Constrained sobbing is heard behind the bishop. The sobbing becomes louder with every moment. It turns into a solid wail that spreads over the entire inhabited expanse. Ionah and Pitirim silently continue their movement. The wind carries their tears to the opposite end of the meadow.
Laurus gently glides along the grass. Following him first is Gavriil, the Pskov mayor. He is gray and infirm and he is led by the arms. They are nearly dragging him but he is still alive. Behind Gavriil walks the Novgorod boyar Frol with his wife Agafya and their children. They are greater in number with each passing year. Further back are the boyar woman Elizabeth, who receaved her syght, and also God’s servant Nikolai, of sound mind and sober memory. And behind them are numerous others who have seen the light and become wiser. At the very end of the procession are the merchant Zygfryd from Danzig, who found himself here on trading matters, and the blacksmith Averky, who is ashamed of his conduct.
What kind of people are you? says the merchant Zygfryd. A person heals you, dedicates his whole life to you, and you torture him his whole life. And when he dies, you tie a rope to his feet, drag him, and tears stream down your faces.
You have already been in our land for a year and eight months, answers blacksmith Averky, but have not understood a thing about it.
And do you yourselves understand it? asks Zygfryd.
Do we? The blacksmith mulls that over and looks at Zygfryd. Of course we, too, do not understand.
Glossary
adamant (n.) A legendary rock or mineral to which many properties, particularly hardness, were attributed; traditionally associated with diamonds.
bast Bast fibre is collected from the bark or bast of certain plants, such as flax or stinging nettle, or trees such as linden or lime. It can be woven into matting and coarse cloth, and made into shoes, yarn, or rope. Bast fibre is still in use today.
cenobitic monastery Cenobitic monasticism is a monastic tradition that stresses community life, where members live together, rather than in solitude.
computus This is the calculation used to determine the calendar date of the Christian Easter; varying methods are used in Eastern and Western Christian traditions.
honor board Honor boards, usually wooden, are used to recognize achievements or awards in schools, universities and work places. Soviet-era honor boards were sometimes permanent outdoor structures with slots that held large photographs and were placed in locations that greeted visitors to a city region, government building, or factory.
immortelle Immortelle is another name for the plant everlasting, belonging to the sunflower family. It symbolizes eternity and immortality, and has been used for centuries as a digestive remedy, in skincare, and for its essential oils.
Kathisma A Kathisma is a section of the Psalter. Eastern Orthodox Christians, who follow the Byzantine Rite, divide the Psalter’s psalms into 20 Kathismata to facilitate recital of all 150 psalms, which are the foundation of the Canonical Hours, during the course of a week.
kremlin A kremlin is a fortress, a highly fortified complex found in medieval Russian cities, the most famous being the Moscow Kremlin.
kvass A drink often made from fermented rye bread, kvass has a very low alcohol content. Cold soups are sometimes made with kvass in summer.
prosphora A prospheron is a small loaf of leavened bread used in the Orthodox Christian liturgy.
sazhen The sazhen is an obsolete Russian unit of measurement, slightly longer than the old English fathom, measuring roughly seven feet or a little over two meters.
Schema The Schema is the highest degree of asceticism in Eastern Christianity; it assumes observing the strictest ascetic rules. There are two levels: the Little Schema and the Great Schema.
sleeping bench Many old Russian houses had wide, built-in benches on which to sleep and sit.
splinter lamp Splinter lamps were thin strips of dry wood specially cut to be burned as light sources. They were usually placed in metal bases with a vessel of water underneath, both to reflect light and help protect from fire.
stadia A stadion is an ancient Greek and Roman unit of measurement, equivalent to 600 podes (feet) or 202 yds/184.9m, an eighth of a Roman mile.
vershok Like sazhen, the vershok is an obsolete Russian unit of measurement, measuring roughly 1¾" or 4.445cm. A vershok is the length from an index finger’s tip to its second knuckle.
verst A verst is equivalent to 500 sazhens, or roughly 3,500 feet or 1.0668km/0.6629 miles.
well sweep A well sweep is a device used for raising and lowering buckets to draw water from a well. It consists of a long pole with a bucket tied by a rope to one end, pivoted in the middle on another pole, acting as a fulcrum.