N.S. Leskov and the Russian Orthodox Church

Performed by Evgeny Trubnikov,

student 9 "A" class

Lyceum №369

Scientific director

Epishova Svetlana Fedorovna,

teacher of Russian language and literature

Saint Petersburg 2011

Introduction

1. Russian national character

2. Description of Lefty

3. Russian national character of Lefty, the hero of the tale by N.S. Leskov

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

Mysterious Russian soul... She, the subject of admiration and curses, Sometimes squeezes a man's fist, Crushing concrete obstacles. And then it suddenly becomes thinner than a petal, More transparent than an autumn cobweb. And then it flies, like on the first day of Putin's Desperate mountain river.(E. Dolmatovsky)

There is such a thing as the Russian national character. Times are changing, tsars, leaders, presidents are changing, our country itself is changing, and the features of a Russian national character remain unchanged. Both foreign and Russian thinkers constantly turned to the mystery of the “mysterious Russian soul”, because this topic has always remained and will remain relevant and interesting.

To reveal this topic in my work, I chose the work of N.S. Leskov “Lefty”, because he, using the form of a tale, tells us the story of a man who personifies all Russian people. " Where "left-handed" stands, it is necessary to read "Russian people" - Leskov himself said.

“Skaz is a type of literary and artistic narrative constructed as a story of a person whose position and speech manner are different from the point of view and style of the author himself. The clash and interaction of these semantic and speech positions underlies the artistic effect of a tale”*. A tale implies a narration in the first person, and the narrator's speech must be measured, melodious, sustained in a manner characteristic of a given person. There is no narrator as such “Lefty”, but for the rest of the points the work can be called a tale. The “reprimand” of the author creates the impression that the story is being told by some kind of village dweller, simple, but at the same time (judging by the reasoning) educated and wise. With fairy tales, “Lefty” has a subtext in common, because often they contain an unobtrusive, often good-natured and condescending mockery of “those in power”.

1. Russian national character

Among all the features inherent in the Russian national character, there are some that, in my opinion, are the main ones: hard work and talent, willpower and kindness, patience and fortitude, courage and courage, love of freedom and patriotism, religiosity. I considered it necessary to quote the statements of some foreigners who touched on the topics of the Russian national character, because they see us from the outside and evaluate us without prejudice.

· Hard work, talent.

“Russian people have many talents and abilities in almost all areas public life. He is characterized by observation, theoretical and practical mind, natural ingenuity, ingenuity, creativity. The Russian people are a great worker, builder and creator.” The quick-witted practical mind of a Russian person is a source of diverse experience and various abilities. Hence - the rich development of the spirit and the abundance of talents. The giftedness of a Russian person manifested itself in the very successful development of science and technical inventions, and the love of beauty and gift creative imagination contribute to the high development of Russian art.

· love of freedom

“For the Russian people, freedom is above all.
The word “will”, understood as independence, is closer to the Russian heart,

freedom in the manifestation of feelings and in the performance of actions, and not freedom as a conscious necessity, that is, as a possibility for a person to manifest his will on the basis of awareness of the law”*.

According to the philosopher N.O. Lossky among the primary properties of the Russian people, along with religiosity, the search for absolute goodness and willpower, include love for freedom and its highest expression - freedom of the spirit. He who has the freedom of the spirit is inclined to put every value to the test, not only by thought, but even by experience. This property is associated with the search for absolute goodness. IN real world it does not exist, therefore, each person makes an independent choice for himself the best way actions, own way.

Freedom of spirit, breadth of nature, the search for the perfect good, and the associated testing of values ​​by thought and experience has led the Russian people to develop the most diverse, and sometimes even opposite, forms and methods. The search for absolute good has developed recognition among the Russian people high value every personality.

· Willpower, courage and courage

The Russian people had to endure many trials in their difficult history, and in each of them they showed courage and courage. Among the primary basic properties of the Russian people is a mighty willpower. The higher the value, the stronger feelings and energetic activity it causes in people with strong will. Hence the passion of the Russian people, manifested in political life and even greater passion in religious life. The willpower of the Russian people, as N.O. Lossky, is also revealed in the fact that a Russian person, having noticed any of his shortcomings and morally condemning him, obeying a sense of duty, overcomes him and develops a quality that is completely opposite to him.

· Kindness

Often Russian people help those whom they should have hated with all their hearts, with whom they, in theory, cannot develop respectable relations. For example, the Austrian German Otto Berger, who was a prisoner in Russia in 1944-1949, wrote in his book that while living in Russia, the prisoners understood "Which special people Russian. All workers, and especially women, treated us as unfortunate people in need of help and protection. Sometimes women took away our clothes, our underwear and returned it all ironed, washed, mended. The most surprising thing was that the Russians themselves lived in monstrous poverty, which should have killed in them the desire to help us, their yesterday's enemies.. Our Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky agrees with the opinion of a foreigner: “Russian people do not know how to hate for a long time and seriously,” he wrote about Russian kindness.

The kindness of the Russian people in all its layers is expressed in the absence of vindictiveness. “Often a Russian person, being passionate and prone to maximalism, experiences strong feeling repulsion from another person, however, when meeting with him, if specific communication is necessary, his heart softens and he somehow involuntarily begins to show his spiritual softness towards him, even sometimes condemning himself for this, if he believes that this person does not deserve to be treated kindly.”*

· Patriotism

The Russian people have always been distinguished by their patriotism. Russian people could remain dissatisfied with Russia among themselves, but as soon as it was necessary to defend it, protect the honor of the Motherland, they united and together repulsed the enemy or simply did not allow ridicule over it.

· Patience and perseverance

“Russians have boundless patience, an amazing ability to endure hardships, hardships and suffering. In Russian culture, patience and the ability to endure suffering is the ability to exist, the ability to respond to external circumstances, this is the basis of personality ”*

· Religiosity

Religiosity is that feature of the Russian national character, which practically determined the entire Russian mentality. In my opinion, if the Russian people were not so religious, then, most likely, their history would have turned out differently. After all, many of the defining features of the Russian national character have developed precisely thanks to her. In his book The Character of the Russian People, the Russian philosopher N.O. Lossky considers his religiosity and the search for absolute truth associated with it to be the main and most profound feature of the Russian people. “Russians can talk about religion for six hours straight. Russian idea - christian idea; in the foreground in it is love for the suffering, pity, attention to the individual personality ... ”- writes N.O. Lossky in his book.

2. Description of Lefty

Distinctive properties of N.S. Leskova - fabulous motifs, the interweaving of the comic and the tragic, the ambiguity of the author's assessments of the characters - were fully manifested in one of the most famous works writer "Lefty".

Introducing us to the main character, the author does not demonstrate his attractiveness, just a few details: “ oblique left-handed, a birthmark on the cheek, and the hairs on the temples were torn out during the exercise. However, Lefty is a skilled Tula artisan, one of those Tula gunsmiths who managed to shoe the English “nymphosoria” and, thereby, surpass the English masters.

When meeting with the king himself, Lefty is not afraid, but “ he walks in what he was: in shawls, one leg is in a boot, the other is dangling, and the ozyamchik is old, the hooks do not fasten, they are lost, and the collar is torn; but nothing, do not be embarrassed". The left-hander, an unsightly little man, is not afraid to go to the sovereign, as he is confident in his rightness, in the quality of his work. Indeed, there is something to marvel at here - the craftsmen not only did not spoil the curiosity, but also bypassed the British in terms of skill: they shod a steel flea and wrote their names on the horseshoes. This is such a miniature work that you can see the result in a “melkoskop”, which magnifies several hundred times, and the craftsmen, due to poverty, did all the delicate work without a “milkoscope”, because they “have shot their eyes like that”. However, Lefty's name was not on the horseshoes, as he considered himself unworthy of it. In his opinion, he did nothing special, because he worked with parts less than horseshoes: he forged carnations to nail them.

