RUSSIAN ANTI-CLERICAL SATIRE OF XVII - XVIII CENTURIES: THE SPECIFICS OF THE HISTORICAL GENESIS AND OF SOCIAL AND MORAL ISSUES

Abstract

For the first time in the domestic science, the phenomenon of the Russian anti-clerical satire of Baroque and classicism is analyzed in the article written by co-authors who are experts in the field of history of Russian literature and theology. M. M. Dunaev’s judgments of the essence and axiological content of the satire itself, as well as this committed literary critic’s prejudiced judgments about the work of Prince Antiochus Kantemir became subject to sharp and justified criticism. In the course of the article it is shown that the Russian anti-clerical satire, when revealing the shadow side of Church life, often gains a pamphlet meaning; the study of life comes in the form of «proof by contradiction». The purpose of such works is to treat the life of Church, to appeal to the Evangelical precepts «from the contrary».