Wanderers of Russian roads: Images of folk religiosity

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the philosophical, theological and religious significance of the Wandering in Russian Orthodox culture, primarily as a unique image of folk religiosity. The author considers the concept of ‘Wanderer’ as one of the fundamental concepts in Russian culture. Its multiple meanings and semantic heterogeneity are revealed and analyzed both in European and domestic cultures; for this, in particular, the author refers to the experience of European and especially Russian literature of the 19th–20th centuries, in which a polysemantic image of a wanderer appears. The author is indicated value of visual image of Wanderer is studied in more detail in Russian painting of the 19th century. The valuable material on the cultural characteristics of Russian Wandering was collected by S. V. Maksimov in the second half of the 19th century. The main attention is directed to the image of Wanderer in the religious and philosophical perspective of Russian Orthodoxy. The author refers to the Christian origins of the image of Wanderer. The specificity of Wanderer’s attitude to the world, his existence, other people, God is specified, as well as the connection of the concept of Wandering with the principles of Hesychasm. The author draws a special attention to the importance of good looks and tenderness as important characteristics of the image of Wanderer. Through an appeal to the traditions of Christology and patristic Orthodoxy, Hesychasm and eldership, the writings Russian literature, the anonymous author of ‘Frank Stories of a Wanderer to His Spiritual Father’, Russian painting of the 19th century, and modern Orthodox religious and philosophical thought, the author of the article is to reveal the unique meaning of the image of Wanderer and emphasize its special meaning-forming role for Russian Orthodox culture.