This work is devoted to the study of one of the cultural phenomena of the 20th century - the experience of the churching of artistic creativity, the aesthetic development of spiritual reality, which in modern science has been called "spiritual realism".

As you know, with the advent of the New Age, the paths of culture and the Church diverged. As worldview moved away from the sacral level, and anthropocentric culture increasingly crowded out the theocentric culture, this collision became more and more noticeable in the thematic and stylistic movement of literature. However, the originality of Russian classics is that the opposite trend was present in it and eventually strengthened. It is important not to lose sight of the fact that literature was different, it was based on different philosophical platforms. The picture of the correlation of literature with Christian spirituality is outlined to a greater extent in relation to the 19th century rather than the 20th. Meanwhile, it is precisely in the 20th century that an interesting process takes place: after a long break, secular art and the Orthodox worldview are actively approaching, the value order that was the basis of medieval Christian culture is being restored.

The study of the relationship between Orthodoxy and culture in relation to Russian literature of the 19th - 20th centuries is a new and promising direction in the humanities. It has been actively developed over the past ten years, and there are certain achievements.

Substantial works have appeared in modern literary criticism that are directly related to this topic. These are the collections “Christianity and Russian Culture” (SPB., 1994, 1996, 1999, 2001), “Christian Culture and the Pushkin Epoch” (22 issues), articles from which are collected in the book “Spiritual Worker” (SPB., 1999), collections "The Gospel Text in Russian Literature of the 18th - 19th Centuries" (Petrozavodsk, 1995, 1999, 2001), "Russian Literature of the 19th Century and Christianity" (M., 1997). Doctoral dissertations by V.A. Kotelnikov "Orthodoxy in the work of Russian writers of the XIX century" (1994), M.M. Dunaeva "Orthodox foundations of Russian literature of the XIX century" (1999), E.I. Annenkova “Creativity N.V. Gogol and the literary and social movement of the 1st half of the 19th century. (1990), S.A. Goncharov “Creativity N.V. Gogol and Traditions of Religious Educational Culture"

A significant help in the development of the problem was the appearance of collections that included articles by philosophers, theologians and culturologists of the 20th century: "Tolstoy and Orthodoxy", "Pushkin: The Path to Orthodoxy", "Dostoevsky and Orthodoxy".

Within the framework of the general problem "Christianity and Literature" various directions are being developed.1

In the six-volume work "Orthodoxy and Russian Literature"2 M.M. Dunaev carried out a systematic religious comprehension of the peculiarities of the development of Russian literature from the 18th to the end of the 20th century. This work is unique both in terms of the scope of the material (the writers of the second and third rows are not omitted, and sections comparable in scale to monographs are given to the classics) and in depth of analysis. A distinctive feature of Dunaev's methodology is the parallel use of the widest range of concepts and categories, both theological and ecclesiastical and aesthetic.

Some of the studies continue the tradition of studying the general religious context of artists' creativity (for example, such as folk religious culture, etc.). Numerous works highlight the existence of Christian themes, the gospel word in the works of artists. Their headings usually include: Christian motives, biblical motives, the motive of repentance, a Christian parable, Christian and anti-Christian tendencies, etc. - in creativity. (followed by the name of the specific artist). This direction is being developed in a series of collections published under the editorship of V.N. Zakharov "The Gospel Text in Russian Literature of the 18th - 19th Centuries". It is extremely important to study the nature of writers' religiosity.3 The word "religiosity" is justified and applicable precisely in cases where the nature of the artist's dogmatic ideas does not allow him to be attributed to any of the known confessions.

1 See reviews of works on this topic: Dmitirev A.P. The theme "Orthodoxy and Russian literature" in publications of recent years // Russian Literature. 1995. No. 1. S. 255 - 269; Pantin V. O. Secular Literature from the Position of Spiritual Criticism (Modern Problems). pp. 56 - 57.

2 Dunaev M.M. Orthodoxy and Russian Literature: In 6 hours M., 1996 - 2000 (hereinafter - Dunaev).

3 Let us name the following works as examples: Krivolapoe V.N. Again about religiosity I.A. Goncharova // Christianity and Russian literature. Sat. 3. S.263 - 288; Karpov I.P. Reli

Let us name other aspects that have been studied by scientists over the past decade.

V.A. Voropaev, S.A. Goncharov explores the relationship between "Gogol's religious worldview, permeated with mystical intuitions, and his artistic creativity", focusing on how this relationship is reflected in the poetic system.4

A.L. Kazin explores the historiosophy of Russia in the system of Orthodox coordinates, while the subject of cultural analysis are numerous phenomena of Russian literature, drama, cinema.5 I.A. Esaulov devoted a monograph to the category of catholicity in Russian literature.6 The author declares and defends a value-based approach to cultural phenomena as opposed to nonjudgmental relativism and factographicism. He analyzes from the standpoint of Orthodox axiology. In the terminological apparatus of I.A. Yesaulov, such concepts as "type of Orthodox spirituality", "Orthodox image of the world", "Orthodox mentality", "Orthodox code" prevail. According to the scientist, “The Orthodox type of spirituality. determined the dominant of Russian culture.<.>A special Orthodox mentality, present as an archetype, ... was reflected in the literary texts of works of art, even by those Russian authors who biographically might not accept (at the level of rational comprehension.) certain aspects of the Christian faith. 7

B.A. Kotelnikov develops such aspects as the theocentric and anthropocentric type of worldview, the collision of the Old Testament and New Testament types of religiosity, explores the motive of kenosis, reflects on the religious and ethical thought of Dostoevsky. The main direction of the research of the literary critic is the interaction of the language of the Church and the language of secular culture, within the framework of which such aspects as the use of hyosity in conditions of passionate consciousness are developed (I. Bunin. "The Life of Arseniev. Youth") // Gospel text in Russian literature of the 18th - 20th centuries . [Sat 1]. pp. 341 - 347.

4 Goncharov S.A. Creativity N.V. Gogol and traditions of religious teaching culture. Autoref. dis. for the competition scientist step. doc. philol. Sciences: (10.01.01) / RAS, In-trus. lit. (Pushkin House). SPB., 1998. S. 5.

5 Kazin A.L. Philosophy of Art in the Russian and European Spiritual Tradition. SPB.,

7 Ibid. pp. 8, 268-269.

8 Kotelnikov V.A. Orthodoxy in the work of Russian writers of the XIX century. Dis. in the form of a scientific report for the competition. scientist step. doc. philol. Sciences. (10.01.01) / RAS, In-trus. lit. (Pushkin House). SPB., 1994. Christian topics, the formation of new stylistic trends, the nature of the deep semantic layers of the language. Naturally, the object is primarily Russian poetry.9

P.E. works in a similar direction. Bukharkin, paying attention to the relationship between the Church and literature as two cultural spheres, comparing the artistic and aesthetic traditions of the Church and secular culture. church culture require their own methods and approaches, P.E. Bukharkin lists the following aspects of the problem: 1) the interaction of two systems for organizing spiritual experience, the overlap of their artistic languages; 2) the problem of the Church's perception of secular art; 3) consideration of church teaching literature as a special part of the domestic art of the word; 4) the study of spiritual worldly literature (from Muravyov to Poselyanin); 5) the history of Orthodox Church journalism.11

All these approaches are promising, but the list lacks one important link, namely: the study of the presence of the Church as a mystical reality in literature itself, the reflection by literature of church-going being. The methodology of this kind of research and the criteria for scientific analysis are proposed by us in the work “On Orthodoxy and Churchness in Fiction.”12

This work is devoted to the specific experience of the aesthetic development of spiritual reality in the work of the most prominent representatives of the Russian Diaspora.