N.S. Leskov: in search of the righteous

« Orthodox life» - February 2011

February 4 marks the 180th anniversary of the birth of Nikolai Semenovich Leskov, a classic of Russian literature of the nineteenth century. lovers classical literature they are well aware of Lesk's stories "The Enchanted Wanderer", "Lady Macbeth Mtsensk district”And“ At the End of the World ”, his numerous stories and“ tales ”... (For example,“ Lefty ”.) Noted Critic L. Anninsky noticed that the highlight of Leskov's style is in "intricacies, in that very intricate weaving of words, for which Leskov was taken by descendants into eternity." Leskov himself wrote in one of his letters: “Remember that the basic rule of any writer is to redo, cross out, rewrite, insert, smooth and redo again. Otherwise, nothing will come out ... "
There are very few memoirs or memoirs about N.S. Leskov. Almost all the grandees of the memoirs of the nineteenth century ignored Leskov's name. Contemporaries often disliked him, for a long time did not recognize it great writer, treated N.S. Leskov either with prejudice, or with fear of running into Leskov's ruthless ridicule. Leskov aroused great interest among those around him as a fascinating interlocutor, a versatile educated person, although not everyone could withstand his extremely temperamental character. But the quick-tempered and sometimes intolerant Leskov generally loved those around him, was interested in their problems, trying to help. Nevertheless, he had a rare "talent" to turn many people against him, even if at first they had sincere sympathy for him.
The writer's paternal grandfather was a priest, and N.S. Leskov spoke of his father Semyon Dmitrievich as "a man very well theologically educated and truly religious, with an excellent mind, honesty and firmness of convictions (...)". When the twenty-year-old Leskov lived in Kyiv and held an official position, he participated in the work of a religious and philosophical circle of medical students. Exactly there future writer began to systematically study Christian literature different orientation. The Kiev space provided an opportunity to get acquainted with religious pilgrims who flocked to Kyiv from all over Russia. Leskov was fascinated by the restoration of the Sophia frescoes of the 11th century, carried out under the guidance of Academician F.G. Solntsev, by the work of the icon painters of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. And subsequently, N.S. Leskov experienced an unflagging interest in various phenomena Orthodox culture. For example, in 1872 the writer visited Valaam, which he called "the unshakable stronghold of Russian monasticism, residing here in all the purity of the ancient Christian community" in his soon published travel notes"Monastic Islands on Lake Ladoga".
N.S. Leskov was an excellent connoisseur of the life of the Russian clergy and religious literature, and therefore he repeatedly spoke in the press on religious issues. He wrote about the history of the Church, reviewed religious writings and works of art from the life of the clergy, collaborated in the journals Pravoslavnoe obozrenie, Wanderer, Church Public Bulletin, published a number of books of Christian ethical content: Mirror of the Life of a True Disciple of Christ, Prophecies about the Messiah, Pointer to the Book New Testament”, “Selection of paternal opinions on the importance Holy Scripture"... In his works, Leskov sympathetically depicted the life of the poor parish clergy.
At the same time, in Leskovsky's work there were texts that caustically ridiculed the shortcomings of church life. Moreover, censorship at one time banned the release of the sixth volume of Leskov's Collected Works, describing the book as "an impudent pamphlet both on church administration in Russia and on the corruption of the morals of our clergy." But it should be remembered that Leskov critically assessed the most diverse aspects of Russian life. Church life was no exception, and the writer described his worldview as follows: “More than ever I believe in the great significance of the Church, but I don’t see anywhere that spirit that befits a society that bears the name of Christ.”
In the 1880s, Leskov widely used in his work the material of religious legends, patericons and parables for his own moral preaching. Most of these texts by Leskov are associated with the era of early Christianity: “The Legend of Theodore the Christian and Abram the Jew”, “The Legend of the Conscientious Daniel”, “The Lion of the Elder Gerasim”, etc.
In the Gospel Leskov saw first of all the universal moral code, and Christian humanism called the natural practical philosophy of the Russian people. Humanism is needed in everything. So, Leskov is alien to hostility to people of non-Christian beliefs. Father Kyriak (the hero of Leskov's story "At the End of the World") is convinced that "we are all going to a single feast, both Christians and non-Christians." The dying prayer of Fr. Kyriakos is for all people, and the Lesk text mentions the call of Cyril of Turov to pray not only for his own (Christians), but also for strangers (non-believers). Leskov repeatedly said that in the light of Christian ethics "there is no difference between a Greek and a Jew, a barbarian and a Scythian, a man and a woman, a slave and a free one."
According to M. Gorky, N.S. Leskov “as if set a goal (...) to encourage, inspire Rus'” and for this he began “to create for Russia an iconostasis of her saints and righteous people - (...) little great people.” Leskov really created many novels and stories about the righteous, and so he recalled the birth of his large-scale plan: “If without three righteous, folk belief, not a single city stands, then how can the whole earth stand with one rubbish (...), and I went to look for the righteous (...), but wherever I turned, whoever I asked, everyone answered (...) that they did not see righteous people, because all people are sinners, and so, some good people(...) knew. I started writing it down." The Leskovsky righteous not only bring good to the world, but also show what a person can be today, and not in the distant future. The writer finds the righteous in the most diverse strata of Russian society: among peasants and clergy, nobles and commoners. He said that "such people, standing apart from the main historical movement(...), make history stronger than others.” Leskov explained his understanding of righteousness in the article "On Heroes and the Righteous" (1881). The writer believed that good efforts individual people, united together, are able to change the world for the better. Therefore, through the display of the gallery of the righteous, Leskov appealed to his contemporaries with an appeal "by all (...) means to increase the amount of goodness in himself and around him."
Lesk's texts attract attention not only for their rich spiritual content, but also for their exceptionally rich language. M. Gorky, who considered N.S. Leskov his own literary teacher, wrote: “Leskov is a magician of the word, he (...) told and had no equal in this art. His story is a spiritualized song, simple, purely Great Russian words, descending one with the other in intricate lines, now thoughtfully, now mockingly ringing, and you can always hear in them quivering love to people, covered tender, almost feminine; pure love She's a little ashamed of herself."

Reviews

Gennady, it was very interesting to learn about the religious side of Leskov. One of the most Russian, profound writers. His essays are real portraits, written in words. Very colorful and individual. Thank you for being my favorite writer!
Sincerely, Victor.

Plan

Introduction 3

Righteous themes in the works of Leskov N.S. 4

Righteous themes in the works of Solzhenitsyn A.I. 17

Conclusion 32

References 33

Introduction

The path to art lay through the comprehension of multifaceted relationships

people, the spiritual atmosphere of the time. And where specific phenomena were somehow linked with these problems, a living word was born, vivid image. Writers strove for creative transformation of the world. And the path to true being lay through the self-deepening of the artist. Thus, it is through the self-deepening of the artist that a new image is created that reflects the actual reality. And these images reflect the character of a person. In my opinion, the problem of righteousness is very important and interesting, because for many years it has excited the minds of many writers and scientists. The topic of my essay is very unusual. Righteous themes in the works of Leskov N.S. and Solzhenitsyn A.I. This topic is not widely described in Russian literature, although such writers as Leskov and Solzhenitsyn turned to search for examples of the righteous life of the people. I want to analyze several works. The abstract will consider several works, their analysis and critical articles on these works. In my abstract, I will try to express my thoughts and considerations on this topic.

Righteous themes in the works of Leskov N.S.

Although the name of Leskov is known to the modern reader, he, as a rule, does not have a true idea of ​​the scale of his work. A very small number of the writer's works are heard: "Cathedrals", "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District", "Lefty", "Dumb Artist", "The Enchanted Wanderer", "The Sealed Angel", "The Man on the Clock", and even anti-nihilistic novels. "Nowhere" and "On knives". Meanwhile, Leskov left a huge legacy - both artistic and journalistic. Active mastery of it is especially important now, because Leskov's work is unusually in tune with our time. The sixties of the 19th century, when Leskov entered literature, are in many ways reminiscent of the period of history that we are experiencing now. It was the time of radical economic and social reforms, the time when glasnost appeared for the first time in Russia. The focus was on the peasant question, the problem of the liberation of the individual, the protection of his rights from the encroachments of the state bureaucratic apparatus and the growing capital, the struggle for economic freedom. A century and a half later, we actually again faced the same problems, which is why it is so important to use the experience of a wise and practical person who knew Russia in breadth and depth.

