Bishop Jeremiah (Soloviev) as a compiler of akathists
Abstract
The article is dedicated to the Russian bishop of the XIX century, Bishop Jeremiah (Soloviev) (1799-1884) as the compiler of akathists, who wrote an akathist to the Monks Anthony and Theodosius and other Kiev Pechersk wonder-workers in the 60-70s of the XIX century, as well as an akathist to the Guardian Angel. These texts preserved in several manuscripts were never published and did not become the subject of special scientific study. The author attempts to look at the social aspect of the phenomenon of the Orthodox Russian akathist of the 18th and early 20th centuries using the example of the life of one of the authors of the akathists. The research is aimed at elucidating the motives behind the writing of akathists, at finding the place of Bishop Jeremiah among other akathistographers, studying akathists in the context of the entire literary work of the spiritual writer and tracing the functioning of his texts. On the basis of archival materials, the facts of the life of Bishop Jeremiah, which influenced his akathist work, connections and relations with other representatives of the circle of compilers of akathists, are reconstructed, and hymns belonging to him are analysed. The akathist work of Bishop Jeremiah is a vivid example of the hymnography of the "Learned Monasticism", in which more and more often a place was given to akathist writing in the Modern Times. The exclusive motivation for compiling akathists for Jeremiah was personal piety and veneration of individual saints, like most of Jeremiah's prayers, they were intended for personal use and a narrow circle of close people, but not for general church use. The stories about the traditions of composing and using akathists testify to the development of akathist culture in the Russian Church during the Synodal era.
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