New holy russian patericon by A. I. Yurievsky: reconstruction project and search for sources

Abstract

The “New holy russian patericon”, created in Siberia (Tobolsk, 1912), is a hagiographic monument that hardly attracted the attention of researchers. The article examines the relationship between A. I. Yurievsky’s work and such outstanding papers by hagiologists and hagiographers of the late XIX - early XX centuries, as the saints by Archbishops Dimitri (Sambikin) and Sergius (Spassky), N. Barsukov, Archimandrite Nicodemus, E. Poselyanin. The Patericon by A. I. Yurievsky is considered, on the one hand, as a project related to the activities of the Tobolsk Brotherhood in the name of Saint Demetrius of Thessalonica, on the other hand, as a part of the All–Russian project to familiarize the Russian Orthodox shrines, which was considered as a mean of countering the process of secularization which seized the Russian society at the beginning of the XX century. The article traces the specific connection of the patericon with the hagiographic works of the epoch: highlights the moments of conceptual influence, as well as their use as sources, in particular, when forming the list of ascetics. The paper presents the content of the available issues of the patericon, lists external characteristics of the publication, chronological frameworks of the collection.
The process of A. I. Yurievsky’s working on the patericon text retained in the publications of the Tobolsk Diocesan Bulletin: the writer’s hagiographic works not presented in the patericon were revealed, showing possible directions of his searches.
The article concludes that the material presented is only the first step of this topic study. Possible findings of the patericon other texts, use of textual analysis methods will allow to reveal the significance of the monument and more fully represent its place among the hagiographic monuments of the epoch.