INTELLECTUAL LEADERS OF THE COMMUNITY OF CHURCH WRITERS OF THE SECOND HALF OF XVII CENTURY: INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS
T.V. Panich
Institute of History SB RAS, 8 Nikolaev Str., Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation
Keywords: XVII century church writers, publicism, intellectual leaders, interpersonal communications, identity
Abstract
The community of church writers from the Patriarch’s surrounding occupied a specific place among the variety of groups of intellectual influence in the second half of the XVII century. The paper focuses on the most bright leaders of the community: Afanasy Kholmogorsky, Ignatius (Rimsky-Korsakov), Euphymius Chudovsky and Mitrofan Voronezhsky. The author uses manuscripts dated from the late XVII - early XVIII centuries as research materials, which are personal essays of the abovementioned writers or their contemporaries. The article objective is to identify and examine interpersonal communications of the community intellectual leaders based on the scientific analysis of these sources; receive data on the ways of their artistic communication and relations, ideas and values that were born within such communication. Almost all mentioned leaders of the community had a significant ideological and spiritual influence both on their surrounding and large groups of population due to their church activities. The main tool of their intellectual influence was spoken and written word. Studying their works shows that they reflected not only the specificities of literary works and interpersonal contacts, but also their active participation in the social life and debates on topical issues of the the epoch; demonstrated their role in preserving and maintaining the Orthodox standards and values as a traditional basis of the Russian national life and culture. Interpersonal communications of intellectual leaders of the church writers’ community close to the Patriarch were of constant and intense character. There were different ways to contact, including direct communication during face-to-face meetings; letters; author texts and books exchange (new translations of patristic and works by late Byzantine church writers); and cooperative bookish works. Within these artistic communications the writers exchanged their ideas, mastered their literary skills, polemic skills, developed their ideology, values and socio-cultural milestones influencing formation of the community identity.
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