Orthodox Church Rite as an Intertextual Research Criteria Based an the Example of Daniil Andreyev’s Poem of 'Russian Gods'

Abstract

The article presents an intertextual research method conceived as an analysis of constructs of the poetic world. These constructs contain cultural codes associated with an Orthodox church ritual. As a research material author used D.L. Andreyev’s Russian Gods. Adoption of this research criterion leads to conclusions about the poet’s worldview and makes up an intensive interpretative system. The poem contains references to the worship of the Orthodox religion in the broad sense: names of the temples, the space inside the temple, elements of the liturgy, liturgical vestments and vessels, names of devotions and prayers, names of saints. Andreyev’s inclination to the Orthodox ritual is related to the creation of his personal poetic myth and the presence of autobiographical elements in his literary works. The text, amplified with the Orthodox culture’s elements, recalls also eschatological issues and traditions of Russian philosophy of creativity, especially theories of N.A Berdyaev and W.S. Soloviev.