Adrian Pushkin: Perm experience of the bureaucratic messiahship

This paper presents to the reader’s attention a unique case of a local “messianic” prophecy which combines features of folk religious movements and principles of functioning of the bureaucratic machine. The manuscripts of civil servant and merchant Adrian Pushkin, who lived in the 19th century in the city of Perm (Kama region, West-ern Ural), are considered as a variation of development of popular religion which includes a messianic-apocalyptic narrative. This places the provincial clerk closely to founders of the alternative to the official Orthodox discourse movements in the Russian Empire, as well as new religious movements of the later period. The aim of this paper is to determine the place and the role of Pushkin’s revelation in the religious space of that historical period. The main sources of the research are local archival documents which include business correspondence, personal letters, photographs, also documents related to Pushkin’s psychiatric examination and his subsequent expulsion to the Solovetsky Monastery, letters and family photos of the “prophet”, and service notes. The research method is based on the phenomenological approach with elements of hermeneutical analysis. The new revelation was founded on biblical text well known to the Perm messiah, and its content was provided by the social and historical context. The targeted audience for the new prophet was the middle strata of the society, comfortable for him. The preferred way of communication involved the tools of the bureaucratic system of pre-revolutionary Russia. The development of the new interpretation of Christian teaching was based on individual choice of the revelator and mediated by already initiated processes of secularization of public life. Traditional narratives and imagery of the sacred books of the Orthodox tradition were placed by the messiah-bureaucrat in the context of local space of the region and the country, and were interpreted through realities of personal life. Open criticism of the official Church was combined with a complex of mythological ideas. The main accents of the prophetic text were apocalyptic and chiliastic, related to the personal and professional crisis experienced by the author. The latter was triggered by the abolition of serfdom and destruction of the habitual environment and self-realization system. The style and con-tent of Pushkin’s text represent a mixture of theological concepts and elements of folk narratives based on the biblical tradition. As a result of the textual development, the signature myth was formed, rooted formally in Chris-tian dogmas and associated with folk religious culture.

The Internal Regime of the Solovetsky Monastery Prison in the XIX Century

The article examines the features of the organization of the internal regime of the Solovetsky monastic prison in the XIX century. In addition, attention is paid to the national history of correctional institutions.

Copies of the Slavic Sources for Cyril and Methodius and their Disciples in the Library of the Solovetsky Monastery (RAS)

The article pays attention to the transcripts of Slavic sources about Cyril and Methodius, created or at least preserved in the library of the Solovetsky Monastery. The monastery is believed to have been founded in 1436. The copy of the Inventory of the Solovetsky Library from 1514, discovered by M. V. Kukushkina, testifies that the books from the time of its first trustees constituted its original core. Abbot Dositey, who commissioned the copying of 24 manuscripts in Novgorod, has exceptional merits in the filling of the library. In 1514, the library already had 127 manuscripts, and by the end of the century – 481 manuscripts and 38 printed books. In the following centuries, the book wealth of the monastery gradually increased. Among its books there were many transcripts of Slavic sources about Cyril and Methodius and their disciples – according to the latest data there are 30. Their composition is quite diverse: here we find transcripts of the Long Lives of Cyril and Methodius, the Encomium for Cyril and Methodius, the Prologue of John the Exarch to the translation of John Damascene's Theology, Chernorizets Hrabar's treatise “On the Letters”, Tudor Doksov's note on the translation of Anastasius of Alexandria’s “Four Words Against the Arians”, The Prologue Lives of Cyril and Methodius. The study of the transcripts of the Slavic sources about Cyril and Methodius preserved in the library of the Solovetsky Monastery shows that the earliest of them belong to the earliest layer of manuscripts, which marked the beginning of the library, fixing different manuscript traditions regarding the composition of the manuscripts. A previously unpublished transcript of the Encomium for Cyril and Methodius in a Reading Menaion of October No 501/520 of 1562–1569 is published as an appendix.

