ABOUT SOME FEATURES OF “THE LIFE OF CORNELIUS OF THE VYG” AS REWORDED BY TRYPHON PETROV

• Main Author: Ekaterina D. Grishkevich
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Petrozavodsk State University 2015-11-01
• Series: Problemy Istoričeskoj Poètiki
• Subjects: “The Life of Cornelius of the Vyg”; Tryphon Petrov; the Vyg community; Old Believers; hagiography; the Vyg literary school; Old Belief
• Online Access: http://poetica.pro/files/redaktor_pdf/1449748451.pdf

Among the hagiographic works appeared in the 18th  century there is a widely-spread “Life of Cornelius of the Vyg” in the Old Believers’ environment. Th e writing is known in  two versions: the original and the literary processed one. Th e author of the second version is a senior choir singer of the Vyg, Old Believer coenoby Tryphon Petrov. Th e subject of this article is detection of the artistic peculiarities of his text. Th e writer made signifi cant alterations to the structure of the text, giving it a three-part format. Th e main part that is the actual history of the life of Cornelius is divided into chapters, each of which has its name. Along with the text’s structure Tryphon Petrov revised the content of the text too. He eliminated some episodes from the plot and added a number of those non-existing before. Moreover, he introduced topos inherent of the lives of monks and wrote additions aimed at creating the image of  the saint. An important part in the work of Tryphon Petrov is assigned to the Vyg community. Cornelius’s spiritual path is represented in the context of its history. Cornelius himself acts as a mediator between the fi rst generation of Old Believers and the residents of the Vyg community. In his image there is embodied the idea of continuity associated with the idea of a special mission entrusted to the community