MINSK, 1 February (BelTA) – The spiritual greatness of Euphrosyne of Polotsk for modern youth is not so much motivation as inspiration, influencer, film scholar, artist, and blogger Kseniya Leshchinskaya said in a new episode of the V Teme. Nashi [On Point. The Nation’s Pride] project on BelTA’s YouTube channel.
According to her, it is difficult for young women today to find a role model outside the material world, when values such as wealth and educational opportunities, essentially everything tied to finances, dominate. “That is why the spiritual greatness of Euphrosyne now is not motivation, but inspiration,” she emphasized.
In the time of young Predslava [Euphrosyne’s secular name], many people entered monasteries, but it was she who was noticed and revered to this day. “Yes, the monastery was then a social institution that could provide access to books and enlightenment. Euphrosyne already belonged to a fairly influential class. Yet by entering the monastery, she separated herself from the earthly, from what was predetermined for her, and made her own choice. We cannot call her a feminist figure, but she clearly embodies the freedom of the human spirit,” Kseniya Leshchinskaya stressed.
“Probably, today many would simply lack the willpower to renounce everything so easily. And secondly, parental reaction to such a decision was different back then. Power, especially in the Middle Ages, was much closer to the church. There were princes who became monks, and others who supported the church with money or participation. In my view, there was not such a sharp reaction at the time to a young noble daughter telling her father she was entering a monastery,” the speaker explained.
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