9 Kotelnikov V. A. The language of the Church and the language of literature // Russian literature. 1995. No. 1. S. 5

10 Bukharkin P.E. Orthodox Church and Russian Literature in the 18th - 19th Centuries: Problems of Cultural Dialogue. SPB., 1996.

11 Bukharkin P.E. The Orthodox Church and Russian Literature in Modern Times: Main Aspects of the Problem // Christianity and Russian Literature. Sat. 2. S. 56 - 60.

12 Lyubomudrov A.M. On Orthodoxy and Churchness in Fiction // Russian Literature. 2001. No. 1.

Definition of terms and concepts

Let us clarify the concepts that are used in this work and determine the meaning in which the terms "Christian", "Orthodox", "churched", "spiritual" and derivatives from them will be used.

Recently, in the works of philologists, these concepts often acquire an unjustifiably broad meaning, which hinders the development of a scientific picture of the processes taking place in culture and gives rise to mutual misunderstanding among scientists. Priest Viktor Pantin rightly notes that for many current researchers, “quite definite general Christian or Church Orthodox concepts often turn into mere metaphors, images of speech. In works of this kind today, terminological certainty and firmness of the inner confession of faith are categorically necessary”13.

Indeed, the words "Christianity" and especially "Christian" cover such a wide range of phenomena that they are practically devoid of any essential meaning. The phrases "Christian culture", "Christian era", "Christian civilization" outline the temporal, national, geographical, cultural framework rather than tie the phenomenon to a certain worldview. If the limits of the concept are still limited by any correlation with the Gospel message, then in this case it also includes the widest range of concepts, themes, plots, allusions, etc. Not so many people, say, in the 19th century denied Christ (as God-man or as simply a man) - and only on this basis is it customary to call their worldview Christian. The tradition of understanding Christianity as a set of moral rules, in which any manifestation of natural kindness and altruism can be called a "Christian deed", has taken root in the usage of the modern era. However, the reduction of religion to morality levels out its differences with the postulates of any humanistic systems, up to the moral code of communism.

13 Pantin V. O. Secular literature from the position of spiritual criticism (modern problems) // Christianity and Russian literature. Sat. 3. St. Petersburg., 1999. S. 58.

In our work, the concept of "Christianity" has a strictly confessional meaning. This is primarily the Christian faith, which includes dogmatic, canonical, moral components. This is a holistic Christian worldview, covering the whole complex of ideas about the world, man, history.

The concept of "Orthodoxy" is less amenable to such extremely broad, free interpretations. But it also requires precision and rigor of use. The view of Orthodoxy as a cultural and historical phenomenon has become widespread. In culturological studies, historical, national, ritual, and other, to a greater or lesser extent, external factors are often defined as Orthodox in relation to the semantic core that underlies the concept. It is advisable, however, not to lose sight of this foundation.

In our understanding, Orthodoxy is the apostolic faith, the gospel message, assimilated by the first Christians, accepted by Byzantium and then by the Eastern European countries, but having universal significance. This is a complex of dogmatic, canonical, religious truths. In an exact translation from Greek, orthodoxy is right thinking, right thinking about God and man. It is based on the teaching of Christ, preserved by the Church. The Orthodox dogma was developed and formalized in the works of the holy fathers, ascetics of piety, and theologians. This, we emphasize, is not an ideology, but a way of life. Orthodoxy is inherently characterized by such important distinguishing features as a developed teaching on spiritual warfare (asceticism), on sin and repentance, on the acquisition of the Holy Spirit and deification, heightened eschatology, catholicity.

The Christian understanding of man can be correctly interpreted only if we have in mind a person who is in the Church, - wrote Fr. V. Zenkovsky. -.Staying in the Church and living participation in it, as the Body of Christ, as a divine-human organism, creates a “new creature”, about which the Apostle spoke. The concept of churchness in everyday consciousness is often associated with images of a church on a mountain, a burly priest or an aloof monk. Often the Church is understood as its earthly, con

14 Zenkovsky VV., prot. Principles of Christian Anthropology // Vestnik RHD. 1988. No. 154. P. 67. crete-historical form, church organization, the totality of its "servants". Ordinary ideas have, unfortunately, also penetrated philological science. Due to subjectivism in the understanding of the Church, a lot of confusion arises in literary works. Therefore, it is necessary to recall what the Church really is.

Orthodoxy sees in the Church a divine-human organism, the unity of true believers with God and among themselves. The Apostle Paul calls the Church the body of Christ, and the Lord - its Head (1 Cor. 12, 12-27). In the 20th century, the teaching about the Church was vividly expressed by St. Justin (Popovich). He writes: “Entirely and completely the mystery of the Christian faith lies in the Church; the whole mystery of the Church is in the God-man. The Church is the workshop of the God-man, in which each person, with the help of the holy sacraments and holy virtues, is transformed into the God-man by grace.

Only in the Church is it possible to transform the human soul. The Holy Fathers quite definitely affirm that “outside the Church there is no salvation, there is no spirit of grace” (St. Right. John of Kronstadt). This teaching was expressed at the beginning of the 20th century by the theologian, New Martyr and Confessor of Orthodoxy St. Hilarion (Troitsky) in his work with the telling title “There is no Christianity without the Church.” Thus, Orthodoxy is the life of the Church and life in the Church. An Orthodox person is a churched person. It seems quite natural to call Orthodox only those cultural phenomena where the Church is present in one way or another.

In our study, the concept of "churchness" is used not only in relation to the individual, but also to artistic creativity. Church-based creativity is one in which the world and man are comprehended in relation to the Church. In this case, the following situations may occur:

Reflection of the very reality of the Church, the state of participation in it (churching);

Reflection of states of various kinds of separation from this reality (including, for example, “churchless Christianity”);

Reflection of the path, the aspiration of the human soul to Christ (and His Body - the Church). Or, on the contrary, removal from Him.

15 Justin (Popoeich), archim. The mystery of the Christian faith lies in the Church // Church Militant. SPB., 1997. S. 33, 34, 37, 38.

It is important to establish whether the Church is present, explicitly or implicitly, in the artistic world of the work. An “Orthodox work” can be considered such, the artistic idea of ​​which includes the need for churching for salvation. His hero is either churched, or anti-church, or at the stage of movement from one state to another, or, finally, indifferent to the Church. But if this correlation with the Church does not exist at all, it is obviously unjustified to speak of Orthodoxy. The artistic space of such a work is churchless. Of course, at the same time, the artist can subtly and penetratingly recreate the deep states of the human soul, “paint passions”, justifying or condemning them.

It seems to us justified to speak of the "orthodoxy" of the writer's work only if God and salvation, understood as salvation in the Church, remain the main values ​​in his artistic world. At the same time, the phenomena of reality are recreated and evaluated from the point of view of Orthodoxy, through the eyes of an Orthodox Christian. The world and man are depicted in the light of patristic anthropology, Orthodox ecclesiology, church Christology, and so on. Below we will focus on the aesthetic aspects of such an artistic worldview.

Prot. V. Zenkovsky wrote: “Modern scientific and philosophical thought deals with the “mystery” of man with particular zeal, but all this vast literature, in which one can find a sufficient abundance of partial truths about man, cannot rise to the height in understanding of man that we found in Christianity. It is in the interests of science and philosophy to bring the Christian doctrine of man closer to modern thought.”16

In this work, we will talk about fiction, which built the character of a person, relying precisely on Christian anthropology. In modern literary criticism devoted to religious issues, it has become customary to use the terms “spiritual”, “mental”, “bodily” in their theological meaning, however, in literary studies we have not had to come across a detailed explanation of what these concepts mean. Therefore, we consider it useful to explain the details of the patristic teaching about the bodily, mental, and spiritual life of a person.

