Black-letter prologue of the XVII century in N. S. Leskov's creative work: the reconstruction of a literary mishap

The article deals with N. S. Leskov's perception of the XVII century Prologue. From 1870 to 1890 the writer gave conflicting characteristics of the functional purpose of the Prologue, the history of its existence and publications in Russia, from the book, appointed by the church for godly edifying reading and helping to "comprehend the Word of God," to the deprivation of her ecclesiastical authority at all. Since 1886, Leskov called the Prologue as a "renounced", "non-canonical" book. The analysis of archival materials has confirmed previously expressed in science view that the writer called the fully printed version of Prolog, published in Synod printing in 1642-1643, as "renunciation". It was this edition that was not subjected to book correcting ("knizhnaya sprava") during Nikon's reforms. Antiquity and preservation of monuments always were defining criteria for the writer. Such characteristics are not lacking tangible ground and based on the scientifically proven observations of the XIX century. It was found that the monograph of Kiev Theological Academy Professor N. I. Petrov, "On the origin and composition of the Slavic-Russian printed Prologue (The foreign sources)" (Kiev, 1875), had a significant impact on the development of Leskov's own position. Leskov made a simple creative move. He transferred the scientific fact, the "non-canonicity" of "pre-Peter" Prologue, in the literary fact. Under the strategy to provide the Prologue of 1642-1643 edition by the status of "renounced" lies not only the heuristic search of Leskov in the history of its publications, but also the creative quest. Given the "accountability" of his works written on the subjects of the Prologue, on the part of the censorship, the writer had to find access to the new language of "cryptography". The appeal to "non-canonical" Prologue as a literary source turned out for him as the freedom of creative expression. Under the Prologue situations and images the second "non-canonical" plan hides, hardly fit into the scope of the XIX century censorship author's reflections on the issues of faith, sainthood, fall of man, active love.