научная статья по теме The composition of the lives of Passion-bearers Биология

Текст научной статьи на тему «The composition of the lives of Passion-bearers»

DOI: 10.12731/wsd-2014-9.2-8 UDC 81

the composition of the lives of passion-bearers

Itskovich T.v.

The study is focused on the composition of the lives of Passion-bearers and looks at its characteristic elements. The saint title of a Passion-bearer presupposes certain structural elements in the text of their life, which are determined by the type of the saint's spiritual endeavor.

Keywords: genre, text, text category, the composition, the subject, the face of the sanctity of life, the Martyr.

категория Композиция в текстах житий страстотерпцев

ицкович т.в.

Предметом исследования является экспликация категории композиции в житиях страстотерпцев. Выявляются типичные композиционные ходы, обусловленные реализацией духовной темы. Дефиниция лика святости страстотерпец содержит композиционные элементы, определяемые типом духовного подвига святого.

Ключевые слова: жанр, текст, текстовая категория, композиция, тема, лик святости, жития, страстотерпец.

Introduction

V.V. Odintsov defined the text as a complex structure, which includes various categories (the theme and the content) and form (composition and language) and stressed that the task of the stylistic analysis is to show how the form and its completeness i.e. the structure of the text reveals the content [12, p. 35]. The composition, which is the pattern according to which the text is organized, has always been of interest in both traditional and conventional philology. In linguistics the concept of composition presupposes the division of the text into segments, which are grouped into larger clusters of information. Information within every segment and cluster is organized according to a certain principle and correlates to the information in other clusters. [1, 3]. In other words, the composition is 'a carcass of the text', where the elements are grouped according to some principle. [11, p. 178].

In contemporary linguistics of the text the idea of V.V. Vinogradov who views the composition as a 'dynamically developing content' has gained popularity [4]. The dynamic approach to the composition is close to the communicative approach, which has always been typical of rhetoric, which views the composition as the structure and the system of separate parts, which are correlated and organized in such a way as to help the author manipulate the reader's attention so that the parts are perceived as the hierarchic whole, where every element is stressed according to the degree of its importance and compliance to the communicative idea. [13]

The category of composition is closely connected with the category of the theme. While the theme is a general subject of the discussion, the conceptual core of the text and its generalized content [10], the

composition is 'the form, in which the theme is expressed and developed' [9, p.6] and the way of structuring it. The theme is divided into subtopics and a thematic 'tree' of the text is formed, which includes thematic modifications and additional elements. This is reflected in the composition with its segments, which have formal signs of their relative conceptual independence and which are at the same time integral elements of the text. The dynamic approach views such components as sequences related to the author's idea and intention to influence the reader. The category of the composition is closely connected with the category of the theme as it serves the latter.

Goal

In the genre of the lives of saints the category of composition has certain peculiarities, connected with the role of the spiritual theme in the narration. The spiritual theme is related to the saint title of the person, which in its turn depends on the events the saint has experienced during their life. This determines the composition and the choice of its elements. The goal of the study is the research into the category of composition in the lives of Passion-bearers.

Materials and Methods

We are going to look at the texts of the lives of Passion-bearers and apply comparative analysis methods to analyze the way the category of composition is revealed in the texts. The texts of the lives of saints of Ekaterinburg Episcopate are used as the material for the research and are compared to the texts of the lives of saints by Holy Hierarch St. Dmitry of Rostov.

Results and their Discussion

There are the following saint titles in the Christian Church: Apostles, Unmercenary, Right-believing, Blessed, Great-martyrs, Confessors, Martyrs, Righteous, Holy Ancestors, Venerable-martyrs, Hiero-confessors, Saints, Prophets, Equal-to-the-Apostles, Holy Hierarchs, Confessors of the Faith, Hieromartyrs, Stylits, Passion-bearers, Wonder-workers, Fools-for-Christ.

Let us consult the brief hagiographical dictionary [7] and look at the characteristics of Passion-bearers, which are important for the composition of the texts.

A Passion-bearer (Russian 'strastoterpets') is the saint title of Christian martyrs. This term can be applied to all the martyrs who suffered for the sake of Christ (Lat.passio - 'passion').

