Iconography of Pelageya Diveevskaya as a visual source of information about the cultural phenomenon of holy fool

The historical documents of regional and central museums and archives contain information about the directions and features of the activity of the Trinity Serafimo-Diveevsky Convent as a reflection of the religiosity of society in the middle of the XIX century. The attribution of these documents and objects, which store and transmit information not only about the history of culture, but also about the private aesthetic and religious experiences of the subjects of the cultural process, complements and sometimes clarifies much in the history of cultural phenomena, monastic practices, in the very understanding of the religious in culture. The article presents the results of a study of the iconography of the image of Blessed Pelagia Serebrenikova, the holy fool of the Serafimo-Diveevsky monastery. For the first time, a lifetime photographic image of Pelageya Diveevskaya from the collection of the Murom Historical and Art Museum has been attributed. Conclusions are drawn about the place of iconography of the blessed in the system of visual embodiment of the image of the holy fools.