THE THEME OF ADVOCACY OF THE ORTHODOXY IN THE WRITINGS OF THE AUTHORS FROM THE PATRIARCH’S CIRCLE OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE XVII CENTURY
T.V. Panich
Institute of History of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IH SB RAS), Russia, 630090, Novosibirsk, Akad. Nikolaev str., 8
Keywords: Orthodoxy, XVII century, the writers of the patriarch’s circle, anti-Latin polemics, publicistic manuscript writings
Abstract
The article discusses the literary heritage of the writers of the Patriarch’s circle, adherents of the Greek-Byzantine Orthodox tradition in the development of the Russian culture (Euthimius of Chudov, Athanasius of Kholmogory, Ignatius Rimsky-Korsakov, hierodeacon Damascene and others). The works of this group of authors are studied in regard to the theme of advocacy of the Orthodoxy. The theme became a topical issue and was responded to in the Graecophiles’ writings in the second half of XVII century, which was a reaction to the cultural and historical situation when the Church reforms, growing secularization, expansion of foreign religious denominations and influence of Western European culture resulted in significant changes in the life of the state, while the authority and dominance of the Orthodox church declined. In the Graecophiles’ opinion, all those changes posed a threat to the Orthodoxy. The research is based on a number of writings of these authors that have somehow touched upon the issue of advocacy of the Orthodoxy, its protection against the influence of the Western confessions. These writings include the anti-Latin book “The shield of Faith” (Schit very), devoted to the polemics between the Graecophile and the Latin supporters on when to apply the consecrated elements during a liturgy; the manuscript collection of writings associated with Petr Artem’ev and Grigorii Skabinskii; last wills and testaments of Patriarchs Joachim and Adrian, and of Metrophanes, the bishop of Voronezh; patriarch Adrian’s letter on publication of the book “The Shield of faith” (Schit very) and others. The author determines sources of the analyzed texts, reveals their relation to the tradition and to the book heritage of Old Russia (foreign books translated into Russian as well as the original Russian writings). The analysis of the literary heritage of the writers of the Patriarch’s circle shows that one of the main elements of their strategy was the idea of protecting the Orthodoxy against the influence of the Catholic and Protestant churches; they strived to support and to consolidate the influence of the Orthodox Church, to save the Orthodox traditions, its values and principles through their literary works.
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