Kitezh (Bolshoy Kitezh, Kitezh-grad) is a legendary Russian city which, according to tradition, became invisible during Batu Khan's invasion and has since been hidden beneath the waters of Svetloyar near the village of Vladimirskoye in the Voskresensky District of Nizhny Novgorod Region.[1] The same tradition calls the city on the Volga "Little Kitezh," identified with Gorodets.[1] The legend is known through the "Kitezh Chronicle," a text that took shape in Old Believer circles; it was first printed in 1843, and from the second half of the nineteenth century the local legend became known throughout Russia, and in the twentieth century beyond its borders as well.[2]

What the Tradition Tells

According to the "Kitezh Chronicle," the grand prince of Vladimir, Yuri Vsevolodovich, The Founding of Nizhny Novgorod, traveled from Yaroslavl down the Volga, came ashore at Little Kitezh, then continued overland, crossing the Uzola, the Sanda, the Sanokhta, and the The Kerzhenets River, and arrived at Lake Svetloyar.[1] There he ordered the construction of the city of Bolshoy Kitezh — first one hundred sazhen in length and width, then he commanded that a further hundred be added in length; the work took three years.[1] The prince then ordered the distance from Little Kitezh to Bolshoy Kitezh to be measured, and it proved to be one hundred poprishcha.[1]

The chronicle goes on to recount that in 1238 Khan Batu invaded Rus'; the prince gave battle, but his forces were few, and he retreated to Little Kitezh. Before the city fell, Georgy slipped away under cover of night to Bolshoy Kitezh; the route was revealed to the Tatars by a local man, Grigory Kuteryma, who had broken under torture. The city was taken and the prince killed.[1]

The chronicler sums up the outcome in a single sentence — one that textual comparison shows was taken almost verbatim from the Laurentian Chronicle by its compiler.[1]

That city, Bolshoy Kitezh, became invisible and was covered by the hand of God, even unto the end of this age so full of strife and worthy of tears.

— "The Book Called the Chronicle"[1]

How the Image Took Shape

The now-familiar narrative — a city sinking beneath the water together with its inhabitants — developed later than the text itself. Early versions of the "Tale of the Two Cities of Kitezh" contained neither submersion in the lake nor concealment by hills: they spoke only of the city's disappearance, and not before the assault but after its sack, with no miraculous salvation in the author's design.[2]

In the early versions Svetloyar is not an actor in the story but merely the setting where events unfold.[2] Grigory Kuteryma also had no name: in later copies it appears as a marginal addition, and the man himself is portrayed not as a hardened traitor but as someone broken under torture.[2]

The oral tradition overlaid the written one at a later stage, adding color and shaping the material in the spirit of folk justice.[2]

The Kitezh Chronicle

The text is known in two recensions: a short one — "Chronicle of the Slaying of … Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich" — and an extended one, most often entitled "The Book Called the Chronicle."[2] Having studied the language and composition of the surviving copies, V. L. Komarovich dated the text's composition to the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century and linked it to the beguny (Runner) Old Believers, placing the appearance of the extended recension at the end of the eighteenth century; the text, in Komarovich's view, also incorporated earlier borrowings from the 1646 menology, the Stepennaya Kniga, and local chronicles.[1][2] His study "The Kitezh Legend" was published in 1936 and shaped the scholarly view of the text for decades.[2]

I. V. Nesterov, having re-examined Komarovich's chain of evidence, reached a different conclusion: the "Kitezh Chronicle" has no roots in medieval Russian folklore or in any earlier written tradition, and was composed by a single anonymous Old Believer scribe.[2] A single author is indicated, in particular, by the phrase "but I shall return to my first point" — first person singular — whereas the corresponding passages in the Kostroma Life are consistently in the plural.[2]

The compiler's chief source was the Kostroma Life of Yuri Vsevolodovich published by A. V. Sirenov: from it came the prince's journey down the Volga on a light vessel, the founding of two cities, the miracle of the icon, and the number of engagements with the Tatars.[2] Supplementary sources were the "Epistle to a Father from a Son," written in 1702 at the Spaso-Kezsky Monastery in the Zauzolye region, and the Book of Revelation.[2]

The motif of measuring the distance between cities by princely command appears, in the whole of medieval Russian literature, only in the "Kitezh Chronicle" and in the inscription on the Tmutarakan Stone, discovered in 1792 and published in 1794.[2] From this Nesterov dates the text to the period 1792–1794, considering 1794 the most probable year.[2]

