Alexey Nevzorov. Kasyan Day

Kasyan Day
Alexey Nevzorov

Publication date: February 25, 2004

The resignation of the government was an unexpected event and somewhat incomprehensible even to professional political soothsayers . Usually we designate unexpected and incomprehensible phenomena in our lives with the half-forgotten word “miracle”. It is clear that Miracle does not always necessarily mean something good; it can even be unpleasant (remember, for example, “monster” or “miracle-yudo”). But above all, it is certainly something unexpected!

Politics is the true world of miracles. In the modern world, it is politics that is the “supplier” of suddenly emerging strange, but previously unprecedented impressions. A sophisticated expert and even a sophisticated politician, like any person, cannot describe these sensations because he does not have the language for this. When political scientists say that “the resignation of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov is a PR stunt designed to arouse Russians’ interest in the election campaign,” they mean the exploitation of the archetypal “longing for a miracle . ” That is why, against the background of “stability”, as a calm and mechanical existence, an “irrational” need for surprise or “revitalization” of the world periodically flares up.

It is not without reason that the concept of miracle is given the status of an archetype , which, together with other archetypes, constitutes our “collective unconscious”. (For example, the primordial Russian belief in the possible sudden appearance of good or fear of the possible appearance of evil has such an archetypal nature.) Therefore, sudden events always provide excellent material for studying the “political unconscious,” or more precisely, the unconscious archetypal structures present in the psyche of political characters.

For example, political scientist Sergei Markov, in an interview with Reuters, expressed a correct assessment of what happened in its banality: “This is not the resignation of the government. This is the resignation of Mikhail Kasyanov.” Therefore, the essence of the matter lies in the figure of Kasyanov himself, or more precisely, in those semantic figures that surround the name of the former prime minister. The surname Kasyanov itself is derived from the forgotten but once common baptismal male name Kasyan (from cassus - empty). A number of researchers derive this surname from the keyword 'kasyan' . So in the old days, a person was called a professional mower, who earned money by contracting to mow fields and lands. It is not for nothing that the cabinet of ministers has been called technical throughout its existence, and the prime minister himself has been called the “ideal technical prime minister.”

Four years ago, in the leap year 2000, Mikhail Kasyanov was proposed by President Putin for the post of Prime Minister, and was also released in the leap year. Often, a leap year is also called the year of Kassian (named after St. John Cassian the Roman, whose memory is celebrated on February 29/March 13). It should be noted that from time immemorial Russian people considered leap years to be rich in troubles. Then, according to the peasants, all sorts of troubles and misfortunes happen: the cattle die, the trees dry up, widespread diseases appear, and rural discord arises. Russian proverbs said this: “Kasyan on the people - it’s hard for the people. Kasyan on the grass - the grass dries. Kasyan on the cattle - the cattle die.”

Since the feast of St. Kasyan occurs only in a leap year, a trail of misfortunes has become firmly associated with the name of Kasyan. Thus, the Name became a kind of symbol - the culprit of all social disasters. It is characteristic that none of the prominent public figures expressed regret over Kasyanov’s resignation. The exceptions were the ex-leader of the Union of Right Forces, and now a banker, Boris Nemtsov, and the shareholder of YUKOS, and now a citizen of Israel, Leonid Nevzlin. In their opinion, Kasyanov is the best prime minister of Russia since Stolypin.

However, in the attitude of most politicians to the event, quite archetypal features characteristic of Russian peasants are visible. In Rus' they not only disliked, but also feared the very name of Kasyan. Even the saint was not very respected among the people because he was an “eye-catcher,” that is, he could cast the evil eye. “Everything Kasyan looks at, everything withers , ” the men said and firmly believed that Kasyan had an unkind look. If he looks at the cattle, the cattle will die; if he looks at a man, that man will suffer great misfortune. In the popular language, special sayings have developed that characterize Kasyan’s “eye”. They said about a gloomy, heavy and uncommunicative man that “he looks like Kasyan.” About a person capable of casting the evil eye, they remarked: “Kasyan is cross-eyed, bury everything from him, brothers, as from Kasyan - he quickly casts the evil eye, so much so that later neither the priests will reprimand nor the grandmothers will whisper.”

The “Eye of Kasyan” was considered so dangerous that on Kasyan’s day they were not even advised to leave the hut, lest some misfortune happen. In the Oryol and Ryazan provinces, peasants on this day even tried to sleep until lunch, in order to thus avoid the most dangerous time. The prime minister's former associates are also behaving in full accordance with tradition, putting aside their comments for the time being.

It is interesting that among the saints revered by Orthodox people, Kasyan occupies a completely exceptional place. This is an unloved saint, as people say, “unmerciful.” For example, in the Penza and Tambov provinces he was not even considered a saint and was not recognized as a Russian. There the very name Kasyan was known as shameful. In the Vologda province, Kasyan was considered a kind of “disgraced” saint. And it seems very likely that the “permanent prime minister” Kasyanov was always considered not a completely devoted “Putinist”, but was known for his closeness to the so-called “family”.

But it was not apostasy from God that served as the source of the cooling of Orthodox people towards Kasyan, but mainly his “unmerciful” attitude towards the poor people. There is a well-known legend that one day Kasyan and Nicholas the Wonderworker were walking along the road, and they met a peasant whose cart got stuck in the mud. Nicholas the Wonderworker helped pull out the cart, and Kasyan was afraid to stain his white robe. God saw this and commanded that Kasyan should have a birthday once every four years, and Nikolai the Pleasant for his kindness twice a year. However, this almost official explanation of the reasons for the occurrence of a leap year was not accepted everywhere. In the Novgorod province, peasants explained in a very original way the fact that Kasyan’s day is celebrated only once every four years: “Saint Kasyan was drunk on his name day for three years in a row, and only on the fourth year did he calm down and celebrate his angel in a sober state.”

In connection with such ideas about the Monk Kasyan there is another popular belief. In the Vologda province they added one more feature to the characterization of Saint Kasyan, which depicted this saint as almost an “enemy of the human race.” There was a legend there that all the winds were subordinated to Kasyan, which he kept on twenty chains, behind twenty locks. He has the power to bring down the wind to the earth and send pestilence to people and cattle. They even said that he was assigned to guard hell, and the Lord let him go to rest for the fourth year: in the absence of the Monk Kasyan, 12 apostles serve as guards of hell.

Modern political mythology fully corresponds to the archetypal stories about “Saint Kasyan”. It is not for nothing that people told a legend about Kasyan that he was at first an angel, but then he was seduced by the promises and tricks of evil spirits, going over to the side of the devil. However, Kasyan’s conscience subsequently began to torment him, and he repented. The Lord took pity on him, but still did not completely bring him closer to himself. According to popular legend, God assigned a guardian angel to him, who ordered him to put Kasyan in chains and beat him on the forehead with a heavy hammer for three years, and to set him free on the fourth.