The Life of Protopope Avvakum, Written by Himself, and His Other Works

Protopope Avvakum (1620–1682) is an incredibly bright and unique phenomenon in the history of Russian literature. The inspirer of the church schism and one of the leading ideologists of old-believers, he spent the last fifteen years of his tireless ascetic life in a mud prison in the polar city of Pustozersk. Here, in captivity, he continued the struggle for "the right faith" through literary means, writing more than sixteen works that became unique monuments of medieval Russian literature. His "Life" is recognized as the main among them - a sermon to the faithful, a response to the Nikonists, a history of persecution for faith, the first Russian autobiography, and a masterpiece of psychological prose that was admired by I. S. Turgenev, L. N. Tolstoy, D. S. Merezhkovsky, M. Voloshin, and other writers and poets. However, Avvakum's theological writings and his epistolary prose also possess great artistic merits, reflecting the author's genre and linguistic innovation. The preparation of this edition is the merit of the outstanding researcher of Old Russian literature N. S. Demkova. Supplied with an extensive reference apparatus, the book is addressed to both specialists and the widest circle of readers.