If Archbishop Nifont believed that the main thing in the Tale was the ideological program (and this point of view is very likely) and the need to substantiate the primacy of Novgorod in relation to some important rights with the help of historical evidence, and Anthony only helped to implement this program (at least partially "playing along" with it) and to add arguments in favor of the primacy of the city, then he was mistaken. No matter how hard one tries to introduce this pre-worked out program into the "Tale" consciously, purposefully, emphatically, the main thing in it remains the story of Anthony itself outside any ideological and polemical framework, and even more so he himself. It must be assumed that in life, too, if only the text known to us reflects it with a sufficient degree of fidelity, the main thing was the type of holiness that was manifested by Anthony in his religious service, and his reconstructed human construction. And, of course, he was not a fighter against the "Latins" and a passionate polemicist, but rather a victim of persecution (for the sake of fairness, it should be noted that the "Legend" nowhere ascribes to Anthony those features that would fully correspond to the "program"), a man of prayer and a worker, an opponent of violence, a gentle, tolerant and tolerant person (the word tolerate appears twice in the text in diagnostically important places; cf. do not nudge me, for it is imperative to endure in that place, where God has commanded me," Anthony replies to Nikita's persuasions to choose a place for himself; and in the last instructions of the brethren before death, if you choose an abbot, but choose from among the brethren those who endure in this place, and those who endure in this place in the "Spiritual" of Anthony; by the way, Tikhomirov 1945, 241 noted that this use is typical for early texts of the XI-XII centuries).

And we must remember one more hero, thanks to whom the feat of Anthony became known to us – the compiler of the "Legend" and/or those people in whose rumor – out of ignorance or in the order of following "moral practices" – the reverend father of the twelfth century, a Novgorodian, a Russian, turned into a native Roman, acquired a Roman biography, and then miraculously ended up in Novgorod, in Russia, as if restoring the real picture. attested by historical sources contemporary to Anthony. These two moves ("Russian-Novgorodian" – > "Italian-Roman" & "Italian-Roman" – > in Russia, in Novgorod), whatever they were caused by, should be attributed to the number of brilliant discoveries in the space of creative fantasy, invention, fiction (inventio) or to that providential forgetfulness-forgetfulness that is committed for the sake of restoring the higher, super-empirical truth, for the sake of the memory of the future, more precisely, of what which has to become, because it corresponds to the divine will.

So this other main thing is natural, from inner needs that have not passed the censorship of dogmatizing consciousness, "plan-making", spontaneous and yet not excluding a miracle, because it is also spontaneous, unintentional, outside of man's plans and beyond his control (the miracle is constantly present in the "Tale": first of all, Anthony himself is a miracle-worker, and not so much because he himself creates a miracle, but because he is a miracle that a miracle was performed about him [Bishop Nikita was once called a miracle-worker]; sometimes the "miraculous" is condensed at the level of linguistic expression — these Andrew told [...], having heard from the monk and about these miracles. The archbishop and the people who revered and gave praise [...] to the great miracle-maker Anthony; cf. also: but the works of God and the most glorious miracles are done by his saints; "And Saint Nicetas said to the monk: Thou hast been vouchsafed a great gift by God and by the ancient people, thou hast become like Elijah the Tezbite; — and you want to glorify the Chudo; — Begin the saint to marvel within himself about the miracles; — although the history of seeing about chyudesi; — The miracle of our venerable and God-bearing father Anthony the Roman; — the usual reaction to a miracle is conveyed by the words "marvel", "wondrous", "surprise"), is depicted in the "Legend" as follows.

Finally, after a miraculous journey across the sea, a stone was placed, on which the monk stood and shallowed, at the shore of a great river, called Volkhov, at this place, in the third watch of the night, in the villages, which is called Volkhovskoye. While the stone with Anthony was rushing across the sea, moving away from the Italian shores, the main thing was the retreat of danger, and the glimmering salvation from the "Roman" was stronger than the fear associated with this unexpectedly strange journey, especially since Anthony felt himself under the protection of God and the Most Pure Mother of God. When this salutary movement was over and the stone stopped at an unknown shore, Antony's situation became even more uncertain, since the apparent goal (salvation) had been achieved, and the rest was as in a fog in which surprises, particularly unpleasant ones, could be hidden. When the bells began to ring for the morning singing in the city, it seemed to Anthony that the worst was the most probable of what awaited him: And the monk heard the great ringing in the city, and stood in many times and in bewilderment, and from fear he began to be in meditation and in great majesty. And this fear was quite concrete, as if it had been brought to the city to Rome on a stone. Now the meeting with Rome would be a real nightmare for Antony.

