Danylo, Hegumen

Danylo, Hegumen [Данило or Данило Паломник (Danylo Palomnyk)], 11th to the beginning of the 12th century. Writer and traveler, hegumen of one of the Chernihiv monasteries, author of the oldest surviving work of Kyivan Rus’ pilgrim literature, Khozhdenie Danila Ruskyia Zemli igumena (The Travels of Danylo, a Hegumen of the Rus’ Land). In this book, written about 1113, he gives an account of his journey to Palestine in 1106–8. Danylo spent 16 months in Jerusalem and was received by the Latin crusader-king Baldwin I. Up to 100 transcriptions of the work were done in the 15th–19th century under various titles: Khozhdenie (Journey), Strannik (Traveler), Palomnik (Pilgrim), etc. It was one of the most popular works of Old Rus’ literature. Based on recollections of the voyage undertaken by a whole company, it provides, besides elementary geographic and economic information, numerous stories about holy places, borrowed from the Bible, legends, and apocrypha. These account for the great literary value of the work.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]