Three hundred years ago, in September-October 1705, the Kyivan Cave Monastery published the fourth and final part of the book Chet’ Menaion by Metropolitan of Rostov Dymytrii Tuptalo. This champion of Orthodoxy was a true son of the Ukrainian soil and a defender of our ancestors’ faith. On the way to this titanic achievement, Tuptalo, the son of a Cossack captain, trod a thorny, 20-year-long path marked by little conspicuous heroism but much self-abnegatory work. Tuptalo was destined to defend the Ukrainian language and culture, and become the Metropolitan of Rostov.
Dymytrii (secular name: Danylo) Tuptalo was born in December 1651 in Makariv, in the Kyiv region. The pious Cossack family sent the 11-year-old Danylo to Mohyla Academy, where he studied for three years, displaying a proclivity for theology. Sava Tuptalo, the father of the future metropolitan and author of the Menaion, was the warden of St. Cyril’s Monastery where his son took monastic vows in July 1668 and was christened Dymytrii.
In 1675 Tuptalo was ordained a hieromonk and began his peripatetic life. He drew large crowds in monasteries and churches, eager to hear this magnificent orator preaching the word of God. His travels took him to almost every corner of Lithuania and Volyn. He returned to Kyiv only in 1681.
By a decision of Hetman Ivan Samoilovych, he was appointed hegumen of Maksakiv Monastery in the Cherhihiv region, and the following year he became hegumen of Baturyn Monastery. Tuptalo moved back to his beloved Kyiv in 1683 to serve as preacher at the Kyivan Cave Monastery, where, on the order of Archimandrite Varlaam Yasynsky, he began working on The Lives of Saints, also known as chet’ menaion (menaion for daily reading). The young theologian worked on this compilation for only two years. Hetman Samoilovych brought Tuptalo into his entourage and appointed him hegumen of St. Nicholas Monastery in Baturyn.
Ivan Mazepa, who succeeded Samoilovych as hetman, was also favorably disposed toward the writing of The Lives of the Saints. This enabled Tuptalo to continue writing the book that was conceived long ago by Petro Mohyla. After the first volume was completed in 1688, Tuptalo encountered difficulties. At the time, the Metropolitan of Kyiv was subordinated to Patriarch Ioakim of Moscow whose blessing was required to print the first part of the Menaion. Tuptalo had to revise what he had written because Moscow had banned writings in the language spoken by the Ukrainian people.
Meanwhile, The Lives of Saints was being written precisely for the Ukrainian people, and the book’s language was close to their everyday speech. Although the author wrote in Old Church Slavonic, he made wide use of Ukrainian words and constructions. Moscow demanded that further volumes of The Lives of Saints be written and printed only with its permission. Tuptalo had to go to Moscow with Mazepa, where he made prodigious efforts to win the trust of Patriarch Ioakim, who eventually allowed him to continue working on The Lives of Saints.
While writing The Lives, Tuptalo used Moscow Metropolitan Makariy’s Greater Menaion, which was delivered from Moscow under a personal guarantee from Hetman Samoilovych, as well as the Greek-language Lives by Simon the Metaphrast. Makariy’s Menaion were full of unnecessary material and details, and contained entire literary works, which made for difficult reading. Neither did it contain any writing on the Ukrainian martyrs. Although the Menaion was Tuptalo’s lifelong pursuit, he also wrote other works, such as An Examination of the Schismatic Brynian Sect, Catechism, The Mirror of the Orthodox Faith, Reflections on God’s Image and Likeness in Man, A Spiritual Alphabet, The Bedewed Fleece, and Diary.
