Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature

1607-6192 2713-2226

IWL RAS

https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2026-25-7-43

Research Article

Articles

The Word for Antipascha by Cyril of Turov: Literary Dependence or Creative Independence

Kirillin

Vladimir M.

old-rus@imli.ru

2026

25 7 43

2026

The article examines literary sources that St. Cyril of Turov could refer to as examples when working on his own solemn speech, the Word for Antipascha, and at the same time addresses the question of the degree of creative freedom of the Russian speaker in relation to authoritative texts of typical purpose. The author of the article shows in a textually reasoned manner that Kirill, turning to the same topics and using the same formal — stylistic — techniques, showed a distinctive ideological and substantive ingenuity, changed semantic accents, enriched the literary context, a set of images, allusions, associations, and thus created in his sermon a more comprehensive artistically and theologically picture of the transformation of the world on Easter days, and in particular on the first Sunday after Easter, dedicated to the memory of Apostle Thomas. These observations allow us to draw a legitimate conclusion about the original, independent nature of the work of the Russian master of eloquence.

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