The plot of Maximus the Greek in the Old Believer literary tradition

This article examines the reception within the Old Believer literary tradition of Maximus the Greek’s “Slovo o nestroyeniyakh i beschiniyakh” (“Word on Disorders and Outrages”), a work centered on the allegorical plot of a traveler’s encounter with a mysterious woman. This text served as a primary source for the prominent Old Believer writer Andrei Denisov in his sermon, “Slovo plachevno o zlostradaniyakh i skorbekh Tserkvi Khristovoy” (“Lamenting Word on the Sufferings and Sorrows of the Church of Christ”) (1720). The study identifies the stylistic, structural, and conceptual parallels and divergences between these two works. While the woman in Maximus the Greek’s work symbolizes the divine charisma of power, in Denisov’s adaptation, she represents the Old Believer Church. In both texts, the women’s lamentations serve an accusatory function, and the travelers are allusively linked to biblical prophets. conceptually, both authors ground their narratives in the idea of the “last accursed century” (“posledniy okayannyy vek”). Furthermore, the study traces the eschatological themes from the canzonas of Savonarola, which inspired Maximus the Greek, to the explicit apocalyptic imagery of the Revelation of St. John the Theologian found in Denisov’s work. Finally, the article introduces into scholarly circulation Ivan Filippov’s “Slovo o nastavnikakh Vygovskoy pustyni” (“A Word about the Teachers of the Vygovskaya Hermitage”), which further developed this eschatological interpretation of the plot.

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