The Monastery in the Life and Work of I. S. Shmelev

Abstract

The main purpose of the study is to reveal the signi cance of the monastery in the life and work of Ivan Sergeevich Shmelev, as well as to show the signi cance of personal communication with monastics, including St. Barnabas of Gethismane, in the fate of the writer. The comparative-historical method and the method of philological analysis are used in the work. To achieve this goal, the biography of the writer, works of art by I. S. Shmelev, in which there are images of the monastery and monastics, especially the Monk Barnabas of Gethsemane, in particular the novels Love Story, The Summer of the Lord, Ways of Heaven, the story Praying Man, essays At the Elder Barnabas, Ascetics and other. The most important results of the study: in the life of I. S. Shmelev, the Orthodox monastery occupied the most important place: all the most signi cant moments of the writer's life (marriage, choice of life path, death) are directly related to the monastery. Monastic motifs permeate almost all of his signi cant works, and the images of ascetic monks stand at the very top of his artistic and poetic Tabor. The monastery performs important functions in the artistic world of the writer. All the most signi cant and important for the fate of these heroes is somehow connected with the monastery. The monastery in the work of Shmelev and the spiritual peak, where the hero is honored with a vision of the radiance of holiness; and moral (as well as social) ideal of human community; accuser of vice and pointer to the right path. Monasteries in the artistic world of Shmelev literally «shine the world».