The person and work of Mikhail Lermontov as perceived by archimandrite Constantine (Zaitsev)

Archimandrite Constantine (Zaitsev) (1887-1975) was one of the leading theologians, philosophers, and jurists of the Russian diaspora. He was tonsured to monasticism in 1949 at Holy-Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, N. Y., United States. He served as the editor for the journal Pravoslavnaya Rus (Orthodox Russia) and lectured on the history of Russian literature at Holy Trinity Seminary. A considerable amount of the writing of Archimandrite Constantine is devoted to the topic of the history of Russian culture. He was a supporter of the philosophical study of literature, believing that the place of the writer in the spiritual world and the essence of his work can be best understood only in the religious and moral aspects. In this article, the author analyses the specifics of Archimandrite Constantine’s understanding of Mikhail Lermnotov as the Russian national poet, and the impact of the poet’s work beyond the realm of literature. Te specific traits of Archimandrite Constantine’s critical method are reviewed. Te author identifies both a connection between his article and the cultural and philosophical tradition of the Silver Age of Russian Poetry, and the distinction between his evaluation of Lermonotov’s conception of “demonism” in the work of the early Slavophile philosophers