The same "Epistle from Father to Son from That Hidden Monastery," dated 20 June 1702, was found in an eighteenth-century manuscript miscellany by the writer P. I. Melnikov.[1]

What Lies Behind the Legend

The "Kitezh Chronicle" is a poor fit with the Russian chronicles. It places the construction of Bolshoy Kitezh in 1165, whereas Yuri Vsevolodovich was born in 1189 — twenty-three years later.[1] The prince died in battle against the Tatars on the Sit' River, not at Kitezh.[1] The text refers to the desolation of the Muscovite tsardom, which did not yet exist under Batu, and to the reigning Antichrist — language characteristic of Old Belief in the second half of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, not the thirteenth.[1]

Nizhny Novgorod local historian I. A. Kiryanov sought a real fortress behind the legend. In the summer of 1959, archaeological survey teams from the Gorky Museum-Reserve found an old Russian gorodishche (fortified settlement) in the upper reaches of the Vatoma stream, on the edge of the Kerzhenets marshes near the settlement of Gorodishchi — approximately 45–50 kilometers as the crow flies from Svetloyar and 20 kilometers northeast of Bor, surrounded by a massive earthen rampart.[1]

The fortress is circular with a single entrance; the perimeter of the rampart is about 350 meters, its height two to three meters, and the wall was built in the gorodnya technique — a chain of log cabins placed side by side and backfilled with earth, roughly one and a half meters thick.[1] A test pit yielded fragments of fourteenth-century vessels. Local residents remembered that a fierce battle with the Tatars had taken place here, citing bones that turned up during earthworks; hence, apparently, the name of the stream Mosolovyy.[1]

Kiryanov believed that the bearers of the tradition were the Vladimirtsy themselves. In the journal of the Kazennaya Palata (Treasury Chamber) for the September term of 1780 he found a record of the transfer of the village of Vladimirskoye to the Kozmodemyansk district of Kazan Governorate, noting that it was inhabited by 101 odnodvortsy (single-homestead smallholders) — descendants of service people settled on the country's eastern frontier in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.[1] The fortress on the Vatoma protected the Russian population of the Oka estuary from incursions through the Trans-Volga forests; the Pistsovaya Kniga (cadastral survey book) of Balakhna District of 1591 notes that for every 180 settlements there were 120 pustoshi ("waste lands, that were villages and pochinki"), laid waste by war.[1]

The very name of the city belongs to a series of Trans-Volga place names: Kideksha near Suzdal, Eldezh in Borsky District, Shaldezh and Shaldezchka in Semyonovsky District, Sherbazh and Sinchuvazhm in Shakhunskiy District, Belbazh in Koverninsky District.[1] An isolated chronicle entry applies the same name to Gorodets: "And he built the city of Kideksha, that is Gorodets on the Volga."[1] The suffix "-yar" in the name Svetloyar Kiryanov connected to a Finno-Ugric word meaning the depth of a body of water, noting that nearby lie the equally deep but entirely unremarkable lakes Nestiar and Kuzhmovar.[1]

The Search for the City

The city has been sought both on land and underwater: archaeologists surveyed the entire environs of Svetloyar, and Moscow divers explored the lakebed — with equally empty-handed results.[1]

Underwater work is hampered by depths of up to thirty meters and a bottom-water temperature of only 2–4 degrees Celsius.[3]

In the late 1960s the journalist Mark Barinov organized a comprehensive scientific expedition to the lake and, in his pieces for Literaturnaya Gazeta, cautiously allowed for a connection between the legend and the topography of the lakebed.[3]

On one of the underwater terraces there could very well have stood a city, a settlement, or a monastery, whose submersion beneath the water may have provided the spark that gave rise to the legend.

