The addressee-centric linguistic model of communicative event of orthodox sermon

This paper is an attempt to develop a model of preaching as a communicative event and process. The model focuses on the subjects of the communicative process - the sermon listeners on the one side and on the other side - the linguistic personality of the Orthodox preacher. The latter is considered a performer of a religious discourse and a professional communicator of the biblical message. The sermon is regarded as a communicative event of the spiritual enlightenment of listeners. The rhetorical effectiveness of the sermon relies on the successful transmission of the intention of the text. Thus the application of the addressee-centric approach for comprehending and explaining the mechanisms and sources of effective preaching can be justified. This approach is based on the study of the boundaries of attainable effects of the sermon (as text) on the addressee. It appeals to taking into account the variety of types of audience. The addressee-centric approach also includes defining the standards of communicative readiness of the recipient of the sermon.