On March 13, in “Eidos”, the book club of Moscow Theological Academy, a book written by Professor Vladimir Mikhailovich Kirillin was presented, entitled “Essays on the Literature of Ancient Russia”. Professor Mikhailovich said during the presentation that his scientific activity connected with different problems of ancient Russian literature and that his new book comprises very miscellaneous articles on the researches of ancient Russian literature of the last years. The main purpose of the publication is the comprehension of the world of ancient Russia.
In this book, based on the relevant writings of ancient Russian authors, problems are touched upon such as the perception of the western world by the Russian soul since the 11th century, and discovering the problem of the alleged confrontation between the doctrines of Saint Joseph Volotskiy and Saint Nil Sorskiy in 15th–16th centuries. Also included are songs about miracle-working icons and other articles in particular taken from lectures given in the Moscow Theological Academy.
Speaking about the importance of ancient Russian literature, Professor Mikhailovich told the present public that the interest in ancient Russian literature has led him in due time to belief in God primarily because the literature of ancient Russia stimulates the comprehension of fundamental and vital problems. The last work created by Vladimir Mikhailovich is a discovery of the problems of history and the spread of the Feast of the Protecting Veil (Pokrov) of the Theotokos in Russia, which will be published soon. His further research plans include the writing of work dedicated to exploration of Russian ideas in the 15th and 16th centuries, of those problems which Russian society was interested in at that time.
Professor Mikhailovich noted that in Soviet times the monuments of Ancient Russia were basically studied only textually and any in-depth ideological comprehension of sources was not allowed. Hitherto there is “an ocean of untouched and not comprehend texts” and now we should develop actively studies of ancient Russian literature from a theological point of view. Professor Mikhailovich expressed the expectation that the publishing activity of Moscow Theological Academy will progress in the future.
MTA Press service