Volume 24, 2026 year

Since the 1960s, epic scholars have been of the opinion that the Orthodox images and motifs in Russian bylinas are not original, but rather relatively modern and therefore semantically external, even obfuscating the songs’ actual meaning. According to this view, Russian heroic poetry cannot preserve anything of Christian substance or any echoes of the Gospel text. Meanwhile, the axiological analysis of the epics shows that their heroes, who act in accordance with the New Testament Beatitudes, invariably triumph and emerge as victorious (as, for example, Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich, and Alyosha Popovich). By contrast, the other heroes — who are motivated by personal fame, honor tied to property and status, and similar values of the “old Adam” — break these commandments only to lose their lives (among them are, in particular, Vasily Buslaev, Dunay Ivanovich, and Sokolnik). The protagonists’ Beatitudes-guided actions form the structural foundation of Russian epic songs; they also play a plot-shaping role and are emphasized by key symbolic images of each work. This narrative pattern makes it possible to state unequivocally that the so-called “pagan” behavioral models of bylinas cannot be regarded as their most ancient semantic layer; these models were created simultaneously with the Gospel ones for reasons of ethical and aesthetic contrast. At the same time, the devaluation of non-Christian behavioral models is a functional task of the epic singer, who solves it through a logical and temporal relationship between the axiological category that motivates a hero’s action and the negative consequences of that action.

Keywords: bylinas, the Beatitudes, artistic semantics, axiological analysis, plot, motivation, Christian values, non-Christian values

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This article explores Christian symbolism in poetic nominations occurring in folklore formulas and notes the artistic transformation of traditional cultural meanings associated with Christian symbols. This semantic shift follows the laws of epic poetics: it corresponds to the content and ideological and artistic essence of the genre, as well as the entire concept of Russian heroism. The identified re-semantisation enriches Christian symbols with new axiological meanings, allowing them to be used in different contexts. For example, in the epic picture of the world, the biblical toponym “Jerusalem” — the major pilgrimage destination — is used in folklore formulas in conjunction with another toponym, “Tsar’grad” (“Constantinople”), also the center of the Christian world, to describe virtuoso gusli playing and the high quality of fabric; the “hat/cap/helmet of the Greek land” is the headdress of wandering Kalikas and the weapon with which a hero defeats his enemy; “The Latyr Stone,” located on a mountain with biblical names (Tabor and Zion), is a sacred center associated with the name of Jesus Christ and also represents the place of the adventure and death of Vasily Buslaev, and a stone standing at a crossroads with prophetic inscriptions; “The Levanid Cross” is a miraculous cross that allows one to see the future and also signifies a famous prestigious place of residence. New meanings of Christian symbols expressing a high appreciation of various phenomena and objects, representing the traditional ideals and values of the people, participate in the creation of an ideal epic world in the bylina. Thus, Christian symbolism, with its sacred significance, plays an important role in the Russian epic: it serves to idealise the epic picture of the world.

Keywords: Christian symbol, poetic nomination, folklore formula, toponym, oronym, petronym, theonym, chrematonym, connotonym, epic picture of the world

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The article examines the author’s conception of N. V. Gogol’s short novel “The Nose.” It considers the characteristic features of Gogol as a writer, the artist’s views on the role of the fantastic in art, and the problems of interpreting the short novel in scholarly criticism. Numerous thematic parallels are identified between “The Nose” and other works by Gogol — the stand-alone draft “The Lantern Was Dying,” the unfinished comedy “Vladimir of the Third Degree,” the cycles of short novels “Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka” and “Mirgorod,” the “Petersburg” short novels (which include the work under analysis), “Dead Souls,” and his epistolary legacy. Important everyday realities constituting the life foundation of the short novel are enumerated, as are significant literary works of the first third of the 19th century that influenced the formation of its conception. The study of the recurring and persistent motifs in Gogol’s oeuvre reflected in “The Nose” has made it possible to identify the author’s understanding of the phenomenon underlying the fantastic content of the short novel — as an element of unmanageable desires, an “independent” (contrary to common sense) tyranny of sensual passions within man. It is emphasized that the “futility” of the incident that befell the protagonist — who returns to his former complacency — represents a vicious circle in the life of the “vulgar” everyman. The “self-willed” logic of sensuality, which leads man “by the nose,” determines not only his everyday actions but also serves as the main obstacle to his spiritual awakening.

