19th century editions of the life of Alexander Oshevensky

This article is devoted to a classic of the 16th century North Russian hagiography — The Life of Alexander Oshevensky, which is preserved as a large number of various copies and editions. The 19th century materials recently found in the Russian archives enabled researchers to raise the question of the late period in the literary history of this Life. Three editions of this piece of writing created in 1820-1830's by Tikhvin Monastery's Archimandrite Hilarion (Kirillov), Alexander Svirsky Monastery's Archimandrite Barsanuphius (Morev) and Archbishop of Olonets Ignatius (Semyonov) are in the focus of this paper. The new editions were created with the intention to be published for the glorification of St. Alexander across Russia, though relative petitions to the Most Holy Synod were not approved. This article detects sources of these editions and shows the pattern of processing the initial texts. As the text analysis has shown, the 19th century editions primarily developed the topoi of book learning and relationships between St. Alexander and his family. The Tife was also changed stylistically and compositionally, as well as supplemented with historical information. The published material is of interest for the research in poetics and topics of the saints' lives and their perception by the church writers of the 19th century.