THE SPEECH GENRE OF CONSOLATION IN THE EPISTOLAR ECCLESIASTICAL AND RELIGIOUS COMMUNICATION (ON THE MATERIAL OF THE LETTERS OF THE RUSSIAN ECCLESIASTICAL MONKS – WRITERS OF THE 20TH CENTURY)

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A. N. Smolina,
Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor, Siberian Federal University, 82а Svobodny pr., Krasnoyarsk, 660041, Russian Federation
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0947-3763
SPIN-code: 6302-3223
e-mail: angelic2009@mail.ru

THE SPEECH GENRE OF CONSOLATION IN THE EPISTOLAR ECCLESIASTICAL AND RELIGIOUS COMMUNICATION (ON THE MATERIAL OF THE LETTERS OF THE RUSSIAN ECCLESIASTICAL MONKS – WRITERS OF THE 20TH CENTURY)

Introduction. The paper examines the functioning of the speech genre “consolation” in the epistolary ecclesiastical and religious communication. The aim of the work is to show the specific role of consolation in the Orthodox Christian communication, the content and language differences of Christian consolation, determined by the theocentric worldview of the authors and by their conformity with the religious and philosophical doctrine of hesychasm.

Methods and methodology. In this research, the methods of linguistic analysis (aimed at identifying the patterns of the use of linguistic units in different spheres of communication) and the theolinguistic analysis (aimed at studying the interaction of language and religion) are used. The methodology is based on the works by M. N. Kozhina, M. M. Bakhtin, V. I. Postovalova.

Results. The main content types of Christian spiritual consolation are the following: Hope for the God’s help; Suffering is temporary; Accept the God’s will; The consolation of a Christian is in faith; The source of consolation is a prayer; Suffering is a condition of spiritual growth and the act of the God’s Providence; Suffering and sorrow are inevitable; Patience is the basis for overcoming suffering; God-pleasing work is a consolation for the sufferer. A characteristic linguistic feature is the use of the words related to the thematic sphere “Eastern Orthodoxy”.

Conclusion. The study of the works devoted to Christianity, the analysis of the letters of the church writers-monks to their spiritual disciples make it possible to assert that in the Christian culture there is a special view on the nature of consolation: relief of suffering and sorrows, true consolation can come only from the God and only on the Christian path of spiritual perfection. Etiquette speech genre “consolation”, actively functioning in Russian communication, “entering” the sphere of church and religious communication, acquires specific features that allow us to speak about its special kind – Christian spiritual consolation.

Keywords: consolation, theocentricism, Hesychasm, speech genre, etiquette formula, communicative action.

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