Religious Poetry of Literary Origin in the Manuscript Tradition of the Russian Old Believers

Abstract

The current research focuses on a little-known area of studies, didactic
poetry by the Russian Old Believers that originated from the medieval
Russian literary tradition. In particular, it aims to bring to light and
examine two previously unknown and unpublished religious poems
of a literary origin: ìWhy We Need to Endure so Much Sadness and
Trouble (An Anecdotal Story about Pakhom and Stepanida)î and
ìA Poem About a Desperate Sinnerî. Both texts were discovered in
manuscripts (by the Russian Old Believers) that are held in the
Drevlekhranilishche IRLI (Pushkinskii Dom, St Petersburg, Russia).
The research employs the comparative method to establish the origin
of these two poems and examine the adaptation techniques of some
popular didactic plots by the Old Believer men of letters. It examines,
compares and contrasts plots, motives and charactersí interpretations
in the above named poems with selected stories from ìThe Great
Mirrorî, popular reading of the 17thñ18th centuries. The poem ìAn
Anecdotal Story about Pakhom and Stepanidaî is additionally
examined in comparison with the folk tale, ìThe Little Mouseî and
the fable ìAbout Those Who Condemn Other Peopleî by the Russian
poet V. Maikov. The current work also aims to use these newly
discovered poems as examples of some lesser studied groups of
texts that were known to the Russian Old Believers.