Case file · Folklore / legend
Stephen of Perm and the sorcerer Pam
Stephen, missionary to the Komi (Zyrians), cut down the Komi people's sacred birch near Ust-Vym and challenged the shaman Pam to walk through fire and into an ice-hole with him; Pam refused and was exiled.
1383 CE · 62.23, 50.40 · status: account
The account
The Life of Stephen by Epiphanius the Wise (about 1396) presents the debate between Stephen and Pam in detail, including Pam's argument that the Komi gods gave them better hunting than the Christian God gave the Russians. Stephen created an alphabet for the Komi language and became bishop of Perm in 1383. The text is a rare record of an Indigenous religious leader's voice.
The sceptical view
A hagiography written by Stephen's admirer; Pam's words were shaped by the author.