The term is mostly applied to the saints who were martyred not by the antichristian, but by their coreligionists because of malice, callid-ity or plot of the latter. In this case their spiritual endeavor is characterized by humbleness and non-resistance to their enemies. Persons, who were martyred not by the antichristian, but by their coreligionists because of malice, callidity or plot of the latter. In this case their spiritual endeavor is characterized by humbleness and non-resistance to the enemies.

The first Russian noble Passion-bearers of the Russian Orthodox Church include the Right-believing brothers Princes Boris and Gleb. Their canonization inspired the canonization of Tzar Nicholas II and the Imperial Family of Russia at the Anniversary Bishop's Council. According to Metropolitan Juvenal 'in the Russian Orthodox liturgical literature and hagiography the term Passion-bearer is applied to the Russian saints who like Jesus Christ experienced physical or moral suffering or martyrdom from their political opponents' [5].

We are going to study the composition of the lives of Right-believing Boris and Gleb (baptized as Roman and David), the first saints who got the title of Passion-bearers.

The text of the life of the first Russian Orthodox saints starts with a prayer and an epigraph from the Holy Scripture: Oh, Lord, give me your blessing! 'The family of the righteous shall be blessed and their descendants shall be blessed - the prophet said.' [2].

Then goes the family history and spiritual reasons of the birth of Sviatopolk the Damned are explained: 'His Greek mother had been a nun. Vladimir's brother Yaropolk was attracted by the beauty of her face, released her from the monastic vows, married her and conceived the damned Sviatopolk by her. Vladimir, who was pagan at that time, killed Yaropolk and possessed his pregnant wife. She gave birth to the damned Sviatopolk, the son of the two fathers-brothers. That is why Vladimir never loved Sviatopolk as he was none of his son.'

Sviatopolk by his very birth was to a certain extent doomed to the sin as he was born by the woman who betrayed her pledge to Christ, and was brought up by a fratricide. Vladimir can only be justified by the fact that he performed those acts before his christening, which annulled his prior sins. However the mother's recantation doomed her child to a hard spiritual life.

Then the author describes Boris: 'And he called for Boris, who was baptized as Roman, right-believing and obedient, gave him a lot of warriors and sent him to fight paganish Pechenegs. And Boris was eager to obey: 'I am ready to perform in front of thy eyes what the will of your heart tells me to.' Pritochnik used to say about such people: 'The son was obedient to his father and loved by his mother' [2].

In his complicated situation Boris was guided by the Holy Scripture that called for love and patience: If he sheds my blood and dares to murder me I will become a martyr in front of my Lord. Resist I will not wherefore the Book says: 'The Lord objects the arrogant, but gives His grace to the humble.'

Among Boris's characteristics are humbleness to the God's will, adherence to sacral rather than to secular values, pursue of eternal life and salvation: and he decided in his heart: 'Lord, thy will be done!', 'Only good deeds, genuine faith and unfeigned love can lead to salvation. ' [2].

Boris's choice between high moral principles and everyday reality is hard and makes him suffer, which reminds of Christ's sufferings in the garden of Gethsemane: 'Following his way Boris thought about his youth and handsomeness and could not help crying. He tried to hold back his tears, but could not'. [2]

However his sorrow turns into joy as he finds condolence in the Holy Scripture. He looked so sad and his holy heart was broken, as he was faithful, generous, gentle, benign, humble, took pity in everybody and always helped everyone. Similar were the thoughts in his heart and Boris said: 'I know that evil people work up my brother to assassinate me and he will do that. And when he sheds my blood I will become a martyr in front of my Lord and He will take my soul'. And forgetting his deep sorrow he started comforting himself with the Divine word: 'He who sacrifices his soul for my sake and my teaching will acquire and save it in the eternal life'. And this filled his heart with joy and he said: 'Oh, Lord the Merciful, don't leave me, the one who hopes for you, but do save my soul!' [2].

Sviatopolk's behavior is the opposite; he is planning his brother's murder for selfish motives:

When the Devil, the enemy of the good, saw Saint Boris rely on God, he started scheming and like in the old times of Caine trapped Sviatopolk. He guessed Sviatopolk's intentions were similar to those of Caine's as he wanted to kill all other heirs to his father and capture the power' [2].

The helpless Boris is waiting for death abandoned by all his war

Для дальнейшего прочтения статьи необходимо приобрести полный текст. Статьи высылаются в формате PDF на указанную при оплате почту. Время доставки составляет менее 10 минут. Стоимость одной статьи — 150 рублей.

Показать целиком