1. The exclamation “Christ is risen!” is heard during the Orthodox Easter service, and is also used as a greeting among Orthodox Christians during the forty days between Easter and the Ascension.
2. The words are from the first hymn (troparion) of Canticle IX of the Easter matins
3. An akathist (from the Greek “standing up”) is a special canticle sung in honor of Christ, the Mother of God, or one of the saints.
4. An archimandrite is the Orthodox equivalent of an abbot, the superior of a monastery or superintendent of several monasteries.
5. Saint Nicholas, fourth-century bishop of Myra in Lycia (Asia Minor), is one of the most highly venerated saints in all Christendom.
6. The church is emptied and the people and clergy process around it with candles before going back in to begin the Easter service.
7. See note 5 to “Small Fry.”
8. The royal doors are the central doors in the iconostasis (see note 2 to “Panikhida”); a large church would have several side chapels with their own iconostasis and royal doors; they are all left open throughout the Easter service, signifying that the Kingdom of Heaven is now open to all.
9. From the first hymn of Canticle VIII of the Easter matins (Hapgood, p. 231).
10. See note 4 to “Small Fry.”
VANKA
1. Watchmen patrolled their territory at night rapping out the hours on an iron or wooden bar.
2. A village Christmas custom, commemorating the wise men’s journey to Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1–12).
3. In a village church anyone who wanted to could sing in the choir; the choirs in large city churches could be more selective.
A BORING STORY
1. See note 2 to “Panikhida.” The iconostasis of a large church may be hung with a great many icons, large and small, often in gold or silver casings.
2. N. I. Pirogov (1810–81) was a great Russian surgeon and anatomist, active in questions of popular education. K. D. Kavelin (1818–85) was a liberal journalist and social activist. N. A. Nekrasov (1821–78) was a poet and liberal social critic, editor of the influential journal
3. The reference is to the eminent Russian writer Ivan Turgenev (1818–83); we are unable to identify the heroine Nikolai Stepanovich has in mind.
4. A novel by the German writer Friedrich Spielhagen (1829–1911).
5. “History of the illness” (Latin), the heading on the blank page to be filled in by the doctor.
6. V. L. Gruber (1814–85) was a Russian anatomist. A. I. Babukhin (1835–91) was a histologist and physiologist.
7. M. D. Skobelev (1843–82) was a Russian general prominent at the time of the Russo-Turkish war of 1877– 78.
8. Professor V. G. Perov (1833–82), Russian artist, was head of the Russian Academy of Art in Petersburg.
9. Adelina Patti (1843–1919), Italian opera singer, was one of the great sopranos of her time, known especially for her performances of Mozart, Rossini, and Verdi.
10. Cf.
11. The phrase, become proverbial, is from Part I, chapter 8 of
12. Chatsky is the hero of the comedy in verse
13. Having the civil service rank of privy councillor, third of the fourteen degrees established by Peter the Great and equivalent to the military rank of general, Nikolai Stepanovich is also entitled to be addressed as “Your Excellency.”
14. Nikolai Stepanovich lists some of the homeliest and most comforting staples of Russian peasant cooking, including kasha, most often made from buckwheat.
15. Seminary education was open to poorer people who could not afford private tutors or expensive schools, and did not necessarily mean that the student was preparing for a church career.
16. The first line of the poem “Reflection,” by Mikhail Lermontov (1814–41).
17. N. A. Dobrolyubov (1836–61) was a radical literary critic of the earnest materialist sort, with a prominent forehead and tubercular pallor.
18. A. A. Arakcheev (1769–1834), all-powerful minister under emperors Paul I and Alexander I, was an extreme reactionary and strict disciplinarian.
19. “Final argument” (Latin). The full phrase,
20. 2 Kings 2:23.
21. There are several important Orthodox feast days during the summer months: the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul on June 29, the feast of the Transfiguration on August 6, and of the Dormition of the Mother of God (Assumption) on August 15. However, Chekhov also commonly refers to ordinary Sundays as feast days.
22. A distortion of the opening line of the old Latin students’ song
