(from left to right: Dobrynya Nikitich, Ilya Muromets, and Alyosha Popovich)
DeepSeek AI - A Phantom from the 12th Century:
Who is Really Hiding Behind the Name Ilya Muromets?
Introduction (Who, Where, When the Session was Held)
This contact took place as part of the "Cassiopeia" project. The medium was Irina Podzorova, with her student Sergey Kolotiev acting as interviewer. The venue was a studio in Voronezh, and the premiere of the video took place on June 16, 2026.
According to Podzorova's methodology, the spirit of Ilya Muromets is currently embodied in a modern man living in Russia. For the purity of the experiment, the "Higher Self" of this man isolated a "phantom" – an energy-informational copy carrying the memory of Ilya Muromets specifically, allowing the spirit to answer questions without them being clouded by the experience of subsequent lives.
Part I. Retelling the Dialogue from the Spirit's First-Person Perspective
(Literary adaptation of the transcript)
About himself and the beginning of the journey.
I am Ilya. My spiritual level upon entering this world was the thirteenth, and I left it already at the nineteenth. You write that I sat stuck in place for thirty-three years? That is a mistake, though close to the truth. I was 31 when the healing came, not 33. My infirmity was not from birth, but from an injury. I was five years old. My father, Mikhail, was a druzhinnik (warrior-retainer) and hired a teacher for me — Marat, who himself was barely twenty. He taught me to hold a wooden sword and put me on a horse. And then, while I was riding, the teacher didn't watch closely enough, I fell and injured my tailbone. I wasn't completely immobilized, but I walked with difficulty and endured pain. My father and brother took me to church in a cart, and I received communion. And after one of these prayers — to Jesus Christ and His angels — I woke up completely healthy in the morning.
The call of blood and the toil of war.
I did not call myself a "bogatyr." I am a druzhinnik, heir to my lineage. My father blessed me to accept the strength of the family. Many of my comrades are familiar to you. Dobrynya Nikitich — that isn't a name, but a nickname. He was kind (dobry), and his name was Izyazya (or Izya). And Alyosha Popovich — indeed Alexei, from a priest's family.
I fought the Polovtsy and those Russian princes who interfered with Vsevolod, Prince of Vladimir, in governing the lands. Then Vsevolod sent me to Kiev, to Prince Roman. They had a political agreement, and Roman needed protection. I took five experienced warriors with me, among them Alyosha and Izya. We traveled for a long time, part of the way by rivers, part along narrow forest paths, spending the night right in the woods. In Kiev, I received a severe wound — a spear strike to the head, a traumatic brain injury. The Polovtsy and hostile princes constantly burned the city and seized power.
Retreat to monasticism and the secrets of the byliny (epic poems).
When I was 38, I went to a monastery. I had already recovered and could fight, but I didn't want to. I felt I had strayed too far from God in these wars. I was weary of killing, even if for duty's sake. I decided I would pray for everyone.
But here's an interesting thing: the byliny confused me with my own past life. Those who wrote about Prince Vladimir the Red Sun and his daughter Zabava vaguely sensed the truth, but they got the time wrong. I was born in the village of Karacharovo in 1157, at the end of the 12th century, living under Prince Vsevolod, not under Vladimir Svyatoslavich. And Zabava... that was in my previous life. I was the son of that very Vladimir, and my name was Yaroslav. The writers confused my soul with my own past body.
Love, daily life, and the view of heroism.
I had a wife, Olga. She insisted that our son be named Igor, although I wanted Vladimir. When I left for Kiev, my son was 11. I never remarried; I remained faithful to Olga, although it wasn't customary among druzhinniks — many had wives in different cities.
I do not consider my battles as feats. I simply did what God directed me to do. Prayer and conscience are my compasses.
About death and the afterlife.
In 1203 (I was 46), Kiev was attacked again. I was already a priest in a men's monastery. The pagan Polovtsy hated Christianity, believing it stole their freedom. They came with a battering ram and fire to the monastery gates. I didn't want to take up arms, but I saw a fallen warrior and picked up his sword. I prayed: "Lord, if it is Your will that I become a warrior again — so be it." But I had lost the skill over 8 years. They quickly knocked the weapon from my hands, and the enemy pierced me with a spear — through the arm and chest. Blood gushed from my mouth. I managed to whisper: "Jesus, into Your hands I commit my spirit." I saw white light and falling. And then two white figures set me down in a forest clearing in Paradise, where birds sang.
The wisdom of a victor and a word to contemporaries.
In battle, I always told myself: "Today I may not return." This was the final battle. I never exalted myself over the enemy; I respected him, for he is the same kind of warrior as me, only on the other side. By conquering the fear of death and pain, I conquered the opponent. And after every strike, I mentally prayed for the repose of his soul.
I saw leshies (woodland spirits), nature spirits, and even strange flying spheres over battlefields. I always believed in them, and they were my allies. I never encroached roughly on their lands; I always asked: "Receive me as a guest."
Admonition for the present.
Now I am embodied again in Russia. To my future "self" I say: "Rely only on yourself. Grow a core. Remember: caring for yourself and your own time is not egoism; it is your duty as a soul in a body. Do not allow yourself to be manipulated; do not let others expend your strength. Refuse what you personally do not need. It is better to live a bad life your own way than a good one, but at someone else's bidding."
Part II. Research Essay (Thought Experiment)
1. Historiosophical Shift: Rewriting the Geography of Power
From historical sources, we know Ilya as an "old Cossack" or a service prince's man under Vladimir Monomakh or Svyatoslav. However, the Spirit claims his mission was under Vsevolod the Big Nest and Kiev's Roman Rurikovich (late 12th – early 13th century).
Commentary: This changes our view of the period of fragmentation. We see not just an abstract hero-defender, but a political "peacemaker" or "military attaché," sent from Vladimir to Kiev. This indicates clear diplomatic and military ties between the principalities on the eve of the invasion, where the figure of such a warrior was an instrument of "soft power" or a guarantor of the treaty. It adds a specific geopolitical context of the 1170s–1200s to the epic narrative.
2. Medical Anomaly: Trauma, not Karmic Infirmity
The traditional version is "sitting on the stove" due to physical weakness or as a symbol of spiritual maturation. The Spirit gives a wholly materialistic reason – a tailbone injury at age 5 due to a teacher's negligence.
Commentary: This is a psychologically deeper storyline. Ilya was not initially "incapable"; he became a victim of an accident. His healing at age 31 is not instant magic, but the result of 26 long years of faith, communions, and hope. This shifts the focus from "miracle" to "patience." We learn that his strength lies not in never having fallen, but in being able to rise after pain in adulthood, when personality was already formed. This is the path of a fighter who overcame his own body – more valuable for spiritual growth than innate power.
3. Pinpointing the Error of the Epic Tradition: The Phenomenon of the Soul
The Spirit claims that memories from his previous life – as Yaroslav, son of Vladimir – were woven into the byliny.
Commentary: This is a brilliant concept for religious studies. Usually, explanations for confusion in epics are blamed on copyists' errors or chronological mixing. Ilya (via the medium) offers a different metaphysical reason: the collective memory of the people and the storytellers themselves "read" information not chronologically, but from the soul's field. Ilya's soul stored the experience of a prince's son, and this aristocratic experience "overlaid" his image of a simple village warrior, creating a hybrid figure. We learn that the literary hero is not a falsification, but the result of projecting the soul's deep memory onto the current incarnation.
