The role of the sermon in creating priest's character: Russian literature of the second half of the nineteenth century and its English context

The article discusses the importance of sermon in the literary works of the 19th century, depicting the life of the clergy. It focuses on the Russian literature but also presents the functions of sermon in so-called “clerical novels” of Victorian writers, which were translated into Russian and printed in popular “thick journals” just in the period when church problems started to be discussed in Russian prose. At that time, in connection with church reforms, the secular and ecclesiastic press published numerous articles, addressing the issues of pastoral ministry of the clergy, in particular - their vocation for preaching and mentoring. Emphasizing the significance of the priest as a teacher and preacher was reflected in fiction about the life of the Orthodox clergy, which offers four options of presenting and comprehending sermon. The most common one is the lack of mentioning preaching and generally any kind of priest’s pastoral ministry, which is due to the domination of the critical portraying of the clergy in the Russian 19th-century literature. Secondly, in a number of literary works the sermon is presented as a mere formality and a rhetorical exercise that is not related to the real needs of believers. Moreover, even in case when a “good shepherd” is depicted, sermon may still be treated as old-fashioned and less significant than medical and social assistance to parishioners. Finally, the fourth group includes those literary works in which preaching becomes the center of the pastoral ministry of the priest and the core of his vocation. The most striking example is Nikolai Leskov’s chronicle “The Cathedral Clergy”.