But in fact, the early morning bell in the high providential plane meant something else: it did not announce the salvation-flight that had already taken place, but the coming salvation-meeting, unity: the time from was at its death, the time to and the time from, approach and together, was ready to begin counting down on its clock. In fact, it began precisely when the light of day had already dawned, and the sun had risen, and the people who were living flocked to the monk, and beheld the monk, marveling. People were the first to come to Antony, and the initiative to meet belonged to them; In this episode of the first meeting, he himself was a passive participant: they came to him, and this arrival was supposed to respond with his arrival to the people, in the context of the dialogue that suggested itself. For this he began to prepare himself immediately after the first step of people to him – their question about the name and patronymic, and from which country he came. The homeland, the father, and the designation of that mysterious essence, which in certain worldview traditions is ontologically more primary than what it designates—this is what you need to know in order to open the way to a genuine encounter. This question, as a ritual opening of the meeting, immediately hangs in the air — the monk is not at all able to understand the Russian language, and it is not possible to give them any answer. The threat of breaking off the first contact, when the "physical" meeting had already taken place, was very great, but still the first contact was not in vain: it was not canceled, but postponed. Seeing many people around him unknown to him, hearing them and, probably, realizing that he was being asked something important to them, he offered them the only thing he could do now – he gave them a certain sign of his goodwill towards them, partly replacing the answers to the questions asked by people: Anthony... only to them did you worship. The people, apparently understanding this gesture, took note of it and dispersed, the monk stood on a stone for three days and three nights (he did not dare to step from a stone) and prayed to God. He was aware of the insufficiency of his answer, and, not relying on himself and on the people who seemed to be irreparably divided by their tongues, on the fourth day he prayed to God for many hours for a vision of the city and for the people, and that God might be such a thing for him... He would have told of this city and of the people, and had gone to the city, to the people. Now the initiative belonged to Anthony, but it could only be carried out by God's will; only God's help could bring positive results in this situation. And this help came unexpectedly easily, as if by chance. It was no help at all, and, dressed in the garb of chance, it did not reveal its source, although Anthony could scarcely guess from whom it came. And here some clarification is desirable.

Until now, Anthony is for people who saw him for the first time and did not receive an answer to their questions from him, but understood that he was not "ours" (whether he was dumb because he was completely speechless, or dumb because he was a German, a man who did not know our language and could not speak it and did not understand it), but was disposed to the good, was simply a man, without any other definitions that these people considered most important and, moreover, necessary. In the same way, the people who gathered around Anthony were for him simply people and also without the definitions of them that he needed, especially in this situation. For him and for them, one thing was more or less clear: their common failure lay in the fact that they were separated by language: for each other in the space of language they were different, different. But the difficulties of this otherness for Anthony and for the people around him were different. These "other" people, who were equally lingual among themselves and constituted a single whole, really could not, having come to their other Anthony, become whole and united with him (too much could not enter into too small, dissolve in him and become him), but he could do this, but for this he needed help in establishing linguistic contact with the people of the city. Anthony understood this possibility of his and decided to meet them halfway himself in order to change the situation and ensure communication in the language: henceforth, language as a divisive force was to become a uniting force, capable of including him, Anthony, in their linguistic unity. What did this mean specifically and at the very first step? Only one thing is the discovery of one's linguistic identification. Further, the variants branched if Antony knew languages other than his "Roman", and had at least some opportunity to identify their language, the language of this place, or to perceive the identification of their language by themselves.