Now we have already learned to appreciate Leskov the artist, but we still underestimate him as a thinker. Like Dostoevsky, he turned out to be a writer-prophet. The difference between them is that Dostoevsky, in his prophecies about the future, relied on the present, saw in it the sprouts of the future and foresaw what they would develop into. And Leskov, in determining the trend of Russian life, relied on the past of Russia, on the national-historical foundations of life that were stable and unchanged for a long time. He singled out such features in Russian life that remain viable despite all social breakdowns and historical changes. Therefore, Leskov's observations on everyday life, state and public institutions of Russian life seem to be unusually relevant now. Among the persistent troubles of Russian public life, Leskov named mismanagement, the dominance of bureaucracy, protectionism, bribery, the inability of people in power to cope with their duties, lawlessness, and disregard for individual rights. In his opinion, for a successful fight against these ulcers of Russian life, "Russia needs and most importantly knowledge, self-knowledge and self-awareness." Considering that the country, like a person, goes through different age stages of development, he equated Russia with a gifted young man who can still take up his mind.

No other Russian writer paid as much attention to the problem of national character as Leskov. He described the Russian national character in many ways and along the way made very interesting and subtle sketches of the national character of the Germans, French, British, Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, and Tatars. Now, in an era of exacerbation of interethnic relations, the work of Leskov, who preached national and religious tolerance, who saw the beauty of life in the bright colors of national life, various national ways, customs, characters, is very relevant.
Leskov was undoubtedly one of the most interesting religious minds in Russian literature of the second half of the 19th century. In his work, as well as in the work of L. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, the intense moral searches of the Russian people were reflected in the period of the crisis of Christian ideology caused by the collapse of the foundations of feudalism. Leskov is a moralist writer and preacher, in this he is very close to Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. But his moral demands are not characterized by maximalism. They are more adapted to the capabilities of the average person, not an ascetic and not a hero. Leskov's interest in the positive beginnings of Russian life is amazingly stable: heroes of a righteous disposition are often found in Leskov's very first and last works. Sometimes they find themselves on the periphery of the narrative (“Little Things bishop's life”, “Notes of an Unknown Person”), are more often the main characters (old man Gerasim, conscientious Danila, Non-lethal Golovan, one-dum Ryzhov, archpriest Tubrozov, etc.), but are always present. In our field of vision there will be a cycle of stories about the righteous, created in the 1870s, as well as the chronicles "Cathedrals" and "The Seedy Family", where the topic of interest to us is developed with the greatest completeness. We are interested in how Leskov's concept of righteousness correlates with the senile tradition. Is it possible to talk about the continuity of phenomena, can the righteous Leskov (the righteous type created by him) be considered an old man (senile type)? As you know, eldership is a church institution that determines the relationship between teacher and student in the matter of spiritual development. It is based on the spiritual guidance of the teacher by the student, the principle of which is the relationship of mutual asceticism, the practice of soul-leading and obedience. An elder is an experienced monk, and a disciple is a novice monk who takes upon himself the cross of asceticism and needs his guidance for a long time. The ideal of elder leadership is the perfect obedience of the disciple to his elder.

Orthodox Russian eldership is genetically a continuation of the ancient Eastern eldership, but it is tolerable, and I went to look for the righteous ... ". Thus, he made an attempt to create bright, colorful characters that are in reality, moreover, they are foundation of the earth and can strengthen the faith of his contemporaries in the Russian people and in the future of Russia. Like L. Tolstoy, Leskov created a kind of moral alphabet, contrasting the contradictory modernity with the foundations developed by the centuries-old way of life. folk life. He called his ideal heroes “the righteous,” for they acted, like the ancient holy ascetics, in everything according to “the law of God” and lived in truth. The main thing that determines their behavior in life is service to a living cause. Every day, his heroes perform an imperceptible feat of kind participation and help to their neighbor. Leskov's righteous people see the meaning of life in active morality: they simply need to do good, otherwise they do not feel like people. Acquired distinctive features, probably due to the peculiarity of the Russian mentality and cultural and historical needs of more later eras. First of all, Russian elders folk, the main gift of the Russian elder is "the ability to spiritually speak with the people." The type of Russian old man-lover of the people is a Russian historical type and ideal, this point of view is generally accepted in Russian religious philosophy (the positions of S. Bulgakov, V. Ekzemplyarsky, V. Kotelnikov, and others). The second half of the 19th century was the heyday of the senile tradition, and it was at this time that N.S. Leskov refers to the image of the Russian righteous man. The gallery of the Leskovsky righteous was created in the 70s - 90s. What is the righteous conception of Leskov? The search for "hearts ... warmer and more sympathetic souls" led the writer to create righteous legendary images. ?… How can the whole earth stand with one rubbish that lives in my soul and yours… I was unbearable, and I went to look for the righteous…” 1 . Thus, he made an attempt to create bright, colorful characters that are in reality, moreover, they are foundation of the earth and can strengthen the faith of his contemporaries in the Russian people and in the future of Russia. Like L. Tolstoy, Leskov created a kind of moral alphabet, contrasting the contradictory modernity with the foundations developed by the centuries-old way of life of the people. Leskov emphasized: “The strength of my talent is in positive types. I gave the reader positive types of Russian people” 2 . The writer was looking for in reality itself "that small number of the three righteous", without which "there is no city of standing." In his opinion, they "were not gone, and they will not be gone ... They just don't notice, but if you look closely, they are." He called his ideal heroes “the righteous,” for they acted, like the ancient holy ascetics, in everything according to “the law of God” and lived in truth. The main thing that determines their behavior in life is service to a living cause. Every day, his heroes perform an imperceptible feat of kind participation and help to their neighbor. Leskov's righteous people see the meaning of life in active morality: they simply need to do good, otherwise they do not feel like people. As has been repeatedly noted, the source of the spiritual strength of Leskov's heroes is the national soil. National Holy Russian the way of life with its views and customs is the only acceptable way of life for Leskov's heroes. “My hero longs for unanimity with the fatherland, he is convinced of the goodness of this life, seeing in its basis the world order, which should be protected as a shrine” 3 . The deep essence of Russian life is at the same time the essence of the Leskovsky hero. Separation by a person of himself from the given world order, especially the opposition of his “I” to it, is unthinkable for the writer.

It is known that some of the stories from the righteous cycle are based on hagiographic plots and represent a kind of artistic stylization with the author's development of the plot, detailing and composition (“The Lion of Elder Gerasim”, “Conscientious Danila”, “The Woodcutter”, “Mountain”). Our task is not to analyze the dialogue between Leskov's righteous cycle and the hagiographic tradition, but it is important to point out the very fact that the writer used hagiographic sources. True Christianity and the official church of clerics are not identical concepts for Leskov. In 1871, he wrote: “I am not an enemy of the church, but her friend, or more: I am her obedient and devoted son, and a confident Orthodox - I do not want to defame her; I wish her honest progress from the inertia into which she fell, crushed by statehood. The church, subordinate to the state, lost its spiritual freedom. Mercy, meek and good relations receive the character of an external debt prescribed by law as a means to please the formidable Lord” 4 .

