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Nicolae Milescu Spafarii's Khrismologion and Kniga o Sivilliakh: Prophecies of Power in Late 17th-Century Russia
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Religion and Identity in Russia and the Soviet Union: A Festschrift for Paul Bushkovitch. Nikolaos A. Chrissidis, Cathy J. Potter, David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, and Jennifer B. Spock, eds. Bloomington, IN: Slavica Publishers, 2011, 63–80. Nicolae Milescu Spafarii’s Khrismologion and Kniga o Sivilliakh: Prophecies of Power in Late 17th-Century Russia Michael A. Pesenson The Moldavian-‐‑born writer, translator, diplomat, and adventurer Nicolae Milescu Spafarii arrived at the Muscovite court of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich in June 1671 a well-‐‑traveled man. Having received a splendid education in Constantinople and in Italy, having served as secretary and advisor to a suc-‐‑ cession of Moldavian and Wallachian rulers, having lived and worked in a number of Western European capitals, and fluent in several languages, Spa-‐‑ farii seemed well-‐‑suited for his new post at the Ambassadorial Chancellery (Posol’skii prikaz), where thanks to the patronage and protection of the head of the Chancellery, the erudite Western-‐‑educated bibliophile boyar Artamon Matveev, he soon rose to the position of chief translator from Greek, Latin, and Romanian. Over the next three decades, Spafarii’s fortunes would rise and fall in the turbulent political climate of late 17th-‐‑century Russia. How-‐‑ ever, Spafarii was a survivor, and surprisingly for such a well-‐‑traveled sort, he would remain in Russia until his death in 1708, all the while working at the Ambassadorial Chancellery and as a private tutor to boyars and tsars alike.1 1 Born to an aristocratic Moldavian family in 1636, Spafarii was educated in Constanti-‐‑ nople, where in addition to mastering classical subjects and theology, he became pro-‐‑ ficient in several languages, including Greek, Latin, Turkish, Arabic, and purportedly, Slavonic. See “Spafarii Milescu,” in Russkii biograficheskii slovar’ (St. Petersburg, 1909), 19: 183‒90. To further polish his learning, he studied in Italy, before returning to Mol-‐‑ davia, where he assumed a high official post. An ambitious young man, Spafarii served several Moldavian rulers in various capacities before attaining the privileged position of Private Secretary to Prince Stefa-‐‑ nitsa (r. 1659‒61) in 1659. When his ambition got the better of him, he offered his ser-‐‑ vices to a rival warlord to help depose his master. In retaliation, Stefanitsa ordered that Spafarii’s nose be cut off as punishment and to ensure that he could never attain a high-‐‑ranking position in the principality again. Thus disgraced and his prospects in Moldavia shattered, Spafarii left his homeland to begin a decade of wandering throughout Europe looking for a suitable (and profitable) position. We find him first in neighboring Wallachia, serving Prince Grigore Ghica (r. 1660‒64) as an emissary in Constantinople, where he produced the first Romanian translation of the Bible. However, ambition ensnared him again. Spurred by the politi-‐‑ cal intrigues of the Logothete Sherban Cantakouzenos (1640‒88), Spafarii squealed on his master to the sultan about Grigore’s intention to change sides at the outbreak of the 64 MICHAEL A. PESENSON It is while employed at the Chancellery in the first decade of his stay in Russia that Spafarii produced his most significant works, which were com-‐‑ missioned for the personal library of Tsars Aleksei Mikhailovich and Fedor Alekseevich. Erudite and well-‐‑read, having perused several library collections during his employment at Western European courts, Spafarii compiled a number of encyclopedic treatises on subjects ranging from numerology (Arif-‐‑ mologion) to Sibylline prophecy (Kniga o Sivilliakh), from a discourse on the Muses (Musy) to a history of world rulers (Vasiliologion), from a descriptive narrative of Siberia and the Russian Far East (where he travelled on an impor-‐‑ tant diplomatic mission to China in 1675‒78) to, finally, an expanded exegesis on the biblical Book of Daniel (Khrismologion). This article focuses on Spafarii’s two books dealing with historical proph-‐‑ ecy—Kniga o Sivilliakh (Book of the Sibyls) and Khrismologion (Book of Proph-‐‑ ecy), both written in 1672. What unites the two works, apart from a common Polish-‐‑Turkish war in 1664, hoping to find favor and, perhaps, a prominent position with Sherban, who hoped to seize the Wallachian throne. He found neither, was sum-‐‑ marily dismissed from Wallachian service after Grigore was deposed, and scrambled to find work elsewhere. Spafarii ended up in Berlin at the increasingly important and fashionable court of the Prince Elector Friedrich-‐‑Wilhelm of Brandenburg (1620‒88), but was also soon forced out by pressure from the Poles, who had not forgotten Spafarii’s betrayal. The next few years found Spafarii in Pomerania working as an...
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