Keywords: Nikolai Gogol, poetics, style, the fantastic, allegory, parable, realism, denunciation, typology, satire, author’s intent, interpretation, spiritual heritage

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The reception of the Gospel text in M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin’s cycle “Tales” has not been sufficiently explored in literary studies. This article examines this issue using the example of the fairy tale “The Fool” (“Durak”), in which, as in F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Idiot,” an attempt is made to artistically embody the image of a “positively beautiful person.”The fairy tale “The Fool,” genre-syncretic in nature, contains elements of a fairy tale, a novel, and a hagiographic text. The elements of hagiographic poetics are evident in the plot, which is presented as a story about an ascetic fighting against evil; in the hagiographic topoi (the principle of imitatio Christi, the motifs of pious parents, trials and temptations, and pilgrimage). The hero’s actions embody the Gospel imperatives, particularly the principle of kenosis — Christian self-emptying. However, the hagiographic layer of the fairy tale is obscured by the satirical modе and the gap between the narrative subject (the intratextual narrator) and the implicit author. In the fairy tale’s parodic world, some hagiographic motifs are reduced and travestied, but they still retain their semantic significance. The use of hagiographic and Gospel discourse appears to stem from the author’s desire to distance himself as much as possible from concrete details, turning instead to “timeless universal principles” in his portrayal of the protagonist. The protagonist, associated with the archetype of the Christian righteous man, is presented in a generalized, symbolic manner. The Gospel connotations of “The Fool” help to clarify the place of the Gospel text within the “Tales” cycle: the similarity of themes and the recurrence of conflicts in “The Christmas Tale” and “The Fool” allow us to speak of recurring motifs from the Gospel text in the writer’s work.

Keywords: M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, “Tales”, “The Fool”, “The Christmas Tale”, Gospel text, hagiographic topoi, genre, fairy tale, image, hero

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This article explores the philosophical and religious foundations of P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky’s dilogy “In the Forests” and “On the Mountains,” which embodies the triad of “Law, Iniquity, and Grace.” The author demonstrates how the Old Believers’ scrupulous adherence to the letter of the Law leads to Iniquity, and then to apostasy, which manifests itself in stages: first in the destruction of family and monastery, and then in the loss of Grace by the human soul, ultimately leading the heroes of the dilogy to death. The stages of apostasy can be traced by observing the annual cycle of holidays, in the descriptions of which there is an opposition between pagan and Christian principles. Key to understanding the dilogy are the descriptions of Epiphany, Trinity, St. Peter’s Day, the Dormition, and, finally, Easter. The depiction of Christian holidays, accompanied by family feasts that, however, do not unite but divide people, makes it possible to trace the gradual cooling of feelings, the transition from Grace to a proud, legalistic observance of the rule, and then to a person's complete departure from God — a person confident in his own infallibility and enslaved by passions. Apostasy manifests itself bothin a person’s desire to go beyond the boundaries of the home or monastery (the wedding by elopement, Alexei and Dunya’s departure from home), and in the careless attitude of people busy with household chores toward prayer, and in the appearance of images of demons in the neatly decorated Old Believer homes. The novel shows how light struggles with darkness, pleasing to Yar-Khmel, who sows temptations. The loss of Grace and the departure from God can be traced in the fates of Alexei, Yakim Stukolov, and Dunya Smolokurova. However, Melnikov-Pechersky shows the ways in which the heroes can overcome apostasy and attain Grace through repentance, and above all through love of one's neighbor and sobornost unity.