Having a hagiographic heritage as one of the sources, the writer found the righteous in a living folk environment, because he saw the moral principles that contribute to the improvement of man and society in the people, and Leskov connected the formation of the Russian national character and the very idea of ​​righteousness with Christianity. The people preserve that living spirit of faith,” without which Christianity loses its vitality and becomes an abstraction. Christianity, according to Leskov, “is a worldview plus ethical norms of behavior in everyday life, in life ... Christianity requires not only a Christian worldview, but also actions. Without action, faith is dead.”5 Therefore, his artistic preaching of love, kindness and participation is based on earthly affairs. In 1891, Leskov will say this with all certainty: “Away with mysticism, but“ break and give ”- that’s the point” 6 . Leskov's religion is a religion of action, a religion of good deeds, expressed in the idea of ​​serving people as the most important in Christianity. Driven by a “brotherly” love for people, Golovan (“Golovan”) takes care of the sick during the pestilence with such fearlessness and selflessness that his behavior is interpreted mystically, and he receives the nickname “non-lethal”. Christian worldview for N.S. Leskov is, first of all, a lesson in purely practical morality: the preaching of unassumingly simple and mundane deeds. Leskov's righteous live in the world and find themselves fully involved in the web of ordinary everyday relationships, but it is precisely in adverse life circumstances that the moral originality of Leskov's righteous is manifested, it is in the world that they become righteous. The conscientious Danila (“Conscientious Danila”), while in captivity, teaches the barbarians of the Christian life, which deserves the respect of the infidels, the elder Gerasim (“The Lion of the Elder Gerasim”) gives his goods to the poor, for the sake of harmony among people, and then becomes their adviser. This is due to the fact that in the mind of the Leskovsky righteous man, the ideal is thought of as real. Moral principles are due, and therefore they are strictly observed, regardless of what those around them are (one can draw a clear parallel with the elder Zosima, who argued that one must follow the ideal, “even if it happens that everyone on earth has perverted”) . The Leskovsky righteous man is free from the opinions that prevail around him and this is why he is attractive. The ethical norm of the Leskovsky righteous is an independently worthy service, and service in the world (Father Kiriyak refuses to forcefully baptize pagans, the conscientious Danila does not accept the formal forgiveness of priests, but seeks true forgiveness among people). A distinctive feature of the Leskovsky righteous people is the rejection of the practice of solitary self-improvement that breaks with the world. Leskovsky righteous, as M. Gorky wrote, “there is absolutely no time to think about their personal salvation - they are constantly concerned about the salvation and comfort of their neighbors” 7 . The need to do good as an all-consuming feeling that leaves no room for worries about oneself is a motive that Leskov sounds very insistently. His heroes are characterized by evangelical carelessness about themselves. The essence of righteousness is contained for the writer in the lines of the "Sealed Angel" about Pauma: "... a meekly shining ray calmly accomplishes what a fierce storm is unable to do." The heroes of Leskov sometimes evade the struggle even in those cases when, it would seem, it is necessary to defend high moral principles: they do not go to sow and aggravate discord. Tuberozov in The Cathedral avoids, as far as possible, clashes with Barnabas Prepotensky, while he in every way seeks reasons for them.

Leskov's righteous people feel life as a priceless gift, which is why there is no resentment reaction to life in their being. “Whoever offends him as he wants, he will not be offended and will not forget his dignity,” says Rogozhin about Chervev 8 . His words are consonant with the words of Zosima: “Love all the creatures of God, and the whole, and love every grain of sand, every leaf, every ray of God. Love animals, love plants, love everything.” For the heroes of Leskov, being offended means forgetting about their dignity. Wisdom for them is not in the search for a more prominent and worthy position, but, on the contrary, in living righteously, remaining in one's place. Self-sacrificing kindness and strict fulfillment of moral duty are thought by the writer to be deeply rooted in people's life (although not sufficiently "fixed" by the social order). According to Leskov, what is humanly valuable is formed in the common centuries-old Russian life. The basis of Leskov's ideas about a morally perfect person was the ideals of Christian ethics, the principles of which he associated with the unwritten laws of the "practical morality" of the people.

Doctrine Story >> Literature and Russian language

Dance, gets complete satisfaction from produced arousal and does not need ... harmful, firstly, topics what for works actions of intoxication are needed... the truth Christian worldview, the idea is too proud, insane" (N. S. Leskov from 14 ...

Leskov is ready to back it up with historical documents, in particular, a decree issued by Peter I. In the decree of 1723, Peter I and the Holy Synod called on the clergy to serve not formally, but to make the church service reach the mind, heart and conscience of every parishioner.

Acting as a church historian, Leskov found and published the original of this decree, about which “until now I have not had to read anything” (233), in the VIII volume of the Historical Bulletin for 1882, that is, after more than one and a half hundred years. Actualizing the half-forgotten historical document, about which "many of today's spiritualists do not even know at all" (234), the writer acts as a bearer of a non-idle "teaching" word for the modern clergy.

IN "Lenten Decree of Peter the Great"(1882) was “depicted” (233) literally the following: “according to his imperial majesty, by decree of the most holy synod, discussing the use (sic) in the churches during the Great Lent of readings, according to sentenced, in the place of the former from Ephrem the Syrian and from the Sobornik and from others readings, to read newly printed primers with an interpretation of the commandments of God, distributing them moderately, so that those who come to the Church of God, preparing for confession and St. people, hearing the commandments of God and examining their consciences, were better able to prepare themselves for true repentance” (233).

The same decree noted the incompetence of many priests, the complete inability to fulfill the high spiritual mission entrusted to them: “before the spiritual consistory, it was known that many priests<…>people who come to church during Great Lent are not taught, but they themselves, when there are questions in the commandments of God, they cannot answer that, and therefore, it is not valid to teach the commoners entrusted to them in the flock” (233).

It turned out that pastors often show not only indifference to the upbringing of the flock in the Christian spirit, but also ignorance, ignorance of the basic issues of Holy Scripture. That is why Peter I and the Synod, in their decree, were forced to “firmly order all priests (so that) not only during Great Lent and on all Sundays and holidays according to the liturgy, according to the same commandment with the interpretation in the parish churches, they read it, and the priests themselves, as it is now known that inquiries about the commandments of God are unanswered, (they) would have studied” (234). In the church life of the 18th century, a paradoxical, tragicomic situation of “laughter and sorrow” arose: spiritual teachers of the law were first ordered to thoroughly learn what they were obliged and called to teach.

The Apostle James speaks about the strict and exacting attitude towards the teacher-preacher on the part of those around him: “My brethren! do not many become teachers, knowing that we will be subjected to greater condemnation” (James 3:1). The Lord calls not to become like the scribes and Pharisees, who love “so that people call them “teacher! teacher!" But do not call yourself teachers, for there is one teacher for you - Christ” (Matt. 23: 7-8), and “A student is not higher than his teacher; but even when perfected, everyone will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40). Therefore, the constant care of pastors to maintain their high spiritual rank is necessary, but few of them care about this.

According to the writer's witty remark, "there are many masters of throwing history in the eye", but it is necessary to make efforts to change the situation in the present. “This situation has not changed even until the most recent days” (234), states Leskov. "Invalid" pastors manifested itself, for example, in the fact that “the question arose of allowing lay teachers to teach children the law of God in those rural schools where the priests are unwilling or unable to do this” (234). The writer cites statistics from the Ministry of Public Education showing that “we now have the law of God not taught at all in 20% of schools. From this it follows that the “commandments”, which set out all the prescriptions of pious morality, are not read either in churches, as Peter the Great demanded, or in a fifth of schools, where it would be very useful and appropriate” (234).

The same state of affairs is covered in Leskov's article with the polemical title “Godless schools in Russia”(1881): ““Godless schools”, apt in their characteristic expressions, the people called those original schools where there is no teaching sacred history and in general the so-called Law of God. We have many of them and it is the whole fifth part» .

On this issue, the author of the article cannot agree with the guidelines of the Synod, which is unable to provide all schools with clergy teachers of the law and at the same time forbids secular teachers to teach the lessons of Sacred History. “It’s a pity for our Orthodox,” Leskov writes with pain, “in practice, teachers and teachers in many places, so as not to upset the peasants with “godlessness”, secretly and smuggling, at your own risk teach children the Law of God without reward and without permission...” .

But if in other schools the Law of God is taught, then this is often done clumsily and mediocrely.

Such a situation cannot leave Leskov as an imperturbable observer. Alarmed and indignant, the writer seems to sound the alarm: “We are absolutely perplexed: how can this most important matter be left in such a position!” ; “We are unable to remain silent about what these gentlemen have arranged for us.”

In one of the articles in the series “Wonders and signs. Observations, experiments and notes”(1878) in the journal "Church and Public Bulletin" Leskov shares his reflections caused by "the art of modern teachers of the Law of God." According to the writer, “this is the liveliest, most pleasant and required item school curriculum” (3). However, "inept teachers of the law" "almost everywhere" turned him "into a painful torment", subjecting the children to "futile torment."