THE ARCHIVE OF THE SOLOVETSKY MONASTERY IN THE SCIENTIFIC PATH OF THE PERM UNIVERSITY`S PROFESSOR BORIS D. GREKOV

The archive of the Solovetsky Stavropegial Monastery is a unique monument of Russian medieval writing and a valuable source on the history of monastic land ownership in the 15th – 17th centuries. The Archaeographic Commis-sion and the Holy Synod saved the monastery`s archive in 1917, ensured its preservation and secured scholars’ ac-cess to the documents. The article focuses on Professor Boris Dmitrievich Grekov (1882–1953) and his contribution to the evacuation of the Solovetsky archive from Arkhangelsk to Perm along with its preservation from destruction. Grekov was the founder of the Department of Russian History at the Perm University, a member of the USSR Acad-emy of Sciences, and was honored by getting the Stalin award. Grekov’s personal files deposited in the State Ar-chives of the Perm Region are the main source for the research. The documents help better understand the scientific and pedagogic work of this outstanding scholar in Perm. In addition to Grekov’s contribution, the article highlights the role of the Perm diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church and its head, the archbishop of Perm and Kungur An-dronik (Nikolsky), in rescuing the documents of the Solovetsky monastery and delivering them to Perm. The author introduces new information into the scientific circulation that sheds the light on the activity of the scientific corpora-tion of the Perm University during the years of the revolution and the Civil War. The author concludes that the preservation of the unique monument of medieval Russian history (the archive of the Solovetsky Monastery) was a joint effort of the Perm University and Perm Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. The leading role in this rescue goes to the scholars of the Perm University and personally to Boris Grekov

The Fatherland Theme in the 18th Century Patriotic Discourse (On the Example of the Divine Service of Thanksgiving on the Great God-Given Victory at Poltava)

The material for the article is the 18th century manuscript of the Divine Service of Thanksgiving… The authors discovered it in the Chequevo village of the Onega district in the Arkhangelsk region. The manuscript was kept near the books marked with Chequeo peasant library seal. The Abbot of the Solovetsky monastery, Archimandrite Ioannikiy, was one of the founders of this library. He was a native of the Polye village, which was part of the Chequevo. So it can be assumed that the manuscript came to the library from the Solovetsky monastery — the spiritual and cultural center of the Russian North. Divine Service of Thanksgiving... is a handwritten copy from the first printed edition of the solemn service, created immediately after the Russian troop’s victory in the Poltava battle in 1709. The author of the text is Archbishop Theophilactus (Lopatinsky). The history of the manuscript reveals the awareness of the Northern peasantry’s involvement in the Russia naval success and in the fate of the Fatherland. As a result of Peter’s the Great reform activities, Arkhangelsk lost its strategic importance for the state development, but the Emperor’s connection with the Northern peasantry formed an important part of the marginal self- consciousness of the Pomors. In the 18th century Patriotic discourse, the wars waged by Russia are assessed as liberating. In the text of the Service, the images of the Russian army, Tsar Peter I and the people are endowed with such characteristics as humility, smallness, infirmity, loyalty to the true faith and trust in the grace of God. The enemy image is based on comparisons with the vanity builders of the Babylon tower, arrogant Goliath, arrogant and fierce Pharaoh, thousands of Assyrian army, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, the traitor Judas. Researchers characterize the author of the Divine Service of Thanksgiving... as one of the most consistent zealots of Orthodoxy, a hidden opponent of Peter’s Church reforms and a passionate enemy of Protestantism. In the Russia and Sweden state ideology, there is a common trend: the protection and collection of lands around the empire center. The common language of Baroque European culture is typical for Swedish and Russian glorifications of the Northern war time. It involves the use of Parallels with biblical images, the combination game with emblematic signs, and ultimately — the search for the highest meaning of historical events. The presence of an enemy superior in numbers and power is one of the most important conditions for the peoples’ self-consciousness formation. The national power identity basis was not the economic and political might of the state, but it was the idea of protecting the Fatherland, its independence, Fatherland honor and glory. Peter’s Imperial ambitions grow organically from the Moscow kingdom ideology (“Moscow is the third Rome”), where the “goal of world history” was realized (A. Toynbee). In the 18th century Patriotic discourse, the interpretation of the war had a religious character despite the secularization of public consciousness. The Fatherland theme was based on traditional spiritual foundations implemented in the emerging Imperial ideology.

Theodosius of Vyatka – the Confessor of Ivan the Terrible: Portrait against the Backdrop of the Era

