The Problems of Hagiography in the Spiritual Periodicals of Siberia in the Early 20th Century

The article discusses the history of creation in Siberia of projects of two hagiographical miscellanies - New Holy Russian Paterikon (1912) in Tobolsk and Siberian Paterikon (1916) in Omsk. The belonging of these phenomena to an important spiritual tradition of Siberian hagiography which developed in the country in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries - the wide spread of so-called “Russian Paterikons” in Russia - is substantiated. The factors of church-social and cultural life of Russia in the beginning of the 20th century which determined the appearance of these projects are identified. The factors were: the publication of The Lives of the Saints in Russian told on the basis of the Great Menaion Reader by Saint Dmitry of Rostov with a supplement from The Prologue (Books 1-12. Moscow, 1902-11) by the Moscow Synodal Printing House and the canonization of Siberian prelates John Maximovich, Metropolitan of Tobolsk, and Sophronius Kristalevsky, Bishop of Irkutsk. The publications of Tobolsk, Tomsk, Irkutsk and Omsk eparchy gazettes that reflected the development of the new ideas (advertisements, reviews, the Siberian Paterikon project and the correspondence accompanying it, the response of Siberian eparchies' clergy to the appearance of the plans of the miscellanies and of the miscellanies themselves, etc.) are analyzed. The role of the organizers and executors of the projects in the creation of the Paterikons is emphasized. The views of Siberian spiritual writers on the problem of hagiography as a traditional genre in the conditions of a revolutionary crisis and the value of Siberian Paterikon as a factor consolidating the Orthodox population of Siberia are analyzed for the first time. The hypotheses are expressed of the transformation of Siberian Paterikon into a general Siberian project and of its possible influence on the development of Siberian hagiography in the Soviet period, as evidenced, in particular, by the long-term fruitful activities of Metropolitan Varfolomey (Gorodtsev), Archimandrite Innokentiy (Prosvirnin), Archpriests B.I. Pivovarov and A.I. Dmitruk, and others.

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