The Presidential Library’s online lecture spotlighted biblical apocrypha in ancient Russian literature

On January 14, 2022 the Presidential Library hosted online lecture “Biblical Apocrypha in Literature and Bookishness of Ancient Rus’” within the framework of the Knowledge of Russia project.

Already in the early stages of formation, ancient Russian literature, according to Academician Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, was European in character. It intensively mastered the Christian written culture, which, in turn, absorbed both Eastern sources and their Western modifications.

Many apocryphal monuments, assimilated by ancient Russian literature were created in the Judeo-Christian environment in the era of the birth of Christianity, when it was almost simultaneously with other religious communities opposed to the official Roman government, was just conquering the world. Therefore, some apocrypha preserved and brought to the ancient Russian reader the features of the Middle Eastern, Byzantine, Balkan religious mentality - Essenism, Gnosticism, Manichaeism, Bogomilism.

The author of the lecture, Milena Rozhdestvenskaya, who defended her dissertation at one time under the scientific supervision of Dmitry Likhachev, now a Doctor of Philology, Professor of St. Petersburg State University, revealed this topic from a new perspective, making the material more accessible and understandable to the listener.

The media partner of the event is the social network VKontakte.

The online lecture is available on the VKontakte social network.