The gospel images and motifs in the first book of the “Brotherly songs” by Nikolai Klyuev

The article offers the analysis of the first book of the “Brotherly songs” by Nikolai Klyuev (1912) with regard to the reflection of Gospel in it. Being highly appreciated immediately after its publication, the book of songs became an expression of the ideology of one of the important religious trends in Russian thought of the beginning of the 20th century - “Calvary Christians” (the subtitle of the book explicitly refers us to it). An appeal to an efficient love and voluntary self-sacrifice in the name of the Kingdom of God on earth becomes the main idea of the “Brotherly songs”. The crucifixion of the Christians following the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Passions and the Transfiguration of the adepts of Jesus constitute the main images of the book of songs, which comprised a variety of oral, literary and iconographic traditions. The Gospel motifs in the text of the book of songs represent a unifying basis of the idea and the artistic world of the book.