Keywords: Melnikov-Pechersky, “In the Forests”, “On the Mountains”, apostasy, family, Law, Iniquity, Grace, Epiphany, Easter, Trinity, Dormition, conciliar unity

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This article attempts to demonstrate the spiritual and aesthetic unity and diversity of 19th-century Russian literary classics, using Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov’s treatment of the theme of “resurrection” as an example. It shows that this theme was shaped not merely through mutual reference but through the constant, intense dialogue between these writers. Thus, “The Idiot” and “The Adolescent” were written not only in “artistic polemic” with Tolstoy but also contain rather clear allusions to his personality. In turn, Chekhov’s “My Life” drew partly on Tolstoyanism and on chapters of “Resurrection,” which he had heard Tolstoy himself read, and partly on imagery from Dostoevsky’s novel “The Idiot.” In “Resurrection,” Tolstoy apparently drew not only on “The Idiot,” but also on Dostoevsky’s “The Adolescent,” and in the final version of the novel may also have taken into account Chekhov’s “My Life.” Moreover, in addressing the theme of “resurrection,” not only Tolstoy but even, paradoxically. Chekhov largely follows Dostoevsky. Thus, the spiritual and aesthetic unity of Russian literary classics of the second half of the 19th century, while of course not presupposing a unity of worldview, signifies a unity of the semantic spiritual field within which an intense dialogue and debate unfolds, and in which there is a closeness of aesthetic foundations linked to shared notions of the goals and purposes of art.

Keywords: Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, “Idiot”, “The Adolescent”, “Resurrection”, “My Life”, novel, short novel, literary prototype, pretext, intertextual ties

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This article presents the results of a comparative analysis and interpretation of Moscow reminiscences from Alexander Ostrovsky’s comedy “What You Seek, You Shall Find  (The Marriage of Balzaminov)” (subtitled “Scenes of Moscow Life”) in F. M. Dostoevsky’s novels “The Idiot” and “Demons.” These reminiscences fulfill an important plot-ideological function in these works, which are genetically linked on specific grounds. Specifically, this refers to the image of the Moscow matchmaker in Ostrovsky’s play, noted by Dostoevsky and perceived, along with other images and motifs, in the autobiographical and historical-literary context of debates about realism. From this perspective, the significance of Ostrovsky’s comedy extends beyond simply being a source of hidden reminiscences. Dostoevsky’s freely reinterpreted version of the comic marriage plot reveals a significant aesthetic divergence from Ostrovsky, essentially a hidden polemic with him, reflecting the evolution of the novelist’s literary views. While retaining all the key elements of the comic plot, Dostoevsky transforms it in a tragic vein. The result is an “expansion” of the meaning of the formula “with money we can live without reason” and a gradual change in its structural and compositional function. While in Ostrovsky’s play this formula is final, in Dostoevsky it marks the key issue of the hero’s ethical freedom and the tragedy of its loss, playing a significant role in shaping the “Moscow text” of his novels.

Keywords: Alexander Ostrovsky, “The Marriage of Balzaminov”, Fyodor Dostoevsky, “The Idiot”, “Demons”, reminiscences, plot determinism, “Moscow text”

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The article analyzes Anna Dostoevskaya’s explanatory notes to Fyodor Dostoevsky’s letters to her (1866–1880). The theoretical part examines the history of scholarly commentary in Russia and approaches to distinguishing between “notes” (primechaniya) and “commentaries” — from formal criteria (length, placement) to functional ones (reference vs. research function). It is noted that most scholars do not draw a strict distinction between these concepts. The main part of the article is based on a comparison of two archival versions of Anna Dostoevskaya’s explanatory notes. The first version is held in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art and was published in 1926; the second, from the Manuscript Department of the Russian State Library, remains unpublished in its entirety. It has been established that the second version was created later, contains more explanations, features a more thoughtful structure, and should be taken into account in future reprints of the correspondence. Dostoevskaya’s notes reveal not only the image of Dostoevsky as a husband and father, but also the personality of the compiler herself. They present previously unknown biographical details: the true reason for the writer's anger at the janitor, his passion for giving elegant gifts and his refined taste, his slowness and pedantry when packing for trips, the genuine cause of domestic “disorder,” and others. Anna appears as a woman who balanced between her husband's demand for complete frankness and concern for his health, who kept silent about troubles, and who was capable of self-reflection and honest dialogue with descendants. Although the compiler herself defined the genre of her explanatory notes as “notes” (primechaniya), their genre nature is dual. Some of them correspond to the classical note (a brief reference, explanation of a specific passage), while others, occupying up to four pages, approach an extended commentary-memoir, containing a coherent narrative, psychological characterization, and evaluation of events. This allows us to speak of the formation of a special synthetic genre — the “writer’s wife’s notes” — where the auxiliary apparatus turns into an independent memoir-biographical narrative.

