Religious ecphrasis as a way to represent the image of seven sins in the texts of culture

The paper deals with the religious ecphrasis as a way to convey the spiritual meanings of cultural texts as well as the creation of the image of seven sins and its representation in literature and painting. The authors analyze the concepts of sin and seven sins from the standpoint of philosophy, religious and cultural studies, consider the patristic teachings on eight main passions and seven deadly sins. The research presents the hermeneutic algorithm for recognizing and mastering the image of seven sins in the texts of culture through the religious ecphrasis. This algorithm includes such components as architectonics, cardiognosis, Christocentrism. The authors demonstrate how the proposed algorithm can be implemented based on the following works: “The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things” by H. Bosch, “Crime and Punishment” by F.M. Dostoevsky, “Dead Souls” by N.V. Gogol.