Oppositions of travel and quietude in the works of archpriest Avvakum

The poetics of Archpriest Avvakum’s prose, (which includes an autobiography and countless pamphlets, letters, commentaries, colloquies, and sermons), are often associated with a sharp dynamism and dramatic tension of plot, as well as with the musings of the writer himself. This is all justified to the extent of his literary prowess, however his vision is not obviously expressed through technique alone. Behind the poetics lies something deeper, and it is thoroughly obscured. In the course of the analysis undertaken in the article, it is shown that transitioning from one plane of existence to another is seamless for Avvakum; on occasion the time and space of the narrative escapes the reader’s notice, with little to distinguish between the archpriest’s own time and the examples he draws from history, thus sending us into the recesses of ancient times. Through these densities of time runs the undercurrent of the narrative; everything that happens to the protagonists of the past could also happen to contemporaries of Avvakum. In fact, the actions of these contemporaries often find their parallel in biblical precedent. Additionally, Avvakum’s works present the opposition of travel and quietude; modern time is associated with transitions through time and space, whereas the past teeters into inertia and the eternal. This opposition delivers a crucial impact to the metaphorical structure of the work of the leader of the Russian Eastern Orthodoxy’s Old Rite. First, the opposition being analyzed predetermines the register of speech being used, thus low (colloquial) and high (Biblical) synthesize. Second, the heroes of Avvakum’s texts simultaneously become both his contemporaries and historical likenesses, with considerable attention paid by the author to extensive retrospective analogy. Finally, the juxtaposition of the sacred and the profane allows for seamless transitions between mundanity and high, theological musings. The opposition of travel and quietude significantly characterizes the inimitable voice of Avvakum, who positioned himself as one of the main characters of eschatological mysterium.