Anthony was lucky, although this luck itself was not something out of the ordinary and was not recognized as an undoubted miracle. And the monk descended from the stone, and went to the city to the great Novgrad, — reports the "Legend" (the fact that Anthony descended and went down is a fact of great importance, a sign of some decisive change in him; hitherto Anthony's walk was only a departure from evil and danger [he himself went [= departing] from the city to the distant wilderness... hiding from heretics...; and went away to his wilderness]; when the people who came to him [came to him] or later Nikita asked him from which country he came, they did not know that he did not come, but was brought (cf. this man of God was brought on a stone by water. — V. T.) against his will by divine will; he clings to his stone, whether at sea or in Novgorod, as the only reliable, salvific place [He himself does not dare to step from the stone] and in every way opposes proposals made with the best intentions to change this place of residence for a better one, and only after meeting with people, when he descended and went, did Anthony begin to walk [and was overwhelmed with joy, he went to the saint; descending from the stone, And he went to meet the emow; Go to the fisherman, and speak unto them; let us go into the city and tell you how the brethren went... with the Monk Anthony], and this journey is purposeful, sometimes joint, with the brethren, culminating in word and/or deed) — and you will find a man of the Greek land. This man, fortunately, knew the Roman and Greek and Russian languages, and, fortunately, was curious and active. He, seeing the monk, asked him about his name and about faith (the formulation of the question about faith, and a direct one, is very characteristic; however, from which country in the question of people to Anthony, apparently, in part is nothing but a delicate question about faith). This happy meeting, not so much "physical" as "linguistic" in language, gave Anthony the opportunity to solve, at least in the first, "approximate" version, two tasks – self-identification (the monk told him his name, called himself a Christian, and a monk is a sinner and unworthy of the angelic image), which he was unable to fulfill when meeting with the inhabitants of the city on the very first day after his arrival. and to obtain information about the place where he now found himself. But in the interval between the first and the second, a human meeting took place, a connection was established in spirit (the merchant fell down at the feet of the saint, asking for a blessing from him. A common faith opened the way to an even deeper and already partly personal meeting. Therefore, coming out of isolation, isolation and muteness into an open space, Anthony himself is already involved in a dialogue that makes the meeting equal and mutual. He asks about this city, and about the people, and about the faith, and about the holy churches of God. The merchant (hereinafter he is called a Gothin or a Greek-Gothfin, and, consequently, he could have been, for example, a German guest, combining in himself the "German-Varangian" and the "Greek", as if referring to the spatial image of the connection of these elements — to the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks") in response told everything in a row, saying: this city is the Great Novgrad; and the people in it possess the Orthodox Christian faith; the cathedral church of St. Sophia the Wisdom of God; and the saint in the city was seven bishops Nikita; and the owner of this city belongs to the pious Grand Prince Mstislav Volodimerovich Manamah, grandson of Vsevolodov. All this information was positively received by Anthony, but nevertheless one important circumstance was unknown to him, and he ventured to ask about it as well: tell me, my friend, how long is the distance from the city of Rome to this city, and at what time do people pass this path? Two "interests" are guessed behind this question — the degree of security, the reliability of hiding from Rome in this city and, probably, the desire to find out where this city is located, of which the monk had obviously not heard in his own Italy, although this city, according to the recent experience of Anthony himself, was evidently not far from Rome, only two days away (and a roundabout one). cf. Kako v dvuh dni i v dva noshchi toliku doltu puti preide. But the "Greek Gotfin" knew well that Rome was a distant country, and that it needed a way by sea and by land; as soon as a guest passes away, and in half a year's time, if God hastens. Anthony, hearing this, was surprised: in what he had said, he apparently found confirmation of what he had guessed before, but which, out of modesty, he did not allow himself to believe. The merchant's answer excluded doubts, and therefore now, pondering and marveling in himself about the greatness of God, realizing that a miracle had happened to him and about him, he could hardly restrain himself from tears and bowed down to the ground before the merchant, granting him peace and forgiveness.

