“A faithful disciple of the Apostle Paul...”: on the question of the motives of the spiritual rapprochement of Archimandrite Theodore (A. M. Bukharev) and N. V. Gogol (based on the memoirs of V. Lavrsky)

The topic “Gogol and Bukharev” has moved into literary studies from the theological sphere. V. A. Voropaev was one of the first to turn to its philological understanding, who included the book by O. Feodor (Bukharev) “Three Letters to Gogol written in 1848” in the context of the problem of perception of “Selected passages from correspondence with friends” in the criticism of the XIX century. It seems that no less significant for modern science is the question of the ideological community of the writer and the theologian, their influence on each other, which left a mark in the activities of each of them. The purpose of the article is to use the material of memoirs and journalistic texts from the last third of the 19th – early 20th centuries to determine the most significant factors that served as a prerequisite for the spiritual rapprochement of Gogol and Bukharev. The research material was published in pre-revolutionary periodicals (“Theological Bulletin”, “Orthodox Interlocutor”, etc.) memoirs, notes, obituaries dedicated to Archimandrite Theodore and containing in one way or another information about his acquaintance with Gogol. The materials are analyzed in an interdisciplinary aspect: the historical and literary method is complemented by methodological tools of receptive aesthetics and biblical theology. Based on the results of the study, it was concluded that both Gogol and Archimandrite Theodore (Bukharev) had an interest in the personality and theology of the Apostle Paul. It seems that this circumstance played a decisive role in the ideological and spiritual rapprochement of the writer and the theologian. Beginning in the late 1840s, Bukharev prepared a number of scientific and theological works on the Apostle Paul (“The Teaching of the Ap. St. Paul on the Antichrist in the 2nd Epistle to the Thessalonians”, “Several articles on the Holy Apostle Paul”, “On the authenticity of the Apostolic Epistles”, "On the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Philippians”, “On the Epistle to the Romans”, etc.), laid the foundations for the study of the apostolic part of the New Testament in Russian biblical studies. Probably, Archimandrite Theodore became a kind of consultant for Gogol on the interpretation of the letters of the Apostle Paul. Both the writer and the theologian can be called “disciples of the Apostle Paul,” who drew from his epistles a set of theological ideas that largely determined their religious experience, and in relation to Gogol, their aesthetic concept. It is difficult to say unequivocally who influenced whom – the theologian or writer – because there is almost no direct evidence that reports on the specific content and nature of Gogol’s conversations with Father Theodore. Most likely, the influence was mutual and equivalent, since they were united by common ideas, interests and a common mentor in the interpretation and application of Christian teaching in life – St. Paul the Apostle.

N. V. Gogol, Archimandrite Theodore (A. M. Bukharev), Metropolitan Filaret (Drozdov), “Three Letters to Gogol written in 1848”, Apostle Paul, Russian Biblical studies, theological reception of Russian literature, memoirs