Tikhon of Zadonsk and Dostoevsky: Stavrogin's false humility in the novel “The possessed”

The article is devoted to the analysis of the hagiographical motifs and themes from the biographies and works of the Russian Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk (1724- 1783) in F.M. Dostoyevsky's novel “The Possessed”, namely genuine and false humility, slap and laughter of others as a test of “humility”. In the drafts of his novel, F.M. Dostoyevsky considers the aspirations of the Prince (the protagonist), relating them, on the one hand, to modern positivist ideas, on the other, to Tikhon's Orthodox teaching. At the same time, the writer juxtaposes the characters of Tikhon and the Prince. In the hagiographic context, the drafts and the final text of the novel, the characters of the Prince and Stavrogin are being brought together. Stavrogin's “confession”, the “slap” scenes and a duel are connected in the aspect of the novelist's consideration of the problem of achieving Christian humility: false humility is opposed to the true one. Dostoevsky contemplates the theme of humility with the involvement of the spiritual experience of Tikhon of Zadonsk and hieromonk Anikita (Prince S.A. Shirinsky-Shikhmatov), which in general corresponds to his “pochvennichestvo” ideology. Both in the drafts and in the final text of the novel “The Possessed”, the formula of “defeating oneself” for the sake of humility, as well as the call to go through the trial with the help of God, can be traced to the works of Tikhon of Zadonsk.