Pilgrims are who? The Road of the Pilgrims

Pilgrim - what is it? Every once in a lifetime, but heard this word. Maybe on TV or from parents. But does everyone know its true meaning? But there is a whole layer of medieval culture connected with it. Although one of the young people will say that this is the name of a rock band or feature film.

Let's turn to the dictionary

In general, pilgrims are, of course, wanderers. Travelers to holy places, deeply believing wanderers. There was a word from the Latin peregrinus, which in translation means "wandering". In tsarist Russia this word was also encountered, but more often it was transformed into a pilgrim.

Such a Russian option. They called a pious, powerful wanderer so. They wrote tales about him. In principle, the pilgrim is a synonym for the word "pilgrim".

Nowadays

In the modern world, there are also pilgrims. Christians travel to holy places to this day. But about this - later. And every Muslim should at least once make a pilgrimage to Mecca. In addition, a significant part of the inhabitants of the United States consider themselves descendants of pilgrims. Why?

Excursion to the history

In the strict sense of the word, the pilgrim fathers are not pilgrims at all, and they did not go to holy places. In fact, they were so nicknamed among the first Europeans who landed and founded a colony on the territory now called the United States of America. And it happened in the beginning of the seventeenth century. Then, in 1620, a group of British Puritans persecuted for dissent by the Anglican Church decided to find a new place to live. In a hundred two people (among whom were also women and children) they went to the shores of the New World. But traveling in those days was difficult, and therefore they secured the support of a large trading company. Not gratuitously, of course.

They had to work their way out. However, it turned out that after a long journey the ship was not at all where it was planned. And, without thinking for a long time, the Puritans founded a settlement on the site of modern Plymouth. They were the first settlers in the history of New England. And deciding that once in the place, about which they agreed, still did not hit, the travelers felt themselves completely free from any obligations. They signed the so-called Mayflower Agreement. The latter represented an agreement on self-rule by the colony.

Life to them, of course, was not easy. The first winter was carried by only half of the migrants. Almost immediately, clashes began with local Indian tribes. But thanks to better weapons Europeans managed to gain a foothold in the occupied territory. Of course, not all the natives were hostile to them. One of the Indians, who later became a legend, even helped the settlement survive. He taught the Puritans how to grow cereals in a new place for them.

Successfully matched word

But why all these people began to be called pilgrims? And it all started with a "red words". In 1793, at a feast dedicated to the first settlers, Reverend C. Robbins read the sermon. In it, he called the colonists who arrived there, the pilgrim fathers. His idea, in principle, is clear: people sought freedom of religion. And they made a long and difficult journey for this. Then this name has already taken root among politicians. And after a while the English poet F. D. Hamans wrote her poem "The Arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers in New England". But this, of course, is not the whole story. The first real pilgrims appeared in medieval Europe. They traveled mainly to the Holy Land, to Jerusalem.

The road of pilgrims - what is this?

It is also called the path of St. James. And she leads the pilgrims of the whole world to the grave of this apostle, which is in the Spanish Santiago de Compostela. But there is another way of pilgrims. This is the name of the ancient stone road in Jerusalem. On it, believers went to a religious rite.

A long time ago

What is so famous for this man, that thousands of pilgrims going to him, could stop only the black plague. The latter, as is known, killed half the population of medieval Europe. These pilgrims are, no doubt, already know.

If you believe the legend, the apostle died a martyr's death in 44 year of the Nativity of Christ in the Holy Land. And his remains were placed in a boat and released into the Mediterranean Sea. It so happened that this ship was nailed to the shores of Spain, where the aforementioned saint preached during his lifetime. There it was considered a miracle. True, this happened only in 813. Then on the shore an ark with imperishable relics was discovered by a monk-hermit named Pelayo.

Half a century later, a church was built here on the order of King Alfonso III. And the place was called just like Compostela ("a place designated by a star").

There are legends that the apostle miraculously appeared and helped during the battles with the Moors. Anyway, he began to be considered the patron of Spain. During the life of St. James, he also made a long journey, like a pilgrim. That this would make him the patron of all the pilgrims, he could hardly imagine then. By the way, he passed from the Holy Land to Spain.

Meanwhile, the city of Kompostela, since one of the twelve apostles was buried on its territory, is becoming a shrine not only of Spain, but of the entire Catholic world.

There is a legend that the emperor Charles the Great had a dream. In it, the Lord showed him the way to the shrine - the Milky Way, which went through France and Spain. And God commanded him to clear the way of the pilgrims from the Moors. The latter was of considerable importance for the establishment of tradition. The emperor sent troops there and, one might say, paved the way.

And when in the twelfth century the Spanish crown was established the military knight order of St. James, whose mission it was to protect the pilgrims, this path became even more "comfortable."

Compostela equated to Rome and Jerusalem - Pope Kalikst II granted believers who go there, the right to indulgence. Since then the place has become very popular. Pilgrims were sent from all over the world. And the road of pilgrims grew over churches and inns, which had a positive impact on the economic situation of the region.

Meanwhile, the road was laid in such a way that pilgrims along the way could visit other shrines - the relics of the Holy Faith, Mary Magdalene and many others. Passed along this road and the famous pilgrims. This, for example, is Bishop Godescalk.

In the nineteenth century, the road was rediscovered. And with each passing year the number of pilgrims walking along it only grows.

Route

The road begins in the south of France and the Pyrenees, it is possible to go through the passes of Ronseval or Somport. But in Spain this path runs from Pamplona and to Santiago de Compostela. It is also called "the road of French kings".

In the Middle Ages, pilgrims going there, guided the Milky Way. He, according to legend, drew in the sky himself a saint. So he showed the way here to the Emperor Charles the Great. Therefore, this cluster of stars in the sky is also often called "the way of St. James".

Finally

So, the pilgrim - who is this? First of all, a believer. He has a purpose and a path that he must go through to reach it. Pilgrims were in the past, there is in the present and, in all likelihood, will be in the future. It is respectful that many Americans remember and are proud of the fact that their ancestors were deeply religious people. Perhaps, some day the first settlers will also be called to distant planets.