Information about the author:
Igor’ A. Vinogradov
Igor A. Vinogradov, DSc in Philology, Director of Research, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya 25 a, 121069 Moscow, Russia.
ORCID ID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9151-4554
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Аbstract:
The article is devoted to the study of the sources used by Gogol in his work on the book “Reflections on the Divine Liturgy” (1842–1852). It was established that, along with book publications in Church Slavonic and Russian, Gogol turned to texts, translations of which into Russian had not yet existed at that time. Various printed sources were used, such as the work of the Greek hieromonk John Nafnail, known as the Tablets; “Mysterious Interpretation of the Liturgy” by St. Simeon of Solon; “The New Tablet” by Archbishop Veniamin of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas (Rumovsky-Krasnopevkov), “Historical, Dogmatic and Mysterious Explanation of the Liturgy” by I.I. Dmitrevsky; “Reply to the Lutherans. On the Use of the Sacraments” by Patriarch Jeremiah of Constantinople; interpretation of the Liturgy of Archpriests Grigory Mansvetov and Jacob Voskresensky, article by A.N. Muravyov “On the Liturgy”; multi-volume edition of abbot J.P. Minya “The Theological Encyclopedia...”, liturgical collections of the “Euchologia”, service Menaion, Psalter, texts of the Liturgies of St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil the Great in Greek, Latin and Church Slavonic. The explanation of the liturgy of St. Herman of Constantinople in Russian, used by Gogol, was first published after Gogol’s death, in 1855. The Russian translation of St. Saint Nicholas Cabasilas, Archbishop of Thessalonica, also saw the light only in 1857. Liturgical texts (Gogol’s autographs and lists) in Greek and Latin, stored in the Gogol fund of the Russian State Library, are also described. The appendix presents for the first time the text of the Divine Liturgy from the Canons of the Apostles, translated and confirmed by the testimonies of the ancient Holy Fathers, stored in the same fund. The translation of this text into Russian, in turn, appeared in print quite late, in 1864. A study of the sources shows that Gogol to a certain extent was ahead of the liturgical studies of his time in his work on the book.
Keywords: Nikolai Gogol, Biography, Creativity, Liturgy, Interpretation, Author’s Intention, Sources, Spiritual Heritage.