Keywords: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Anna Dostoevskaya, notes, commentaries, epistolary genre, memoir narrative, family chronicle, scholarly biography

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The article is devoted to a little-studied aspect of the creative dialogue between Fyodor Dostoevsky and Ivan Goncharov — the intertextual connections between the “Notes from Underground”(1864) and the novel “Oblomov” (1859). At the center of the study is a recurring detail of the characters’ external appearance — the dressing gown (khalat) — which for the first time is examined not merely as an element of domestic description but as a semantic and plot marker. Dostoevsky’s image of the dressing gown serves as a polemical dialogue with Goncharov’s text: whereas in Goncharov, Oblomov’s dressing gown simultaneously symbolizes a connection to the “national soil” and a withdrawal from Petersburg’s European reality into an idyllic dream, in Dostoevsky this detail is transformed into a tragic symbol of the impossibility of hiding from reality. Particular attention is paid to distinguishing the functions of the dressing gown: Oblomov wraps himself in the folds of his dressing gown, trying to return to his native Oblomovka, whereas the Underground Man, by contrast, cannot wrap himself in his “little dressing gown,” which emphasizes his complete detachment from any spiritual anchor. Dostoevsky rethought Goncharov’s detail, giving it a new problematic and thematic resonance: for him, the dressing gown becomes a sign of the loss of connection with “living life,” which ultimately turns into a confrontation with reality.

Keywords: Ivan Goncharov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, “Oblomov”, “Notes from Underground”, detail, intertextual poetics, underground consciousness, national soil, dream and reality, polemical dialogue, semantics of the object, creative interconnections

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The family novel is a well-known genre of European, and later world, literature. Works by A. Pushkin, F. Dostoevsky, and L. Tolstoy were of particular importance in the evolution of the genre. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Adolescent” and Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” appeared in print at approximately the same time. Their publication began in January 1875: Dostoevsky published his novel over one year, Tolstoy over more than two years. Dostoevsky took Tolstoy’s side in the conflict with Katkov when, in May 1877, the editor of “Russkiy Vestnik” refused to print the ending of “Anna Karenina.” Dostoevsky highly valued the literary significance of the novel and the author’s genius, but did not accept his political assessments of the Russo-Turkish War. The novels of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy were an ideological genre. In “The Adolescent,” the ideologues are Arkady, Versilov, and Makar Dolgoruky; in “Anna Karenina,” it is Konstantin Levin. Arkady’s idea is mistakenly presented as the “Rothschild idea.” This is a misconception of the hero and of critics. The hero’s idea has many different names: “a million,” “a corner,” “a shell,” “the game,” “women,” “a letter,” “a document,” “the university.” One can “distract oneself” from it. One can amass ‘millions” and give them to society: becoming a beggar, one would be twice as rich as Rothschild. One can accumulate nothing at all — and still be attached to the “idea.” Arkady’s idea has both a banal and an original form. What is original is the “mystery of the Idea,” which is revealed in the finale of the novel: “the university,” “man’s self-sufficiency,” the desire to depend on no one, to have dignity and honor, a sense of personality and complete freedom, to comprehend the past, present, and future of Russia. Dostoevsky and Tolstoy are often contrasted; nevertheless, the novels “The Adolescent” and “Anna Karenina” demonstrate their convergence and points of coincidence. Despite their obvious differences, the writers express a common meaning of poetry: both coincide in the main thing — in their understanding of art: Tolstoy, apparently, intuitively, Dostoevsky consciously.

