tree of Life. The man anointed with his peace no longer grows old, and his eyes never hurt. Or: if a patient is brought into the golden hall, he immediately recovers - the deaf gains hearing, the gift of speech returns to the dumb.
In addition to those already mentioned, there are many other sources in European libraries that are directly or indirectly related to the personality of the legendary presbyter John. But all these works, as well as hundreds of manuscripts of the letters of Tsar John and Pope Alexander III and others, preserved in the dust of archives to this day, undoubtedly represent only a small part of the literature on this topic that existed in the Middle Ages, but later on that or died for some other reason.
It is unlikely that they can be considered indisputable evidence of the reality of this country - the embodiment of mankind's dream of paradise, but something still does not allow us to finally declare the topic closed.
From the book: "50 famous mysteries of the Middle Ages." Author: Zgurskaya Maria Pavlovna