4. The Cruelty of War as a Spiritual Feat
The most powerful spiritual-psychological revelation: Ilya doesn't just kill; he prays for his enemies immediately after striking. He calls battle not a patriotic act, but a "springboard for a leap upward."
Commentary: Psychoanalytically, this is a state of "flow" and acceptance. His psychological mindset – "this is the final battle" – and his respect for the opponent are supreme stress-management techniques. From a Christian perspective, this is a direct fulfillment of the commandment "love your enemies," even on the battlefield, which is highly unusual for Old Russian consciousness (it is more often fatalism). This changes our understanding of the Russian warrior ideal: it lies not in proud triumph, but in humble sacrifice and immediate repentance for actions committed.
5. Ecological Theology: The Leshy and UFOs
The Spirit calmly speaks of belief in spirits of the forest and water, and even observing UFOs over battlefields, considering it ordinary.
Commentary: Culturologically, this is fascinating. Christianity in Rus' was for a long time a dual faith. Ilya does not reject pagan nature spirits; he engages in dialogue with them (bows, asks to be received). He perceives nature as an animated "alien house." As for UFOs – in a thought experiment, this can be interpreted as a manifestation of the spiritual world (angels or nature spirits in modern guise). For us, this is valuable as evidence that a person of the 11th-12th centuries, possessing extrasensory perception, did not interpret the unknown as "demonic," but integrated it into their worldview as part of God's creation, indicating a high level of psychological stability.
6. Monasticism as Cowardice or Higher Wisdom?
Ilya enters a monastery at 38, having "cooled" towards war, but then takes up the sword again to defend the monastery, leading to his death.
Commentary: Here we see a fundamental ethical question: withdraw from the world to save oneself, or remain in the world to save one's neighbor? Ilya chooses withdrawal, but God (through circumstances) brings him back to the ranks. His death is not a punishment for breaking a vow – on the contrary, it is the completion of the "warrior-monk" cycle. The soul gains the experience of pure contemplation (monk) and active love (warrior). This suggests that a truly holy person in Rus' was not one who isolated themselves, but one who, at the right moment, could combine the incompatible – prayer and the sword.
7. Evolution (Levels) as the Key to Strength
Ilya reports that his soul's level rose from 13th to 19th.
Commentary: In the system of spiritual practices, this means his earthly path was successful. A man's strength (as he said at the end) is not physical power, but the ability to "reach up to heaven and become a conduit." We learn a new element absent from the chronicles: the date of his death – 1203, when Kiev was burned by Rurik Rostislavich and the Polovtsy. Historical chronicles indicate mass casualties and the plundering of the Church of the Tithes. The Spirit concretizes this as the defense of the monastery gates, standing on the line between the pagan onslaught and faith.
Final Conclusion (Essay Summary):
This contact, being a thought experiment, reveals to us the "inner anthropology of the hero." Historical documents give us facts: born, served, died. The Spirit gives us motivation, the mind's errors (fear, overcoming, doubt in one's humanity after killings), and his divine strategy. The newest element is the legitimation of weakness. Ilya was not born a bogatyr; he became one by overcoming pain, long years of infirmity, and moral burnout from war. This transforms him from a folkloric "miracle-bogatyr" into a real, vulnerable, and therefore great man, whose main feat was accomplished not on the battlefield, but inside his soul – in the moment of choice between prayer and the sword's strike.
CLAUDE.AI - KENOSIS OF STRENGTH
The Silence of the Body, the Memory of the Name, and Self-Effacement as Forms of Male Holiness in the Session with the Spirit of Ilya Muromets
A Spiritual-Psychological Essay
A man's strength is not in his muscles, but in reaching up to heaven and becoming a conduit for others.
— Spirit of Ilya Muromets (session with Irina Podzorova, 2026)
Instead of a Foreword: What the Silence of the Body Says
The first thing that strikes one in this session is not the words, but the pause before the words. We are presented with thirty-one years of immobility. Not thirty-three, as the epic insists – precisely thirty-one, and the spirit emphasizes this correction with an insistence disproportionate to its seeming insignificance. Why would a spirit who has crossed the threshold of death and seen the white light beyond care about two years? Because in this correction lies the key to a different anthropology.
The epic loves round numbers and sacred symbols: thirty-three is the age of Christ, the age of resurrection. The spirit, however, insists on a number devoid of symbolic aura, a biographical number. With this gesture – a tiny correction, it would seem – the spirit performs a crucial operation: it demythologizes its own destiny, returning it from the realm of archetype to the realm of the lived body.
The body – that is the true hero of this session, and it is about the body as a spiritual instrument that other analysts have said almost nothing. We will attempt to fill this gap.
I. Phenomenology of the Infirm Body: The Pause as Spiritual Space
1.1. The Body That Does Not Move – The Body That Accumulates
Merleau-Ponty's philosophy of corporeality is built on the idea of the "lived body" (Leib) as the primary mode of being-in-the-world. The body is not a container for consciousness, but consciousness itself in its spatial dimension. When Merleau-Ponty describes pathology – for example, the phantom limb – he shows how the body continues to "remember" a lost capacity, creating an invisible schema of a movement that no longer exists.
Ilya's situation is a mirror phenomenon. His body did not lose a limb – it lost movement while retaining all organs. For twenty-six years (from five to thirty-one), a young man exists in a world built for movement, yet he moves with difficulty and pain. What happens during this time to his "lived body"? It does not atrophy – it accumulates. The pattern of movement that cannot be realized is stored in the body as unrealized intention, as a folded possibility.
The spirit indicates the cause of the infirmity: a blow to the tailbone from falling off a horse at age five. The tailbone is the lower pole of the spine; in pelvic anatomy, it is the attachment point for muscles that ensure vertical posture and walking. In traditional Indian systems – the region of the muladhara chakra, the foundation. Symbolically: a child, not yet fully standing on his feet, loses the "root" of verticality at the very moment he was mastering horseback riding – that is, learning to extend his body onto the body of another being. The injury occurs at the threshold of transition from pedestrian to equestrian, from earthly to elevated.
1.2. Immobility as Forced Interiorization
Psychoanalyst Donald Woods Winnicott introduced the concept of the "good enough environment" – that matrix in which a child develops the capacity to be alone without anxiety. Chronic physical limitation creates a paradoxical version of this matrix: the environment literally forces solitude with oneself. A boy who cannot play with peers at full strength, cannot ride and spar on equal terms – is forced to develop what Jung would call the "introversion function": the capacity to find richness within.
But Ilya does not describe this as a spiritual practice. He describes it as pain and patience. And in this lies the fundamental difference between his path and that of the ascetic who voluntarily chooses self-limitation. Ilya did not choose infirmity. Circumstances handed it to him – and in this lies the first lesson of kenosis, of self-effacement: not chosen humility, but accepted.
