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Keywords: N. V. Gogol, dying days, righteous death, Holy Scripture, patristic heritage.
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Voropaev, V. A. “ʽEven So, Come, Lord Jesus’, or the Mystery of Gogol’s Death: To the 170th Anniversary of His Death.” Dva veka russkoi klassiki, vol. 4, no. 2, 2022, pp. 6–17. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2686-7494-2022-4-2-6-17

Author: Vladimir A. Voropaev
Information about the author:

Vladimir A. Voropaev, DSc in Philology, Professor of the Department of the History of Russian Literature, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory 1, 119991 Moscow, Russia.

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Received: March 09, 2022
Approved after reviewing: April 17, 2022
Published: June 25, 2022
Issue: 2022 Volume 4 No. 2
Department: Russian Literature of the 18th–19th Centuries
Pages: 6-17
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/2686-7494-2022-4-2-6-17
EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/ZOZRDE

UDK: 821.161.1.09"19"

Abstract:

The author of the article addresses the issue of N. V. Gogol’s death, analyzes his last words, behind which one can clearly hear the well-known saying of the saint close to Gogol’s soul Apostle Paul. The work shows that the righteous Christian death of Gogol became the pinnacle of his spiritual path, the last step of the ladder built in his soul which he climbed all his life. The Church Slavonic semantics of the word “requirement” is explained on the margins of Gogol’s Bible, it is assumed that the word “requirement” is used by the writer as Church Slavonic in the meaning: “need, necessity.” Some of Gogol’s thoughts are given about death and its impact on the people around him, educating a person from a young age in such a way that he always understands the real meaning of life, so that death is not an accident for him. It is shown that the words engraved on Gogol’s tombstone express the most important thing in his life and work: the desire to acquire the Holy Spirit and the preparation of the soul for a meeting with the Lord.

 

References:

Varnava (Beliaev), ep. Osnovy iskusstva sviatosti: Opyt izlozheniia pravoslavnoi asketiki: v 4 t. [Fundamentals of the Art of Holiness: Attempt of Presenting the Orthodox Asceticism: in 4 vols.], vol. 4. Nizhnii Novgorod, Izdanie Bratstva vo imia sviatogo kniazia Aleksandra Nevskogo Publ., 1998. 415 p. (In Russ.).

Vinogradov, I. A. Letopis’ zhizni i tvorchestva N. V. Gogolia (1809–1852). S rodoslovnoi letopis’iu (1405–1808). Nauchnoe izdanie. V 7 tomakh [Chronicle of Life and Work of N. V. Gogol (1809–1852). With a Pedigree Chronicle (1405–1808). Scientific Publication. In 7 vols.], vol. 7. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2017–2018. (In Russ.)

Palamarchuk, P. G. “ʽKliuch’ k Gogoliu” [“ʽThe Key’ to Gogol”]. Palamarchuk, P. G. Kozatskie mogily: povesti, skazaniia, khudozhestvennye issledovaniia. [Cossack Graves: Novellas, Tales, Artistic Studies]. Moscow, Sovremennik Publ., 1990, pp. 336–422. (In Russ.).