The concept of earthly heaven in the literary works of medieval Russia

In this article, based on exegetical writings, apocryphal works, and literary works of various genres, the descriptions of an earthly heaven that existed in various writings in medieval Russia are studied. Reading the literary material reveals that medieval Russians had no uniform views on this mater. The views of Vasily Kalika, who initiated a debate about the earthly heaven in the 16th century, are analyzed in detail. Various atempts to locate the earthly heaven described in medieval literary works are summarized: geographic, insular, and borderline between the phenomenal and the nominal. Sources that were available to Russian writers on this topic are identified. These sources are compared and contrasted with strictly orthodox writings from medieval Russia. The author concludes that the views of Vasily Kalika, despite their apocryphal and legendary tangents, lie squarely within the criteria for this topic that were formulated in the Antiochian tradition of Christian theology. Various invariant sections of this tradition, which are also broadly represented in medieval Russian writings, are also characterized.