Cossack Cross 1 – 1817

Map number: 1

Year of burial: 1817

Name and surname: AK / SENTI (Aksentiia)

Inscription: ЗДЕСЬ ЛЕЖИТЪ / РАБА : БОЖИ : АКЪ / СЕНТЙ : 1817 : ЇЮНѦ /29 /ДНѦ

Form typology: Cossack cross pattée. Crosses pattée were the simplest to make: eight saw cuts in a rectangular blank were enough to produce the cross.

Dimensions: 85 x 65.5 x 22.5 cm

Description

ЗДЕСЬ ЛЕЖИТЪ / РАБА : БОЖИ : АКЪ / СЕНТЙ : 1817 : ЇЮНѦ /29 /ДНѦ Words were separated by colons. Notably, although the name is split into two parts, the letter «к» is followed by «ъ». The name itself is left unfinished (evidently there was not enough room on the cross), but the last letter is "й". Most likely (judging by the word «раба», "handmaid") the name of the deceased woman is Aksentiia. Stone carvers of that time were mostly semi-literate, so the crosses contain errors that make deciphering difficult. The parish registers of the Ascension Church for 1817 contain a record of the death of Kseniia, wife of the townsman Ivan Buhaievskyi, who died in childbirth on 8 August. However, although the name is similar, the date does not match. There are no death records for 29 June (the funeral service may have been held in another church – by 1817 there was already a church in Nerubaiske). The date "1817" itself raises slight doubt: the third digit looks more like the letter "л". Perhaps the carver tried to cut the date «1847» (or carelessly cut the digit «1» in «1817»). At the top, a simple cross is carved with two parallel horizontal and two parallel vertical lines. On the reverse side the image of the cross is more interesting: a simple cross inscribed in a circle, placed on Golgotha. Mount Golgotha was often depicted on crosses of that time.