Now Antony had confidence. It became clear to him that the "Roman" danger and the "Roman" evil had lost their power for him, God's help was with him, he found himself in a place of grace, in a distant city, where Christianity flourished and where the holy power dwelt (the only obstacle to inclusion in this life, according to the monk's soul, was his ignorance of the Russian language, although now Anthony had a guide to this language). The decision ripened at once — And the monk went into the city to pray to Saint Sophia the Wisdom of God and to see the great saint Nicetas. The first impression of the city was the most favorable (And seeing the splendor of the church, and the rite, and the dignity of bishop, he rejoiced in his soul, and prayed and went about everywhere), but only the first of the plans was fulfilled: the tongue, its ignorance, again tripped up, which was to providentially remind the monk again of the language, of the new task — the need to assimilate it. Comprehension of this task and, apparently, the choice already made in his soul, after examining him and praying in St. Sophia, forced Anthony to refuse an immediate meeting with St. Nicetas (the monk had not yet appeared to St. Nicetas at that time, since he had not yet learned the Slovene and Russian language and custom). And again Anthony puts his hopes in God: he returns to himself, and for the time being his place of residence is the same saving stone-foundation (for the Christian Church also stands on the rock of Peter), where he began... praying..., standing day and night, that God would reveal the Russian language to him. And God heard and again, responding to the call, came to the rescue, again concealing His participation: the new miracle was framed as something natural, ordinary, everyday, and everything happened as if it were not Anthony who needed people, but people needed Anthony. And there began to come to him the people and citizens living nearby, for the sake of prayers and blessings, and by God's providence the monk soon began to understand and speak in the Russian language from them. The mastery of the language happened, it seems, quickly. But even now, in answer to people's questions about the fatherland and what land is born and raised, and about its coming, the monk in no way told them about himself, calling himself a sinner. Of course, one can think that Anthony feared complications for himself in "anti-Roman" Novgorod if people learned about his "Roman" origin. But this was hardly the main thing. Rather, Anthony proceeded from two considerations: in fact, he considered his sinfulness to be the main thing in himself (this was his name: calling himself a sinner), and he declared it openly and emphatically, but in addition he saw in his salvation the miraculous intervention of God's will, and in his modesty, humility and awareness of his own unworthiness he considered it impossible to reveal this secret of his. And later, when Anthony revealed this secret to Nicetas, in response to his urgent request, he fell down before the saint on his face and wept bitterly, and beseeched the saint, that he would not tell this mystery to anyone, until the monk in this life; and this mystery was told in one, all in a row; the second to whom Anthony told his secret was his disciple Andrew; This was done just before the death of the monk: to conceal the secret, which now should become a secret not about himself, but about God and only about God, about his miracles, he no longer had the right, and Andrew had to inform people about it: and the monk saw his departure to God, calling me and calling me his spiritual father, and confessed well with tears; And the monk told my wretchedness about his coming from Rome, and about the stone, and about the wooden vessel, about the barrel [...] and commanded me to write all this after my repose, and to give it to the church of God, to those who read and obey for the crawling of the soul, and for the correction of good deeds...

The rumor about Anthony and his virtues reached Saint Nicetas when the monk had already mastered the Russian language and nothing prevented their meeting. And it was not only a matter of hearing (there were so many of them!): the hearing was only an approximate reflection of the holy essence which, before seeing Anthony, Nikita, who undoubtedly possessed visionary abilities, felt. As already mentioned, the monk immediately after meeting with the "Greek Gothfin" and praying in Hagia Sophia, apparently in a state of some euphoric impulse, went to St. Nicetas in order to see him. He went, but did not reach it, apparently ashamed in his heart of this impulse and as if remembering that he, Anthony, knew neither the Russian language nor Russian customs. And he returned to his stone. When Anthony began to understand Russian speech and learned to speak in Russian, Saint Nicetas, as if by intuition, understood that the right moment for the meeting had come. The first initiative of the meeting belonged to Antony, but it did not end in anything. Now the initiative was taken by the saint himself, who sent for Anthony. Anthony experienced two opposite feelings when the messenger led him to the saint – fear and joy (having been in the cmpax in the majesty, he was also possessed with joy): fear – from natural timidity, shyness, and even more from the premonition that inevitably the conversation would have to touch on what constituted the mystery of Anthony; joy — from the upcoming meeting with the saint, the head and pastor of the entire flock of Christians of Novgorod the Great. Religious interests stood for Anthony above everything else, the thirst for spiritual communion was great, and he believed that it would be quenched when he met with the saint. And now Anthony is with him. A prayer has been created. With fear and love, the blessing of the saint was accepted, as if from God's hand. The meeting was heated and emotional. On the part of Anthony – joy and love, on the part of the saint – striving for Anthony, the essence of which was immediately revealed to him, and the saint, having foreseen by the Holy Spirit about the monk, and began to ask him – about the same things about which Anthony was asked by the people who met the monk on the morning of the first day, and by the "Greek Gothin". It seems that the answers to these questions, at least in a general form, the saint knew or could have known from the rumor about Anthony that had reached him. Did the saint want to verify the authenticity of these answers or to hear them directly and personally from the mouth of the monk himself? — Quite possibly. But it seems that he had another, more distant goal. Perhaps he sensed the presence of mystery and Anthony's unwillingness to reveal the mysteries, for the sake of human glory.

