One of the desired finds of a digger are the so-called besogons. Not to be confused with the television program of Nikita Mikhalkov. Although, he took this theme for the name of his TV channel, from an ancient Orthodox cult. Precisely Orthodox, since only in Orthodoxy, more precisely in the Old Believer canon, is the biography of this saint found. In general, the life of Nikita “Besogon”, the son of Tsar Maximyanov, is interesting in itself, and as is usually the case in early Christian cults, it is replete with a large number of inaccuracies, overlaps and inconsistencies. First of all, the historical inconsistency is that the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximian Herculius had only one son, and his name was Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletian. So it’s clear that it’s definitely not Nikita. However, according to researchers and historians, the cult of Nikita Besogon is a slightly revised or distorted story of some other saint or even an epic hero, for example Nikita Kozhemyaka. Let’s briefly go through why Nikita became a besogon? According to legend, his own father, the one who was Marcus Aurelius, wanted to return «son» Nikita to the veneration of the old Roman gods and turn him away from prayers to the true God – Christ. But Nikita did not want the old gods and, after praying, erased the golden statues of the old idols into dust. Which greatly angered the emperor’s father, and he ordered Nikita to be put in prison. In prison, an angel began to appear to Nikita and have intimate conversations with him, hinting that renouncing the true God is not so bad. Nikita suspected something was wrong, and after reading a prayer to God, he saw a hidden demon in the image of an angel. Nikita grabbed the demon by the horns, or, according to another version, by the tail and began to beat him with his shackles. It is unclear how long this beating of the demon lasted, but according to the biography it follows that three years later the emperor’s father remembered his son and ordered him to be brought from prison. And Nikita came to the emperor not alone, but with a beaten demon, thereby showing people a miracle.
Then, to the proposal of his father-emperor Nikita to again renounce the true God and return to the worship of the old gods, Besogon responded with a clear refusal, for which he was sentenced to death, but the execution did not take place, since Nikita again showed a miracle to people. And the people rebelled against the emperor and in one day Nikita baptized 18,000 people. Here’s the story. Let’s leave the analysis of the early Christian canons and try to figure out why the cult of Nikita Besogon took root so well and almost en masse on the territory of Rus’ from the 12th to the 18th centuries? First of all, this is due to the pre-Christian beliefs of the Slavs, where all otherworldly entities had bodily and tangible appearance. Then, as canonical Christianity then, as now, assures that demons are fallen angels, and angels are incorporeal beings, that is, spirits. Therefore, demons cannot have physical forms. So, in the cult of Nikita Besogon, people saw that the demon is not only material, but it can also be caught and defeated using quite simple methods.
The second reason for the spread of the cult of Nikita Besogon is the need of deeply religious people for simple and understandable systems of exarcism. And in those days all non-standard behavior of people was attributed to the influence of demons. From fornication and hard drinking, to hyperactive behavior of children. Also, in the event of increased mortality of people in a particular area, rumors spread that people were being strangled by demons. Thus, the Tale of Bygone Years tells about a certain event that took place in the City of Polotsk in 1092 AD. “In the night that was Tuten, moaning past midnight, as people prowled the streets. If anyone climbs out of the mansion, although you can see it, and is vulnerable without being seen from demons, then I die, and I don’t dare climb out of the mansion.” In general, according to the chronicler. Demons in Polotsk at night caught and strangled everyone who left the house, and during the day they (the demons) rode around the city on horses. The demons themselves were not visible, but the horses galloped around the city, controlled by invisible forces.
Thus, demons were the main threat to people of that period; many legends have survived to this day about how demons kidnapped people, possessed them, and committed various kinds of intrigues, crimes and murders. So, for example, in the life of Bishop Vasily of Ryazan it is reported that a demon, disguised as a naked woman, appeared to people in the window of the living room of the bishop’s house in order to disgrace him. Well, I won’t argue here and express my subjective opinion as well. It is up to each reader to understand what can be understood in this example. So it is quite natural that the need for certain patrons or simple means of protection from demons or expelling them from a person has always existed. And, as the eternal law of economics says, demand creates supply. So the cult of Nikita Besogon appeared and took root very well on the territory of the Russian kingdom.
In 1720, at the insistence of Peter I, a governing body of the Orthodox Church (the Holy Synod) was introduced. After this, large-scale work was carried out to revise all existing cults and saints, and as a result, non-canonical saints were not only abolished, but transferred to the category of apocryphal. Then, gradually, these non-canonical saints began to be taken out of circulation. However, the need for means and methods of expulsion and protection from demons did not disappear; it was covered by the canonical 67th psalm “May God rise again.” And this prayer becomes, like the image of the besogon, one of the most common options for casting on the back of crosses. And finally, a little humor. Several years ago, Nikita Mikhalkov registered the company Besogon LLC and company representatives submitted an application to Rospatent to register a trademark: “a stylized image of a person and a fantasy animal, as well as a tree branch in a double frame, of which the inner one is in the shape of an arch, and the outer one is shaped like an arch.” rectangular shape” Rospatent refused to register this mark and representatives of the company Besogon LLC filed a lawsuit. As a result of the consideration of the case, the court ordered Rospatent to register this trademark and pay the plaintiff 3,000 rubles in legal costs.
Separately, I would like to note that it remains a mystery to me why in the 17th century already cast crosses were subjected to cleaning file the back side, where there were images of Archangel Michael. What happened and according to what canon they did it, I was unable to find information. There are three crosses in the photo, on two of them it is clear that the crosses were ground off.