16 Zenkovsky V.V., prot. Principles of Christian Anthropology // Vestnik RHD. 1988. No. 153. P. 6.

The basic principles of Christian anthropology were developed by the holy fathers, who proceeded from the truths of the Holy Scriptures. In Christianity, there is a dichotomous (spirit - psycho-corporeal side) and trichotomous (spirit - soul - body) understanding of a person, the difference between which is not fundamental, but methodological. These ideas of Christian anthropology find foundations in St. Paul, who wrote about a “natural man” and a “spiritual man” having the “mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2, 1416), who distinguished between “life according to the flesh” and “life according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:13).

Let us turn to the exposition of the doctrine of man, made by the theologian of modern times, St. Theophan the Recluse. The saint attributes thoughts, desires, feelings to the spiritual side of human life; imagination and memory; reason and the ability to know. The action of the will also belongs to this sphere. “The whole soul is turned exclusively to the dispensation of our temporary life - earthly. her feelings are generated and maintained only from her states and visible positions. Unlike the soul, the spirit is "the highest side of human life, the force that draws it from the visible to the invisible, from the temporal to the eternal, from the creature to the Creator." The manifestations of the life of the spirit are the fear of God, conscience, the thirst for God, which “is expressed in the general striving for the all-perfect good, and is more clearly visible in the general dissatisfaction with nothing of the creatures.

17th. Clarifies the concept of the spirit "Catechism" ep. Alexandra: Spirit. is, first of all, the ability of a person to distinguish between the highest values: good and evil, truth and falsehood, beauty and ugliness.”18

All three sides constantly influence each other, but the task of the Christian life is, in the words of St. Theophan, "spiritualization" of the soul and body. Thus, for example, the action of the spirit in the soul is manifested in the striving for ideality, for virtue, for beauty. A person can live a spiritual, spiritual and bodily life, depending on which side dominates him and subjugates the other two. “That is not what it means,” Bishop clarifies. Theophanes, - so that when a person is spiritual, soulfulness and physicality no longer have a place in him, but the fact that then spirituality becomes dominant in him, subjugating and penetrating soulfulness and physicality. Pe ability

17 Theophan the Recluse, St. What is spiritual life and how to tune in to it? M., 1904. S.

18 Alexander (Semenov-Tyan-Shansky), bishop Orthodox catechism. 2nd ed. Koenigsbach. WITH.

26-27. to move from one state to another, both up and down, is due to the inalienable freedom of man.

In accordance with the concepts of Eastern Christian asceticism, ep. Theophanes makes a subtle and necessary addition, delivering from the extremes of spiritualism or abhorrence of the flesh: soulfulness and corporeality “by themselves. sinless, as natural to us; but a person who has been formed according to soulfulness, or even worse, according to carnality, is not without sin. He is guilty of giving dominion in himself to that which is not destined to dominate and must occupy a subordinate position.”19

So, all three spheres are natural for a person, but the states of carnality and soulfulness are considered in Christianity as unnatural. Both the body and the soul are subject to deification - this is the meaning of Orthodox asceticism, the discipline of the mind and heart.

The concept of "spiritual" is used in the work in a religious-philosophical, and not general cultural sense. "Spirituality" means strictly Christian spirituality, as the quality of that sphere of personality, which is connected with the transcendent principle.

Aesthetic and theological prerequisites for the churching of the culture of the New Age

To study churchness in Russian literature of the 19th-20th centuries, a thorough study of specific literary material will be required. Let's make some preliminary observations in the aspect of the stated topic. They are not of a general nature, but will help to identify predominant trends in the literary process.

The result of secularization, which with the beginning of the New Age accompanied the birth of secular culture, and fiction in particular, was a significant change in worldview. World comprehension descended from the sacred, mystical level to the level of the earth. As the ideas of humanism penetrated Russian soil, the anthropocentric culture more and more crowded out the theocentric culture. Collision of these two types

19 Theophan the Recluse, set. What is spiritual life and how to tune in to it? pp. 42, 45. culture was clearly manifested in the thematic and stylistic movement of literature.

Undoubtedly, the Russian classics of the 19th - early 20th centuries reached unsurpassed heights in artistic terms. Undoubtedly, Russian literature is distinguished by special attention to the inner world of the individual, intense striving for the ideal (in its own way understood by each writer), heightened conscience, and compassion for the person. Most of the classics have never been characterized by mundane pragmatism and the assertion of comfort as the ultimate goal of existence. The literature of the New Age inherited its best qualities, among other things, from the Christian Middle Ages. But the movement of literature was already taking place outside the realm of the proper religious: both the view of the world and the understanding of man sometimes strongly diverged from the Christian (Orthodox). The Church (as a divine-human organism) turned out to be outside the sphere of artistic attention. A feature of the historical and literary development of the 18th - early 20th centuries is that Christianity (Orthodoxy) did not receive an adequate artistic embodiment.

In the 20th century, an interesting process takes place: it is artistic creativity that begins to become churched, secular art and the Orthodox worldview come closer after a long break. This process gives rise to various stylistic trends, traditional aesthetic forms are modified, applied to the new content. For example, the Russian classical novel is undergoing evolution: without losing anything from the accumulated experience, it enters a different sphere of the discovery of reality. (F.M. Dostoevsky, of course, stands at the origins of this process). It cannot be said that these processes have been widely developed. But in the general picture of Russian culture, they stand out for their intensity, depth, originality. First of all - in the face of major artists of the Russian Diaspora, for which there were many reasons.

In this work, we explore this experience of rapprochement between religion and culture, the churching of artistic creativity and the aesthetic and cultural phenomena generated by it.

Is the mundane art of modern times capable of adequately conveying spiritual reality? Is literature capable, to what extent and to what extent, in its own language, by aesthetic means of expressing, embodying Christian beingness, Orthodox ideas about the world and man? The complexity of solving this problem is generated by the very specifics of art. Verbally formalized, dogmatically fixed foundations of dogma are the prerogative of theology, sometimes religious philosophy. Art reproduces not representations, not "ideas" in its purest form, but artistic images. Life itself, the interaction of things and phenomena. As applied to our topic - the interaction of the created, earthly world with the heavenly world. The comprehension of transcendental realities in Christianity is the way of uniting man with God, the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. This is, first of all, an experimental and practical way - through certain actions, the most common name of which is the word "asceticism", and in everyday definition - "life according to God's commandments." Christianity, we repeat, is not a system of ideas, not a "doctrine" or a set of rules. This is life by faith. This is the cooperation of the Divine and human wills on the path of salvation.

In medieval soteriological culture, it was possible to contemplate and reflect ontological reality - in icon painting, hymnography, hagiography. To what extent is a secularized culture capable of expressing transcendent realities? And the process of interaction with them of the created world?

At the center of the secular artistic culture of the New Age is not God, but man. Domestic literature of the New Age revealed the life of a man of the flesh and soul in all the diversity of these states (glorifying itself in world culture with the unsurpassed height of moral problems and the mastery of psychological development). But to what extent did literature express the ascent of the individual from the sphere of the carnal-spiritual to spirituality, the falls and victories along this path, the spiritual warfare, breakthroughs into the heavenly world, that is, the mystical life of a Christian?

