The Book of the Prophet Isaiah and the struggle against heretics and apostates in Russia in the second half of the XV–early XVI century.

Abstract

The paper considers the problem of the use of allusions to the text of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah by Moscow scribes of the time of Ivan III in the fight against heretics and apostates in the second half of the XV–early XVI century. The study was conducted using comparative and cultural-anthropological methods, which allows us to find out the spiritual state of Russian society during this period, as well as the attitude of the population to key historical processes. The article raised the question of the essence of the concepts of heresy and apostasy at the specified time. Special attention is paid to the political reasons for the actualization of these concepts and the development of the official ideology of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. First of all, it allowed us to draw a conclusion about the importance of the semantic aspect of punishment for religious crimes in the conditions of increasing expectations of the end of the world in 1492. The development of the idea of apostasy as a religious and political crime in the official Moscow ideology of that time was also shown. A special role in the development of this idea was played by the confrontation between Moscow and Novgorod in 1470-1471 . The possible influence of the Book of Isaiah on the semantics of the punishment of representatives of the heresy of "Jews" is noted not only as heretics, but also as apostates. The influence of the Book of Isaiah can be traced in the writings of Joseph Volotsky, one of the initiators of the brutal executions of heretics.