Moralising in Dimitri Rostovsky’s Works (from The Dewy Fleece to The Cell Chronicle)

Abstract

The author of this article proposes to consider moralising in Dimitry Rostovsky’s work as a separate narrative, which has a certain set of genre characteristics. Many sermons delivered by Metropolitan Dimitry can be analysed not only from the point of view of sermons glorifying a church holiday or an Orthodox saint but also from the standpoint of writings aimed at educating and raising the moral level of both the flock and pastors. The author of the article especially highlights two epistles addressed to priests dedicated to the sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist, in which Dimitry Rostovsky acts as a true spiritual teacher. These instructive literary epistles, as a type of Slavic bookish rhetoric, are similar in style to the metropolitan’s sermons, but carry a much more pronounced moralistic load. Apology for the Soothing of Sorrows of a Man Who Is in Trouble, Persecution, and Bitterness… (1696) also belongs to the spiritual writings of Dimitry and its apology is close to moralising. Starting with the first works of Dimitry Rostovsky, such as The Miracle of the Most Holy and Blessed Virgin Mary (1677) and The Dewy Fleece (1683) and ending with The Cell Chronicle (1707–1709), moralising becomes a special narrative (sometimes marked, as in Miracles… and The Dewy Fleece). Their content is an explanation of the causes of human sins, a call through repentance for a virtuous life, and the glorification of the blessings of the Lord. The moralising not only has a clear internal structure in the form of small texts that interpret miracles by presenting quotes and images borrowed from the Holy Scripture and the writings of the holy fathers, but they also occupy an important place in the composition of the early books, turning into a kind of an epiphonema of each miracle. The Cell Chronicle was created in the same way. Along with the presentation of biblical history and its interpretation, moralising is an integral part of the work. However, the instructions of The Cell Chronicle concerned not only general Christian topics, but they were also occasional; reflecting the circumstances of everyday life, they were close to the texts found in the Statir collection created in the Urals in the late seventeenth century.