Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2020 number

The article presents the analysis results of the Prefaces to the collections compiled by the defenders of the Old Belief in the second half of the XVII - early XVIII centuries, and to the work by Feofan Prokopovich written in 1724 “Istinnoe opravdanie pravovernykh khristian, kreshcheniem polivatel’nym vo Khrista kreshchaemykh [The True Justification of Orthodox Christians with Watering Baptism Baptized in Christ]”. It shows ways of significant expanding the «canon of sacred texts” by Timofey Lysenin in the early XVIII century continuing the work that was started by the first generation of the church reform opponents. Lysenin compiled his book of quotations which served as arguments to prove the deviation of the official Church from Holy tradition. In the Preface, the Old Believer expressed confidence that this text could reveal «God truth» to a reader. The author entered into a discussion with opponents declared as heretics due to their misinterpretation of Holy Scripture. T. Lysenin had to validate his right to refer to the interpretation of the “canon of sacred texts” in order to explain to readers where the lies and truth were. In the Preface, the author said that he was able to present «a true belief» in his book. Naturally, such a conviction of the Old Believer’s ideological leaders could not remain unanswered by the official Church. Feofan Prokopovich in the Preface to the essay devoted to the refutation of the point of view of the Old Belief defenders on watering baptism, clearly disproved the opinion formulated by T. Lysenin in the Preface to the collection of preparatory materials for «Dyakon’s answers». Both authors relied on the same quotes, but interpreted them differently, turning against opponents. Each argued his invectives against opponents accusing them of ignorance of the Holy Scripture and its misunderstanding. The hierarch denied the right of Old Believers to interpret the Holy Scripture, as they do this based on the «canon of sacred texts». But in the end, he had to admit the success of the Old Believers` teachings. The author concludes that in the discussion reflected in the Prefaces, the Old Believers were more convincing, because they demonstrated unconditional confidence in their right to use the “canon of sacred texts”.