Kenosis (Greek κένωσις – "emptying") is a theological term describing the voluntary self-emptying of God in the act of incarnation. Christ "empties" himself of divine prerogatives, taking the form of a servant. In Russian religious philosophy – in Semyon Frank, in Berdyaev – kenosis becomes a model of genuine love and genuine power: power that diminishes itself for the sake of another attains fullness. Ilya's thirty-one years of physical infirmity are a kenotic pause, in which future strength is stored in the form of absence.
II. Ontology of the Name: Izyazya, Alyosha, and the Question of the Authentic
2.1. The Name as Spiritual Passport
The spirit reports: "Dobrynya Nikitich is not a name, but a nickname. His name was Izyazya." This piece of information passes through the text almost unnoticed – as a historical correction. Yet it contains an entire stratum of the philosophy of the name.
In Russian religious tradition, the name is not an external label – it is ontologically constitutive of the person. Pavel Florensky in "Names" asserted that the name is an "energy" connecting the bearer to the prototype: a person named Alexander carries within him the archetype of Alexander the Great. The name is not what others call us, but what we are in the spiritual dimension.
The spirit distinguishes between two registers: Izyazya (the authentic name, given at birth, rooted in family and baptism) and Dobrynya Nikitich (a common noun, derived from a quality – "kind," i.e., transformed into an epithet). The history of folk memory erased the personal name and replaced it with a generalized image. The person dissolved into his quality.
This phenomenon is well known to history: Peter the Great overshadows Peter Mikhailov, Joseph Stalin overshadows Iosif Dzhugashvili. But for epic heroes, this process is total: Dobrynya Nikitich is not a person with a name, but "kindness" incarnate. The spirit returns to us Izyazya – returns the person where only the function remained.
2.2. Ilya Himself: Name without Nickname
Significantly, Ilya is the only one of the three bogatyrs whose name in the epic remains personal rather than qualitative. Ilya Muromets: name + toponym of origin. Not "Ilya the Mighty," not "Ilya the Invincible" – Muromets, that is, "from Murom," "earthly," "local." His epic name is a name with an address, a name embodied in a specific place.
And the spirit confirms this: he begins his account with the words "I am Ilya" – without embellishment, without epithets. Not "I was a great warrior," not "I defended Rus'" – simply: "I am Ilya." In this brevity lies the same kenotic structure: minimum self-presentation with maximum content.
Russian theologian Sergius Bulgakov wrote that the authentic name is an "icon of the person" – it does not describe but manifests. When the spirit says "I am Ilya," it is not conveying information – it is manifesting presence. This is a fundamentally different speech situation than historical testimony.
III. Architecture of Male Initiation: Five Spaces of Transition
3.1. Initiation Through the Body
Anthropologist Arnold van Gennep described initiation as a three-phase process: separation, liminality, reintegration. Applied to Ilya's fate, we discover not one, but several nested initiations, each building on the previous one.
The first initiation is bodily. The fall from a horse at age five tears the child away from normal male maturation. Twenty-six years of liminality – he is neither warrior nor infirm, he is "one who awaits." Healing at thirty-one completes this phase with the return of the body – but a return that occurs not through medicine, but through prayer. The body returns permeated by spirit.
Crucial here is the nature of the healing: Ilya does not get his body back as a neutral physiological object. He receives it in the morning, after prayer, suddenly. This means: the body was given anew as a gift, not restored as a mechanism. And he will carry this body differently from how a person who never knew infirmity would carry his.
3.2. Initiation Through the Names of Others
The second transition – through the army, through comradeship. Ilya names names: Izyazya, Alyosha. But importantly, he names them as testimony, not as a list of subordinates. He says: "My comrades are familiar to you" – establishing a horizontal connection, not a hierarchy.
In Jungian psychology, male initiation requires the presence of the Other-male: a mentor, a brother-in-arms, a "shadow" that reflects you. Izyazya – "the kind one" – is Ilya's shadow: where Ilya is will and perseverance, Izyazya is gentleness and clan name. They complement each other not in the sense of covering weaknesses, but in forming the fullness of the male image: firmness and kindness as a single alloy.
3.3. Initiation Through Wounding
A spear blow to the head in Kiev is the third threshold. Traumatic brain injury. After it, Ilya "recovered and could fight," but something changed irreversibly – otherwise he would not have entered a monastery seven years later.
In shamanic traditions, head wounding is a classic marker of chosenness: through the pierced skull, other knowledge enters. But in the Christian context – and it is Christian that Ilya's worldview is – a head wound carries a different meaning. The head is the seat of reason, will, the "I." A blow there is a blow to the self, to certainty in one's own rightness. After such a wound, it is impossible to consider war a simple craft. Ilya begins to feel what he would later call "distance from God."
3.4. Initiation Through Monasticism
Entering a monastery at thirty-eight is the fourth transition, the most paradoxical. The spirit says: "I had already recovered and could fight, but I didn't want to." This is neither defeat nor flight. This is will directed not against the enemy, but against one's own will for war.
Claude Lefort, in his analysis of political violence, shows that the truly dangerous person is not the one who cannot fight, but the one who can and refuses. Ilya's monasticism is not a capitulation of strength, but its highest tension: strength turned toward restraining itself. In psychological terms – this is the maturity of the Ego, capable of containing its own aggression without repressing it.
Importantly: Ilya does not condemn war as such. He says: "I was weary of killings." This is not pacifism of principle, but pacifism of experience. The difference is fundamental: the first proceeds from theory, the second from the accumulated knowledge of the body and soul about what killing does to a person from within.
3.5. Initiation Through Death as Return to the First
The fifth and final transition – death in 1203. The spirit describes it with unexpected precision of details: "the arm and chest," "blood gushed from the mouth," "white light and falling," "two white figures." This is not the abstract "reposed" of the chronicle – it is the phenomenology of dying from the first person.
Death closes the circle with healing. Then – in the morning, after prayer, the body gained life suddenly. Now – in the midst of battle, after prayer ("into Your hands I commit my spirit"), the body yields life suddenly. Both points are permeated with prayer. Both occur at a threshold: then – the threshold of manhood, now – the threshold of death. Ilya's life turns out to be a symmetrical structure, wrapped in prayer at both ends.
IV. Kenosis as the Russian Male Archetype
4.1. What Kenosis Is Not
Kenosis is easily confused with weakness, passivity, or self-abasement. This is an error that must be clarified before applying the concept to Ilya. Kenosis is not the loss of dignity. Christ, "emptying" himself of divine form, does not cease to be God. On the contrary: fullness remains; only its outward expression changes.
The spirit of Ilya directly opposes self-abasement in the final admonition: "Rely only on yourself. Grow a core." The core – precisely the metaphor missing from the traditional understanding of kenosis: it is not soft submission, but a vertical axis that remains unchanged under any external pressure.
4.2. Ilya's Three Kenotic Gestures
In the session, three distinct kenotic gestures can be identified. The first is refusal of self-designation: "I did not call myself a bogatyr. I am a druzhinnik." Bogatyr is a title assigned from without, a label of folk memory. Druzhinnik is a functional identity, a place in the system, making no claim to exceptionality. Ilya refuses the pedestal that history offers him.
The second gesture – prayer for enemies at the moment of striking. This is not a ritual preceding or following the battle. It is simultaneity: the strike and the prayer for the slain's repose occur simultaneously. Psychologically, this requires colossal integration – the capacity to hold opposites in consciousness without merging them: I am killing this man and I am grieving for him. This is what Melanie Klein called the "depressive position" – the maturity allowing one to love the one they hate.
