Скопцы и скопчество в романе Ф. М. Достоевского «Идиот»

Abstract

The paper examines the role of the “skopchestvo” theme in F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Idiot”. The aim of the study is to identify the meaning of references to the “skoptsy’s” neighborship in Rogozhin’s house. The study is original in that it is the first to consider the “skopchestvo” theme using an interdisciplinary approach, that is, based on research directly devoted to the phenomenon of skopchestvo. As a result of the study, it was found that the novel’s comparison of Rogozhin’s house with a cemetery in the light of the “skopchestvo” theme takes on a new meaning: it can be understood not only as an association with the Rogozhsky cemetery – a famous Old Believer center, but also with a cemetery in the literal sense, since castrations also occurred where the skoptsy settled, often ending in the death of the adherents. In this same regard, one should also understand the fear expressed by Nastasya Filippovna that a dead person was “hidden” in Rogozhin’s house by his father not as a mystical, but a completely rationally explainable fear. Also, the role of the copy of the painting “The Dead Christ in the Tomb” in Rogozhin’s house receives a new explanation: an anti-schismatic and anti-sectarian theme is clearly introduced into the novel. A “copy” of ritual actions among schismatics, observance of traditions without liturgical communication with the church and without enlightenment also turn out to be “dead”: there is no Christ, Christ is dead in the schism, which replaced faith with ritual, and even more so, there is no Christ in skopchestvo, where, manipulating religious feelings, they maim people.