A zealous, indifferent attitude to issues of faith and “pious morality” dictated the writer’s high demands on those who are entrusted with the upbringing of young souls: “we do not want and cannot leave our children without religion, which various “beginnings” and “ endings”, invented with the aim of abolishing the study of the Word of God in its simple and everyone accessible form” (3).

Leskov writes this with great knowledge of the matter, relying on his own personal experience. It is extremely important what was done in “were from recent memories” “Vladychnycourt" following autobiographical confession: “I grew up in my native noble family, in the city of Orel, with his father, a very intelligent, well-read and connoisseur of theology, and with his mother, very God-fearing and pious; I learned religion from the best and in his time the most famous of the teachers of the law, Fr. Evfimy Andreevich Ostromyslensky<…>I was what I was, learning Orthodox thinking from my own father and from my excellent teacher of the law - who is still, thank God, alive and well. (May he accept from afar the low bow I send him). In a word: none of us could be suspected of the slightest hostility to the Church” (6, 125).

In the only known letter to Leskov, Father Evfimy thanks his former student for the greeting sent; reports that for 50 years teaching activities he has accumulated a lot of materials that can be useful for the cause of religious education.

It is no coincidence that Leskov is so principled when he raises the question of spiritual and moral formation. younger generation in a series of articles "Miracles and Signs": “We want, we ask, but we have the right to demand so that we preserve in our children the faith that we sowed in them from the cradle, as our fathers sowed it in us. In this case, we cannot yield nobody, nothing, not a single hair” (3).

The writer speaks of the teaching of the word of God to children with ardent interest - as of the most important thing that "needs to be developed and improved" ( “On the Teaching of the Law of God in public schools” – 1880).

Leskov argues that religious feeling is alive, inquisitive, developing and developing. In the story of the righteous "Cadet Monastery"(1880) Father Archimandrite is precisely that talented teacher of the Law of God, about the lack of which Leskov wrote so passionately in his publicistic cycle "Wonders and Signs" The story contains the same lyrical, deeply felt autobiographical confession of Leskov in his love for the fatherly faith and sincere gratitude to his “excellent teacher of the law”: “I think now, and even before in my life, when I had to listen to a frivolous review about religion, that it seemed to be boring and useless, I always thought:“ Nonsense, cuties: you are talking only because you didn’t get to the master who would interest you and reveal to you this poetry of eternal truth and undying life ". And now I myself am thinking about that last archimandrite of our corps, who forever favored me, forming my religious feeling <выделено мной – А.Н.— S.>” (6, 342).

The following self-characterization of the writer is indicative: “I am not an enemy of the Church, but her friend, or more: I am her obedient and devoted son and a confident Orthodox” (10, 329).

Although Leskov called himself a “submissive” son of the Church, he did not always manage to remain so - he took on his ebullient nature of the writer, requiring, as he himself realized, “self-restraint”. But in any case, the writer was not a blind son of the Church and clearly saw her disorder. Leskov was well aware of the facts about the shortcomings of some of the "clergy", who often took exorbitant bribes from parishioners, sinned with drunkenness, laziness and other vices, kept an obsequious tone with the authorities.

In the article "Patriarchal Habits"(1877) writer retells eloquent scene from the work of Bishop Zephanius “Modern life and liturgy of heterodox Christians, Jacobites and Nestorians” (St. Petersburg, 1876). In this episode Turkish sultan kept two patriarchs who “wanted in full dress make him<…> salutation with bow by telling them:

- At this moment I am a mere mortal, and you are the servants of Allah<…>

the Turk was ashamed of their servility and forced to remind them that he is a man, not God, and that they, the servants of Allah, are not worthy to fall at the feet of the Sultan, and even “in full dress” ” .

Reflecting in a series of articles "Miracles and Signs" about “Russian religious vacillation, which is ready to seek affirmation in the faith even from spiritualistic mediums” (3), Leskov lays responsibility on Orthodox priests who have found the justification for their inactivity in the fact that the official religion is under the protection of the law and the state. About the purpose of his coverage of the church theme, the writer expressed himself unambiguously: “I don’t want it<Церковь – А.Н.— C.> defame; I wish her honest progress from the inertia into which she fell, crushed by statehood, but I don’t see “great priests” in the new generation of servants of the altar” (10, 329).

In a tone of bitter irony, the writer speaks of the laziness of spiritual shepherds, from whom she herself current situation, called by Leskov “the time of buffoonery, all kinds of foolishness and antics” (5, 73), requires active preaching work, spiritual asceticism.

However, “all this is terribly troublesome for our spiritual fathers, especially at such a time of prayer! Accustomed to consider themselves under the special care and protection of the police that sanctioned their rights, they, of course, did not expect such a misfortune from the side of religious excitement, which came from nowhere and in which they are truly not to blame in the least ”(5).

The writer, fulfilling his apostolic ministry, admonishes and calls on the clergy, “shaking sleep from their eyes”, to engage in “spiritual work”: “Water does not flow anywhere under lying stones” (5). Following the “Lenten Decree” of Peter the Great, Leskov repeats what the clergy have not done so far: “it is necessary to explain the Scripture to the people at every Sunday service and “give an example from a good life” ”(5).

And such examples do not become scarce in life Orthodox Church, and the writer notes them especially carefully.

“benevolent”images Russian ministers of the Orthodox Church, recreated by Leskov, is his best answer to those who wondered: “Or are there not such good priests? ” (10, 243). In the article “ <О рассказах and stories by A.F. Pogossky>” (1877), the writer spoke bluntly about this: “Whoever is so impudent as to assert this will tell a lie. If there are not many of them, then they still exist, only maybe:

To these falcons
Wings are tied
And their ways
Everyone is tied up…” (10, 243).

Painful reality did not prevent Leskov from creating the image of an ideal shepherd, without violating the plausibility. “A simple, kind priest,” the writer noted, “<…>lives, serves, gets to know people in living relations with them, and not only recognizes his entire parish, but becomes a friend of the parishioners and often a doctor of their conscience, conciliator and judge. Of course, this does not often happen, but it cannot be denied that there are such examples” (10, 202).

Leskov writes with admiration, for example, about the heroes of his essay “Priest-doctors and treasury guards”(1883), who "observed both the demand of the heart and the covenant of Christian love", and showed true spiritual nobility and selflessness. When they talk about the well-known “greed of priests” (7, 209), Leskov notes in “excerpts from youthful memories” “Pechersk antiques”(1882), - the most disinterested person comes to mind - the priest Efim Botvinovsky.

In the above essay “Concerning Consolidated Marriages and Other Infirmities” with a feeling of special delicate love, the writer creates a whole story about a righteous hieromonk he knew: “Elder Jonah, forgive me this indiscretion and don’t judge me for what I say about him” (75). Leskov describes in detail the life and work of the elder, his teachings “in the spirit of goodness and truth”, including parish priests: “live in such a way that you know every parishioner<…>Teach them here at your home the word of God and virtue patiently, not lazily and simply<…>and become shepherds” (74).

These simple sincere instructions are also directed against pomposity, the detachment of spiritual shepherds from their flock.

So, for Leskov, what angered him in the book of F.V. did not go unnoticed. Livanov “The life of a rural priest. A household chronicle from the life of the clergy” (1877) a mention of the archimandrite, who “during one fire, having forgotten his dignity, appeared at the conflagration simple christian(sic!). Why can an archimandrite be a “simple Christian” only “forgetting his dignity”?..” (10, 195), Leskov asks a fair question in a “critical study” “ caricature ideal. Utopia from Church and Everyday Life"(1877).

In the cycle " Trifles of Bishop's Life (Pictures from Life)”(1878 - 1880), the writer debunks the prejudice that "Orthodox people love the magnificent magnificence of their spiritual masters" (6, 447). On the contrary: “The deadly splendor of our bishops, since they began to consider it an accessory of their rank, has not created popular respect for them.<…>The Russian people love to look at pomp, but respect simplicity<подчёркнуто мной; курсив Лескова – А. Н.-С.)” (6, 448).

