The handwritten «Sobornik» consisting of 16 «Words (Lays, Tales)» by the well-known church writer has not been investigated sufficiently. It is one of the single-author collections in the Russian literature of the 16th century, among which are «Prosvetitel (enlightener)» by Iosif Volotsky, «Ustav (law, regulation)» by Nil Sorsky, collected works by Maksim Grek, and others. Making a collection of one’s own writings by authors was a symbolic phenomenon in the book writing culture of the Middle Ages connected with the formation of the authors’ self-consciousness in Old Russia.
The present paper states some results of the «Sobornik» structure analysis and singles out the leading motifs: political heresy and human sin. The combination of these motifs was used by Daniil to form the two-part structure of his «Sobornik».