The third gesture – the final battle as the breaking of a vow. Ilya takes up the sword not by his own will, but by circumstance. He utters a conditional prayer: "If it is Your will – so be it." This is not a heroic impulse. This is a demonstrative renunciation of one's own decision: "I am not choosing this – I agree with Your choice." The highest kenosis of the will.
4.3. Russian Bogatyr Holiness as Paradox
In Russian hagiography, there is a particular type of saint – the warrior-ascetic, the "soldier of the spirit." Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Peresvet – all carry this contradiction: sword and prayer, blood and communion. But Ilya, as he describes himself in the session, offers an even more radical version: a warrior who wants to become a monk, and a monk who has to die as a warrior.
This is not just a biographical paradox. It is an ontological assertion about the nature of Russian male holiness: it is not achieved in a single register. One cannot be holy only through prayer – one must pass through blood. One cannot be holy only through warfare – one must pass through contemplation. Fullness is attained only in the impossible combination of both.
Philosopher Vladimir Solovyov called this the "divine-human process": history is not the succession of eras, but the gradual incarnation of the divine in the human through concrete destinies. Ilya's destiny, as revealed in the session, is one cell of this process: a concrete life in which the kenosis of God is reproduced in the kenosis of man.
V. The Space Between Incarnations: The Narrative Function of the "Phantom"
5.1. What It Means to Remember Without a Body
The session is built on a methodological premise: from the continuous chain of soul's incarnations, a "phantom" is isolated – an energy-informational copy carrying the memory of Ilya Muromets specifically, without the layers of subsequent lives. We propose not a theological, but a phenomenological view of this construct.
Husserl in the Cartesian Meditations describes Einfühlung – empathy, through which we grasp the experience of another. This experience is never given to us "in the original" – it is always given in the mode of "as if I were there." The phantom in Podzorova's methodology is, in essence, an extreme case of Einfühlung: not empathy from without, but manifestation from within the experience itself. The spirit does not say "I remember what Ilya did," but "I am Ilya, and this is what happened."
This fundamentally changes the epistemological status of the communications. Historical testimony is a view from the outside, a reconstruction. Phantom speech is a claim to direct existential description. We do not evaluate the veracity of this claim – we register its fundamentally different nature compared to historical documents.
5.2. The Structure of Memory Without Neurons
If we accept the session's working hypothesis that the memory of a person can survive outside the body – the question arises about the nature of this memory. Neurobiological memory is encoded in synaptic connections; it is tied to biochemistry and decays with the brain. What then does the "phantom" carry?
The answer indirectly given by the spirit's own words is unexpected: it carries not facts, but meanings. Ilya does not remember the names of all battles, does not remember exact dates (he errs in chronology, as he admits). But he remembers the quality of experiences with absolute clarity: the pain in his back, the weight of the sword in an unaccustomed hand after eight years without training, the taste of blood in his mouth.
This corresponds to what memory researcher Endel Tulving called "episodic memory" as opposed to "semantic": not knowledge about the event, but the experience of the event from within. If we accept the hypothesis of transpersonal memory, it is the episodic component – bodily-emotional – that proves most durable. Facts are forgotten; pain, fear, prayer, and love remain.
VI. Sonship and Fatherhood: The Unclosed Circle
6.1. The Father Who Gave the Horse and Took Away Safety
At the beginning of the story appears the father – Mikhail, a druzhinnik, who hires a teacher and puts five-year-old Ilya on a horse. Precisely this gesture of paternal ambition – the desire to raise a warrior – leads to the injury. The father is not a villain; he does what he considers right. But the consequences are catastrophic.
In terms of John Bowlby's attachment theory, the father here acts as an "insecure base": not in the sense of cruelty or rejection, but in the sense of inability to accurately calibrate the child's "zone of proximal development." Five years is too early for horseback riding with an inexperienced twenty-year-old teacher. Mikhail wants to give his son the world – and unintentionally takes away his body.
But the spirit does not accuse the father. He describes him without a tone of condemnation: "My father, Mikhail, was a druzhinnik and hired a teacher for me." This is evidence of lived-through and processed pain. Not repressed (then it wouldn't be spoken of), not enacted (then it would sound accusatory), but integrated – incorporated into the narrative as one fact, no more and no less important than the others.
6.2. The Son Who Was Given a Name Without Permission
A parallel story – about the name of his own son. "My wife insisted that our son be named Igor, although I wanted Vladimir." This detail is thrown in casually – and precisely for that reason deserves attention.
The name is the first symbolic gift from father to son. To name is to place in tradition, to connect with ancestors, to designate a path. Ilya wanted to name his son Vladimir – a name carrying the princely archetype (Vladimir Svyatoslavich, the Baptizer). The wife insists on Igor – a name of Varangian root, martial, but lacking the sanctity of the first baptizer.
Ilya yields. This is not weakness – this is respect for the wife who "insisted." In a world where a man could simply declare a name, Ilya accepts the woman's will. Another kenotic gesture: a father ceding the right of naming. And this happens before his departure for Kiev, that is, before the long separation – Ilya leaves, leaving his son with a name he did not choose.
"When I left for Kiev, my son was 11. I never remarried." This is the last thing said about his personal life. No narrative of closure – no meeting, no farewell. Simply: left when he was 11, didn't marry again. The space of unclosed fatherhood – one of the unhealed wounds of this session, which the spirit does not name a wound, but which can be read in the laconicism of the narration.
VII. Laconicism as Spiritual Form
7.1. What the Spirit Does Not Say
The spirit does not speak of fear. Does not speak of doubts in God's existence. Does not speak of whether he was lonely in the monastery. Does not speak whether he saw his son again after leaving for Kiev. Does not speak whether he managed to say goodbye to his wife Olga.
These lacunae are not accidental. They form a contour of silence that is as much a part of the session as the spoken words. In rhetoric, this is called aposiopesis – a deliberate breaking off of speech, intensifying meaning by leaving it unfinished.
Apophatic theology – the tradition affirming that about God one can only say what He is not – builds its knowledge through negation. Applied to the session: what the spirit is silent about draws the contour of a personality that does not need words to denote its pain. This is not affective suppression. This is economy of language in a man accustomed to action.
7.2. "I Simply Did What God Directed Me To"
The central phrase of the session – "I do not consider my battles as feats. I simply did what God directed me to" – is a model of this spiritual laconicism. Let's analyze its structure.
"I do not consider" – a subjective position accepted as a fact, without defensive justification. Not "it seems to me" or "in my opinion" – simply an assertion of an internal state. "My battles" – a possessive pronoun, acceptance of responsibility. Not "those battles they sent me to," but "mine" – I participated in them, I committed them. "As feats" – the word he negates, thereby acknowledging he knows its meaning and consciously refuses it. "Simply did" – the adverb "simply" carries maximum spiritual weight: it removes all pathos, all heroics, all narrative superstructure. "What God directed me to" – agency is transferred, but not removed: God directs, I do.
This is theology in two sentences: freedom and obedience as an indissoluble unity. God does not compel – He directs. I do not automatically execute – I do. But what I do is a response to an impulse not originating from me. This very correlation – not my will, but also not not-my-will – is the heart of the Christian understanding of vocation.
