Evfimy II of Novgorod - Cultural Patronage

Cultural Patronage

Evfimy was one of the greatest cultural patrons builders in Novgorod's history. Much of his cultural patronage looked back on Novgorodian history and his building projects were often reconstructions of old churches on their old foundations and in the old architectural styles. He built or rebuilt more than a dozen churches according to the chronicles, several of which still stand in Novgorod today, including the Church of the Twelve Apostles, The Church of John the Forerunner at Opoky (originally built by Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich in 1127), the Church of the Assumption (also originally built by Vsevolod Mstislavich, the Church of St. George at the Market (again, also originally built by Vsevolod Mstislavich) (the three are right next to one another in the northern part of the Market). He also built a number of secular buildings. The Palace of Facets, built in 1433, still stands northwest of the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom. He also built the belfry to the east of the cathedral and a clocktower west of it. The clocktower collapsed and was rebuilt in 1673.

Evfimy also canonized a number of his predecessors and promoted the veneration of other Novgorodian saints. He discovered the relics of Archbishop Ilya (Ioann) in 1439 and commemorated him as well as 8 other bishops and archbishops who appeared in a vision earlier that year. Legends pertaining to the city in general and the archbishops specificially were compiled under his auspices such as the legends surrounding Archbishop Ilya and others. He brought in Pachomius the Serb to write a number of hagiographic pieces surrounding several Novgorodian saints, many of them Evfimy's predecessors in the archiepiscopal office. Pachomius arrived in Novgorod at the end of the 1430s or beginning of the 1440s, and, under Evfimii's aegis, he composed the Life of Varlaam of Khutyn, the founder of the Khutyn Monastery, as well as the "Tale of the Journey of Ioann (Il'ia, Archbishop of Novgorod 1165-1186) on a Devil to Jerusalem." Pachomius returned to Novgorod and, under the patronage of Archbishop Iona, wrote the Life of Evfimy as well. Thus Evfimy, who did so much to patronize culture, became himself a cultural icon.