As for lovers of “splendor in magnificence” (6, 466) like gentlemen N. and Z., in their exaggerated piety they often reach the point of absurdity. Messrs. N. and Z. bickered over whether they were worthy of “going under sovereign umbrella”, until the archbishop cooled their importunate empty holiness: “What is the shrine, really, in my umbrella? ” (6, 471).

Sometimes hypocrisy rolls down to inhumanity. So, Mr. N. wanted, but “could not beg Providence that all married sons and married daughters<…>widowed and went to a monastery, where he himself very much desired to go, in order to “reconcile with God” there” (6, 469). Exhausted by the senseless holiness of the landowner of their village, the clergy, punning, called the daily service “inhuman” because “there was no not a single person” (6, 466 – 467).

Newly arrived in the city of P<ермь>Reverend N-t<Неофит>led to bewilderment and disappointed the ardent admirer of Byzantine splendor to the point that he was ready to see in the actions of the church hierarch “the ruin of paternal custom” and even “sovereign nihilism” (6, 472).

The “good Orthodox Christian”, who was preparing a solemn reception for the archbishop and his retinue, found himself in a ridiculous position when the bishop, rejecting the grandiloquence imposed on him, contrasted the simplicity of human relations with pomposity and pomposity. He even wished to catch crucian carp in the local pond: “The old work is apostolic! It is necessary to be closer to nature - it calms. Jesus Christ loved all the seas and hills and sat by the lakes. It is good to think about water” (6, 474). The neophyte advises: “There is nothing to remember me: if I die, it will change by one monk, and nothing more. And you remember the One Who commanded that we all love one another” (6, 479).

Leskov presented an impressive sketch of the meeting of His Grace Vladyka V<арлаама>with the clergy and non-spiritual people, in whose behavior the repulsive features of thoughtless fanatical worship and extreme servility are exposed: “two women were especially remarkable. One of these Orthodox Christian women kept spreading a towel under the saint, which he stepped on for her pleasure, while the other was even more pious and strove to lie down in front of him on the road, probably so that the saint would walk along it, but he did not give her this pleasure” (6, 420).

similar “ empty sanctity” noblewomen are also different. Idle ladies persistently asked for a special blessing at a time when Vladyka John of Smolensk was busy with important work - he worked at his desk, “on which, probably, many of his inspired and profound works were written” (6, 433), respectfully remarks author. Irresistible visitors who came “ for home conversation” , John ordered to send two issues of Askochensky’s journal “Home Talk”: “Smolensk ladies, who bothered the bishop, so to speak, in a hypocritical routine met a firm rebuff” (6, 434).

Leskov speaks with great sympathy of this ability of the saint “to put aside with firmness the deadly routine and pay tribute to living inspiration.” And if in the eyes of the “prudents and empty saints” who bothered the bishops, John of Smolensky was known as “unsociable and even rude,” then “people who knew him better,” the writer notes, “are full of the best memories of the pleasantness of his direct character, simplicity of manner, bold and deep mind and true Christian freedom of opinion” (6, 434).

One of the cross-cutting themes of this cycle of stories, passing through a whole series of “pictures from nature”, is the urgent need for those “who excel in the Church” to abandon the attributes of pompous greatness, “prestige”, “some kind of Russian-Tatar wandering” (6, 438). According to Leskov, this is the dictate of the time, dictated by the laws of life: “Rus' wants settling down, not getting big and change her mood in the opposite direction impossible” (6, 439). The writer enthusiastically notes that “our best bishops want this. By forcibly discarding the Byzantine etiquette that had been grafted onto them and never suited them, they themselves want clear up in Russian and become people of the people, with whom at least it will be more gratifying to wait for any real measures capable of satisfying our religious languor and returning the life-giving spirit to the exhausted faith of the Russian people” (6, 439).

Leskov hopes that in this case, the relationship between Orthodox Christians and the highest church hierarchs will lose their largely formalized character, filled with new content in the living practice of faith: “other relationships would begin - not like the current one, ending with the distribution of blessings.<…>walking among people<архиереи – А. Н.-С.>maybe someone would be taught something good, and they would refrain, and advise ”(6, 445).

Arguing with opponents who saw in the "Trifles of Bishop's Life" "the influence of the Protestant spirit" (6, 539), Leskov in an essay “ Bishop's detours” (1879) did not agree with “this strange and inappropriate remark”: “I would like to say at least how unjust and regrettable lies in the imprudence with which our hunters for importance and pomp concede to Protestants such a wonderful property as simplicity <…>They write to me: “Is it good if our bishops, going around the parishes, will shake in tarantasiks and wagons<…>while Catholic bishops will roll with cogs,” etc. Protestantism interfered there, here Catholicism… I can’t answer this difficult question, but I didn’t think that the example of Catholic bishops was very important for us! No matter how they ride–their way, and ours–own way<выделено мной. А.Н.-С.> ” (6, 539 – 540).

The Protestant heresy, at the head of which are “special teachers of the faith, having the image of godliness, but rejecting its forces, diving into houses and captivating women, always becoming more and more powerful and never come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3, 5 - 7) xi Publication date: 14.05.2013

The ideological and aesthetic originality of the work of Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov (1831 - 1895) is primarily determined by the religious and moral foundations of the writer's worldview. Involved in the priestly family, raised in an Orthodox religious environment, with which he was connected by heredity, genetically, Leskov invariably strove for the truth preserved by the Russian paternal faith. The writer ardently advocated for the restoration of "the spirit that befits a society that bears the name of Christ." He declared his religious and moral position directly and unequivocally: "I respect Christianity as a teaching and I know that it contains the salvation of life, and I do not need everything else."

The theme of spiritual transformation, the restoration of the “fallen image” (according to the Christmas motto: “Christ is born before the fallen restore the image”) especially worried the writer throughout his entire career and found vivid expression in such masterpieces as "Cathedrals" (1872), "Imprinted Angel" (1873), "On the edge of the world"(1875), in the cycle "Christmas Stories"(1886), in stories about the righteous.

Leskovskaya story "Unbaptized Pop"(1877) did not attract particularly close attention of domestic literary critics. The work was more often attributed to the genus of Little Russian "landscapes" and "genres", "full of humor or even evil, but cheerful sparkling satire." In fact, what are the episodic, but unusually colorful images of the local deacon - "a lover of choreographic art", who "cheerful feet" "grabbed in front of the guests trepaka", or the unlucky Cossack Kerasenko: he was unsuccessfully trying to keep track of his "fearless autocrat" - a woman.

In foreign Leskoviana, the Italian researcher of Ukrainian origin Zhanna Petrova prepared a translation of The Unbaptized Priest and a preface to it (1993). She managed to establish connections between Leskov's story and the tradition of the Ukrainian folk district.

According to the American researcher Hugh McLane, the Little Russian background of the story is nothing more than camouflage - part of Leskov's method of "literary excuse", "multi-level disguise" wound "around the core of the author's idea." English-speaking scholars Hugh McLane and James Mackle mainly tried to approach the work "through the Protestant spectrum", believing that "The Unbaptized Pop" is a vivid demonstration of Leskov's Protestant views, who, in their opinion, since 1875, "decisively moves towards pro-testantism.

However, one should not exaggerate the writer's attention to the spirit of Western religiosity. On this occasion, Leskov spoke quite definitely in the article "Caricature Ideal" in 1877 - at the same time when the "Unbaptized Pop" was created: "It is not good for us to seek faith in German". The writer made a lot of efforts, speaking with a call for religious tolerance, in order to "dispose the minds and hearts of compatriots to gentleness and respect for the religious freedom of everyone", but he was of the opinion that "it is more original, warmer, more hopeful."

According to the exact word of the researcher, Leskov showed a "brilliant instinct for Orthodoxy", in which faith is "heartened" by love for God and "inexpressible knowledge" received in the spirit. As for Protestantism, “it generally removes the problem and the need for an internal invisible battle with sin, aims a person at external practical activity as the main content of his being in the world.” A significant moment in Leskov's essay "Russian secret marriage"(1878), when an Orthodox priest gives a “sinful” woman hope for God’s forgiveness, reminding that he is not a Catholic priest who could reproach her, and not a Protestant pastor who would be horrified and despair from her sin.