Keywords: history of literature, literary criticism, poetics, Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, genre, poetics of genre, novel, Russian novel, family novel

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This article examines the historical and literary transformations of the barrel organ motif as traced through Russian poetry of the latter half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The analysis takes as its point of departure Afanasy Fet’s poem “The Organ Grinder” (1854), which establishes a new developmental trajectory for the theme: from the social depiction of an artisan towards a more profound artistic meditation on the figure of the “little man” and his “art;” and, concurrently, from a genre scene towards a lyrically inflected narrative mode (nostalgic reminiscence, affect). It is observed that, against the backdrop of the numerous Impressionist and urbanist sketches characteristic of the Silver Age, Alexander Blok’s cycle “Meshchanskoe zhit’e” (“Petty Bourgeois Life”) occupies a distinctive position, featuring a character-mask whose emotional and discursive horizon is determined by the figurative and linguistic clichés of the cruel (petty bourgeois) romance, ballads, and urban songs, including those drawn from the organ grinders’ repertoire. Allusion is here employed as a compositional device, rendering the text a cento. The study adduces biographical evidence of Blok’s sustained engagement with street performance, extending to his notation of performative variants of the popular urban romance “Kroshka” (“The Little One”), set to Fet’s poem “It Will Only Get a Little Dusk…” (1856). The subsequent phase in the evolution of the motif is marked by its transposition to a metapoetic register, as exemplified by Elena Guro’s collection “The Barrel Organ” (1909). By the close of the 1920s, concomitant with the obsolescence of the organ grinder's profession, the motif itself gradually recedes from literary usage, having notably enriched the literary topography of the Modernist and Contemporary periods.

Keywords: Afanasy Fet, Alexey Apukhtin, Alexander Blok, Silver Age’s poets, reminiscenсe, allusion, reception, urban motifs, organ grinder’s repertoire, urban romance

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The article delves into the semantics (the symbolic meanings) and motifs behind the portrayal of the Easter Cross Procession in the literary works by Anton Chekhov and Vasily Nikiforov-Volgin. In Chekhov’s short story “The Thief,” the image of the religious procession makes its initial appearance. The main character watches from the sidelines the flickering lights around the church and hears the bells ringing, but does not join the procession of believers. In this scene, the main character recalls his more prosperous past, when he was not in exile and lived well. Meanwhile, as he observes the Easter Cross Procession, he catches a glimpse of an alternative reality — a different emotional state distinct from his current worldview. In Chekhov’s “Holy Night”, participation in the Easter Cross Procession symbolizes a stage in an individual’s spiritual journey, marking a transition from illusion to strict adherence to Old Testament laws, and then to the grace offered by the New Testament. In Chekhov’s “The Bishop,” the main character’s spiritual liberation is presented as a symbolic reflection of Easter. This motif correlates with his childhood recollections of sincere faith and communal participation in religious processions. In contrast, Vasily Nikiforov-Volgin, a Russian émigré author, in his short stories “The Sun Plays” and “Bright Matins,” associates the Easter Cross Procession with key motifs: divine miracles, communal harmony and rejoicing. In the writer’s text, light imagery — especially the sun — imbues the night of Christ’s Resurrection with profound symbolic luminosity. In the story “The Road Staff,” the clergy are portrayed as wanderers traversing the country’s roads despite the persecution of the Church, on a mission to spiritually enlighten the Russian people. Whereas the short stories by Nikiforov-Volgin present the Easter Cross Procession as a central plot event that affirms the triumph of the Orthodox faith, Chekhov’s narratives shift the focus to the characters’ inner journeys. For them, the festive procession is not a culmination but a starting point — an opportunity to embark on a path of spiritual transformation.

