Из комментариев к типологии видений в древнерусской агиографии (сюжет об избиении беса святым)

Abstract

This article examines the plot of visions on the beating a demon by a saint is not typical for the original Old Russian writings. This plot is included in the typology proposed earlier. It represents one of the possible ways of organizing a vast, thematically diverse material of vi-sions. Most of the examples of our typology are plots in the composition of hagiographic nar-ratives of various types. The considered plot is one these cases. We have analyzed two examples of visions containing scenes of beating demons from literary compositions of different times. From the Byzantine Life of Andrew the Fool that one of the first in the 12th century in-troduced the Russian reader to this plot. Also from the Life of the Monk Epiphanius written at the end of the Old Russian tradition. Typologically similar features of visions are noted: the presence of a common structural scheme, participation in the formation of the event of two characters of the sacred and infernal worlds at once. The revealed specificity of the scene of beating demons is explained by tradition, the time of writings and their pragmatic orientation. Thus, an interesting, visual story on the beating the demon full of artistic details in the Byzan-tine Life characterizes the height of the spiritual feat of the saint. In the Life of Epiphany, a similar story reflects the worldview of an ascetic, also demonstrates the phenomenon of “lit-erary materialization of visions”. Examples of visions from the Lives of Andrew the Fool and the Monk Epiphanius demonstrate the evolution in the depiction of the scene of the beating demons in the literary process of medieval Russia, reflecting significant changes in the genre of visions in the transitional period of Russian literature.