The point of view of M. Dunaev on this subject and the evolution that his position underwent from the first volumes of the work "Orthodoxy and Russian Literature" to the last are interesting. In the first part of his multi-volume study (dedicated to the 17th - 18th centuries), Dunaev suggests that "the harmony of the possession of heavenly gifts is not subject to art at all", that "the sphere of artistic creativity is limited to the region of the soul" and rarely

1P can also rise to the spheres bordering on the sojourn of the spirit. In the next

20 Dunaev. Ch. 1. S. 12, 13. The epoch of the 19th century is being developed in blowing volumes. The researcher comes to the conclusion that realism in the form in which it has developed in Russian classics is not at all capable of reflecting spiritual realities. “In the art of the New Age, and in the realistic type of creativity, first of all, a contradiction is seen immanently inherent in it: only conflict can be the necessary energy node of the entire aesthetic idea, and for the development of the conflict some kind of imperfection is needed (absolute perfection is characterized by peace), which is the basis displayed reality.<.>

Realism in general offers an incomprehensible resistance to every idea.

21 images of life." . Another obstacle is the selection by realists of the phenomena of reality, in which “as if on purpose, the most gloomy and hopeless manifestations of life were sought out”22.

There is something to think about here. After all, the reflection of spiritual realities does not have to be conflict-free. The existence of the earthly part of the Church of Christ is not idyllic: it is not for nothing that it is called “militant”. The tension of spiritual, mental, and bodily forces, spiritual warfare, struggle with passions fill the life of a Christian from birth to death. What is not a conflict, for example, the opposition of sin and righteousness? The second remark is indeed true: you cannot force an artist to display what he is not interested in, you cannot force him to see the world "Orthodoxly" if he himself does not strive for this. Maybe realism, reflecting the reality of the Church, should have some special properties, different from classical, “critical” realism?

And in general, is the existence of theocentric, soteriological artistic creativity possible in the modern era?

Let's try to identify the theoretical prerequisites for such art.

The beginning of the 20th century was marked by broad religious quests. In the works of religious thinkers, the development of Christian philosophy was carried out, and, in particular, the question of building Orthodox culture was considered. But, as it seems to us, practical attempts to implement this task in the field of chemical engineering were not properly comprehended.

21 Dunaev. Part 2. S. 241.

22 Ibid. P. 238. pre-canonical creativity undertaken precisely in the 20th century. It is important, however, that the churching of creativity was seen as an achievable goal. With a clear understanding that art and faith are two different spheres of reality, there were points of contact and repulsion between them. Archimandrite Cyprian (Kern) places precise emphasis: “Culture must be religiously comprehended and ecclesiastical justified, but these plans must not be confused. The Church, of course, not only does not burn culture in the name of the salvation of the soul, but even blesses it. But the culture nevertheless remains worldly, and there is nothing wrong with that. Culture still stands on a different plane than worship, mysticism, asceticism, liturgy, and so on. In addition, in culture itself there are and may be areas more accessible to the action of the transforming rays of Tabor, and more remote from it. There are areas of cultural creativity that can be enlightened and consecrated; there are those who will never be transformed"24

Archbishop John (Shakhovskoy), speaking about the construction of Orthodox culture, also spoke about the task of this culture in relation to the world: “the transition of the psychology of Christians from spiritual to spiritual soil.”25 We find essential details in reflections on this subject by Fr. V. Zenkovsky, directly affecting literature: “The return of literature to the Church is not created by the mere fact that writers and poets personally become believers associated with the Church, just as it does not consist at all in the fact that literature must necessarily take topics from the religious sphere . The personal religious process is, of course, a prerequisite for the return of art to the Church, but this return, in order to be authentic and creative, must overcome all that clogging of the artistic approach to life.

26 tiyu, which is associated with the "secularization" of art. In other words, V. Zenkovsky makes a qualitative change (“purification”) of the artistic method itself an important condition for the churching of literature.

It is wrong to think that the Church affirms the fundamental impossibility for art to reflect the spiritual sphere. Informative Thoughts

23 We do not touch on the various theories of creativity as theurgy, in which art did not reunite with the Church, but replaced it.

24 Cyprian (Kern), archim. Anthropology of St. Gregory Palamas. M. 1996. S. 381.

25 John (Shakhovskoy), archbishop. Favorites. Petrozavodsk, 1992, p. 126

26 Zenkoesky V.V. Religious themes in the work of B.K. Zaitseva (To the fiftieth anniversary of literary activity) // Bulletin of the RSHD. Paris, 1952. [No. 1]. S. 20. On this subject we find, for example, the Holy Father, the theologian of the New Age, Rev. Theophan the Recluse. The act of artistic creativity, aimed at reflecting the Divine reality, in the view of Bishop. Theophan looks like this: “To contemplate, taste and enjoy the beauty of God is the need of the spirit, is its life. Having received knowledge about it through a combination with the spirit, the soul is carried away in the wake of it, and, comprehending it in its own spiritual image. produces things in which she wants to reflect her, as she presented herself to her. This refers to those works, "which content is the divine beauty of invisible divine things." From them he separates “Those who, although beautiful, represent the same ordinary mental and bodily life or the same terrestrial things that make up the usual atmosphere of that life.” That is, according to their artistic subject, works of art can be divided into those that embody the mental and physical sphere (including all the wealth of social, moral, psychological moments), while they, of course, can be aesthetically perfect (“beautiful”), and those , which reflect the spiritual realm.27

The following remark of the saint is also important: “The soul, guided by the spirit, is not only looking for beauty, but expression in the beautiful forms of the invisible beautiful world, where the spirit beckons it with its influence.”28 In modern terms, inspiration (in the religious sense) directs the artist’s work abstract, "pure" aesthetics, but the aesthetics of spiritual being.

As you can see, the teaching of St. Theophan does not deny the possibility of artistic works of spiritual content.

Another modern saint, St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov) writes about the requirements that an artist's personality must meet in order to correctly (orthodoxly) reflect the world of the spirit. This is the purification of the soul and heart. A Christian artist “must cast out all passions from the heart, eliminate all false teaching from the mind, acquire the Gospel way of thinking for the mind, and the Gospel sensations for the heart. - writes St. Ignatius. -The first is given by the study of the Gospel commandments, and the second - by their actual fulfillment. Then the artist is illuminated by inspiration from above, then

27 These statements refer to works that are either positive or neutral (“foreign”) with regard to spiritual elements. The saint singles out one more category: “Those who are directly hostile about everything spiritual, i.e. about God and divine things - are directly the essence of enemy suggestions and should not be tolerated ”(Ibid., p. 46).

28 Theophan the Recluse, St. What is spiritual life and how to tune in to it? pp. 40-41. only he can speak holy, write holy, paint holy. 29 To one clergyman who wrote poetry, Vladyka advises: “Engage yourself constantly and humbly, removing all excitement from yourself, with the prayer of repentance. draw inspiration from it for your writings. In fact, everything that St. Ignatius, the professed faith requires of every believer. This is the path of personal churching, internal ascetic labor. The path of acquiring the Holy Spirit, deification, the path of salvation. It can be infinite and ideally leads to holiness.

But what level of inner perfection must be achieved in order to “paint” the spiritual world? Apparently, it is necessary that the artist still be on this path, so that he has a “way of thinking” that does not contradict Christianity. (Of the artists to whom this study is dedicated, one was undoubtedly a church-going Christian, the other was steadily moving towards the fullness of faith and church-goingness.)