That is why the saint is so persistent, offensive and almost threatening — Saint Nicetas with a great rebuke, and also with an exorcism, questioning the monk, and saying: "Shall I, brother, not hang up my mysteries?" and that God hath revealed to our humility concerning thee; but thou shalt receive disobedience from God. Anthony fell on his face, wept bitterly and besought the saint not to reveal this secret to anyone. And to him, the saint, he revealed everything about himself, as in spirit. Nicetas's persistence was for good: listening to Anthony's story, he did not think of him as a man, but as an angel of God, and rising from his place and laying down the pastor's staff, and for many hours he prayed and marveled at what was there, as God glorifies His servant. The discharge of tension was stormy and touching — Saint Nicetas fell to the ground before the monk, asking for blessing and prayer from him; The monk fell to the ground before the saint [...] And both lay on the ground and wept, smearing the ground with tears for many hours, asking each other's blessing and prayers.

The figure of St. Nicetas in the "Legend" is very important. He was the first to recognize the great gift of Anthony, with which he had been vouchsafed by God, and in the miracle of his transfer to Novgorod he recognized a kind of repetition of the miracle of Elijah the Tezbite or the apostles, who were brought to the clouds for the dormition of the Most-Pure Mother of God. Nikita regarded the miraculous arrival of Anthony in Novgorod as a sign of divine attention to the city, its marking: "Thus and our city the Lord hath swept thee, blessed and betrayed the newly-enlightened people with Thy saint. Some time later, Bishop Nikita himself visited Anthony. He stepped down from the stone and went to meet him. The saint walked around the place of the village of that village, as if he saw it in a broad perspective, in which the past and the future are united, the miracle of the "first times" (hardly by chance, having learned about the miracle of Anthony about the Mother of God, Nicetas remembered the miracle of the apostles, carried by air to the dormition of the Virgin Mary) and the miracle of "this day", and made his choice, guessing to them the destiny of Anthony and, perhaps his secret desire. God and the Most-Pure Mother of God willed, – he said to the monk, – and having chosen this place, he desires that by thy venerability a church of the Most-Pure Mother of God of her honorable and glorious nativity be erected, and that there should be a great monastery for the salvation of me; Wherefore on the eve of the feast of that feast God hath set Me in this place. The Most-Pure Mother of God, Anthony and this place in the land of Novgorod seemed to come together, and Saint Nicetas sealed this event only with his own word. But Nicetas, although he had heard of the miracles and fearing temptation, nevertheless decided once more to verify what his visionary feeling so convincingly told him: he went around the villagers one by one and asked them about the appearance of the monk at that place. And their opinion was in accord with the feeling of the saint: he unanimously decided: in truth, more holy than God, this man of God was brought by water on a stone. The heart of the saint was kindled with spiritual love for Anthony, and he blessed the monk and withdrew to his own courtyard at Hagia Sophia. But he had already made an internal decision and it was only necessary to think over the practical details.

How this decision of St. Nicetas was carried out is described in a very short (only four phrases) chapter of the "Tale" entitled "On the Conception of the Most Holy Theotokos of the Anthony Monastery in Great Novegrad", the most historically reliable and verifiable part of the "Antony" text. The brevity of this chapter gives it a tinge of efficiency, composure, and documentary. Saint Nicetas sent for the posadniks John and Prokofii, Ivan's children. My children, tell me," he turns to them, "there is in your patronymic a village near the city, the river Volkhov. God and the Most-Pure Mother of God willed to be erected in this place to the church of the Most-Pure Mother of God of Her honorable and glorious Nativity, to build her monastery with this strange Monk Anthony, and a prayer will be sent up to God for the salvation of your souls, and the remembrance will be your parent. Having listened to the saint with love, the posadniks built land for the church and under the monastery for all the countries of fifty fathoms. On this land Nicetas commanded to build a small church made of wood, and to consecrate it and to place a single cell as a refuge. One has to be surprised at how simply, practically, taking into account the interests of all interested parties, the problem was solved. At this stage, Anthony is somewhat pushed aside, although his role is undeniable; however, it manifests itself in a different plane: his miraculous vision of the Most Pure and his personal holiness are the seed that is to bear fruit, already visible to all, material, on the soil of harsh realities.

