Abstract
The article, devoted to the analysis of the formation and evolution of the hagiographic Canon, examines the life of the new Martyr Archpriest Alexander Nikolsky (1879-1938), whose descendants lived in Magnitogorsk. The article presents a brief life of the newly-blessed Saint, compiled by the great-grandson of fr. Alexander, Professor E. V. Nikolsky, who analyzes his spiritual heritage-the candidate's dissertation "The process of spiritual Christian perfection by the image of Bishop Theophanes", written in 1911 in the Moscow theological Academy, which received positive reviews of the rector of the Academy, Bishop of Volokolamsk, vicar of the Moscow diocese Theodore (Pozdeevsky) and inspector of the Academy, Professor Alexander Pavlovich Shostin. The main features of the modern hagiographic Canon of the life of the new Martyr Alexander Nikolsky are revealed: documentalism, wide use of descendants ' memories. The intimacy of the narration is given by the personal characteristics of the new Martyr and the lyrical digressions of the author. A comparison of the lives of the new time with the hagiographic Canon, and a study of hagiography XIX–XX centuries allow to identify the trend of its development, as the blurring of forms and boundaries of the genre. With the loss of life from the worship of the Orthodox Church, it became largely subject to the General laws of the literary process. At the same time, it is extremely important that all the literature of the new time is developing in the direction of increasing secularization, which determines the increasing secularization of hagiography. The traditional moral and edifying understanding of hagiographic works now fades into the background, which leads to a significant increase in psychology in life. Currently, the lives of the new martyrs are not studied as an object and verbal art and as a genre that stands on the verge of fiction and documentary literature, which determines the relevance of the appeal to this topic.
Keywords
Hagiographic Canon, documentary prose, hagiographic genre, new martyrs, canonization, Archpriest Alexander Nikolsky (1879–1938), biography