— Mark Barinov, Literaturnaya Gazeta[3]

Pilgrimage

Pilgrims travel to Svetloyar on the feast day of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, 6 July.[1] In former times the pilgrimage was a mass event; an essential part of it was a circuit of the lake on foot, and in earlier times a circuit made by crawling.[1] Both Orthodox and Old Believers of every persuasion came.[1] According to Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko, on the night before "Vladimirskaya" mass religious debates took place on the shore; the last such debate, according to local residents, was held in 1953.[1]

In 1959 the Voskresensky District issued a leaflet calling on people to prevent pilgrimages to Svetloyar. In 1971, as Kiryanov described, patrols stood on the approaches to the lake and turned back those who were making their way there, the Kibelek spring was choked with forest debris, and a noisy festivity was staged on the shore.[1]

It is customary to circle the lake an odd number of times carrying a lit candle; believers hold that the sorrowful will receive comfort and the infirm will receive health, and that they are walking around a holy city, not around a body of water.[3] Swimming in Svetloyar was not customary: only ablutions with its water on the shore were permitted, so highly was its purity venerated.[7]

Kitezh in Russian Culture

The legend owes its fame to figures of Russian culture of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Kitezh was written about by the poets Apollon Maykov, Sergey Gorodetsky, Nikolay Klyuyev, and Maximilian Voloshin; it was addressed by P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky, Maxim Gorky, Vladimir Korolenko, Konstantin Fedin, and Mikhail Prishvin; in painting it is represented by Vasnetsov, Roerich the Elder, and Plotnikov; in music by Rimsky-Korsakov.[1][7]

Korolenko visited Nizhny Novgorod Region to see the lake in 1890 and recorded his impressions in the essay cycle "In Deserted Places."[3]

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's opera "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia," with a libretto by Vladimir Belsky, was first performed on 7 February 1907 at the Mariinsky Theatre.[4]

Inspired by the same legend and by Rimsky-Korsakov's symphonic tableau, the Soyuzmultfilm studio produced a ten-minute animated film, "The Battle of Kerzhenets," in 1971, directed by Ivan Ivanov-Vano and Yuri Norshteyn.[10][11]

Kitezh Today

In Vladimirskoye there is the historical, cultural, and natural landscape museum-reserve "Grad Kitezh." It comprises the "Kitezh" historical and art museum with local history galleries and the ceramics sector "Grad Svetly," as well as a museum and tourism complex — a multipurpose center with a theatre stage, exhibition hall, and cinema.[5] The complex's building was constructed in the style of a seventeenth-century princely terem (tower-palace), and both floors were painted by Nizhny Novgorod artist Leonid Kolosov.[5]

Productions staged here are performed annually on 6 July on the shore of Svetloyar; the complex is also designed to host conferences on cultural and environmental themes.[5]

The "Grad Svetly" ceramics collection has existed since 2008. In August 2026, works by the craftspeople Lyudmila Zhebel and her son Martin were transferred to the museum-reserve's permanent collection: her sculptures and paintings engage with epic imagery and legends of the City of Kitezh, while he works with crystalline glaze technology.[9]

On 5 August 2026, the E. I. Yarantsev Museum of Wood Culture in the village of Bolshiye Otary became part of the museum-reserve — with a hall devoted to the logging industry, a memorial hall honoring the timber merchant Yarantsev, under whom the village's first school was established, and exhibitions on log-floating, local crafts, and collective-farm life in the Zavetluzhye region.[6]

On 6 July, the patronal feast day of the Vladimir Icon, the interregional festival of folk traditions "Grad Kitezh — the Soul of Russia" is held in Vladimirskoye. In 2024 it took place for the sixteenth time: performances by folk ensembles, a handcraft fair, orchestra concerts, and a religious procession around the lake with candles.[8]

Tours of the lake itself and its points of interest are booked through the Kitezh historical and art museum; vehicles may not approach the water — cars are left in a parking area 800 meters away, from which a birch-lined avenue leads to Svetloyar.[7]

Legends of the City of Kitezh

Official Nizhny Novgorod sources connect the legend of Kitezh to Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich's struggle against "Tsar Batu."

The legend of Kitezh has reached us in a literary rendering by Old Believers: the "Book Called the Chronicle" in its final form took shape in the second half of the eighteenth century in the milieu of one of the sects of the bespopovtsy (priestless) Old Believers — the beguny (Runners). But both constituent parts of the text, sufficiently distinct and independent, lead back to the seventeenth century. At the same time, the first part — narrating the story of Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich, his slaying by Batu, and the sack of Kitezh — reflects traditions going back to the time of the Batu invasion.

However legendary the tale may be, and however far its historical dates stray from the truth, it was founded on real events. "The holy, pious, and grand prince Georgy Vsevolodovich" is the grand prince of Vladimir and Suzdal, Georgy II Vsevolodovich, who fought against Batu's army and gave his life in an unequal battle on the Sit' River. The connection between Little Kitezh (Gorodets) and the name of Georgy Vsevolodovich has a thoroughly historical basis: from 1216 to 1219 (before he took the Vladimir throne) the prince held it as his appanage; in 1237, when Batu's hordes bore down on Vladimir, Georgy Vsevolodovich withdrew to the Yaroslavl lands, within whose borders both cities — Bolshoy Kitezh and Little Kitezh — were located and where the battle lost by the Russians took place.