Keywords: Easter story, religious procession, spiritual journey, Anton Chekhov, The Thief, Holy Night, The Bishop, Vasily Nikiforov-Volgin, The Sun Plays, Bright Matins, The Road Staff, semantics, literary motif, miracle, Orthodoxy

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This article analyzes a cycle of parodies titled “Love Among Old and New Writers. (A History of the Russian Novel)” by A. A. Izmailov, a well-known critic and journalist of the early 20th century. The cycle consists of a series of miniatures parodying the style of both classic authors and contemporary writers. The study focuses on the analysis of poetic devices and the sources of the parodies, as well as their compositional role within the cycle’s structure. Particular attention is paid to the growing role of comic techniques — an important part of the poetics of critic-feuilletonists aiming to reach a mass audience. Parodies of I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky, and A. P. Chekhov are examined individually; the study highlights the distinctive style of these miniatures and identifies their role and significance within the cycle’s overall design. The work also identifies the prototypes of the caricatures and traces their connection to Izmailov’s literary-critical articles (specifically the parodies of M. Gorky, M. P. Artsybashev, and A. Kamensky). Based on an analysis of Izmailov’s caricatures, the article reveals the specific characteristics of parody, which had become an important component of the evaluation of literary works in early 20th-century literary criticism, enabling critics to combine aesthetic analysis with elements of literary polemic.

Keywords: Alexander Izmailov, parody, classics, modernism, feuilleton, literary criticism, review, caricature, poetic devices

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The article analyzes the ideological and artistic conception of A. M. Remizov’s first novel “The Pond” (1901–1902, 1911, 1925), to which the writer returned throughout his life. A historical and literary analysis of the text reveals the symbolic parallelism underlying the novel. In “The Pond,” realistic autobiography, harking back to Remizov’s childhood and youth in Moscow, as well as the vicissitudes of his revolutionary activities, is interwoven with a symbolic dimension. It is based on the Christian eschatological concept of the end times and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The novel incorporates numerous quotations from the Gospels and liturgical books, as well as retellings of Old and New Testament apocrypha. According to Remizov’s symbolic interpretation of the tragic modernity of the 20th century, the world still exists in a period of religious-mythological time corresponding to the moment of completion of Jesus Christ’s earthly redemptive work, after His crucifixion and before His Resurrection. The writer’s repeated attempts to refine the text of “The Pond” and to have it republished are linked to the fundamental significance of this work for understanding A. M. Remizov’s religious and philosophical views.

Keywords: Alexey Remizov, 20th-century Russian literature, the novel "The Pond," Christian eschatology, autobiography, symbolic parallelismAlexey Remizov, 20th-century Russian literature, the novel "The Pond," Christian eschatology, autobiography, symbolic parallelism

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The article focuses on the intertextual analysis of Vladimir Bogomolov’s short novel “Ivan” (1957) and Andrey Tarkovsky’s film “Ivan’s Childhood” (1962), tracing the motifs and plots as they are inscribed in the context of Old and New Testament history. It is believed that in the realistic short novel by Bogomolov, the author’s task is to depict the war truthfully, without romanticization. The scouts’ professionalism and feat are conveyed through precise detail, a detached and objective narrative style, and clear spatio-temporal definiteness. But according to the authors, this does not exhaust the content of the short novel. The Christian basis of the Russian cultural code is manifested in Bogomolov’s focus on two themes: the sacrificial feat of three scouts (Ivan Buslov, Sergeant Katasonov and Captain Kholin) and the encounter of the narrator, Senior Lieutenant Galtsev,with three scouts as an embodiment of the idea of the sacrificial feat. The temporal characteristic — the grammatical change from the past to the present, and then back to the past — gives the encounter an existential character. The liminal space (Ivan’s ferry to the right bank of the Dnieper) acquires an eschatological dimension. The chronotope features of the short novel suggest that Bogomolov’s text unfolds in the context of the Gospel story. In contrast to Bogomolov’s text, Tarkovsky’s cinematic interpretation imbued with Christian symbolism and themes such as martyrdom and soteriological hope. The film situates its plot within the context of Old Testament history, primarily through the themes of lostparadise and war as the quintessence of fallen human nature. The authors of the article conclude that the Bogomolov-Tarkovsky dialogue serves as the basis for the emergence of reader/viewer interpretations, which are presumably underpinned by the spirit of the third author — Fyodor Dostoevsky. It is the cultural code transmitted via the intertextual references that makes it possible to interpret the plots within the framework of the New and Old Testament history.

