TRANSFORMATION OF HAGIOGRAPHIC CANON IN THE MENAION VITA OF JOSEPH VOLOTSKY: ON THE ISSUE OF “JOSEPHITE” TOPICS

JATS XML:

XML
BibTEX:

BIB
Research Information Systems Citation Format:

RIS
Category: Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature: Issue 23
Full text:

PDF
Abstract:

The article examines the transformation of hagiographic canon in the menaion vita of Joseph Volotsky: on the issue of “Josephite” topics. In the 16th century, the scribes of the Volokolamsk Monastery, the disciples of St. Joseph Volotsky, conducted a fierce polemic both with “non-possessors” and with representatives of other major monastic corporations in Russia: the Trinity-Sergius and Cyril-Belozersky monasteries. Within the framework of this polemic, the Josephite scribes created a significant body of texts that reflected those issues that were related to the activities of Joseph Volotsky and especially worried contemporaries: problem of relationship between Church and state, right of monasteries to land ownership, need for physical punishment of heretics, conflict of the Volokolamsk abbot with Archbishop Serapion of Novgorod. In an effort not only to substantiate and develop the views of their teacher, but also to achieve the canonization of Abbot Joseph, the Volokolamsk scribes formed their own book tradition, supported by the relevant topic, which is found both in the Life (Vita) of Joseph Volotsky, and in the Life (Vita) of Paphnutius Borovsky, the teacher of the Volotsky abbot. In addition, the Volokolamsk paterik and the lives of famous Josephite saints: Cassian the Barefoot and Photius of Volotsky are involved in the analysis. The task of the work is to analyze exactly those toposmotifs that can be attributed to the Josephite book tradition.
Keywords: Joseph Volotsky, menaion Life (Vita) of Joseph Volotsky, Josephites, Paphnutius Borovsky, Volokolamsk pateric, Joseph-Volotsky Monastery, “non-possessors,” Old Russian literary topics, Old Russian hagiography of the 16th century.
Author: Igor E. Ivanov
Information about the author:

Igor E. Ivanov, Master’s student, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Philological Faculty, 1st housing, Leninskie gory, GSP-1, 119991 Moscow, Russia.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-8192-2589

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
For citation:

Ivanov, I.E. “Ttransformation of Hagiographic Canon in the Menaion Vita of Joseph Volotsky: on the Issue of ‘Josephite’ Topics.” Germenevtika drevnerusskoi literatury [Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature]. Issue 23. Ed.-in-chief O.A. Tufanova. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2024, pp. 245–262. (In Russian) https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2024-23-245-262 
EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/FTFGQO
UDC: 821.161.1.0
Publication Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2024-23-245-262
Received: 12.12.2023
Approved after reviewing: 19.02.2024
Date of publication: 17.09.2024

REFERENCES

1 Averintsev, S.S. “Vizantiia i Rus’: dva tipa dukhovnosti” [“Byzantium and Rus: Two Types of Spirituality”]. Averintsev, S.S. Drugoi Rim: izbrannye stat’i [Another Rome: Selected Articles]. St. Petersburg, Amfora. TID Amfora Publ., 2005, pp. 315–365. (In Russian)

2 Alekseev, A.I. Religioznye dvizheniia na Rusi poslednei treti XIV — nachala XVI v.: ctrigol’niki i zhidovstvuiushchie [Religious Movements in Russia on the Last Third of 14th — the Early 16th Centuries: “strigolniki” and “zhidovstvuyuschie”]. Moscow, Indrik Publ., 2012. 560 p. (In Russian)

3 Alekseev, A.I. Sochineniia Iosifa Volotskogo v kontekste polemiki 1480–1510-kh gg. [Writings of Joseph Volotsky in the Context of Polemics of the 1480s–1510s]. St. Petersburg, Rossiiskaia natsional’naia biblioteka Publ., 2010. 390 p. (In Russian)

4 Val’denberg, V.E. Drevnerusskie ucheniia o predelakh tsarskoi vlasti: Ocherki russkoi politicheskoi literatury ot Vladimira Sviatogo do kontsa XVII veka [Old Russian Teachings on the Limits of Tsarist Power: Essays of Russian Political Literature from Vladimir the Saint to the End of the 17th Century]. Moscow, Izdatel’skii dom Territoriia budushchego Publ., 2006. 368 p. (In Russian)

5 Gudziy, N.K. Istoriia drevnei russkoi literatury [History of Early Russian Literature]. Moscow, Aspekt Press Publ., 2002. 589 p. (In Russian)

6 Zolotukhina, N.M. Iosif Volotskii [Joseph Volotsky]. Moscow, Iuridicheskaia literatura Publ., 1981. 96 p. (In Russian)

7 Kazakov, A.A. Zhitiia Iosifa Volotskogo serediny XVI veka kak istochnik po istorii rannego iosiflianstva [The Lives of Joseph Volotsky in the Middle of the 16th Century as a Source for the History of Early Josephism]. PhD Thesis in History. Moscow, 2019. 273 p. (In Russian)