Of course the legendary image of the prince is not identical to the historical one. Georgy Vsevolodovich is given a fictitious genealogy: he is made to trace his line from the holy Prince Vladimir and to be a son of the holy Vsevolod Mstislavich of Novgorod. This invented pedigree, which does not correspond to Prince Georgy's actual lineage, reinforces the theme of holiness — the central theme of the legend.

The second part of the "Book Called the Chronicle" — the "Tale and Quest Concerning the Hidden City of Kitezh" — is entirely without historical background; it belongs to the genre of legendary-apocryphal texts treating of an earthly paradise. The image of the "hidden" city of Kitezh stands somewhere between the "earthly paradise" of the oldest Russian apocrypha and Belovod'ye, the legendary land of happiness that became so popular among Russian peasants in the eighteenth century.

The text is published from the copy held at the Russian National Library, Q.I.1385, as edited in: Komarovich V. L. Kitazhskaya legenda. Opyt izucheniya mestnykh legend. Moscow–Leningrad, 1936.

This holy, pious, and grand prince Georgy Vsevolodovich was son to the holy, pious, and grand prince Vsevolod, the miracle-worker of Pskov, who in holy baptism was named Gavriil. This holy, pious, and grand prince Vsevolod was son to the grand prince Mstislav, grandson to the holy and equal-to-the-apostles grand prince Vladimir of Kiev, autocrat of the Russian land. And the holy, pious, and grand prince Georgy Vsevolodovich was great-grandson to the holy, pious, and grand prince Vladimir.

And the holy right-believing Prince Vsevolod first reigned in Novgorod the Great. But in his time the Novgorodians murmured against him and resolved among themselves: our prince, unbaptized, rules over us, the baptized. And they took counsel together, and came to him, and drove him out. He then went to Kiev to his uncle Yaropolk and told him everything for which the Novgorodians had expelled him. And Yaropolk, learning of this, gave him Vyshgorod to rule. And there the Pskovians besought him to come and reign among them, and he came to them in the city of Pskov. And after some time he received the grace of holy baptism and was named Gabriel in holy baptism.

And he lived in great fasting and abstinence, and after one year he departed to eternal rest, in the year 6671 (1163), on the eleventh day of the month of February. And he was buried by his son, the right-believing and great Prince Georgy. And many miracles were wrought from his holy relics, to the glory and praise of Christ our God and of all the saints. Amen.

This holy right-believing Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich, after the repose of his father, the right-believing Prince Vsevolod, named Gabriel in holy baptism, remained in his place at the entreaty of the Pskovians. And this was in the year 6671 (1163). The holy right-believing and great Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich resolved to journey to the right-believing Prince Mikhail of Chernigov. And when the right-believing and great Prince Georgy came to the right-believing Prince Mikhail, he bowed to him and said: "Be well, O right-believing and great Prince Mikhail, for many years, shining in piety and the faith of Christ; in all things you have likened yourself to our forebears and to our great-grandmother, the right-believing great princess Olga, beloved of Christ, who found the most precious and great treasure — Christ and the faith of His holy prophets and apostles and holy fathers — and to our right-believing Christ-loving tsar and great-grandfather equal-to-the-apostles, Tsar Constantine." And the right-believing Prince Mikhail said to him: "Be well also, O right-believing and great Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich; you have come to me with good counsel and an unenvious eye.

For what did Svyatopolk gain from his envy toward our forebears, he who desired power and slew his brothers, the right-believing and great princes? He commanded that Boris be pierced with a spear, and that Gleb be slain with a knife, in the years of their reign. For he deceived them with flattery at the instigation of Satan, as though their mother were at the point of death. They, like guileless lambs, likened themselves to their good shepherd Christ and did not rise against their brother, their enemy. But the Lord glorified His holy servants, the right-believing princes and great wonderworkers Boris and Gleb."

