Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2016 number

This article is focused on the reception of the utopian legends, particularly the legend of Kitezh, in the Ural-Siberian Paterik (historical and hagiographical work of Old Believers, created in the 1940-1990s in some taiga sketes of the Urals and Siberia). The legends about the vanished holy places are based on the stories of eye-witnesses capturing historical realities. In particular, these narratives reflect the theme of repressions of the authorities against the Old Belief. Several story lines in the Ural-Siberian Paterik allow to trace the links between the Early Byzantine, Old Russian and Early Old Belief traditions of utopias. These legends are interpreted by local scribes from the perspective of medieval literature. The stories from the Old Russian manuscripts are the nearest context for the legends in the Ural-Siberian Paterik. It is shown that the legend of Kitezh, its archic prototypes, as well as its secondary Old Belief versions preserving the “trace” of this legend represent the successive elements of the same lineage. This most recent monument of the traditional book culture reflects all basic motives of the Kitezh legend. Story lines from the Ural-Siberian Paterik are typologically close to the legend of Kitezh and represent a particular case of the Old Believers Utopia. The author considers this Utopia as a manifestation of mythopoetic thought; shows that the Old Believers Utopia represents the popular perception of the Christian Ideal. This perception is inseparably linked with eschatological beliefs (particularly with the doctrine of salvation in «the end times») and with a complex of traditional mythologemes and archetypal concepts which are inherent to the national popular and religious culture. It is also necessary to take into account the links between the Old Belief and the main directions of Russian history, with utopian ideas being in the core of the public mind in Russia. The author identifies thе function of social utopian legends in the contemporary Old Believer’s spiritual culture. It relates to the idea that holy places hidden by the God from the outside world and exposed only to the righteous men ensure the genuineness of the confession. The author shows that Utopia based on a mythopoetic consciousness serves as a breeding ground providing unity and continuity of the traditional culture of Old Belief. The unique monument of the popular book culture recently discovered by the Siberian archaeographers has been analyzed as a main source of information. Some works of Old Believers have been analyzed for the first time.