SELF-IDENTIFICATION OF THE LEADER OF THE RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY IN THE WRITINGS OF ANDREI DENISOV
O.D. Zhuravel1,2
1Institute of History SB RAS, 8 Nikolaeva str., Novosibirsk, 630090, RF
2Novosibirsk State University, 1 Pirogova str., Novosibirsk, 630090, RF
Keywords: Old Believers, Vyg, Andrei Denisov, literary culture, positioning, image, rhetorical strategies
Abstract
The article deals with the methods of positioning and communicative strategies of the leader of the largest Old Believer’s center in Vyg Andrei Denisov (1674-1730). The author focuses on the rich handwritten heritage of Andrei Denisov, which became part of the book culture of the Old Believers of a later time, and his image was sacralized. The Vyg founders succeeded in building their own cultural and ideological center inside the empire, a so called state of its own. The role of Andrei Denisov in this process was the most important. At the beginning of the 18th centuries Andrei Denisov was the ideological leader of Russian spiritual traditionalism, which opposins the tendencies of Westernization, which were characteristic of the Russian Empire. A unique literary culture of Vyg was born as early as the 18th century. It was based on ancient literary and spiritual traditions and the modern ideas of European Baroque. The genre of sermon showed its creative potential by appearing in new forms and using the Baroque rhetoric. A preacher of the Vyg Andrei Denisov aimed at creating exceptionally high quality sermons. Andrei Denisov, dealing with the problems of the pustyn’ (hermitage) building, holding the debate and dealing with urgent everyday problems, found time to write a lot of sermons and messages as he fully realized the importance and effectiveness of the sermon word. The article reconstructs self-identification and ways of forming the image of the leader of a large religious community, reveals the techniques used by Andrei Denisov for successful communication within the community, establishes their connection with the baroque literary culture. Experts in the field of political image among other characteristics of a successful political leader called the “legend”. The “legend” of Andrei Denisov based on the eschatological theory of the “spiritual antichrist”, which has taken possession of the outside world, is being restored from the totality of his writings.
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