Abstract
The article focuses on the Vita of Avraamij of Rostov (Žitie Avraamija Rostovskogo, first version). The text was composed in Rostov in the 15th century, possibly in the period when the Muscovite State annexed Rostov (1463, 1474). From a literary point of view, it possibly resulted from gathering and (re-)elaborating pre-existing materials. The author considers the text in comparison with other vitae written in the areas of Novgorod and Rostov between the 15th and the 16th century (Vita of Ioann of Novgorod, Vita of Antonij the Roman, Vita of Isaia of Rostov). The textual analysis aims to ascertain whether texts created in different historical contexts and regions but with similar ideological intentions, and by means of similar literary processes, show analogous literary features. The analysis confirms the presence within the Vita of Avraamij of two autonomous, well-defined narrative units, and the centrality of the topic of a “miraculous journey”. By comparing the first ver- sion of the Vita of Avraamij and the version rearranged to make its structures more regular after the subject's canonization, we were able to identify the literary processes through which standardization was achieved. The inclusion of the Vita of Avraamij (and of the other vitae previously examined) in the Pan-Russian hagiographic tradition entailed textual changes in the initial and final part of the text, while the central body, with all its structurally, formally and thematically distinctive features, was kept unchanged.