Another problem arises, which will be partially addressed in this study: the role of worldview and worldview in the aesthetic development of spiritual realities. For a Christian artist, it is not so important to be fully acquainted with theological subtleties and dogmas (although they should be the basis of the worldview), but to see the world in an Orthodox way.

Considering the judgments about the essence of "inspired" art, let's turn to the main problem of our work - the problem of aesthetic means for expressing spiritual reality.

The Specificity of Spiritual Realism

Specific types of realism are closely connected with the world-cognizing platform of the artist, with his understanding of truth. The type of realism historically formed in the 19th century, called "critical" or "classical", was associated with a eudaimonic worldview. It is focused on social issues and (or) on psychology, in general, it has a natural or historical, social or psychological (spiritual) determinant.

29 Ignatius (Bryanchaninov), Bishop. Christian shepherd and Christian artist // Moscow. 1993. No. 9. S. 169. nism. This realism explores the dependence of man on these spheres of being. Let us note that from a spiritual point of view, they all lie in the plane of the created, earthly world, the soul-bodily environment. "Rays from another world" can at times penetrate the space of a work of art of critical realism, but do not have a decisive influence on the course of things. The obvious or latent stimulus of the majority of classical writers (though not all) was the desire for the good for a person within the limits of the available, earthly existence, achieved, for the most part, by changing the surrounding circumstances. So-called socialist realism, as is well known, was guided by the principle of depicting life "in its revolutionary development." The present person and the world were regarded from the standpoint of a certain ideal, subject to "reforming and education." The leading aesthetic principle, "revolutionary determinism", like the nature of the ideal, also refers this kind of realism to the eudaimonic type of culture.31

However, there is also such artistic creativity, the axis of which is not this or that horizontal connection of phenomena, but the spiritual vertical. It is not even so much about the spiritual worldview (whether an artist or a hero), but about a spiritual worldview, worldview. If the subject of such creativity is spiritual realities recreated within the framework of the Christian picture of the world, if the ontological status of God is recognized, the idea of ​​the immortality of the soul and, as the most important work, its salvation in eternity, then such art belongs to the soteriological type of culture.

In its pure form, soteriological art was realized in the Middle Ages, in the aesthetic systems inherent in it. One of the most important artistic tasks at the same time was to develop the theme of the transformation of the human soul, not in an autonomously moral sense, but precisely as a breakthrough to God. "Deification" was conceived as a process of synergy of the Divine will and the free will of man. It should be noted that in medieval studies, in defining the method of this art (medieval, Orthodox), terms were firmly established, the conceptual core of which was precisely realism:

30 Letters from Ignatius Bryanchaninov, Bishop of the Caucasus and the Black Sea, to Anthony Bochkov, hegumen of Cheremenetsky. M., 1875. S. 28.

31 It is not our task to characterize all varieties of realism; in the “Theory of Literature” prepared by the Institute of Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, critical realism, socialist, peasant, neorealism, hyperrealism, photorealism, magical, psychological, intellectual (Theory of Literature. Vol. IV. Literary Process. M., 2001.) medieval realism is considered in detail, "Christian realism", "ideal-realism", etc. Culture, subjected to secularization, lost this artistic worldview (in the West - with the beginning of the Renaissance, in Russia - since the 17th century). However, the originality of Russian classics is that throughout the entire 19th century, the reverse process is observed: secular culture is trying to find its way to the temple, from where it once came out. This process, which can be conditionally called "spiritual rebirth", was carried out, of course, in new aesthetic systems, using new artistic means. To date, it has been studied quite fully in relation to Pushkin, to a large extent - Gogol, Dostoevsky, partly - in relation to lesser writers, primarily poets.32

In this sense, the term "realism" goes back to the dispute between nominalists and realists, which has not stopped in philosophy since the Middle Ages and, obviously, cannot be resolved within the limits of our earthly experience. Recall that for nominalism, “being is exhausted by the immediate givenness of states of consciousness, which, in its expression and logical processing, is clothed in the symbolism of general concepts and judgments. For another view, reality is incomparably deeper than experimental givenness.<.>If the first view, nominalism, inevitably resolves the world into the subjective illusionism of a closed, immanent experience (moreover, artificially limited and dissected), then the second view postulates and strives to comprehend the world of things, of beings in a form accessible to us now. 33 Accordingly, their world-cognitive platforms are opposite: nominalists breed faith and reason, realists combine them (A.S. Khomyakov, in particular, wrote about the “believing mind”).

The pathos of Russian religious philosophy at the beginning of the 20th century is the struggle against various types of modern nominalism (manifested in science and art as empiricism, positivism). “Nominalists are usually rationalists, realists are usually mystics,” noted N. Berdyaev. The concept of realism, often with the addition of a clarifying epithet - "mystical", is widely used in the works of religious thinkers, and in general lies in line with the medieval, Christian understanding of "realism". Mystical realism, peculiar especially to the Russian perception of Christianity, according to the wording

32 A detailed picture of this process is described in the six-volume work of M. Dunaev.

33 Bulgakov S. Two cities. M., 1911. S. 279. prot. V. Zenkovsky, “recognizes the whole reality of empirical reality, but sees a different reality behind it; both spheres of being are real, but hierarchically unequal; empirical being is sustained only by "participation" in mystical reality. Idea of ​​Christianity. asserts the need for the enlightenment of everything visible, everything empirical through its connection with the mystical sphere - all historical existence, everything in the life of the individual must be sanctified through this transforming action of God's power in the empirical sphere.

In the works of cultural philosophers of the 20th century, one can also find the phrase “spiritual realism”, which is synonymous with the concept of “mystical realism”. Prot. G. Florovsky writes about “higher and spiritual realism”, which takes into account “not only the twists and turns of historical existence, but also much more real, although in historical empiricism and not implemented Divine measures of being, - God’s will for the world.”35 N. Berdyaev reflects on that “kenosis, the incarnation, the descent of God into the human world is spiritual realism, not symbolism, and this spiritual realism must be

36 respond to the processes in the human world”. G. Shlet states: “Realism, if it is not the realism of the spirit, but only of nature and the soul, is abstract realism, a slope into the “nothing” of naturalism. Only the spirit in the true sense is realized - even if it is materialized, embodied and inspired, that is, it is realized in the same nature and soulfulness, but always arises to re

37 al being in the forms of culture”.

The concept of realism in this sense was used mainly in philosophical discourse, but was also applied to artistic creativity: for example, S. Frank noted the "immediacy of mystical realism" in Tyut

38 chev. Note that for realism as an artistic method, the most important are the principles of world understanding, world knowledge. Since one of the central places in the philosophical category of "realism" is occupied by the cognitive aspect, it seems completely justified to use

34 Zenkovsky V., prot. History of Russian Philosophy: In 2 vols. Vol. 1. Rostov-on-Don, 1999. P.

35 Florovsky G., prot. Eurasian temptation // Russian idea. In the circle of writers and thinkers of the Russian Diaspora: In 2 vols. T. 1. M., 1994. S. 310.

36 Berdyaev N. Spirit and reality. Fundamentals of Bogotelovechsskoy spirituality // Berdyaev N. Philosophy of the free spirit. M., 1994. S. 397.

37 Shpet G. Aesthetic fragments. Book. I. Pb. 1922. S. 39.

38 Frank S. Cosmic feeling in Tyutchev's poetry// Russian Thought. 1913. Book. XI. P. 11. The definition of the concept of "spiritual realism" and as an aesthetic category, which would hold exactly this understanding of realism: the recognition of transcendental entities as really existing. In other words, the theological-philosophical and artistic-aesthetic categories of realism are not identical, but have a common and rather broad semantic field. And in this sense, every writer acting on a Christian cognitive platform is a realist, he speaks about the real world precisely in its real volume, which includes everything that is not subject to empirical verification.

