Where There's a Will, or From Spirit to Spirits

• Published in: Harvard Ukrainian studies Vol. 28; no. 1/4; pp. 259 - 268
• Main Author: Rothstein, Robert A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute 01-01-2006; Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University
• Subjects: Alcohol drinking; Alcoholism; Alcohols; Cellars; Death; Epitaphs; Gout; Judgment; Literary language; Part One: Linguistics and Philology; Priests; Slavic languages; Spirituality; Swedish; Terminology; Whiskey
• ISSN: 0363-5570; 2328-5400

The testator described himself as rab bozij 'servant of God' or even xudyj gresnyj rab bozij 'poor sinful servant of God' and invoked heavenly judgment against anyone who might violate his last will. [...] from the earliest times Rusian wills included advice to the heirs, calling upon them to live in unity, for example (as in the testament of Prince Simeon Gordyj [1353]; Obnorskij and Barxudarov 1952/1971, 94-96), or, as in the case of the supposed testament of the Swedish King Magnus (the fifteenth-century Rukopisanie Magnusa), warning them "ne nastupati na Rus'" (not to attack Rus'; PSRL 1978, 112). In the avtoreferat of her dissertation, the author points out that in the literary form the instructions about burial "are analogous to certain fragments of hagiographic works, which describe how, before dying, the saint expressed the wish for a simpler burial than was usual" (Morkovina 2005, 11).