And Prince Georgy and Prince Mikhail exchanged the kiss of peace, and celebrated in a spiritual manner, and rejoiced; and the right-believing and great Prince Georgy said to the right-believing Prince Mikhail: "Grant me a charter to build churches of God and cities in our Rus, in fortified places." And the right-believing and great Prince Mikhail said to him: "Build the churches of God as you will, to the glory and praise of the most holy name of God. For such a good intention you shall receive your reward on the day of Christ's coming."

And they feasted for many days. And when the right-believing Prince Georgy decided to return to his domain, the right-believing Prince Mikhail commanded that a charter be written and affixed his hand to it. And when the right-believing Prince Georgy set out for his own land and city, the right-believing Prince Mikhail sent him off with great honor and accompanied him. And when both princes were already on their way and bowed to each other in farewell, the right-believing Prince Mikhail gave him the charter. And the right-believing Prince Georgy took the charter from the right-believing Prince Mikhail and bowed to him, and the other bowed in return.

And Prince Georgy traveled through the cities, and when he arrived in Novgorod he commanded that a church be built in the name of the Dormition of our most holy Lady the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary, in the year 6672 (1164). From Novgorod he traveled to Pskov, his city, where his father the right-believing Prince Vsevolod — named Gabriel in holy baptism, the wonderworker of Novgorod and Pskov — had died. And from the city of Pskov he traveled to Moscow, and commanded that a church be built in the name of the Dormition of our most holy Lady the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary, in the year 6672 (1164).

And from Moscow he traveled to Pereslavl-Zalessky, and from the city of Pereslavl to the city of Rostov. At that very time the great Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky was in the city of Rostov. And the right-believing Prince Georgy commanded that a church be built in that city of Rostov in the name of the Dormition of our most holy Lady the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary, in the year 6672 (1164), on the twenty-third day of the month of May. In the days of Great Prince Georgy, they began to dig the foundation trenches for the church and discovered the buried relics of the holy hierarch of Christ Leontius, bishop of Rostov and wonderworker, who had converted the people of the city of Rostov to the faith of Christ and baptized them from the least to the greatest.

And the right-believing Prince Georgy rejoiced with great joy and glorified God, who had granted him such a most precious treasure, and he sang a moleben. And he commanded Andrei, Prince of Bogolyubovo, to travel to the city of Murom and build in the city of Murom a church in the name of the Dormition of our most holy Lady the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary.

And the right-believing and great Prince himself set out from the city of Rostov and came to the city of Yaroslavl, which stands on the bank of the Volga River. And he boarded a river vessel and traveled downstream along the Volga, and came ashore at Little Kitezh, which stands on the bank of the Volga, and rebuilt it. And all the people of that city began to beseech the right-believing Prince Georgy to bring the wonderworking icon of the most holy Mother of God of Fyodor to their city. And he granted their request. They began to sing a moleben to the most holy Mother of God. And when they had finished and wished to carry that icon into the city, the icon would not leave that place, it did not move at all. And the right-believing Prince Georgy, seeing the will of the most holy Mother of God, who had chosen that place for herself, commanded that a monastery be built on that spot in the name of the most holy Mother of God of Fyodor.

And the right-believing Prince Georgy himself set out from that place by land, and not by water. And he crossed the river Uzola, and a second river named Sanda, and a third river named Sanogt, and a fourth named Kerzhenets, and came to a lake named Svetloyar. And he saw that place, wondrously beautiful and populous; and at the entreaty of its inhabitants, the right-believing Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich commanded that a city named Great Kitezh be built on the bank of that lake of Svetloyar, for that place was wondrously beautiful, and on the opposite bank of the lake there was an oak grove.

And by the counsel and command of the right-believing and great Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich, they began to dig foundation trenches to fortify that place. And they began to build a church in the name of the Exaltation of the Honorable Cross of the Lord, and a second church in the name of the Dormition of our most holy Lady the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary, and a third church in the name of the Annunciation of our most holy Lady the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary. In those same churches Prince Georgy commanded that chapels be made in honor of other feasts of the Lord and of the Mother of God. Likewise he commanded that icons of all the saints be painted.

And that city, Great Kitezh, was one hundred fathoms in length and breadth, and this first measure was small. And the right-believing Prince Georgy commanded that another hundred fathoms be added in length, so that the measure of that city became two hundred fathoms in length and one hundred fathoms in breadth. And they began to build that stone city in the year 6673 (1165), on the first day of the month of May, on the feast day of the holy prophet Jeremiah and those with him. And that city was built over three years, and it was completed in the year 6676 (1167), on the thirtieth day of the month of September, on the feast day of the holy hieromartyr Gregory, bishop of Greater Armenia.

