Ludmila Ivanovna Zhurova,
Doctor of Philology, Institute of History of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Consolatory Epistles in the Russian Ecclesiastical Publicism of the 16th Century
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2022-2-1
An attempt is made to find approaches to determining the immanent signs of the consolatory epistles of ecclesiastical authors of the 16th century. The object of this study are the epistolary writings of Daniel, Metropolitan of Moscow, Theodosius, Bishop of Novgorod, who represented the Volokolamsk school of the writing tradition, and the venerable monk of the Russian Orthodox Church from the Mount of Athos, Maximus the Greek. The addressees’ grief leads the authors of the epistles to make highly empathic statements. Traditional means of consolation are the words of sympathy with the mourning person, a pastoral admonition that hardships and trials are sent for the good of the mourner and that they should be accepted with humility. Such means also included examples of the deeds of the Biblical heroes, the saints who went through great calamities in meekness and patience. Consolation is combined with admonition. The consolatory epistles of Daniel are collected in a manuscript of the 1560s (RNL. Q.I.1439). The headlines are written by the editor and reflect his perception (as a reader) of the author’s text. The consolatory strategy of the Metropolitan is based on acceptance of the theological concepts of the Teachers of the Church, but his words of compassion are filled with asceticism and didacticism. Ethical admonitions to a mourning person are close to the theological principles of Blessed Theodorite of Cyrrhus. Even more pragmatic are the epistles of Theodosius of Novgorod. The consolatory epistles of Maximus the Greek are preserved in the Rumyantsev Collection of the middle of the 16th century and in the manuscripts of the Solovets Collection of the end of the 16th century. They have no titles and begin with the prescript. Representing the original variant of the author’s text, these epistolary writings convey the writer’s intention better. Consolation as compassion, empathy, commiseration and appeasement of the yearning heart comply with the teaching of Theophylact of Bulgaria. The important features of the consolatory conversation of Maximus the Greek with a mourner include a reference to the Holy Scripture as the source of Gid’s design (“Savior enlightened me to write such consolation”), the variety of the ways of consolation, emotional coloring of speech and personal presence of the author who suffers from disasters himself but calls upon patience and humility. An important feature of the behavioral tactics of monk Maximus the Greek was his aspiration to approach the addressee and return to him with the new words of encouragement. The Holy Monk from the Mount of Athos reverted to consolatory motifs in the other genres of his creative works, too.
Publishing: 28/04/2022
The article has been received by the editor on 23.01.2022
How to cite: Zhurova L.I. Consolatory Epistles in the Russian Ecclesiastical Publicism of the 16th Century // Historical Courier, 2022, No. 2 (22), pp. 11–26. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2022/ISTKURIER-2022-2-01.pdf]
Links: Issue 2 2022
Keywords: consolatory epistle, ecclesiastical publicism of the 16th century, Metropolitan Daniel, Bishop Theodosius of Novgorod, monk Maximus the Greek