Ternary structures in the life of Joseph Volotsky

The article is devoted to the reflection of the Trinitarian dogma in The Life of Joseph Volotsky, in which triple repetitions are found at the lexical, syntactic and plot levels of the text. The significance of the Trinitarian dogma in the biography of Joseph Volotsky is related to the controversy that erupted at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries between the Orthodox Church and the Judaizer heresy, whose adherents questioned the dogma of the Trinitarian nature of God. Joseph Volotsky became the most active participant in anti-heretical activities. The Life compiled by Bishop Savva Cherny of Krutitsky in the 1740s aligns itself with the Life of Sergius of Radonezh, in which numerous triple repetitions are present. The connection between The Life of Joseph of Volotsky and the Life of Sergius of Radonezh is evidenced by the textual connection of the introductory parts of the texts; indirect proof of the importance of the figure of Sergius of Radonezh for Joseph Volotsky is also apparent in the genetic connection between the saints, based on belonging to the same line of monastic tradition: Joseph took the tonsure from Paphnutius Borovsky, whose mentor Nikita Borovsky was a novice of Sergius. Analysis of the Life for triple repetitions at the structural and event levels of the text not only indicates that the Life of Sergius of Radonezh became a literary source for the biography of the Volotsk hegumen and that the author of The Life reflected in the monument a polemic that was relevant at the time of the saint’s life, but also complements the ideas of philological medieval studies about the biography of Joseph Volotsky. Today we have to state with regret that the Life of Joseph Volotsky, with rare exceptions, has not become an object of interest for philologists; this article intends to shed light on one of the aspects of the poetics of the monument.