Newly Found Synodics by N. V. Gogol from the Optina Desert Archive

Abstract

The archive of Optina Pustyn contains «Synodics of donors of the Moscow province» about health and repose. in which records of the commemoration of fty persons were found, made at the request of N.V. Gogol. In this article, the task is to publish the identi ed sources and attribute the persons whom the writer recorded for commemoration. To implement the task, paleographic and historical-critical analysis of sources was carried out using methods of comparative analysis, systematization and critical interpretation. During the second visit to the Optina Desert (June 2-3, 1851), N. V. Gogol wrote down the names of relatives and close people to be recorded in the«Memorial of Health» and «Memorial of Repose». At the end of the article, the commemorations and comments of the publisher are published for the rst time. The identi ed and published sources are of great importance for modern Gogol studies and characterize the spiritual portrait of the writer.