TEMATYKA HAGIOGRAFICZNA I IDEA ŚWIĘTOŚCI STARORUSKIEJ W TWÓRCZOŚCI BORYSA ZAJCEWA

Zoja Kuca

Abstract

The phenomenon of holiness in Boris Zaycev’s works can be dealt with on four
semantic levels: 1) holiness as holiness, i.e. a property characterising God and His chosen ones,
the attainment of which is possible for them in the process of theosisu (deification/worship);
2) holiness as numinosum, which is a special dimension of transcendence, which creates particular
experiences in human psyche; 3) holiness as sacrum, which is a higher sphere of being, an
ontological reality, the primeval realities which reveal themselves in hirophanies/hyrophanies;
4) holiness as perfection, a moral virtue reached by a human being in the process of personal
development.
All of these semantic planes of the concept of holiness are present in B. Zaycev’s works to a lesser
or greater extent. Holiness as a transcendent attribute of God, accessible in the sacrament of theosisu
appears in the heroes who undergo a transformation of a religious awareness. Holiness as sacrum, in
a more general sense, also takes a significant place in the analysed literary texts. What is meant here
is especially the sacralisation of Russia through the prism of the idea of the Holy Rus, a rethinking
of its/her moral fundaments, a review of spiritual tradition. Holiness as perfection of man is present
in every migratory work by B. Zaycev.