In an attempt to designate an artistic method, a language for conveying the "vertical" components of being, both writers and literary critics were looking for their own definitions. Dostoevsky called his method "fantastic realism", realism "in the highest sense", the purpose of which is to reflect "the depths of the human soul", to find "man in man". Indeed, the subject of the artist was the "inner man", which was otherwise called by the apostle "spiritual" (and opposed to the "outer" and "carnal" man) (2 Cor. 4, 16).

N. Berdyaev defined Dostoevsky as a “pneumatologist”, arguing that “his “psychology” always deepens to the life of the spirit, and not the soul, to the meeting with God.” spiritual realism. Such realism was present in the work of other prose writers and poets. Archbishop of San Francisco John (Shakhovskoy) defines the method of A.K. Tolstoy: “a realist, but not of the flesh, but of the spirit; or rather, flesh transformed by the spirit. He affirmed the spirit and light of Christ as a reality, as a practice.40 To the Realism of the Spirit, archbishop. John contrasts, on the one hand, the materialistic worldview of the Russian sixties, on the other hand, spiritualism and romanticism.41

In modern literary criticism, there is a tradition of using the concept of "spiritual realism", which means a specific artistic worldview inherent in a number of classics of the 19th and 20th centuries. Signs of spiritual realism A.P. Chernikov sees in the "integral Orthodox worldview" of the writer and "the aspiration of his work to

39 Berdyaev N. Dostoevsky's worldview // Berdyaev N.A. About Russian classics. M., 1993.

40 John (Shakhovskoy), archbishop. Favorites. Petrozavodsk, 1992, p. 183.

Absolute”42; V.A. Redkin - in the presence in the work of "the reality of another, spiritual world" and "clothing of Christian ideals in an artistic form",43 A.A. Alekseev - in search of "the revival of man on the paths of faith and Christian love", orientation to the Kingdom of Heaven,44 M.M. Dunaev - in "the development of space outside the spiritual sphere of being, above it" 45

It seems fruitful and justified to further actively introduce the definition of "spiritual realism" into scientific circulation as the most accurately characterizing the essence of the described phenomenon of culture - the artistic development of spiritual reality, i.e. the reality of the spiritual level of the universe and the spiritual sphere of human existence.

The need for a comprehensive study of it is evidenced by the fact that today's researchers even see it as one of the three main trends in the literature of the last period: “In the literature of the 20th century, there were three ways beyond traditional realism. into modernism (in all variants) and through it into postmodernism; into socialist realism; and into that art which, for lack of a better term for the time being, can be designated as spiritual realism.”46

Let us recall again: the term “spiritual” implies strictly Christian spirituality, as the quality of that sphere of the personality that aspires it to God, is responsible for its connection with the transcendent principle.

Let us pay attention to one feature of M. Dunaev's word usage: he often identifies "realism" as a generic concept with one of its types - classical (critical). At the same time, the essence of such a method is rightly seen in the reflection of reality in its visible and tangible manifestations: historical, social, psychological, etc. By a realistic way of seeing the world is meant "down to earth

41 Ibid. S. 187.

42 Chernikov A.P. Prose I.S. Shmelev. The concept of the world and man. Kaluga, 1995, p. 316

43 Redkin V.A. Vyacheslav Shishkov: a new look. Tver, 1999. S. 46, 81.

44 Alekseev A.A. The problem of spiritual realism in Russian classical literature of the 19th century // Dergachev readings - 98: Russian literature: national development and regional features. Yekaterinburg, 1998. S. 22 - 24.

45 Dunaev. Ch. 5. S. 663.

46 Dunaev. Part 6. S. 415. The latter was most clearly identified in Shmelev's work: “Shmelev managed to overcome realism, go beyond its limits, find a way out of the impasses created by the realistic type of artistic display. And he found a way out not through “horizontal” movements at the level of realism, but through movement “vertically”, up” (Dunaev, Ch. 5, p. 661). real.”47 Therefore, it is said about overcoming, going beyond the limits of “realism” precisely on the basis of switching the object of reflection to spiritual supersensible reality. But it is more expedient, in our opinion, to consider realism as the broadest category possible, namely, as an artistic representation of reality, real (ie, existing) truth. And what kind of reality and what kind of truth - and there is a specific sign of a particular type of realism.

To the best of our knowledge, no attempt has been made in literary criticism to give a complete and exhaustive definition of spiritual realism. For now, let us propose the most general, preliminary definition, pointing to its substantial qualities. Spiritual realism is a type of artistic display that masters spiritual reality, that is, the reality of the spiritual level of the world and the spiritual sphere of human existence, the reality of the presence of God in the world.

In the future, we will explore its specific specificity in the work of two of the largest artists of the Russian Diaspora, which will allow (in Conclusion) to determine in detail the appearance, the essential features of spiritual realism, as it has developed in Russian literature of the 20th century.

Ascetic culture in Russian literature of the 19th - early 20th centuries

In solving this problem, it seems to us appropriate to apply the following methodological technique: not to try to embrace the whole complex of phenomena and objects associated with Orthodoxy, but to focus on an extremely essential, nodal sphere of church life - monastic culture.

Monasticism is the fullest expression of Orthodoxy. Right up to the New Age, the Orthodox culture of Rus', enlightened by the light of Christ, is precisely a monastic culture. It includes a wide range of spiritual, disciplinary, liturgical, and aesthetic phenomena. According to the expression of Rev. John of the Ladder, "The light of the monks are angels, the monks are the light for all people." In Russian history, monasteries really

47 Dunaev. Ch. 5. S. 709. were the light of the world. The life of the people was organized around them. The monasteries were the energy centers of patristic literature and icon painting. Elders, ascetics, teachers of the faith labored in them. It was the monasteries, with their way of life worked out over the centuries, forms of life, where all earthly affairs and cares, labor were subordinated to spiritual goals, on Russian soil were the true images of the Kingdom of God on earth.

The monastery is not a closed system of those who are being saved. His influence on the world is enormous, and this was especially intensified during the period of the Slavic Orthodox revival (XIV century): “The movement of monastic, not even just monastic, but hermit-ascetic, ideals into society - everyone was called to constant prayer, everyone was encouraged to become partakers" divine light." The gulf between the monastery and the world was bridged. The figure of the anchorite ascetic turned out to be not peripheral, but central, pivotal in culture. The fugitives from "the world" took it upon themselves to tell the world about

48 world,” writes G.M. Prokhorov. It was at this time that the ascetic ideal was deeply rooted in the Russian national consciousness. The appeal to the personality of each person, the "mystical individualism" that penetrated the thickness of the people, contributed to its internal integration.

In the Middle Ages, a movement called "Hesychasm" spread in Rus'. This type of holiness and ascetic activity was assimilated by Russian monasticism from the Athonite-Byzantine ascetics and penetrated deeply into Russian soil under Ven. Sergius of Radonezh. “Starting with Sergius of his disciples, a direction is being strengthened in Russian asceticism, which puts “internal dispensation” at the center of asceticism, subordinating to it the mortification of the flesh and labor, and at the forefront - the Jesus Prayer, “heart affairs

Of course, in subsequent centuries, Russian monasticism was not homogeneous, in different eras and in different traditions, differing in spiritual style, role in the life of the Church and the state. However, the tradition associated with hesychasm, "smart doing", was quite stable. The monasteries maintained an Orthodox identity even when the secular clergy and laity veered into other confessional elements, which is typical, for example, for

48 Prokhorov G.M. Cultural originality of the era of the Battle of Kulikovo // Battle of Kulikovo and the rise of national self-consciousness. L., 1979. S. 15.

