The Art of Andrei Denisov’s Sermons: Rhetorical Strategies and Techniques

Abstract

This article studies the genre characteristics of Andrei Denisov’s sermon; he was the most prominent leader of the second wave of Russian Old Belief, a writer, and a polemicist. The author refers to previously unknown texts by Andrei Denisov that were published by the author of this article earlier and to rhetorical manuscripts. The author implements the methodology of source studies and textology. The problematic context of this research is determined by Vyg Baroque as an essential part of Moscow Baroque. The hermeneutic approach underlying this study provides the interpretation of the writings of Andrei Denisov in the context of Vyg literary culture with a strong rhetorical accent. The article focuses on the main work created in the Vyg community, i. e. the Rhetoric Code, and the rhetorical studies of the Baroque poet and philosopher Andrei Belobotsky, in which Andrei Denisov showed great interest. The rhetorical thought of this period dictated the genre model of the sermon, the structure, and the style of the texts. The Baroque interpretation of hermeneutics influenced the semantics of the sermon, which was dominated by semantic duality and “allegorical meaning”. It manifests itself in the structure-forming role of biblical quotations (“themes”) and in the abundance of metaphors, symbols, and allegories. The article reveals metaphors that shaped the central eschatological myth based on the opposition of the hostile outdoor world, desecrated by the Antichrist, and the Vyg Pustyn as a space of spiritual sanctuary. Sermons created by Andrei Denisov reflect the typical Baroque concept of vanitas vanitatum. Their author was interested in the ontological nature of time and anthropological problems that became relevant during the Baroque period. The article also examines the communicative model of preaching discourse determined by the prophetic image of the author, who constructed it through biblical quotations. The article explains the rhythmic organisation of sermons designed for listening. Based on the analysis of the rhetorical techniques used by Andrei Denisov, it concludes that the author was eager to create a powerful sermon that would influence the establishment of the foundations of the faith and spiritual formation of Old Believers. The article also sheds light on the reception of the pan-European Baroque style in the literature of the Old Believers of the early eighteenth century. The heart of Vyg Baroque was functional didacticism, which served the main goal of preaching, i. e. asserting the religious and moral values that underlay the Vyg utopian project.