Вестник Православного Свято-Тихоновского гуманитарного университета: Серия I. Богословие, философия (Jun 2015)
Letters dedicated to polemics around the «Encyclical», from the hectograph text collection of the Russian State Library
Abstract
The author tells in his introductory article to the publication the history of the emergence of hectography in Russia and touches upon the related questions of describing hectograph texts from the collection of the Russian State Library devoted, among other things, to the «Encyclical» by I. G. Kabanov. At present such editions are bibliographic rarities. The publication of hectograph texts dating to the 19th and 20th centuries, that follows, is dedicated to the polemics between the supporters of the «Encyclical», the champions of the Old Believer I. G. Kabanov — the author of the «Encyclical Letter of 1862» and an advocate of a rapprochement with the Russian Church, and the «non-Encyclicals», his adversaries. Kabanov’s letters reveal his views on the relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the «Belokrinitsky Agreement» of the Old Believer Church. These texts, written after his death, present a picture of an appreciation of Kabanov’s activities on the part of various ecclesiastical, political and cultural circles of the then Russia. In them Kabanov singles out several key reasons for the ever-deepening schism between the two Churches: he notes an influence on the Old Believers exercised by a certain semi-legendary personality, Martin the Armenian, as well as previously unheard-of circulation among the Old Believers of apocryphal texts presenting a most hostile view on the Russian Church. The second of the published hectograph texts deals with a later stage of polemics between the «Encyclicals» and the leader of their adversaries, Bishop Iov (Borisov). The author of the text, priest V. Mekhannikov, conducted a most detailed analysis of Bishop John Kartushin’s literary work and singled out his principal mistakes which led to the separation of the «non-Encyclicals».
Keywords