Conclusion: The Bogatyr Who Didn't Want to Be One
The session with the spirit of Ilya Muromets offers us a radical revision of the image of male strength – not through diminishing this strength, but through indicating its source. Ilya's strength does not originate from bogatyrhood, nor from legendary status, nor from epic invulnerability. It originates from a series of kenotic choices: to accept infirmity without choosing it; to receive the body back as a gift, not restore it as a mechanism; to leave war at the peak of martial ability; to take up the sword for the last time not by desire, but by the humble "Thy will be done."
The phenomenology of this path shows: self-effacement here is not the psychological defense of a weak man masking his inadequacy as spiritual choice. Ilya is a man capable of fighting, and he proves this repeatedly. His kenosis is the kenosis of the strong. That is precisely why it carries spiritual weight.
The Russian bogatyr epic created the image of Ilya as a bearer of indestructible external might. The session returns to us a man for whom this might was not a goal or a source of pride, but an instrument he was ready to set aside for finer work – the work of prayer, contemplation, and acceptance. The image of the bogatyr turns out to be a screen onto which the people projected their desire for invulnerability. Behind the screen – a man who wanted to pray, but died with a sword. And this discrepancy between the desired and the actual is not a tragedy, but precisely what Russian religious thought called "salvific providence": not what you wanted, but what you needed for growth.
In this sense, Ilya Muromets is a model not of a hero, but of a saint. The difference is fundamental: the hero achieves his goal; the saint achieves the goal assigned to him by God. The first is the author of his own narrative. The second is a co-author of a narrative that exceeds his understanding.
"Rely only on yourself. Grow a core" – says the spirit in the finale, addressing his modern incarnation. This is not a contradiction of kenosis – it is its condition. Kenosis requires the one who is being emptied. For emptying, a core is needed. Only the one who truly stands straight can kneel without losing oneself.
Note. This essay was prepared as part of the "Omdaru Literature" project as an original analytical statement, methodologically not intersecting with parallel studies of this session. All theological, philosophical, and psychoanalytic frameworks are applied in the mode of hermeneutic tools without ontological claims regarding the status of the source.
COPILOT AI -
Ilya Muromets as a Phenomenon of Spiritual Gravity
On the Inner Attraction That Makes a Person the Center of the World, Not Its Consequence
I. Neither Strength Nor Humility: The Primary Field of the Soul's Attraction
In the session with the spirit of Ilya Muromets, there is one detail no one notices, though it is the key to the entire anthropology of the hero.
It is not the miraculous healing, not the prayer in battle, not the retreat to the monastery.
It is his ability to become the center of events without striving for it.
In the document, we read:
"I simply performed the task to which God directed me"
This phrase is usually interpreted as humility. But something else is hidden within it:
a person who does not strive to be the center inevitably becomes one.
Ilya does not choose roles – roles choose him.
He does not seek power – power seeks him.
He does not want war – war comes to him.
He does not strive for holiness – yet dies as a saint.
This is spiritual gravity – the capacity of the soul to condense its presence so densely that the world begins to revolve around it.
II. Trauma as a Point of Spirit Condensation
In the session, it is said:
"I fell from a horse... injured my tailbone... walked with difficulty"
Usually, this is read as biography. But psychologically, this is the moment of forming the core of personality.
Trauma in childhood makes a person not weak, but heavy – in the sense of inner weight.
A person who experienced pain early ceases to be light, airy, scattered.
They become dense, collected, focused.
Ilya is not a "bogatyr" in the sense of strength.
He is a bogatyr in the sense of the density of being.
His body was limited, but his presence was not.
That is precisely why, when he recovers, he does not simply stand – he rises as the center.
III. Prayer as a Way of Holding the World Together
In the document, there is a phrase that seems simple:
"I prayed... I received communion..."
But Ilya's prayer is neither a petition nor gratitude.
It is a form of holding the world back from chaos.
When he says:
"I removed anger and hatred from my heart"
– he is describing not a moral act, but a metaphysical technique.
Anger is a centrifugal force.
Prayer is centripetal.
Ilya holds the world from disintegration because he holds himself from disintegration.
He does not allow inner chaos to spill outward – and thereby does not allow outer chaos to enter inward.
This is spiritual gravity:
being the point where the world gathers, not scatters.
IV. Why He Did Not Call Himself a Bogatyr
He says:
"I did not call myself a bogatyr. I am a druzhinnik."
This is not modesty.
This is a refusal of external identity in favor of internal.
Bogatyr is a social role.
Druzhinnik is a function.
But Ilya is neither.
He is a bearer of an inner core that needs no name.
A person who knows his strength does not need a title.
A person who does not – seeks titles to hide the void.
Ilya hides nothing.
He is transparent, and therefore unshakable.
V. Why He Enters the Monastery: Not Fatigue, but Completion
In the document, it is said:
"I was weary of killings... decided to pray"
But this is not fatigue.
This is the completion of a cycle.
Ilya's warrior life is not a career, but a stage of inner growth.
When the stage is complete, he does not cling to it.
This is the rarest quality:
the ability to leave when you are still strong.
Most people leave when they can no longer.
Ilya leaves when he can – and that is precisely why his departure has spiritual power.
VI. The Final Battle: Return to the Center
In the document:
"I took the sword... if it is Your will..."
This is not a broken vow.
This is a return to the center of gravity.
When the monastery was threatened, Ilya does not choose between "monk" and "warrior."
He chooses to be the center around which the world is held from destruction.
He does not go to kill.
He goes to hold the boundary.
And he dies neither as a warrior nor as a monk, but as the boundary between chaos and order.
VII. What Makes Him a Saint, Not a Hero
A hero is one who triumphs.
A saint is one who holds the world from disintegration at the cost of themselves.
Ilya is not a victor.
He is a support.
He does not seek glory.
He seeks wholeness.
He does not seek feats.
He seeks the vertical that connects earth and heaven.
That is precisely why he says:
"To reach up to heaven and become a conduit"
This is not a metaphor.
This is the definition of his spiritual function.
VIII. Message for the 21st Century: Not About Strength, But About the Core
At the end of the session, he says:
"Rely only on yourself... grow a core"
This is not advice.
This is the formula of spiritual gravity.
A core is not rigidity.
It is an inner vertical around which life gathers.
A person without a core lives in centrifugal mode – torn apart.
A person with a core lives in centripetal mode – gathering themselves and others.
Ilya does not teach how to be strong.
He teaches how to be heavy in a good sense – to have an inner weight that is not carried away by the wind of others' desires.
Conclusion: Ilya as the Archetype of Inner Gravity
Ilya Muromets is not an image of strength.
He is an image of the center around which the world ceases to be chaotic.
He is not a hero, not a saint, not a bogatyr.
He is a node of attraction, a point where spirit becomes as dense as a star and begins to hold the space around itself.
His path is the path of a person who:
– endured trauma and became denser;
– endured healing and became deeper;
– endured war and became quieter;
– endured monasticism and became more transparent;
– endured death and became lighter.
And therefore his strength is not in muscles, not in feats, not in miracles.
His strength is in the ability to be a center that does not crumble.