Keywords: Vladimir Bogomolov, Andrey Tarkovsky, chronotope, motif, plot, intertext, interpretation, sacrificial feat, atonement, lost paradise, sin, Gospel context, eschatological perspective, cultural code

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This paper analyzes Mikhail Kukin’s poetic worldview, which is permeated by symbols central to the spiritual tradition of Eastern Orthodoxy and reflects a distinctive poetic sensibility and modes of perceiving the world rooted in classical poetic tradition. In “The Substance of Earth” (2015), Kukin explores personal religious experience and the relationship between the human being and God. At the same time, by incorporating Christian symbols, images, and narratives into the fabric of his poetry, he reactivates Christian tradition within the contemporary cultural context. Drawing on the poems “Istanbul,” “Ravenna,” “My Byzantium Is Perishing,” and “Peter and Paul,” thе paper examines the Christian symbolism that shapes Kukin’s poetic world. The theoretical framework of the study is based on Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of the chronotope as a form through which one enters the sphere of meaning. Particular attention is devoted to the spatiotemporal organization of the poetic text, in which historical, biblical, and liturgical images form a unified semantic system. The paper argues that the construction of the image of the City in Kukin’s poetry correlates with the symbolic meanings associated with the biblical cities of Jerusalem, Babylon, and Nineveh, as well as with the Heavenly Jerusalem. Istanbul and Ravenna are interpreted not merely as concrete historical and geographical spaces, but also as loci of Byzantine memory, spiritual decline, expectation, and possible eschatological transformation. Particular emphasis is placed on the liturgical perception of the world, through which the boundary between the sacred and the profane is transcended and earthly reality is revealed as a sign of a deeper spiritual reality. The analysis of “Peter and Paul” focuses on the poetic transformation of the New Testament narrative of Saul’s conversion and his encounter with the Apostle Peter. Christian symbolism in Mikhail Kukin’s poetry serves not a decorative but a meaning-generating function, enabling the poet to address questions of faith, memory, repentance, Divine Providence, human freedom, and eschatological hope.

Keywords: Mikhail Kukin, “The Substance of Earth”, Christian symbolism, liturgical perception of the world, chronotope, image of the City, Byzantium, Istanbul, Ravenna, Divine Providence, eschatology

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The article focuses on identifying and analyzing Gospel motifs in “Skladen” (2010), a poetry collection by the Kolomna-based poet Roman Slavatsky (1957–2021) — specifically in the sonnets included therein (the sonnet was Slavatsky’s preferred poetic form, and sonnets make up nearly half of the collection). The author of the article analyzes motifs of Gospel freedom (the sonnet “Ponomarskoe”), Christmas motifs (the sonnets “To the Artist Yevgeny Ustinov” and “To Yuri Kolesnikov”), and Easter motifs (along with the accompanying motifs of Great Lent and Palm Sunday; the sonnets “The First Week” and “Chrysanthemums”). It is shown that the Gospel motifs in Słavatsky’s sonnets are closely intertwined with Russian life, Russian cities (Moscow, Kolomna), the realities of Orthodox worship, and urban and rural landscapes, while also being linked to the dedicatee and his professional activities (painting, photography). Hence the flexibility and fluidity of the Gospel theme in the poet’s work, and its immersion in the world of modern man. The sonnets themselves are linked by the motif of revelation — a motif that can also be regarded as Gospel-derived. The article takes into account poetic parallels with the works of classic poets (Tyutchev, Nekrasov). Gospel motifs in other poems from the collection “Skladen” are briefly noted, and avenues for further study of Gospel themes in the poet’s work are outlined.

Keywords: Roman Slavatsky, “Skladen”, Gospel, revelation, motif, divine service, sonnet, addressee, Kolomna

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