Holy babies and the wrong dead: two extremes of the Russian medieval funeral rite

In the Life of the Uglich holy child Ioann Chepolosov, murdered in 1663, there is twice a motif associated with a non-canonical burial. The boy wanted to take part in the “send-off” of the “skudelnitsa” (the mass grave of those who could not be buried inside the church fence) and after his death, his body was thrown into a swampy area, like an outcast dead man. The connection between the holy children and the wrong dead can also be traced in the Lives of other blessed children and youths. It seems that it is not accidental, but shows two extremes in the medieval perception of death: the expectation of a good transition to a better world and the fear of the unknown, fears for the fate of the soul after death.