Religious Traditions in the Bunin Family and Their Influence on V. A. Zhukovsky (1783-1796)

Purp ose. The aim of this paper is to study the religious influence which V. A. Zhukovsky experienced in his childhood. We know that religious themes were highly important for the poet during his entire life. Results. Zhukousky left no memories of his childhood, and this period of his biography has to be judged, in fact, by the only main source - the memoirs of his niece A. P. Zontag, as well as by K. Zeidlitz's book Life and Poetry of Zhukovsky , which took into account the comments made on these memoirs by the sister of A. P. Zontag A. P. Elagina. Although neither in the memoirs of Zontag nor in the book of Zeidlitz is the theme of childhood religiosity of Zhukovsky emphasized, it is possible to study the religious influences that the poet experienced in his childhood, using these texts and the family Chronicles of the circle Bunin-Protasov-Yushkov-Elagin-Beer. The Bunin’s family lifestyle, like that of the most part of provincial noble families, was a mix of westernized and patriarchal, closely related to the Orthodox way of life, forms of everyday life. This even affected the device space of the Bunin family home - the Mishenskoe manor. It was located near the famous Zhabynsky monastery, and the bell ringing of churches and the monastery of Belev was well heard in the manor. Near the manor house there was a stone church in the name of The Intercession of the Virgin. The great Church singing in this church was led by the godfather of V.A. Zhukovsky - A.G. Zhukovsky. The temple was richly decorated with icons. The local legend of the end of the nineteenth century attributed V.A. Zhukovsky the authorship of two of them - the temple icon of St. Nicholas and the icon of the Annunciation. A visit to this temple probably produced a deep religious and aesthetic impression on Zhukovsky. The family of the future poet was kind and caring, but it could hardly offer the boy an inspiring example of Christian life. It seems that among the older Zhukovsky’s relatives no one could give him the example of pious religious life. But young Zhukovsky, undoubtedly, heard the family stories about all kinds of miracles and unusual occurrences that took place in the Bunin’s circle. Some of these miracles described in the family Chronicles are connected with the intercession of Orthodox saints. More often the description of miracles and mysterious events, e.g., events were associated with the phenomenon of the dead is found in the Chronicles. Conclusion . Summing up, it should be said that in young Zhukovsky’s everyday life there were such elements that could affect the child, awakening in him an attraction to the beauty of the Church rite (Church singing, icons, bells) and aesthetic interest in the field of miraculous and mysterious.

V. Zhukovsky, Bunins, Elagins, religion, Russian literature, Russian romanticism

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