In connection with the objectives of this article, it is important to clarify from what position the writer draws the fate of his heroes, their way of thinking, deeds; how it interprets the essence of the human personality and the universe. “An incredible event”, “a legendary event” - as the author defined his story in the subtitle - also has a paradoxical name - “Unbaptized pop”. It is no coincidence that Andrei Nikolaevich Leskov, the writer's son, defined this title as surprisingly "bold". At a superficial dogmatic view, it may seem that the “anti-baptismal motive”, the rejection of church sacraments, is declared here. This is the opinion of Hugh McLane.

However, such a subjective interpretation is opposed by the objective truth of the entire artistic and semantic content of the work, which continues the development of the theme stated by Leskov earlier in the stories. "On the edge of the world"(1875) and "The Sovereign Court"(1877), - the theme of the need for baptism is not formal (“In Christ we are baptized, but we are not clothed”), but spiritual, entrusted to God's will.

The hidden meaning of Orthodoxy is determined not only by the catechism. It is also "a way of life, worldview and worldview of the people." It is in this non-dogmatic sense that Leskov considers “a real, albeit improbable event”, which has received “among the people the character of a completely finished legend;<...>and to trace how a legend is formed is no less interesting than to penetrate "how history is made."

Thus, aesthetically and conceptually, Leskov combines reality and legend, which are melted into an eternally new reality of the historical and superhistorical, like the "fullness of times" commanded in the Gospel.

A similar sacred time with unusual forms of flow is inherent in the poetics of Gogol's "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka" and, in particular, in the Christmas masterpiece "Christmas Eve". The Christian holiday is shown as a peculiar state of the whole world. The Little Russian village, where Christmas time is celebrated, at night around Christmas becomes, as it were, the center of the whole wide world: "in almost all the world, and on the other side of Dikanka, and on this side of Dikanka."

Gogol cannot be adequately understood outside the church tradition, the patristic heritage, and Russian spirituality in general. Leskov is one of the Russian classics closest to Gogol in spirit. According to his confession, he recognized Gogol as a "kindred soul." Gogol's artistic heritage was a living inspirational landmark for Leskov, and in the story "The Unbaptized Pop" this tradition is quite distinguishable - not only and not so much in recreating the Little Russian flavor, but in understanding the individual and the universe through the New Testament prism. Both Gogol and Leskov never parted with the Gospel. “You can’t invent anything higher than what is already in the Gospel,” said Gogol. Leskov was in solidarity with this idea and developed it: "The Gospel contains everything, even that which is not." “The only way out of society from the current situation is the Gospel”, - Gogol prophetically asserted, calling for the renewal of the entire system of life on the basis of Christianity. "A well-read Gospel" helped, according to Leskovsky, to finally understand "where the truth is."

The core of the artistic understanding of the world in the story is the New Testament, in which, according to Leskov, “the deepest meaning of life". The New Testament concept determined the leading principle in the formation of the Christian spatio-temporal organization of the story, which is based on events dating back to the gospel. Among them, the Orthodox holidays of Christmas, Epiphany, Resurrection, Transfiguration, Assumption are especially noted. The gospel context is not only given, but also implied in the super-fable reality of the work.

The intricate story of the incidental case of the “unbaptized priest” unfolds slowly under Leskov’s pen, like a scroll of an ancient chronicler, but in the end the story takes on “the character of an entertaining legend of recent origin.”

The life of the Little Russian village of Paripsy (the name is perhaps a collective one: it is also often found in modern Ukrainian toponymy) appears not as a closed isolated space, but as a special state of the universe, where battles between Angels and demons unfold in the hearts of people from eternity, between good and evil.

The first fifteen chapters of the story are built according to all the canons of the Christmas genre with its indispensable archetypes of a miracle, salvation, gift. The birth of a baby, snow and blizzard confusion, a guiding star, "the laughter and cry of Christmas" - these and other Christmas motives and images, dating back to the gospel events, are present in Leskov's story.

In the birth of the boy Savva to elderly childless parents, the commanded in the Gospel “hope beyond hope” is revealed. The Lord does not allow a believer to despair: even in the most hopeless circumstances, there is hope that the world will be transformed by God's grace. So, Abraham "believed beyond hope with hope, through which he became the father of many nations<...>And, being not exhausted in faith, he did not think that his body, almost a hundred years old, was already dead, and Sarah's womb was dead" (Rom. 4: 18, 19), "Therefore, it was reckoned to him as righteousness. And yet, not in relation to him alone, it is written what was imputed to him, but also in relation to us ”(Rom. 4: 22-24). This Christian universality - beyond temporal and spatial boundaries - is realized in Leskov's narrative about the life of a Little Russian village.

The old rich Cossack, nicknamed Dukach - Savva's father - was not distinguished by righteousness at all. On the contrary, his nickname meant "a heavy, grumpy and impudent man", who was not loved and feared. Moreover, his negative psychological portrait is complemented by another unattractive feature - exorbitant pride - according to patristic teaching, the mother of all vices, which comes from demonic instigation. With one expressive stroke, the author emphasizes that Dukach is almost possessed by dark forces: “when they met with him, they denied it”, “he, being a very smart person by nature, lost his temper and all his mind and rushed at people like a possessed one.”

In turn, the villagers wish only evil to the formidable Dukach. Thus, everyone is in a vicious and vain circle of mutual hostility: “they thought that the sky, only due to an incomprehensible omission, would sting long ago to smash the grumpy Cossack to smithereens so that not even his giblets were left, and anyone who could, as best he could, would willingly try to correct this is an omission of Providence.

However, the miracle of God's Providence is not subject to human superstition and takes place in its own way. God gives Dukach a son. The circumstances of the birth of a boy are congenial to the atmosphere of Christmas: “on one frosty December night<...>in the sacred pangs of childbirth, a child appeared. The new tenant of this world was a boy.” His appearance: “unusually clean and beautiful, with a black head and large blue eyes” - refers to the image of the Divine Infant - the Savior who came to earth, “for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1: 21).

In Paripsy, they did not yet know that the newborn was sent into the world with a special mission: he would become a priest of their village; preaching the New Testament and an example of a good life will turn people away from evil, enlighten their minds and hearts, and turn them to God. However, in their inert vanity, people who live by passions are unable to foresee God's Providence. Even before the birth of the baby, who later became their beloved “good priest Savva”, the villagers hated him, believing that “it would be a child of the Antichrist”, “bestial deformity”. The midwife, Kerasivna, who "swearing that the child had neither horns nor a tail, was spat upon and wanted to be beaten." Also, no one wanted to baptize the son of the evil Dukach, “but the child still remained pretty, pretty, and besides, surprisingly meek: he breathed slowly, but he was ashamed to scream.”

Thus, being appears in a complex interweaving of good and evil, faith and superstition, Christian and semi-pagan ideas. However, Leskov never called for turning away from reality in the name of personal salvation. The writer was aware that being is good, and just like the Divine image in man, given to him in gift And exercise, being is not just given by the Creator, but given as co-creation: "Peace I leave you, My peace I give you"(John 14:27), says Christ, commanding the "crown of creation" to create itself. It is necessary for a person to begin this process of transformation, creation with himself.

The circumstances of the hero's baptism are providential. Since none of the respected people in the village agreed to baptize Dukachonok, the godparents of the future priest again, paradoxically, were people who seemed to be unworthy: one with outward ugliness - the lopsided "wry-necked" Agap - Dukach's nephew; the other - with a bad reputation: the midwife Kerasivna, who "was the most undoubted witch."

However, Kerasivna is not at all like the Solokha of Gogol's Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, although the jealous Cossack Kerasenko suspects his wife of intentions at times to "fly into the chimney." Her name is emphatically Christian - Christina.

The story of Christi is an independent curious short story within the main Christmas story about the circumstances of the birth and baptism of the baby Savva. Under Christmas circumstances, “in winter, in the evening, on holidays, when no Cossack, even the most jealous one, can’t sit at home,” Kerasivna managed to cunningly spend her husband with her boyfriend, a nobleman (it’s not for nothing that he is nicknamed “Rogachev nobleman”, that is, he instructs husbands "horns"). In a figurative and literal sense, the lovers planted a pig on the unlucky Cossack - a Christmas "drow", and this strengthened for Christ "such a witch's glory that from now on everyone was afraid to see Kerasivna in their house, and not just to call her godmother."