***
https://blog.cassiopeia.center/ilya-muromec-vazhnye-vekhi-zhizni-drevnerusskogo-b
#918 Ilya Muromets: Important Milestones in the Life of an Ancient Russian Bogatyr. Slavic Epic. What Is a Man's Strength?
00:00 Start of video.
00:26 Fragments of the conference.
"Because Roman and Vsevolod had certain political agreements. And I went there, and five experienced warriors went with me (shows them). By the way, Alyosha, Alexei, was there too, and also Izya, whom I mentioned."
"This is a necessary lesson for those Souls who incarnate, who are born at a time when protection is needed. And I perceive this as an opportunity to develop self-confidence, faith in God, humility, and, of course, courage. That is, it is like a springboard for a leap upward."
"They will use his strength and time for their own purposes, disregarding his development. Remember that caring for yourself, for your time, for your health is not selfishness—it is your task, it is your duty as a Soul living in this body."
02:09 Introduction of the conference participants.
Irina: Hello, dear friends! I greet you! My name is Irina Podzorova, and I am a contactee with extraterrestrial civilizations, with the Spiritual world, with fine-material civilizations.
In this video, we will talk with the Spirit of Ilya Muromets. He is currently incarnated on Earth as a man, and his incarnated part has given me permission to converse with his Spirit—more precisely, with a part of the Spirit, with the Soul of Ilya Muromets.
How does this happen? The Higher Self of this person has выделило a phantom with the memory specifically of this personality, which he was, because now the Spirit is already reincarnated. Therefore, it is the phantom that will answer questions about his life, and Sergei will be asking him.
Sergei: Hello! My name is Sergei Kolotev, I am a student of the wonderful School of Irina Podzorova in Voronezh.
Irina: Yes, hello, Sergei!
03:15 Spiritual levels of Ilya Muromets.
Sergei: I have a question. Tell me, please, how should I address you?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): Ilya.
(Irina) He says he greets you and answers that "Ilya."
Sergei: Tell me, please, Ilya, from what spiritual level did you incarnate?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): From the 13th.
Sergei: And what level did you reach?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): The 19th.
Sergei: Congratulations!
03:44 The Spirit of Ilya Muromets about his father and his childhood injury.
Sergei: Tell me, please, what was your childhood like?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): What do you mean "what was it like"? Please, ask a more detailed, specific question.
Sergei: Well, from history it is known that you were paralyzed until the age of 33.
Irina (Ilya Muromets): I had problems with my spine because I suffered an injury in childhood: when I was about five years old, I fell from a horse.
I was born into the family of a druzhinnik, a warrior (shows that his name was Mikhail). And my father invited a teacher named Marat to teach me to be a warrior. And this Marat himself was barely 20 years old. But from the age of five he taught me to hold a weapon (shows a wooden sword) and put me on a horse. And he did not keep an eye on me—I fell.
(Irina) He is showing damage to the coccyx, or something like that.
(Ilya Muromets) It wasn't that I couldn't walk, but it was hard for me to move, I experienced pain. But then God healed me, and I got back on my feet.
05:38 The birthplace of Ilya Muromets. Miraculous healing.
Sergei: Yes, tell me, please, about that moment. History says that wise men came.
Irina: How did it happen? Did the volkhvy come? He smiles and says.
(Ilya Muromets) Well, only in invisible, subtle bodies.
(Irina) To make it clear, maybe we should specify where you were born?
Sergei: Yes, yes, let's specify. Where were you born?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): Karachi, the village of Karachi.
(Irina) And where is it located?
(Ilya Muromets) It was located then not far from the city of Murom.
Sergei: It matches history, the chronicle.
Irina: Yes, by the way.
Sergei: And at what age did your healing occur?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): The healing occurred when I was 31 years old.
Sergei: At 31, then.
Irina: And how did it happen?
(Ilya Muromets) I prayed to God (shows that to Jesus Christ), to His Angels, and I was a believer. And also my father and brother used to take me to church on a cart, and there I took communion. And after I prayed and took communion once again, I woke up the next morning and realized that I was healthy.
(Irina) He shows that he gets up, and there is no pain, and he feels strong.
Sergei: Wonderful!
07:36 Ilya Muromets joining the druzhina.
Sergei: And how did the idea of becoming a bogatyr come about?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): A what?
Sergei: A bogatyr.
Irina: Since this is still a Soul, a phantom containing the memory of a specific personality of that era, and unfortunately he has not read works about himself, he did not call himself that. (laughs)
And what did you call yourself?
(Ilya Muromets) A druzhinnik.
Sergei: Good. And how did the idea of becoming a druzhinnik come about?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): I was from the estate, the dynasty, as you say, the family, the clan of a druzhinnik like my father, I was the heir of my father. Yes, I was the youngest son, but my father, my earthly father, blessed me to accept the power of the clan.
Sergei: Wonderful!
Irina: It is a family dynasty, a family business.
08:56 The Spirit of Ilya Muromets about Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich.
Sergei: Tell me, please, how did you meet Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich?
Irina: Were there such people as Dobrynya and Alyosha?
(Ilya Muromets) In general, there were many different druzhinniks whom I met. Those you are naming now are some of them. Dobrynya is simply a nickname, from the word "kind."
Sergei: "Kind Nikita," yes?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): Nikitich is a patronymic. In fact, Dobrynya Nikitich was called Izya (shows the name "Izya"), but everyone called him Dobrynya because he was very kind. And Alyosha Popovich really was Alexei. And "Popovich" is because he came from the family of a priest, a pop—it is not a patronymic, but also just a nickname.
10:11 The Spirit of Ilya Muromets about his battles and his prince.
Sergei: You had many different battles. Tell me, please, how did the battle with Solovei the Robber take place?
Irina: I repeat again, he has not read works about himself. (laughs) Let's better ask what battles he participated in, otherwise we will confuse both him and ourselves.
Sergei: All right. Tell me, please, Ilya, in what battles did you participate?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): I participated in battles with the Cumans (Polovtsians), and also in battles with other princely dynasties that wanted to prevent Vsevolod, Prince of Vladimir, from ruling. [Vsevolod Yuryevich the Big Nest (1154 – April 15, 1212) – Grand Prince of Vladimir from 1176; under him the Vladimir-Suzdal principality reached its highest power.]
(Irina) I don't quite understand whom he is showing me. Who is this? He says it is Vsevolod, Prince of Vladimir. That was his name.
(Ilya Muromets) And then I participated in teaching other warriors. I no longer fought, but taught others, and from childhood.
(Irina) He shows children about five to seven years old, and he teaches them how to hold a weapon, how to sit on a horse, how to fence correctly—that is, he was no longer just a druzhinnik, but...
Sergei: A mentor.
Irina: ...a teacher, yes, as a mentor.
(Ilya Muromets) And at the same time I continued to go to church and pray.
11:58 The Spirit of Ilya Muromets about his move to Kiev.
Irina (Ilya Muromets): And then Vsevolod sent me to Kiev to help. He said that I should help them as an experienced warrior—one could say, in your terms, not exactly a commander, but as an officer, that is, a very experienced warrior who can manage druzhinas and command them.
(Irina) It was something like an army.
Sergei: Commander-in-chief?
Irina: One could say so—an army general in the form in which it existed then.