The "Roman" theme in the Novgorod reality arises once again in the chapter designated as "The Miracle of Our Venerable and God-bearing Father Anthony the Roman on the Finding of the Vessel of the Delva, that is, the Barrel, with the Venerable Monk's Estate." In particular, it contains the best description in the "Tale" of an episode from everyday Novgorod life. Life prose and miracle surprisingly naturally coexist with each other. The following happened. Immersed in concern for the well-being of the house of the Most-Pure Mother of God, Anthony after morning prayer goes to the fishermen (fishermen) and, offering them a grivna of silver, asks them to cast their nets into the Volkhov — and if you have anything, then into the house of the Most-Pure Mother of God. Fishermen, who worked unsuccessfully all night long and caught nothing, tired (only exhausted), not believing in luck, did not want to do this. The monk begged them to heed his request, and they finally agreed. The result was beyond all expectations — they [...] threw the man into the river into the Volkhov and brought a multitude of great fish to the shore, through the prayers of the saint; The darkness was almost overwhelmed, as if it were Nikoli Yasha. This was the first miracle - "small". But there was also the second, the "great" one, which determined much in what directly concerned the Anthony Monastery. This "great" miracle reminded us for the last time of Rome and the "Roman" heritage, so graciously used in Novgorod: he also took out a vessel of wood, a delva, and this barrel was bound everywhere with iron hoops. Anthony blessed the fishermen — my child! see the mercy of God: how God provides for his servants; And I bless you, and give you fish; and a vessel for himself in the ground [...] since God entrusted him for the creation of a monastery. But immediately there was a serious complication - a conflict between the fishermen who caught the delva and Antony. Hate the good devil, although he will do evil to the monk, strike and harden the heart with the cunning of those fishers, and they began to offer the monk fish, and they wanted to appropriate the barrel for themselves (and our barrel exists), and also with cruel words annoying and reproaching the monk. Refusing to argue and quarrel (my lords, I have no imam with you about this), Anthony suggested that the fishermen go to the judges of the city (for the judge is ordained by God, and the people of God reason). The fishermen, apparently confident of success, willingly agreed, went with Anthony to court and began to confront him. The first word belonged to the monk. He set forth the subject of the dispute and in conclusion substantiated his rights to the barrel – this barrel God entrusted to me for the creation of a monastery of our Most-Pure Lady Theotokos and the Ever-Virgin Mary. The judge asked the fishermen to answer him, "Is it so, as the elder said?" They also lied when justifying their rights to the barrel - ... but our barrel is; Wherefore we are cast into this water to keep for ourselves. Anticipating a difficult situation in which the judge could find himself, the monk suggests that he ask the fishermen what is inside the barrel. The fishermen are at a loss what to answer to this. In order not to prolong the uncertainty and to come to a final decision as soon as possible, alleviating the situation of all, Anthony announces the history of this barrel and its contents: this barrel of our frailty, given to the water in Rome by our sinful hands, and the enclosure in the barrel is the vessels of the church of gold and silver and crystal, chalices and dishes, and many other consecrated things of the church, And gold and silver from the possessions of my parents, and this treasure thrown into the sea for the sake of guilt, lest the sacred vessels be defiled by the heretics of God, and by the demonic sacrifices of the everlasting, and the signatures on the vessels written in the Roman language. Of course, the barrel was opened, all its contents, which Antony told about, were found and given to him, the fishermen left in shame.

But this episode, interesting in itself, plays the role of a double motivation as part of the whole: the succession of the "Roman" heritage by Novgorod and the now possible erection of a stone church and the beginning of the construction of the monastery (it is worth paying attention to the "stone" theme of the "Legend" in connection with the monk: the saving stone that brought Anthony by sea from the "Roman country" to Novgorod became the only house of the saint in the new place, and he stubbornly refused all other offers to move to a new home, until it became possible to turn the newly acquired "Roman" estate into a stone church and monastery, which henceforth became his permanent home until his death). Joyful, offering thanks to God, Anthony went to Saint Nicetas, and the latter, having given much praise to God about this and having judged with his prudent reasoning, turned to Anthony, once again formulating the idea of the "Roman-Novgorodian" succession with his characteristic clarity and large-scale vision: Venerable Anthony! For God hath set thee by the waters on the stones of Rome the Saviour in Great Novehrad, and also give thee the barrel which was cast in Rome, that thou mayest erect a church of the stone of the Most-Pure Mother of God, and that thou mayest build the monastery. A little later, the same idea is repeated once again, when the activities of Anthony are summed up — ... building everything from a barrel, when God set it from Rome on the waters in Great Novehrad, and sweating and toiling.