The gospel antinomy about the "first" and "the last" comes true: "the last will be the first, and the first - the last." It was these "last" people that the arrogant Dukach was forced to invite to his godfather.

On a cold December day, immediately after the departure of the godparents with the baby to the large village of Pereguda (later known to readers from Leskov’s “farewell” story “Hare Remise”), a fierce snow storm broke out. The motif of Christmas snow is a stable attribute of the poetics of Christmas literature. In this context, it acquires an additional metaphysical meaning: as if evil forces are gathering around a child, to whom everyone and without any reason wished evil in advance: “The sky from above was covered with lead; snowy dust was blowing from below, and a fierce blizzard began to blow. In metaphorical figurativeness, this is the embodiment of dark passions and evil thoughts that erupted around the event of baptism: "All the people who wished harm to Dukachev's child, seeing this, piously crossed themselves and felt satisfied." Such sanctimonious-ostentatious piety, based on superstition, is equivalent to the diabolical power "from the evil one."

The patristic legacy holds the idea that God created man and everything that surrounds him in such a way that some actions correspond to human dignity and the good order of the world, while others contradict. Man was endowed with the ability to know the good, choose it and act morally. Yielding to evil thoughts, the villagers, as it were, provoked, released the dark forces, which were played out in order to prevent the event of baptism. It is no coincidence that Leskov defines the blizzard confusion as “hell”, creating a truly infernal picture: “there was a real hell in the yard; the storm was raging violently, and it was impossible to catch one's breath in the continuous mass of snow, which shook and blew. If such was the case near dwellings, in a lull, then what was to happen in the open steppe, in which all this horror was to catch the godfathers and the child? If this is so unbearable for an adult, how much did it take to strangle a child with this? The questions were rhetorical, and, it would seem, the fate of the baby was a foregone conclusion. However, events develop according to the non-rational laws of Christmastide salvation by the miracle of God's Providence.

The child is saved on Kerasivna's chest, under a warm hare coat, "covered with that blue nanke." It is deeply symbolic that this fur coat is blue - heavenly - the color that marks God's intercession. Moreover, the baby was saved, like Christ's "in the bosom." This Orthodox hopeful image of the “Russian God, Who creates for Himself a monastery “in the bosom””, was formed by Leskov in the story “At the End of the World” - in the confession of the righteous father Kiriak, who, like the heroes of the “Unbaptized priest”, had to go through through the cold and impenetrable darkness of a snowstorm.

The peculiarity of Christmas time is “a carnival violation of the usual order of the world, a return to the original chaos so that from this confusion, as it were, a harmonious cosmos is born again, the act of creating the world is “repeated”. Metelnaya confusion and chaos in the symbolism of Christmas is inevitably transformed into the harmony of God's world order.

However, harmony is achieved only on the paths of transfiguration of fallen human nature. So, around Dukach, who is forced to admit that he has never done good to anyone, the terrifying attributes of death are gathering. Unable to find his son, he falls into terrible snowdrifts and sits for a long time in this snowy dungeon in the dusk of a snowstorm. As if the sins of his whole unrighteous life, Dukach sees only a series of "some kind of long, very long ghosts, which seemed to dance above his head and poured snow on him."

The episode of the hero's wanderings in the blizzard darkness should be interpreted in a Christian metasemantic context. The image of the cross is especially significant. Wandering in the darkness to the cemetery, Dukach stumbles upon a cross, then another, then a third. The Lord, as it were, makes the hero clearly understand that he will not escape his cross. But the "burden of the cross" is not only a burden and burden. This is the path to salvation.

At the same time, his son was being baptized in a snowstorm: the godparents, covered in a snowstorm, inscribed on the child’s forehead with melted snow water the symbol of the cross - “in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” A new Christian has been born. Blood father and son united spiritually. Both are saved from the snowy "hell" by the cross of the Heavenly Father.

Old Dukach is unaware of this for the time being. He is spiritually blind. The lost soul, entangled in the darkness for a long time, is looking for a way, its way to the light. The hero of the story still hopes to get out, having seen some kind of faint flicker through the snowstorm. However, this deceptive earthly wandering light finally knocks him off the path of life: Dukach falls into someone's grave and loses consciousness.

It was necessary to go through this test in order for the world to be transformed from chaos to a harmonious cosmos. Waking up, the hero saw the world, reborn, renewed: “It is completely quiet around him, and above him the sky turns blue and there is a star.” In the New Testament context, the Bethlehem guiding star showed the Magi the way to the Christ Child. So Dukach found his son. For the old sinner, the heavenly light of truth gradually began to open: “the storm noticeably subsided, and the sky began to shine.”

At the same time, Leskov rightly shows that people who are not firm in faith are not able to free themselves from semi-pagan ideas. The dukach, who accidentally fell into someone's grave, is persuaded by his wife to make a sacrifice to God - to kill at least a sheep or a hare in order to protect himself from the consequences of an unkind sign. There is a profanation, as in a distorted mirror, the performance of the Christian rite in a pagan way: the “necessary” sacrifice is the accidental murder of the unrequited orphan Agap, who was sent to baptize the child and swept up in snow. Only his fur hat made of smushki - lamb's wool, which Dukach mistook for a hare, stuck out of the snowdrift. So, along with the image of the downtrodden Agap, the Christmas motif of an orphan child enters the narrative, as well as a peculiar phenomenon of Christmas literature, called “the laughter and crying of Christmas”. Agap in a sheep's hat unwittingly played the role of a traditional sacrificial animal, an uncomplaining "lamb of God" given to the slaughter.

The problem of understanding the horror of sin and deep repentance is posed very sharply in the story. Repentance is considered "the door that brings a person out of darkness and into the light", into a new life.

According to the New Testament, life is constantly being renewed and changed, although for a person this may be unexpected and unpredictable. So, we see a completely new Dukach, a new Kerasivna, not at all like the former valiant Cossack girl, but quiet, humble; internally renewed villagers. Everything that happened for Dukach served as a “terrible lesson”, “and Dukach took it perfectly. Having served his formal repentance, after five years of absence from home, he came to Paripsi as a very kind old man, confessed his pride to everyone, asked for forgiveness from everyone and again went to the monastery where he repented by court decision.

Savva's mother vowed to dedicate her son to God, and the child "grew up under the roof of God and knew that no one would take him from His hands." In church service, Father Savva is a real Orthodox priest, wise and sympathetic to his parishioners, and not a conductor of Protestant ideas in the Russian church (as he is seen by English-speaking researchers). Leskov emphasizes: “around his village there was a shtund<христианское движение, берущее начало в протестантизме немецких эмигрантов на Украине. А.Н.-C.>, and in his small church is still full of people ... ". The way of thinking of Lesk's heroes is determined by the traditions of the Orthodox worldview, and this determines the ideological and artistic originality of the story.

As folk wisdom says: "What is the pop - such is the arrival." Even when the secret of Savva’s baptism was revealed and a terrible commotion arose among the parishioners: if their priest is not baptized, whether marriages, christenings, communions are valid - all the sacraments performed by him, nevertheless, the Cossacks “do not want another priest while their good Savva is alive” . The bishop resolves the confusion: even though the rite of baptism was not completed in its entire “form”, however, the godparents “with the melting water of that cloud wrote a cross on the baby’s face in the name of the Holy Trinity. What else do you need?<...>And you, lads, be without a doubt: your priest Savva, which is good for you, is good for me, and is pleasing to God.

One should agree with the position of the Italian scholar Piero Cazzola that Savva belongs to the Leskian type of righteous clergy along with Archpriest Saveliy Tuberozov in The Cathedrals and Archbishop Nil in the story At the End of the World.

The most important for Leskov is the idea of ​​life-creation, life-building in a harmonious synthesis of the secular and the sacred. In the Christian model of the world, a person is not in the power of a pagan "blind chance" or an ancient "fatum", but in the power of Divine Providence. The writer constantly turned his gaze to faith, the New Testament: Keep the light imate