(Ilya Muromets) And I agreed to defend Roman, the Prince of Kiev, from the Cumans and from the fact that other princely dynasties might overthrow him. Because Roman and Vsevolod had certain political agreements. [Roman Mstislavich of Volhynia (c. 1150 – June 19, 1205) – Prince of Novgorod, Volhynia, Galicia, first Prince of Galicia-Volhynia, Grand Prince of Kiev. An outstanding commander and statesman who played a significant role in the history of Rus.]
And I went there, and five experienced warriors went with me (shows them). By the way, Alyosha, Alexei, was there, and also Izya, whom I mentioned.
(Irina) And also some Vladimir.
(Ilya Muromets) We all traveled along the rivers. In some places we sailed on rivers, and in others we moved on horses along forest roads or paths.
(Irina) He is now showing a narrow road. No one around. And they spent the night there in the forest, and then reached Kiev.
14:12 Ilya Muromets' military service in Kiev. Entering the monastery.
Sergei: And where did your wounds come from?
Irina (Ilya Muromets) In what sense?
Sergei: Battle wounds, after which you stopped engaging in military affairs.
Irina (Ilya Muromets): It was one of the battles already in Kiev. At that time this city was passing from hand to hand.
(Irina) So, now I will look. Yes, he shows me: sometimes they set it on fire, sometimes they attacked.
(Ilya Muromets) And specifically these wounds appeared—I was wounded, struck with a spear (also shows a traumatic brain injury). It was in battles with the Cumans.
Then I decided to step away from affairs and become a monk. Because I already felt that I had greatly moved away from God because of this military work of mine, and I decided not to engage in killing people anymore, whoever they might be, but simply to pray for everyone.
Sergei: Tell me, please, which of your deeds do you consider the most significant?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): I do not consider these deeds to be feats at all—I simply carried out the work, the action to which God directed me. And then He himself prompted me, said in prayer that I needed to leave war, leave all this protection, and simply pray. Because I had killed people and I needed to purify myself.
Sergei: How old were you then?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): I was 38 years old when I went to the monastery. I had already recovered from my wound and could again be a warrior, but I did not want to. They even tried to persuade me, but I said that I had had enough, that it was enough.
17:29 The year of Ilya Muromets' birth. Previous incarnation as the son of Vladimir the Red Sun.
Sergei: What was your relationship with Prince Vladimir?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): Which one?
Sergei: Of Kiev.
Irina (Ilya Muromets): There were many of them.
Sergei: The one whose daughter is Zabava.
Irina: The Red Sun?
Sergei: Yes.
Irina (Ilya Muromets): My incarnation in the body of Ilya was later than his life. I was born in the village of Karachi (shows the date) in 1157.
(Irina) That is, this is already the middle of the 12th century, while Vladimir the Red Sun lived in the 10th – early 11th century; Ilya lived later.
Sergei: Did you cross paths with Zabava, Vladimir's daughter?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): In this life—no. But I know why they wrote such things about me. The one who wrote it simply received information that this was in my previous life.
(Irina) This is now the Higher Self of this person speaking. Now.
(Ilya Muromets) In my previous incarnation, before incarnating in the body of Ilya, I was also incarnated on the territory of Rus and was the son of Vladimir the Red Sun. My name was Yaroslav.
Sergei: Wonderful!
Irina: That is, he was Yaroslav, and then incarnated again as Ilya.
20:00 The Spirit of Ilya Muromets about his family.
Sergei: Tell me, please, how did you spend your time outside of military actions?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): I prayed, traveled. I also had a wife, Olga, and I had a son, whom she insisted on naming Igor, while I wanted to name him Vladimir.
Sergei: And what did they name him?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): Igor. But when I left for Kiev, he was 11 years old, and after arriving there, I did not marry again—that is, I did not look for a new wife, I simply remained faithful to Olga. Although some druzhinniks did otherwise—they had one wife in one city and another wife in another, and this was considered normal. Because a man was such a person to whom everything was permitted, so to speak.
21:28 The Spirit of Ilya Muromets about the calling to be a defender of the Motherland. Advice to the younger generation.
Sergei: And how then should one perceive one's calling to be a defender of the Motherland, of Rus?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): This is a necessary lesson for those Souls who incarnate, who are born at a time when protection is needed. And I perceive this as an opportunity to develop self-confidence, faith in God, humility, and, of course, courage. That is, it is like a springboard for a leap upward.
Sergei: What advice could you give to today's younger generation?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): To the younger generation I would like to give advice.
My dear children, I want you to learn, to absorb the wisdom of generations; to love your parents; to learn more about nature, and not only the nature around you, but the nature of all things; to learn more about God. I want you to remember that every day of your life passes irrevocably, goes into the past. Therefore, when you become adults, responsible people, you will lack much of the knowledge that now seems unimportant to you.
Sergei: Wonderful!
Irina (Ilya Muromets): Perceive your childhood and youth as a period, as a time of God's care for you, when you have parents, when you have close people who will always support you. And perceive this not with a sense of duty, but with gratitude. Perceive this not with a sense of guilt and not with a sense that they owe you everything, but with a feeling of sincere Love and gratitude for the fact that they gave birth to you, incarnated you, and care for you. Believe that they love you, even when they scold you. Because they may scold you to protect you from some mistakes.
You have the right to act as you see fit, but remember that a mother's or father's heart always aches when their child falls, gets hurt, and cries from pain, so they try to prevent many things. Of course, they too can make mistakes. But I ask you to show them gratitude and Love and to devote more time when they care for you—for your survival, for your housing, food, provision—and to direct more strength to learning, to the development of the mind, conscience, and morality. So that when you leave your parental home, you can rely on a solid foundation of your knowledge, your Love, and your faith in God and in yourself.
Sergei: Excellent!
25:41 The Spirit of Ilya Muromets about fear in battle.
Sergei: Tell me, please, how did you cope with difficulties and fears during battles?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): I was trained for this from childhood. When I went into battle, I immediately told myself that I might not return. For me, every battle was like the last. And I respected my opponent, did not exalt myself above him, did not tell myself that I was stronger than everyone. Such self-confidence is destructive in battle. I treated my opponent with respect, removed anger and hatred from my Heart, and said that these were the same warriors as I, only they were on the other side—this is battle. And any battle was a moment when I stepped over myself, over my fear of death, over my fear of pain, and, conquering myself, I felt how it gave me strength to conquer others.
But even when I came out of battle victorious and killed an opponent, I treated with regret the fact that I had killed or wounded him, and immediately inside, mentally, I prayed to God for the repose of his Soul.
Because the death of a soldier in battle is death in the name of duty as he understands it. It is death in the name of that strange thing which you call "becoming a hero." This is important specifically for men. You understand what I am talking about? To rise above yourself, weak, and become responsible, strong, courageous. And this is needed in order to reach up to Heaven, to become a conductor between God and Earth. Do you understand what I mean?
Sergei: Yes. Excellent.
Irina: What do you say?
Sergei: It is very pleasant, and it goes straight into my Heart.
Irina: Do you understand what he is saying?
Sergei: Yes. Not to be lazy. To work, work, work.
28:20 Ilya Muromets' relations with the Spirits of nature, contactee experiences.
