Abstract: The article presents the announcement of a collective work being prepared at the Department of Russian Classical Literature of Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences dedicated to the study of the heritage of Saint Theophanes the Recluse (Georgy Govorov), which will include the latest materials related to life events and the literary, spiritual heritage of St. Theophanes, the creative history of his creations. As an example, the article provides a fragment of the study of marks made in the margins of the eighth issue of Athonian edition of “The Collection of Letters from St. Theophanes” (1902). This copy belonged to the correspondent of the Right Reverend — nun Theophania (Aleksandra Kugusheva, Belichka) who had taken strict vows; now it is stored in the family archive of her great-nephew Aleksandr Kugushev. Marks in the margins were made by the owner, her brother Il’ya Kugushev and her niece Ol’ga Kugusheva. This is an authoritative and rich source for compiling a real historical commentary on the letters of St. Theophanes and for the attribution of related documents. The marginalia of the Kugushevs clarify hopeless cases for commenting when it is impossible to understand about whom or what the Saint had written. Letters to the Kugushevs are one fifth of the published epistolary heritage of the Right Reverend. The correspondents received answers to their everyday questions that went far beyond the scope of a single everyday situation and possessed the property of universal rules of spiritual life.
References
Dushepoleznoe chtenie [Soulful reading]. 1894, Mai–iiun'. (In Russ.)
Sobranie pisem Sviatitelia Feofana. Vyp. vos'moi [Collection of letters of St. Theophanes. Vol. 8]. Moscow, Afonskii russkii Panteleimonov monastyr' Publ., 1901, 228 p. (In Russ.)
Tvoreniia izhe vo sviatykh ottsa nashego Feofana Zatvornika. Sobranie pisem. Iz neopublikovannogo [Creations of the saints of our father Theophan the Recluse. Collection of letters. From unpublished]. Moscow, Pravilo very Publ., 2001, 656 p. (In Russ.)
Shcherbakova M. I. Pis'ma s Vyshi. Sviatitel' Feofan i ego korrespondenty Kugushevy [Letters from Vyshy. Saint Theophanes and his correspondents Kugushev]. Moscow, Rossiiskii pisatel' Publ., 2018, 160 p. (In Russ.)
