TRADITIONS OF THE EDIFYING LITERATURE IN THE WORKS OF ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE XVII CENTURY
T.V. Panich
Institute of History SB RAS, 8, Nikolaev Str., Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
Keywords: XVII c, ecclesiastical writers, traditions, edifying literature, encyclical letters, spiritual testaments
Abstract
In the works of ecclesiastical writers of the second half of the XVII century (Patriarchs Joachim and Adrian, Athanasius of Kholmogory, Euthymius of Chudov Monastery, Ignatius Rimsky-Korsakov and others), the edifying theme occupied an important place. Religious and didactic issue is present in most texts of this group of authors. The article discusses these texts which include the teachings, encyclical letters of Patriarch Adrian and Archbishop Athanasius of Kholmogory, the spiritual testaments of Patriarch Joachim and Bishop Mitrofan of Voronezh and other works. In terms of their content and subject matter, the texts under study are closely related to tradition: they are focused on the edifying literature of Ancient Rus’ (texts of a protreptic nature from Holy Scripture, words and teachings of the Fathers of Church and Russian writers). Moral and ethical themes of Christian didactic literature were reflected in each work. Following its traditions, the authors condemn human vices and give protreptic recommendations on standards of life and behavior of a pious Christian. One of the important themes that were reflected in the studied works is the theme of “reverence for books”. As the analysis shows, similes and metaphors used by the authors and related to the theme of worship of books and reading, go back to the texts, which were known in ancient Russian book-lore from the first centuries of its existence. In addition to considering traditional themes of the edifying literature, each author of the analyzed texts expressed his attitude towards topical issues of the second half of the XVII century. Creative efforts of writers were focused on addressing such issues as spiritual enlightenment; recovery of the Church authority weakened as a result of church reform and strengthening of secularization process; struggle against the schism; counteraction to the influence of western religions. Studying the works of writers of the patriarch circle of the second half of the XVII century in the context of church and edifying tradition leads to the conclusion that these authors maintained a strong continuity with tradition. Moreover, in their didactic texts they touched upon topical issues of the day.
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