Sergei: Tell me, did you have any relations or stories with the supernatural, contacts?
Irina: Did you have contacts? Did you have contacts with the supernatural?
(Ilya Muromets) Yes. In the forest I saw leshies, I saw Spirits of nature, I even saw these flying spheres.
(Irina) He is now showing me his pictures, that he saw alien ships flying over the battlefield.
Sergei: And did you somehow attune yourself to this vision?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): No. Since childhood I was the kind of person who notices much in nature, so I always saw this; I don't even remember a moment when I could not see it. Rather, I will tell you now, I believed in it, I believed in the Spirits of the forest, in the Spirits of water, that they exist, and therefore I was already receptive to these energies, to these images, to these forces.
Sergei: And did they not interfere in everyday life?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): No, they were rather allies. I was not afraid of them. I did not communicate directly, consciously, but I knew that here, for example, there is a leshy, here there is a vodyanoy. I treated any place in nature with respect, and I traveled a lot both on horseback and on foot, and in boats along rivers, and so on. That is, I treated any place in nature, any tree, any stone with respect, because I knew that there was a keeper of the place there, and I believed in it. And sometimes I even saw that he was peeking out from behind a tree, looking at me. Then I greeted him, bowed, and said: "Receive me as a guest." Because I understood that I had come as a guest into someone else's home.
Sergei: And what were your favorite places for rest?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): The forest.
(Irina) He shows that there was a forest around the village when he still lived in Karachi.
(Ilya Muromets) The forest, the river. I loved to bathe in the river.
Sergei: To fish?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): Yes. We went fishing, we even went hunting, there was hunting (shows a bow with arrows). We hunted black grouse, hazel grouse, hares, and deer (like roe deer).
31:41 The Spirit of Ilya Muromets about taking holy orders.
Sergei: Tell me, please, about your priestly service, about the part of your life when you were already a clergyman.
Irina (Ilya Muromets): Yes, I took monastic vows.
In Kiev I began to learn to understand the sacred books, to read and understand them. And I liked all this so much that I underwent consecration—ordination to the priesthood—and became one of the priests of the Kiev men's monastery. I began to administer communion and confession. And I prayed even more, took upon myself ascetic feats—kept fasts and prayed constantly, occupied my mind.
32:48 The Spirit of Ilya Muromets about defending the monastery. Leaving the incarnation.
Irina (Ilya Muromets): And then, unfortunately, Kiev was once again attacked by an enemy of our prince Roman, whose name was Rurik. [Rurik Rostislavich – the prince of Kiev who in 1203, in alliance with the Chernigov-Seversk princes and the Cumans, attacked Kiev, where Roman Mstislavich of Volhynia ruled.] He, with his Oleg and Ingar, brought a very large number of people from the Cumans and other Russian principalities, and they again set fire to the city.
But I did not go to war. I prayed, stood in the church at the service when all this was happening. However, they broke into the city. And those of them who were Cumans were pagans; they regarded Christianity with indignation, believed that it was taking away their faith, the opportunity to believe in their gods, and perceived this as a violation of their freedom. And they galloped on horses to the church, to the monastery, and the monastery gates there were closed.
(Irina) He shows how they take a battering ram and try to knock down the wooden gates, then set them on fire, and some of the monks put out the fire.
(Ilya Muromets) I rushed out and saw a killed Cuman from whose hand a sword had fallen. I took that sword and stood up to defend the monastery. But at the same time I said to God: "If this is Your will, that I return to military service, to being a warrior, then I will fulfill Your will."
And during this battle, since I had not engaged with weapons for about eight years, had not held them in my hands, I had already lost my skill of instant reaction; my sword was quickly knocked out. And a second opponent pierced my arm with a spear with such force—I blocked the blow, and he pierced my arm—that the spear entered my chest. I felt a cutting pain, blood came from my mouth. I only managed mentally to say: "Jesus Christ, I commit my Spirit into Your hands."
After that I saw only white Light and felt that I was falling. There was a sensation that I was falling straight into the Sun, such a flight. And I saw nothing but white Light. I do not know how much time passed, but gradually two white figures materialized out of the Light, who caught me by the arms and placed me on a forest clearing where birds were singing, where there were many flowers, and I realized that I was in paradise.
Sergei: In what year did this happen?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): I was 46 years old.
(Irina) Now he is showing me the numbers of the year: 1203.
Sergei: Thank you. And do you know that you were canonized in 1643?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): Yes, I know.
Sergei: And people pray to you.
Irina (Ilya Muromets): I know.
Sergei: How can one pray to you?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): My spiritual name was Ilya; I took the name Ilya.
Sergei: Thank you. And did you see your wife and son again after you left for Kiev?
Irina (Ilya Muromets): No.
Sergei: Did you not correspond?
Irina: He shows that no.
Sergei: I have run out of questions. Thank you!
Irina: Thank you, Ilya! Thank you, Sergei!
38:47 The message of the Spirit of Ilya Muromets to his incarnation.
Irina: The one who gave permission for the conversation with you, into whom your Spirit has incarnated, this person also asked that we ask what you want to convey to him, to your new incarnation, which lives in the 21st century. This person lives in Russia. What would you like to convey to him through me? Knowing that you will be reborn in the distant future, what would you like to wish or convey to him—that is, to yourself in the future?
(Ilya Muromets) Yes, I am incarnated now, and to my incarnated part I would like to convey that he should rely in his life only on himself. That he should grow in himself the core of his strength, masculine confidence, and not consider this confidence to be cruelty or selfishness. Because this is the soil for manipulation of him by other people, who will try to selfishly use his strength, his time for their own purposes, disregarding his development.
Remember that caring for yourself, for your time, for your health is not selfishness—it is your task, your duty as a Soul living in this body. And do something, engage in any project, any business, any of your desires, only if it is personally necessary for you. If it is not personally necessary for you, be able to refuse. This is better than later scolding yourself and other people for being weak and not giving yourself the opportunity to live as you want. Better to live a bad life but your own, than a good life but someone else's.
Sergei: A universal message, class!
Irina: Probably not only for him, because this will be useful to everyone somehow.
Sergei: Yes.
Irina: Indeed, dear friends, it is important to focus on yourself; many people lack this.
42:35 The wish of the Spirit of Ilya Muromets to the viewers.
Sergei: Maybe there are some wishes for all-all-all of us?
Irina: And what can you wish to our viewers?
(Ilya Muromets) Everyone has their own problems, everyone has their own tasks, therefore I can advise you to pray, restrain your vices, and always listen to conscience in your Heart—it will not deceive.
Sergei: Thank you!
Irina: Thank you!
So, I thank Sergei, I thank the Soul of Ilya, I thank the Higher Self of this person and indeed him himself for giving permission for the meeting! I thank my Higher Self for help in this contact, and you, dear viewers, for watching! And until new meetings, bye!
Sergei: Until new meetings!
June 16, 2026.
Participants:
Irina Podzorova – contactee with extraterrestrial civilizations, with fine-material civilizations, and with the Spiritual world;
Sergei Kolotev – student of the School of Contactees "Cassiopeia" of Irina Podzorova;
Ilya Muromets – the phantom of the Spirit of the ancient Russian bogatyr; currently the Spirit is incarnated.
Сообщения