8 Kazakov, A.A. Iosif Volotskii: ot agiograficheskogo povestvovaniia k nauchnoi biografii. [Joseph Volotsky: from Hagiographic Narrative to Scientific Biography]. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tsentr gumanitarnykh initsiativ Publ., 2022. 292 p. (In Russian)

9 Kazakova, N.A. Vassian Patrikeev i ego sochineniia [Vassian Patrikeev and His Writings]. Moscow, Leningrad, AS USSR Publ., 1960. 357 p. (In Russian)

10 Kalugin, V.V. Andrei Kurbskii i Ivan Groznyi: (Teoreticheskie vzgliady i literaturnaia tekhnika drevnerusskogo pisatelia) [Andrei Kurbsky and Ivan the Terrible: (Theoretical Views and Literary Technique of the Ancient Russian Writer)]. Moscow, Iazyki russkoi kul’tury Publ., 1998. 416 p. (In Russian)

11 Karavashkin, A.V. Literaturnyi obychai Drevnei Rusi (XI–XVII vv.) [Literary Custom of Old Russia (11th–17th Centuries)]. 2nd ed., exp. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tsentr gumanitarnykh initsiativ Publ., 2018. 720 p. (In Russian)

12 Kartashev, A.V. Ocherki po istorii Russkoi Tserkvi [Essays on the History of Russian Church], vol. I. Moscow, Berlin, Direkt-Media Publ., 2020. 571 p. (In Russian)

13 Kirillin, V.M. “Sotsial’nye vozzreniia prepodobnogo Iosifa Volotskogo” [“Social Views of St. Joseph Volotsky”]. Drevniaia Rus’. Voprosy medievistiki, no. 4 (62), 2015, pp. 44–50. (In Russian)

14 Kliuchevskii, V.O. Drevnerusskie zhitiia kak istoricheskii istochnik [Old Russian Lives of Saints as a Historical Source]. Moscow, Tipografiia Gracheva i K. Publ., 1871. 472 p. (In Russian)

15 Koniavskaia, E.L. “Problema obshchikh mest v drevneslavianskikh literaturakh (na materiale agiografii)” [“Problem of Common Places in Old Slavic Literatures (Based on Hagiography)”]. Ruthenica, vol. 3, 2004, pp. 80–92. (In Russian)

16 Manokhin, A.A. “Novgorodskie zlye eresi” kontsa XV veka [“Novgorod Evil Heresies” of the End of the 15th Century]. Moscow, Kvadriga Publ., 2023. 462 p. (In Russian)

17 Pliguzov, A.I. Polemika v russkoi tserkvi pervoi treti XVI stoletiia [Polemics in the Russian Church of the First Third of the 16th Century]. Moscow, Kvadriga Publ., 2017. 420 p. (In Russian)

18 Pliguzov, A.I. Prepodobnyi Iosif Volotskii: Poslaniia, “Prosvetitel’”, zhitiia [St. Joseph Volotsky: Epistles, “The Enlightener,” Lives]. Moscow, Kvadriga Publ., 2020. 311 p. (In Russian)

19 Prutskov, N.I. (ed.) Istoriia russkoi literatury [History of Russian Literature], vol. 1. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1980, pp. 185–290. (In Russian)

20 Rudi, T.R. “Topika russkikh zhitii: (Voprosy tipologii)” [“Topic of Russian Lives: (Questions of Typology)”]. Russkaia agiografiia: Issledovaniia. Publikatsii. Polemika. St. Petersburg, Dmitrii Bulanin, 2005, pp. 59–101. (In Russian)

21 Stroev, P.M. Spiski ierarkhov i nastoiatelei monastyrei Rossiiskoi tserkvi [Lists of Hierarchs and Abbots of Monasteries of the Russian Church]. St. Petersburg, Tipografiia V.S. Balasheva Publ., 1877. 1034 p. (In Russian)

22 Usachev, A.S. “Pochemu zakonchilas’ ‘volokolamskaia gegemoniia’ v Russkoi Tserkvi XVI v.?” [“Why Did the ‘Volokolamsk hegemony’ End in the Russian Church of the 16th Century?”]. Rossiiskaia istoriia, no. 5, 2017, pp. 97–113. (In Russian)

23 Fedotov, G.P. Sviatye Drevnei Rusi [Saints of Old Russia]. Moscow, Moskovskii rabochii Publ., 1990. 269 p. (In Russian)

24 Bushkovitch, Paul. Religion and Society in Russia: The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. New York, Oxford Publ., 1992. 278 p. (In English)