And the right-believing Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich traveled to Little Kitezh, which stands on the bank of the Volga. And after the building of those cities, Little and Great, he commanded that the distance between them be measured in versts. And by the command of the right-believing Prince Georgy, one hundred versts were measured. And the right-believing Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich, upon learning this, gave glory to God and the most holy Mother of God, and commanded that a chronicle book be written as well. And the right-believing and great Prince Georgy commanded that the entire service be performed. And after singing a moleben to the most holy Mother of God of Fyodor, upon the completion of that service, he set sail in his vessel on his journey to his aforementioned city of Pskov. The people saw him off with great honor, and, having bid him farewell, let him go.

And the right-believing Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich, arriving in his city, previously named Pskov, spent many days in prayer, and in fasting, and in vigil, and distributed much alms to the poor, and to widows, and to orphans. And after the building of those cities he lived seventy-five years.

And it came to pass in the year 6747 (1239). By God's permission, on account of our sins, the impious and godless Tsar Batu came against Rus in war. And he laid waste to cities, and burned them with fire, and likewise laid waste to the churches of God and burned them with fire. People he put to the sword, and small children he slew with the knife, and young maidens he defiled with fornication. And there was great weeping.

And the right-believing Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich, having heard all this, wept bitterly. And, having prayed to the Lord and the most holy Mother of God, he gathered his forces and marched against the impious Tsar Batu with his warriors. And when the two armies joined battle, there was a great slaughter and bloodshed. At that time the right-believing Prince Georgy had few warriors, and the right-believing Prince Georgy fled before the impious Tsar Batu down the Volga to Little Kitezh. And the right-believing Prince Georgy fought long against the impious Tsar Batu, not allowing him into his city.

When night fell, the right-believing Prince Georgy secretly left that city for the Great City of Kitezh. In the morning, when that impious tsar awoke, he assaulted the city with his warriors and captured it. And all the people in that city he slew and cut down. And, not finding the right-believing prince in that city, he began to torment one of the inhabitants, and that man, unable to bear the torment, revealed the way to him. And that impious one pursued the prince. And when he came to the city he fell upon it with a multitude of his warriors and took that city of Great Kitezh, which stands on the bank of Lake Svetloyar, and slew the right-believing Prince Georgy, on the fourth day of the month of February. And that impious Tsar Batu departed from that city. And after him the relics of the right-believing Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich were taken up. And after that destruction those cities fell desolate — Little Kitezh, which stands on the bank of the Volga, and Great Kitezh, which stands on the bank of Lake Svetloyar.

And Great Kitezh shall remain invisible until the coming of Christ, as it was in former times, as the lives of the holy fathers bear witness — the Paterikon of Monas, and the Paterikon of Scete, and the Alphabetical Paterikon, and the Paterikon of Jerusalem, and the Paterikon of the Holy Mountain; and these holy books, in which the lives of the holy fathers are written, agree that the hidden abode is not one alone, but that there are many monasteries, and in those monasteries a great multitude of holy fathers, like the stars of heaven, who have shone forth in their manner of life. As the sand of the sea cannot be numbered, so it is impossible to describe them all.

It is of them that the blessed prophet King David, foreseeing them in the Holy Spirit, cries out in wonder through the Holy Spirit in his divinely inspired book the Psalter: "The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, and shall grow like a cedar of Lebanon; those planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God." And again that same prophet King David: "How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand." Of them, the blessed Apostle Paul, foreseeing in the Holy Spirit, speaks thus in his epistle, addressing these words to us: "They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented — of whom the world was not worthy." The same word was spoken also by Saint John Chrysostom, in his homily for the third Sunday of Lent.

The same word is addressed to us, foreseeing, by Saint Anastasius of Mount Sinai. And this same apostolic word is also addressed to us, foreseeing, by our venerable father Hilarion the Great, who writes of the saints: "And likewise in the last times it shall be: cities and monasteries shall be hidden, because the Antichrist will begin to reign in the world. Then they shall flee into mountains, and into caves, and into the chasms of the earth." And the merciful God will not forsake those who desire salvation at that time. By earnestness, and contrition, and tears, a person obtains everything from God. The divine lips of the Savior himself proclaimed in the most holy Gospel that "to all who have and desire to be saved, it shall be given."

