“On the Knowledge of Antichrist’s Prelest”: pro et contra
This study analyzes the work “On the Knowledge of Antichrist Prelest (Delusion)” that has
been attributed to Fedor Ivanov so far. Fedor Ivanov was the ideologist of the Old Believers,
condemned at the Moscow Cathedral in the 1666–1667 years and executed in Pustozersk in
1682 together with Archpriest Avvakum, priest Lazar, and monk Epiphanius. A twofold
argument is offered that the text in question does not correspond either to Fyodor Ivanov’s
manner of constructing the statement or to his understanding of the theological topics. The
approach applied is based on phenomenological philosophy and philological hermeneutics.
The main linguistic methods are description, comparison and contrast, and contextual
analysis. First, a text fragment with an internal rhyme was selected and compared with other
documents of Fedor Ivanov in terms of internal rhyme. The arithmetic mean of the number of
components “from comma to comma” in the text analyzed has been revealed not to be
characteristic of the writing style of the Old Believers’ ideologue. Second, the interpretation
of the Antichrist in the text concerned was compared with that in the “Epistle to All Orthodox
about Antichrist.” A discrepancy was revealed that cannot result from the author’s changing
the target setting. Finally, a conclusion is made that the essay “On the Knowledge of
Antichrist Prelest” was not created by Fedor Ivanov.
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“On the Knowledge of Antichrist’s Prelest”: pro et contra // Сибирский филологический журнал. 2023. № 1. Pp. 73–87. DOI: 10.17223/18137083/82/5.