The scenes about miracles in the Sofia Second Chronicle: Historical and anthropological research

A.L. Novosyolov

Kazan Federal University, Kazan, 420008 Russia

E-mail: alnovo92@mail.ru

Received November 30, 2017

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Abstract

The paper discusses the place and role of the scenes about miracles in the Sofia Second Chronicle. From the historical and anthropological point of view, these episodes are studied as parts of the chronicle text that have certain symbolic values. These values have been interpreted by defining of the relations  between of the scenes about miracles and other parts of the text of the Sofia Second Chronicle and the Bible. A close relation between the semantic content of miracles in the chronicle and the historical context of its creation has been shown: the events described are evaluated based on the historical events that took place in the Russian Orthodox Church; the evidence of miracles is used as a proof and set forth accordingly. It has been proved that the description of the scenes about the miraculous healings of Konstantin Dmitrievich and Gregory Tumgan at the relics of Varlaam Khutynsky in the Sofia Second Chronicle can be due to the need for political justification for the annexation of Novgorod by the Grand Principality of Moscow in the 1470s. In addition, it has been suggested that interpreting the symbolic meaning of diseases healed miraculously reveals the general meaning of both the scene of the miracle and prior/subsequent events.

Keywords: history, methods of historical research, historical anthropology, miracles, Sophia Second Chronicle

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For citation: Novosyolov A.L. The scenes about miracles in the Sofia Second Chronicle: Historical and anthropological research. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2018, vol. 160, no. 3, pp. 581–591. (In Russian)

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