49 Kotelnikov V.A. Optina Pustyn and Russian Literature. S. 1028.

The 18th century, when the possibility of eliminating monasticism was seriously discussed, or at the beginning of the 19th, when the higher spheres of society were carried away by non-church mysticism,

In the 19th century, thanks to the activities of Rev. Paisius Velichkovsky and his disciples in Russia began a renaissance of Greek patristics, patristic thought and invaluable ascetic experience. Patristic wisdom, Athos experience, and eldership are spreading throughout many Russian monasteries. Optina Hermitage has acquired the importance of the main guardian and successor of the patristic heritage in Russia, a stronghold of Orthodox asceticism. At the same time, in the aspect of our topic, it is interesting that this movement took place in parallel with the flourishing of Russian classical literature. A lot has been written about the meeting of the two elements, this experience is summarized, in particular, in Kotelnikov's monograph Optina Pustyn and Russian Literature.

Within the framework of the concept of "monastic culture" a deep and more stable core stands out - ascetic culture. This is the culture of the Christian personality. Christian asceticism is a universal and refined system of the “internal structure” of a person, which has realized its ideals in the personalities of the ascetics, the Fathers of the Church, and in their creations, instructively set forth.

Asceticism, although in varying degrees and forms, is obligatory for all Christians, according to the Savior: “The kingdom of heaven is taken by force, and those who use force take it away” (Matt. 11:12) There is no special Orthodoxy for the laity, for the priesthood, for monasticism. The Church organizes its existence according to the Typicon, which regulates not only the order of divine services, but also the features of church life, the rites of meals, fasting, etc. By its origin, this is precisely the monastic charter. But there is no separate charter for parish churches, “for the laity”. Uniform norms and rules are established for all members of the Church - monastics, laity, clergy.

In everyday consciousness and in secular culture, there is an opinion that there is a deep abyss between the world and the monastery. It is also supported by words about renunciation of the world. But in reality, according to the Orthodox view, there is no fundamental difference between a Christian layman and a Christian monk. Their life differs only in the degree of tension in striving for God, in some external, disciplinary norms.

St. Hilarion Troitsky devoted a special work to this topic, where he shows that “The Ideal of Christ. one for all. This ideal is wholeness of soul, freedom from passions. Monastic vows are not some special ones, but a conscious repetition of vows given at baptism. Asceticism, which is seen as "the struggle against the present state of human nature", is recognized as necessary for the laity. The difference between secular and monastic life is not in essence, but in forms: when taking tonsure, a monk binds himself to some kind of discipline, accepts the charter and rules of monastic life (by the way, they are very different in each monastery). The monastery, on the other hand, is only a special form of Christian life, the most convenient for spiritual perfection and the salvation of the soul.51

Explains St. Hilarion and the exact meaning of “renunciation of the world”: under the world, the holy fathers understood the totality of passions, “carnal life and wisdom of the flesh.” Relying on the Gospel, Vladyka Hilarion shows that “everyone who does not want to be at enmity with God must renounce the world—not alone, therefore, monks, but all Christians.”52

Based on all that has been said, we can conclude that the artist's perception of monasticism is his perception of Orthodoxy proper, whether he himself is aware of it or not. Therefore, an analysis of the nature and characteristics of the embodiment of precisely monastic themes, the reflection of monastic culture (both external and ascetic) is, in our opinion, an adequate and effective tool for comprehending the problem of “Orthodoxy and culture”.

In embodying the image of a monastery, just as in embodying the image of a saint, the points where the heavenly reality penetrates the earthly one, the artist cannot ignore this fact. He has the right, of course, to deny it or interpret it in accordance with his worldview - but this is precisely what makes it possible to comprehend the very core of the creative individuality of the artist, the artistic world he creates in the ontological aspect. Depicting a layman, an artist can declare his belonging to one or another religion, but in no way touch on either the internal or external manifestations of his religiosity. From a spiritual point of view, such a character will, of course, seem flawed (devoid of the substantial sides of the personality).

50 Hilarion (Troitsky), Archim. The unity of the ideal of Christ // Hilarion (Troitsky), archim. There is no Christianity without the Church. M., 1991. S. 117.

51 Ibid. p. 128), but in the system of secular culture, he may well look like a rich, bright, deep personality. However, this method is not applicable to the images of monastics, unless the writer specifically sets out to create a libel or caricature. After all, the only deed of a monk is growth in the ascetic feat.

The themes of asceticism in the general array of literature of the 19th-20th centuries occupy a far from the main place. It is hardly possible to speak of a deep and multifaceted reflection of monastic culture, images of monastics in Russian classics.

To outline the perspective, let's name those "sign" literary phenomena that somehow touched this topic, which left a mark on the general artistic consciousness.

In Pushkin's work, the themes of a monk and a monastery have undergone a significant evolution. It is characteristic that they are already present in the youthful experiences of the poet. As you know, among the "masks" of the young poet was a monastic one. In the lyceum poem "To my sister", "playing" at the monk, Pushkin imagines the monastery as a deaf "dungeon":

Everything is quiet in the gloomy cell: The latch on the door, Silence, the enemy of fun, And boredom - on the clock!

His dream:

Under the table, a hood with a chain - And I'll fly down as a defoliator

Into your arms!

It is surprising that already here, as in the grain, there are the most important components of "Boris Godunov", in which there will be a quiet cell, and a "defamiliarization", and the mantle of Pimen, and the holy fool's chains. Gradually, these attributes cease to be pure exotic for Pushkin, material for external

52 Ibid. S. 113.

53 Pushkin A.S. Poly. coll. cit.: In 6 volumes. T. I. M., 1936. S. 116, 118. poetic allegories. The monastery in the sketch of 1823 "Vespers departed long ago." - a place where the intense inner work of the human soul is carried out. In 1829, the “Monastery on Kazbek” appears to the poet as “a distant longed-for shore”. He no longer throws his hood “under the table”, but in one of the drawings he tries on himself. The chime of the bells becomes for him a “native sound”, the Svyatogorsk monastery - “a sweet limit”.

Youthful confession “Know, Natalya - me. Monk!”54 acquired a deep meaning in the work of the mature Pushkin. The figure of the black man turns out to be “typologically” akin to the figure of the Poet, who strives to “completely abandon his way of thinking” in order to “fully surrender to independent inspiration” to serve a lofty goal. The personality of the monk-chronicler becomes close to the nature of the artist, responding to all phenomena of reality.

In the tragedy "Boris Godunov" Pimen is one of the central figures in the ideological and semantic sense. It is he who, in the hustle and bustle of earthly passions, sees the transcendental, transpersonal truth. Such a spiritually perfect image of a Russian Orthodox monk, perhaps, can hardly be found in all Russian literature. As in other areas, Pushkin was ahead of his time in comprehension of Orthodox culture, the history of the Russian Middle Ages (his reflections are captured both in journalism and in criticism).

Recall that twenty years after the creation of Boris Godunov, V. Belinsky reproached Pushkin for his “blind respect for tradition” and believed: “Pimen is too idealized in his first monologue, and therefore the more poetic and lofty in his words, the more the author sins against the truth and the truth of reality: such thoughts could not enter the head of not a Russian, but even a European hermit-chronicler of that time. 55 Orthodox culture. The very presence of Pushkin in this struggle, his position, the artistic images he created, critical and literary notes, and reviews were of inestimable value.