On the base of the different historical sources (chronicles, acts and household books of the Russian monasteries) the author examines the biography of the confessor of Ivan IV Theodosius of Vyatka. In the works of predecessors (A.A. Zimin, R.G. Skrynnikov, B.N. Florya) only some facts of his biography were mentioned. The study shows that Theodosius had no connections with influential groups in the Russian Church of the period. The historical sources have nothing to say on his close contacts with the Joseph Volokolamsk Monastery, the Kirillo-Belozerskii Monastery, Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius (until he became the abbot of the last one). Before his acquaintance with the tsar, Theodosius worked his way from monk to elder monk to abbot. In the second half of 1566 – first half of 1567 he became the head of a significant Moscow monastery — the Andronikov Monastery of the Saviour. No later than in autumn 1567, Theodosius became acquainted with the tsar. During the tsar’s conflict with metropolitan Phillip (Kolychev), Theodosius was included in the commission that investigated Phillip’s activities at the Solovetsky Monastery (along with prince V.I. Temkin-Rostovsky and bishop of Suzdal Paphnutius). The materials gathered by the commission were used at the Church Council in the autumn of 1568. As a result, Phillip was condemned and displaced. Soon afterwards, Theodosius became archimandrite of the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius (about 1569/70-1572). Quite close relationship was established between him and the tsar. Because of that Theodosius – a representative of the black clergy – became the confessor of Ivan IV in about 1572. (At the time it was the lot of the white clergy representatives, usually protopopes of the Kremlin Annunciation Cathedral.) Wishing to see Theodosius as his confessor, the tsar had broken from this tradition and reestablished the practice of an earlier time (the confessors of Vasily II and Ivan III were the abbots of the monasteries of Moscow and the Moscow region). Being the closest person to the tsar, Theodosius knew the desires of his penitent and followed the eye of the tsar. When at the turn of the 1570s the tsar showed an interest in Vologda, fitting out a reserve residence there, Theodosius made donations for requiems for the soul of Josef, the bishop of Vologda, and to the Spaso-Kamenny and the Spaso-Prilutsky Monasteries. Till tsar’s death, Theodosius remained very close to Ivan IV. The tsar didn’t want to be parted from him. Thereby Theodosius headed no diocese in that period, as it meant leaving the capital. After the death of Ivan IV, he was consecrated as bishop of Ryazan, probably, in October of 1585.

BASIC APPROACHES TO DETERMINING EFFECTIVE DIRECTIONS OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY OF AN ORTHODOX MONASTERY

В статье на исторических и современных примерах, документах РПЦ, рассматривается вопрос о целях, задачах и целесообразности ведения церковными учреждениями хозяйственной деятельности. В качестве характерного исторического примера рассматривается производственная и сельскохозяйственная деятельность Соловецкого монастыря. На основе современных нормативных документов Церкви и государства предлагаются базовые подходы к определению эффективных направлений организации производственной деятельности монастыря. Based on historical and modern examples, documents of the ROC, the question of the goals, tasks and expediency of conducting economic activities by Church institutions is considered. The production and agricultural activities of the Solovetsky monastery are considered as a typical historical example. On the basis of modern normative documents of the Church and the state, basic approaches to determining effective directions for organizing the monastery's production activities are proposed.

BASIC APPROACHES TO DETERMINING EFFECTIVE DIRECTIONS OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY OF AN ORTHODOX MONASTERY

Начало. Продолжение в №6 за 2020 г. В статье на исторических и современных примерах, документах РПЦ, рассматривается вопрос о целях, задачах и целесообразности ведения церковными учреждениями хозяйственной деятельности. В качестве характерного исторического примера рассматривается производственная и сельскохозяйственная деятельность Соловецкого монастыря. На основе современных нормативных документов Церкви и государства предлагаются базовые подходы к определению эффективных направлений организации производственной деятельности монастыря. Based on historical and modern examples, documents of the ROC, the question of the goals, tasks and expediency of conducting economic activities by Church institutions is considered. The production and agricultural activities of the Solovetsky monastery are considered as a typical historical example. On the basis of modern normative documents of the Church and the state, basic approaches to determining effective directions for organizing the monastery's production activities are proposed.

Icon-Painting Workshop of the Solovetsky Monastery. 17th - Early 20th Century

Founded in 1429, the Solovetsky Monastery has throughout several centuries preserved and maintained the traditions of Russian icon painting in the North. In its iconpainting chamber (the building was constructed in 1615), new iconostases were created and icons from the churches of the monastery and patrimonial lands in Pomorie were repaired. In the 17th century, 45 icon painters worked on Solovki in different years, among them were monks, monastery servants, and “trudniks” (lay workers). In the 18th century, the artists of the Pomor patrimonial lands underwent their initial training at the monastery school of icon painting. Families of hereditary icon painters Chalkovs and Savins from Sumsky Posad are particularly well-known. The monastery sent the most gifted students to St. Petersburg and Moscow to improve their art. In 1880, the Solovetsky painting school was inaugurated, where many northern icon painters acquired basic painting skills. Copying and painting from life formed the basis of the educational process; students were offered paintings from the Academy of Arts as samples. The icons and paintings made in the workshop are distinguished by their characteristic stylistic, technical and technological features. The most prominent graduates of the school (A. A. Borisov, N. G. Bekryashev) contributed significantly to the history of Russian art. The article contains new archival documents and rare photographs.