In later years, as a hegumen in Hlukhiv and Kyiv, Tuptalo continued his exhausting theological and authorial pursuits, and the Kyivan Cave Monastery began to print the second volume of The Lives of Saints in 1693. The third volume of this Herculean work was printed in 1700. Tuptalo suffered from a number of illnesses while he was writing the last part. Tsar Peter I summoned him to Moscow, where he was consecrated metropolitan and assigned to the Tobolsk (Siberia) see. Gravely ill, Tuptalo agonized over having to leave his native land and being unable to finish The Lives of Saint's because of ill health. Surprisingly, Peter I relented and sent Tuptalo to Rostov (now a district center in Yaroslav oblast, Russia). Tuptalo become Metropolitan of Rostov in early 1702.
Once in Rostov, Tuptalo was horrified by the ignorance of the local priests. Apart from conducting enlightenment activities, the new metropolitan founded a theological school for 200 pupils at his own expense. This educational institution employed Kyivan students as teachers, who taught according to the curricula of Ukrainian seminaries. Many high-ranking clerics objected, so there was no question of governmental support. Two years later, this unusual school was closed.
The local people loved to listen to Metropolitan Dymytrii’s sermons at the Rostov cathedral. The figurative, simple, but inspiring, language of his sermons enchanted the congregation. Tuptalo knew that his health was weakening, and one day in the cathedral he said, “Behold my resting place, here I will settle for eternity.” He tried to conserve his strength to finish the fourth and last part of the Menaion, which was completed in early 1707.
The book was printed at the Kyivan Cave Monastery in the fall of the same year. Little known in the Orthodox world, this work has retained its importance. Until the 19 th century, The Lives of Saints was the most popular book among the common people and a favorite book in the home of Mykola Hogol [Gogol]. It also made a lasting impression on Taras Shevchenko and Ivan Ohienko (Metropolitan Ilarion).
Long before the complete Lives were published, Tuptalo began to work on an abridged version, so that poor people could buy the book. This work, entitled Martyrology, also contained prayers to each of the saints. Unfortunately, this interesting work was never completed.
Mazepa helped Tuptalo throughout his lifetime, which was marked by self-denial and sufferings. Peter I was aware of this, and after the Battle of Poltava Tuptalo felt the clouds gathering. Five days after Mazepa’s death the metropolitan remained indoors alone, praying for a long time. In the morning he was found dead, kneeling in the chapel. This was a difficult period for Ukraine. “It grew dark in Ukraine: the time of hardships and troubles came, a ‘stormy night’,” Ohienko wrote.
Dymytrii Tuptalo was buried without honors under the floor of the monastery’s Church of St. Jacob. It was not until 50 years later that the great Ukrainian’s quest was duly appreciated. In April 1757 the Synod blessed the celebration of Sept. 21 as the Day of the Discovery of the Relics of St. Dymytrii. These words were engraved on the saint’s silver reliquary: “Having written The Lives of Saints, he had the honor of being admitted to the canon of saints.” The author of this dedication was none other than Mikhail Lomonosov.
Like their author, The Lives of Saints also encountered many difficulties. Their publication was banned in 1740. The imperial censors did not allow the use of Ukrainian words with Old Church Slavonic. As a result of continuous editing, Ukrainian stresses and words were replaced by Russian ones. The texts on the Eastern Slavic saints, primarily those associated with the Kyivan Cave Monastery, were mercilessly edited.
Metropolitan Dymytrii wrote his sermons and religious verses in the standard Ukrainian language of the time. Ivan Ohienko, who studied this important aspect, arrived at the following conclusion: “It is not the Saint’s fault that his works were translated into Russian and passed off as Russian cultural values. Nor is the Saint to blame that the Russians perfidiously made a Russian out of him. Nor is the Saint guilty that he, a Ukrainian, is being falsely admitted to the canon of Russian church saints.”
It was not until centuries later that the Ukrainian people became aware of the true and tragic picture. Even The History of Russian Literature published in 1907 noted that in Tuptalo’s day Moscow needed the Kyivans’ assistance in the sphere of book publishing and education, as the Muscovites were often ignorant of elementary things. By God’s grace, in spite of glaring injustice, the name of this great son of Ukraine has returned to his native land in all its grandeur and sanctity.