And after the slaying of the holy right-believing and great Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich, and after the burial of his venerable relics, in the sixth year that Tsar Batu came to make war upon the Russian realm. And the right-believing Prince Mikhail of Chernigov marched against Tsar Batu with his boyar Fyodor. And when the two armies clashed, there was great bloodshed. And that impious Tsar Batu slew the right-believing and great Prince Mikhail of Chernigov together with the boyar Fyodor in the year 6750 (1241), on the twentieth day of the month of September. And two years after the slaying of the right-believing Prince Mikhail of Chernigov, that impious Tsar Batu slew the right-believing Prince Mercury of Smolensk in the year 6755 (1246), on the twenty-fourth day of the month of November. And there was desolation of the Moscow realm, and of the other monasteries, and of that city of Great Kitezh, in the year 6756 (1248).

If any person vows truly to go to it, and not falsely, and from his earnestness begins to fast, and sheds many tears, and sets out for it, and vows that he would sooner die of starvation than abandon it, and to endure many other afflictions and even death — know that God will save such a person, that his every step will be known and recorded by an angel. For he has set out on the path of salvation, as the books bear witness, such as the Paterikon of Scete. There was a certain father, and he turned a harlot away from her harlotry. And the harlot went with him to the monastery. And she came to the gates of that monastery, and died. And she was saved. And another likewise departed into the desert with a father, and died. And the angels received her soul and lifted it up the ladder to heaven.

So too with that person. If it should happen that he dies, it shall be judged according to divine Scripture. For that fugitive is spiritually like one escaping from the Babylonian harlot, dark and full of the filth of this world, concerning which Saint John the Theologian wrote in the Revelation, his book. Of the last time he speaks of it as of a woman sitting upon a seven-headed beast, naked and shameless. In her hands she holds a cup full of all manner of filth and reeking with abomination, and she offers it to those living in the world and loving it — first of all to patriarchs, tsars, and princes, and military commanders, and all manner of powerful rich men, and to all people in this vain world who love its sweetness.

But one who wishes and desires to be saved must flee the world and its sweetness. As that same John said, foreseeing in the Holy Spirit: "The woman shall flee into the wilderness, and the serpent shall pursue her track — that serpent which leads astray one who wishes to live humbly and in a spiritual manner." And that accursed serpent teaches men to walk the wide and spacious way, the path of wickedness, and turns them from the right path, and leads them astray, and commands them to live in corrupt manner, and frightens those who walk the right path.

But the one who wishes, and seeks, and desires salvation — such a person is especially enlightened by the grace of God, which helps him, and teaches him, and leads him to a perfect spiritual and humble life. For no one, at any time or in any place, has ever been forsaken by the Lord. Whenever he has called, he has been heard by Him. And whenever he asks, will he not be received by Him? And whatever he seeks, will he not find it with Him? For the Lord receives all who come to Him, with joy, and calls all to Himself. Indeed, even the heavenly powers do not ordinarily behold the face of God.

But when a sinner on earth repents, all the heavenly powers clearly behold the face of Christ, and the glory of His divinity is revealed, and they see His face. For on account of a single sinful soul repenting, there is joy in heaven for all the heavenly powers and all His saints. And the powers are the angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, principalities, and authorities, and dominions. And the saints are these: prophets, and apostles, and hierarchs, and monastics, and righteous ones, martyrs, and female martyrs, and other saints. On account of a single sinner's repentance, joy comes to all the heavenly powers and all His saints.

But the one who does not wish, does not strive, does not desire to obtain salvation — the Lord does not compel him by force or coercion. But according to the earnestness and the inclination of the heart does the Lord deal with every person. When someone with a sincere mind and unshakeable faith makes a vow and harbors no vain thought within himself, then, even if he turns back without having told father or mother, or sisters, or brothers, even to such a one the Lord reveals the way and guides him to such a good and peaceful haven by the prayers of our venerable fathers who labor day and night without ceasing. The prayer of their lips is like fragrant incense. They pray also for those who sincerely desire salvation with a true heart and not a false vow. And if someone wishes to be saved and prays, whoever turns to them is received by them with joy as one guided by God.

And one who wishes to go to such a holy place must harbor no cunning or corrupt thought that might confuse the mind and draw away the thoughts of that person who wishes to go. Guard yourself firmly against evil thoughts that strive to separate you from that place. And do not think about this or that. The Lord will direct such a person to the path of salvation. Or tidings shall come to him from that city or from that monastery, both of which are hidden — the city and the monastery. There is indeed also a chronicle book about that monastery. I shall return to the first word.