54 Ibid. S. 88.

55 Belinsky V.G. Poly. coll. op. T. 1. M., 1953. S. 527.

Later, F. M. Dostoevsky, noting the “indisputable truth” of the image of Pimen, said: “About the type of Russian monk-chronicler, for example, one could write a whole book to indicate the importance and all the significance for us of this majestic Russian image found by Pushkin in the Russian land, he brought out, sculpted by him and placed before us now forever in his indisputable, humble and majestic spiritual beauty. ”56 Indeed, Pushkin's Chronicler became a symbol of Orthodox monastic culture, a symbol of the era of the Russian Middle Ages, which absorbed its essential, highest features .

Monk as a character in a work of art remained an exceptional phenomenon in Russian literature for many decades.

In the second half of the 19th century, as a result of the deepening secularization of public life, artists paid more and more attention to the problems of man's earthly dispensation, rather than to his salvation in eternity. A visible manifestation of humanism was the ideal of civilization, the ideal of "treasures on earth" as the only reliable basis for the existence of mankind. A powerful counterweight to these trends is the work of F.M. Dostoevsky. One of the private, but great merits of the artist is a wide introduction to the work of art of a whole layer of monastic culture. The skit in the novel "The Brothers Karamazov" is the most important semantic center. Monasticism appeared not as a historical relic, but as the energy center of the world. And second, very important: the Orthodox monk became a full-fledged hero of the work. The image of the elder Zosima became a symbol of Russian monasticism.

For decades, right up to the present time, many have judged Russian monasticism precisely by Dostoevsky's novel. Without belittling the listed merits, one should still objectively analyze how fully and adequately the novelist embodied the spiritual side of monasticism. Despite the fact that in The Brothers Karamazov a lot of true is said about eldership theoretically (in the author's digressions), the judgment of K.N. Leontiev: “The monks do not say exactly what, or, more precisely, not at all what very good monks actually say. There is little to say here

56 Dostoevsky F.M. Full coll. cit.: In 30 tons. L., 1972 -1990. T. 26. S. 144. about worship, about monastic obediences; not a single church service, not a single prayer service. The hermit and strict fasting Ferapont. for some reason depicted unfavorably and mockingly. Leontiev believed that

57 of the novel, it is precisely the mystical feelings of the characters that are poorly expressed. Zosima is a wise man, a subtle psychologist, very kind, but very far from the image of an old man known to every believer. After all, a true elder is, first of all, a spiritual leader who lives in the Holy Spirit and is himself led by Him. One cannot but agree with V. Malyagin, who asserts that both in Possessed (chapter “At Tikhon’s”) and in The Brothers Karamazov, when trying to portray the elder, Dostoevsky “obviously lacked an understanding of the essence of spiritual power and spiritual strength. Dostoevsky's "old man" is too enthusiastic for any reason, too busy understanding the world and human psychology, he even seems to be somewhat mentally relaxed.58

Nevertheless, the images of the monastery and the monk created by Dostoevsky became a powerful factor in subsequent Russian culture. The artists felt the field generated by these images and inevitably came into contact with it. But almost always - in order to challenge, to refute by artistic means, to lower the image unexpectedly elevated by the genius of Dostoevsky to an unprecedented height. Thus, in the story “Father Sergius” (1891), created 11 years after The Brothers Karamazov, Tolstoy sees the reason for the “fading of the Divine light of truth” in the monastic existence itself. After his fall, Fr. Sergius breaks with the monastery and returns to the world, where he finds God, whom he did not find in the monastery. Obviously, in solving certain ideological problems, Tolstoy conveyed his own spiritual problems to the Orthodox ascetic. S.N. Bulgakov wrote: “It is quite clear that in the image of Fr. Sergius has nothing in common with those images of the elders with whom the Russian folk soul has become related. Here is not Optina Hermitage, but Yasnaya Polyana, and through the monk's robes the well-known blouse is too visible here. Despite his Orthodox appearance, Fr. Sergius, all valid elements of the Orthodox elder were removed from it.

57 Leontiev KN. About universal love (Speech by F.M. Dostoevsky at the Pushkin holiday) // F.M. Dostoevsky and Orthodoxy. M., 1997. S. 281.

58 Malyagin V. Dostoevsky and the Church // F.M. Dostoevsky and Orthodoxy. pp. 27-28. and it is not difficult to understand how much of the directly autobiographical is embedded in this story.59

In terms of our theme, the work of A.P. Chekhov differs significantly from the tradition that developed in the previous century. This applies primarily to the relationship to the priesthood. Although one can find lines from Chekhov that denounce negligent clerics, on the whole the attitude of the writer to the clergy is sympathetic, respectful, often compassionate. Beautiful images of the village priest Fr. Jacob from the story "Nightmare", the figure of Fr. Theodora (story "Letter"); O. Christopher from "The Steppe" and the deacon from "Duel" are pure, kind-hearted souls rejoicing in the universe, the beauty of creation. The images of monks - novice Jerome and Hierodeacon Nicholas are recreated in the story "Holy Night" (1886). The figures of the affectionate and quiet hierodeacon, pale, “with soft, meek and sad features”, Jerome, subtly feeling the poetry of the akathists, humble and joyful, are in many ways exceptional and unique in Russian literature of the late 19th century. Let us note, however, that Chekhov reveals the beauty of personalities, the beauty of characters, their human traits and talents. The monastic feat is not the subject of artistic description. The same applies to one of the most artistically perfect works of Chekhov, dedicated to the clergy, the story "The Bishop" (1902).

The themes of Orthodox and, in particular, monastic culture remained on the periphery of the creative interest of Russian classical literature of the New Age. They did not have any noticeable influence either on the plots or on the problems of the works. If they have arisen, they almost always have an internal position of the author's rejection. Even those writers whose fates were very closely intertwined with Russian monasteries (like, for example, Gogol, the Slavophiles), in whose letters and diaries we find a deep understanding of monasticism, did not leave pictures of ascetic asceticism in their literary and artistic creations.

The themes of monastic holiness, Orthodox shrines and monasteries, images of ascetics of antiquity and modernity are found in spiritual fiction of the 19th and early 20th centuries. They are recreated with love and understanding.

59Bulgakov S. Op. T. 2. M., 1993. S. 488. subject. The authors are, as a rule, church-going people who perceive Orthodoxy not externally, but from within. This literature was predominantly essay, documentary or didactic in nature. But in the works of the actual artistic genres - novels, novellas, short stories, poems, the tradition of recreating the images of churched characters (having a monastic order or laity) was never created.

However, it was in the twentieth century that an event took place, the significance of which can hardly be overestimated: Russian fiction, secular in spirit, opened up the world of Russian Orthodoxy. It happened in foreign Russia. The upheavals of the revolutionary years, the hardships of exile, were needed so that the artists, forever separated from their earthly homeland, found their spiritual homeland - Holy Rus'. There were very few of those. Among the writers of the first row, the classics, there are only two: Zaitsev and Shmelev. They can be called Orthodox writers without reservations. They are such both in terms of their personal worldview and in terms of the content of their artistic subject.

Let us turn to their work in order, firstly, to establish connections between the writers' artistic world and the ontological, epistemological, ethical content of Christianity, secondly, to identify the features of the artistic method in displaying Orthodox life, and thirdly, to determine the aesthetic proposed by them for the churching of culture.

Based on the results obtained, it will be possible to clarify the basic features and forms of a new phenomenon in literature - "spiritual realism". This means that it is essential to supplement the overall picture of the relationship between fiction and Christian spirituality.