The Russian literature of the 18th century: between the ratio of enlightenment and orthodox tradition

The article addresses the relationship between the rationalism, inherent to the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century, and the Russian Orthodox traditon. The author raises the question whether it is true that in the Russian literature of the 18th century the Old Testament's God (and, therefore, the Law) prevails, as it was postulated by Y. Lotman and other researchers, or were the Old Testament texts themselves seen by Russian writers though the prism of New Testament's Grace due to such dominant concepts of the Russian culture as sobornost, paskhalnost, and Christocentrism. Thus, in the Russian Orthodox tradition, the Psalter does not represent the God of the Old Testament, but rather shows the Christianized understanding of the God of the New Testament. In the cultural unconscious mind of a Russian person, which had a strong influence on the personal creativity of our poets, the Psalter is an integral part of the very Orthodox Church, the Orthodox divine service. When analyzing the versification of psalms by Russian poets of the 18th century, one should not ignore this circumstance. This article demonstrates the influence of the Orthodox tradition on the poetics of such an ancient genre as a fable.The author reconstructs the cultural context of the last decade of the 20t h century and outlines new perspectives in the study of the transition period between the Russian Middle Ages and the early modern period.