Abstract
This article is devoted to the study of the historical evolution o f the archetype of antichrist in Russian culture. All th e works of literature and art in which this archetype appears are examined in chronological order , and the consecu tive dynamic s of its development from the Middle Ages to the October Revolution is restored. The study is interdisciplinary in nature (history, religious studies, literary criticism, art history, cultural studies), since the authors believe that when co nsid ering is sues related to archetypes and their evolution, any division into discipli disciplines is artificial and only prevents one f rom seeing the phenomenon in its entirety. Among the analyzed works are Andrey Kurbsky’s “The History of the Prince of Moscow”, “ Demo ns” and “The Brothers Karamazov” by Fyodor Dostoevsky, mystical dilogy (“The Magic Magicians” and “The Great Rosicrucian”) by Vse volod Solovev, “A Brief Tale of the Antichrist” by Vladymir Solovev, the trilogy “Christ and Antichrist” by Dmitry Merezhkovsky a nd t he “Fath er's House” by Evgeny Chirikov, as well as numerous miniatures and icons. It can be stated that since the topic of antichrist is directly related to eschatological trends, that is, to reflections on the end of the world and the final end of the his tory of mankind, a special increase in interest in this topic is usually observed at critical moments in history, during pe riods of revolution and major historical changes, when the collapse of established political, social, economic foundations and id eolo gical at titudes happens . Such moments abound in Russian history, in which such motmotifs , having acquired an archetypal status , gained particular relevance during the time of Ivan the Terrible, during the period of the reforms by Peter the Great, during t he P atriotic War of 1812 and in connection with the October Revolution.
Keywords
Antichrist, archetype, eschatology, Ivan the Terrible, Napoleon, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Vladymir Soloviev, Dmitry Merezh kovsky