Northern Thebaid

This article relies excessively on references to primary sources. Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources. Find sources: "Northern Thebaid" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Northern Thebaid (Russian: Северная Фиваида), is the poetic name of the northern Russian lands surrounding Vologda and Belozersk, appeared as a comparison with the Egyptian area Thebaid - well-known settling place of early Christian monks and hermits.

Historically Thebaid (Greek: Θηβαΐδα) is the region of Upper Egypt, the term derives from the Greek name of its capital Thebes.

The term was coined by a Russian Orthodox writer Andrei Muravyov in his book of reflections about a pilgrimage to holy places of Vologda and Belozersk, which he named "Russian Thebaid in the North" (1855).

Here in this quiet retreat, where suddenly I found my summer shelter under a hospitable roof of a welcome owner. Here I am undertaking a description of our native Thebaid which I have just visited around

St. Cyril, on the other side of it accepts newcomers and settles monasteries around himself, casting his desert nets even to the White Sea and to the Solovetsky Islands^[1]

Sometimes Northern Thebaid is more narrowly referred to as an extensive neighborhood of the St. Cyril-Belozersk Monastery. The term "Northern Thebaid" is also used as a brand, similar to the concept of the Russian North.^[2][3][4]

Footnotes