But if he sets out, and begins to doubt, and proclaims it abroad everywhere, then from such a person the Lord will conceal the city. And it shall appear to him as a forest or an empty place. And such a person shall receive nothing, but only his labor shall be in vain. And temptation, and reproach, and shame shall come upon him from God for this. Punishment shall he receive here and in the age to come — condemnation and outer darkness — for having mocked such a holy place and the miracle that has appeared at the end of our age: the city became invisible, just as in former times many monasteries also became invisible, as was written in the lives of the holy fathers; there you will read of it in greater detail.

And this city of Great Kitezh became invisible and is guarded by the hand of God — thus at the end of our age, so troubled and worthy of tears, did the Lord cover that city with His palm. And it became invisible by the prayer and petition of those who come to it worthily and righteously, who shall not behold tribulation and sorrow from the beast-Antichrist. They mourn for us only, day and night — for our apostasy, for the whole of our Moscow realm, for the Antichrist reigns within it, and all his commandments are abominable and unclean.

Concerning the desolation of that city, the fathers tell, and they heard it from former fathers who lived after the destruction of the city, one hundred years after the impious and godless Tsar Batu. For he laid waste to all that land beyond the Uzola, and burned its villages and hamlets with fire. And all that land beyond the Uzola became overgrown with forest. And from that time the city and the monastery became invisible.

This chronicle book we wrote in the year 6759 (1251), and confirmed it by council, and delivered it to the holy church of God for the strengthening of all Orthodox Christians who wish to read or to hear it, and not to blaspheme this divine writing. If any person should mock or deride this writing confirmed by us, let such a one know that he has not blasphemed us, but God and His most pure Mother, our Lady the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary. Those in whom her great name, the name of the Mother of God, is glorified, and magnified, and remembered — them also does she preserve, and guard, and cover with her palm, bringing prayer for them to her Son: "Do not disdain, O beloved Son, my petition. You who have washed the whole world with Your blood, have mercy upon these also, and preserve and guard those who call upon my name with unwavering faith and a pure heart." And therefore the Lord covered them with His hand, which is what we have written, and confirmed, and made known.

And to this our decree nothing shall be added or taken away, and it shall not be altered in any way, not so much as a single period or comma. If anyone should add to it or alter it in any way, let him be, according to the tradition of the holy fathers, accursed, according to the tradition of those who have made it known and confirmed it. If to anyone this seems untrue, then read the lives of the former saints and learn that there was much of this in former times. Glory to God praised in the Trinity and to His most pure Mother of God, who preserves and guards that place, and to all the saints. Amen.

Sources

  1. opentextnn.ru — Open Text — I. A. Kiryanov. How Did the Legend of the City of Kitezh Arise?
  2. opentextnn.ru — Open Text — I. V. Nesterov. The Kitezh Chronicle: The Problem of Authorship, Sources, and Date of Composition (V Gorodets Readings, Gorodets, 2004) (archive)
  3. nnews.nnov.ru — Anastasia Smirnova. A Magical Place of Attraction. The Legend of the City of Kitezh Lives On More Than 800 Years Later, September 20, 2023 (archive)
  4. mariinsky.ru — Mariinsky Theatre — The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya: an opera in four acts
  5. kitezh.info — Museum-Reserve "Grad Kitezh" — About the Museum and Tourist Complex "Grad Kitezh" (archive)
  6. kitezh.info — Museum-Reserve "Grad Kitezh" — Museum of Wood Culture: The Wooden Heart of the Zavetluzhye Now at "Grad Kitezh", August 5, 2026
  7. kitezh.info — Museum-Reserve "Grad Kitezh" — Svetloyar (archive)
  8. Vremya N — The 16th Festival of Folk Traditions "Grad Kitezh" Was Held at Lake Svetloyar, July 7, 2024
  9. kitezh.info — Museum-Reserve "Grad Kitezh" — Works of Pottery Art Transferred to the Permanent Collection of the Museum-Reserve, August 21, 2026
  10. film.ru — Film.ru — The Battle of Kerzhenets (1971)
  11. old.multfest.ru — Big Animation Festival — The Battle of Kerzhenets: Ivan Ivanov-Vano, Yuri Norshteyn, Soyuzmultfilm, 1971